A week elapsed before another came.

It opened in these words:-- "MY DEAR, DEAR AGNES! Hopeless of doing anything here, I have turned my thoughts once more to the land of promise; and, when you receive this, I will be on my journey thitherward.

Brief, very brief, I trust, will be our separation.

The moment I obtain employment, I will send for you, and then our re-union will take place with a fulness of delight such as we have not yet experienced." Long, tender, and hopeful was the letter; but it brought a burden of grief and heart-sickness to the tender young creature, who felt almost as if she had been deserted by the one who was dear to her as her own life.
Only a few days had Edward Marvel been at sea, when he became seriously indisposed, and, for the remaining part of the voyage, was so ill as to be unable to rise from his berth.

He had embarked in a packet ship from Liverpool bound for New York, where he arrived, at the expiration of five weeks.