"When the estate was sold (and I have reason to think it was disposed of to a compassionate man, as well as to great advantage to ourselves), my husband satisfied Jackson's demands; and we were pleased to hear him say, that he meant to trade with the money he had acquired (and very badly I fear), and no longer act as overseer to any one.
"'There is one cruel white man less, then,' said Bella, 'to whip my poor countrymen,' We were now on the eve of departure, and my hopes were all alive for England, when the yellow fever broke out, and Mr. Meridith caught the infection. He would have insisted on my leaving him, but I would not hear of it; I sent my two children with Bella and Syphax to a distant part of the island, fully assured that they would take care of them; and with the best advice the place afforded, my husband at length recovered; but my poor English maid died of it, just as she was fondly hoping to return to her native country.
"I have often regretted both her and Wilson," continued Mrs. Meridith, after shedding a tear to their memory: "as our having brought them from their home, though not against their inclination, made me more desirous of their returning with us; but both their lives were sacrificed to our service; and I think it but a poor amends to their families, the being enabled to assist them, who must feel the loss of a son and a daughter, too keenly for money to recompense, at least if they feel like me. It was my anxiety alone, and extreme solicitude for my husband, which prevented my taking the infection; and I was no sooner assured that there was no farther danger of it, than we re-embraced our children, and once more prepared for England. Bella and Syphax were now our constant attendants, and we embarked, and arrived in our own country in less than a month.
"I had then been of age about four months, and, after the necessary preliminaries, was put into possession of my estates, and the money we brought with us from the West-Indies was vested in the funds, and we hoped to live happily for many years; but my husband's constitution had received a shock from the fever, and the violent remedies which were given him for it, which he never recovered; and I had the misery of seeing his health daily growing worse and worse, though every medicine and change of air was repeatedly tried. His uncle and mine, Sir Robert Meridith, was not dead, but his second lady had brought him only daughters: so that he was now anxious for the recovery of his nephew, and often solicited us to try a milder climate. To this I should readily have consented, but he would not hear of it.
"'I have carried you over the seas often enough, my dear Maria,' he would say, 'nor will I again risk your precious life for what I have not the most distant prospect of obtaining; my health is too far gone ever to be recovered, but for the sake of our dear children, do you take care of your's.' But let me pass over the melancholy detail.
"Having tried the air of various places, without any material benefit, we at last settled at Coombdale, where he lingered out a painful existence for above three years, which all my attention could not alleviate, and which rendered him still dearer to me, as I saw the fortitude and resignation with which he bore his sufferings. I became a widow with two children when only thirty years old. Need I tell you my distress, or what I felt when I found he was no more—but that would be impossible! The faithful affection of Syphax and Bella, both to him and myself, I can never forget; and I now wished to live only for my children; and, in pursuance to his injunction, to exert myself for their sake; but alas! they were too soon taken from me!—But why do I say too soon? did not the Almighty, who gave them, know the proper time? Oh! that I could cease to murmur! I lost them both in the small-pox within the year after their dear father; during which Bella and Syphax attended them with unremitting attention; and had it not been for them, I must have been swallowed up with excessive grief.
"I looked around, and the world seemed all a blank to me; not one relation whom I could love; when but a few months back I had an affectionate husband, and two children, whose ripening years seemed to promise me every comfort."
Tears now interrupted her speech, and her auditors felt too much to offer a word of consolation. Poor Anna wept aloud, and throwing her arms around her neck, said in broken accents, "Oh! my dear Mamma, I can never be to you what these were;—but all my life—every thing in my power,"—sobs and tears prevented her uttering more.
"I know what you would say, my Anna," returned her weeping patroness. "But let me not distress you and all my friends;—Alas! what does this melancholy retrospection lead to, but sorrow on every side, and impious murmurings on mine! Let me draw my melancholy tale to a conclusion.—Having seen the last duties performed to the remains of all I held dear, who were buried at Coombdale, and where, my friend," addressing Mr. Campbell, who could only bow his assent, "if you survive me, I hope you will see me buried also, I left the place where every thing reminded me of my heavy loss; and after a visit to London for a few weeks, to settle and regulate my affairs, I determined to seek the place of my childhood, and if among my first friends I could find any who could in any measure fill the vacancy made in my affections;—for to have no one to care for, and no one to care for us, is dreadful. I accordingly took my journey hither; and have found that quiet retirement, and a sincere desire to add to the happiness of others, will make sorrows, even like mine, supportable."