climate might be supposed more favourable to the growth of saving
ideas. Mr. Grubb would, of course, be obliged to relinquish his
business, but people could buy and sell anywhere, she thought, and as
for her, she wanted nothing but unlimited space in which to expand.

There was money enough for an economical journey and a month or two
of idleness afterwards; and as Mrs. Grubb believed everything in the
universe was hers, if she only chose to claim it, the question of
finances never greatly troubled her. They sailed for the golden
West, then, this ill-assorted couple, accompanied by Mrs. Grubb's
only sister, who had been a wife, was now a widow, and would shortly
become a mother. The interesting event occurred much sooner than had
been anticipated. The ship became the birthplace of the twins, who
had been most unwelcome when they were thought about as one, and
entirely offensive when found to be two. The mother did not long
survive the shock of her surprise and displeasure, and after naming
the babies Atlantic and Pacific, and confiding them distinctly to the
care of Mr., not Mrs., Grubb, she died, and was buried at sea, not
far from Cape Horn. Mrs. Cora enjoyed at first the dramatic
possibilities of her position on the ship, where the baby orphans
found more than one kindly, sentimental woman ready to care for them;
but there was no permanent place in her philosophy for a pair of
twins who entered existence with a concerted shriek, and continued it
for ever afterwards, as if their only purpose in life was to keep the
lungs well inflated. Her supreme wish was to be freed from the
carking cares of the flesh, and thus for ever ready to wing her free
spirit in the pure ether of speculation.

You would hardly suppose that the obscure spouse of Mrs. Grubb could
wash and dress the twins, prepare their breakfast, go to his work,