which seemed to say, " You want to place me,
and you shan't."

"Dey-street, I reckon."

"I mean, where does your family reside?"

"Our folks live on Staten Island."

There was an unsatisfied expression on the
face of the questioner. She bit her glove finger,
and drew her spouse away. Jeremiah looked
after her.

"You didn't find me out, Mrs. Teazle. I
might keep a pea-nut stand in Dey-street, or be
an importer of big things; and I might live at
New Brighton, on Staten, or over at Irish
Hollow, and have the fever, and ague, and so
on." Jeremiah settled himself into his over-
coat, while I threw open my light tweed and
complained of the heat. " Look o' here," said
my new friend, leaning on his dog, who was just
now in a state of natural beatitude, "you will
have such a cold by to-morrow, or next day, as will
lay you up, or down, half the way over. I advise
you to get out your great-coat, or wrap yourself
in a railroad rug. It is a change going to sea,
nigh upon as hard as being born rich, and getting
poor just as you have come to know the good
of money. Now you are sure, if you keep on
your own road, to have the influenza, and be
sea-sick by to-morrow, or next day. You are
tremenjus sea-sick when you're fairly in for it;
ain't you, now?"

"Certainly I am," I was constrained to own.
"But how did you know it?"

"Well, straws show the way of the wind.
How did we both know that feminine, with the
black gloves and the light-coloured gauze dress,
was not a lady?"

"I think you have given some of the signs."

"Well, I'll tell you some of the signs. You
are what you call stout—fat, we Yankees say.
I call myself a Yankee, though I was born in
New York. That fellow with the bald head was
born in New Hampshire, and he says keow for
cow. As I was saying, you are fat and florid,
and carry sandwiches in your pocket. You like
good eating, and you are bound to be sea-sick.
You should have come on board ship, fasting,
and you should have ate little till you get your
sea legs on, and you should guard against a chill
by putting on flannel, or a great-coat."

"I do not believe in preventives against sea-
sickness. As to the flannel, or the over-coat, I
dare say you are right."

"Well, just as you can afford," said Jeremiah.
"They say them that's born to be hanged will
never be drowned; but if they put their heads
under water, and keep 'em there, I wouldn't
insure 'em. I am apt to give advice that folks
ain't apt to take; but good counsel breaks no
bones. Muster and I will stand your friend, and
we shan't be sea-sick, or have a bad cold."

"But the dog ate the sandwiches."

"A dorg should always go to sea on a full
stomach, and a man fasting. Them's my
sentiments. They don't cost you anything. But I
suppose you haven't got any precedent of this
kind, and what hain't been done by an Englishman
never can be."

Twenty-four hours later, when I had an
inverted stomach, a great pain in my bones,
and was otherwise in a state that I have no
wish to remember, I heard a cheerful voice
inside my door, saying, " Well, cap'n!" Now,
there are times when a cheerful voice is specially
disagreeable, when all men seem your natural
enemies, and you only want to be let alone. I
made no answer. After half a minute I heard the
voice again. " Well, cap'n! Muster and I have
come to see you. Folks that ain't invited must
take such welcome as they can get." My room-
mate was in a more uncivil state than I was,
and he groaned some sort of answer; Jeremiah
did not notice him, but came to me. " Look o'
here, cap'n. My state-room is well aired, and
I have got a sofa, and there's only me and
Muster. You just come in there. I'll help you
to a bath and clean linen." I made a gesture of
impatience. It did no good or harm. The man
had a will, and I was a poor limp mortal, minus
any such sea store. I was invested in a
dressing-gown, and removed with a delicate degree
of force into a state-room the obverse of my
own. It was sweet, clean, a very heaven upon
earth of a state-room. Here I was, as
Jeremiah remarked, bedewed like a fading flower
with a sponge full of cold water, and then a
spoonful of old port really rested on my
perturbed stomach. In half an hour I thought of
my fellow-sufferer, I was so comfortable, and I
spoke to Jeremiah of his intense misery. " Just
so," said he, quietly; " they are mostly bad off,
but a man can't be in two places at once, let
alone twenty. He will breathe better now you
are away. That's all I can do for him. As to
you, you'll do by to-morrow. You've thrown up
your knee-pans, or you would not keep down
this port. You will be at large to-morrow."

Next day I was able to take my place at
table. The bald-headed man and his wife were
later in coming into society, but they made up
for their absence when they did appear by extra
attention to every one. My room-mate proved
taciturn when he escaped from durance, and, in
pursuance of my resolution to read men, I talked
with the bald-headed man. Whatever subject
we started, was sure to merge in the civil war.
If the man could not veer the talk to that point,
his wife was sure to do it. After several
conversations, bald-head said to me, " I take it you
are Brummagem."

"That l am what?"

"Brummagem. You could not take such an
interest in our rebels, if you had not hardware
to sell—guns, I mean. You see I know a thing
or two. You English are sure to sell your
sympathies; it's human nature, but, above all, it's
English human nature."

"You may wrong the gentleman," said his
wife. "After all, he may not be from
Birmingham."

I assured her I was not.

The man assumed an air of mystery. " It's
no use," he said, " playing fast and loose." The
wife hurried away, and we were alone. " If you
have ships or guns to sell, I am your man. Fact