ay. So he always tried to
make it up to her, although he had never told her why.

"Hope you're better, Martha? Heard ye was under the weather; was that
so? Ye look spry 'nough now," he shouted in his best quarter-deck voice.

"Yes, but it warn't much. Doctor John fixed me up," Martha replied
coldly. She had no positive animosity toward the captain--not since he
had shown some interest in Archie--but she could never make a friend of
him.

During this greeting Lucy, who had regained her chair, sat with the
letters unopened in her lap. None of the eagerness Miss Tucher had
indicated was apparent. She seemed more intent on arranging the folds
of her morning-gown accentuating the graceful outlines of her
well-rounded figure. She had glanced through the package hastily, and
had found the one she wanted and knew that it was there warm under her
touch--the others did not interest her.

"What a big mail, dear," remarked Jane, drawing up a chair. "Aren't you
going to open it?" The captain had found a seat by the window and the
child was telling him everything she had done since she last saw him.

"Oh, yes, in a minute," replied Lucy. "There's plenty of time." With
this she picked up the bunch of letters, ran her eye through the
collection, and then, with the greatest deliberation, broke one seal
after another, tossing the contents on the table. Some she merely
glanced at, searching for the signatures and ignoring the contents;
others she read through to the end. One was from Dresden, from a
student she had known there the year before. This was sealed with a
wafer and bore the address of the cafe where he took his meals. Another
was stamped with a crest and emitted a slight perfume; a third was
enlivened by a monogram in gold and began: "Ma chere amie," in a bold
round hand. The one under her hand she did not open, but slipped into
the pocket of her dress. The others she tore into bits and threw upon
the blazing logs.

"I guess if them fellers knew how short a time it would take ye to
heave their cargo overboard," blurted out the captain, "they'd thought
a spell 'fore they mailed their manifests."

Lucy laughed good-naturedly and Jane watched the blaze roar up the wide
chimney. The captain settled back in his chair and was about to
continue his "sea yarn," as he called it, to little Ellen, when he
suddenly loosened the child from his arms, and leaning forward in his
seat toward where Jane sat, broke out with:

"God bless