y assumed the place of protector, which she
so unaffectedly offered. For a minute he stood like an admiral ready
to do the honors of his ship; then he put out his honest hand.

"Maria," he faltered, and the walls about him seemed to flicker and
grow unsteady,--"Maria, I dare say it's no time to say the word just
now, but if you could feel toward me"?--

He never finished the sentence; he never needed to finish it. Maria
Lunn said no word in answer, but they each took a step forward. They
may not have been young, but they knew all the better how to value
happiness.

About half an hour afterward, the captain appeared again in the dark
street, in all the rain, without his umbrella. As he paraded toward
his lodgings, he chanced to meet the Reverend Mr. Farley, whom he
saluted proudly. He had demurred a little at the minister's making a
third in their household; but in the brief, delightful space of their
engagement, Mrs. Lunn had laid before him her sensible plans, and
persuaded Captain Witherspoon that the minister--dear, good man! was
one who always had his head in a book when he was in the house, and
would never give a bit of trouble; and that they might as well have
the price of his board and the pleasure of his company as anybody.

Mrs. Lunn sat down to her belated and solitary supper, and made an
excellent meal. "'T will be pleasant for me to have company again,"
she murmured. "I think 'tis better for a person." She had a way, as
many lonely women have, of talking to herself, just for the sake of
hearing the sound of a voice. "I guess Mr. Farley's situation is goin'
to please him, too," she added; "I feel as if I'd done it all for the
best." Mrs. Lunn rose, and crossed the room with a youthful step, and
stood before the little looking-glass, holding her head this way and
that, like a girl; then she turned, still blushing a little, and put
away the tea-things. "'T is about time now for the Cap'n to go down
town after his newspaper," she whispered; and at that moment the
Captain opened the door.

One day, the next spring, Captain Crowe, who had always honored the
heroine of this tale for saving his self-respect, and allowing him to
affirm with solemn asseverations that though she was a prize for any
man, he never had really offered himself to Mrs. Lunn--Captain Crowe
and Captain Witherspoon were sitting at the head of Long Wharf
together in the sunshine.

"I've been a very fortunate man, sir," said the little cap