Gwenny Carfax, my young maid, well remembers how her father was brought up from Cornwall.

Her mother had been buried, just a week or so before; and he was sad about it, and had been off his work, and was ready for another job.

Then people came to him by night, and said that he must want a change, and everybody lost their wives, and work was the way to mend it.

So what with grief, and over-thought, and the inside of a square bottle, Gwenny says they brought him off, to become a mighty captain, and choose the country round.

The last she saw of him was this, that he went down a ladder somewhere on the wilds of Exmoor, leaving her with bread and cheese, and his travelling-hat to see to.