t they met,
and that the Captain--with that delicacy of feeling so noticeable in
seafaring men--went outside the cottage door and smoked his pipe while
the meeting was in progress. After having given sufficient time, as he
said, "for the first o' the squall to blow over," he summarily snubbed
his pipe, put it into his vest pocket, and re-entered.

"Now, missus, you'll excuse me, ma'am, for cuttin' in atween you, but
this business o' the Leathers is pressin', an' if we are to hold a
confabulation wi' the family about it, why--"

"Ah, to be sure, Captain Stride is right," said Mrs Brooke, turning to
her stalwart son, who was seated on the sofa beside her. "This is a
very, _very_ sad business about poor Shank. You had better go to them,
Charlie. I will follow you in a short time."

"Mr Crossley is with them at this moment. I forgot to say so, mother."

"Is he? I'm _very_ glad of that," returned the widow. "He has been a
true friend to us all. Go, Charlie. But stay. I see May coming. The
dear child always comes to me when there is anything good or sorrowful
to tell. But she comes from the wrong direction. Perhaps she does not
yet know of Mr Crossley's arrival."

"May! Can it be?" exclaimed Charlie in an undertone of surprise as he
observed, through the window, the girl who approached.

And well might he be surprised, for this, although the same May, was
very different from the girl he left behind him. The angles of girlhood
had given place to the rounded lines of young womanhood. The rich curly
brown hair, which used to whirl wildly in the sea-breezes, was gathered
up in a luxuriant mass behind her graceful head, and from the forehead
it was drawn back in two wavy bands, in defiance of fashion, which at
that time was beginning to introduce the detestable modern fringe.
Perhaps we are not quite un-biassed in our judgment of the said fringe,
far it is intimately associated in our mind with the savages of North
America, whose dirty red faces, in years past, were wont to glower at us
from beneath just such a fringe, long before it was adopted by the fair
dames of England!

In other respects, however, May was little changed, except that the
slightest curl of sadness about her eyebrows made her face more
attractive than ever, as she nodded pleasantly to the Captain, who had
hastened to the door to meet her.

"So glad to see you, Captain Stride," she said, shaking hands with
unfeminine heartiness. "Have y