ding for her to assist in
making dresses for their families. Among them was a Mrs Chandos, whose
husband, Colonel Chandos, had just returned home wounded from Waterloo,
in which battle their only son had fallen.

The bereaved mother, while arranging the mourning for her little girls,
spoke of him to Jessie, adding, with tears in her eyes, "His younger
brother perished on board the _Falcon_, five years ago, in the Indian
Ocean."

Jessie naturally became deeply interested in the poor lady, and could
not help telling her that her intended husband was an officer in the
same ship.

"We long hoped against hope that some might have escaped, and that our
son might be among the number," said Mrs Chandos; "but now we know that
we have lost both our brave boys."

"All things are possible with God, ma'am; He orders all for the best; we
should trust Him," answered Jessie, gently.

Scarcely had she reached home, when a young sailor, whom she at once
recognised as Peter Puddle, hurried up to the door.

"Oh, Miss Flamank, I am so glad to find you!" he exclaimed eagerly; "I
have been twice to the house, and was afraid that you had left it. May
I come in?"

Jessie assured him that he was welcome.

"I have news for you. Wonderful news, which you little expected to
hear," he continued.

"Oh, tell me! What is it?" cried Jessie, gasping for breath, and her
heart beating violently.

"I had always heard say, what you thought also, that your father,
Captain Flamank, perished at sea; now I've got to tell you that he
didn't, for I've seen him, and he is alive and well, and he sent me on
to tell you that he would be with you soon."

"My father alive!" ejaculated Jessie. Is she to be blamed if she felt
disappointed at hearing his name instead of Ralph's as she had expected?
Her affection for her father, long supposed dead, however, quickly
revived, and she became eager to welcome him home.

Peter told her that the captain of the ship to which he himself belonged
having died at the Cape of Good Hope, it became necessary for the
consignees to find another. That one had been selected who, with other
officers, had just arrived after having been prisoners to the French for
several years in a remote island in the Indian Ocean. The crews of the
captured vessels had been sent away and exchanged; but the officers had
been detained till the termination of the war, for fear that they might
give information to the English of the position