him. He did not attempt to intrude upon her
reserve, but every now and then looked under the table and chuckled with
satisfaction at the aspect of affairs. 'How very well matched we be!' he
said, comfortably.

Next day, when the steamer came in, Baptista saw her husband rush down to
meet it; and soon after there appeared at her door four tall, hipless,
shoulderless girls, dwindling in height and size from the eldest to the
youngest, like a row of Pan pipes; at the head of them standing Heddegan.
He smiled pleasantly through the grey fringe of his whiskers and beard,
and turning to the girls said, 'Now come forrard, and shake hands
properly with your stepmother.'

Thus she made their acquaintance, and he went out, leaving them together.
On examination the poor girls turned out to be not only plain-looking,
which she could have forgiven, but to have such a lamentably meagre
intellectual equipment as to be hopelessly inadequate as companions. Even
the eldest, almost her own age, could only read with difficulty words of
two syllables; and taste in dress was beyond their comprehension. In the
long vista of future years she saw nothing but dreary drudgery at her
detested old trade without prospect of reward.

She went about quite despairing during the next few days--an unpromising,
unfortunate mood for a woman who had not been married six weeks. From
her parents she concealed everything. They had been amongst the few
acquaintances of Heddegan who knew nothing of his secret, and were
indignant enough when they saw such a ready-made household foisted upon
their only child. But she would not support them in their remonstrances.

'No, you don't yet know all,' she said.

Thus Baptista had sense enough to see the retributive fairness of this
issue. For some time, whenever conversation arose between her and
Heddegan, which was not often, she always said, 'I am miserable, and you
know it. Yet I don't wish things to be otherwise.'

But one day when he asked, 'How do you like 'em now?' her answer was
unexpected. 'Much better than I did,' she said, quietly. 'I may like
them very much some day.'

This was the beginning of a serener season for the chastened spirit of
Baptista Heddegan. She had, in truth, discovered, underneath the crust
of uncouthness and meagre articulation which was due to their
Troglodytean existence, that her unwelcomed daughters had natures that
were unselfish almost to sublimity. The harsh disci