before he was eight years of age, and his
aspiring spirit longed to take a wider flight.

"I want to go to sea, father," said he one evening after tea, looking in
his father's face with much more of the leonine gaze than the father had
bargained for. His training up to that point had been almost too
successful!

This was not the first time that the boy had stated the same wish; his
gaze, therefore, did not quail when his father looked up from his
newspaper and said sternly--"Fiddlesticks, boy! hold your tongue."

"Father," repeated Will, in a tone that caused Mr Osten to lay down his
paper, "I want to go to sea."

"Then the sooner you give up the idea the better, for I won't let you."

"Father," continued Will, "you remember the proverb that you've often
told me has been your motto through life, `Never venture never win?'"

"Certainly; you know that I have often urged you to act on that
principle at school. Why do you ask the question?"

"Because I mean to act on it now, and go to sea," replied Will firmly.

"What? without permission, without clothes, and without money; for you
shan't have a six-pence from me?"

"Yes," replied Will.

Mr Osten was one of those stern, despotic men who cannot bear to be
thwarted. He was a rich merchant, and almost the king of the little
town in which he dwelt. His greatest ambition was to make his only son
a thorough man of business. To be spoken to in such a tone by that
rebellious son was too much for him. He lost his temper, leaped up,
and, seizing Will by the collar, thrust him out of the room.

The boy ran to his own bedroom, and, seating himself in front of the
dressing-table, hit that piece of furniture with his clenched fist so
violently that all its contents leaped up and rattled.

"Dear, dear Will," said a gentle voice at his side, while a loving hand
fell on his shoulder, "why do you frown so fiercely?"

"How can I help it, mother, when he treats me like that? He is harsh
and unfair to me."

"Not so unfair as you think, dear Will," said his mother.

We will not detail the arguments by which the good lady sought to combat
her son's desires. Suffice it to say that she succeeded--as only
mothers know how--in lulling the lion to sleep at that time, and in
awakening the lamb. Wandering Will went back to school with a good
grace, and gave up all idea of going to sea.

CHAPTER TWO.

RECORDS A SUDDEN DEPARTURE, AND MARYANN'S OPINION THEREON.

There is