Without answering, Harry sprung forward, and seized the unknown person by the arm, who instantly looked round.——It was Mrs. Crabtree!

“I am sorry you observed me, Master Harry! I did not intend to trouble you and Miss Laura during the voyage,” said she, turning her face slowly towards him, when, to his surprise, he saw that the traces of tears were on her cheek, and her manner appeared so subdued, and altogether so different from former times, that Laura could scarcely yet credit her senses. “I shall not be at all in your way, children, but I —— —— I must see Master Frank again. He was always too good for this world, and he’ll not be here long—Andrew told me all about it, and I could not stay behind. I wish we were all as well prepared, and then the sooner we die the better.”

Harry and Laura listened in speechless consternation to these words. The very idea of losing Frank had never before crossed their imaginations for a moment, and they could have wished to believe that what Mrs. Crabtree said was like the ravings of delirium, yet an irresistible feeling of awe and alarm rushed into their minds.

[221]
]“Miss Laura! if you want any help in undressing, call to me at any time. I was sure that doited body Harrison could be of no service. She never was fit to take care of herself, and far less of such as you. It put me wild to think of your coming all this way with nobody fit to look after you, and then the distress that must follow.”

“But surely, Mrs. Crabtree, you do not think Frank so very ill,” asked Laura, making an effort to recover her voice, and speaking in a tone of deep anxiety; “he had recovered from the fever, but is only rather too weak for travelling.”

“Well, Miss Laura! grief always comes too soon, and I would have held my tongue had I thought you did not know the worst already. If I might order as in former days, it would be to send you both down directly, out of this heavy fog and cold wind.”

“But you may order us, Mrs. Crabtree,” said Harry, taking her kindly by the hand; “we are very glad to see you again! and I shall do whatever you bid me! So you came all this way on purpose for us! How very kind!”

“Master Harry, I would go round the wide world to serve any one of you! who else have I to care for? But it was chiefly to see Master Frank. Let us hope the best, and pray to be prepared for any event that may come. All things are ordained for good, and we can only make the best of what happens. The world must go round,—it must go round, and we can’t prevent it.”

Harry and Laura hung their heads in dismay, for there was something agitated and solemn in Mrs. Crabtree’s manner, which astonished and shocked them, so they hurried silently to bed; and Laura’s pillow was drenched with tears of anxiety and distress that night, though gradually, as she thought of Frank’s bright colour and sparkling eyes, his joyous spirits and unbroken health, it seemed impossible that all were so soon to fade away, that the wind should [222] ]have already passed over them, and they were gone, till by degrees her mind became more calm; her hopes grew into certainties; she told herself twenty times over, that Mrs. Crabtree must be entirely mistaken, and at last sunk into a restless agitated slumber.

Next day the sun shone, the sky was clear, and every thing appeared so full of life and joy, that Harry and Laura would have fancied the whole scene with Mrs. Crabtree a distressing dream, had they not been awakened to recollection before six in the morning, by the sound of her voice, angrily rebuking Miss Perceval and other ladies, who with too good reason, were grumbling at the hardship of sleeping, or rather vainly attempting to sleep, in such narrow uncomfortable dog-holes. Laura heard Mrs. Crabtree conclude an eloquent oration on the subject of contentment, by saying, “Indeed, ladies! many a brave man, and noblemen’s sons too, have laid their heads on the green grass, fighting for you, so we should put up with a hard bed patiently for one night.”