the sound when a gale came which lasted four days and nights and which would have done for poor old in half the time our touch with the great nation not having much improved our four and twenty hours later and i should only have been a gallant captain in a small paragraph at one corner of the newspapers and being lost in only a nobody would have thought about me s were to herself alone but the miss could be as open as they were sincere in their exclamations of pity and horror and so then i suppose said mrs in a low voice as if thinking aloud so then he went away to the and there he met with our poor boy charles my dear him to her do ask captain where it was he first met with your poor brother i always forget it was at mother i know dick had been left ill at with a from his former captain to captain oh i but charles tell captain he need not persuasion be afraid of mentioning poor dick before me for it would be rather a pleasure to hear him talked of by such a good friend charles being somewhat more of the of the case only nodded in reply and walked away the girls were now hunting for the and captain could not deny himself the pleasure of taking the precious volume into his own hands to save them the trouble and once more read aloud the little statement of her name and and present non class over it that she too had been one of the best man had ah those were pleasant days when i had the bow fast i made money in her a friend of mine and i had such a lovely together off the western islands poor sister you know how much he wanted money worse than myself he had a wife excellent fellow i shall never forget his happiness he felt it all so much for her sake i wished for him again the next summer when had still the same luck in the and i am sure sir said mrs it was a lucky day for us when you were put captain into that ship we shall never forget what you did her feelings made her speak low and captain hearing only in part and probably not having dick at au near his thoughts looked rather in suspense and as if waiting for more my brother whispered one of the girls mamma is thinking o poor richard poor dear fellow continued mrs he was grown so steady and such an excellent correspondent while he was under your care ah it would have been a happy thing if he had never left you i assure you captain we are very sorry he ever left you there was a momentary expression in captain s face at this speech a certain glance of his bright eye and curl of his handsome mouth which convinced persuasion instead of sharing in mrs s kind wishes as to her son he had probably been at some pains to get rid of him but it was too transient an indulgence of self amusement to be detected by any who understood him less than hers in another moment he was perfectly collected and serious and almost instantly afterwards coming up to the sofa on which she and mrs were sitting took a place by the latter and entered into conversation with her in a low voice about her son doing it with so much sympathy and grace as showed the kindest consideration for all that was real and in the parent s feelings they were actually on the same sofa for mrs e had most readily made room for him they were divided only by mrs it was no insignificant barrier indeed mrs was of a comfortable substantial size infinitely more fitted by nature to express good cheer and good humour than tenderness and sentiment and while tiie of anne s slender form and pensive face may h considered as very completely captain should be allowed some credit for the self which he attended to her large fat over the of a son whom nobody had cared for personal size and mental sorrow have certainly no necessary proportions a large figure has as good a right to be in deep as the most graceful set of limbs in the world but fair or not fair there are which reason will in vain which taste cannot which ridicule will seize the admiral after taking two or three refreshing about the room with his hands behind him being called to order by his wife now came up to captain and without any observation of what he might be interrupting thinking only of his own thoughts began with � if you had been a week later at last spring you would have been asked to give a passage to lady mary and her daughters should i i am glad i was not a week later then persuasion the admiral abused him for his want of gallantry he defended himself though that he would never admit any ladies on board a ship of his excepting for a ball or a visit which a few hours might comprehend but if i know myself said he this is from no want of gallantry towards them it is rather from feeling how impossible it is with all one s efforts and all one s sacrifices to make the on board such as women ought to have there can be no want of gallantry admiral in the claims of women to every personal comfort high and this is what i do i hate to hear of women on board or to see them on board and no ship under my command shall ever convey a family of ladies anywhere if i can help it this brought his sister upon him oh i but i 