“I gave him plenty of work to do, at any rate,” the Captain went on. “I don’t want to make him conceited by saying he did it well; but he seems to have turned out pretty well, like most of my boys. The great point about your brother was that he made up his mind to do his work well, and push his way ahead. Boys who start with that idea generally succeed, even when they have no great brains to begin with.”
“Ahem!” Kit interrupted. “Can’t we find something more interesting to talk about than me? Where do you go next time, Captain?”
“To Barbadoes again,” the Captain answered. “We went there last voyage. You fellows in the big mail steamers mustn’t think you are the only ones to go to the West Indies. And I saw a friend of yours there, too. Do you remember any one named Outerbridge, in Barbadoes?”
Kit began to blush so hard that the Captain immediately added:—
“Oh, not the young lady. It was her father that I saw. He wanted to be remembered to you, and hoped to see you next time you visited the island.”
“Ah!” Vieve exclaimed, “he never told us anything about a young lady in Barbadoes, Captain. You’re getting so you don’t tell me anything, any more, Kit. Do you know, Captain, he heard some great piece of news last night, and he won’t tell me what it was.”
“No, I won’t tell even Captain Griffith what it was, not at present,” Kit retorted. “And he will say that I’m right not to tell the business affairs of the company I work for.”
“It would be very unlike you to do it, I’ll say that,” the Captain assented; “and very improper besides. But you are going right back to the Trinidad, of course? and I may expect to see you while we are lying at Barbadoes?”
“I’m off in her next Saturday, sir,” Kit answered. “That’s the reason I have to start for home to-morrow morning, and can’t make you a longer visit. But my sister was anxious to come over and see Harry Leonard, and—”
“Why, Kit!” Vieve cried, with a blush that made her look prettier than ever; “I never mentioned his name, or thought of him.”