th you, to the ends of the earth."

Carrie laughed.

"How do you know someone else would not have snapped me up, if he
hadn't, uncle?"

"That is right, Carrie.

"You would have found her twice as difficult to manage as Bob, Mr.
Bale. You would never have kept her in Philpot Lane, if I hadn't
taken her. There are some people can be tamed down, and there are
some who can't; and Carrie is one of the latter.

"I should pity you, from my heart, if you had her on your hands,
Mr. Bale. If ever I get to be a colonel, it is she will command the
regiment."

"Well, it is good that one of us should have sense, Gerald," his
wife said, laughing. "And now, you had better put the whisky on the
table, unless uncle would prefer some mulled port wine."

"Neither one nor the other, my dear. Your brother is half asleep,
now, and it is as much as I can do to keep my eyes open. After the
cold ride we have had, the sooner we get back to the George, the
better.

"We will breakfast there, Carrie. I don't know what your hours are
but, when I am away on a holiday, I always give myself a little
extra sleep. Besides, your husband will, I suppose, have to be on
duty; and I have no doubt it will suit you, as well as me, for us
to breakfast at the George."

"Perhaps it will be better, uncle, if you don't mind. Gerald
happens to be orderly officer for the day, and will have to get his
breakfast as he can, and will be busy all the morning; but I shall
be ready for you by ten."

At that hour Bob appeared, alone.

"Uncle won't come round till one o'clock, Carrie. He said he should
take a quiet stroll round, by himself, and look at the ships; and
that, no doubt, we should like to have a talk together."

"Is he very cross with you, Bob?" she asked, anxiously. "You know
he really is kind at heart, very kind; but I am afraid he must be
very hard, as a master."

"Not a bit, Carrie. I expected he was going to be so, but he isn't
the least like that. He is very much liked by everyone there. He
doesn't say much, and he certainly looks stiff and grim enough for
anything; but he isn't so, really, not a bit."

"Didn't he scold you dreadfully about your upsetting those twelve
bottles of wine?"

"He never said a word about it, and I did not know at the time he
had seen me. John, the foreman--the one who used to take me out in
the holidays--would not have said anything about it. He said, of
course accidents did happen, sometimes, with the boys; and