gends of his birth, his affinity for fixed luminaries
and motions, and his conscious knowledge that he stood in some way
related to spheres and orbits, and the laws of revolution and period,
had never disturbed his mind in its calculations. But if he did stand
exceptional in these respects to his fellow-men, might another and a
beloved one comprehend what he himself did not? Yet the kindly regard
of his neighbors, the composure of a conscience well consulted, and
the hope that he was worthy of human love, made him resolve to keep
the captain's admonition, though he hoped the occasion to obey it
might never arrive.

"In the absence of the good ship, however, love could not be deceived.
It spoke in waitings and longings, and in tender glances and
considerateness. She knew the rattle of his carriage-wheels, and he
could feel her in the air like the breath of a beautiful day soon to
appear in distance. Time, toward which he stood in such natural
harmony, was dearer that it contained this passion and life more
exquisite, and himself more questionable for it all.

"It was a stormy winter. Ships strewed the coast between Hatteras and
Navesink, and the capes of the Delaware received many a tattered
barque. The ice poured down and wedged itself between Reedy Island and
the shores, and crushed to pieces many that had escaped the ocean
gales. One night in a raging storm the door of Captain Lum's cabin was
thrown open, and a sailor appeared fresh from the water. He bore in
his hand a chronometer, which Minuit recognized in a moment, and he
drew his arm for the first time around the maiden's form.

"'The Chirpland went down on Five Fathom Shoal, and the captain stood
by her. He bade us return his chronometer, and say that he perished in
the assurance that his daughter was left to the guidance of another
fully as sure.'

"'My child,' said Minuit, 'I accept thee wholly, sharing thy griefs!
Weep, but on the breast of one who loves thee!'

"The village of Christina rejoiced when its broad-faced, dimpled
friend came home with a bride so fair and well-descended. They dressed
the sign before his door with flowers. Only the groom wore an anxious
face as he led her into his tidy home, now for the first time blessed
with a mistress.

"The night of the nuptials came softly down, as nowhere else except
upon the skies of the Delaware and Chesapeake, and Minuit was happy.
The thrumming clocks in the shop below mingled their tones and
tick