t's enough!" cried Martha in her hearty way. "No use crying
over spilled milk, nor dead pets--even when they're Persian cats.
You'll find there are one or two more in the world, I guess. Now just
cuddle down there and keep still, or we'll have to give you a dose of
something to quiet you, and it's bitter stuff to take, I can tell you.
Perhaps, if you'll just curl in beside her, Miss Faith, she'll ease
down sooner."

The stewardess was right, for when Hope felt her twin's tender arms
about her she soon grew quiet, and as soon as they were alone whispered
with much interest, "But who was with you on deck, Faith?"

"Well I'll tell you, and it's nothing to make such a fuss over, either.
Do you remember that young officer we saw bidding his mother and sister
good-by at Portsmouth--the ones that were so quiet about it?"

"Oh, yes; and his sweetheart too."

"No, that was his cousin, who lives with them. I got acquainted with
him to-night, and he is a real gentleman. We were walking up and down,
and he was telling me about his people, and his service in India. He
is to be a sort of traveling officer to take out recruits, you see.
He's delighted with the appointment, but his father was lost in a
monsoon on the Indian Ocean, a few years ago, and it nearly killed his
mother to let him go--she is sort of superstitious about it. Don't you
remember how she fainted?"

"Yes, indeed. Poor lady! And he is nice, is he?"

"Yes and intelligent, but bashful. He said he had often watched us,
and can never tell us apart, but he thinks he'll be able to, after
this."

"Oh, he does?" giggled Hope. "I'll wager I could fool him any day, if
I tried. Well, you gave me a nice fright while you were having such a
good time," and thereupon she told her tale as you have just heard it,
and so short a step is it from tragedy to comedy, especially in youth,
that they both laughed over it until they fell asleep.

Meanwhile, on deck, a watchful father saw a young man standing near the
gunwale in idle contemplation of the horizon, and accosted him with a
pleasant word to which the other responded with readiness, though his
manner was somewhat diffident. The two talked some time, the older man
becoming more and more interested in a youth who, with a real manliness
of character, was yet as bashful as a schoolboy. Before the
conversation ended Captain Hosmer was convinced there was not only "no
harm in the fellow," but that he was a young man