olors, and were aghast at the thought that royalty
sometimes had as many as twenty hats and bonnets. She made pretty old
lady caps as well, and she did love to hear the young girls chatter. And
Molly Saunders was still baking gingerbread, that had delighted them as
school children, and no one made such good spruce and sassafras beer.

One evening at a dance she had a great surprise. Some one said, "Miss
Cynthia Leverett, Mr. Marsh."

A rather tall, ruddy, good-looking fellow, with laughing eyes and an
unmistakable sailor air, held her dainty hand and studied her face.

"Oh, you don't know me!" in the jolliest of tones. "And I should know
you if you had been cast ashore on a rocky island and I were looking at
you through a spyglass. You haven't changed in the main, only to grow
prettier. You were a poor pale little thing then."

"Oh, I can't think!" She flushed and smiled. Something in the hearty
voice won her.

"At Dame Wilby's school. And the bad boy who sat behind you--Tommy
Marsh."

"Oh! oh! And that day I sat on the floor!" She laughed gayly. She did
not mind it a bit now.

"Wasn't it funny? And the way you just sat still with the school in an
uproar. You standing up there and 'sassing' back the old dame! Such a
mite of a thing, too. My! but you were a plucky one!" in admiration.
"And you never came to school after that. I ought to get down on my
knees and beg your pardon for the sly pinches I gave you, and the times
I tweaked your curly hair. I've half a mind to do it."

"Oh, no!" and she made a funny gesture of alarm, and both laughed.

"And I've been over there to India, where you came from, and found some
people who knew your father. I've been to sea seven years, three on this
last cruise, and when the _Vixen_ is repaired and refitted I'm going out
again as first mate. One of these days I shall be a captain."

How proud and strong he looked. Why, one couldn't help liking him.

"I wonder if I might dance with you?"

"Oh, do you dance? I thought sailors--and there are no girls----" and
she blushed at her incoherence.

"I think we do a little. Where did you get the Sailor's Hornpipe from?
We're sorry about not having girls, but we make it answer. And when you
get in the doldrums, or becalmed, it stirs up your blood. Oh, they are
taking their places."

Ben was in the same quadrille. Every time he touched her hand he gave it
a pressure that made her cheeks rosier. Altogether it was a delightful
eveni