164 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



and fo unmerited, that the confidence, even of 

 the wifeft, is frequently daggered. 



Meanwhile, they had placed Paid, who now be- 

 gan to recover the ufe of his fenfes, in an adjoining 

 houfe, till his fituation permitted him to be car- 

 ried to his own home. As for me, 1 was returning 

 with Domingo, in order to prepare Virginians mo- 

 ther, and her friend, for this calamitous event, 

 when, on our arrival at the entrance of the valley 

 of the river of the Lataniers, fome negroes inform- 

 ed us, that the fea was driving a great deal of the 

 wreck of the veffel up the oppofire bay. We de- 

 fcended thither, and one of the firft objefls which 

 we defcried upon the fhore, was the body of Vir- 

 ginia. It vvas half covered with fand, and in the 

 very attitude in which we had feen her perifh. 

 There was no fenfible alteration in her features. 

 Her eyes were clofed, but ferenity ftill fat upon 

 her forehead ; only, the pale violet of death blend- 

 ed itfelf upon her cheeks, with the rofes of mo- 

 defty. One of her hands lay upon her clothes ; 

 the other, which clung to her heart, was firmly 

 clofed and ftiff. I difengaged from it, with much 

 difficulty, a little cafket ; but how was I aftoniOied, 

 when I perceived in it, the portrait which Paul 

 had given her, and which fhe had promifed him 

 never to pait with while (he lived. At this laft 

 tokeo of the conllancy, and the love of this un- 

 happy 



