offered to tell me, I was delighted, and readily answered his
appeal, assuring him nothing would give me greater pleasure than to
hear an account of himself from his own lips: 'But,' I added, 'I
cannot wait now, for they are striking "eight bells:" I must go in
to dinner: after dinner I will come to you again, and listen to all
you have to say; so farewell for the present, my dear boy, in an
hour's time I will be with you.'

"As soon as dinner was over, I returned to Frederic: he looked so
pleased, I shall never forget the glow that overspread his fair
face, as I entered the berth, for he was really handsome; his eyes
were bright hazel, his hair auburn, and waving over his head in the
most graceful curls, while his complexion was the clearest and most
beautiful I had ever seen. I found a seat on a chest near his
hammock, and, telling him I was ready to attend to his narrative, he
began:--

"'The first impression I have of home was when I was about five
years old, and was surrounded by a little troop of brothers and
sisters, for I can remember when there was seven healthy, happy
children in my "boyhood's home." We lived at Feltham, Middlesex, in
the pretty parsonage-house. It was situated at the end of a long
avenue of elm-trees whose arching boughs, meeting over our heads,
sheltered us from the mid-day glare. Here in the winter we used to
trundle our hoops; and in the summer stroll about to gather bright
berries from the hedges to make chains for the adornment of our
bowers. But death came to our happy home, and made sad the hearts of
our good parents: the whooping-cough was very prevalent in the
village, and a child of one of the villagers, who occasionally came
to my father for relief, brought the contagion amongst us, and in a