CHAPTER XV.
It was a lovely evening, and a pleasant company had gathered upon the deck of the Dolphin, Captain Raymond's yacht, lying in New York harbor; there were Mrs. Travilla, or Grandma Elsie, as some of her loved ones called her, Captain Raymond himself, his wife and children, older and younger, Evelyn Leland, Dr. Harold Travilla, and Chester Dinsmore. They were scattered in groups—the three pairs of lovers in one, and conversing in low, earnest tones, now and then varied by a ripple of laughter.
"I should like it very, very much," said Eva, "but doubt if the captain proves willing."
"Doubtless if he consulted only his own inclination he would not consent," said Max; "but father is anything else but selfish, and loves you so dearly, Eva, that I by no means despair of persuading him to give you your wish in regard to this."
"I have hardly a doubt of that," said Lucilla, "and I am highly in favor of the plan, though I was not at first."
"It suits me exactly," remarked Chester, in a gleeful tone. "I greatly like the idea of taking my wife home with me."
"Something that more than one of us would be glad to do," sighed Harold, squeezing affectionately a little hand of which he had taken possession a moment before.