"Is it Father Neptune?" he asked.
"No, darling, no."
"Oh, I see he hasn't got his three-pronged fork. Is it Nelson then?"
"I am sure I don't know," said Mrs. Beauchamp, and her laugh was very near tears.—"You will tell the twins at once, please," she said to Mr. Amherst as she said good-bye. "I cannot bear to feel that they may be awake and waiting."
But Dot and Dash had not passed a sleepless night of misery. Long ago, tired out with sorrow, they had fallen asleep on the nursery window-sill, and dreamt that they were sailing on unknown seas in fairy boats!
CHAPTER XIII.
And the wonderful part of it all was that Susie was not even ill! She slept "into the middle of next week," as nurse expressed it; but it was a deep, steady, peaceful sleep, quite undisturbed by any commotion around her. Amy sat most of the morning crouched up on the floor, just inside the room, and waited for the opening of those brown eyes; whilst nurse had even got Dick and baby safely dressed and out on the sands before Susie's eyelids quivered, and she stretched her stiff limbs, and started up with a cry, "Mother!"
"My darling Susie!"
"O mother! I was so afraid you were a dream."