It would not be my fault if two of the party were not engaged, I was thinking hopefully, as Miss Van Buren's eyes—rising from below like stars above a dark horizon—met mine. There was no recognition in them. To all appearance oblivious of ever having seen my insignificant features on land or sea, she came smiling up, on the friendliest terms with Starr.
The vacant chair, most conveniently placed for her, was close to the wheel, and I hoped that she would take it. But rather than be thus trapped, she stepped over Tibe and pushed past her stepsister with an "I beg your pardon, dear."
The Mariner gave no glance at me, but there was a catch in his voice which betokened a twinkle of the eye, as he said——
"Aunt Fay, Miss Van Buren and Miss Rivers, I must introduce the friend I told you about: our skipper, Jonkheer Brederode."
Miss Rivers smiled delightfully, with just such a flush of ingenuous surprise as I should have liked to see on another face.
"Why, how curious," she exclaimed, "that you should be a friend of Mr. Starr's! I think we have almost met Jonkheer Brederode before, haven't we, Nell?"
"Have we?" sweetly inquired Miss Van Buren. "I'm a little near-sighted, and I've such a wretched memory for faces. Unless I notice people particularly, I have to be introduced at least twice before it occurs to me to bow."
"Oh, but, Nell," protested Miss Rivers. "Surely you know we saw Mr.—no, Jonkheer Brederode—with your cousin at the Museum in Delft, and then afterwards you——"
"People's clothes make so much difference," remarked Miss Van Buren.
"Oh, but I wasn't thinking of your sea adventure, so much as when Jonkheer Brederode rode in the contest——"