“Willow Cove, Sept. 18th, 1804.

  “Captain Wallingford: 

“Dear Sir, and my dear Miles—­Here I have been, moored head and starn, these ten days, as comfortable as heart could wish, in the bosom of my family.  The old woman was right down glad to see me, and she cried like an alligator, when she heard my story.  As for Kitty, she cried, and she laughed in the bargain; but that young Bright, whom you may remember we fell in with, in our cruise after old Van Tassel, has fairly hauled alongside of my niece, and she does little but laugh from morning to night.  It’s bloody hard to lose a niece in this way, just as a man finds her, but mother says I shall gain a nephew by the trade.

“Now, for old Van Tassel.  The Lord will never suffer rogues to prosper in the long run.  Mother found the old rascal’s receipt, given to my father for the money, years and years ago, and sending for a Hudson lawyer, they made the miserly cheat off with his hatches, and hoist out cargo enough to square the yards.  So mother considers the thing as settled at last; but I shall always regard the account as open until I have threshed the gentleman to my heart’s content.  The old woman got the cash in hard dollars, not understanding paper, and I wasn’t in the house ten minutes, before the good old soul roused a stocking out of a drawer, and began to count out the pieces to pay me off.  So you see, Miles, I’ve stepped into my estate again, as well as yourself.  As for your offer to pay me wages for the whole of last v’y’ge”—­this word Marble could only spell as he pronounced it—­“it’s generous, and that’s a good deal in these bloody dishonest times, but I’ll not touch a copper.  When a ship’s lost, the wages are lost with her, and that’s law and reason.  It would be hard on a marchant to have to pay wages for work done on board a craft that’s at the bottom of the ocean; so no more on that p’int, which we’ll consider settled.

“I am delighted to learn you are to be married as soon as you get back to Clawbonny.  Was I in your place, and saw such a nice young woman beckoning me into port, I’d not be long in the offing.  Thank you, heartily, for the invitation to be one of the bride’s-maids, which is an office, my dear Miles, I covet, and shall glory in.  I wish you to drop me a line as to the rigging proper for the occasion, for I would wish to be dressed as much like the rest of the bride’s-maids as possible; uniformity being always desirable in such matters.  A wedding is a wedding, and should be dealt with as a wedding; so, waiting for further orders, I remain your friend and old ship-mate to command,

  “Moses Van Dusen Marble.”