ward in a gale," Mr. Atherton said
gravely. "Shifting ballast is a most useful thing, although they have
abolished it in yacht-racing. I was once in a canoe, down by Borneo,
when a heavy squall struck us. I was sitting in the bottom of the boat
when we saw it coming, and had just time to get up and sit on the
weather gunwale when it struck us. If it had not been for me nothing
could have saved the boat from capsizing. As it was it stood up as stiff
as a rock, though, I own, I nearly drowned them all when the blow was
over, for it stopped as suddenly as it began, and the boat as nearly as
possible capsized with my weight. Indeed it would have done so
altogether if it hadn't heeled over so sharply that I was chucked
backwards into the sea. Fortunately the helmsman made a grab at me as I
went past, and I managed to scramble on board again. Not that I should
have sunk for I can float like a cork; but there are a good many sharks
cruising about in those waters, and it is safer inside a boat than it is
out. You see, Miss Renshaw, there are advantages in being stout. I
should not wonder if your brother got just my size one day. My figure
was very much like his once."

"Oh, I hope not!" Marion exclaimed. "That would be dreadful! No; I don't
mean that," she went on hurriedly as Mr. Atherton's face assumed an
expression of shocked surprise. "I mean that, although of course there
may be many advantages in being stout, there are advantages in being
thin too."

"I admit that," Mr. Atherton agreed; "but look at the disadvantages. A
stout man escapes being sent trotted about on messages. Nobody would
think of asking him to climb a ladder. He is not expected to dance. The
thin man is squeezed into any odd corner; and is not treated with half
the consideration that is given to a fat man. He worries about trifles,
and has none of the quiet contentment that characterizes stout people.
A stout man's food always agrees with him, or else he would not be
stout; while the thin man suffers indigestion, dyspepsia, and perhaps
jaundice. You see, my dear young lady, that almost all the advantages
are on our side. Of course you will say I could not climb a ladder, but
then I do not want to climb a ladder. I could not make the ascent of
Matterhorn; but it is much more pleasant to sit at the bottom and see
fools do it. I could not very well ride a horse unless it were a
dray-horse; but then I have no partiality for horse exercise. Altogether
I thin