bins. And indeed it was not difficult
to judge, by their fresh and cheerful looks, that they had enjoyed a
sound and undisturbed night's rest. Even poor Lady Desmond was looking
incomparably more bright and cheerful than had been the case with her a
short day previously, and was already beginning to speak hopefully of
her possible recovery.

As the day wore on, the wind, instead of freshening, as we had expected
from the indications at sunrise, grew more and more paltry; so that it
was rather late on in the afternoon ere we reached Weymouth. The
weather, however, had been undergoing a slow and subtle change all day;
and when we at length rounded to and backed the _Esmeralda's_ mainyard
in the roadstead the sky away to the eastward was overspread by a broad
bank of dirty grey vapour reaching almost to the zenith, the mares'
tails had increased in number and become more strongly defined, and a
thin veil of scarcely perceptible vapour was sweeping steadily athwart
the blue. The horizon to the eastward, too, had become overcast--so
much so, indeed, as to completely obscure Saint Alban's Head; the wind
was beginning to freshen in fitful puffs, and the small surges
occasionally combed and broke into a miniature white cap. All of which
indicated with sufficient clearness that the long-expected breeze was
close at hand, and that, moreover, we should probably have quite as much
of it as we wanted. I accordingly lost no time in lowering the gig, and
getting my mother and her belongings into her; when we shoved off--
leaving the ship in charge of Mr Roberts--and stretched out for the
harbour. My mother seemed a good deal cut up, now that the moment of
parting had drawn so very near, and--poor soul--spent most of the short
time during which we were traversing the space between the ship and the
harbour, with her head on my shoulder, crying softly, and fondling my
disengaged hand in hers. While, as for me, I was--like most sailors--
sadly wanting in eloquence, and could think of nothing better or more
encouraging to say than that I was at last really starting out to seek
my fortune, and that I fully intended to find it ere I returned to her.
Ah me! how little I guessed at the hardship and suffering in store for
me, or the anxiety and anguish of mind that my dear mother was to endure
before we two should meet again!

Landing at the flight of boat-steps near the inner end of the pier, I
put my mother and her baggage into the f