Clatterby, where, in a burst of tears, she related her misadventures to
Netta. It need scarcely be said that Netta did not blame her old and
faithful nurse. Her disposition was of that mild sympathetic nature
which induces one,--when an accident occurs, such as the breaking of a
valuable piece of china,--to hasten to excuse rather than to abuse the
unhappy breaker, who, in nine cases out of ten, is far more severely
punished by his or her own conscience than the sin deserves! Instead,
therefore, of blaming the nurse, Netta soothed her; said that it did not
matter _much_; that the ring was valuable to her only as a gift from her
father; that no doubt some other means of paying their debts would soon
be devised; that it would have been an absolute miracle, if nurse had
retained her self-possession, in the terrible circumstances, in which
she had been placed, and in fact tried so earnestly and touchingly to
comfort her, that she unintentionally heaped coals of intensest fire on
the poor woman's head, and caused Mrs Durby not only to blame herself
more than ever, but to throw her arms round Netta's neck, and all but
fall down on her knees and worship her.

Thereafter the subject was dismissed, and in a short time almost
forgotten.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

DESCRIBES ENGINEERING DIFFICULTIES, A PERPLEXING CASE, AND A HARMONIOUS
MEETING.

Captain Lee's object in visiting London was twofold. He went there
primarily to attend the half-yearly general meeting of the Grand
National Trunk Railway, and secondarily, to accompany his friend Edwin
Gurwood to the Railway Clearing-House, in which establishment he had
been fortunate enough to secure for him a situation.

The various circumstances which contributed to the bringing about of an
intimacy between Captain Lee and young Gurwood are partly known to the
reader. It was natural that the captain should feel some sort of regard
for one who had twice shown himself so ready to spring to his assistance
in the hour of danger; but that which weighed still more strongly with
the old sailor--who had been a strict disciplinarian and loved a zealous
man--was the energy, with which Edwin threw himself into the work of the
department of the railway, in which he had first been placed. Perhaps
if the captain had known the motives and the hopes which actuated the
youth he might have regarded him with very different feelings! We know
not--and it matters little now.

As a clerk in the En