by a neatly-timed question about his house at
Aldborough.

"I don't wish to alarm you, Miss Bygrave,"
were the first words of Mr. Noel Vanstone's
which caught Mrs. Lecount's attention—"but
there is only one safe house in Aldborough and
that house is Mine. The sea may destroy all the
other houses—it can't destroy Mine. My father
took care of that; my father was a remarkable
man. He had My house built on piles. I have
reason to believe they are the strongest piles in
England. Nothing can possibly knock them
down—I don't care what the sea does—nothing
can possibly knock them down."

"Then, if the sea invades us," said Magdalen,
"we must all run for refuge to you."

Mr. Noel Vanstone saw his way to another
compliment; and, at the same moment, the wary
captain saw his way to another burst of science.

"I could almost wish the invasion might
happen," murmured one of the gentlemen, " to
give me the happiness of offering the refuge."

"I could almost swear the wind had shifted
again!" exclaimed the other. "Where is a man I
can ask? Oh, there he is. Boatman! how's the
wind, now? Nor'-west and by west still—hey?
And south-east and by south yesterday evening
—ha? Is there anything more remarkable, Mrs.
Lecount, than the variableness of the wind in
this climate?" proceeded the captain, shifting
the camp-stool to the scientific side of him. "Is
there any natural phenomenon more bewildering
to the scientific inquirer? You will tell me
that the electric fluid which abounds in the air is
the principal cause of this variableness. You
will remind me of the experiment of that illustrious
philosopher who measured the velocity of
a great storm by a flight of small feathers. My
dear madam, I grant all your propositions——"

"I beg your pardon, sir," said Mrs. Lecount;
"you kindly attribute to me a knowledge that I
don't possess. Propositions, I regret to say, are
quite beyond me."

"Don't misunderstand me, ma'am," continued
the captain, politely unconscious of the interruption
"My remarks apply to the temperate
zone only. Place me on the coasts between the
tropics—place me where the wind blows towards
the shore in the daytime, and towards the sea
by night—and I instantly advance towards
conclusive experiments. For example, I know that
the heat of the sun during the day, rarefies the
air over the land, and so causes the wind. You
challenge me to prove it. I escort you down the
kitchen-stairs (with your kind permission); I
take my largest pie-dish out of the cook's hands;
I fill it with cold water. Good! that dish of cold
water represents the ocean. I next provide myself
with one of our most precious domestic
conveniences—a hot-water plate—I fill it with hot
water, and I put it in the middle of the pie-dish.
Good again! the hot-water plate represents the
land rarefying the air over it. Bear that in
mind, and give me a lighted candle. I hold my
lighted candle over the cold water, and blow it
out. The smoke immediately moves from the
dish to the plate. Before you have time to
express your satisfaction, I light the candle once
more, and reverse the whole proceeding. I fill
the pie-dish with hot water, and the plate with
cold; I blow the candle out again, and the
smoke moves this time from the plate to the dish.
The smell is disagreeable—but the experiment is
conclusive."

He shifted the camp-stool back again, and
looked at Mrs. Lecount with his ingratiating
smile. "You don't find me long-winded, ma'am
—do you?" he said, in his easy, cheerful way,
just as the housekeeper was privately opening
her ears once more to the conversation on the
other side of her.

"I am amazed, sir, by the range of your information,"
replied Mrs. Lecount, observing the
captain with some perplexity—but, thus far, with
no distrust. She thought him eccentric, even for
an Englishman, and possibly a little vain of his
knowledge. But he had at least paid her the
implied compliment of addressing that knowledge
to herself; and she felt it the more sensibly, from
having hitherto found her scientific sympathies
with her deceased husband, treated with no great
respect by the people with whom she came in
contact. "Have you extended your inquiries,
sir," she proceeded, after a momentary hesitation,
"to my late husband's branch of science? I
merely ask, Mr. Bygrave, because (though I am
only a woman) I think I might exchange ideas
with you, on the subject of the reptile creation."

Captain Wragge was far too sharp to risk his
ready-made science on the enemy's ground. The
old militiaman shook his wary head.

"Too vast a subject, ma'am," he said, "for a
smatterer like me. The life and labours of such
a philosopher as your husband, Mrs. Lecount,
warn men of my intellectual calibre not to
measure themselves with a giant. May I inquire,"
proceeded the captain, softly smoothing the way
for future intercourse with Sea-View Cottage,
"whether you possess any scientific memorials
of the late Professor?"

"I possess his Tank, sir," said Mrs. Lecount,
modestly casting her eyes on the ground; " and
one of his Subjects—a little foreign Toad."

"His Tank!" exclaimed the captain, in tones
of mournful interest. "And his Toad! Pardon
my blunt way of speaking my mind, ma'am. You
possess an object of public interest; and, as one
of the public, I acknowledge my curiosity to
see it."

Mrs. Lecount's smooth cheeks coloured with
pleasure. The one assailable place in that cold
and secret nature, was the place occupied by the
memory of the Professor. Her pride in his scientific
achievements, and her mortification at finding
them but little known out of his own country,
were genuine feelings. Never had Captain
Wragge burnt his adulterated incense on the
flimsy altar of human vanity to better purpose
than he was burning it now.

"You are very good, sir," said Mrs. Lecount,