He spoke rather loudly, and in a key which, as I learned afterward, he only employed on very special occasions.

Presently the youngest lad in the family, who sat on his father's knee, demanded a song.

The response was prompt and generous.

The selection with which Mr.Chaffin favored us contained upward of forty stanzas, relating the unhappy story of a fair maid and a bold sailor, both of whom met a tragic death, in the last stanza, just before the day set for their marriage.

The song being finished, Hetty and her mother drew their chairs up to the fire; Hetty sat next me, and after a severe inward struggle I summoned the courage to ask her a question.