companions asking in a tone of coarse buffoonery, if he was
contemplating that frozen carrion with a view to ornamenting his hall
with it as a statue, he replied in the same strain, and was turning his
horse's head towards the gate, when he was arrested by the stern voice
of the mariner.

'Blasphemer, peace! Add not insult to the fearful injury you have
committed to that poor piece of clay! Man of the marble heart, your
career is near its close! This is not the only one of your crimes that
has resulted in death. There arises from the earth in South Carolina a
voice that calls for vengeance on her murderer. The child you thought
without a friend, whom you hoped would perish unknown, is even now
preparing to assert his rights, and drive you, titled bastard as you
know yourself to be, from your usurped position. Your agents have
confessed, and nothing can save you from the merited punishment of your
crimes. Repent, weep tears of penitence over this poor form, and make
your peace with God. You have but little time left ere man's justice
will claim you as its due.' He replaced his daughter in the carriage,
and lifting the body of poor Ellen as tenderly as if it had been a
child, placed it inside, and thus the dying and the dead departed.

At headlong speed the Earl reached his mansion, galled to madness. He
pondered long and deeply who the mysterious seaman could be, but could
arrive at no satisfactory conclusion; but reflecting that he still
possessed the only papers which could be produced in support of the
claimant of his title, he became more collected, and resolved first to
destroy the documents, and then to devise means for getting rid of the
obnoxious seaman, and also of his nephew, if he dared to press his
claim. Somewhat relieved by these considerations, he entered into an
explanation with his friends, spoke of the seaman as a harmless maniac,