his father; while the other was a sweet little tot of a
girl, about five years old, with the prettiest, most lovable, and
confiding ways I had ever beheld in a child. They were both very merry,
light-hearted, buoyant-spirited children, but exceedingly well-behaved,
very tender and affectionate toward each other; and perfect patterns of
obedience while they remembered the parental injunctions laid upon them
from time to time; but it must be admitted that their memories in this
respect were, like those of most children, a little apt to be
short-lived.

And, as to the two maids and the nurse, they impressed me as being very
quiet, respectable well-behaved representatives of their class, and not
at all likely to give me trouble by encouraging any attempts at
flirtation on the part of the men. So that altogether I thought I had
every reason to congratulate myself upon my first experience in the
command of a passenger-ship.

Then, as to the ship herself. Though it was early yet to form a
distinct and definite opinion of her, having had only a few hours'
experience of her under sail, and that, too, in a light breeze and
smooth water, still her behaviour under those circumstances had been
such as led me to feel assured, from past experience, that she was
everything a seaman's heart could wish. That she was certain to prove
extraordinarily fast I was convinced, even before we had spread a single
cloth of canvas, by the ease with which the tug had walked away down the
river with her. And after the tug had let go our hawser and left us to
our own devices, we had overhauled and passed everything in our company
with an ease and rapidity that proved her to be a perfect witch in light
breezes; while now, when the rest of the fleet were either drifting
helplessly with the tide and heading to all points of the compass, or
anchoring to avoid falling foul of something else, we were sneaking
along at a good two knots through the water, with the ship under perfect
command of her helm.

At length the sounds of the children's happy voices ceased down below:
and, a few minutes later, Sir Edgar emerged from the saloon companion.
He paused for a moment to address a cheery remark or two to the little
party aft, and then joined me near the break of the poop, where I had
been standing for some time gazing abstractedly about me in a contented,
half-dreamy fashion at our surroundings. He made some conventional
remark as to the wonderful calm