situated in four different rooms; and which room was the likeliest to
look in, which receptacle was the most promising to begin with, which
position among other heaps of papers the one paper needful might
be expected to occupy, was more than she could say. Hemmed in by
immeasurable uncertainties on every side; condemned, as it were, to
wander blindfold on the very brink of success, she waited for the chance
that never came, for the event that never happened, with a patience
which was sinking already into the patience of despair.

Night after night she looked back over the vanished days, and not an
event rose on her memory to distinguish them one from the other. The
only interruptions to the weary uniformity of the life at St. Crux were
caused by the characteristic delinquencies of old Mazey and the dogs.

At certain intervals, the original wildness broke out in the natures of
Brutus and Cassius. The modest comforts of home, the savory charms of
made dishes, the decorous joy of digestions accomplished on hearth-rugs,
lost all their attractions, and the dogs ungratefully left the house to
seek dissipation and adventure in the outer world. On these occasions
the established after-dinner formula of question and answer between old
Mazey and his master varied a little in one particular. "God bless
the Queen, Mazey," and "How's the wind, Mazey?" were followed by a new
inquiry: "Where are the dogs, Mazey?" "Out on the loose, your honor,
and be damned to 'em," was the veteran's unvarying answer. The admiral
always sighed and shook his head gravely at the news, as if Brutus and
Cassius had been sons of his own, who treated him with a want of proper
filial respect. In two or three days' time the dogs always returned,
lean, dirty, and heartily ashamed of themselves. For the whole of the
next day they were invariably tied up in disgrace. On the day after they
were scrubbed clean, and were formally re-admitted to the dining-room.
There, Civilization, acting through the subtle medium of the Saucepan,
recovered its hold on them; and the admiral's two prodigal sons, when
they saw the covers removed, watered at the mouth as copiously as ever.

Old Mazey, in his way, proved to be just as disreputably inclined on
certain occasions as the dogs. At intervals, the original wildness in
_his_ nature broke out; he, too, lost all relish for the comforts of
home, and ungratefully left the house. He usually disappeared in the
afternoon, and return