“I wish it would ever seem half as home-like!” cried the girl.
“Then you find the ship—I'm glad you find the ship—home-like,” said Staniford, tentatively.
“Oh, yes; everything is so convenient and pleasant. It seems sometimes as if I had always lived here.”
“Well, that's very nice,” assented Staniford, rather blankly. “Some people feel a little queer at sea—in the beginning. And you haven't—at all?” He could not help this leading question, yet he knew its meanness, and felt remorse for it.
“Oh, I did, at first,” responded the girl, but went no farther; and Staniford was glad of it. After all, why should he care to know what was in her mind?
“Captain Jenness,” he merely said, “understands making people at home.”
“Oh, yes, indeed,” assented Lydia. “And Mr. Watterson is very agreeable, and Mr. Mason. I didn't suppose sailors were so. What soft, mild voices they have!”
“That's the speech of most of the Down East coast people.”
“Is it? I like it better than our voices. Our voices are so sharp and high, at home.”
“It's hard to believe that,” said Staniford, with a smile.