Page:Ballantyne--The Battery and the Boiler.djvu/387



seated in Mr. Wright's drawing-room; Mr. Wright in an easy-chair near the window; Mrs. Wright—with much of the lustre gone out of her fine eyes—lying languidly on the sofa; Madge Mayland at work on some incomprehensible piece of netting beside her aunt,—all in deep mourning.

Uncle Rik has just opened a telegram,, at which he stares, open eyed and mouthed, without speaking, while his ruddy cheeks grow pale.

"Not bad news, I trust, brother," said poor Mrs. Wright, to whom the worst news had been conveyed when she heard of the wreck of the Triton. Nothing could exceed that, she felt, in bitterness.

"What is it, Rik?" said Mr. Wright, anxiously. "Oh! nothing—nothing. That is to say, not bad news, certainly, but amazing news. Boh! I 'm a fool."

He stopped short after this complimentary