"May I ask, is she your niece?
I heard her call you uncle." "Oh, no--no relation; only I look on her as my own, poor thing, having no father; and she always calls me uncle, as most do us old men in the West." "Well, then, sir," said Tom, "you will answer for none of the four sailors having robbed me ?" "I've said it, sir." "Was any one else close to her when we were brought ashore ?" "No one but I.I brought her round myself." "And who took her home ?" "Her mother and I." "Very good.

And you never saw the belt after she had her hands in it ?" "No; I'm sure not." "Was her mother by her when she was lying on the rock ?" "No; came up afterwards, just as I got her on her feet." "Humph! What sort of a character is her mother ?" "Oh, a tidy, God-fearing person, enough.

One of these Methodist class-leaders, Brianites they call themselves.

I don't hold with them, though I do go to chapel at whiles: but there are good ones among them; and I do believe she's one, though she's a little fretful at times.

Keeps a little shop that don't pay over well; and those preachers live on her a good deal, I think.