"Why, Anson, it is a fortune!'* cried my
mother, clapping her hands.
" Try it again, Roddy ! ** said he, shaking his
pipe at me. "There was the xebec frigate out
of Barcelona, with twenty thousand Spanish dol-
lars aboard, which make four thousand of our
pounds. Her hull should be worth another
thousand. What*s my share of that? "

" A hundred pounds."

" Why, the purser couldn't work it out
quicker," he cried in his delight. "Here's for
you again! We passed the straits and worked



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THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 65

up to the Azores, where we fell in with the La
Sabina, from the Mauritius, with sugar and
spices. Twelve hundred pounds she's worth to
me, Mary, my darling, and never again shall you
soil your pretty fingers or pinch upon my beg-
garly pay."

My dear mother had borne her long struggle
without a sign all these years, but now that she
was so suddenly eased of it she fell sobbing upon
his neck. It was a long time before my father
had a thought to spare upon my examination in
arithmetic.
"It's all in your lap, Mary," said he, dashing
his own hand across his eyes. " By George! lass,
when this leg of mine is sound we'll bear down
for a spell to Brighton, and if there is a smarter
frock than yours upon the Steyne may I never
tread a poop again. But how is it that you are
so quick at figures, Rodney, when you know
nothing of history or geography ? "

I tried to explain that addition was the same
upon sea or land, but that history and geography
were not.
