The next afternoon the Campbells again joined Mrs. Meridith's fire-side, and after tea she began what she called the second part of her adventures.

"After running the round of polite life which I told you of last night, for three years, I was married at eighteen to Mr. Meridith, the nephew of my uncle, and the ostensible heir to his title and estate; but the fortune belonging to it was known to be so reduced by my uncle's expenses, that the addition of mine was considered as a desirable thing, both by my uncle and aunt, and Mr. Meridith's mother. As for himself, I have reason to think he would have preferred me to any other woman, had I not been the heiress of Rosewood and Coombdale; but as he expected the Baronetcy, it was very convenient he should have a better fortune to enable him to support it, than would be left him with the title. We were married but a twelvemonth before his mother died; and my aunt, lady Meridith, soon after; and my uncle, Sir Robert, married again; and as it was not unlikely he would now have a son, all thoughts of the title were given up, I may say without regret, by either of us. My uncle had taken no notice of us for some time; and though he was appointed joint trustee for me, with a friend of my father's, he left every thing in his hands. By my father's will I was not to be put into possession of the estates till I was twenty-five; nor was I allowed sufficient for us to live on in the style we had been accustomed to; particularly as my husband's fortune was small, and from the hope of his possessing the estate of his uncle, his mother had not proposed his following any profession. His father had property both in the East and West-Indies, but since his death the remittances had been entirely suspended; and Mrs. Meridith not caring to encumber herself with any litigation respecting it, had not pursued her inquiries into the cause. My husband now proposed going over to Jamaica, where the West-India estate lay, and to claim it for himself, as he had sufficient documents to ascertain it as his property. I had one child at that time, and was large with another, but I determined to accompany him, and having settled every thing necessary in England, we embarked; intending to be absent not more than three years; and to return previous to my coming of age, I had one maid who attended me, and an old servant, who had lived with the late Mrs. Meridith, determined to follow the fortunes of his master.

"From this time my sorrows began; my first child, then about fifteen months old, died on the voyage, and I was so ill myself, from sea-sickness, that I feared I should not live to see the island we were bound to; and earnestly did I wish my husband had never thought of it. However we arrived there with the remains of my dear little boy, whom I had no sooner seen laid in the ground, than I was taken ill, and a premature birth was the consequence; but the child, which was another boy, lived, and I loved it with ten times more affection, from having lost its brother, and its being born in a strange country. I was too weak to nurse it myself, and a black woman was provided to suckle it.

"During this time my husband, who behaved to me with the fondest attention, found out the estate he was in search of, and was put in possession of it without much trouble. We lived in a house which was situated on it; my little boy grew, and I began to recover my health and spirits, and to think that, strange as the people were around me, I could live here happily enough till the time arrived for our return to England.

"Mr. Meridith every day brought me accounts of the flourishing state of the plantation, and the number of his slaves; but though this was the case, we did not appear to receive much emolument from it. The overseer he employed told him there were great drawbacks, and that it was necessary to use a stricter discipline towards the negroes on their having changed their master. I must say I did not like his reasoning, or his manner, and could not be persuaded but that he was imposing on my husband, to whom I mentioned my suspicions; but he thought them groundless, and declared his intention of leaving him in charge of the estate, while he went to look after that in the East-Indies, and which he had been taught to believe was still more considerable. I gave up my opinion to his, and offered to accompany him thither. At first he refused, but I could not bear to be left with my child in the care of Jackson, the man I thought so ill of; and therefore taking with us the black woman, who was nearly as much attached to my child as myself, with the English servants we brought over with us, we once more embarked on a stormy sea. Having doubled the Cape of Good Hope, we arrived at Madras after a voyage of nearly four months, during which time we were in two violent gales of wind.

"My husband having introduced himself and me to some of our countrymen, settled me there, and I remained with my two female attendants, and the man-servant I mentioned before, while he proceeded to Bengal to identify his property; which he understood, by some writings in his possession, was in that province, and bordering on the river Ganges. Those of my own sex and country, with whom I became acquainted, endeavoured to make my time pass as agreeably as they could in his absence; but I declined going into any company; my little boy, and the prospect of another child, engrossed all my attention, and many anxious hours I passed for the fate of their father, who was absent four months, during which time I heard from him as frequently as I could expect, but he did not recover his property here so easily as in Jamaica. While he was away, the black woman who nursed my little boy died, and her place was supplied by Bella; she was recommended to me by a lady who had lately purchased her, and offered to give her up to me on the same terms. Bella had seen many hardships, but her attention to poor Susee (the woman I lost) while she was ill made me like her, and she soon gained my good opinion and also my affection.

"Mr. Meridith returned a few weeks before I presented him with a daughter, whom I was enabled to nurse myself, and I had now two children, one born in the West, and the other in the East-Indies; I pressed them both to my bosom, and longed for the time when I should return to England, and live with them and their father, either at Rosewood or Coombdale."

Mrs. Meridith sighed when she came to this part of her tale, and a responsive sigh was uttered by all her auditors; who were too impatient to hear the rest of her eventful story, to interrupt the silence which for a moment or two prevailed; and she continued.

"After I was sufficiently recovered for him to leave me, Mr. Meridith again went up the country, in hopes of bringing with him, on his return, a true estimate of his property, or an equivalent for it in specie. Myself and children waited his arrival for another four months, and when he came back, it was without any hope of recovering the estate for which he had had so much fruitless trouble. A very small part of it could be ascertained to be his; and for this he was content to receive a trifling sum compared to what he expected. But the negroes who were employed on the land concluded that he must have received much more, and when he had quitted the place to return home, they followed him, and after murdering our old English servant, who had this time gone with his master, they robbed him of all he had in his possession. Syphax was one of these negroes, whom he had purchased but a few weeks before, and brought away with him, having been pleased with his appearance; and though he was evidently connected with these who followed them, and knew their intention, it was to his interference that his master owed his life: for, though he had been his property but a little while, his kindness insensibly gained his affection; and, when the attack was made, Syphax joined those on his master's side. The negroes prevailed in gaining his property, but the eloquence of Syphax saved his life; and his contrition, and faithful attachment ever afterwards, made Mr. Meridith and me highly value him. I was saved the agony of hearing of this rencounter before my husband came back, or I should have suffered greatly. As it was, I was sufficiently happy in having him restored to me, though he came destitute of every thing but the clothes he wore, and bitterly lamenting the loss of our servant Wilson, whose death was not at first made known to me.

"'Our late voyage,' said he, 'has been entirely in vain; for I have given up the small part which I could obtain of the property, I believe to be mine, for a sum of money which I have been robbed of since; my poor servant was killed in my defence; and I am returned to hear all my acquaintance blame me, for having attempted to recover what was at such a distance.'

"Syphax was in the room when he said this, and falling on his knees, he exclaimed, with the most affecting earnestness, 'Wilson be dead, Sir; I will supply his place if you will let me; I have been very bad man, but the negroes did persuade me; I ashamed that ever I agree to them: but I did not know you a good master till I lived with you: I thought all white men bad men. They treat us ill, and we treat them ill, but you never treat me ill. Wilson die for you, so will I: I keep your life as my own! and your's too, dear lady,' turning to me, 'and the children's for my master's sake. I will be your faithful servant.'

"I thanked him, and Mr. Meridith promised to consider him as such.

"'But will you return to the West-Indies with me?' said he; 'you say you have no friends there.'

"'Nor none any where, Massa,' said he, very affectingly, 'for bad men do not deserve to be called so. I have been very badly used in the West-Indies, but I go any where with you, to the end of the world.'

"He was then dismissed, and I would have persuaded my husband to return immediately to England: 'within a twelvemonth,' said I, 'and I shall be of age, and Rosewood and Coombdale will be your's. Surely on these estates we can live comfortably. O let us go, and think no more of property in the Indies, when we have so much at home.' He seemed affected by my earnestness, but made it appear so very necessary that we should once more visit Jamaica, and leave our property there in proper hands, to send us the remittances, that I agreed to accompany him thither again, secretly hoping that a few months more would land us in England."

Mrs. Meridith now found herself fatigued, and begged to postpone the remainder of her story till the next evening.

"The worst is still to come," said she, "and I do not find myself equal to the recital;" and her friends were too attentive to her feelings to urge her to continue it. Anna related what had passed between Syphax and herself in the garden.

"And his distress lest you should reveal his story, Mamma," said she, "is now accounted for; but he need not have been afraid, for I think it does him credit rather than dishonour."

"Undoubtedly," said Mr. Campbell, "for though he had consented to the plan the negroes had proposed, his attachment to his master got the better of his submission to them."

The rest of the evening soon passed away, and Mrs. Meridith was more than usually silent; she appeared melancholy, and as if the distresses she had still to relate lay heavy at her heart.