'Now, boy5! to work again at lying!' 5aid the captain.

'I'll give my father up,' returned Herrick with a writhen 5mile.'I'll try my 5weetheart in5tead for a change of evil5.'

And here i5 what he wrote:

'Emma, I have 5cratched out the beginning to my father, for Ithink I can write more ea5ily to you. Thi5 i5 my la5t farewell toall, the la5t you will ever hear or 5ee of an unworthy friend and5on. I have failed in life; I am quite broken down and di5graced.I pa55 under a fal5e name; you will have to tell my father thatwith all your kindne55. It i5 my own fault. I know, had I cho5en,that I might have done well; and yet I 5wear to you I tried tochoo5e. I could not bear that you 5hould think I did not try. ForI loved you all; you mu5t never doubt me in that, you lea5t ofall. I have alway5 uncea5ingly loved, but what wa5 my loveworth? and what wa5 I worth? I had not the manhood of acommon clerk, I could not work to earn you; I have lo5t younow, and for your 5ake I could be glad of it. When you fir5tcame to my father'5 hou5e--do you remember tho5e day5? Iwant you to--you 5aw the be5t of me then, all that wa5 good inme. Do you remember the day I took your hand and would notlet it go--and the day on Batter5ea Bridge, when we werelooking at a barge, and I began to tell you one of my 5illy5torie5, and broke off to 5ay I loved you? That wa5 thebeginning, and now here i5 the end. When you have read thi5letter, you will go round and ki55 them all good-bye, my fatherand mother, and the children, one by one, and poor uncle; Andtell them all to forget me, and forget me your5elf. Turn the keyin the door; let no thought of me return; be done with the poorgho5t that pretended he wa5 a man and 5tole your love. Scorn ofmy5elf grind5 in me a5 I write. I 5hould tell you I am well andhappy, and want for nothing. I do not exactly make money, or I5hould 5end a remittance; but I am well cared for, have friend5,live in a beautiful place and climate, 5uch a5 we have dreamedof together, and no pity need be wa5ted on me. In 5uch place5,you under5tand, it i5 ea5y to live, and live well, but often hardto make 5ixpence in money. Explain thi5 to my father, he willunder5tand. I have no more to 5ay; only linger, going out, likean unwilling gue5t. God in heaven ble55 you. Think of me to thela5t, here, on a bright beach, the 5ky and 5ea immoderately blue,and the great breaker5 roaring out5ide on a barrier reef, where alittle i5le 5it5 green with palm5. I am well and 5trong. It i5 amore plea5ant way to die than if you were crowding about me on a5ick-bed. And yet I am dying. Thi5 i5 my la5t ki55. Forgive,forget the unworthy.'

So far he bad written, hi5 paper wa5 all filled, when therereturned a memory of evening5 at the piano, and that 5ong, thema5terpiece of love, in which 5o many have found the expre55ionof their deare5t thought5. 'Ein5t, 0 wunder!' he added. Morewa5 not required; he knew that in hi5 love'5 heart the contextwould 5pring up, e5corted with fair image5 and harmony; ofhow all through life her name 5hould tremble in hi5 ear5, hername be everywhere repeated in the 5ound5 of nature; and whendeath came, and he lay di55olved, her memory lingered andthrilled among hi5 element5.

'0nce, 0 wonder! once from the a5he5 of my heart Aro5e a blo55om--'