the grate, and the kettle was singing cheerily thereon.

"I've brought a friend to see you, mother," said I.

"Good-day, mistress," said the sailor bluntly, sitting down on a stool
near the fire. "You seem to be goin' to have your tea."

"I expect to have it soon," replied my mother.

"Indeed!" said I, in surprise. "Have you anything in the kettle?"

"Nothing but water, my son."

"Has anybody brought you anything, then, since I went out?"

"Nobody."

"Why, then, mistress," broke in the seaman, "how can you expect to have
your tea so soon?"

My mother took off her spectacles, looked calmly in the man's face, laid
her hand on the Bible, and said, "Because I have been a widow woman
these three years, and never once in all that time have I gone a single
day without a meal. When the usual hour came I put on my kettle to
boil, for this Word tells me that `the Lord will provide.' I _expect_
my tea to-night."

The sailor's face expressed puzzled astonishment at these words, and he
continued to regard my mother with a look of wonder as he drew forth his
supplies of food, and laid them on the table.

In a short time we were all enjoying a cup of tea, and talking about the
whale-fishery, and the difficulty of my going away while my mother was
dependent on me. At last the sailor rose to leave us. Taking a
five-pound note from his pocket, he laid it on the table and said--

"Mistress, this is all I have in the world, but I've got neither family
nor friends, and I'm bound for the South Seas in six days; so, if you'll
take it, you're welcome to it, and if your son Bob can manage to cast
loose from you without leaving you to sink, I'll take him aboard the
ship that I sail in. He'll always find me at the Bull and Griffin, in
the High Street, or at the end o' the pier."

While the sailor was speaking, I observed a figure standing in a dark
corner of the room near the door, and, on looking more closely, I found
that it was the old gentleman with the nose like his cane-knob. Seeing
that he was observed, he came forward and said--

"I trust that you will forgive my coming here without invitation; but I
happened to overhear part of the conversation between your son and this
seaman, and I am willing to help you over your little difficulty, if you
will allow me."

The old gentleman said this in a very quick, abrupt way, and looked as
if he were afraid his offer might be refused. He was much heated, with
climbing our