If these disappointments had thrown him back upon his home, better satisfied with the real good in possession, she would not very much have regretted them.

But, on learning his purpose to go far South, and even thousands of miles beyond the boundaries of his own country, she became oppressed with a painful anxiety, which was heightened, rather than allayed, by his vague replies to all her earnest inquiries in regard to the state of affairs that rendered this long journey imperative.
"Interests of great magnitude," he would say, "require that all who are engaged in them should be minutely conversant with their state of progress.

I have long enough taken the statements of parties at a distance: now I must see and know for myself." How little there was in all this to allay anxiety, or reconcile the heart to a long separation from its life-partner, is clear to every one.

Mrs.Markland saw that her husband wished to conceal from her the exact position of his affairs, and this but gave her startled imagination power to conjure up the most frightful images.

Fears for the safety of her husband during a long journey in a distant country, where few traces of civilization could yet be found, were far more active than concern for the result of his business.