sleep, which was not broken till late on the
following morning.

Her first thought on waking was the fire. Her second, the Captain. He
was in the room, she knew, because he was whistling in his usual low
tone while moving about the fireplace preparing breakfast. She glanced
at the curtains; her own curtains certainly,--and the bed too! Much
surprised, she quietly put out her thin hand and drew the curtain
slightly aside. The Captain in his shirt sleeves, as usual, preparing
buttered toast, the fireplace, the old kettle with the defiant spout
singing away as defiantly as ever, the various photographs, pot-lids,
and other ornaments above the fireplace, the two little windows
commanding an extensive prospect of the sky from the spot where she lay,
the full-rigged ship, the Chinese lantern hanging from the beam--
everything just as it should be!

"Well, well," thought Mrs Roby, with a sigh of relief; "the fire must
have been a dream after all! but what a vivid one!"

She coughed. The Captain was at her side instantly.

"Slept well, old girl?"

"Very well, thank you. I've had such a queer dream, d'you know?"

"Have you? Take your breakfast, mother, before tellin' it. It's all
ready--there, fire away."

"It _was_ such a vivid one," she resumed, when half through her third
cup, "all about a fire, and you were in it too."

Here she proceeded to relate her dream with the most circumstantial
care. The Captain listened with patient attention till she had
finished, and then said--

"It was no dream, mother. It's said that the great fire of London was a
real blessin' to the city. The last fire in London will, I hope, be a
blessin' to you an' me. It was real enough and terrible too, but
through God's mercy you have been saved from it. I managed to save your
little odds and ends too. This is the noo `cabin,' mother, that you
wouldn't consent to come to. Something like the old one, ain't it?"

Mrs Roby spoke never a word, but looked round the room in bewilderment.
Taking the Captain's hand she kissed it, and gazed at him and the room
until she fell asleep. Awaking again in half an hour, she finished her
breakfast, asked for the old Bible, and, declaring herself content, fell
straightway into her old ways and habits.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

AN UNEXPECTED GEM FOUND.

Although Lewis Stoutley found it extremely difficult to pursue his
studies with the profusely illustrated edition of medical works at hi