"Yes, pet, the Good God sent you to cheer this old man's heart, and brighten his life. But do you know you came from the sea? That, years and years ago, five this very night, you were stranded on the beach down here?"
"Stlanded! What does that mean, daddy?"
"Thrown up by the waves, my wee one."
Toddie was looking at him now with eyes that were very wide indeed.
"What, daddy, dust the same as the Johnnie whale, daddy?"
"Just the same as the Johnnie whale, dear."
"Oh!"
She nestled towards him now, and gazed thoughtfully at the fire, and the old bard talked to her and to the fire at the same time apparently.
"Yes, Toddie, it was a fearful night that. There was a moon, but she hadn't a chance of shining; for the grey-black clouds dashed over her like the race of a mill-stream. Early in the afternoon a brig had been seen trying to round the point. But the wind blew high, and, alas! she tried in vain. We had all been on the beach for hours and hours watching her. Oh, what an evening it was! There had been sea-gulls in our garden that day, darling, as tame as chickens."
"Oh!"