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Nothing of importance occurred to any of the personages of our

story before the following autumn, when Agnes and Lucy expected

to meet again; but a great public event disappointed this hope.

Other events followed, which produced no material change in their

destiny. Then occurred new misfortunes, powerful and

overwhelming, coming upon them like a hurricane, which

impetuously tears up and scatters every object in its way,

sweeping the land, and bearing off, with its irresistible and

mighty power, every vestige of peace and prosperity. That the

particular facts which remain to be related may not appear

obscure, we must recur for awhile to the farther recital of

general facts.

CHAPTER XXVIII.