But Wade did not understand much of the talk,--only that Mr. Wallgood had taken one hundred thousand dollars from the Walnut National Bank in Midhampton, and he and his wife were running away to escape the consequences of his crime. The lady did not like the situation, and would not have come if she had understood the matter. Wade thought she was right, and did not think a woman was bound to stick to a husband after he had stolen one hundred thousand dollars; but then, Wade was not a judge of such matters, and his opinion was not worth much. “I can’t get over it!” exclaimed this lady, after silence had prevailed in the cabin for some little time. “I came to New York, as I supposed, on a pleasure-excursion, at a moment’s notice; and now it seems as though this time was chosen because Capt. Trustleton was absent, looking up his runaway boy. Then it took three hours to tell this miserable story, and to persuade me that I ought to leave my native land, perhaps forever, with my husband, who is a defaulter to his bank for a hundred thousand dollars!” Mrs. Wallgood groaned in bitterness of spirit when she had rehearsed her case; and certainly it was a heavy penalty to be driven from her home and friends by the crime of her husband. “If you wish to desert me in my misfortune, you can do so, Julia,” groaned the cashier. “You can return to New York in this yacht.” “Where is Capt. Crogick’s ship going to?” asked Mrs. Wallgood, as though this had something to do with the question. “She is bound to Leghorn; and we can be as happy in Italy as at home for a few years, till this trouble blows over,” said Mrs. Crogick. “And what are we to live on when we get there?” asked the indignant lady. “We have money enough to live comfortably in Italy,” replied the cashier. “Then you feathered the nest before you went away,” sneered the lady. “I thought this flight was because you could not pay your debts to the bank.” “Such was the case; but a few thousands more or less will make no difference to the bank, my dear.” But the conversation was interrupted by the appearance of the captain of the yacht, before whom the members of the party were not inclined to talk. While the conversation was in progress, Pollish had dropped a kind of table, which turned up against the bulkhead in the state-room, and had placed some dishes and a plate of soft bread, with some other articles, upon it. If Wade could not see the beefsteak when it was placed on the table, he could smell it; and the odor gave him an intense longing for a taste of it. He had eaten nothing but the bit of cracker and cheese in the bar-room of the hotel since his breakfast at an early hour the day before.