My parents were dead, I had no tie to detain me in Europe.

I was going to see new regions, those fortunate isles I had heard so much of, and I set out joyfully with my husband and children, little foreseeing the misfortunes before me.
"Our voyage was favourable; the children, like myself, were delighted with the novelties of it.

I was then twenty-three years old; Sophia, seven; Matilda, six; and Alfred, our pretty, gentle boy, not yet five.
Poor child! he was the darling and the plaything of all the crew." She wept bitterly for a few moments, and then resumed her narration.
"He was as fair as your own Francis, and greatly resembled him.

We proceeded first to Bourdeaux, where my husband had a correspondent, with whom he had large dealings; by his means my husband was enabled to raise large sums for his new undertaking.

We carried with us, in fact, nearly his whole fortune.