be a
happier one as a fisherman. It has, however, turned out admirably well,
and she has a right to be proud of her pupil. After the way you have begun
there is nothing in your own line to which you may not attain."

"I wanted to ask you, Mr. Warden, what you could remember about my father.
My own recollection of him is very dim. I am going to sea again in a week,
but next time I return I'll have a longer spell on shore, and I am
resolved to make an effort to discover who he was."

"I fear that is quite hopeless, but I will certainly tell you all I know
about him. I saw him, of course, many times in the village. He was a tall
thin man with what I might call a devil-may-care, and at the same time a
mournful expression. I have no doubt that had his death not been so sudden
he would have told you something about himself. I have his effects tied up
in a bundle. I examined them at the time, but there was nothing of any
value in them except a signet-ring. It bore a coat-of-arms with a falcon
at the top. I intended to hand this to you when you grew up, but of course
you left so suddenly that I had no opportunity to do so. I will give you
the bundle now."

"Thank you very much, sir! That ring may be the means of discovering my
identity. Of course I have no time to make enquiries now, but when I next
return I will advertise largely and offer a reward for information. It is
not that I want to thrust myself on any family, or to raise any claim, but
I should like, for my own satisfaction, to know that I come of a decent
family."

"That is very natural," the clergyman said; "but were I you I should not
hope to be successful. You see, nearly thirteen years have elapsed since
his death, and he may have been wandering about for three or four years
before. That is a long time to elapse before making any enquiries."

"That may be so, but if these arms belong, as I suppose, to a good family,
there must be others bearing them, and an advertisement of a lost member
of it might at once catch their eye, and might very possibly bring a
reply. Besides, surely there must be some place where a record is kept of
these things."

"I do not know that, but I am sure I wish you success in your search, and
can well understand that, now you are an officer in His Majesty's navy,
you would like to claim relationship with some big family."

"Quite so, sir. Of course I cannot imagine how it was my father came to be
in such reduced circumstances."

"