"Your serious request, Grace, will be a law to me, if made on due
reflection. This growing feebleness, however, alarms me; and I cannot
justify it to myself not to send for advice."

"Remember, Miles, it is not yet twenty-four hours since one of the ablest
men of the country saw me. We have his written instructions; and, all that
man can do for me, they will do for me. No, brother; listen to my
entreaties, and go into the creek. I pine, I pine to be again at dear
Clawbonny, where alone I can enjoy anything like peace of body or mind.
This vessel is unsuited to me; I cannot think of a future, or pray in it.
Brother, _dearest_ brother, carry me home, if you love me!"

There was no resisting such an appeal. I went on deck with a heavy heart,
and gave the necessary orders to the pilot; and, in about eight-and-forty
hours after we emerged into the Hudson, we left that noble stream again,
to shoot beneath the shaded, leafy banks of our own inlet. Grace was so
feeble as to be carried to the chaise, in which she was supported by Lucy,
during the short drive to the house. When I reached my own dwelling, I
found Mr. Hardinge pacing the little portico, or piazza, waiting for my
arrival, with an uneasiness of manner that at once proclaimed his anxiety
to see me. He had driven the horse of the chaise, and had imbibed a first
impression of Grace's danger.

"Miles, my dear boy--my second son"--the simple-hearted, excellent old
man commenced; "Miles, my dear boy, the hand of God has been laid heavily
on us--your beloved sister, my own precious Grace, is far more ill than I
had any idea of, before this morning."

"She is in the hands of her merciful Creator," I said, struggling to
command myself, "who, I greatly fear, is about to call her from a world