was younger and noisier, so that I did not let him come often, poor dear; but Frederic was here frequently, dear fellow. If you will sit down, (all of you I mean) I will begin the letter again."
"'My dear madam—You will probably have forgotten me, for you live in the busy world, and you are too much accustomed to be kind and good to your fellow-creatures, for a single instance, to dwell much on your memory. I must therefore remind you of my dear sister Augusta Hales, to whom you were as a tender mother, and who died in your arms, in order to say your correspondent is her eldest brother, then little Fred Hales.
"'Whatever may be your recollection or oblivion of me and mine, it would ill become us to forget you; and, indeed, dear Mrs. Palmer, we have never done so; though our long residence in the East, and our many removals since, have forbidden us the pleasure of seeing you; and it was always the opinion of my dear father (of whose death you would hear) that it was foolish to correspond with persons we were never likely to meet again.'
"'Arthur is in the navy, and a brave, worthy fellow as ever was born. I am indebted to him for my life within the last few days, but that debt is, in my own opinion, less than what I owe him, for the constant love and kindness of his whole life towards me. I ought not, however, to undervalue the courage and perseverance, through which I was rescued, when the
