"Loud and shrill, loud and shrill,
List to the wild March wind!
And the heart of the mariner trembles
As he sails his rudder behind.
"My dear, the 'member' is a little mixed! Does she mean the mariner sails behind the rudder, or the rudder sails behind the mariner? Did you ever, Millicent? I don't believe she knows which part of a ship the rudder is. And this is the second verse:
"And the bell on the bleak beach bellows.
"(There's alliteration for you. Fancy a bell bellowing!)
"And the fog-horn lifts its voice,
And the mariner goes to an early grave,
He has no other choice.
"Oh, Milly! isn't it funny? Why don't you laugh?"
"I am laughing," said Millicent, in a hoarse voice; "it makes me perfectly hysterical," and she hid her face for a moment in her handkerchief. Fortunately Elsie was at that moment called away.
Millicent found to her cost, as the afternoon wore on, that the climax had not been even then.
Joanna had come late to the fair, detained by school and luncheon until four o'clock. She had found no one at home, not even her mother, but she had heard from the maid a piece of news which caused her heart to bound with excitement and consternation.
Cousin Appolina had returned very unexpectedly from Washington!