a sea-port town, with an excellent
harbor, and to this accident of position the Hall was entirely indebted
for recommending itself as a place of residence to Mr. James Smith.

He had such an untiring enjoyment and delight in cruising about at sea,
and all his ideas of pleasure seemed to be so closely connected with his
remembrance of the sailing trips he had taken on board different yachts
belonging to his friends, that I verily believe his chief object in
marrying my mistress was to get the command of money enough to keep a
vessel for himself. Be that as it may, it is certain that he prevailed
on her, some time after their marriage, to make him a present of a fine
schooner yacht, which was brought round from Cowes to our coast-town,
and kept always waiting ready for him in the harbor.

His wife required some little persuasion before she could make up her
mind to let him have the vessel. She suffered so much from sea-sickness
that pleasure-sailing was out of the question for her; and, being very
fond of her husband, she was naturally unwilling that he should engage
in an amusement which took him away from her. However, Mr. James Smith
used his influence over her cleverly, promising that he would never
go away without first asking her leave, and engaging that his terms of
absence at sea should never last for more than a week or ten days at a
time. Accordingly, my mistress, who was the kindest and most unselfish
woman in the world, put her own feelings aside, and made her husband
happy in the possession of a vessel of his own.

While my master was away cruising, my mistress had a dull time of it at
the Hall. The few gentlefolks there were in our part of the county lived
at a distance, and could only come to Darrock when they were asked to
stay there for some days together. As for the village near us, there was
but one person living in it whom my mistress could think of asking to
the Hall, and that person was the clergyman who did duty at the church.

This gentleman's name was Mr. Meeke. He was a single man, very
young, and very lonely in his position. He had a mild, melancholy,
pasty-looking face, and was as shy and soft-spoken as a little
girl--altogether, what one may call, without being unjust or severe, a
poor, weak creature, and, out of all sight, the very worst preacher I
ever sat under in my life. The one thing he did, which, as I heard, he
could really do well, was playing on the fiddle. He was uncommonly fond