"

"You mean your father won't consent?"

"I do. There's one thing, at the very bottom of his heart, that you've
never thought of."

"I think I have."

"What is it?"

"That as the Hayle boats are all one day to be yours, and our union
would unite the two fleets under the one name of Courteney, he will
never allow it."

"He never will."

"Ramsey, he says he may. If we and the boats are so united the fleet
will be, while grandfather lives, the Courteney fleet; but each new boat
from now on will be named for a Hayle, beginning with you, or your
father, or your mother, as you and they may choose. At Vicksburg, if he
consents in time, we can telegraph her--we must have her--to come aboard
at Natchez for the rest of the trip. Grandfather, I suppose you've been
told, is now waiting for us at Vicksburg. He came up on the _Antelope_."

"The _Antelope_! How do you know?"

"By a despatch received at Memphis."

"Mmm! what a blessing is the telegraph! But, ah, Hugh"--the name was
almost naturalized--"this is a mere castle in the air! My--my
brothers----"

"I'll take care of them."

"You can't! You can't! Oh, Hugh, they--keep--their--threats." She caught
a breath and looked at him. If he went seeking them she would go at his
side! He must have read her mind, for in his majestical way he smilingly
shook his head.

Mrs. Gilmore had ceased to sing and with the others had risen and turned
Ramsey's way, confident that up there the conclusive word had been
spoken. Ramsey called down:

"Don't stop. Sing 'My Old Kentucky Home' or that thing in which 'the
river keeps rolling along' and 'the future's but a dream.' We're song
hungry up here."

"Then sing to each other," was the reply. "You can do it."

"Let Captain Hugh sing," said Watson. "He's off watch."

"He says," said Ramsey, "captains don't sing on the texas roof." She
moved to join the group on its way to an after stair. Watson bent his
steps for the pilot-house. At the stair the actor's wife let her husband
and "California" go down before her and as Ramsey and Hugh came close
said covertly:

"Sing, captain. Sing as softly as you please, just for us two while the
world is in dreams and sleep, won't you?"

The lover's heart was big with happiness, his solicitor had just been
singing pointedly in his interest, the seclusion here was all but
absolute, the quoted line was from Ramsey's song of that first night on
the _Votaress_, and to the bright surprise of both