ham, sternly.

"I thought--I hoped--indeed I felt assured," said Guy earnestly, "that
_you_ would give something towards this good object--"

"Oh, did you?" said the merchant, cutting him short; "then, sir, allow
me to say that you were never more mistaken in your life. I never give
money in charity. I believe it to be a false principle, which tends to
the increase of beggars and criminals. You can go now."

"But consider, uncle," entreated Guy, "this is no ordinary charity. A
lifeboat there might be the means of saving hundreds of lives; and oh!
if you could have seen, as I did, the despairing faces of these poor
people as they clung to the rigging scarcely a stone's-cast from the
shore, on which the waves beat so furiously that no boat except a
lifeboat could have lived for a moment; if you could have heard, as I
did, the wild shriek of despair as the masts went by the board, and
plunged every living soul into the raging sea, I am certain that you
would gladly give a hundred pounds or more towards this philanthropic
object."

"Nephew," said Denham, "I will not give a sixpence. Your inexperience
and enthusiasm lead you astray, sir, in this matter. Lifeboats are
capable of being upset as well as ordinary boats, and there are cases on
record in which the crews of them have been drowned as well as the
people whom they recklessly went out to save. My opinion is, that
persons who devote themselves to a sea-faring life must make up their
minds to the chances and risks attending such a life. Now you have my
answer--good-bye, and give my best regards to your sister. I will
expect you back next Saturday week."

"I have still another favour to ask, sir," said Guy, after some
hesitation.

"Has it anything to do with what you are pleased to term a philanthropic
object?"

"It has."

"Then," said Mr Denham, "save me the trouble of refusing, and yourself
the pain of a refusal, by holding your tongue,--and retiring."

Guy coloured, and was about to turn away in disgust, but, repressing his
indignation by a powerful effort, he advanced with a cheerful
countenance, and held out his hand.

"Well, good-bye, uncle. If ever you go to the coast, and happen to see
a storm and a shipwreck, you'll change your mind, I think, in regard to
this matter."

Mr Denham did go to the coast, and, did see a storm and a shipwreck,
but whether this prediction ever came true is a point that shall not be
revealed at this part of our n