we've seen everything, from the broken grating of the window which
poor Charles the First was unable to squaze himself through at
Carisbrook Castle, being too fat, poor man, down to the hawthorn-bush at
Faringford over against Beacon Down atop of the Needles, where Tennyson
used to hide his long clay pipes after smoking them, before going out
for his walk on the cliff. Sure, and I don't think, Dugald, there's
anything more for ye to see there at all, at all!"

"Oh, auntie, you have forgotten `little Jane's' grave in the pretty old
churchyard at Brading, and the cottage in which the good `dairyman's
daughter' lived at Arreton," chimed in Nellie, who was more romantic.
"Yes, and those dear little Swiss villas too, at Totland Bay, aunt
Polly, peeping out from the fir-trees and bracken, with the fuchsias
like big trees in their front gardens, and the scarlet geraniums growing
wild in the hedgerows!"

"Ah," said Master Bob, "I liked the smugglers' cave at Ventnor. I wish
they hadn't boarded it up, so that a fellow can't see where they used to
hide the cargoes of silk and lace and kegs of brandy the French luggers
brought across from Saint Malo--wasn't that where they ran them from,
Captain?"

"Aye," replied the old sailor. "They don't now, though, my boy. Our
coastguardsmen are too sharp for that, and the mounseers have to find
another market for their goods! But are you all agreed about our paying
a visit to Southampton to-morrow, my friends?"

"It's a long voyage," observed Mrs Gilmour, who, although she had
forsworn her resolve anent excursion steamers in her desire not to
interpose any selfish obstacle, such as her own wishes, to the enjoyment
of the others during their holiday by the sea in proper seafaring
fashion, yet could not forget the _Bembridge Belle_ catastrophe. "Are
you sure the vessel is safe?"

"Oh yes," answered the Captain. "She's one of the regular boats, and is
as safe as a man-of-war."

"Then we may consider the expedition arranged," said Mrs Strong, who,
being anxious to see the city of the great Saint Bevis, had no objection
to the trip up Southampton Water; for, having been already across the
Solent, and even voyaged round the Isle of Wight, so to speak, without
feeling sea-sick or qualmish, she was confident of being a `born
sailor,' as the saying goes, and thus only too pleased to have an
opportunity of testing her new experiences further. "If you say it is
safe, Captain Dresser, ne