few whose
names stand prominent on the page of history.

In consequence of this, Mr Stuart wrought with success at both
departments of his business, and while in the one he coined thousands,
in the other he earned more than the average wages of a working man.

The _Avenger_ was erratic and uncertain in her voyages. She evidently
sailed to the principal islands of the South Seas, and did business with
them all. From one of these voyages, Henry, her captain, returned with
a wife--a dark-haired, dark-eyed, ladylike girl--for whom he built a
small cottage beside his father's, and left her there while he was away
at sea.

It was observed by the clerks in Mr Stuart's counting-room, that their
chief accountant, Mr Corrie, was a great letter writer--that when one
letter was finished, he invariably began another, and kept it by him,
adding sheet after sheet to it until the _Avenger_ returned and carried
it off. Once Mr Corrie was called hurriedly away while in the act of
addressing one of these epistles. He left it lying on his desk, and a
small, contemptible, little apprentice allowed his curiosity so far to
get the better of him, that he looked at the address, and informed his
companions that Mr Corrie's correspondent was a certain Miss Alice
Mason!

Of course, Mr Corrie received voluminous replies from this mysterious
Alice; and, if one might judge from his expression on reading these
epistles, (as that contemptible little apprentice _did_ judge,) the
course of _his_ love ran smoother than usual; thus, by its
exceptionality, proving the truth of the rule.

Years passed away. The merchant's head became grey, but his gigantic
frame was as straight and his step as firm as ever. His wife, strange
to say, looked younger as she grew older! It seemed as if she were
recovering from some terrible illness that had made her prematurely old,
and were now renewing her youth. The business prospered to such an
extent that, by becoming altogether too wonderful, it ceased to be a
matter of wonder altogether to the merchants of the Green Isle. They
regarded it as semi-miraculous--the most unprecedented case of "luck"
that had ever been heard of in the annals of mercantile history.

But the rich merchant still dwelt in the humble, almost mean, cottage,
and still wrought as an engineer and shipwright with his own hands.

In the little cottage beside his own there were soon seen (and _heard_)
three stout children, two boys and a