but we won't wait for him. Ah! here he is--just in the nick o' time."

The door was opened, and a young sailor, with a certain resemblance
to Hester both in face and figure, stepped across the threshold. He
colored up under his brown skin when he saw Bet, but she scarcely
noticed him, and gave him her hand in limp fashion, her eves hardly
raised.

"My ship sails to-morrow, Hester," he said, "the 'Good Queen Anne,'--
I've got a rattling good berth this time, and no mistake."

He tossed off his cap as he spoke, again glanced at Bet with a certain
shyness, and then dropped into the seat opposite to her.

"Help yourself, Will," said Hester. "Bet's in a bit o' trouble--you
mustn't mind her; she wor telling me things, and she'll have a hard
fight afore her, I can see. Well, I say she must keep up heart. Have
some tea, honey? Will, don't you make two mouths of a cherry--put the
whole of that herring on your plate--there are more in the bag for me
to toast when this is finished."

"I can't eat, Hester--it's no use," said Bet.

She rose from the table, and went back once more to the little three-
legged stool by the fire. Then she turned her back on Hester and the
young sailor, and went on spreading out her hands to the warmth, as
though she could never take the chill off.

"Don't mind her," whispered Hester to her cousin. "She's taking it
hard, and I didn't know as it were in her. But presently she'll cry,