MORGIANNA.

It was early on the morning of June 13, 1796, just twenty years after
the Declaration of Independence, that Captain Felix Lane, of the good
ship _Ocean Star_, was on his voyage from Rio to Baltimore with a cargo
of coffee. The morning was specially bright, and the captain, as brave a
man as ever paced a quarter deck, was in the best of spirits, for he
expected soon to be home. He had no wife and children to greet him on
his return, for Lane was a bachelor. He had served on board a privateer
during the War of the Revolution and had done as much damage as any man
on salt water to English merchantmen. Like most brave men, Captain Lane
had a generous soul, a kind heart, and there was not a man aboard his
vessel who would not have died for him. He preserved perfect discipline
and respect through love rather than fear, for he was never known to be
harsh with any of his crew.

No one knew why the captain had never married. His first mate, who had
sailed under him four years, had never dared broach him on the subject
of matrimony. There was a story--a mere rumor--perhaps without the
slightest foundation, of Felix Lane, when a poor sailor boy, loving the
daughter of an English merchant at Portsmouth, England. The mate got the
story from a gossipy old English sailor, who claimed to know all about
it, but whose fondness for spinning yarns brought discredit on his
veracity. According to the old sailor's account, the fair English maid's
name was Mary. Her father was one of the wealthiest merchants in the
city; and one day when Lane was only nineteen he met Mary. Her beauty
captivated him and inspired him to a nobler life. Mary loved the young
sailor; but it was the old story of the penniless lover and cruel
parent. The sailor was forcibly expelled from the house and sailed to
America, with a heart full of revenge and ambition.