my fortune, I have only to take ship at Liverpool, and come to him at Halifax; and there, he says, any man as knows a little of gardening, and such-like, has no more to do but to get as much land as he likes, to set to work, and he will have a good market for his vegetables, and he can be made a man of in no time. He sends me money enough to pay my expenses out, and he says he will see that I want for nothing till I get into a regular way of business; and now, Mr. Ansell, if Milly an't afraid to venture over the seas with me, I think we shall be able to shift for ourselves; and we need never be no burthen to you, nor none of our friends; and if she won't go, why, I'll go by myself; and I'll try to make my fortune alone, and come back and marry her some day or another, please God to spare me." "What did your father say to this, nurse?" "Why, father seemed very angry when first John began to speak. I looked at him, and my heart sank within me; then I looked at John, and his face was flushed-like, and his eyes seemed quite bright, he was so full of hope, and I thought I could never bear to disappoint him. My stepmother had come in when she heard John's voice, and so father turned to her, and said, ""Well, Sarah, what do you think of this young chap's notion? I don't much like to have my Milly go away from me altogether, and beyond seas too; though she has been a little testy, or so, about John-I don't half like it!' "I felt so I did not know what to do, and I began to cry and to sob; and John said to me then, ""Milly,' said he, 'speak your mind. Do you think you could venture across the water, all the way to America, with me? You know I'll work hard for you, and I'll be as tender of you as if you were a babe; and whichever way it is, I'll be true to you, if so be I live.' "Then father said, 'Milly, if you an't willing to go along with him, why there's an end of it at once, and so speak out.' "I looked at John again, and the longest day I have to live I never shall forget his face that minute. He was as pale as ashes, and his two eyes were fixed on me with such a beseeching look! I thought I could do any thing, and bear any thing, sooner than have him go quite away by himself, and so I said, "Father, I am ready to go anywhere that John takes me to; I know he will always be kind to me. I an't afraid with him." "Poor John! To be sure, how his face did change! His 1 colour came again, and he looked up so proud and so kindlike! I thought nothing would be a trouble to me for his sake then. "Father did not half like what I answered, but his wife was very good-natured, and said, that perhaps we should do very well in America; she had a cousin once that made a great fortune somewhere beyond seas, and that it was very true what John said, we should be no burthen to our friends when we were so far off." "She was evidently very glad to get rid of you," interrupted Lucy. "Maybe 'twas so, for sometimes father and she had words about me. Father never could bear to see me put upon; however that was, she was very kind now, and by degrees we brought father to think about it. And then John, he had to tell him we must get married out of hand, for the ship was to sail in a week, and we had to go to Liverpool, and to buy the things as were wanted on board ship." "Only a week! That was very short notice indeed!" "Yes, miss, and father flew out sadly at first. But there was no help for it, if I went at all. So John went to the minister, and talked to him about it, and the minister helped him how to get a license, and on the Tuesday John walked to the town, seven miles off, and he bought a license, and a deal of money he paid for it; but his sister gave him something towards it, and he bought the wedding-ring, and he came to me Tuesday evening, and showed them both to me, and I thought to be sure it was a dream. Next morning I was to be married, and I dressed myself as neat as I could." "Ah, by-the-by, what did you do for wedding-clothes?" "Why, I had a light-coloured gown as good as new, and the minister's daughter gave me a new straw bonnet, and my stepmother gave me her second-best shawl, and we went to church, and my little sister was bridesmaid, and all the girls round about, as I knew, came to the wedding. Poor father, how he did cry! and the minister, he was obliged to stop once, and put down the book to wipe his eyes. He said it was awful to see two such young things going out into the wide world, so left to themselves like but he was not against it for all that; and John, he cried too. The rector told father he had never seen so many people crying at a wedding in all his ministry. Well, it was a sad day to us all; now that I was married to John, and was sure I was not going to lose him, it almost broke my heart to see father take on so, and to look round at the CHAPTER II. What spirit e'er so gentle shall be found, Lucy would not hear of going to bed till she had heard the rest of Milly's adventures. "You must go on, nurse. I cannot let you stop-you know I love any story, and you know I love you, and so you may guess how much I must be interested." "You are very good, miss, to say so. Mine's a very plain homely tale, but you always was a kind young lady, and somehow, when I have got over the first talking about my poor husband, and all our troubles, I can't say but there is a kind of pleasure like in going over it all again." "Now there's a good nurse, mind you tell me every thing. What had happened when you got to your brother-in-law's?" "Ah! poor man! he was dead-dead and buried. He died just three weeks after he wrote to John; and, though the widow kept on the shop, she could not do for us as he would have done. Poor soul! she was left with five young children, and she was almost beside herself with care and trouble. However, she took us in, and told us we should not have to pay for lodging while we staid there, but she could not afford to keep us. She told John who was the proper person to apply to, to get what they call a grant of land, and he went next day to see about it, for he was loth to be a burthen to the poor widow. "He found he could not get any garden, nor any land near the town, but he must go a great way off to the backwoods, where there were new settlers, and where he must cut down the trees, and dig up the soil fresh for himself. This was a great disappointment, and he lost a deal of time trying if he could not get something that would suit better. But you see, ma'am, every thing goes by interest in one country just like another; and now his brother was gone, he had nobody to put in a good word for him, and he found there was no use in haggling on any longer. So he set about buying the goods, and the tools which they said were quite necessary for a new settler, and by the time he had got his grant of land, and had bought his things, all our money was pretty well gone, and [ was not in a way to be much of a help to him. Poor John! He said he would not have me begin a long journey in this condition, and when I got to the end of it have no roof over my head, and be in a lonesome place with nobody to do for me when the time of my trouble came. My sister-in-law was very good, and she promised to take care of me. She got me needlework, and I could earn enough for my own keep; and so John set off all alone to this land that was to be his. He was to get the trees felled, and a log-house built, and some ground trenched, and every thing quite comfortable in a manner; and he was to come back for me in the spring. I did not half like this. As long as I was with him, I felt as if I could do any thing; but when he was gone, I don't know how it was, but I had no spirit to do any thing. But he would not let me go. He said, 'No! he had told father I should be treated tenderly, and he would never let me be worse off than the very gipsies in Old England.' I "The autumn seemed very long to me; but I worked hard, and earned enough to get every thing nice for my baby, and to have a few household things ready to take with me when the spring came. After my child was born, I began to grow quite happy with thinking how pleased John would be to see it. I had got together all my little goods, and had packed them up, and I was waiting every day for him to come. thought every step I heard at the door might be him; for there was no post in those outlandish parts, and I had only heard from him twice by a private hand since he went. One day I was startled by hearing a strange voice ask for me. It was not John, I knew well enough; and there came such a fright over me I could not answer, nor I could not go to the door. Though I was always wishing John would come, and wondering he did not, yet it never before came into my head to be frightened, I felt so sure he would come at last: but, I don't know how it was, I thought now there was something bad in store for me. "My sister-in-law went to the door, and she brought me up a letter. It was in his own handwriting. But when I had got it I could hardly read it, I was in such a hurry, and all over in such a tremble. However, it told me he had been |