“I should have thought Uncle Ho would have recognized Captain Vanton as the Jacob King he had known in San Francisco.”
“Child, half a century had elapsed between his acquaintance with Jacob King and the appearance of Captain Vanton in Blue Port. Then, those sidewhiskers....”
“Dickie will come out next week,” Mermaid said, absently.
“Are you going to marry young Dick Hand?” Keturah inquired, with her natural abruptness.
“Aunt, you wouldn’t have me marry a man just because he asks me, would you?”
“Well, I hope you wouldn’t marry him without his asking you to.”
“Dickie?”
“Oh, no—that is—I mean—Dickie has asked me, but I mean I might—sometime——” Mermaid seemed unnecessarily embarrassed. Her aunt looked at her intently; then, as if she thought it better to swerve the conversation slightly, remarked abruptly: “Well, old Richard Hand died a natural death at the end of his unnatural life, after all.”
“I don’t think you can call death from fear a natural death,” objected the younger woman.