unfortunate man, "I--I--in fact--you
have so often told me that you did not believe in God that I fancied--
I--wondered--"

"Really, Mr Grinder, I must beg of you to confine your remarks in
future entirely to matters of business. The so-called religious
observations which you sometimes venture to make in my presence are
extremely distasteful, I assure you. In explanation of what I said,
however, I may tell you that this letter informs me of my daughter's
safety, and I merely used the expression of satisfaction that is usual
on such occasions. The phrase, as it is generally understood (except by
weak men), commits me to nothing more. But enough of this. I find that
the _Water Lily_ has indeed been lost. It was fully insured, I
believe?"

"Yes, sir, it was."

"Very well; report the matter without delay. I will go to Covelly
to-night, and shall probably be back to-morrow."

Saying this, Mr Webster left the office, and, on the evening of that
day, found himself seated in Captain Boyns's parlour, with little Annie
on his knee. Her pretty head was on his shoulder, her fair curls
straggled over his chest, and her round little arms tightly encircled
his large body as far as they could reach, while she sobbed on his bosom
and kissed him by turns.

This was quite a new experience in the life of the gold-lover. He had
declined to submit to familiar caresses in former years, but on such an
occasion as the present, he felt that common propriety demanded the
sacrifice of himself to some extent. He therefore allowed Annie to kiss
him, and found the operation--performed as she did it--much more
bearable than he had anticipated; and when Annie exclaimed with a burst
of enthusiasm, "Oh, dear, dear papa, I did feel such a dreadful longing
for you when the waves were roaring round us!" and gave him another
squeeze, he felt that the market price of the bundle of goods on his
knee was rising rapidly.

"Did you think you were going to be drowned, dear?" said Mr Webster
with the air of a man who does not know very well what to say.

"I'm not sure what I thought," replied Annie smiling through her tears.
"Oh, I was so frightened! You can't think, papa, how very dreadful it
is to see the water boiling all round, and sometimes over you; and such
awful thumping of the ship, and then the masts breaking; but what I
feared most was to see the faces of the sailors, they were so white, and
they looked as if they were afraid. Are me