On the
contrary, many would have supposed I had escaped, and been encouraged
to make the same attempt."
"I am very sorry now," said Talbot, "that I did not lower down a boat
to send after you; however, it has been a comfort to me since to
reflect that the marines missed you."
This ended the subject: we walked the deck a little, talked of
sweethearts, shaped the course for the night to make Fayal, which we
were not far from, and then returned to our beds.
Falling into a sound sleep, it was natural that the conversation of
the evening should have dwelt on my mind, and a strange mixture of
disjointed thoughts, a compound of reason and insanity, haunted me
till the morning. Trinidad and Emily, the Nine-Pin Rock, and the
mysterious Eugenia, with her supposed son; the sinking wreck, and the
broken schooner, all appeared separately or together.
"When nature rests,
Oft, in her absence, mimic fancy wakes."
I thought I saw Emily standing on the pinnacle of the Nine-Pin Rock,
just as Lord Nelson is represented on the monument in Dublin, or
Bonaparte in that of the Place Vendome; but with a grace as far
superior to either, as the Nine-Pin Rock is in majesty and natural
grandeur to those works of human art.
Emily, I thought, was clad in complete mourning, but looking radiant
in health and loveliness, although with a melancholy countenance. The
dear image of my mistress seemed to say, "I shall never come down from
this pinnacle without your assistance.
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