dling with
it?" demanded her father, verifying the fact by his watch.

Miss Nugent shook her head. "It's gained that since you regulated it
last night," she said, with a smile.

The captain threw himself into an easy-chair, and with one eye on the
clock, waited until, at five minutes to the hour by the right time, a
clatter of crockery sounded from the kitchen, and Bella, still damp, came
in with the tray. Her eye was also on the clock, and she smirked weakly
in the captain's direction as she saw that she was at least two minutes
ahead of time. At a minute to the hour the teapot itself was on the
tray, and the heavy breathing of the handmaiden in the kitchen was
audible to all.

"Punctual to the minute, John," said Mrs. Kingdom, as she took her seat
at the tray. "It's wonderful how that girl has improved since you've
been at home. She isn't like the same girl."

She raised the teapot and, after pouring out a little of the contents,
put it down again and gave it another two minutes. At the end of that
time, the colour being of the same unsatisfactory paleness, she set the
pot down and was about to raise the lid when an avalanche burst into the
room and, emptying some tea into the pot from a canister-lid, beat a
hasty re-treat.

"Good tea and well-trained servants," muttered the captain to his plate.
"What more can a man want?"

Mrs. Kingdom coughed and passed his cup; Miss Nugent, who possessed a
healthy appetite, serenely attacked her bread and butter; conversation
languished.

"I suppose you've heard the news, John?" said his sister.

"I daresay I have," was the reply.

"Strange he should come back after all these years," said Mrs. Kingdom;
"though, to be sure, I don't know why he shouldn't. It's his native
place, and his father lives here."

"Who are you talking about?" inquired the captain.

"Why, James Hardy," replied his sister. "I thought you said you had
heard. He's coming back to Sunwich and going into partnership with old
Swann, the shipbroker. A very good thing for him, I should think."

"I'm not interested in the doings of the Hardys," said the captain,
gruffly.

"I'm sure I'm not," said his sister, defensively.

Captain Nugent proceeded with his meal in silence. His hatred of Hardy
had not been lessened by the success which had attended that gentleman's
career, and was not likely to be improved by the well-being of Hardy
junior. He passed his cup for some more tea, and, with a f