“Welcome, my lady, back to the world of living men!”
Or, merely bowing, and with a deference as studied as Stanley’s in the African jungle:
Mermaid received him without full comprehension but with high glee. With a deplorable lack of etiquette she invariably reached up both arms, put them around his lowered neck, and kissed him.
She was pretty with the promise of loveliness, perhaps of beauty. It was not only her hair and her eyes but the modelling of her chin and the spacing of her features. The skin was unusually clear, with colour in the cheeks, and a few faint, clustered freckles.
The men were devoted to her and she returned their affection. Even Ha Ha, the sad soul, the introspective one, though he never smiled, was less gloomy in his opinions when Mermaid stood by. Ho Ha, unable to compete with the keeper in telling engrossing stories, set himself to work to provide pets. There were foxes on the beach and he had come upon a litter. The cubs were dedicated to Mermaid—until nightfall when their mother gnawed the ropes which fastened them. Ho Ha sought vainly in Bellogue and Blue Port for a white rabbit with pink eyes. The beach was infested with plain brown rabbits, for the most part rather unafraid of man. Mermaid could approach within a few feet of these but they would not stay to let her touch them. Occasionally, trotting along the ocean shore beside Ho Ha, Mermaid came upon the round-toed tracks of a cat. Then the coast guardsman would explain how some of the summer people had left their cats on the beach in the fall to fend for themselves. Cats so abandoned, explained Ho Ha, quickly became wild; they doubtless caught birds and visited the water’s edge in the reasonable hope of finding a bit of fish for supper. They were as wild as the foxes and much more savage; if Mermaid should see one she must not make advances lest she be set upon and clawed. The sinuous line in the sand was the trail of a snake, probably a harmless garter snake, but possibly a black snake. Mermaid shuddered and her little hand closed more firmly over Ho Ha’s fingers.
While her natural education was thus proceeding Cap’n Smiley gave much thought to the question of her schooling. Soon she would be seven, if, indeed, she were not already. Since the lack of a birthday is troublesome he bestowed his own upon her and promised some sort of a birthday party come May 27th.
But before this celebration ripened the agreeable course of life on the beach suffered an intrusion. On a fine May day Cap’n Smiley was puzzled to see advancing along the beach and turning in toward his station a group of women whom he recognized, as they neared, to be from Blue Port. Hastily assuring himself that his sister was not one, he arrested the drill with the breaches buoy and stepped forward to meet them. There were Mrs. Horton, Mrs. Brand, Mrs. Dayton, and Miss Errily. The four came up slowly, talking among themselves with earnestness. When they were within earshot they stopped and Miss Errily seemed to take the lead, her thin lips closed in a straight line.
“Good morning,” said Cap’n Smiley, pleasantly. “We’re about finished with the drill, but there’s time enough to see it done over if——”
Miss Errily interrupted him: