Geraldine: A TALE OF CONSCIENCE. BY E. C. A.. VOL. III. Second Edition. 'In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas." LONDON: PUBLISHED BY CHARLES DOLMAN, (NEPHEW AND SUCCESSOR TO THE LATE JOSEPH BOOKER,} MDCCCXXXIX. GERALDINE. A TALE OF CONSCIENCE, CHAPTER I. "The retrospective glance Of pensive memory fell, with the gleam NINE years after the events recorded in our preceding volumes, in the opening spring of 183—, the bells were ringing merrily in a sea-port town of our western coast, a band of music played on the pier, and in the placid waters of the harbour, vessels were lying at anchor, while the chief object of interest appeared to be a steamer, which, for the first time, was destined to carry passengers and freight to the Sister Isle. Several of these passengers were parading the pier, together with the idle and curious of the town. "She ought, by rights, to have started to-day," said a sailor, in reply to the question of a stranger of noble and foreign appearance; "but it's all well as it is, for a large party of the passengers don't come into town till to-night." VOL. III. B |