l this stuff about me."

"And I did quite right to sell it, didn't I, Jem?"

"Quite right," said Mr. Gannett with a great assumption of heartiness.
"Best thing to do with it."

"You haven't heard the worst yet," said Mrs. Gannett. "When you were at
Suez----"

Mr. Gannett consigned Suez to its only rival, and thumping the table
with his clenched fist, forbade his wife to mention the word again, and
desired her to prepare supper.

Not until he heard his wife moving about in the kitchen below did he
relax the severity of his countenance. Then his expression changed to
one of extreme anxiety, and he restlessly paced the room seeking for
light. It came suddenly.

"Jenkins," he gasped, "Jenkins and Mrs. Cluffins, and I was going to
tell Cluffins about him writing to his wife, I expect he knows the
letter by heart."

MONEY-CHANGERS

"'Tain't no use waiting any longer," said Hairy Pilchard, looking over
the side of the brig towards the Tower stairs. "'E's either waiting for
the money or else 'e's a spending of it. Who's coming ashore?"

"Give 'im another five minutes, Harry," said another seaman
persuasively; "it 'ud be uncommon 'ard on 'im if 'e come aboard and then
'ad to go an' get another ship's crew to 'elp 'im celebrate it."

"'Ard on us, too," said the cook honestly. "There he is!"

The other glanced up at a figure waving to them from the stairs. "'E
wants the boat," he said, moving aft.

"No 'e don't, Steve," piped the boy. "'E's waving you not to. He's
coming in the waterman's skiff."

"Ha! same old tale," said the seaman wisely. "Chap comes in for a bit
o' money and begins to waste it directly. There's threepence gone; clean
chucked away. Look at 'im. Just look at 'im!"

"'E's got the money all right," said the cook; "there's no doubt about
that. Why, 'e looks 'arf as large again as 'e did this morning."

The crew bent oyer the side as the skiff approached, and the fare, who
had been leaning back in the stern with a severely important air, rose
slowly and felt in his trousers' pocket.

"There's a sixpence for you, my lad," he said pompously. "Never mind
about the change."

"All right, old slack-breeches," said the waterman with effusive
good-fellowship, "up you get."

Three pairs of hands assisted the offended fare on board, and the boy,
hovering round him, slapped his legs vigorously.

"Wot are you up to?" demanded Mr. Samuel Dodds, A.B., turning on him.

"Only dusting you down, Sam,"