of Tom. "I've just left your sister," said he;
"she's quite well--sends her love to you, and all that sort of thing,
and wonders you have not been to see her. I told her you were going to
Birmingham:--by the way, when do you start?"--"At five o'clock; but I
wanted to see you before I went--how lucky I met you!"

Shipp heard no more, for he stood pondering on all that had passed under
his notice, irresolute how to act. His first thought was to return
immediately to Cheshire, and inform the young woman of the precipice on
which she stood. A moment's reflection convinced him of the
impracticability of this attempt, for he knew not her name or residence.
His next impulse was to follow the brother, and inform him of the snare
which had been laid for his sister. He turned, and followed in the
direction which the pair had taken, but he was unable to find them. His
next resolve, though not perhaps the most prudent that could have been
adopted, was exceedingly accordant with his character and disposition.

It was his habit, when going his nightly rounds, to wear a rough
overcoat of coarse blue cloth, and a broad-brimmed varnished hat,
similar to those frequently worn by boatmen. Dressed in this guise, a
few minutes before one o'clock, in the morning succeeding the afternoon
just adverted to, he walked along George's Pier. The night was moonless,
but not dark. The river was almost unruffled, though the faint light
cast by the stars into the atmosphere was reflected in long lines upon
the slight swell of the incoming tide. As he approached the steps, he
discerned a boat in which four men were seated. His quick eye
discovered that, as he had hoped, it was not a ship's boat, but one of
the regular river craft. He began to descend the steps, when one of the
boatmen exclaimed, "Is that you, Captain?"--"No," replied Shipp, coolly
stepping into the boat, and seating himself in her bows, "but he'll be
here immediately." The men, thinking he had been sent by the person who
had employed them, made no remark. Presently footsteps were heard
passing rapidly along the pier; the Captain, as the men called him,
descended the steps, sprung into the boat, and, not observing Shipp, or,
if he did so, thinking, from his position and appearance, that he was
one of the regular crew, ordered the men to "push off, and pull away
with a will." The men pulled with lusty sinews, and, in about half an
hour, laid the boat alongside the pier at Birkenhead. "Ho