air of trousers, and every darn in a stocking, had been
examined, and its probable effect on the value of the garment duly
estimated. The only thing that had escaped her scrutiny was a small till,
that was locked. Into that she could not look, and there were moments when
she would have parted with a finger in order to overhaul it.

"This jacket might sell for a dollar," had the Widow White calculated,
"but for the hole in the elbow; and, that well patched, would bring
seventy-five cents. Them trowsers must have cost two dollars, but they
ar'n't worth half price now. That pee-jacket is the best article in the
chest, and, sent across to the Harbour, about the time the ships are going
out, it would bring enough to maintain Daggett a month!"

Such had been the character of the widow's visitations to the chest,
though no one knew anything of her discoveries, not even her
sister-relict, neighbour Stone.

"Here is the key," said the deacon, producing that instrument from the
drawer of a table, as if he had laid it carefully aside for some such
moment, "I dare say it will be found to fit, for I remember to have seen
Daggett use it once or twice myself."

Roswell Gardiner, as the youngest man, and the one on whom the labouring
oar ought to fall, now took the key, applied it to the lock, turned it
without difficulty, and then lifted the lid. Disappointment appeared on
every face but that of the deacon, at the meagre prospect before the
company. Not only was the chest more than half empty, but the articles it
did contain were of the coarsest materials; well worn sea-clothes that had
seen their best days, and which had never been more than the coarse common
attire of a foremast hand.

"There is little here to pay a man for crossing from the Vineyard,"
observed Roswell Gardiner, a little drily; for he did not half like the
appearance of cupidity that shone through the nephew's tardy concern for
the fate of the uncle. "The last voyage has not been prosperous, I fear,
or the owners failed before the vessel got in! What is to be done with all
this dunnage, deacon?"

"It would be best to take out the contents, article by article," answered
the other, "and examine each and all. Now that we have made a beginning
with the inventory, it is best to go through with it."

The young man obeyed calling out the name of each article of dress, as he
raised it from its receptacle, and passing it over to him who stood there
in the character of