"Well, there is heartache in it as well as pride for us, is not there, Madam?"
Mary answered with sparkling animation, her eyes on the blue flag.
"That is for afterwards."
Mrs. Marston sighed.
"I know—but one storm——"
"Speak not of storms," answered Mary, "when we have all whom we love on board yonder ships——"
"Not all."
Mary turned her eyes from the fleet that was gradually becoming enveloped in the mists of the darkening afternoon.
"How—not all?"
"There are always the children," answered the other lady, with a bright tenderness. "I have three, Madam, whom we keep in Amsterdam, as The Hague is so expensive——"