"She wasn't any older than you."
"For a boat she was, several times. Mr. Watson," asked Hugh from the roof between the Gilmores and the pilot, "what's the average age of a boat on this river?"
"Average age? Well, it varies! Say about five year'."
Hugh's voice dropped again. "The overseer being aboard, Phyllis and I, to be clear of him, were allowed free run of the roofs, and I being the captain's son it was so natural to see us often in the pilot-house——"
"And she was so wary, and you were so silent——"
"Yes—that no one noticed anything and the past still seemed past. One day your uncle Dan told me of your twin brothers. They'd spent half a year with him."
"Which mom-a's sorry for to this day. They worship him yet, she says. Go on; skip their visit."
"Well, when we reached Saint Louis I knew that he and Phyllis had agreed on something perfectly joyful to her. I don't know even now—what it was. She was to be set free, but that was only a small part."
"Skip again. The commodore joined you?"
"No, he failed us. We had to turn back without him."