"There is no one to whom I could more confidently entrust her happiness, Frank. God bless you both."
Then she betook herself to her pocket handkerchief, for her tears came easily, and on this occasion she herself could hardly have said whether they were the result of pleasure in Bertha's happiness, or regret at the downfall of the air castles she had once built.
"I think, Bertha, our best plan will be to go below now," Frank suggested, quietly.
"What for?" Bertha asked, shyly.
The thing had been done. She felt radiantly happy, but more shocked at her own boldness than she had been when she perpetrated it.
"Well, my dear, I thought that perhaps you would rather not kiss me in sight of the whole crew, and certainly I shan't be able to restrain myself much longer."
"Then, in that case," she said, demurely, "perhaps we had better go below."
It was half an hour before they came on deck again.
"Well, my dears," Lady Greendale said, "the more I think of it the better I am pleased. As far as I am concerned, nothing could be nicer. I shall have Bertha within a short drive of me, and it won't be like losing her.
"Do you know, Bertha, your father said to me once, 'I would give anything if some day Frank Mallett and our Bertha were to take a fancy to each other. There is nothing I should like more than to have her settled near us, and there is no one I know more likely to make her happy than he would be.' I am sure, dear, that you will be glad to know that your engagement would have had his approval, as it has mine."