ed very young."

"I used to think it a great pity that he had not settled himself
ashore in a good city practice," continued Dr. Ferris. "He had a great
knack at pleasing people and making friends, and he was always
spoiling for want of work. I was ready enough to shirk my part of
that, you may be sure, but if you start with a reasonably healthy set
of men, crew and officers, and keep good discipline, and have no
accidents on the voyage, an old-fashioned ship-master's kit of
numbered doses is as good as anything on board a man-of-war in time of
peace. You have mild cases that result from over-heating or
over-eating, and sometimes a damaged finger to dress, or a tooth to
pull. I used to tell young Prince that it was a pity one of the men
wouldn't let himself be chopped to pieces and fitted together again to
give us a little amusement."

"That's the name," announced Nan's guardian with great satisfaction.
"This is a very small world; we are all within hail of each other. I
dare say when we get to Heaven there will not be a stranger to make
friends with."

"I could give you more wonderful proofs of that than you would be
likely to believe," responded the surgeon. "But tell me how you
happened to have anything to do with the child; did Prince wander into
this neighborhood?"

"Not exactly, but he fell in love with a young girl who was brought up
on one of the farms just out of the village. She was a strange
character, a handsome creature, with a touch of foolish ambition, and
soon grew impatient of the routine of home life. I believe that she
went away at first to work in one of the factories in Lowell, and
afterward she drifted to Dunport, where young Prince's people lived,
and I dare say it was when he came home from that very voyage you knew
of that he saw her and married her. She worked in a dressmaker's shop,
and worked very well too, but she had offended his sister to begin
with, one day when she was finding fault with some work that had been
done for her, and so there was no end of trouble, and the young man
had a great battle at home, and the more he was fought the less
inclined he was to yield, and at last off he went to be married, and
never came home again until he died. It was a wretched story; he only
lived two years, and they went from one place to another, and finally
the end came in some Western town. He had not been happy with his
wife, and they quarreled from time to time, and he asked to be brought
b