on board. Happening to meet the man the other day, I mentioned
your matter to him. He is a very sharp-witted man, and one whose
accuracy of observation I should trust implicitly, even if his own
interests were involved. Well, he said that on board of the steam-ship
_Talisman_, now lying off Gravesend, he saw that very day a woman among
the steerage emigrants who answered to my description exactly, and added
that he had heard her spoken of as the wife of a somewhat dissipated
man, who had all the appearance of a seafaring person, named Richards.
Of course I attach no importance to the name, as you say you never knew
it, but his being a sailor-like man, and the fact that he was probably
beneath his wife in station, coupled with the correct description of the
wife, while it does not justify our being too sanguine, raises our
hopes, you see--"

"I see, I see--yes. I beg that you will give me the agent's name and
address," cried the captain, whose hopes, despite the guarded and
cautious statements of the solicitor, had been raised to the highest
point.

"Here is his name, with the part of the river where you are to meet
him," said the calm man of law, handing his client a slip of paper; "but
let me, my dear sir, impress on you the advisability of not allowing
yourself to become too sanguine. Disappointments are invariably more
severe in cases where expectations have been too high; and I fear that
you may be already building too trustfully upon the very slender
foundation supplied by this information."

Admitting the force of this truism, and putting the slip of paper in his
purse, Captain Bream bade his solicitor good-bye, with many
protestations of undying gratitude, and left the room with the highest
possible hopes of success.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

IN THE MISSION BOAT ON THE THAMES--THE DAMPING OF THE BODY CANNOT DAMP
THE ARDENT SPIRIT.

Next morning Captain Bream accompanied the lay-missionary to Gravesend,
where they took a boat and put off to the emigrant ship.

Great was the captain's satisfaction to find that his companion had been
a sailor, and could talk to him--in nautical language too--about
seafaring matters and distant climes.

"It is a good work in which you are engaged," he said; "are you going to
preach to 'em?"

"No, only to distribute Testaments, tracts, and good books--though I may
preach if I get the chance. My work lies chiefly among emigrants and
boat and barge men, but I also do