My pusillanimity still clung to this wretched existence.

I abruptly retired from the scene, and, repairing to the port, embarked in the first vessel which appeared.

The ship chanced to belong to Wilmington, in Delaware, and here I sought out an obscure and cheap abode.
"I possessed no means of subsistence.

I was unknown to my neighbours, and desired to remain unknown.

I was unqualified for manual labour by all the habits of my life; but there was no choice between penury and diligence,--between honest labour and criminal inactivity.