an hour later the yacht
brought up in the port and landed her involuntary passengers.

A fortnight afterwards the _Seabird_ returned to England, and two months
later Mrs. Grantham had the satisfaction of being present at the
ceremony which was the successful consummation of her little scheme in
inviting Minnie Graham to be her companion on board the _Seabird_.

"Well, my dear," her husband said, when she indulged in a little natural
triumph, "I do not say that it has not turned out well, and I am
heartily glad for both Tom and Minnie's sake it has so; but you must
allow that it very nearly had a disastrous ending, and I think if I were
you I should leave matters to take their natural course in future. I
have accepted Tom's invitation for the same party to take a cruise in
the _Seabird_ next summer, but I have bargained that next time a storm
is brewing up we shall stop quietly in port."

"That's all very well, James," Mrs. Grantham said saucily; "but you must
remember that Tom Virtue will only be first-mate of the _Seabird_ in
future."

"That I shall be able to tell you better, my dear, after our next
cruise. All husbands are not as docile and easily led as I am."

[Illustration]

A PIPE OF MYSTERY.

A jovial party were gathered round a blazing fire in an old grange near
Warwick. The hour was getting late; the very little ones had, after
dancing round the Christmas-tree, enjoying the snapdragon, and playing a
variety of games, gone off to bed; and the elder boys and girls now
gathered round their uncle, Colonel Harley, and asked him for a
story--above all, a ghost story.

"But I have never seen any ghosts," the colonel said, laughing; "and,
moreover, I don't believe in them one bit. I have travelled pretty well
all over the world, I have slept in houses said to be haunted, but
nothing have I seen--no noises that could not be accounted for by rats
or the wind have I ever heard. I have never"--and here he paused--"never
but once met with any circumstances or occurrence that could not be
accounted for by the light of reason, and I know you prefer hearing
stories of my own adventures to mere invention."

"Yes, uncle. But what was the 'once' when circumstances happened that
you could not explain?"

"It's rather a long story," the colonel said, "and it's getting late."

"Oh! no, no, uncle; it does not matter a bit how late we sit up on
Christmas Eve, and the longer the story is, the better; and if you do