o the chemists?"

"I have no means of knowing what her brother did."

"Can you at least tell me when she received your letter?"

"She must have received it on the day when she left my house."

The doctor rose with a grave face.

"These are rather extraordinary coincidences," he remarked.

I merely replied, "Mrs. Mozeen is as incapable of poisoning as I am."

The doctor wished me good-morning.

I repeat here my conviction of my housekeeper's innocence. I protest
against the cruelty which accuses her. And, whatever may have been
her motive in suddenly leaving my service, I declare that she still
possesses my sympathy and esteem, and I invite her to return to me if
she ever sees these lines.

I have only to add, by way of postscript, that we have heard of the safe
return of the expedition of rescue. Time, as my wife and I both hope,
may yet convince Rothsay that he will not be wrong in counting on
Susan's love--the love of a sister.

In the meanwhile we possess a memorial of our absent friend. We have
bought his picture.

MR. CAPTAIN AND THE NYMPH.

I.

"THE Captain is still in the prime of life," the widow remarked. "He has
given up his ship; he possesses a sufficient income, and he has nobody
to live with him. I should like to know why he doesn't marry."

"The Captain was excessively rude to Me," the widow's younger sister
added, on her side. "When we took leave of him in London, I asked if
there was any chance of his joining us at Brighton this season. He
turned his back on me as if I had mortally offended him; and he made me
this extraordinary answer: 'Miss! I hate the sight of the sea.' The
man has been a sailor all his life. What does he mean by saying that he
hates the sight of the sea?"

These questions were addressed to a third person present--and the person
was a man. He was entirely at the mercy of the widow and the widow's
sister. The other ladies of the family--who might have taken him under
their protection--had gone to an evening concert. He was known to be the
Captain's friend, and to be well acquainted with events in the
Captain's life. As it happened, he had reasons for hesitating to revive
associations connected with those events. But what polite alternative
was left to him? He must either inflict disappointment, and, worse
still, aggravate curiosity--or he must resign himself to circumstances,
and tell the ladies why the Captain would never marry, and why (sailor
as he was) he h