“No, don’t. But don’t you?”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to be one,” said Mrs. Mayward candidly.

“I suppose it’s all right, if she does it from a sense of duty, as you say,” he suggested.

“Oh, yes, she’s all right. And she’s just as much of a girl as anybody; though she don’t know it,” Mrs. Maynard added astutely. “Why wouldn’t she come with us? Were you afraid to ask her?”

“She said she wasn’t a good sailor. Perhaps she thought we were too young. She must be older than you.”

“Yes, and you, too!” cried Mrs. Maynard, with good-natured derision.

“She doesn’t look old,” returned Mr. Libby.

“She’s twenty-eight. How old are you?”

“I promised the census-taker not to tell till his report came out.”

“What is the color of her hair?”