“How deplorable!” cried Fritz.

“Not so very unfortunate, after all,” remarked Mary.

“What makes you think so?”

“Because nothing had occurred to interrupt the marriage; only one of the families was ruined, and there was still enough left for both.”

“But,” said Fritz, “even admitting that the friendship between the two families continued uninterrupted, and that the father of Cecilia was willing to share his property with the father of Herbert, still the young man, in the parlance of society, was a beggar; and it is always hard for a man to owe his position to a woman, and to become, as it were, the protege of her whom he ought rather to protect.”

“If that is the view you take, Master Fritz, then I agree with you that the misfortune was deplorable,” said Mary, bending at the same time to hide her blushes, under pretence of mending a broken thread.

“And what if Cecilia’s father had been ruined instead of Herbert’s?” inquired Jack.

“I should say,” replied Sophia, “that we have as much right to be proud and dignified as you have.”

“The best way in such a case,” observed Willis, laughing, “would be for both parties to get ruined together.”

“Herbert,” continued Wolston, “was a youth of resolution and energy.  He entertained the same opinion as Fritz; and instead of wasting his time in idle despondency, got together some articles of merchandise, and sailed for the Indian Archipelago, promising his friends that he would return to his native land in two years.”

“Two years is a long time,” remarked Mary; “but sometimes it passes away very quickly.”

“Ah!” observed Sophia, Cecilia, in the meantime, would redouble her charities and her prayers.”

“The two years passed away, then a third, and then a fourth, but not a single word had either been heard of or from the absentee.  Cecilia was rich, and her hand was sought by many wealthy suitors, but hitherto she had rejected them all.”

“The dear, good Cecilia,” cried Sophia.

“Up till this period the family had permitted her to have her own way.  But as it is necessary for authority to prevent excesses of all kinds, they thought it time now to interfere; they could not allow her to sacrifice her whole life for a shadow.  Her parents, therefore, insisted upon her making a choice of one or other of the suitors for her hand.  She requested grace for one year more, which was granted.”

“Come back, truant, quick; come back, Master Herbert!” cried Sophia.

“There now, Willis,” cried Jack, “you see the effect of your new world; people go away there, and never come back again.”

“Oh, but you must bring him back in time, father; you must indeed,” urged Sophia.

“If it were only a romance I were relating to you, Sophia, I could very easily bring him back; but the narrative I am giving you is a matter of fact, which I cannot alter at will.  There would be no difficulty in bringing a richly-laden East Indiaman, commanded by Captain Philipson, into the Severn, and making Herbert and Cecilia conclude the story in each other’s arms, but it would not be true.”