ward Mrs. Maclean came to the hall and welcomed me. I was hurried away to his bed-room, Mrs. Maclean saying, as she tripped through the long gallery, 'You are a privileged person, Mr. Cruickshank, for I can assure you it is not every one that is admitted here.' I took a seat by the side of his bed, upon which Mrs. Maclean sat down, arranging the clothes about her husband in the most affectionate manner, and receiving ample compensation for her attentions by a very sweet and expressive smile of thankfulness. We thus sat and chatted together for some hours, Mrs. Maclean laughingly recounting her experiences of roughing it in Africa, and commenting, with the greatest good humor and delight, upon what struck her as oddities in such a state of society. She pointed to a temporary bed, which had been made for her upon the floor, and said Mr. Maclean's sufferings had been so great for some nights, that the little sleep which she had got had been taken there. I declined to occupy an apartment in the castle, but promised to call daily during my stay in Cape Coast to pass a few hours with them.

"As the day drew near for my departure, she occupied herself more and more in writing to her friends in England. It had been arranged that the vessel should sail on the forenoon of the 16th of October, and I agreed to dine and spend the evening of the 15th with the governor and his lady. It was in every respect a night to be remembered. At eleven o'clock

I rose to leave. It was a fine and clear night, and she strolled into the gallery, where we walked for half an hour. Mr. Maclean joined us for a few minutes, but, not liking the night-air in his weak state, he returned to the parlor. She was much struck with the beauty of the heavens in those latitudes at night, and said it was when looking at the moon and the stars that her thoughts oftenest reverted to home. She pleased herself with thinking that the eyes of some beloved friend might be turned in the same direction, and that she had thus established a medium of communication for all that her heart wished to express. But you must not,' she said, 'think me a foolish, moon-struck lady. I sometimes think of these things oftener than I should, and your departure for England has called up a

world of delightful associations. You will tell Mr. F―, however, that I am not tired yet. He told me I should return by the vessel that brought me out; but I knew he would be mistaken.' We joined the governor in the parlor. I bade them good-night, promising to call in the morning to bid them adieu. I never saw her in life again."

At breakfast next day Mr. Cruickshank was alarmed by a summons, "You are wanted at the castle; Mr. Maclean is dead," said the messenger. Hurrying to the castle, he found that it was not Mr., but Mrs. Maclean-whom he had left the previous night so well-who was no more. "Never," he says, “shall I forget the horror-stricken expression of Mr. Maclean's countenance."

"We entered the room where all that was mortal of poor L. E. L. was stretched upon the bed. Dr. Cobbold rose up from a close examination of her face, and told us all was over; she was beyond recovery. My heart would not believe it; it seemed impossible that she from whom I had parted not many hours ago, so full of life and energy, could be so suddenly struck down. I seized her hand, and gazed upon her face. The expression was calm and meaningless. Her eyes were open, fixed, and protruding.

"All that could be elicited, upon the strictest investigation, was simply this: It appeared that she had risen and left her husband's bed-room about seven o'clock in the morning, and proceeded to her own dressing-room, which was up a short flight of stairs, and entered by a separate door from that leading to the bed-room. Before proceeding to dress, she had occupied herself an hour and a half in writing letters. She then called her servant, Mrs. Bailey, and sent her to a store-room to fetch some pomatum. Mrs. Bailey was absent only a few minutes. When she returned she found difficulty in opening the door, on account of a weight which appeared to be pressing against it. This she discovered to be the body of her mistress. She pushed it aside, and found that she was senseless. She immediately called Mr. Maclean. Dr. Cobbold was sent for; but from the first moment of the discovery of the body on the floor there had

not appeared any symptom of life. Mrs. Bailey farther asserted that she found a small phial in the hand of the deceased, which she removed and placed upon the toilet-table. Mrs. Maclean had appeared well when she sent her to fetch the pomatum. She had observed in her no appearance of unhappiness. Mr. Maclean stated that his wife had left him about seven o'clock in the morning, and that he had never seen her again in life. When he was called to her dressing-room, he found her dead upon the floor. After some time, he observed a small phial upon the toilet-table, and asked Mrs. Bailey where it had come from. She told him that she found it in Mrs. Maclean's hand. This phial had contained Scheele's preparation of prussic acid. His wife had been in the habit of using it for severe fits or spasms, to which she was subject. She had made use of it once on the passage from England to his knowledge. He was greatly averse to her having such a dangerous medicine, and wished to throw it overboard. She entreated him not to do so, as she must die without it. There had been no quarrel nor unkindness between him and his wife. Dr. Cobbold, who had been requested to make a post mortem examination, did not consider it at all necessary to do so, as he felt persuaded she had died by prussic acid. He was led to this conclusion from the appearance of the eyes of the deceased; and he believed he could detect the smell of the prussic acid about her person. My own evidence proved that I had parted with Mr. and Mrs. Maclean at a very late hour on the evening before, and that they appeared then on the happiest terms with each other. There was found upon her writing-desk a letter not yet folded, which she had written that morning, the ink of which was scarcely dry at the time of the discovery of her death. This letter was read at the inquest. It was for Mrs. Fagan, upon whom she had wished me to call. It was written in a cheerful spirit, and gave no indication of unhappiness. In the postscript-the last words she ever wrote-she recommended me to the kind attentions of her friend. With the evidence before them, it was impossible for the jury to entertain for one instant the idea that the unfortunate lady had willfully destroyed herself. On the

cause.

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other hand, considering the evidence respecting the phial, her habit of making use of this dangerous medicine, and the decided opinion of the doctor that her death was caused by it, it seemed equally clear that they must attribute her death to this The verdict, therefore, was, that she died from an overdose of Scheele's preparation of prussic acid, taken inadvertently. In those warm latitudes interment follows death with a haste which often cruelly shocks the feelings Mrs. Maclean was buried the same evening, within the precincts of the castle. Mr. Topp read the funeral service, and the whole of the residents assisted at the solemn ceremony. The grave was lined with walls of brick and mortar, with an arch over the coffin. Soon after the conclusion of the service, one of those heavy showers only known in tropical climates suddenly came on. All departed for their houses. I remained to see the arch completed. The bricklayers were obliged to get a covering to protect them and their work from the rain. Night had come on before the paving-stones were all put down over the grave, and the workmen finished their business by torchlight. How sadly yet does that night of gloom return to my remembrance! How sad were then my thoughts, as, wrapped up in my cloak, I stood beside the grave of L. E. L. under that pitiless torrent of rain! I fancied what would be the thoughts of thousands in England if they could see and know the meaning of that flickering light, of those busy workmen, and of that silent watcher! I thought of yesterday, when at the same time I was taking my seat beside her at dinner, and now-oh, how very, very sad the change!"

Mr. Cruickshank further observes: "It was also afterward proved that Mrs. Bailey, upon her return to England, with the view of attracting attention to herself and gaining notoriety, had made some flagrantly false statements in reference to this event, and that she was altogether a person undeserving of credit. I then remembered that she had made no mention of the phial having been in Mrs. Maclean's hand until some time after she had found her mistress on the floor, and only then in answer to a question from Mr. Maclean; and it occurred to me that such a suspicious circumstance as a phial being found in the hand

of a person suddenly deceased could not fail to be immediately noticed and mentioned without any inquiry. These considerations induced me to discredit Mrs. Bailey's testimony altogether, and to believe that the phial had not been found in Mrs. Maclean's hand at all."*

In regard to the preceding account, there are some matters to be observed.

There is a great discrepancy in the accounts given by Mrs. Bailey and Mr. Cruickshank as to the interval between Mrs. Bailey leaving her mistress writing and her (Mrs. Bailey's) return to Mrs. Maclean's room. There is a discrepancy, also, in the reasons given for Mrs. Bailey's leaving the room after her first entrance that morning. Mr. Cruickshank says, "Mrs. Bailey was absent only a few minutes;" she had been called by Mrs. Maclean, "and sent to a store-room to fetch some pomatum." Mrs. Bailey, on the other hand, deposed at the inquest that "she had seen her mistress about half an hour before (the catastrophe); that Mrs. Maclean told her to retire, and she would send for her when she wanted to dress."

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Mrs. Bailey deposed that, "on again entering the room, she found an empty bottle in her (Mrs. Maclean's) hand, labeled acid. hydrocyanicum ;' "and Mr. Cruickshank says circumstances induced him "to believe the phial had not been found in Mrs. Maclean's hand at all."

Now Mr. Cobbold, the surgeon of the castle, deposed at the inquest that, on being called to attend Mrs. Maclean," he found her perfectly insensible, with the pupils of both eyes much dilated, and fancied he could detect a slight pulsation of the heart, but very feeble, and which ceased a very short time after his arrival.". . . . . . He was of opinion "that death was caused by the improper use of the medicine, the bottle of which was found in her hand...... The body, after death, was perfectly natural. . . . . . was so fully convinced that the medicine was the cause of her death, he did not think it necessary to open the body."

* Eighteen Years in the Gold Coast of Africa, including an Account of the Native Tribes and their Intercourse with Europeans. By Brodie Cruickshank 2 vols. Hurst and Blackett.