The days were very short up north in these seas. A steamer would have been into her port long ago; but the Nor'lan' Star had to wait for the wind. Only, Lotty rather liked the length of the voyage than otherwise. By the time Saturday came round she had been nearly a week on board. Well, the skipper was fond of old-fashioned seaways, so he was wont to splice the main brace on this night, which means that all hands have extra grog and spend the evening singing and yarning and drinking to wives and sweethearts.
But Lotty had put Norlans to bed early, and was going herself soon after she had a warm bath. It was while assisting her that Mrs Paterson made a discovery which caused her to start and turn first red and then pale.
'Dear Mrs Captain, you're not ill, are you?'
'Oh no,' said the good lady, 'only a momentary spasm. Now it is gone.'
There was electric light in this cabin, which was really one of the prettiest staterooms any master-mariner could have wished to have. Of course his wife was the presiding genius; but without being at all overcrowded, because all the fittings were of fairy-like dimensions, it was really home-like and charming. Besides, a dear wee brass-domed stove burned cheerily in a corner, and altogether it was as much like the interior of a caravan as anything else.
To-night, after Lotty had got into her dressing-gown and hammock-socks, Mrs Paterson sat down on a low rocking-chair close to the fire, and took her on her knee. And there was a nice drink for both of them keeping hot on the stove-top, so one may easily guess they were cosy.
The skipper and mate were smoking and yarning outside in the saloon; but from the stateroom their voices sounded only like the happy murmur of the sea on a summer's beach.
What was the discovery the good lady had made? It was a birth-mark—nay, but two. And although such marks might be similar on two different people, so strange a coincidence has never, perhaps, been known. And so Mrs Skipper thought she knew now some secret of Lotty's history that the child herself was ignorant of.
A rocking-chair at sea is a delightful contrivance when the weather is fine, as it was to-night, and this one was swayed or swung only by the vessel's gentle motion. It is a dreamy, drowsy movement; but there was no thought of sleep in Lotty's mind at present, nor in Mrs Paterson's. Lotty would have preferred to listen to a story or to hear a song.
'Sure I'm not too heavy, nursie?'