Captain Norton's calm, quiet smile was enough to reassure his wife; and as he took his seat at a side-table, covered with correspondence, she stood behind him, leaning her hands upon his shoulder. "We are going on at a famous rate, Ada," he said, after a busy pause, in short, sharp, decisive tones, that smacked of the man of business--"returns increasing every month. Some of the prophetic old wiseacres would give their ears now for shares in our rusty old iron company. By the way, though, Brace has not written for any money lately. Is it not time we heard from him?" "Yes," said Mrs Norton, with anxiety in her tones; "and--" "Now, don't be an old fidget," said the Captain, laughingly, as once more he drew her towards him. "That poor old head of yours is as full of shipwrecks and disasters at sea as one of the wreck-charts or Lloyd's ledgers. What a pity it is that we did not have half-a-dozen boys for you to share that weak old heart of yours amongst, so that you need not have had to worry yourself to death about one!" "But surely we ought to have had a letter a month since." "Certainly, my love, if the poor boy had had a post-office close at hand into which he could pop it. Don't be so unreasonable. You don't know how even an adverse wind will keep a vessel away from port for weeks together. You must study statistics, so as to ease that heart of yours, by learning how seldom a mishap befalls a ship. We shall be hearing from him before long, and--There, bless my soul, I must keep a clerk; I've forgotten to answer Harrison and Son's letter." "What was that about?" said Mrs Norton, as, pleased to see how happy her husband was in his business pursuits--upon which, in spite of adversity at the outset, fortune had of late smiled in full sunshine-- she tried to enter into each matter, knowing full well how his busy life had been the cure for a mind diseased. "What was it about?" said Captain Norton, dreamily. "Oh, about the marsh--the warping, you know. I am to have two thousand acres." "But I don't know," said Mrs Norton, smiling; "you promised to explain." "To be sure; so I did!" he exclaimed, eagerly reaching down a rolled-up plan, and spreading it upon the table. "Now look here, Ada; this will be an expensive affair, and we shall reap no benefit from it ourselves, for it is a matter of years and years; but that young dog will have an estate which will make him hold up his head as high as he likes. Now, see here--this is my side. I've bought these two thousand acres of worthless marshland--worthless save for peat-digging and wild-duck shooting. This is the piece, Ada, love," he said, solemnly, as he laid a finger upon the plan. "I chose this so that I might preserve the pine-wood untouched." He stopped to gaze up in his wife's face, and as she recalled the past, she bent over him until her cheek touched his forehead.