yes, sat gravely in the midst of them answering rapid questions.

"You've not had tea, Billy, I hope," said Ruth, rising and ringing the
bell.

"No, miss, I haven't, an' if I had, I'm always game for two teas."

Soon Billy was engaged with bread, butter, cakes, and jam, besides other
luxuries, some of which he had never even dreamed of before.

"What an excellent appetite you have!" said Jessie Seaward, scarcely
able to restrain her admiration.

"Yes, ma'am," said Billy, accepting another bun with much satisfaction,
"we usually does pretty well in the Short Blue in that way, though we
don't have sich grub as this to tickle our gums with. You see, we has a
lot o' fresh air out on the North Sea, an' it's pretty strong air too--
specially when it blows 'ard. W'y, I've seed it blow that 'ard that it
was fit to tear the masts out of us; an' once it throw'd us right over
on our beam-ends."

"On what ends, boy?" asked Mrs Dotropy, who was beginning to feel
interested in the self-sufficient little fisherman.

"Our beam-ends, ma'am. The beams as lie across under the deck, so that
w'en we gits upon _their_ ends, you know, we're pretty well flat on the
water."

"How dreadful!" exclaimed Jessie; "but when that happens how can you
walk the deck?"

"We can't walk the deck, ma'am. We has to scramble along the best way
we can, holdin' on by hands and teeth and eyelids. Thank 'ee, miss, but
I really do think I'd better not try to eat any more. I feels
chock-full already, an' it might be dangerous. There's severe laws now
against overloadin', you know."

"No such laws in this house, Billy," said Ruth, with a laugh. "But now,
if you have quite done, I should like to put a few questions to you."

"Fire away, then, Miss," said the boy, looking exceedingly grave and
wise.

"Well, Billy," began Ruth, with an eager look, "I want to know something
about your dear mother."

She hesitated at this point as if uncertain how to begin, and the boy
sought to encourage her with--"Wery good, Miss, I knows all about _her_.
What d'ee want to ax me?"

"I want to ask," said Ruth, slowly, "if you know what your mother's name
was before she was married?"

Ruth did not as the reader knows, require to ask this question, but she
put it as a sort of feeler to ascertain how far Billy might be inclined
to assist her.

"Well, now, that _is_ a stumper!" exclaimed the boy, smiting his little
thigh. "I didn't know as she had a name afore s