d-bag. 'Siah will be here at
eight-thirty sharp, to take 'em aboard with him. For my part, I reckon to
sleep here to-night and look after things till that fool Susannah comes to
her senses. And as for you, Peter Benny, you'll stay supper, I hope, for
there's supper ready and waiting to be dished--a roast leg of lamb, with
green peas. It puts me in mind of Easter Day," she added inconsequently.
"You may remember, Sam, that your poor father always stickled for a roast
leg of lamb at Easter. He was a good Christian to that extent, I thank
the Lord!"

"And I thank _you_, ma'am," protested Mr. Benny, "but I couldn't touch a
morsel--indeed I couldn't, though you offer it so kindly."

"To my knowledge, you've not eaten enough to-day to keep a mouse alive.
Well, if you won't, you won't; but I've been through the garden, and
there's a dish of strawberries to take home to your wife."

Mrs. Purchase could not know--good soul--that in removing the two children
to shipboard, to spare them the ugly preparations for the funeral, she was
connecting their grandfather's death in their minds for ever with the most
delightful holiday in life. Yet so it was. Punctually at half-past eight
Mr. Purchase appeared and escorted them on board the _Virtuous Lady_; and
so, out-tired with their long day, drugged and drowsed by strong salt air
and sunshine and the swift homeward drive, they came at nightfall, and as
knights and princesses come in fairy tales, to the palace of enchantment.
As they drew close, its walls towered up terribly and overhung them,
lightless, forbidding; but far aloft the riding-lamp flamed like a star,
and Myra clapped her hands as she reached the deck and peered down
into a marvellous doll's-house fitted with couches, muslin blinds,
and brass-locked cupboards that twinkled in the lamplight.
There was a stateroom, too, with a half-drawn red curtain in place of a
door, and beyond the curtain a glimpse of two beds, one above the other,
with white sheets turned back and ready for the sleepers--at once like and
deliciously unlike the beds at home. The children, having unpacked their
bag and undressed, knelt down side by side as usual in their white
night-rails. But Myra could not pray, although she repeated the words
with Clem. Her eyes wandered among marvels. The lower bed (assigned to
Clem by reason of his blindness) was not only a bed but a chest of
drawers.

"Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,
Look upon a l