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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Jeff Benson, or the Young Coastguardsman, by 
+R.M. Ballantyne
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Jeff Benson, or the Young Coastguardsman
+
+Author: R.M. Ballantyne
+
+Release Date: June 7, 2007 [EBook #21743]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JEFF BENSON ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+JEFF BENSON, OR THE YOUNG COASTGUARDSMAN, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+OUR HERO INTRODUCED WITH SOME OF HIS FRIENDS.
+
+A poor schoolmaster named Benson died, not long ago, in a little town on
+the south-east coast of England, which shall be called Cranby.
+
+He left an only son, Jeffrey, and an elder brother, Jacob, to mourn his
+loss.  The son mourned for his father profoundly, for he loved him much.
+The brother mourned him moderately, for he was a close-fisted,
+hard-hearted, stern man of the law, whose little soul, enclosed in a
+large body, had not risen to the conception of any nobler aim in life
+than the acquisition of wealth, or any higher enjoyment than a social
+evening with men like himself.
+
+The son Jeffrey was a free-and-easy, hearty, good-natured lad, with an
+overgrown and handsome person, an enthusiastic spirit, a strong will,
+and a thorough belief in his own ability to achieve anything to which he
+chose to set his mind.
+
+Up to the time of his father's death, Jeff's main idea of the desirable
+in life was--_fun_!  Fun in all its more innocent phases seemed to him
+the sum of what was wanted by man.  He had experienced it in all its
+scholastic forms ever since he was a little boy; and even when, at the
+mature age of fifteen, he was promoted to the rank of usher in his
+father's school, his chief source of solace and relaxation was the old
+play-ground, where he naturally reigned supreme, being the best runner,
+rower, wrestler, jumper, gymnast, and, generally, the best fellow in the
+school.
+
+He had never known a mother's love, and his father's death was the first
+blow that helped to shatter his early notions of felicity.  The cloud
+that overshadowed him at that time was very dark, and he received no
+sympathy worth mentioning from his only relative, the solicitor.
+
+"Well, Jeff, what d'you think of doing?" asked that austere relative,
+two days after the funeral.  "Of course at your age you can't carry on
+the school alone."
+
+"Of course not," answered the boy, with a suppressed sob.
+
+"What say you to entering my office and becoming a lawyer, Jeff?"
+
+"Thanks, uncle, I'd rather not."
+
+"What will you do, then?" demanded the uncle, somewhat offended at this
+flat rejection of his proposal.
+
+The lad thought for a moment, and then said quietly but decidedly, "I'll
+go to sea."
+
+"Go to the world's end if you like," returned the uncle, who was proud
+and touchy, and hated the sea; "but don't ask me to help you."
+
+"Thank you, uncle," replied the lad, who was as proud as himself, though
+not touchy, and had a strong affection for the sea; "having no
+particular business at the world's end just now, I'll put off my visit
+to a more convenient season."
+
+They parted, and we need scarcely add that the brief intercourse of
+uncle and nephew which had thus suddenly begun as suddenly ceased.
+
+It is not usually difficult for a strong, active lad, with merry black
+eyes and cheery manners, to obtain employment.  At least Jeffrey Benson
+did not find it so.  A few miles from his native town there was a
+seaport.  Thither he repaired, and looked about him.  In the harbour lay
+a small vessel which looked like a yacht, it was so trim and clean.  On
+the quay near to it stood a seafaring man with an amiable expression of
+countenance.
+
+"Is that your schooner?" asked Jeff of this man.
+
+"Yes, it is."
+
+"D'you want a hand?"
+
+"No, I don't."
+
+Jeff turned on his heel, and was walking away, when the seafaring man
+recalled him.
+
+"Have 'ee ever bin to sea, lad?" he asked.
+
+"No, never."
+
+"D'ye know anything about ships?"
+
+"Next to nothing."
+
+"D'ye think you could do anything, now, aboard of a ship?"
+
+"Perhaps."
+
+"Come along, then, wi' me to the office, an' I'll see to this."
+
+Thus was Jeff introduced to the skipper of the coasting vessel in which
+he spent the succeeding six years of his life.  At the end of that time
+his schooner was totally wrecked in a gale that sent more than two
+hundred vessels on the rocks of the British Isles.  The skipper was
+washed overboard and drowned, but Jeff was saved along with the rest of
+the crew, by means of the rocket apparatus.
+
+By that time our hero had become a tall, powerful man, with a curly
+black beard and moustache.  Through the influence of a friend he was
+offered a situation in the coastguard; accepted it, and, to his great
+satisfaction, was stationed in the neighbourhood of Cranby, his native
+town.
+
+Now, near to that town Jeff had a confidante, into whose sympathetic
+bosom he had poured his joys and sorrows from the days of little
+boyhood.  Of course this confidante was a woman--a thin, little, elderly
+creature, with bright blue eyes, and grey hair that had once been
+golden, who had a sort of tremble in her voice, and whose frame was so
+light that the fishermen were wont to say of her that if she was to show
+her nose outside when it was blowing only half a gale she'd be blowed
+away like a fleck of foam.  Nevertheless Miss Millet was a distinct
+power in Cranby.
+
+Being off duty one fine afternoon, our coastguardsman walked along the
+beach in the direction of Cranby, bent on paying a visit to Miss Millet,
+whom he had not seen for several years.  On his way he had to pass a
+piece of common close to the town, where he found that a number of the
+townsmen and some of the fishermen from the neighbouring hamlet had
+assembled to hold high holiday and engage in athletic exercises.  The
+memory of school-days came strong upon him as he watched the sport, and
+he longed to join, but was modest enough to feel that his offering to do
+so in connection with games which seemed to have been already organised
+might be an intrusion.
+
+Two men were wrestling when he joined the circle of spectators--one was
+a fisherman, the other a huge blacksmith of the town.  They were well
+matched; for, although the fisherman was shorter than the blacksmith, he
+was an unusually powerful man.
+
+Great was the excitement as the two herculean men strove for the
+mastery, and loud was the cheer when at last the blacksmith prevailed
+and threw his adversary.
+
+But the enthusiasm was somewhat damped by the boastful manner in which
+the victor behaved; for it is not easy to sing the praises of a man
+whose looks and words show that he greatly overrates himself.
+
+"You don't need to look so cocky, Rodger," cried a cynical voice in the
+crowd.  "There be lots o' men as could throw thee, though they ben't
+here just now."
+
+Rodger turned sharply round, intending to give an angry defiance to the
+speaker; but seeing that it was only Reuben Drew, a white-haired old
+shoemaker of small stature, he burst into a sarcastic laugh.
+
+"Well, I don't deny," he said, "that there may be many men as could
+throw me, but I defy any of 'ee now present to do it."
+
+This was an opening for Jeff Benson, who was not slow to avail himself
+of it.  Stepping into the ring he threw off his coat.
+
+"Come along, Rodger," he said, with a good-humoured look; "you'll have
+to make good your words."
+
+Of course our hero was received with a cheer of satisfaction; for
+although Jeff was two inches shorter than his adversary--the latter
+being six feet two--it could be seen at a glance that he was at least
+his match in breadth of shoulder and development of muscle.  But in
+truth the young coastguardsman was much more than the blacksmith's
+match, for at school he had received special training in the art of
+wrestling from his father, who was a Cornishman, and hard service in the
+coasting trade had raised his strength of limb to the highest possible
+point.
+
+"Surely I've seen that young man somewhere," whispered one of the
+spectators to Reuben.
+
+"So have I," returned the latter.  "Don't he look uncommon like the old
+schoolmaster's son?  Hallo!"
+
+And well might Reuben exclaim "hallo!" for Jeff, instead of grasping his
+opponent round the waist, had suddenly seized him with one hand by the
+neck, with the other by the leg, and lifting him completely off the
+ground, had flung him on his back.
+
+The people were too much astonished at first to cheer.  They burst into
+a fit of laughter, which, however, extended into a hearty cheer when
+Reuben cried out, "It is Jeffrey Benson, as sure as I'm alive," and
+claimed him as a townsman.
+
+"You're right, Reuben," said Jeff, as he put on his coat, "though I am a
+good bit changed, no doubt, since I was here last."
+
+"Then the townsman have beaten the seaman after all," exclaimed one who
+was inclined to triumph.
+
+"Not so," returned Jeff quickly, "for I'm a seaman myself and take sides
+with the fishermen."
+
+"Well said; give us your hand, mate," cried John Golding, one of the
+latter, holding out his hand, which our hero grasped warmly, for he had
+known the man in former years.
+
+"You've done well in credit o' the sea."
+
+"An' better still," said little Reuben, "in doing credit to the land by
+refusin' to boast."
+
+Nevertheless, though Jeff Benson did not boast, it is but just to say
+that he _felt_ considerable satisfaction in his triumph, and rejoiced in
+the possession of so powerful a frame, as he continued his walk to Miss
+Millet's house.  It did not occur to him, however, to thank God for his
+strength of body, because at that time "God was not in all his
+thoughts."
+
+Miss Millet was a woman of action and projects.  Her whole being was
+absorbed in one idea--that of doing good; but her means were small, very
+small, for, besides being exceedingly poor, she was in delicate health
+and getting old.  She subsisted on quite a microscopic annuity; but,
+instead of trying to increase it, she devoted the whole of her time to
+labours of love and charity.  The labour that suited her health and
+circumstances best was knitting socks for the poor, because that
+demanded little thought and set her mind free to form unlimited
+projects.
+
+The delight which Miss Millet, experienced in meeting with her old
+friend Jeffrey Benson was displayed in the vivacity of her reception of
+him and the tremulosity of her little cap.
+
+"It's just like coming home, auntie--may I still venture to call you
+so?"
+
+Jeff had been wont to sit on a stool at the good lady's feet.  He did so
+now--on the old stool.
+
+"You may call me what you please, Jeff.  It was your child-fancy to
+accord to me that honourable relationship; so you may continue it if you
+will.  How you are grown, too!  I could not have known you had I met
+you--so big, and with that horrible black beard."
+
+"Horrible!  Miss Millet?"
+
+"Well, terrible, if you prefer it.  It's so bushy and unnatural for one
+so young."
+
+"That can hardly be, auntie," rejoined the youth, with a smile that sent
+quite a ripple down the objectionable beard, "because my beard was
+provided by Nature."
+
+"Well, Jeff," returned the spinster promptly, "were not scissors and
+razors provided by--no, it was art that provided _them_," she continued
+with a little smile of confusion; "but they _are_ provided all the same,
+and--But we won't pursue that subject, for you men are incorrigible!
+Now tell me, Jeff, where you have been, and why you didn't come to see
+me sooner, and why your letters have been so few--though I admit they
+were long."
+
+We will not inflict on the reader all the conversation that ensued.
+When Jeff had exhausted his narrative, Miss Millet discovered that it
+was tea-time; and, while engaged in preparations for the evening meal,
+she enlarged upon some of her projects, being encouraged thereto by
+Jeff, whose heart was naturally sympathetic.
+
+"But some of my projects are impossible," she said, with a little sigh.
+"Some small things, indeed, I have accomplished, with God's blessing;
+but there are others which are quite beyond me."
+
+"Indeed!  Tell me now, auntie, if you had Aladdin's wonderful lamp, what
+would you ask for?"
+
+"I'd ask for--let me see (the old face became quite thoughtful here)--
+I'd ask for a library.  You see, Cranby is _very_ badly off for books,
+and people cannot easily improve without reading, you know.  Then I
+would ask for a new church, and a school room, and a town-hall where we
+might have lectures and concerts, and for a whole street of model-houses
+for the poor, and a gymnasium, and a swimming-bath and--"
+
+"A swimming-bath, auntie!" exclaimed Jeff.  "Isn't the sea big enough?"
+
+"Yes, but children won't learn in the sea.  They're too fond of running
+about the edge, and of romping in the shallow water.  Besides, the bath
+could be used in winter, when the sea is too cold.  But I'm praying for
+all these things.  If God sees fit, He will give them.  If not, I am
+content with what He has already given."
+
+A somewhat sceptical smile rested for a moment on the young man's lips.
+Happily his heavy moustache concealed it, and saved Miss Millet's
+feelings.  But she went on to vindicate the ways of God with man, and to
+impress upon Jeff the fact that in His good wisdom "ills" or "wells,"
+and things that seem to us only evil, work out gracious ends.
+
+Jeff listened, but said little, and evidently his difficulties were not
+all removed.  Presently, observing that three cups were laid on the
+table, he asked, "Do you expect company?"
+
+"Yes, my brother the captain is coming to tea.  He is about to start for
+China, and I'm so glad you happen to be here; for I'd like you to know
+each other, and you're sure to like him."
+
+Jeff did not feel quite so sure on that point, for he had counted on a
+long _tete-a-tete_ with his old friend.  He took care, however, to
+conceal his disappointment, and before he had time to reply, the door
+opened with a crash.
+
+"What cheer, old girl? what cheer?" resounded in bo'sun's-mate tones
+through the house, and next moment a rugged sea-captain stood before
+them.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+A SEA-CAPTAIN RELATES HIS ADVENTURES, AND REFUSES TO DRAW MORALS.
+
+Captain Richard Millet, like his sister, was rather eccentric.  Unlike
+her, however, he was large, broad, and powerful.  It would have taken
+considerably more than "half a gale" to blow _him_ away.  Even a gale
+and a half might have failed to do that.
+
+"Glad to meet you," he said, extending his solid-looking hand with a
+frank, hearty air, on being introduced to Jeff.  "My sister Molly has
+often spoken of you.  Sorry to hear you've left the sea.  Great mistake,
+young man--great mistake.  There's no school like the sea for teaching a
+man his dependence on his Maker."
+
+"The school is not very successful, if one may judge from the character
+of most of its pupils," replied the youth.
+
+"Perhaps you misjudge their character," returned the captain, with a
+look of good-natured severity.
+
+"I'm _sure_ he does," cried Miss Millet, with enthusiasm.
+"Noble-hearted, simple men, who would probably never go wrong at all if
+it were not for their unsuspecting trustfulness and bad companions!
+Come, sit down, Dick.  Tea is ready."
+
+"Yes, young man," continued Captain Millet "you misjudge 'em.  You
+should not judge of a school by the shouting and mischief of the worst
+boys, who always flaunt their colours, while the good ones steer quietly
+on their course.  You'll understand that better when your beard is grey.
+Youth is fond o' lookin' at the surface, an' so is apt to misjudge the
+character of men as well as the ways of Providence."
+
+Jeff took the rebuke in good part, readily admitted that youth was prone
+to err, and slily expressed a hope that in his case coming in contact
+with age might do him good.
+
+"If you mean that for a shot at me," cried the captain, with a loud
+guffaw, "you've missed the mark; for I'm only forty-five, an' that isn't
+age; is it, Molly?"
+
+"Of course not.  Why, you're little more than a baby yet," replied Miss
+Millet who greatly enjoyed even a small joke--indeed, she enjoyed almost
+everything, more or less, that was not wicked.  "But now, Dick, I want
+you to tell Jeff some of your adventures in foreign parts--especially
+those that have a moral, you know."
+
+"Why, Molly, that's a hard job--you don't want me to _draw_ the moral,
+do you?  I never was good at that, though I've known fellows with that
+peculiar cast o' brain as could draw a moral out of a marline-spike if
+they were hard put to it.  Seems to me that it's best to let morals draw
+themselves.  For instance, that time when I was wrecked on the South
+American coast, I came to a shallow river, an' had to wade across, but
+was too lazy to pull off my boots, 'cause they were long fisherman's
+boots, right up to the hip an' rather tight; so in I went boots an' all.
+Just as I was gettin' to the other side, a most awful alligator seized
+hold o' my right foot.  It's wonderful how easy my boot came off just
+then!  Although I was used to tug, an' shove, and gasp, and pull, at
+that boot of a night, no sooner did the alligator lay hold on it than my
+leg came out like a cork out of a bottle, and I was out o' the water and
+up the bank like a squirrel.  Now, Molly, what would you say was the
+moral that should be drawn from that--Never use an alligator as a
+boot-jack--eh?"
+
+"I should say, Never wade across a South American river without your
+boots on," suggested Jeff.
+
+"Well, now, _I_ should say, Never wade across a South American river at
+all," said Miss Millet; "but, brother, that's not what I meant.  Before
+you arrived, Jeff and I had been talking about God's ways with man, and
+I was trying to show that disasters and what we call misfortunes are not
+necessarily evil, but are often the means of great blessing.  I don't
+think Jeff quite sees that.  I can't explain myself clearly, brother;
+but you know what I mean."
+
+While the old lady was speaking, the captain had become thoughtful.
+
+"Yes, I know what you mean," he replied, "and I agree with you heartily.
+Is it not written of our Saviour, `He hath done all things well?' and
+is He not unchangeable?  Of course it is not to be expected that we
+shall always see through and understand His ways though we can always
+trust Him; but sometimes He lifts a corner of the veil and lets us see.
+Very odd, Molly," continued the captain, extracting a large black
+pocket-book with some difficulty from a breast-pocket, "very odd that
+you should have touched on this question, for I have somethin' to say to
+you that bears on it.  Look here.  What's that?"
+
+He handed an oblong piece of paper to his sister, who examined it
+slowly.
+
+"Why, Dick, it's a cheque for 500 pounds."
+
+"Just so, old girl, an' it's yours."
+
+"Mine!"
+
+"Ay, I might have given it to you when I first came back, but I took a
+fancy to keep it as a little surprise for our last evenin' together, so
+that I might leave you with a good taste in your mouth.  Now, listen,
+an' I'll spin you an' Jeff a yarn.  But first fill up my cup.  I'm fond
+o' tea--nat'rally, bein' a teetotaler.  Up to the brim, Molly; I like a
+good bucketful.  Thankee--now, let me see."
+
+The captain put his hand to his rugged brow, became thoughtful for a few
+moments, and then resumed.
+
+"Just before startin' on my last voyage to China I ran down to
+Folkestone to see Rosebud--that's my little daughter, Jeff.  Surely you
+must have seen her when knocking about here?"
+
+"You forget, Captain, I have not been in these parts for six years.
+Nevertheless, I did see Rosebud some ten or twelve years ago with her
+nurse in this very room."
+
+"Yes, so you did," chimed in Miss Millet.  "She was six at that time,
+and the dearest little angel I ever saw."
+
+"She was all that and a great deal more," said the enthusiastic father.
+"It don't become me to have much of an opinion about the angels, but I
+wouldn't give my Rosebud for the whole lot o' them, an' all the cherubs
+throw'd into the bargain.  Well, as I was sayin', I ran down to
+Folkestone to the school where she is, and as we were partin' she made
+me promise when I got to Hong-Kong to run up the river to see an old
+schoolmate o' hers that had gone out there with her father.  I was to
+give Clara Rosebud's dear love, and her photograph, and get hers in
+exchange.  I would have done this, of course, for my darlin', anyhow,
+but I promised all the more readily because I had some business to do
+with old Nibsworth, the father.
+
+"Well, after I'd got to Hong-Kong an' seen the ship all snug, I thought
+of runnin' up the river in a small steamer that was ready to start.  It
+so happened that I got a letter that very day from Nibsworth himself,
+who had heard of my arrival, askin' me to come without delay, as there
+was a grand chance of doin' a bit of business that might turn in some
+thousands of pounds.  But it would have to be settled next day, or the
+chance would be lost.  You may be sure I didn't waste time after readin'
+this, but when I got to the river-side, I found that the steamer had
+started, and there wasn't another till next mornin'."
+
+"_What_ a pity!" exclaimed the sympathetic sister and Jeff in the same
+breath.
+
+"Yes, wasn't it?  Of course it wasn't a personal loss, but it was the
+loss of a splendid out-o'-the-way chance to do a good turn to the
+owners.  It was an ill wind--Jeff, almost a disaster.  Hows'ever, I had
+to grin an' bear it.  But I couldn't rest till next day; so I hired a
+native boat, determined to do my best in the circumstances, and you may
+be sure I wasn't in the best of humours, as we went creepin' slowly up
+that river, when I knew that the hours of opportunity were slippin'
+away.
+
+"It was not till the evenin' o' the next day that I reached old
+Nibsworth's house.  Just before we rounded the bend of the river that
+brought it into view, I noticed smoke risin' pretty thick above the
+trees.  Of course I thought nothin' of it till I found that it was the
+old man's house was a-fire!  Didn't we bend to the oars then with a
+will!
+
+"As we drew near, we found that all the servants and work-people about
+the place were runnin' here and there, shoutin' and yellin' for ropes
+and ladders.  Most people seem to lose their heads in a fire.  Anyhow
+those people had; for nobody could find a ladder long enough to reach a
+top window, where I could see that someone was waving his arms for help.
+The moment we touched the beach, I jumped out o' the boat and ran up to
+the house.  It was blazin' fiercely in the lower rooms, and I soon found
+that old Nibsworth and his daughter were inside--driven to the attics by
+the fire and smoke.  They soon left the window where I had first seen
+the arms waving, and threw open another that was further from the fire.
+
+"I saw that the old man was frail.  The girl, they told me, was
+delicate.  `Get straw, hay, branches--anything soft,' I shouted, `an'
+pile 'em under the window.'
+
+"`Him's too weak for jump,' gasped a native servant.
+
+"`Do as I bid ye,' said I, with a glare that sent 'em all off
+double-quick.  Happily I found a rope handy in a storehouse hard by.  I
+made a coil of it.  You know a seaman can usually heave a coil of rope
+pretty well.  I made a splendid heave, an' sent it right in at the
+window.  The old man caught it.
+
+"`Make fast to a bed-post,' I roared, `or a table, or chest o' drawers--
+anything big.'
+
+"He understood me, I could see, and presently he looked over the window
+an' shook his head.  Then I could see the face of a dark-haired,
+beautiful girl.  Even through the increasing smoke I could tell that she
+was deadly pale, and drew back with a shudder.  By this time a big pile
+of straw lay under the window.  I saw there was no hope of such an old
+man lettin' himself or his girl down by a rope, so up I went hand over
+hand.  Many a time had I done the sort o' thing for a lark when I was a
+youngster; but bein' out o' practice, and a good deal heavier than in
+old days, I found it hard work, I can tell you.  Hows'ever, I managed it
+and got in at the window, an' didn't my heart give a jump when I saw
+that the old chap had only made the rope fast to a light bedroom chair.
+If I'd bin a stone heavier, I'd have pulled that chair right over the
+window!
+
+"`God bless you!' cried the tremblin' old man; `save my Clara!'
+
+"There was no time for pretty speeches.  I made fast the end of the rope
+to the leg of a table, made a loop on the other end, threw it over the
+girl, caught her round the waist an' swung her over the window.  I was
+in such a hurry that the rope nearly took the skin off my hands; but I
+landed her safe on the straw below.  The old man was heavier, and not so
+easy to manage; but I got him lowered safe, and then, slipping over
+myself, began to descend.  The flames had by that time got headway, and
+were dartin' like fiery serpents' tongues out o' the windows below.  One
+o' them gave me a wipe in passin', an' cleared eyelashes, eyebrows, and
+half the hair o' my head away.  Another twined round the rope and singed
+it; so that when I was half-way down, it snapped, and I came to the
+ground with a thud that damaged my canvas ducks, though they were by no
+means delicate.  Hows'ever, the pile of straw broke the fall, and I was
+none the worse.
+
+"The gratitude o' that poor old man and his daughter knew no bounds,
+specially when he found I was the father of his Clara's favourite
+schoolmate.
+
+"`Now, Captain Millet,' says he at partin', `nothin' in this world can
+repay what we owe you.  I know it would be insultin' to offer you money
+for such service, but sometimes men like you like to help a good cause.
+Will you accept of five hundred pounds for such a purpose?'
+
+"`No sir,' says I, `I won't!  But I've a sister at home who spends all
+her time in tryin' to do good.  If you'll be kind enough to send it to
+her, she'll consider it a blessed windfall, and will lay it out to the
+best possible advantage.'
+
+"`Good,' said he, seizin' his pen an' writin' out the cheque.  `Is your
+sister well off?'
+
+"`She might be better off,' said I.
+
+"`Then pray beg her in my name to accept of a few shares in an
+Australian tin-mine which came to me a few days ago.  They are not worth
+much, but I don't want to be troubled with them; indeed, will consider
+it a favour if she will take them off my hands.'
+
+"The old fellow said this with a laugh--so there you are, Molly, 500
+pounds to the credit of your charity account an' I don't know how much
+tin transferred to your own."
+
+"O brother, how good--how kind!"  Miss Millet paused here, and gazed in
+silence at the cheque, for she had already begun to calculate how far
+that sum would go towards the library, and the church, and the
+town-hall, and the model-houses, and the gymnasium, and the
+swimming-bath.
+
+"And now, young man," said the captain, turning to our coastguardsman,
+"the missin' of that steamer, at which I growled so much that day,
+turned out to be a great blessin' after all, although it seemed such a
+misfortune.  For it caused me to arrive just in the nick of time to save
+two human lives--besides givin' the old girl here somethin' to think
+about and work upon for the next twelvemonth to come--whereas, if I had
+arrived the day before, I would have bin sleepin' in the house, and
+mayhap have bin burnt alive wi' old Nibsworth and his daughter.  Seems
+to me as if that little story had some sort o' bearin' on the subject
+you was discussin' wi' Molly.  But I'm not good at drawin' morals, so
+I'll leave you to draw it for yourself."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+OUR COASTGUARDSMAN MEETS WITH A SERIOUS BUT VERY COMMON FALL.
+
+Whether Jeff Benson drew the moral of Captain Millet's story for himself
+or not, we cannot tell; but it is certain that his mates found him after
+that date a man who was prone to solitary meditations, with occasional
+fits of absence of mind.  They also found him a pleasant companion and a
+most active comrade in all the duties of his station.
+
+Sometimes these duties involved great hardship, and frequent risk to
+life and limb; for, as is well known, our coastguardsmen not only
+perambulate our shores in all weathers, but often work the rocket
+apparatus for saving life from shipwreck, and are frequently called upon
+to assist the lifeboat-men by putting off to the rescue in their own
+boats when others are not available.  In all these duties Jeffrey Benson
+did his work with tremendous energy, as might have been expected of one
+so strong, and with reckless disregard to personal safety, which was
+appropriate in a hero.
+
+One evening, about a year after the period of which we have been
+writing, Jeff was returning along shore with a party in charge of the
+rocket-cart, after having rescued the crew of a small coasting vessel--
+four men and a boy, with the skipper's wife.  The service had been
+prolonged and pretty severe, but feelings of exhaustion were, for the
+time at least, banished from the coastguardsmen's breasts by the joy
+resulting from success in their heroic work.  On the way, the party had
+to pass close to Miss Millet's cottage--her "cottage by the sea," as the
+romantic old lady was fond of calling it.
+
+Jeff--although fatigued and hungry, besides being drenched, dishevelled
+about the hair, bespattered with mud, and bruised, as well as lacerated
+somewhat about the hands--determined to pay a short visit to the
+cottage, being anxious to "have it out" with his confidante about that
+matter of good being made to come out of evil.
+
+"O Jeff!" exclaimed the horrified old lady when he entered, "wounded?
+perhaps fatally!"
+
+"Not quite so bad as that, auntie," replied Jeff, with a hearty laugh,
+for Miss Millet's power to express alarm was wonderful.  "I'll soon put
+myself to rights when I get back to the station.  I ought to apologise
+for calling in such a plight, but I've been thinking much since I last
+saw you, and I want to have a talk."
+
+"Not till I have bound up all your wounds," said Miss Millet firmly.
+
+Knowing that he would gain his end more quickly by giving in, Jeff
+submitted to have several fingers of both hands done up with pieces of
+white rag, and a slight cut across the bridge of his handsome nose
+ornamented with black sticking-plaster.  He not only enjoyed the
+operation with a sort of reckless joviality, but sought to gratify his
+friend by encouraging her to use her appliances to the utmost, intending
+to remove them all when he quitted the cottage.  The earnest little
+woman availed herself fully of the encouragement, but could scarcely
+refrain from laughing when she surveyed him after the operation was
+completed.
+
+"Now, auntie, have you finished?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well then, tell me, do you really think that at all times, and in all
+circumstances, God causes events that are disastrous to work out good?"
+
+"Indeed I do," returned Miss Millet, becoming very serious and earnest
+as she sat down opposite her young friend.  "No doubt there is much of
+mystery connected with the subject but I can't help that any more than I
+can help my beliefs.  Of course we know, because it is written, that
+`_all_ things work together for good to them that love God;' but even in
+the case of those who do _not_ love Him, I think He often sends sorrow
+and trouble for the very purpose of driving them out of trust in
+themselves, and so clearing the way to bring them to the Saviour.  And
+is it not written, `Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee?'"
+
+The young man remained silent for a few moments.
+
+"Well, now," he said, "what think you of this case?  The skipper whom we
+rescued this afternoon, along with his wife, told me that he has been
+reduced to beggary.  He owned the vessel which now lies out on the rocks
+there, a total wreck.  It was his last venture.  He had put all that he
+possessed into it, and not a scrap of the cargo will be saved.  Having
+been a lucky man all his life previously, he said he had determined to
+`chance his luck' this time, and did not insure vessel or cargo: so that
+all is gone.  His wife and several children are dependent on him.  He
+has no relatives rich enough, or willing enough, to help him; and, poor
+fellow, he has received injuries while being rescued, which will
+probably render him helpless for the rest of his life.  Now, do you
+think that good will come out of all that?"
+
+"I am _sure_ it will," returned Miss Millet confidently, "and good to
+_him_ too if he seeks it; though of course I know not how or when."
+
+"But why are you so sure?"
+
+"Because, Jeff, it is written that God does not `afflict the children of
+men willingly.'  He does it for their good, and that good cannot fail of
+accomplishment, unless they refuse the good and choose the evil."
+
+Again Jeff became silent and thoughtful.  "I have meditated much of
+late," he said, "about Captain Millet's adventure in China--"
+
+"By the way," interrupted Miss Millet, "that reminds me that the
+captain's little girl Rose--Rosebud, as he calls her--is to come here
+this very evening to stay with me for a week."
+
+"Indeed? that will be pleasant, auntie.  I must come and see her as an
+old acquaintance."
+
+"Oh yes, you must, Jeff.  You've no idea what a sweet girl she has
+become.  I am quite charmed with her--so modest, and unselfish, and
+clever, and good, and--and, in short, I call her the four F's, for she
+is fair, fragile, fervent, and funny."
+
+"What a catalogue!" exclaimed the youth, laughing; "you may well be
+charmed with her.  But what do you mean by funny?  Does she try to make
+people laugh?"
+
+"Oh dear, no!  In company she can scarce be made to speak at all, but
+she _is_ so fond of fun--has such a lively appreciation of humour, and
+laughs _so_ heartily.  She has grown quite into a woman since I last saw
+her when her father went to sea.  There she is!"
+
+Miss Millet sprang from her chair with the agility almost of a young
+woman, and ran to open the door, for a cab was heard pulling up in front
+of the cottage.
+
+There was a delighted little shriek from "Auntie!" and the warmest
+salutations of welcome; and the next moment Miss Millet, with the
+captain's daughter, arm in arm, embracing one another, entered the
+parlour.
+
+The coastguardsman was transfixed, for there, before him, flushed and
+panting, stood--
+
+  "A maid with eyes of heavenly blue,
+  And rippling hair of golden hue;
+  With parted lips of Coral too,
+  Disclosing pearls--and--"
+
+All the rest of it!  Yes, no wonder that Jeffrey Benson was transfixed.
+Still less wonder that Rosebud stood in much the same condition; for, a
+young giant in pilot-cloth, damp and dirty, dishevelled, bespattered
+with mud, tied up about the fingers and plastered over the nose, was not
+precisely what she had expected to find in Aunt Millet's parlour.
+
+They were soon introduced, however, and on the best of terms; for the
+shrinking from Jeff's filthy appearance changed in a moment to
+hero-worship in the romantic heart of Rose, when she was told the cause
+of the youth's condition, and heard all the details of the rescue from
+his own manly lips.
+
+It was love at first sight with both of them; more than that, it was
+first love at first sight!  We have profound sympathy with young people
+thus circumstanced, especially when they are reticent, and don't give
+way to sentimental silliness.  A good manly and womanly case of this
+sort of love, in which the parties concerned take a serious header and
+go deep down, without the smallest intention of ever coming up again, is
+pleasant to contemplate and agreeable to record.
+
+Of course it must not be supposed that Rose Millet understood what had
+happened.  She was fully aware, indeed, that something unusual had
+occurred within her inexperienced breast, but she quietly set it down to
+hero-worship.  She had read Carlyle on that subject.  She had seen
+occasional reference in newspapers and magazines to lifeboat work, and
+she had been thrilled by the record of noble deeds done by heroic seamen
+and coastguardsmen.  At last it was her lot to come athwart one of those
+heroes.  He quite came up to her conception--nay, more than came up to
+it!  She regarded Jeff with feelings approaching to awe.  The idea of
+love in connection with a damp, dirty, wounded, nose-plastered,
+hair-ravelled giant, with beard enough to make an average hearth-broom,
+never entered her fair head.  If suggested to her she would have laughed
+it to scorn--had it been possible for one so bright and "funny" to
+become scornful.
+
+As for Jeff--he more than suspected what had happened in regard to
+himself.  His experience of life had been varied and extensive for his
+years--at least in a nautical direction--and that is saying a great
+deal.
+
+"Done for!" he remarked to himself that evening, as he left the
+residence of Miss Millet and sauntered slowly homeward, divesting his
+fingers of the wrappings in an absent manner as he went along; but he
+forgot the plastered nose, and was taken to task about it by his
+comrades.
+
+"Why, wherever did you get the stickin'-plaster?" asked David Bowers, an
+Anglo-Saxon much like himself in form and size, only that his locks and
+beard were yellow instead of dark brown.
+
+"From a friend," replied Jeff.
+
+"A female friend?" asked Bowers, with a sly glance.
+
+"Yes," replied Jeff, so promptly, and with a look of such benignity,
+that the Anglo-Saxon felt constrained to give up his intended badinage.
+
+That night curiously enough, Rose and Jeff were beset by dreams exactly
+similar in kind, though slightly modified in form.  Both were in the
+midst of howling blasts and raging billows; but while the one was saving
+a fair and slender girl in circumstances of great but scorned risk, the
+other was being rescued by a young giant with a brown beard, in a style
+the most heroic, and in the midst of dangers the most appalling.
+
+Next day, when Jeff--having got rid of the nose-plaster, and removed the
+mud, and brushed the dishevelled hair, and put on dry garments--paid
+another visit to Miss Millet, the Rosebud formed a more correct estimate
+of her condition, became alarmed, and shrank like a sensitive plant
+before the gaze of the coastguardsman; insomuch that she drove him to
+the conclusion that he had no hope whatever in that quarter, and that he
+was foolish to think of her seriously.  What _was_ she, after all?  A
+mere chit of a school girl!  It was ridiculous.  He would heave her
+overboard forthwith, and trouble his head no more about her.  He would
+not, however, give up visiting his old confidante on _her_ account--oh
+dear, no!
+
+It was wonderful what an amount of guarding seemed to be required by the
+coast in the vicinity of Miss Millet's cottage during the following
+week!  Any one observing the frequency of Jeff's visits to it, and his
+prolonged earnest gazing at the sea, would have imagined that the
+ancient smuggling days had revived, or that the old tendency of the
+French to suddenly come o'er and find the Britons awaiting them on
+shore, was not yet extinct.
+
+One evening our hero, after paying a little unwonted attention to his
+toilet prepared to set out for Miss Millet's cottage.  He had obtained
+leave of absence for the evening, and had made up his mind to spend an
+hour or two in metaphysical discussion.  Rose had not yet left her aunt
+but no matter.  If she could not assist in the conversation, she could
+at all events listen, and might be benefited.
+
+In passing through the station, the officer on duty called to him.
+
+"I want you, Benson, to take Wilson's place to-night.  He is unwell and
+off duty.  We may possibly require all our force, for the barometer has
+suddenly fallen much lower than usual."
+
+No shade of disappointment betrayed itself on the grave countenance of
+the well-disciplined Jeff as he replied, "Very well, sir," and went out;
+but profound disappointment nevertheless harrowed his broad bosom, for
+he had promised himself such a long and pleasant evening of discussion;
+possibly of benefit to the young girl for whom he cared nothing now--a
+mere passing fancy, pooh!  But even while ejecting the "pooh!" he
+wondered why the disappointment was so severe.  Was it possible that he
+was being taught by experience the lesson which Miss Millet's reasoning
+powers had failed to inculcate?
+
+It was blowing hard when Jeff reached the cliffs, and, bending forward
+to the increasing blast made his way to the rugged coast which was to be
+the scene of his night vigil.  As he stood on the shore with hands in
+pockets and legs apart, to steady himself, and gazed out upon the
+darkening sea, he saw plainly enough that the prophetic barometer was
+right.  Far out on the water a ledge of rocks, barely covered at high
+water, caught the billows as they rolled shoreward, broke them up, and
+sent them spouting into the air in volumes of foam.  On the horizon the
+clouds were so black that the shrieking sea-birds passed athwart them
+like flakes of snow.  Low muttering thunder was heard at intervals; and
+as night drew on, gleams of lightning flashed in the obscurity.
+
+During one of these flashes Jeff thought he saw a vessel labouring
+heavily.  He could not be quite sure, for by that time spray, borne on
+the whistling wind, was blinding him.  Suddenly a red flash was seen,
+followed by a report.  It was a signal of distress.
+
+Every thought and feeling save that of duty was instantly banished from
+the mind of our coastguardsman, as he hurried away to give the alarm and
+join in the rescue.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+A WRECK AND RESCUE.
+
+Terrible was the gale which burst that night upon the shores of old
+England, and awful the fate that awaited many of the vessels which were
+nearing port at the time.  Better far for many of them had they met the
+foe in the open field of what seamen term blue water, for no place is so
+dangerous as the shallow waters off the coast when the storm-fiend is
+abroad.
+
+Perhaps it may be news to some readers that the losses of this country
+by shipwreck form a perennial drain of life and wealth as regular and
+certain as the recurrence of the seasons.  Nearly two thousand ships,
+two millions sterling, and little short of a thousand lives are lost
+each year on the shores of the United Kingdom--sometimes more, sometimes
+less,--each and every year.  We give round numbers, because they are
+more easily remembered.
+
+On the particular night of which we write, many a gallant ship was
+driving over the sea, making for her port, nearing home and friends,
+rushing to her doom!  Passengers and crews alike had by that time,
+doubtless, become so familiar with whistling gales and heaving seas,
+that they had ceased to fear them; but some among them had yet to learn,
+when too late, that the dangers of the deep are insignificant compared
+with the perils of the shore.
+
+Among these hapless ships was one to which we direct the reader's
+particular attention.  She was a large ship, with a crew of between
+twenty and thirty men, bound from China to the Thames.  She carried no
+passengers, and was commanded by our friend, Captain Millet.
+
+No captain in the mercantile navy of Britain was better qualified than
+he to take his ship across the trackless main, and, if need be, carry
+her safely into port; but seamanship and knowledge of channels and bars
+and currents avail nothing when the sails and cordage of a ship are
+unseaworthy and her timbers worn out.
+
+The owners of the _North Star_ cared little for human lives.  They were
+economists of the strictest kind.  Hence her condition was bad.
+
+The gale overtook the _North Star_ when she was not far from the coast
+where nestled her captain's native town of Cranby.  A pilot had been
+signalled for in vain, for the night was thick as well as stormy.  At
+last one was obtained, and all went fairly well until the vessel was off
+the black rocks on which the eyes of Jeff Benson had been resting for
+some time.  Fearing that he was too near that point of danger, the pilot
+gave orders to go about.  While the vessel was in stays, one of the
+ropes parted, and she missed.  At the same moment a squall came down on
+her, and carried away the main and fore-topmasts with the jib-boom.
+Instantly the vessel was unmanageable, and drifted bodily towards the
+rocks.
+
+Captain Millet and his men toiled like heroes to clear away the
+wreckage, and orders were given to fire the signal-gun.  As we have
+seen, our coastguardsman was swift to carry the alarm to his station,
+and without delay the lifeboat was launched.  At the same time orders
+were given to get ready the coastguard boat, in case its services should
+be required.
+
+The regular crew of the lifeboat had, as usual, been on the alert, and
+the bright blue boat of mercy was at once run down to the beach, until
+her carriage reached the edge of the foaming sea.
+
+"Now, lads, jump in!" shouted the coxswain.
+
+It was found, however, when they had taken their places and seized the
+oars, that two of the crew were missing.  Volunteers were instantly
+called for, and Jeff, with his friend David Bowers, answered to the
+call.  They put on the cork life-belts, took the vacant seats, and
+grasped the oars.  Then the transporting carriage, with the boat and
+crew on it, was pushed by many willing hands as far into the sea as
+possible, the men bending forward with the oars out, ready to pull at a
+moment's notice.
+
+The launching ropes were already manned.  At another signal from the
+coxswain, the boat plunged into the boiling surf, the oars were dipped,
+ten strong backs were bent, and away they shot on their errand of
+mercy--drenched and filled by the first great billow through which they
+cut their way, but not swamped, for the water ran out through the
+discharging tubes as fast as it came in.
+
+An hour of hard toil brought them within sight of the wreck.  Keeping
+well to windward, the coxswain cast anchor, and the bowman, taking a
+turn or two of the cable round the bollard, allowed the boat to drop
+down to the wreck, stern foremost.
+
+"Can't you get round to leeward of the wreck?" asked Jeff, who sat near
+the stern of the boat, keeping a firm grasp of his oar, which the
+rushing and breaking seas well-nigh forced out of his hands.
+
+"No, not as the rocks lie," replied the coxswain curtly.
+
+On drawing a few yards nearer, it became evident that no boat could live
+in the seething caldron of rocks and foam that lay under the lee of the
+wreck.  Their only chance lay in approaching from the weather side,
+which was not only a difficult and dangerous operation, but was rendered
+doubly so by the violent swaying of the wreck from side to side.
+
+The roaring of the gale and thunder of the seas, combined with the
+darkness and the hurtling spray, rendered it impossible for the men in
+the life-boat to distinguish anything clearly, until close to the wreck.
+Then it was seen that the whole crew had taken to the rigging of the
+mainmast--the topmast of which had been carried away by the fall of the
+foremast and mizzen.
+
+A lusty cheer told that the shipwrecked men were still strong in hope,
+though their situation was terrible; for every lurch of the hull shook
+the swaying top so violently as almost to tear even the strong seamen
+from their grasp.
+
+"Jeff," said Bowers, who sat on the same thwart with his friend, "did ye
+not recognise a voice in that cheer?"
+
+"Ay, that I did," returned Jeff, with feelings of great anxiety.  "'Twas
+uncommon like Captain Millet."
+
+"Look out for the rope!" roared one of the lifeboat men, as he swung and
+discharged the loaded stick with a line attached.
+
+The heave was successful.  The men on the maintop of the wreck caught
+the line, and by means of it passed a stout warp between the mast and
+the boat, down which they began to shin like squirrels, for the prompt
+appearance of their rescuers had not left time for the exhaustion of
+their strength.
+
+"Is your vessel the _North Star_, commanded by Captain Millet?" shouted
+Jeff in the ear of the first arrival, for the noise of raging elements
+rendered ordinary tones almost useless.
+
+"Ay, she is," replied the man; "but you won't see _him_ till the last of
+us is safe aboard."
+
+"Hallo!  Captain Millet!" cried Jeff, with a roar that almost equalled
+the elements.
+
+"Ay, ay, is that you, Jeff?" came back in a similar roar (but greatly
+softened by distance) from the swirling spray-clouds that raged above
+the wreck.
+
+"Cheer up, Captain; we'll save you all right," returned our
+coastguardsman in another enthusiastic roar, which of itself did
+something to cheer up all who heard it.
+
+About a dozen of the sailors had been got into the lifeboat, when a
+tremendous rending sound was heard, followed by a loud cry of alarm, as
+the mast broke off a few feet above the deck, and plunged, with the men
+still upon it, into the boiling sea.  To add to the confusion and
+terror, some part of the cordage caught the lifeboat, and completely
+sank as well as overturned it.
+
+To an ignorant observer it might have seemed that all hope was gone--
+that every man must perish.  But this was not so.  The buoyant qualities
+of the magnificent lifeboat brought it to the surface like a cork the
+instant it was freed.  Its self-righting qualities turned it on its
+keel.  The self-acting discharging tubes emptied it in less than two
+minutes; and the crew, supported by their cork life-belts, caught the
+life-lines festooned round the boat's side for this very purpose, and
+clambered into her.
+
+Of the men of the wreck who had been tumbled into the sea along with
+them, some clung to their rescuers, whose belts could easily sustain
+two.  Others were able to lay hold of the boat, and a few held on to the
+floating wreckage till they were saved.
+
+Suddenly the voice of Captain Millet was heard, "Hold on, lads; don't go
+without me.  My foot's jammed here, and I can't--"
+
+He stopped abruptly, for the head of the mast plunged under water at the
+moment, taking the captain along with it.
+
+Without a word Jeff rose and sprang into the sea at the spot where his
+friend had disappeared.  Almost at the same moment the end of the mast
+re-appeared, and struck our hero on the side with terrible violence.  In
+spite of the blow, however, he was able to free the captain, who was
+caught by several strong arms, and hauled inboard at the same moment
+that his rescuer laid hold of one of the hanging life-lines.
+
+While they were still heaving at the captain, David Bowers heard Jeff's
+voice--
+
+"Your hand, Davy!"
+
+The stout coastguardsman was not slow to obey and he received a grip
+like that of a drowning man; but his mate made no other effort to save
+himself.
+
+"Help here, two of you," cried Bowers.
+
+Another moment, and six brawny arms embraced Jeff, and lifted him into
+the boat.
+
+"Not hurt, I hope, Jeff?"
+
+"Not much, Davy--at least not to speak of; only I'm a bit stunned.  Just
+let me lie here.  One o' the _North Star's_ men can take my oar."
+
+There was no time for delicate attentions or inquiries in the
+circumstances, for the wreck of the mainmast had already given the boat,
+strong though it was, some damaging lunges as it shot wildly to and fro
+in the mad sea.
+
+"All there?" demanded the coxswain of the saved men, who had been
+rapidly counting their numbers.
+
+"All here, thank God!" answered Captain Millet.
+
+"Haul off, lads!"
+
+The men laid hold of the hawser, and hauled with a will--not a moment
+too soon, for the wreck was breaking up, and the sea around was strewn
+with heavy timbers.  Having hauled the boat up to her anchor, the latter
+was got in, and the oars were shipped.  These last being made fast to
+the boat with strong lines, had not been lost in all the turmoil, though
+two of them were broken.  They were replaced, however, by spare oars;
+and then the lifeboat, being pulled out of danger, hoisted her scrap of
+sail and scudded away gaily before the wind for the shore with her
+rescued freight.
+
+Of course the news spread like wildfire that the lifeboat had come in
+with the crew of the wrecked _North Star_--some said the whole crew,
+others, part of the crew; for verbal reports of this kind never do
+coincide after travelling a short way.
+
+"Jeff, I must go straight to my sister, and be first wi' the news," said
+Captain Millet on landing.  "You said my Rosebud is with her just now?"
+
+"Yes, I'll go with 'ee, captain."
+
+"Come along, then, lad; but I fear you've got hurt.  You're sure it
+isn't broken ribs?"
+
+"Oh, nothing to speak of," replied the youth, with a light laugh.
+
+"First however, I must telegraph to the owners," said the captain.
+
+This duty performed, and his men comfortably housed in a neighbouring
+inn, Captain Millet and Jeff went off to the cottage.  It was about two
+in the morning when they reached it.  No one had yet been there.  In his
+excited state of mind, the captain, who had no nerves, thundered at the
+door.
+
+If there was one thing that Miss Millet had a horror of, it was
+housebreakers.  She leaped out of bed, and began to dress in terror,
+having roused Rose, who slept with her.
+
+"Burglars never thunder like that, auntie," suggested Rose, as she
+hastily threw on her garments.
+
+Miss Millet admitted the force of the argument and then, somewhat
+relieved, concluded that it must be tipsy men.  Under this impression
+she raised the window-sash--her bedroom being on the upper floor--and
+looked timidly out.
+
+"Go away, bad, naughty men!" she said, in a remonstrative tone.  "If you
+don't I shall send for the police!"
+
+"Why, Molly, don't you know me?"
+
+"Brother!" shrieked Miss Millet.
+
+"Father!" exclaimed the Rosebud.
+
+Need we say that, after a few more hurried touches to costume, the door
+was opened, and the untimely visitors were admitted?  Need we add that
+when Rose, with a little cry of joy, leaped into her father's arms and
+received a paternal hug, she leaped out of them again with a little
+shriek of surprise?
+
+"Father, you're all wet! a perfect sponge!"
+
+"True, darling, I forgot!  I've just been wrecked, and rescued by the
+lifeboat through God's great mercy, 'long with all my crew; and there,"
+he added, pointing to Jeff, "stands the man that saved my life."
+
+If Rose loved the young coastguardsman before, she absolutely idolised
+him now.  Something of the feeling must have betrayed itself on her fair
+face, for Jeff made a step towards her, as if under an irresistible
+impulse to seize her hand.
+
+But at that moment he experienced an agonising sensation of pain, and,
+staggering backwards, sat down--almost fell--upon the sofa.
+
+"Nothing--nothing," he replied, to the anxious inquiries of Miss Millet.
+"Only a little pain, caused by the rap I got from that mast.  Come now,
+auntie, don't fuss about me, but sit down and hear what the captain has
+got to say."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+MISS MILLET RECEIVES A SURPRISE, ROSEBUD A DISAPPOINTMENT, AND OUR HERO
+ANOTHER BLOW.
+
+Miss Millet was one of those cheery, unselfish, active-minded women who
+are not easily thrown off their balance--deranged, as the French say--by
+untoward circumstances.
+
+The arrival of any two friends at two in the morning would have failed
+to disturb the good nature or weaken the hospitality of that amiable
+creature.  Her joy, therefore, at the sudden, though untimely,
+appearance of her brother and friend was not marred by selfish
+considerations; and although she was eager to bear what the captain had
+to say, she would not let him begin until he and Jeff had retired to an
+attic chamber and put on dry habiliments.
+
+How male attire came to be so handy in a spinster's house is easily
+accounted for by the fact that her regard for the memory of her departed
+father was so great as to have induced her to leave his hat and stick in
+the passage in their wonted places after his death, and to leave
+undisturbed the chest of drawers which contained the greater part of his
+wardrobe.  Nothing short of absolute necessity would have induced Miss
+Millet to disturb these sacred relics; but she knew that death might
+result from sitting in drenched clothes, and her well-balanced mind at
+once pointed out that here was a case which demanded a sacrifice.  She
+therefore bowed to the inevitable, and handed her brother the key of the
+chest of drawers.
+
+As the late Mr Millet had been a large man, the result was that her
+visitors were admirably fitted out--the only disadvantage being that the
+captain had to turn up the legs of the trousers and the cuffs of the
+coat.
+
+Meanwhile Miss Millet lighted a gas-stove, which she had always ready
+for invalid purposes, and Rose arranged the table, so that when their
+visitors returned to the parlour, they were greeted with the sight of
+food and the singing of the tea-kettle.
+
+"I can offer you brandy, brother," said the little hostess, "_as a
+medicine_!"
+
+"Thankee, Molly--not even as a medicine," said the captain, with a
+benignant look; "tea is better in the circumstances.  I can speak from a
+vast amount of experience.  But of course I speak only for myself.  I
+don't know what Jeff's principles--"
+
+"My principles," interrupted the coastguardsman, "are to leave every man
+to judge for himself.  My judgment for myself is, that, as I don't
+require strong drink, I'm much better without it."
+
+"My principles go much further than that," said Miss Millet who was an
+enthusiastic total abstainer.  "The Bible justifies me in denying myself
+the use of wine and all spirituous liquors _for my brother's sake_, so
+that I may set him an example, and also have more weight when I reason
+with him, and try to get him to adopt my views."
+
+"Why, Molly, to hear you talk like that about giving up drink for your
+brother's sake, one would think that I had bin a tippler all my life!"
+
+"You know that I refer to my brother--man, brother."
+
+"Ah, of course--of course; and also your sister-woman, I suppose," cried
+the captain, seizing the loaf and beginning to cut it into
+inch-and-a-half slices.  "What's _your_ opinion, Rosebud, on the drink
+question?"
+
+Rose, whose cheeks emulated her namesake flower, replied that, never
+having tasted wine or spirits in her life, or thought upon the drink
+question at all, she had no opinion to express.
+
+"Long may you continue in that innocent and humble state of mind, my
+Rosebud," cried the captain, with a laugh which caused him to choke on
+his first mouthful of tea.  After recovering himself and wiping his
+eyes, he said--
+
+"Now, Moll, I must tell you all about the wreck;" on which he launched
+out into a graphic description of what the reader already knows.
+
+You may be sure that he did not underrate the services and heroism of
+Jeff, who sat wonderfully silent during the recital, and only
+acknowledged references to himself with a faint smile.
+
+"But, brother," exclaimed Miss Millet, with sudden energy when he had
+finished, "what will the consequences of this wreck be?"
+
+"The consequences, my dear, will be that the owners will lose a good
+many thousand pounds, for neither ship nor cargo were insured.  An' it
+sarves 'em right for the vessel was not fit to go to sea; an' they knew
+it, but were too graspin' to go to the expense o' refittin'.  Besides,
+they've bin what they call so lucky in past years that they thought, I
+fancy, there was no fear o' their luck departin'."
+
+"But I was not thinking of the owners, brother; I was thinking of the
+consequences to yourself."
+
+"Why, as to that, Molly, as I've lost my ship, I'm pretty safe to lose
+my situation; for, from what I know of the owners, they are sure to lay
+all the blame they can upon my shoulders, so that I won't find it easy
+to get another ship.  Worse than all, I had made a little private
+adventure of my own, which was very successful, and the result o' which
+I was bringin' home in gold-dust; and now every nugget o' that is at the
+bottom o' the sea.  So you see, Molly, it's loss an' disaster
+everywhere--nothin' but a black horizon all round."
+
+Jeff glanced quickly at Miss Millet.  This seemed to bear somewhat on
+their recent discussions.  Miss Millet as quickly returned the glance.
+
+"I know what you are thinking, Jeff," she said, with an intelligent
+look.
+
+"Well, auntie," returned the youth, "it does seem hard to think that any
+good can come out of all this--doesn't it?"
+
+"Young man," said the captain, regarding Jeff with an almost stern look,
+"if a savage were taken into a factory and shown the whirling wheels and
+bands and rollers working in all directions, and saw filthy old rags
+boiled and mixed up with grass and evil-smelling substances, and torn to
+shreds and reduced to pulp in the midst of dirt and clattering noise and
+apparent confusion; and if that savage were to say, `Surely nothin' good
+can come out of all this!' wouldn't you--knowin' that great rolls of
+fair and spotless paper were to come out of it--pronounce that savage a
+fool, or, at least, a presumptuous fellow?"
+
+"True, captain; I accept the rebuke," said Jeff, with a short laugh and
+a swift glance at Rose, who, however, was gazing demurely at her
+tea-cup, as if lost in the contemplation of its pattern.  Possibly she
+was thinking of the absurdity of taking tea at all at such an hour!
+
+"Well, then, Jeff," continued the captain, "don't you go and judge
+unfinished work.  Perfect men and women are, in this world, only in
+process of manufacture.  When you see them finished, you'll be better
+able to judge of the process."
+
+Jeff did not quite agree with his friend; for, gazing at Rose, he could
+not help feeling that at least one woman had, to his mind, been almost
+perfectly finished even here!  However, he said nothing.
+
+At this point the conversation was turned by Miss Millet suddenly
+recalling to mind her brother's generous friend in China.
+
+"You have no idea, Dick, how much good I have been able to do with that
+money.  Of course it could not pay for the swimming-bath, or the church,
+or but here, I have a note of it all."
+
+She pulled a soiled red note-book from her pocket and was about to refer
+to it, when she was arrested by the grave, sad expression that had
+overspread her brother's countenance.
+
+"Ah, Molly," he said, "dear Clara Nibsworth was dying when I last saw
+her, and I fear her father won't survive her long.  You remember, I told
+you the poor girl was delicate and her father old, and the excitement
+and exertion of that night of the fire was too much for both of them.
+When I arrived this time in China, I took a run up to their place to see
+them, and found Clara almost at the point of death.  I had little time
+to spare, and meant to have returned the next day; but the poor
+broken-down father entreated me so earnestly to remain that I at last
+agreed to spend three days wi' them.  Durin' that time I read the Bible
+a good deal to the poor girl, and found that she had got her feet firm
+on the Rock of Ages.  She was very grateful, poor thing, and I never saw
+one so unselfish.  She had little thought about herself, although dyin'
+and in great sufferin'.  Her chief anxiety was about her old father, and
+what he would do when she was gone.
+
+"It was impossible for me to stay to the end, for no one could guess how
+long the poor thing would hold out.  I did my best to comfort the
+father, and then I left, bringing away a kind message to you, my poor
+Rosebud.  She seems to have loved you dearly, and said you were very
+kind to her at school."
+
+Rose had covered her face with her hands, and with difficulty restrained
+her tears.
+
+"But you said the doctors had _some_ hope, father; didn't you?" she
+asked.
+
+"No, darling, the doctors had none--no more had I.  It was her poor
+father who hoped against hope.  Death was written on her sweet face, and
+it could not be far off.  I doubt not she is now with the Lord.  When I
+was leaving, she gave me a small packet for you; but that, with
+everything else in the _North Star_, has gone to the bottom.  But we
+must be goin' now," continued the captain, rising.  "I see Jeff is
+gettin' wearied--an' no wonder.  Besides, it won't do to keep you two up
+here talkin' till daylight."
+
+Jeff protested that he was not weary--that in such company it was
+impossible for him to tire! but Rose was too much distressed by her
+father's narrative to observe the compliment.
+
+Still, in spite of his protest, there was something in our hero's manner
+and look which belied his words; and when he returned to the coastguard
+station that day, and was about to lie down for much-needed repose, his
+friend and mate, David Bowers, was surprised to see him turn deadly
+pale, stagger, and fall on his bed in a state of insensibility.
+
+"Hallo!  Jeff, what's wrong?" exclaimed Bowers, starting up, seizing his
+friend's arm, and giving him a shake, for he was much puzzled.  To see a
+man knocked into a state of insensibility was nothing new or unfamiliar
+to Bowers, but to see a powerful young fellow like Jeff go off in a
+fainting fit like a woman was quite out of his experience.
+
+Jeff, however, remained deaf to his mate's hallo! and when at last a
+doctor was fetched, it was found that he had been seriously injured;
+insomuch that the medical man stood amazed when he heard how he had
+walked several miles and sat up for several hours after his exertions
+and accident at the wreck.  That medical man, you see, happened to be an
+old bachelor, and probably did not know what love can accomplish!
+
+"I very much fear," he said to Captain Millet, after inspecting his
+patient, "that the poor fellow has received some bad internal injuries.
+The mast, or whatever it was, must have struck him a tremendous blow,
+for his side is severely bruised, and two of his ribs are broken."
+
+"Pretty tough ribs to break, too," remarked the captain, with a look of
+profound distress.
+
+"You are right," returned the doctor; "remarkably tough, but not quite
+fitted to withstand such a powerful battering-ram as the mainmast of a
+six-hundred-ton barque."
+
+"Now, doctor, what's to be done with him?  You see, the poor young
+fellow is not only my friend, but he has saved my life, so I feel bound
+to look well after him; and this isn't quite the sort o' place to be ill
+in," he added, looking round the somewhat bare apartment, whose walls
+were adorned with carbines and cutlasses.
+
+"The wisest thing for him to do is to go into hospital, where he will
+receive the best of medical treatment and careful nursing."
+
+"Wouldn't the nursing of an old lady that loves him like a mother, and a
+comfortable cottage, do as well?"
+
+"No doubt it would," said the doctor, with a smile, "if he also had
+proper medical attendance--"
+
+"Just so.  Well, that's all settled, then," interrupted the captain.
+"I'll have him removed at once, and you'll attend him, doctor--who
+better?--that is, if you can spare the time."
+
+The doctor was quite ready to spare the time, and the captain bustled
+off to tell his sister what was in store for her, and to order Rosebud
+to pack up and return to school without delay, so as to make room for
+the patient.
+
+Great was his astonishment that his Rosebud burst into tears on
+receiving the news.
+
+"My Bud, my darling, don't cry," he said, tenderly drawing the fair head
+to his rugged bosom.  "I know it must be a great disappointment to have
+a week cut off your holidays, but I'll go down to Folkestone with you,
+an' take a lodging there, an you an' I will have a jolly time of it
+together--till I get another ship--"
+
+"Oh! father, it's not _that_!" exclaimed poor Rose almost indignantly;
+"it's--it's--"
+
+Not being able to explain exactly what it was that ailed her, she took
+refuge in another flood of tears.
+
+"Oh!" she thought to herself, "if I might only stay and nurse him!" but
+she blushed at the very thought, for she was well aware that she knew no
+more about scientific nursing than a tortoiseshell cat!  Three months of
+the most tender and careful nursing by Miss Millet failed, however, to
+set Jeffrey Benson on his legs.  He was very patient and courageous.
+Hope was strong, and he listened with approval and gratitude to his
+nurse's teachings.
+
+There came a day, however, which tried him.
+
+"You think me not much better, doctor?" he asked, somewhat anxiously.
+
+"Not much," returned the doctor, in a low, tender tone; "and I fear that
+you must make up your mind never again to be quite the same man you
+were."
+
+"Never again?" exclaimed the youth, in startled surprise.
+
+The doctor said nothing, but his look was--"never again."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+GOOD NEWS TO THE CAPTAIN--ALSO TO JEFF.
+
+There is a period, probably, in the life of every man, when a feeling
+akin to despair creeps over him, and the natural tendency of his heart
+to rebel against his Maker becomes unquestionable.  There may be some on
+whom this epoch descends gently--others, perhaps, who may even question
+whether they have met with it at all; but there must be many, of whom
+Jeff was one, on whom it comes like a thunderbolt, scathing for a time
+all the finer qualities of heart and mind.
+
+"If it had only come at a later period of life, or in some other form,
+auntie," he said one day, as he lay on a sofa at the open window of the
+cottage, looking out upon the sea; "but to be bowled over at my age,
+when the world was all before me, and I was so well able--physically, at
+least--to fight my way.  It is terrible, and seems so outrageous!  What
+good can possibly come of rendering a young man helpless--a strong,
+capable machine, that might do so much good in the world, useless?"
+
+He spoke in an almost querulous tone, and looked inquiringly in his
+nurse's face.  It did not occur to the youth, as he looked at her, that
+the weak-bodied, soft, and gentle creature herself had been, and still
+was, doing more good to the world than a hundred young men such as he!
+
+Miss Millet's face was a wholesome one to look into.  She did not shake
+her head and look solemn or shocked.  Neither did she laugh at his
+petulance.  She merely said, with the sweetest of little smiles, "You
+may live, Jeff, to be a very useful machine yet; if not _quite_ as
+strong as you were--though even that is uncertain, for doctors are
+fallible, you know.  Never forget that, Jeff--doctors are fallible.
+Besides, your living at all shows that God has something for you to do
+for Him."
+
+"Nonsense, auntie.  If that is true of me, it is just as true of
+hundreds of men who live and die without making the smallest attempt to
+accomplish any work for God.  Yet He lets them live for many years."
+
+"Quite true," returned Miss Millet; "and God _has_ work for all these
+men to do, though many of them refuse to do it.  But I feel sure that
+that won't be your case, Jeff.  He finds work just suited to our
+capacities--at the time we need it, too, if we are only willing.  Why,
+in my own very case, has He not sent you to me to be nursed, just as I
+had finished organising the new night-classes for the usher-boys; and I
+was puzzled--absolutely puzzled--as to what I should do next and here
+you step in, requiring my assistance, and giving me full employment."
+
+"That's it--that's it," returned Jeff hastily.  "I am without means, and
+a burden on you and Captain Millet.  Oh! it is hard--very hard!"
+
+"Yes, indeed, it _is_ hard to bear.  Of course that is what you mean,
+for, as God has done it we cannot suppose anything that He does is
+really hard.  If your illness had been the result of dissipation, now,
+or through your own fault, you could not have said exactly it was God's
+doing; but when it was the result of noble self-sacrifice--"
+
+"Come, come, auntie; don't make me more vain than I am.  I'm bad enough
+as it is, and--and--I'm _very_ weary."
+
+The poor youth's head fell back on the pillow, and he sighed deeply as
+his nurse brought him some strengthening food.  He needed it much, for
+he was reduced to a mere shadow of his former self.
+
+His fine eyes had become quite awful in their size and solemnity.  His
+once ruddy cheeks were hollow.  His well-formed nose had become pinched,
+and his garments hung on, rather than clothed, a huge skeleton.
+
+During all Jeff's illness Captain Millet was unremitting in his
+attentions, insomuch that a certain careworn expression began to take up
+its settled abode on his countenance.  But this was not altogether owing
+to sympathy with his friend, it was partly the consequence of his
+financial affairs.
+
+Having lost his situation, as he had expected, he found it difficult to
+procure another, and was under the necessity of living on the small
+capital which he had accumulated in the course of laborious years.  Had
+his own subsistence been all his care, he would have had little trouble;
+but Rose had to be supported and educated, his sister had to be
+assisted, his charities had to be kept up, and now Jeff Benson had to be
+maintained, and his doctor paid.  The worst of it all was, that he could
+not talk on the subject to any of the three, which, to a sympathetic
+soul, was uncommonly hard--but unavoidable.
+
+"Yes, quite unavoidable," he muttered to himself one evening, when alone
+in his lodging.  "They think I'm a rich old fellow, but I daren't say a
+word.  If I did, Jeff would refuse to eat another bite, an' that would
+kill him.  If I told Rosebud, it could do no good, and would only make
+her miserable.  If I told Molly, I--I really don't know what she'd do.
+She'd founder, I think.  No, I must go on sailin' under false colours.
+It's a comfort, anyhow, to know that the funds will last some little
+time yet, even at the present rate of expenditure; but it's perplexin'--
+very."
+
+He shook his head, wrinkled his brows, and then, rising, took a
+well-worn pocket-Bible from a shelf, and sought consolation therein.
+
+Some time after that Captain Millet was seated in the same room, about
+the same hour, meditating on the same subject, with a few additional
+wrinkles on his brow, when he received a letter.
+
+"From Hong Kong," he muttered, opening it, and putting on his glasses.
+
+The changes in his expressive face as he read were striking, and might
+have been instructive.  Sadness first--then surprise--then blazing
+astonishment--then a pursing of the mouth and a prolonged whistle,
+followed by an expressive slap on the thigh.  Then, crumpling the letter
+into his pocket he put on his glazed hat, sallied forth, and took the
+way to his sister's cottage.
+
+At that cottage, about the same time, a great change had taken place in
+Jeff Benson--spiritually, not physically, though even in the latter
+respect he was at all events not worse than usual.  Having gone from bad
+to worse in his rebellion, he had at last reached that lowest depth
+wherein he not only despaired of the doctor's power to cure him, and his
+own power of constitution, but began silently, and in his own mind, to
+charge his Maker with having made a complete failure in his creation.
+
+"Life is a muddle, auntie, altogether!" he exclaimed when he reached
+this point.  It was the lowest ebb--hopeless despair alike of himself
+and his God.
+
+"A muddle, Jeff?" said the little woman, raising her eyebrows slightly.
+"How can that be possible in the work of a Perfect Creator, and a
+Perfect Saviour who redeems from all evil--your supposed `muddle'
+included?"
+
+Our young coastguardsman was silent.  It was probably the great
+turning-point when the Holy Spirit opened his eyes to see Jesus, and all
+things in relation to Him.  For a long time he did not speak.  The lips
+of his nurse were also silent, but her heart was not so.  At last Jeff
+spoke--
+
+"It _must_ be so.  Perfection is bound to work out perfection.  This
+apparent evil _must_ be for good.  `He doeth all things well.'  Surely I
+have read that somewhere!"
+
+In a low clear voice his nurse said--
+
+  "`He doeth all things well,'
+  We say it now with tears;
+  But we shall sing it with those we love
+  Through bright eternal years."
+
+"I think the light is dawning, auntie."
+
+"I am _sure_ it is, Jeff."
+
+Again they were silent, and thus they remained while the natural light
+faded, until the western sky and sea were dyed in crimson.
+
+The first thing that diverted their thoughts was a quick step outside,
+then a thunderous knock at the door, and next moment the captain stood
+before them, beaming with excitement, panting heavily, and quite unable
+for some minutes to talk coherently.
+
+"Sister," said he at last, "sit down an' listen.  Jeff, open your ears."
+
+He drew a crumpled letter from his pocket, spread it on his knee, put on
+his glasses, and read as follows:--
+
+"`My DEAR CAPTAIN MILLET,--
+
+"`You will, I know, be grieved, though not surprised, to hear that your
+old friend Nibsworth is dead.  Poor fellow! his end came much as you and
+I had anticipated when we last parted.  He followed his dear Clara about
+two months after her death.  I suppose you know that she died three days
+after you left their house.
+
+"`My object in writing just now, however, is to convey to you a piece of
+good news; namely, that Nibsworth has left you the whole of his
+property, which, altogether, cannot amount to less, I should think, than
+eighty thousand pounds.'"
+
+At this point the captain paused and looked over his glasses at his
+sister, who, with wide-open eyes, exclaimed--
+
+"Brother! he must be joking!"
+
+"Sister," returned the captain, "my friend _never_ jokes, except when in
+extremely congenial society, and then his jokes are bad--so bad as to be
+unworthy of repetition."
+
+"Wonderful!" exclaimed Miss Millet.
+
+"Singular," murmured Jeff, whose thoughts seemed to be engaged with some
+far-off prospect.
+
+"He goes on," continued the captain, reading: "`I am left the sole
+executor of his affairs.  Pray, therefore, write as to what you wish
+done.  I am not at present conversant with the precise duties of an
+executor, but of course I will get the best advice possible in the
+circumstances, and do the best I can.  I would recommend you to do the
+same at your end of the world, and let me have your instructions as soon
+as possible.  The enclosed statement will show you the nature of your
+property.  The greater part, you will observe, is in hard cash.  I may
+add that the house and grounds here would sell well at present, if you
+feel inclined to dispose of them.
+
+"`In conclusion, allow me to congratulate you on this piece of good
+fortune--perhaps, knowing your character so well, I should have written,
+this good gift from God.'"
+
+"Ay, my friend," said the captain, folding the letter, "you might have
+written, `this unexpected and undeserved gift from God.'  But now,
+Molly, what think ye of it all?"
+
+"Wonderful!" exclaimed the good lady in reply; and beyond this word she
+seemed unable to go for a time, save that, after a strong mental effort,
+she varied it to "amazing!"  Suddenly she seemed to recover, and said
+with a quick, earnest look--
+
+"Dick, what are you going to do?"
+
+"Do?" exclaimed Captain Millet, smiting his knee and looking from his
+sister to Jeff with a broad smile.  "I'll run up to London, an' take a
+mansion in the West End, call at Long Acre in passing, and buy a
+carriage and four.  Then I'll run down to Folkestone an' buy a villa
+there, or a castle if they have one in stock; if not, I'll order one o'
+the newest pattern, with gas, water, electricity, and steam laid on.
+After that I'll buy a steam-yacht and take a trip round the world, so as
+to calm my brain and think over it.  Of course I'll drop in at Hong
+Kong, in passing, to have a look at my property; and then--"
+
+"Hush, brother! don't run on with such nonsense when we ought to be only
+filled with serious thoughts."
+
+"How can a man be filled with serious thoughts, Molly, when a sort of
+Arabian Nights' affair has tumbled on him all of a sudden--took him
+aback like a white squall, and thrown him on his beam-ends?"
+
+"And what a selfish fellow you are, too!" said Jeff; "not one word in
+all you propose to do about anybody except yourself--no mention even of
+Rosebud."
+
+"Pooh!  Jeff, are you so green as not to know that a wise man never puts
+his best foot foremost?  Don't you know that it is usual, when a man
+makes a speech, to keep tumblin' out one point after another--clinkin'
+'em all as he goes along--until he comes to the `last but not _least_'
+point?  If you had let me alone, Molly, I was comin' to Rosebud and
+yourself too; but as you've been so unmannerly, I'll keep these points
+till another time.  By the way, when you write to Rosebud, not a word
+about all this.  It might unsettle the darlin' with her lessons.  An'
+that reminds me that one o' my first businesses will be to have her
+supplied wi' the best of teachers--French, Italian, Spanish, German
+masters--Greek an' Hebrew an' Dutch ones too if the dear child wants
+'em--to say nothin' o' dancin' an' drawin' an' calisthenics an'
+mathematics, an' the use o' the globes, an' conundrums o' that sort."
+
+"Really, brother, if you go on like this, I'll begin to think your good
+fortune, as you call it, has turned your brain."
+
+"Never fear, Molly, when I come to say what I'm going to do about the
+little church, an' the night-classes, an' the soup-kitchens, and the
+model-houses and the swimming-bath, you'll whistle another tune.  But
+come, Jeff; it's time to ask how you are gettin' along.  You look
+better, my boy."
+
+"I _am_ better, captain--much, _much_ better," returned the youth, with
+a flushed cheek and sparkling eye, "for I, too, have got news this
+morning of a fortune which exceeds yours in value, and the security is
+better."
+
+The captain was puzzled.  "A fortune, Jeff?"
+
+"Yes; but my news will keep.  You are too much excited to hear about it
+just now.  Enough to say that I am much better.  Now, if you are wise,
+you will go without delay and take some steps about this affair."
+
+"You're right, lad," returned the captain, rising quietly and clapping
+on his hat; "so good-bye to 'ee both.  I'll soon be back.  At present
+I'm off to consult my--my--solicitor! though I don't know who he is yet,
+more than the man in the moon."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+AN UNQUIET, ADVENTUROUS MORNING IN THE SHELL-CAVE.
+
+"I think," said Jeff Benson one fine morning, as he got up and stretched
+himself, "that I feel well enough to-day to get down to the shore
+without assistance.  You know, auntie, I shall never be able to walk
+alone if I give way to laziness, and lean so much on others.  I'm like
+the babies now, and must be encouraged to try it on my own hook."
+
+He looked at Miss Millet with a half-pitiful smile, for there was
+something woefully true in his words, and his good little nurse found it
+necessary to go in search of the household keys for a minute or so
+before answering.
+
+"Well, Jeff, perhaps you are right and the day is splendid--sunny, calm,
+and warm--so you won't be likely to catch cold.  Only don't go far, for
+you might become tired out.  So, promise that you won't go far, and then
+I will let you go."
+
+Jeff promised; but of course he did not do exactly as his nurse wished,
+for, in such circumstances, the word "far" has a wonderfully varied
+significance.  At first, leaning on his stick and pausing frequently to
+recover strength, he made his way to the shore; but when there, the
+invigorating air and the exhilarating sound of ripples on the sand, and
+a rest on the rocks, made him feel so much better, that he thought he
+might walk the length of the shell-cave without breaking his promise.
+
+He tried, and succeeded, but was so fatigued, when at length he threw
+himself on the soft sand at the cave's mouth, that he felt uneasy about
+getting home again.
+
+The shell-cave was a favourite nook in a lonely part of the cliffs,
+which Jeff had been wont to frequent in his coastguard days, especially
+at that particular time when he seemed to expect the revival of the
+smuggling traffic near Miss Millet's cottage.  He had frequently spoken
+of it to Rose as a beautiful spot where innumerable sea-shells were to
+be found, and had once taken her to see it.
+
+It was, as we have said, a lonely spot, far removed from the fishing
+town, and was sought out by Jeff because he did not yet feel strong
+enough to hold much intercourse with his friends and former mates--none
+of whom had seen him since his illness began.  But the poor invalid was
+doomed to several interruptions that day.
+
+The first comer was his comrade Wilson, of the coastguard, whose place
+he had taken on the eventful night of the wreck.  On rounding the point
+of rock, and coming suddenly on our hero, that worthy was struck dumb
+and motionless for at least a minute, while his eyes gradually opened
+wide with surprise, and his mouth partially followed suit.
+
+"Not Jeff Benson!" said Wilson at last, in quite a solemn tone.
+
+"What's left of him," answered Jeff, with a faint smile.
+
+"An' it ain't much!" returned Wilson, with a kind of gasp, as he
+approached softly.
+
+"Not much more than the bones an' clothes," said Jeff, with a laugh at
+his friend's expression; "also," he added more seriously, "a good deal
+of the spirit, thank God.  How are all the lads, Wilson?"
+
+The man tried to answer, but could not.  The sight of his old stalwart
+chum so reduced was too much for him.  He could only go down on one
+knee, and take the thin large hand in his.  Seeing this, Jeff returned
+his squeeze, and relieved him by saying--
+
+"You can beat me now, Wilson, but I could squeeze till I made you howl
+once, and mayhap I'll do it again--who knows?  But you must not think me
+unkind if I ask you to leave me, Wilson.  The Doctor is always insisting
+that I must keep quiet; so, good-day to you, my boy, an' remember me
+kindly to my comrades."
+
+The next visitor, who appeared half an hour later, was the terrier dog
+of the station.  Bounce belonged, of right, to David Bowers, but, being
+amiable, it acknowledged the part-ownership of all the men.  On suddenly
+beholding Jeff, it rushed at him with a mingled bark and squeal of joy,
+and thereafter, for full two minutes, danced round him, a mass of
+wriggling hair from tip of tail to snout, in uncontrollable ecstasy.
+Mingled misery and surprise at Jeff's sudden and unaccountable
+disappearance, prolonged agonies of disappointed expectation, the
+sickness of heart resulting from hope long deferred, all were forgotten
+in that supreme moment of joy at reunion with his long-lost human
+friend!
+
+Jeff had to rise and sit down on a shelf of rock to escape some of
+Bounce's overwhelming affection.  Presently Bounce's owner appeared, and
+went through something of a similar performance--humanised, however, and
+with more of dignity.
+
+"I can't tell 'ee how glad I am to see you again, Jeff," said Bowers,
+sitting down beside him, and grasping his hand.  "But oh, man, how
+thin--"
+
+The huge coastguardsman choked at this point, as Wilson had done before
+him; but, being more ready of resource, he turned it into a cough, and
+declared, sternly, that night-work must have given him a cold, or
+"suthin' o' that sort."  After which he made a great demonstration of
+clearing his throat and blowing his nose.
+
+"But you'll soon be yours--at least, somethin' like your old self,
+before long, Jeff.  The doctor told us that, the last time he was at the
+station."
+
+"If God wills," returned Jeff, softly; "I am in His hands, and willing
+to be what He chooses.  You remember, David, the talk we once had about
+Miss Millet's argument, that God brings good out of evil.  I didn't
+believe it then; I believe it now.  I've bin to school since I last saw
+you, David, and I've learned a good lesson, for I can say from my heart
+it has been good for me that I was afflicted."
+
+Bowers did not reply, but looked at his friend with an expression of
+puzzled surprise.
+
+"Yes," continued Jeff, with rising enthusiasm; "I have lost my health--
+the doctor thinks permanently.  I've lost the strength that I used to be
+so proud of, and with it the hope of being able to make a living in any
+active line of life; and I've lost much more besides.  But what I have
+found in my Saviour far more than makes up for it all."
+
+In the "much more besides," poor Jeff mentally referred to his loss of
+all hope of ever gaining the hand of Rose Millet; for if his chance
+seemed small before, how immeasurably was it reduced now that his health
+was shattered, and his power even of supporting himself gone.  No; he
+felt that that door was closed--that he must avoid the girl as much as
+possible in future; and, above all, be particularly careful not to fall
+in love with her.  Of course, it was only a passing fancy as yet, and,
+like fruit, would never ripen unless the sun shone.  He would avoid the
+sunshine!  Meanwhile, of all these rapidly fleeting thoughts, he said
+never a word to his friend David Bowers, but after a little more
+conversation, begged him also to go away and let him rest.
+
+All very good, friend Jeff; but what if the sun should shine in spite of
+you?
+
+Just about that time, in the course of his eager and somewhat erratic
+wanderings among solicitors and other men of business, Captain Millet
+made a sudden pause, and, by way of taking breath, rushed down to
+Folkestone, brought Rose up to Cranby, hired a dog-cart, and drove along
+the sands at low tide, in the direction of his sister's cottage.
+
+"I think it probable that you may see him today, Rosebud," he said,
+"though I'm not quite sure, for the doctor is afraid of a relapse, and
+friends are not yet allowed to visit him.  To be sure bein' only a
+little girl, you probably wouldn't disturb him at all--'specially if you
+didn't speak.  Anyhow, you'll see auntie, which will be more to the
+purpose."
+
+"Father," said Rose, whose name seemed remarkably appropriate at that
+moment, "I should like to get down here, and walk the rest of the way.
+By the time I arrive, you'll have had a little talk with poor Jeff and
+auntie.  Besides, there is a pretty cave that I used to gather shells in
+when I was last here.  I would like so much to pay it a visit in
+passing."
+
+Of course the captain had no objection, and thus it came to pass that
+Jeff's fourth visitor on that unquiet morning was the Rosebud!
+
+How feeble are written words to convey ideas at times!  If you could
+have obtained one glance of Rose and Jeff at that moment, reader, words
+would not be required.  No peony ever blushed like that Rose--to say
+nothing of the blank amazement in those wide blue eyes.  Jeff, still
+seated on the rock, became petrified.
+
+Recovering first, as women always do, Rose hurried forward with--"I'm
+_so_ glad, Mr ---," but there she stopped abruptly, for the unexpected
+sight of that stalwart coastguardsman, reduced to a big skeleton with
+pale face, hollow cheeks, cavernous eyes, and an old-man stoop, was too
+much for her.  She covered her face with her hands and burst into tears.
+
+What could Jeff do?  He forgot his prudent resolves.  He forgot his
+weakness because his strength seemed to have suddenly returned.  He
+sprang up, intending to comfort the poor girl in a brotherly sort of
+way.  Somehow--he never could clearly remember how--he had her seated on
+the rock beside him, with his arm round her waist and her head on his
+shoulder.
+
+A few moments later--he never could tell how many--the wickedness of his
+conduct came down upon Jeff like a thunderbolt.  He removed his arm,
+drew away from her about three inches, and looked in her surprised face
+with a solemn, self-condemned expression.
+
+"Forgive me, Rose," he said, in the deep, hollow voice which had become
+natural to him since his illness began; "my love for you proved too
+strong to be restrained just now: but believe me, I had fully made up my
+mind never to open my lips to you on the subject; for what right have I,
+a helpless, and, I fear, hopeless, invalid, to dare to aspire--"
+
+There must have been something peculiar in the very slight, almost
+pathetic, smile which overspread the tearful face of Rose at that
+moment: for the arm was suddenly replaced, the three inches were reduced
+to nothing, the fair head again rested on the once stalwart shoulder,
+and thus they remained until the cavern was filled with the sounds:--
+
+"Hi!  Ho!  Hallo!  Rose--Rosebud ahoy!  That girl would worry any man to
+death!  Where are you?  Hi!  Ship ahoy!  Hallo-o-o!"
+
+We need scarcely remark that Rose did not wait for the last stentorian
+halloo!  Bounding from her lover's side, she ran to meet her father--red
+at first and then pale--exclaiming, "Oh! father I've found him!"
+
+"Found who, child?"
+
+"Jeff--I mean Mister--"
+
+"Not dead?" exclaimed the Captain, interrupting with awful solemnity.
+
+He was answered by the invalid himself coming out of the cavern, and
+wishing him good-morning with a confused and guilty air.
+
+"Well now," said Captain Millet after a moment's pause, while he glanced
+from the one to the other, "this beats the polar regions all to sticks
+and stivers.  Rose, my dear, you go round the p'int, an' wait by the
+dog-cart till I come to 'ee."
+
+"So, young man," he said, turning sternly to Jeff, "you've bin cruisin'
+after my little girl without leave."
+
+"I am guilty, Captain Millet," said Jeff humbly, "but not intentionally
+so.  Long ago, when I learned that there was no hope of recovering my
+old strength, I had determined to give up all thoughts of dear Rose; but
+I was taken by surprise this morning--was off my guard--and, I confess,
+wickedly took advantage of my opportunity to tell her how dearly I loved
+her.  Yet it was done under a sudden, irresistible impulse.  I do not
+excuse myself.  I would give worlds to undo the evil I may have done.
+But after all it _may_ be undone.  Rose may have mistaken her extreme
+sympathy and pity for love.  If so, she will not suffer much, or long.
+Indeed, now I think of it, she won't suffer at all, except regret at
+having been led to raise false hopes in my breast."
+
+The mere thought of this was so depressing, that Jeff, who was already
+almost worn out with excitement, leaned heavily on his stick for
+support.
+
+"Jeff," returned the captain severely, "how could you do it?"
+
+"I hardly know," rejoined Jeff, feeling something of the old Adam rising
+in his breast; "but my intentions were honourable, whatever my conduct
+may have been under impulse and strong temptation.  Perhaps I might
+appeal to your own experience.  Have you never done that which you did
+not mean to under the power of impulse?"
+
+"You've hit me there, boy, below the water-line," said the captain,
+relaxing a little: "for I not only put the question to my old woman
+without leave, but carried her off with flyin' colours against orders;
+but it came all right at last, though I didn't deserve it.  However,
+Jeff, you've no need to look so blue.  My little girl has raised no
+false hopes in your breast.  Moreover, let me tell you, for your
+comfort, that I saw the doctor this morning, and he says that your
+constitution is so strong that you're in a fair way to pull through in
+spite of him, and that you'll be fit for good service yet--though not
+exactly what you were before.  So, keep up your heart, Jeff!  Never say
+die, and you shall wed my Rosebud yet, as sure as my name's Dick
+Millet."
+
+There was need for these words of comfort, for the poor youth was
+obliged to sit down on the sand for a few minutes to recover strength.
+
+"I've had a pretty stiff morning altogether, captain," he said
+apologetically; "but I'm thankful--very thankful--for the succession of
+events that have brought me to this happy hour."
+
+"And yet, Jeff," said the captain, sitting down beside him, "you and I
+thought these events--the wreck, and the loss of employment, and the
+overturning o' the lifeboat, and the thump on the ribs, and the long
+illness--nothing but misfortunes and full of evil _at first_.  There,--
+I'm not goin' to draw no moral.  I never was good at that.  Come, now,
+if you've rested enough, we'll up anchor and away.  I've got a dog-cart
+beatin' off an' on round the p'int there, an' my Rosebud will be gettin'
+impatient."
+
+This was true--Rose was becoming not only impatient but anxious.  When,
+however, she saw her father and lover approach, all her anxieties
+vanished.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER.
+
+The wonder-working power of Time is proverbial.  Behold Jeffrey Benson
+once again, looking like his old self, at the hospitable board of Miss
+Millet.  It is an occasion of importance.  Opposite to her sits her
+brother.  Jeff is on her right hand.  On the left sits Rose--prettier,
+brighter, and more womanly than ever.  A gold circlet on one of the
+fingers of her left hand proclaims a great fact.  A happy smile on her
+face proves that her confidence has not been misplaced.
+
+Jeff is nearly as stout and strong as he ever was; of his severe illness
+scarcely a trace remains.  The doctor does not know what it was, and it
+is not to be expected that we should know.  Sufficient for us to state
+the fact that it is gone.
+
+But our hero is not now a coastguardsman.  Listen, and the captain will
+explain why.
+
+"Molly, my dear, another cup of your superb tea, to web my whistle
+before I begin.  It ought to be good, for I know the man that grew it,
+and the firm through which it came.  Well, now, both you and Rosebud
+will nat'rally want to know about the situation which I've obtained for
+Jeff.  You'll be surprised to hear that he is now Secretary of State to
+King Richard Longpurse."
+
+"In other words," interrupted Jeff, with a laugh, "your brother
+thinks--"
+
+"If _you_ think, sir," interrupted the captain in his turn, "that King
+Richard cannot explain matters in his own words, you had better say so
+at once, and I will abdicate in your favour."
+
+"Go on, sire--I submit," said Jeff.
+
+"Well then, Molly, I was about to say, when my secretary interrupted me,
+that he and I have at last come to an agreement.  After much
+explanation, I have got him to understand that a king cannot possibly
+manage all his own affairs with his own hands, and that I am forced to
+have a secretary, who can at least do the `three R's' pretty well.  You
+see, although my edication has not been neglected, it still remains a
+fact that I can't read without specs, that in cipherin' I am slow--slow,
+though sure--and that in the matter of penmanship I am neither swift nor
+legible.  Therefore, seein' that in such things I don't differ much from
+other kings and great men, Jeff has generously consented to refuse the
+lucrative sitooation under Goverment, with nothin' partik'lar to do,
+which has been offered to him, and to accept the secretary of
+state-ship, now at the disposal of King Richard, who will give him at
+least as good a salary as Government, and at the same time keep his nose
+closer to the grindstone."
+
+"Oh!  Jeff," said Rosebud at this point, shaking her finger at her
+husband, "I _knew_ there was something in the wind!"
+
+"My child," remarked the captain, "there is always something in the
+wind.  According to the best authorities, you may count on findin'
+oxygen, nitrogen, and carbonic-acid gases in it--not to mention foreign
+substances at times, such as dust leaves, bits of old newspaper and the
+like, except at sea, where it is always pure and good."
+
+"But with plenty of salt in it," interposed Miss Millet, "though not
+enough to cure you of bad habits, brother.  Come now, tell us really
+what you mean."
+
+"Well, sister, what I really mean is this: that the fortune which has
+been sent to me is far too big for one pair of hands and one brain to
+manage: so my son-in-law has agreed to help me--and the labourer, you
+know, is worthy of his hire!  Surely I don't need to explain the meaning
+of that text to _you_!  Since we last conversed in this room on the
+disposal of my surplus funds, Jeff and I have had many a long talk and
+walk together.  Moreover, I have kept the young secretary's nose so
+tight to the grindstone for some months past that he has produced
+results which will, I think, interest--it may be even surprise--you."
+
+"Before going further," continued the captain, pushing in his cup,
+"let's have some more o' that brew to wet my whistle.  Well, you will be
+pleased to hear that I have changed my mind about the carriage and four,
+and the mansion in Belgravia, and the castle at Folkestone, and the
+steam-yacht--given 'em all up, and decided to come here an' live quietly
+beside you, sister."
+
+"Are you in earnest brother?" asked Miss Millet, with sparkling eyes.
+
+"Never more in earnest in my life; but get out your plans an' papers,
+secretary, an' explain 'em."
+
+Jeff rose, left the room, and returned with a business-like bundle of
+papers, which he untied and arranged on the table before him.  Taking up
+one, he said--
+
+"This is a list of the poor people in Cranby, in whom Miss Millet has
+been accustomed to take special interest.  The first on the list is old
+Susan Jenkins."
+
+"My dear old woman, who has been bedridden so long, and in such terrible
+poverty?" asked Miss Millet.
+
+"The same," answered Jeff.  "Captain Millet has succeeded in getting her
+admission into the hospital for incurables.  We have only just received
+intimation of the appointment; and as the old woman does not know of it
+yet, we thought it best to let you be the bearer of the news."
+
+"Oh, brother!" exclaimed Miss Millet, clasping her hands in delight.
+She knew now that the captain was in earnest, for he would sooner have
+cut off his own hand than trifle with her feelings.
+
+"Go on, secretary," cried the captain, taking a considerable swig of
+tea, "an' don't you interrupt, Molly, else we'll never get through."
+
+"The next name is Martha Brand."
+
+"What, ragged little Martha?" exclaimed Miss Millet.
+
+"The same.  A new rig-out has been ordered for Martha, and she is to be
+sent to school.  Joe Puncheon, better known as Vagabond Joe, has been
+apprenticed to a carpenter--by his own special desire--and goes to work
+on Monday next in a suit of suitable clothes."
+
+"Come, sir, none o' that in business hours," cried the captain, "and
+heave that list overboard.  It would take us half the night to get
+through with it.  Come to the plans, sir; open the plans."
+
+Putting aside the list, the obedient secretary took up a large document,
+and, unfolding it, spread it on the table.
+
+"This," said Jeff, with business-like gravity, "is a plan of the Cranby
+Swimming Bath.  The coast near the town being rocky, and in many ways
+inconvenient for bathing, sea-water is to be pumped into this bath daily
+by a steam-engine.  A professor of swimming is appointed to give
+gratuitous instruction in his art.  The bath is to be in two parts--one
+for ladies, one for gentlemen--and will have dressing-boxes all round,
+besides diving-boards and every sort of convenience.  At certain hours
+of the morning and evening it will be open free of charge to all comers;
+so that there will be no excuse for any man, woman, or child in Cranby
+being dirty or unable to swim."
+
+"What a blessing it would be," exclaimed the enthusiastic Miss Millet,
+"if such baths existed all over the kingdom!"
+
+"It is a disgrace to the kingdom," said Jeff, "that a bath such as this
+does _not_ exist in every town of the kingdom.  A mere tithe of the
+money wasted on drink and tobacco," ("and tea," muttered the captain,
+pushing in his cup for more), "would suffice to do it."
+
+"Come, Jeff, clap a stopper on your long-winded lectures, and go ahead
+wi' the next plan," said the captain, "and don't moralise if you can
+help it."
+
+"But, brother, can you afford all this?" asked Miss Millet.
+
+"Afford it?  Of course I can.  It's wonderful, Molly, what men can
+afford when they're willing to spend.  Why, I've known a man myself who
+was so uncommon willin' to spend that he ruined his baker an' butcher
+an' greengrocer before he had done spendin'.  If that's so with them as
+hasn't got money to spend, surely it's for a man like me to do so who's
+rollin' in four thousand a year, more or less.  Besides, I'm goin' to
+invest some o' the capital in a way that'll pay back three or four
+hundred per cent interest!  I'm not goin' to leave it all to my Rosebud.
+A reasonable provision she shall have--not more.  You see, Molly, I'm
+of opinion that whatever a man has--whether he makes it by the use of
+his talents, or inherits it from his father, or has it sent to him
+unexpected, like mine--he holds it all in trust, to be used for the
+glory of God and the good of men.  Now, cut along, secretary."
+
+"This," said Jeff, "is the plan of the People's Free Library.  The
+purchase of the site was effected last week, and the building is to be
+commenced next month."
+
+"Ay, and the Prince of Wales is coming to lay the foundation stone,"
+cried the captain; "leastwise I've asked him to do it, and no doubt
+he'll come if he's got time.  But look here, Molly," he added, becoming
+impatient and opening out all the plans at once--"here you've got the
+lecture-hall an' the gymnasium, an' the church, an' the ragged school--
+all ship-shape--an' what d'ye think this is?  Explain it, secretary."
+
+"This is a plan of two cottages exactly the shape and size of this one
+in which we sit, but with a few more rooms and out-houses behind.  The
+empty space between them represents the site of this cottage.  The one
+on the right is intended for Captain Millet.  That on the left for--"
+
+"For the secretary and his wife," cried the captain again, taking up the
+discourse.  "An' look here, what d'ye think the double lines in pencil
+'tween your cottage an' mine means?"
+
+"A wash-house, perhaps."
+
+"A wash'us," repeated the captain, with contempt.  "No; that's a passage
+from one house to the other, so as you an' I can visit comfortably in
+wet weather.  There's a door in the middle with two locks, one on each
+side; so that if either of us should chance to be in the dumps, we've
+got only to turn the key on our own side.  But the passage ain't in the
+plan, you see.  It's only a suggestion.  Then, Rosebud, what d'ye think
+that thing is atop of my cottage?"
+
+"It--it _looks_ like a--a pepper-box," replied Rose, with some
+hesitation.
+
+"Pepper-box!" repeated the captain, in disgust; "why, it's a plate-glass
+outlook, where I can sweep the horizon with my glass all round, an'
+smoke my pipe in peace and comfort, and sometimes have you up, my girl,
+to have a chat about old times.  But that's not all, Molly.  Here's a
+letter which you can put in your pocket an' read at your leisure.  It
+says that the tin mine in which you have shares has become so prosperous
+that you could sell at ten or twenty times the price of your original
+shares; so,--you see, you are independent of me altogether as to your
+livelihood.  Now, old girl, what d'ye think of all that?"
+
+The captain threw himself back in his chair, wiped his brow and looked
+at his sister with an air of thorough satisfaction.
+
+"I think," returned Miss Millet slowly, "that God has been very good to
+us all."
+
+"He has, sister, He has; and yet the beginning of it all did not seem
+very promising."
+
+The captain cast a glance at Jeff as he spoke.  The youth met the glance
+with a candid smile.
+
+"I know what you think, father," he said.  "You and I are agreed on that
+point now.  I admit that what appears to be evil may be made to work for
+good."
+
+"True, Jeff," returned the captain; "but I have lived long enough to
+see, also, that the opposite holds good--that things which are
+questionably good in themselves sometimes work out what appears to be
+evil.  For instance, I have known a poor, respectable man become
+suddenly and unexpectedly rich, and the result was that he went in for
+extravagant expenditure and dissipation which ended in his ruin."
+
+"But that," said Miss Millet quickly, "was because he did not accept the
+gift as from God to be used in His service, but misused it."
+
+"True, Molly, true; and such will be my fate if I am not kept by the
+Holy Spirit from misusing what has been given to _me_."
+
+The Rosebud opened not her lips, only her ears, while this conversation
+was going on; but the next day, seated on a stool at Jeff's feet, with
+her fair little hands clasped on his knee and looking up in his kind,
+manly face, she said--
+
+"I wonder, Jeff, what auntie would say if, instead of working out such
+pleasant consequences to us, all these things had ended only in what we
+term disaster, and bad luck, and poverty, and death--as happens so often
+to many people."
+
+"I wonder, too, my Rosebud," returned Jeff.  "Suppose we go and put the
+question to her."
+
+Accordingly they went, and found the quiet old lady busy, as usual,
+knitting socks for the poor.
+
+"Now, auntie," said Jeff, after stating the question, "if everything had
+turned out apparently ill for us--according to what men usually call
+ill--would you still hold that everything had really turned out well?"
+
+"Certainly I would, Jeff, on the simple ground that God is good and
+cannot err, though He has many and strange methods of bringing about His
+ends.  You can prove it by taking an extreme case.  Go to one of the
+early martyrs, who lost not only property, and health, and friends, and
+liberty, but finally his life at the stake.  The unbeliever's view would
+be that everything had gone against him; his own view, that God had put
+on him great honour in counting him worthy to suffer and die for Jesus;
+and you could not doubt his sincerity when you heard his hymns of praise
+on the way to the stake--ay, even in the _fire_."
+
+"Then, whatever happens--good or bad--auntie," said Rose, "you would
+say, `All is well.'"
+
+"I would believe it, dear, whether I had courage to say it or not.  If
+strength were given, I would certainly acquiesce, and say, `Thy will be
+done.'"
+
+"Amen!  Long may we live to say that, Molly," said Captain Millet,
+entering the cottage at that moment.  And the captain's prayer was
+granted; for he and Molly--and the ex-coastguardsman with his Rosebud
+lived many a year after that to see the completion of the swimming-bath,
+and the people's' library, and the gymnasium, and the evening classes,
+and the model houses, etcetera, and to experience the truth of that
+blessed Word which tells us that "all things work together for good to
+them that love God."
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Jeff Benson, or the Young
+Coastguardsman, by R.M. Ballantyne
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JEFF BENSON ***
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