"What do you mean, Mr. Fox?" asked his wife, showing curiosity in turn.
"I mean that he is lying dead at the bottom of the sea."
"Don't be so tantalizing, Mr. Fox. If you know anything about the boy, out with it!"
When Mrs. Fox spoke in this tone her husband knew that she would not stand any nonsense. So he answered without delay. "Soon after he left our happy home, Maria, he shipped on board the Nantucket, as a common sailor, I presume, and the ship was lost off in the Southern Ocean with all on board."
"How awful, pa," said Sally, who alone of all the family had felt kindly toward Harry, "and he was so good-looking, too!"
"He wasn't a bit better looking than Joel," said her mother sharply.
"Oh, ma!"
"It's true. I never could see any good looks in him, and it doesn't become you, miss, to go against your own brother. How did you find it out, Mr. Fox?"
"I came across an old copy of the New York Herald, giving an account of the disaster, and mentioning Harry Vane as one of the passengers. Of course it's a mistake, for he must have been one of the common sailors."
"Well, I reckon there's no call for us to put on mourning," said Mrs. FoX. — "I don't know about that. It might look better."