the ship, and to
those ladies who spoke to her on the subject, Mrs. Cox made no secret
of the fact. Men in this world catch their fish by various devices;
and it is necessary that these schemes should be much studied before
a man can call himself a fisherman. It is the same with women; and
Mrs. Cox was an Izaak Walton among her own sex. Had she not tied her
fly with skill, and thrown her line with a steady hand, she would
not have had her trout in her basket. There was a certain amount of
honour due to her for her skill, and she was not ashamed to accept
it.

"Good-night, Mrs. Cox," Bertram said to her that evening, with a
good-humoured tone; "I hear that I am to congratulate you."

"Good-night," said she, giving him her hand. "And I'll say good-bye,
too, for we shall all be in such a flurry to-morrow morning. I'm sure
you think I've done the right thing--don't you? And, mind this, I
shall hope to see you some day." And so saying, she gave him a kindly
grasp, and they parted. "Done right!" said Bertram; "yes, I suppose
she has; right enough at least as far as I am concerned. After all,
what husband is so convenient as a barber's block?"

On the following morning they steamed up the Southampton river, and
at nine o'clock they were alongside the quay. All manner of people
had come on board in boats, and the breakfast was eaten in great
confusion. But few of the ladies were to be seen. They had tea and
rolls in their own cabins, and did not appear till the last moment.
Among these were Mrs. Cox and Mrs. Price.

These ladies during their journey home had certainly not been
woe-begone, either in personal appearance or in manner. And who would
have the heart to wish that they should be so? They had been dressed
as young ladies on board ship usually do dress, so that their
widowhood had been forgotten; and, but for their babies, their
wifehood might have been forgotten also.

But now they were to be met by family friends--by friends who were
thinking of nothing but their bereavements. Old Mr. Price came
to meet them on board, and Mrs. Cox's uncle; old gentlemen with
faces prepared for sadness, and young ladies with sympathetic
handkerchiefs. How signally surprised the sad old gentlemen and the
sympathetic young ladies must have been!

Not a whit! Just as our friends were about to leave the ship that
morning, with all their luggage collected round them, they were
startled by the apparition of two sombre female figures,