d a word about her husband's departure, she stared at
me for a moment in amazement, and could not guess how I came to hear
of it, 'for,' said she, 'the resolution had been so suddenly taken
that even she could scarce account for it.' She admitted, however,
that it was for the best, and added that 'Jack was a good seaman, and
she always expected that he would leave her some day.' Her chief
anxiety was for her little daughter, aged seven, whom it was hard to
have exposed to the rough language and manners of a public-house.
I comforted her as best I could, and doubt not she has found her
husband's absence a less misfortune than she anticipated.

"The _Golden Wave_ weighed anchor on the 6th of February, and reached
Bombay after a tedious voyage of 103 days, on the 21st of May, having
been detained by contrary winds in doubling the Cape. I saw little
of Simon Colliver before starting, though he came twice, as I heard,
to the 'Welcome Home' to inquire for me, and each time found me
absent. On board, however, being the only other passenger, I was
naturally thrown much into his society, and confess that I found him
a most diverting companion. Often of a clear moonlight night would
we pace the deck together, or watch in a darker sky the innumerable
stars, on which Colliver had an amazing amount of information.
Sometimes, too, he would sing--quaint songs which I had never heard
before, to airs which I suspect, without well knowing why, were of
his own composition. His voice was of large compass--a silvery tenor
of surpassing' purity and sweetness, inasmuch as I have seen the
sailors stand spellbound, and even with tears in their eyes, at some
sweet song of love and home. Often, again, the words would be weird
and mysterious, but the voice was always delicious whether he spoke
or sang. I asked him once why with such a gift he had not tried his
fortune on the stage. At which he laughed, and replied that he could
never be bound by rules of art, or forced to sing, whatever his
humour, to an audience for which he cared nothing. I do not know why
I dwell so long upon this extraordinary man. His path of life has
chanced to run side by side with my own for a short space, and the
two have now branched off, nor in all likelihood will ever meet
again. My life has been a quiet one, and has not lain much in the
way of extraordinary men, but I doubt if many such as Simon Colliver
exist. He is a perfect enigma to me. That such a m