"I'm keeping house this evening," said the captain, "or else I should have been."
"It's nice for you to have your children near you," said Joan, softly.
Captain Trimblett assented. "And it's nice to be able to give up the sea," he said with a grateful glance at Vyner. "I'm getting old, and that last bout of malaria hasn't made me any younger."
"The youngsters seem to get on all right with Mrs. Chinnery," said Robert, eying him closely.
"Splendidly," said the Captain. "I should never have thought that she would have been so good with children. She half worships them."
"Not all of them," said Mr. Vyner.
"All of 'em," said the captain.
"Twins, as well?" said Mr. Vyner, raising his voice.
"She likes them best of all," was the reply.
Mr. Vyner rose slowly from his chair. "She is a woman in a million," he said impressively. "I wonder why—"