hed up with a week in the Scilly Isles. Making St. Mary's our
centre, we had rowed and waded to St. Martin's and St. Agnes', to Tresco
and Bryer and Samson and Annet, to Great Ganilly and Great Arthur, to
Gweal and Illiswilgis, and a host of other places in that shattered and
scattered heap of granite which forms the outstanding sentinel of our
far western coast. The weather had been perfect. But now, having cleared
the road and rounded St. Mary's, we were met by this thick mist, swaying
down upon us like a vast curtain, and quickly enveloping us in its
vapoury folds.

"You'll want a new topper, John, when we reach Penzance," said Syd, as
he noted how the moisture was ruffling the silk and dimming its gloss.
He laughed as he said it, but, in the silence, his laugh seemed to be an
intrusion.

"You're mistaken, Syd," he replied; and, as he took off his hat and
surveyed it, he continued, "In all weathers, there's no head gear so
durable, and therefore so economical, as a good silk chimney-pot; and
certainly there's nothing in the way of a _chapeau_ so comfortable and
becoming."

"Tastes differ," said I.

"They do," answered John, "and I speak about my own. I've tried others.
Oh, yes, I have," said he, as we looked at him incredulously, "and I
speak from experience. I tell you, they're cheap, if you will only give
enough for them. Why, I know an old fellow who has worn the very same
tile, in all weathers, for fifteen years; it has been in the height of
fashion twice in that time, and it will soon come in again; and it is a
very decent thing yet when it has been newly pressed and ironed."

"I prefer my deerstalker," said Syd.

"And I my golfer," said I.

"Which shows very plainly that your sartorial education has been
neglected," returned John, "and I pity you. You are not living up to
your privileges, and, worse still, you are unaware of the privileges you
might live up to. But, I say, this is a sneezer!" and he looked about
him into the fog, which was becoming denser every minute. "They're
lessening the pace. I suppose it wouldn't do to drive along through this
thick stuff. We might reach an unexpected terminus. What say you? Shall
we go on the bridge?"

"The captain may not allow us," said I.

"Pooh! I know the cap. He's a forty-second cousin of mine. Come along.
I'll introduce you now that we are out of the narrows and in the open
sea."

"It seems to me as if the sea were shut," whispered Syd, as we followed