elbows resting on his knees. For some minutes both were silent, until
the old man said, in a thick, husky voice--

"Yes, I shot 'Nep'--shot him with my own hand. It wor cruel and wicked
of me to do the like, but I wor mad--stark staring mad, and who's to
blame? You see, my lady, he wor with us that terrible Saturday night,
when we went off to put the pilot on board the brig _Sally_, from
Shields. Comin' back it wor pitch dark, an' the sea runnin' mountains
high, Sam Masters ran the boat plump upon the pier, an' we wor upset on
the bar. Nep saved Sam Masters and Ben Hardy, but he let my Harry drown.
I never rebelled agin' the providence of God till then; but I trust
He'll forgive what the old man said in his mortal distress. Instead of
thanking Him, when I sor that so many wor safe, an' encouragin' Nep for
having saved two on 'em, I cursed the dog for an ungrateful brute for
saving strangers, an' letting my Harry be lost. I dashed him off
whenever he'd come whining around, to lick my hands an' make friends,
an' when I got home I took down the old gun--poor Harry's gun--and
called Nep out upon the cliff an' shot him dead.

"I repented the moment I sor him drop. It wor too late then. I thought
that both Davy and Harry would have blamed me for taking the poor
brute's life--for they wor mortal fond of 'un. The next morning I wor up
by daybreak, and down to the piers in the little boat to see if I might
chance to light upon the dead body.

"The storm was over, an' in rowing 'atwixt the piers, I sor summut that
looked like the thing I sought, hanging, as it wor, to the planking of
the pier. I steered for the place, an', God o' heaven! it wor the body
of my son! He wor just two feet below the water, hanging with his head
downwards. The force of the waves had driven him upon an iron
stauncheon, which extended some distance from the pier, the woodwork to
which it belonged had been wrenched away in the storm. It had passed
right through Harry's body, and held him fast. And the dog--the poor
dog--had tried to get him off; he had dragged at his jacket and
shirt-collar, till they wor all shred to bits, and had only given over
when he found it of no use, an' then did what he could to save the rest!
An' I killed him--I, that should have fed and cherished him to his dying
day--I can never forgive myself for that."

"Do not distress yourself, Jarvis, in this way. No one will blame you
for what you did in such a distracted state of mi