ork on the model of a ship. All round the neighborhood he was
known, far and wide, as "the admiral's coxswain." His name was Mazey.
Sixty years had written their story of hard work at sea, and hard
drinking on shore, on the veteran's grim and wrinkled face. Sixty years
had proved his fidelity, and had brought his battered old carcass, at
the end of the voyage, into port in his master's house.

Seeing no one else of whom she could inquire, Magdalen requested the old
man to show her the way that led to the housekeeper's room.

"I'll show you, my dear," said old Mazey, speaking in the high and
hollow voice peculiar to the deaf. "You're the new maid--eh? And a
fine-grown girl, too! His honor, the admiral, likes a parlor-maid with a
clean run fore and aft. You'll do, my dear--you'll do."

"You must not mind what Mr. Mazey says to you," remarked t he
housekeeper, opening her door as the old sailor expressed his approval
of Magdalen in these terms. "He is privileged to t alk as he pleases;
and he is very tiresome and slovenly in his habits; but he means no
harm."

With that apology for the veteran, Mrs. Drake led Magdalen first to
the pantry, and next to the linen-room, installing her, with all due
formality, in her own domestic dominions. This ceremony completed, the
new parlor-maid was taken upstairs, and was shown the dining-room, which
opened out of the corridor on the first floor. Here she was directed to
lay the cloth, and to prepare the table for one person only--Mr. George
Bartram not having returned with his uncle to St. Crux. Mrs. Drake's
sharp eyes watched Magdalen attentively as she performed this
introductory duty; and Mrs. Drake's private convictions, when the table
was spread, forced her to acknowledge, so far, that the new servant
thoroughly understood her work.

An hour later the soup-tureen was placed on the table; and Magdalen
stood alone behind the admiral's empty chair, waiting her master's first
inspection of her when he entered the dining-room.

A large bell rang in the lower regions--quick, shambling footsteps
pattered on the stone corridor outside--the door opened suddenly--and a
tall lean yellow old man, sharp as to his eyes, shrewd as to his lips,
fussily restless as to all his movements, entered the room, with two
huge Labrador dogs at his heels, and took his seat in a violent hurry.
The dogs followed him, and placed themselves, with the utmost gravity
and composure, one on each side of his ch