So, because he could not well refuse, the author reluctantly began to read. And, as usual, his nautical friend to interrupt and comment. Caroline listened, her eyes twinkling. When the reading and the arguments were at an end, she declared it was all splendid; “Just like being at sea one’s self,” she said. “I positively refuse to permit another installment to be submitted unless I am—on deck. That’s the proper phrase, isn’t it, Captain?”
“Aye, aye, ma’am! Jim, we’ve shipped a new second mate, and she’s goin’ to be wuth her salt. You hear me!”
She proved to be worth all of that, at least in Pearson’s opinion. His calls and the readings and discussions became more and more frequent. Each of the trio enjoyed them greatly, Caroline quite as much as the others. Here was something new and fresh, something to furnish a real interest. The story advanced rapidly, the character of the nautical hero shaped itself better and better, and the heroine, also, heretofore a somewhat shadowy and vague young woman, began to live and breathe. She changed surprisingly, not only in mental but in physical characteristics.
Captain Elisha was first to notice the latter peculiarity.
“Say, Jim!” he interrupted, one afternoon, “what was that you just read about Mary? Her hat blowin’ off to leeward and her brown hair blowin’ after it? Or somethin’ of that sort?”
Caroline laughed merrily. The author turned to the passage mentioned.
“Not exactly, Captain,” he replied, smiling. “I said her hat had blown away, and her brown curls tossed in the wind. What’s wrong with that? Hats do blow away in a sou’wester; I’ve seen them.”
“Perhaps he thinks she should have been more careful in pinning it on,” suggested the feminine member of the advisory board.
Captain Elisha shook his head. “No,” he observed calmly, “but why was she wearin’ that kind of hair? She’s pretty young to use a switch, ain’t she?”
“Switch?” repeated “Mary’s” creator, with some indignation. “What are you talking about? When I first described her, I said that her hair was luxuriant and one of her chief beauties.”