uld hold the scales of Justice
with an even hand, make out _one more_ mittimus before you sit down to
table. Send your wife to languish a twelvemonth in company with the
poor smugglers, and then `to dinner with what appetite you may.' And
now, Debriseau, have I convinced you that I may follow my present
calling, and still say--`_be honest_?'"

"Why, yes, I think we both may; but would not this evil be removed by
free trade?"

"Heaven forbid!" replied McElvina, laughing; "then there would be no
_smuggling_."

CHAPTER TWELVE.

Love me, love my dog.
PROVERB.

It is the misfortune of those who have been in constant habits of deceit
that they always imagine others are attempting the same dishonest
practices. For some time McElvina felt convinced that our little hero
had swerved from truth in the account which he gave of himself; and it
was not until after repeated catechisings, in which he found that,
strange and improbable as the narrative appeared, Willy never altered
from or contradicted his original statement, that he believed the boy to
be as honest and ingenuous as might have been inferred from his
prepossessing countenance.

To this conviction, how ever, did he arrive at last; and our hero--who
seemed no sooner to have lost one protector than to have the good
fortune to find another--became the favourite and companion of his new
captain, instead of his domestic, as had been originally contemplated.
A lad of Willy's age, who is treated with kindness and consideration, is
soon attached, and becomes reconciled to any change of circumstances.
It was a matter of indifference to our hero whether he was on the
quarter-deck of a man-of-war or in the cabin of a smuggling sloop.
Contented with his present lot,--with the happy thoughtlessness of
youth, he never permitted the future to disturb his repose or affect his
digestion.

Willy had been nearly a month at Cherbourg when McElvina's sloop took in
another cargo. "Willy," said McElvina, one evening as they sat together
in the apartment at the cabaret, "to-morrow I shall, in all probability,
sail for the English coast. I have been thinking what I shall do with
you. I do not much like parting with you; but, on reflection, I think
it will be better that I should leave you behind. You can be of no use,
and may be in the way if we should be obliged to take to our boat."

Willy pleaded hard against this arrangement. "I never have a friend but
I lose him d