coast
respecting the wreck of the Bride of Dunbar, and he was joined by
Cuthbert Langston, who said his house had had dealings with her owners,
and that he must ascertain the fate of her wares. His good lady
remained in charge of the mysterious little waif, over whom her tender
heart yearned more and more, while her little boy hovered about in
serene contemplation of the treasure he thought he had recovered. To
him the babe seemed really his little sister; to his mother, if she
sometimes awakened pangs of keen regret, yet she filled up much of the
dreary void of the last few weeks.

Mrs. Talbot was a quiet, reserved woman, not prone to gadding abroad,
and she had made few acquaintances during her sojourn at Hull; but
every creature she knew, or might have known, seemed to her to drop in
that day, and bring at least two friends to inspect the orphan of the
wreck, and demand all particulars.

The little girl was clad in the swaddling garments of Mrs. Talbot's own
children, and the mysterious marks were suspected by no one, far less
the letter which Susan, for security's sake, had locked up in her
nearly empty, steel-bound, money casket. The opinions of the gossips
varied, some thinking the babe might belong to some of the Queen of
Scotland's party fleeing to France, others fathering her on the
refugees from the persecutions in Flanders, a third party believing her
a mere fisherman's child, and one lean, lantern-jawed old crone,
Mistress Rotherford, observing, "Take my word, Mrs. Talbot, and keep
her not with you. They that are cast up by the sea never bring good
with them."

The court of female inquiry was still sitting when a heavy tread was
heard, and Colet announced "a serving-man from Bridgefield had ridden
post haste to speak with madam," and the messenger, booted and spurred,
with the mastiff badge on his sleeve, and the hat he held in his hand,
followed closely.

"What news, Nathanael?" she asked, as she responded to his greeting.

"Ill enough news, mistress," was the answer. "Master Richard's ship be
in, they tell me."

"Yes, but he is rid out to make inquiry for a wreck," said the lady.
"Is all well with my good father-in-law?"

"He ails less in body than in mind, so please you. Being that Master
Humfrey was thrown by Blackfoot, the beast being scared by a flash of
lightning, and never spoke again."

"Master Humfrey!"

"Ay, mistress. Pitched on his head against the south gate-post. I saw
how