Miss or Mrs [2]
appearance in Sir Joseph's daughter during the spring. The family doctor had suggested a sea-voyage, as a wise manner of employing the fine summer months. Richard Turlington's yacht was placed at her disposal, with Richard Turlington himself included as one of the fixtures of the vessel. With her father and her aunt to keep up round her the atmosphere of home--with Cousin Launcelot (more commonly known as "Launce") to carry out, if necessary, the medical treatment prescribed by superior authority on shore--the lovely invalid embarked on her summer cruise, and sprang up into a new existence in the life-giving breezes of the sea. After two happy months of lazy coasting round the shores of England, all that remained of Natalie's illness was represented by a delicious languor in her eyes, and an utter inability to devote herself to anything which took the shape of a serious occupation. As she sat at the cabin breakfast-table that morning, in her quaintly-made sailing dress of old-fashioned nankeen--her inbred childishness of manner contrasting delightfully with the blooming maturity of her form--the man must have been trebly armed indeed in the modern philosophy who could have denied that the first of a woman's rights is the right of being beautiful; and the foremost of a woman's merits, the merit of being young!
The other two persons present at the table were the two gentlemen who have already appeared on the deck of the yacht.
"Not a breath of wind stirring!" said Richard Turlington. "The weather has got a grudge against us. We have drifted about four or five miles in the last eight-and-forty hours. You will never take another cruise with me--you must be longing to get on shore."
He addressed himself to Natalie; plainly eager to make himself agreeable to the young lady--and plainly unsuccessful in producing any impression on her. She made a civil answer; and looked at her tea-cup, instead of looking at Richard Turlington.
"You might fancy yourself on shore at this moment," said Launce. "The vessel is as steady as a house, and the swing-table we are eating our breakfast on is as even as your dining-room table at home."
He too addressed himself to Natalie, but without betraying the anxiety to please her which had been shown by the other. For all that, _he_ diverted the girl's attention from her tea-cup; and _his_ idea instantly awakened a responsive idea in Natalie's mind.
"It will be so strange on shore," she said, "to find myself in a room that never turns on one side, and to sit at a table that never tilts down to my knees at one time, or rises up to my chin at another. How I shall miss the wash of the water at my ear, and the ring of the bell on deck. when I am awake at night on land! No interest there in how the wind blows, or how the sails are set. No asking your way of the sun, when you are lost, with a little brass instrument and a morsel of pencil and paper. No delightful wandering wherever the wind takes you, without the worry of planning beforehand where you are to go. Oh how I shall miss the dear, changeable, inconstant sea! And how sorry I am I'm not a man and a sailor!"
This to the guest admitted on board on sufferance, and not one word of it addressed, even by chance, to the owner of the yacht!
Richard Turlington's heavy eyebrows contracted with an unmistakable expression of pain.
"If this calm weather holds," he went on, addressing himself to Sir Joseph, "I am afraid, Graybrooke, I shall not be able to bring you back to the port we sailed from by the end of the week."
"Whenever you like, Richard," answered the old gentleman, resignedly. "Any time will do for me."
"Any time within reasonable limits, Joseph," said Miss Lavinia, evidently feeling that her brother was conceding too much. She spoke with Sir Joseph's amiable smile and Sir Joseph's softly- pitched voice. Two twin babies could hardly have been more like one another.
While these few words were being exchanged among the elders, a private communication was in course of progress between the two young people under the cabin
The other two persons present at the table were the two gentlemen who have already appeared on the deck of the yacht.
"Not a breath of wind stirring!" said Richard Turlington. "The weather has got a grudge against us. We have drifted about four or five miles in the last eight-and-forty hours. You will never take another cruise with me--you must be longing to get on shore."
He addressed himself to Natalie; plainly eager to make himself agreeable to the young lady--and plainly unsuccessful in producing any impression on her. She made a civil answer; and looked at her tea-cup, instead of looking at Richard Turlington.
"You might fancy yourself on shore at this moment," said Launce. "The vessel is as steady as a house, and the swing-table we are eating our breakfast on is as even as your dining-room table at home."
He too addressed himself to Natalie, but without betraying the anxiety to please her which had been shown by the other. For all that, _he_ diverted the girl's attention from her tea-cup; and _his_ idea instantly awakened a responsive idea in Natalie's mind.
"It will be so strange on shore," she said, "to find myself in a room that never turns on one side, and to sit at a table that never tilts down to my knees at one time, or rises up to my chin at another. How I shall miss the wash of the water at my ear, and the ring of the bell on deck. when I am awake at night on land! No interest there in how the wind blows, or how the sails are set. No asking your way of the sun, when you are lost, with a little brass instrument and a morsel of pencil and paper. No delightful wandering wherever the wind takes you, without the worry of planning beforehand where you are to go. Oh how I shall miss the dear, changeable, inconstant sea! And how sorry I am I'm not a man and a sailor!"
This to the guest admitted on board on sufferance, and not one word of it addressed, even by chance, to the owner of the yacht!
Richard Turlington's heavy eyebrows contracted with an unmistakable expression of pain.
"If this calm weather holds," he went on, addressing himself to Sir Joseph, "I am afraid, Graybrooke, I shall not be able to bring you back to the port we sailed from by the end of the week."
"Whenever you like, Richard," answered the old gentleman, resignedly. "Any time will do for me."
"Any time within reasonable limits, Joseph," said Miss Lavinia, evidently feeling that her brother was conceding too much. She spoke with Sir Joseph's amiable smile and Sir Joseph's softly- pitched voice. Two twin babies could hardly have been more like one another.
While these few words were being exchanged among the elders, a private communication was in course of progress between the two young people under the cabin