tears. 'Please ask me no questions,' said she. 'Our engagement is over. Ask me no questions.'
"'Tell me one thing,' said I: 'where is that d—d scoundrel who has broken my daughter's heart?'
"You should have seen the look she gave me.
"'Broken my heart, sir? You are very much mistaken. I don't know who you mean.'
"'I mean John Banister,' said I. That was his name.
"'I believe Mr. Banister is in China,' says Esther, as grand as the Queen of Sheba. And there was an end of it. I never learnt the ins and outs of it. I have been told that Banister is accumulating money very fast in the China trade."
August 7th.—I have made no entry for more than a fortnight. They tell me I have been very ill; and I find no difficulty in believing them. I suppose I took cold, sitting out so late, sketching. At all events, I have had a mild intermittent fever. I have slept so much, however, that the time has seemed rather short. I have been tenderly nursed by this kind old gentleman, his daughter, and his maid-servant. God bless them, one and all! I say his daughter, because old Dorothy informs me that for half an hour one morning, at dawn, after a night during which I had been very feeble, Miss Blunt relieved guard at my bedside, while I lay
