countable. Surely we might have got on quite well
without them."

"Well, you know," observed Gildart in a burst of reckless humour, "we
could not get on very well, Miss Stuart, without some sorts of details.
Ox-tails, for instance, are absolutely necessary to the soup which we
have just enjoyed so much. So, in like manner, are pig-tails to
Chinamen."

"Ay, and coat-tails to puppies," added Kenneth slyly, alluding to a bran
new garment which the middy had mounted that day for the first time.

"Perhaps," interposed Miss Flouncer, "after such bright coruscations of
wit, Mr Stuart may be allowed to go on with his--"

"Wittles," whispered Gildart in Miss Puff's ear, to the alarm of that
young lady, who, being addicted to suppressed laughter, was in horror
lest she should have a fit.

"Allowed to go on," repeated Miss Flouncer blandly, "with his tale of
this unfortunate piece of good fortune, which I am sure Sir Richard is
dying to hear."

"It can hardly be called a tale," said Mr Stuart, "but it is a curious
enough circumstance. You remember Stephen Gaff, Sir Richard?"

"Perfectly. He is the man who appeared in the village of Cove rather
mysteriously some months ago, is he not?"

"The same," returned Mr Stuart; "and it was he who accompanied Haco
Barepoles in my sloop, which he persists in naming the `Coffin,'
although its proper name is the `Betsy Jane,' on that memorable voyage
when Haco sailed her into port on the larboard tack after she had been
cut down to the water's edge on the starboard side. Well, it seems that
Gaff went with him on that occasion in consequence of having received a
letter from a London lawyer asking him to call, and he would hear
something to his advantage.

"You all know the way in which the people were taken out of the sloop by
the steamer which ran into her, and how they were all landed safely
except Gaff and his son William, who were carried away to sea. You are
aware, also, that the steamer has since then returned to England,
telling us that Gaff and his boy were put on board a barque bound for
Liverpool, and that this vessel has never made its appearance, so that
we have reason to believe that it has perished in one of the great
storms which occurred about that time.

"Well," continued Mr Stuart, helping Mrs Bingley to a glass of sherry,
"not long ago I had occasion to send Haco Barepoles to London, and he
bethought him of the lawyer who had written to Gaff, so he called on h