"You don't mean John Bunyan's Christian and Christiana, and Great Heart, and the rest of them?"
"Oh, no!" replied the old lady, laughing, "mine are living characters, quite unknown to the readers of books, Sylvanus and Timotheus, the sons of old Saul Pilgrim."
"Oh, that's their name, is it? The Crew never told me his surname, nor did Captain Thomas."
"You know Sylvanus' captain, then? But, has he many sailors besides Pilgrim?"
"No; that's why I call him The Crew. It's like a Scotch song, 'The Kitty of Loch Goil,' that goes:—
For a' oor haill ship's companie,
Was twa laddy and a poy, prave poys
Sylvanus is The Crew, who goes on a cruise, like Crusoe. O, do forgive me, Mrs. Hill, for so forgetting myself; we have been so long away from ladies' society," which, considering the circumstances of the preceding day, was hardly an ingenuous statement.
"I am not so troubled about the elder Pilgrim and Tryphena," continued the old lady, "because Tryphena is getting up a little in years for the country; I believe they marry later in the city, Mr. Coristine?"
"O yes, always, very much, I'm sure," answered the lawyer, confusedly.