Ruby did not return in the little coaster in which he had left his native place.  That vessel had been wrecked not long after he joined her, but the crew were saved, and Ruby succeeded in obtaining a berth as second mate of a large ship trading between Hull and the Baltic.  Returning from one of his voyages with a pretty good sum of money in his pocket, he resolved to visit his mother and give it to her.  He therefore went aboard an Arbroath schooner, and offered to work his passage as an extra hand.  Remembering his former troubles in connexion with the press-gang, he resolved to conceal his name from the captain and crew, who chanced to be all strangers to him.

It must not be supposed that Mrs. Brand had not heard of Ruby since he left her.  On the contrary, both she and Minnie Gray got letters as frequently as the postal arrangements of those days would admit of; and from time to time they received remittances of money, which enabled them to live in comparative comfort.  It happened, however, that the last of these remittances had been lost, so that Mrs. Brand had to depend for subsistence on Minnie’s exertions, and on her brother’s liberality.  The brother’s power was limited, however, and Minnie had been ailing for some time past, in consequence of her close application to work, so that she could not earn as much as usual.  Hence it fell out that at this particular time the widow found herself in greater pecuniary difficulties than she had ever been in before.

Ruby was somewhat of an original.  It is probable that every hero is.  He resolved to surprise his mother by pouring the money he had brought into her lap, and for this purpose had, while in Hull, converted all his savings into copper, silver, and gold.  Those precious metals he stowed separately into the pockets of his huge pea-jacket, and, thus heavily laden, went ashore about dark, as soon as the skipper returned.

At this precise hour it happened that Mrs. Brand, Minnie Gray, and Captain Ogilvy were seated at their supper in the kitchen of the cottage.

Two days previously the captain had called, and said to Mrs. Brand—­

“I tell ‘ee what it is, sister, I’m tired of livin’ a solitary bachelor life, all by myself, so I’m goin’ to make a change, lass.”

Mrs. Brand was for some moments speechless, and Minnie, who was sewing near the window, dropped her hands and work on her lap, and looked up with inexpressible amazement in her sweet blue eyes.

“Brother,” said Mrs. Brand earnestly, “you don’t mean to tell me that you’re going to marry at your time of life?”

“Eh! what?  Marry?”

The captain looked, if possible, more amazed than his sister for a second or two, then his red face relaxed into a broad grin, and he sat down on a chair and chuckled, wiping the perspiration (he seemed always more or less in a state of perspiration) from his bald head the while.

“Why, no, sister, I’m not going to marry; did I speak of marryin’?”