"And we are on the coast of Brazil now?"
"Yes; and will be for a week or more."
"We are trying life in the 'Dolphin' for a good while this winter," said Violet.
"You are not wearying of it, I hope, my dear?" asked the Captain, giving her a rather anxious and troubled look.
"Oh, no, not at all!" she replied, giving him an affectionate smile, "this winter trip has been a real enjoyment to me thus far."
"As it has to all of us, I think," said her mother; and all within hearing joined in with their expressions of pleasure in all they had experienced on the sea or on the land since sailing away from their homes in the "Dolphin."
"I am half afraid that you gentlemen will find your homes but dull places when you get back to them," remarked Lucilla, in a tone of feigned melancholy, sighing deeply as she spoke.
"Well, for business reasons I shall be glad to get back to my office," said Chester. "So it will not be altogether a trying thing to return, even if my home is to be but dull and wearisome."
"I don't believe it will be," laughed Grace. "Lu is never half so hard and disagreeable as she pretends. She has always been the nicest of sisters to me, and I have an idea that she is quite as good a wife."
"So have I," said Chester. "I know I wouldn't swap wives with any man."