"I don't see where the boldness comes in," said the widow. She was studying the fire, and spoke inattentively. "Two hundred pounds!" "Eh? . . . There's no risk in that. You may say what you like of Captain Hocken or of Captain Hunken: but they're honest as children. The money's as safe with them as in the bank." "Well, it do seem to me a dashin' and yet a very cold-blooded way of choosin' a man. Now, if I was taken with one--" "Well?" prompted Mrs Bosenna, as Dinah paused. "Call me weak, but I couldn't help it. I should throw myself straight at his head, an' ask him to trample me under his boots!" "A nice kind of husband you'd make of him then!" said her mistress scornfully. "I know, I know," agreed Dinah. "I've no power o' resistance at all, an' I daresay the Almighty has saved me a lifetime o' trouble. 'Twould ha' been desperet pleasant at the time though." She sighed. "But to give two men a hundred pound each, an' choose the one that manages it best--" "Worst," corrected Mrs Bosenna. "You ninny!" she went on with sovereign contempt. "Do you really suppose I'd marry a man that could handle my money, or was vain enough to suppose he could?" "O--oh!" gasped Dinah as she took enlightenment. . . . "But two hundred pounds is a terrible sum to spend in findin' out which o' two men is the bigger fool. Why not begin wi' the one you like best, and find out first if he's foolish enough to suit?" "Because," answered Mrs Bosenna, turning meditative eyes again upon the fire, "I don't happen to know which I like best." "Then you can't be in love," declared foolish Dinah. "Sensible women ain't; not until afterwards. . . . Now, which would you advise me to marry?" "Captain Hunken." Dinah's answer was prompt. "He's that curt. I like a man to be curt; he makes it so hard for 'ee to say no. Besides which, as you might say, that parrot of his did break the ice in a manner of speakin'." "Dinah, I'm ashamed of you." "Well, mistress, natur' is natur': and we knows what we can't help knowin'." "That's true," Mrs Bosenna agreed. It was her turn to sigh. "Cap'n Hunken's the man," repeated Dinah. She nodded her head on it and paused. "Though, if you ask my opinion, Cap'n Hocken 'd make the better husband." "It's difficult." "Ay. . . . For my part I don't know what you want with a husband at all." "Nor I," said Mrs Bosenna, still gazing into the fire. "At the best 'tis a risk." Mrs Bosenna sighed again. "If it weren't, where'd be the fun?" CHAPTER XX. A NEWSPAPER PARAGRAPH. Mr Rogers enjoyed his newspaper. To speak more accurately, he enjoyed several: and one of Fancy's duties--by no means the least pleasant or the least onerous--was to read to him daily the main contents of 'The Western Morning News,' 'The Western Daily Mercury,' and 'The Shipping Gazette': and on Thursdays from cover to cover--at a special afternoon _seance_--'The Troy Herald,' with its weekly bulletin of more local news.