112 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



passing of the mail-steamers up and down the Solent. 

 For some time it was noticed he had been depressed 

 in spirits. He declined to join a projected staff- 

 supper on pay-day at Southampton, alleging that on 

 the day appointed he would be quite unable to attend. 

 This was but too true. 



When the end of that particular day came, the 

 current work (it was afterwards found) had been 

 scrupulously completed, the day's messages neatly 

 collected and arranged in the customary parcel, the 

 diary entered up, the instrument left in good order, 

 and the office trim and neat. At the proi)er time — 

 eight o'clock — but not before, the young man went off 

 duty. Next day his hat was found upon the beach, 

 but he himself was never seen again. 



The mystery remains unsolved, though at the time 

 it was generally thought that the old, old story had 

 embittered the young man's life. 



I recollect that, at the time of my visit, it was said 

 that the ' Woolwich infants ' in position were too 

 short for the battery. What would happen to the 

 embrasures and artillervmen on the occasion of ball 

 practice or a salute was an interesting problem. But, 

 at the worst, it could only have been the platforms, 

 not the guns, which needed correction. 



Southampton supplies a singular example of the 

 law of averages. A recent return to Parliament 

 shows the average time occupied during the year 

 1894 in conveying the American mails, via 

 Southampton, by the United States steamers Paris 



