"Dear Max! I long for the time when he will be with us again," said
Violet.
"I suppose by this time he knows how to manage a vessel almost as well as you do, papa?" observed Ned in an inquiring tone.
"I hope so," his father replied with a smile.
"So the passengers may all feel very safe, I suppose," said Mrs.
Lilburn.
"And that being the case you are willing to be one of them, Cousin
Annis, are you not?" queried Violet hospitably.
"More than willing; glad and grateful to you and the captain for the invitation to be, as my husband is also, I know."
"I am neither able nor desirous to deny that, my dear," laughed Cousin Ronald. "Ah, ha; ah, ha; um, hm! It will be my first visit to Florida, and I'm thinking we'll have a grand time of it—looking up the sites and scenes of the old histories we've been reading and chatting over."
CHAPTER VI.
The yacht was ready in due season, and the weather being favorable Captain Raymond invited as many of the connection as could be comfortably accommodated on board, to go with him to witness the graduation of Max and his classmates. Certainly his own immediate family, Mr. and Mrs. Dinsmore and Grandma Elsie would be of that number; Evelyn Leland also and Cousins Ronald and Annis Lilburn.
Max's joy in meeting them all—especially his father and the others of his own immediate family—was evidently very great, for it was the first sight he had had of any of them for two years or more. He passed his examination successfully, received his diploma, and was appointed to the engineer corps of the navy. He received many warm congratulations and valuable gifts from friends and relatives; but the pleasure in his father's eyes, accompanied by the warm, affectionate clasp of his hand, and his look of parental pride in his firstborn, was a sweeter reward to the young man than all else put together.