human life; where we find that it is not the heavy blow of sudden misfortune tripping the ladder of our ambition and laying us prostrate, which constitutes life’s intermittent “fitful fever,” but the thousand petty vexations of hourly occurrence.——­We return to Mrs Beazely, who continued—­“Why, it’s nine o’clock, Mr Forster, and a nice fresh morning it is too, after last night’s tempest.  And pray what did you hear and see, sir?” continued the old woman, opening the shutters and admitting a blaze of sunshine, as if determined that at all events he should now both hear and see.

“I’ll tell you all, Mrs Beazely, when I am dressed.  Let me have my breakfast as soon as you can, for I must be off again to the cove.  I did not intend to have slept so late.”

“Why, what’s in the wind now, Mr Forster?” said the old lady, borrowing one of his nautical phrases.

“If you wish to know, Mrs Beazely, the sooner you allow me to get out of bed, the sooner I shall be able to give you the information you require.”

“But what made you stay out so late, Mr Forster?” continued the housekeeper, who seemed determined, if possible, to have a little information en attendant, to stay her appetite until her curiosity could obtain a more substantial repast.

“I am sorry to say, there was a vessel wrecked.”

“Oh dear!  O dear!  Any lives lost?”

“All, I am afraid, except one, and even that is doubtful.”

“O Lord!  O Lord!  Do, pray, Mr Forster, tell me all about it.”

“As soon as I am dressed, Mrs Beazely,” replied Mr Forster, making a movement indicative that he was about to "turn out,” whether or no, and which occasioned Mrs Beazely to make a hasty retreat.

In a few minutes Forster made his appearance in the parlour, where he found both the kettle and the housekeeper boiling with impatience.  He commenced eating and narrating until the respective appetites of Mrs Beazely and himself were equally appeased, and then set off for the abode of Robertson, to ascertain the fate of the infant.

How different was the scene from that of the night before!  The sea was still in commotion; and as the bright sun shone upon its agitated surface, gilding the summits of the waves, although there was majesty and beauty in the appearance, there was nought to excite terror.  The atmosphere, purified by the warfare of the elements, was fresh and bracing.  The short verdure which covered the promontory and hills adjacent was of a more brilliant green, and seemed as if to bask in the sun after the cleansing it had received from the heavy rain; while the sheep (for the coast was one extended sheep-walk) studded the sides of the hills, their white fleeces in strong yet beautiful contrast with the deep verdure of nature.  The smooth water of the cove, in opposition to the vexed billows of the unsheltered ocean; the murmuring of the light waves, running in long and gently curved