In ten minutes the young secretary again appeared. Pausing on the door-step, she looked this way and that, and then, with emphatic tread, stepped out in the very track of the little twinkling feet which Tommy had watched in their last departure on that ill-fated spring morning so long ago. The little man craned his neck to see the better through the window, and then, unable to restrain himself, he hurried to the doorway of the shop once more, and, with enlightened eyes, watched the figure of the girl till it passed out of sight. Then he turned, and rushed into the kitchen behind the shop. His brother was trying to put one of the twins to sleep by carrying it to and fro; his brother's wife was making bread. He raised his hands. "She's come back!" he cried. Then, recollecting himself, he said, more quietly, "I mean I've seen the sec'tary." CHAPTER XXIV. ON THE OCEAN. The evening of the next day saw "the Golden Shoemaker" steaming out of the Mersey, on board the first-rate Atlantic liner on which his passage had been taken by Messrs. Tongs and Ball. Miss Jemima had bidden her brother a reluctant farewell. In her secret soul, she nursed a doubt, of which, indeed, she was half-ashamed, as to the prospect of his safe return; and she endeavoured to fortify her timorous heart by the utterance of sundry sharp speeches concerning the folly of his enterprise. The voyage across the great ocean, in the splendid _floating hotel_ in which he had embarked was a new and delightful experience to "Cobbler" Horn. But his peace of mind sustained brief disturbance on his being shown to his quarters on board the vessel. His lawyers had, as a matter of course, taken for their wealthy client a first-class passage. It had not occurred to him to give them any instructions on the point, and they had taken it for granted that they were doing what he would desire. Perhaps, if they had asked him, he might, in his ignorance of such matters, have said, "Oh yes, first-class, by all means." But when he saw the splendid accommodation which his money had procured, he started back, and said to the attendant: "This is much too grand for me. Can't I make a change?" The attendant stared in surprise. "'Fraid not sir," he said, "every second-class berth is taken." "I don't mind about the money," said "Cobbler" Horn hastily. "But I should be more comfortable in a plainer cabin," and he looked around uneasily at the luxurious and splendid appointments of the quarters which had been assigned to him, as his home, for the next few days. The attendant, regarding with a critical eye the modest attire and unassuming demeanour of "Cobbler" Horn, inwardly agreed with what this somewhat eccentric passenger had said. "The only way, sir," said the man, at length, "is to get some one to change with you." "Ah, the very thing! How can it be managed?" The attendant mused with hand on chin.