nt. "She'll have a Chinaman and a Biddy
to help her," he said quickly. Then recollecting the tastes of his
comrades, he added, half apologetically, half cautiously, "Ef she could,
now and then, throw herself into a lemming pie or a pot of doughnuts,
jest in a motherly kind o' way, it would please the boys."

"Perhaps you can arrange that, too," returned the manager, "but I shall
have to broach the whole subject to her, and you had better call again
to-morrow, when I will give you her answer."

"Ye kin say," said Prosper, lightly fingering his massive gold chain and
somewhat vaguely recalling the language of advertisement, "that she kin
have the comforts of a home and no questions asked, and fifty dollars a
month."

Rejoiced at the easy progress of his plan, and half inclined to believe
himself a miracle of cautious diplomacy, Prosper, two days later,
accompanied the manager to the cottage on Telegraph Hill where the
relict of the late Captain Pottinger lamented the loss of her spouse, in
full view of the sea he had so often tempted. On their way thither the
manager imparted to Prosper how, according to hearsay, that lamented
seaman had carried into the domestic circle those severe habits
of discipline which had earned for him the prefix of "Bully" and
"Belaying-pin" Pottinger during his strenuous life. "They say that
though she is very quiet and resigned, she once or twice stood up to the
captain; but that's not a bad quality to have, in a rough community, as
I presume yours is, and would insure her respect."

Ushered at last into a small tank-like sitting room, whose chief
decorations consisted of large abelone shells, dried marine algae,
coral, and a swordfish's broken weapon, Prosper's disturbed fancy
discovered the widow, sitting, apparently, as if among her husband's
remains at the bottom of the sea. She had a dejected yet somewhat ruddy
face; her hair was streaked with white, but primly disposed over her
ears like lappets, and her garb was cleanly but sombre. There was no
doubt but that she was a lugubrious figure, even to Prosper's optimistic
and inexperienced mind. He could not imagine her as beaming on his
hearth! It was with some alarm that, after the introduction had been
completed, he beheld the manager take his leave. As the door closed,
the bashful Prosper felt the murky eyes of the widow fixed upon him. A
gentle cough, accompanied with the resigned laying of a black mittened
hand upon her chest, sugge