- —but, as I lifted the cup a second time
to my lips, my eyes fixed themselves upon a child; and I trembled with agitation, for I saw my prey before me. The woman of the house spoke but little English; but she approached me, and expressed her fear that I was not well. Sensible that my emotion had betrayed me, I affected to be in pain, offered her money, and abruptly took leave. There was a wood not far from the town.
"On a subsequent evening I allured her to it: the baby was at her breast. I asked her its name.—'Billy Kendal,' she answered, "for the love of its father who fights now for us at a distance.' 'I will be its father,' I said. But she chid me from her, and was angrily about to leave me: striking her to the earth, I seized the child. The age, the size—every thing corresponded. I had bartered my soul for gold, and difficulties and failures had not shaken me. I had made every necessary preparation; and
