But we must here inform the reader that M’Carstrow no longer acted the part of a husband towards Franconia.  His conduct as a debauchee had driven her to seek shelter under the roof of Rosebrook’s cottage, while he, a degraded libertine, having wasted his living among cast-out gamblers, mingled only with their despicable society.  Stripped of all arts and disguises, and presented in its best form, the result of Franconia’s marriage with Colonel M’Carstrow was but one of those very many unhappy connections so characteristic of southern life.

Provided with funds which the generous Rosebrooks kindly furnished her, a fortnight after the receipt of her father’s letter found her embarked on board a steamer bound for the Isthmus, from whence she would seek her parents overland.  With earnest resolution she had taken a fond leave of the Rosebrooks, and bid adieu to that home and its associations so dear to her childhood; and with God and happy associations her guide and her protector, was bounding over the sea.  For three days the gallant ship sped swiftly onward, and the passengers, among whom she made many friends, seemed to enjoy themselves with one accord, mingling together for various amusements, spreading their social influence for the good of all, and, with elated spirits at the bright prospect, anticipating a speedy voyage.  All was bright, calm, and cheering-the monster machines working smoothly, pressing the leviathan forward with curling brine at her bows, until the afternoon of the fourth day, when the wind in sharp gusts from the south-west, and the sudden falling of the barometer, admonished the mariner of the approaching heavy weather.  At sunset a heavy bank in the west hung its foreboding festoons along the horizon, while light, fleecy clouds gathered over the heavens, and scudded swiftly into the east.  Steadily the wind increased, the sea became restless, and the sharp chops thundering at the weather bow, veering the ship from her course, rendering it necessary to keep her head a point nearer the westward, betokened a gale.  To leeward were the Bahamas, their dangerous banks spreading awe among the passengers, and exciting the fears of the more timid.  On the starboard bow was Key West, with its threatening and deceptive reefs, but far enough ahead to be out of danger.  At midnight, the wind, which had increased to a gale, howled in threatening fierceness.  Overhead, the leaden clouds hung low their massive folds, and thick spray buried the decks and rigging; beneath, the angry ocean spread out in resistless waves of phosphorous light, and the gallant craft surged to and fro like a thing of life on a plain of rolling fire.  Now she yields to the monster wave threatening her bow, over another she rides proudly, and to a third her engines slowly rumble round, as with half-buried deck she careens to its force.  The man at the wheel, whose head we see near a glimmering light at the stern, watches anxiously for the word of command, and when