w how to take care of myself; so if you
go on I'll follow you, and you shall see that I'm as sober as a judge,"
answered Dick, and with a laugh he darted into the public-house.

Ralph, though eager to be with his friends, waited a minute or more in
the hope that he might come out, and then, as he did not appear,
reluctantly walked on. At length, having passed through the town, he
reached a small cottage in the outskirts, with a few yards of garden in
front. Passing through the wicket-gate he stopped for a moment at the
door. The window was partly open, and he could hear a sweet voice
reading. He caught the words; they were from the Book of Books, which
he had learned to know and value. He was unwilling to interrupt the
reader. She stopped, however, having come to the end of the chapter.
He knocked. "May I come in?" he asked. "Oh, granny, it is Ralph!" The
words were uttered by the same person who had just ceased reading, but
in a very different tone. He well knew the sweet voice. His heart beat
quick. He heard the speaker come flying to the door. In a moment it
was opened. "Jessie, my own dear Jessie!" he exclaimed, as he pressed
the hand of a fair blooming girl, who welcomed him with a bright smile.

"I hoped that you might come to-day, and yet as the hours drew on I
began to fear that I might again be disappointed," she said, as she
looked up affectionately into his face. "How slow the _Amity_ must have
sailed!"

"She is like other craft, not able to make way without wind, and we had
scarcely a cup-full all the voyage round from the Thames; besides which,
we were detained there much longer than usual; but she has safely
reached port at last," he answered; adding, as he advanced into the room
towards a neatly-dressed old lady in a high mob-cap, seated in an
arm-chair, with knitting-needles in her hands and spectacles on her
nose,--"And how is Mrs Treviss?"

"Ever glad to see thee, dear Ralph," answered the old lady, trying, not
without difficulty, to rise, till the young man springing forward
quietly made her sit down again. "In spiritual health I am well--the
Lord be praised for all His mercies; but bodily infirmities creep on
apace with old age, and remind me that my earthly course is well-nigh
run."

"I hope that you will live many years to be a blessing to us, granny,"
said the young sailor, affectionately, taking her hand.

"I am ready to remain if it is the Lord's will," she answered. "And