declared he had a great respect for Captain Maitland. Altogether, it
was the happiest Christmas that the sisters had ever spent at Oakfield.
And I think there must have been some magic about that cheerful
wafer-box with the picture of Mr. Pitt. Mr. Crayshaw found it on his
plate on Christmas morning, with an inscription upon it which had been
composed by Pete, but written in Godfrey's own firm round hand, and
with spelling which was also quite Godfrey's own--'To my deer and
respekted cuzon.' And something about the box or the inscription--or
was it just a Christmas thought which they put into his head?--made Mr.
Crayshaw turn away to the window as if to admire the striking likeness
of Mr. Pitt, and then take off his spectacles and rub them and put them
on again; and then he did what he had never done before, came round to
Godfrey's chair, and put his hands on the little boy's shoulders and
kissed his forehead. They walked to church along the ringing frosty
road, with the wide white common spreading away on each side like the
snow-fields of Godfrey's Arctic stories. And at the churchyard gate
they paused, because there were two figures going slowly up the path
before them, Captain Maitland, walking erect and steady, with old Kiah
Parker on his arm.

'Easy now, easy now, Kiah,' he was saying, 'you'll have me on my nose
if you go that pace, man; you and I are more at home on deck than on
slippery ground; don't send me sprawling at the very church door, my
hearty.'

And as for Kiah, he looked prouder than the Admiral of the Fleet.

After church, however, he hobbled on ahead with Peter and Nancy, while
the captain stayed to speak to the party from the cottage. He had had
the most beautiful Christmas present, he said, just the very one thing
he couldn't have done without any longer. And somebody must have
chosen it just to suit him, for it was a real bit of the old blue, and
as for the ship, why the _Mermaid_ might have sat for the portrait.

'Just the thing for a present to a sailor from a sailor that is to be,'
he said; and Godfrey looked as if he had nothing else in the world to
wish for.

'Are you going to let me have the little lad one day, sir?' the captain
said to Mr. Crayshaw, when Godfrey had walked on in front between his
two aunts.

'You do him very great honour, sir,' said the lawyer. 'I have not
thought much at present about the boy's future career. He has been a
difficulty, Captain Maitland, som