garies for such
an unwieldy thing as a turtle to indulge in, it returned to the sea, and
was the only one that landed. The sleeper at last moved, and I roused
her up. At first she declared she had not been asleep at all, but when
time and circumstances made that assertion untenable, she fell back upon
the excuse that it was so dull sitting there with no one to talk to, and
nothing to do, and, besides, her thoughts were very melancholy.

_June._--"Your thoughts melancholy! That's the first time, then, since I
have known you."

_Schillie._--"I was thinking of my poor little children, and how wrong I
was to go and leave them all."

_June._--"But you have not yet been away from them half the time, or,
indeed, one-third of what was originally intended, when we left
England."

_Schillie._--"I know that quite well, but, if you will go to sleep, and
leave me to my own dull thoughts, how can I help thinking of my being so
ill-behaved as to leave them for such a period."

_June._--"It was you that made me go to sleep first. But, however, I
must comfort you, and remind you how kind your father is to them, and
how your mother's sole business in life is to see that they have double
as much as they ought to have. And how your sister, that best of
Kittie's, is more than a mother to them; indeed most strangers take her
for their mother, and you for an unnatural sort of aunt."

_Schillie._--"Well, that may be true, June, but you should not upbraid me
with it now I am so sad; I don't pretend to be a fond mother, but I hope
I am a good one."

_June._--"Come! don't be so horribly pathetic; it does not suit you at
all, but, if you are really very unhappy, the captain will be here in
ten days or so, and then we will all go home."

_Schillie._--"But, how do I know if we may not all be drowned in going
home, or have a fire at sea, or something should occur which will
prevent me ever seeing my little chicks again," and the great tears
rolled one by one down her round blooming cheeks.

This was getting a most serious business, so I said in an angry manner
as it were, "You are too absurd! just as if every day when at home you
don't put your life into imminent danger, riding that frangy beast, who
every ten yards has either his heels or his toes in the air."

_Schillie._--"Heels and toes! Whoever heard a horse spoken of in such
terms? And after all the pains I have taken with your equine education,
to talk in such terms of a little pla