Captain Nat, so the story ran, had caught him
carousing in the House of Refuge on Sunday night
with some of his boon companions, and after a stormy
interview in which the boy pleaded for forgiveness,
had driven him out into the night. Bart had left
town the next morning at daylight and had shipped
as a common sailor on board a British bark bound
for Brazil. No one had seen him go--not even his
companions of the night before.

The second announcement was more startling.

The Cobden girls were going to Paris. Lucy Cobden
had developed an extraordinary talent for music
during her short stay in Trenton with her friend
Maria Collins, and Miss Jane, with her customary
unselfishness and devotion to her younger sister, had
decided to go with her. They might be gone two
years or five--it depended on Lucy's success. Martha
would remain at Yardley and take care of the old
home.

Bart's banishment coming first served as a target
for the fire of the gossip some days before Jane's decision
had reached the ears of the villagers.

"I always knew he would come to no good end,"
Miss Gossaway called out to a passer-by from her
eyrie; "and there's more like him if their fathers
would look after 'em. Guess sea's the best place