a
quiet joke; for the giddy and careless a word of warning, which came
with good effect from one whom all respected. At the cottages of the
poor she was always a welcome visitor, while at the houses of the more
wealthy she was treated with courtesy and kindness; and many a housewife
who might have been doubtful about buying fish that day, when the dame
and her granddaughter arrived, made up her mind to assist in lightening
Nelly's creel by selecting some of its contents.

The dame, as her own load decreased, would always insist on taking some
of her granddaughter's, deeming that the little maiden had enough to do
to trot on so many miles by her side, without having to carry a burden
on her back in addition. Nelly would declare that she did not feel the
weight, but the sturdy old dame generally gained her point, though she
might consent to replenish Nelly's basket before entering the town, for
some of their customers preferred the fish which the bright little
damsel offered them for sale to those in her grandmother's creel.

Thus, though their daily toil was severe, and carried on under summer's
sun, or autumn's gales, and winter's rain and sleet, they themselves
were ever cheerful and contented, and seldom failed to return home with
empty creels and well-filled purses.

Paul Trefusis might thus have been able to lay by a store for the time
when the dame could no longer trudge over the country as she had
hitherto done, and he unable to put off with nets or lines to catch
fish; but often for weeks together the gales of that stormy coast
prevented him from venturing to sea, and the vegetables and potatoes
produced in his garden, and the few fish he and Michael could catch in
the harbour, were insufficient to support their little household, so
that at the end of each year Paul found himself no richer than at the
beginning.

While Nelly and her grandmother and the other women of the village were
employed in selling the fish, the men had plenty of occupation during
the day in drying and mending their nets, and repairing their boats,
while some time was required to obtain the necessary sleep of which
their nightly toil had deprived them. Those toilers of the sea were
seldom idle. When bad weather prevented them from going far from the
coast, they fished with lines, or laid down their lobster-pots among the
rocks close inshore, while occasionally a few fish were to be caught in
the waters of their little harbour. Most