CHAPTER III.
UNEXPECTED MISFORTUNES.
"MY life," said Mr.Eldridge, "till within these few years was marked by no particular circumstance deserving notice.

I early embraced the life of a sailor, and have served my King with unremitted ardour for many years.

At the age of twenty-five I married an amiable woman; one son, and the girl who just now left us, were the fruits of our union.

My boy had genius and spirit.

I straitened my little income to give him a liberal education, but the rapid progress he made in his studies amply compensated for the inconvenience.