“Fiddlestick!” exclaimed the captain; “what does a girl know about seafaring matters?”
“Ay, ay, sir, she’s a girl, but she’s got an uncommon wise head for all that. Mark ye, Captain Howard,” he added, feeling so highly gratified by the favorable remark of the skipper’s niece, that he was disposed to be complimentary—“mark ye, I’ve seen women enough in my day, but I’ve never seen one as had a longer head than Miss Alice!”
The maid blushed, and bit her lips to conceal a smile, while Briggs, believing that his words had pleased her, but fearing that she might think he had merely been trying to flatter, pursued the subject in a manner so earnest, that his sincerity could not be doubted.
“Ay, ay, sir—a long head has this young girl, and I don’t mean to flatter her when I say it. She’s about the first woman I ever saw with such a head. To look at her, it’s true, you mightn’t think that she was blessed in that way. But, my eyes! neither would you think that a horse’s head was so long as a flour barrel!”
“You had better stick to currents and icebergs, Mr. Briggs, and leave the complimenting of girls to those who understand the art better than you do,” said the captain, a little resentfully. “Young ladies, as a general rule, do not care to be told that they have long heads?”
“Indeed, uncle,” cried Alice, in a voice that faltered with the efforts she made to restrain her laughter, “indeed, uncle, I feel much obliged to the mate for the compliment he has paid me.”
“Oh, well,” said her uncle, dryly, “there is no accounting for tastes—especially for those of women. If Briggs’ remark pleased you, I have no more to say.”
“He was sincere, dear uncle, and you know that sincerity always pleases me.”
“Even when you are told that you have a long head?”
“That was a figurative expression on the part of Mr. Briggs.”