his chin, and a pair of field-glasses slung in a case behind his back, was standing under the shelter of the wheel-house, talking to his daughter Grace, who looked rather paler than when she stepped aboard, but declared she felt quite well as long as she remained in the fresh air. Godfrey Harland was in close attendance on her, and she seemed pleased by his proximity. He had quite got over the ridiculous fit of self-reproach which had attacked him off Southend, and had nerved himself to go through everything that might lie before him--even to marriage with Grace Vansittart, if she and her parents consented to it. Mrs Leyton, too, was on deck for the first time, and sat on the skylight, enveloped in a warm shawl, whilst her little daughter Winifred (who was still known as ‘Baby’), a pretty child of about three years old, ran about the deck; and Alice carried on a laughing flirtation with Captain Lovell, which she refused to relinquish for all the warning looks she received from her mother. The fact is, Alice was piqued. Her lawful sweetheart, Jack Blythe, may have been too busy to stay by her side, and attend to her many little wants, and she was a sensible girl, and did not expect him to give up his duty for his pleasure; still, he might have spoken a word or two to her occasionally in passing, or thrown a look with a world of meaning in it. But though he had smiled kindly at her when they met in the morning, he had taken no notice of her since, and Alice could not help seeing that he was pre-occupied and serious. What could be the matter with him? Surely he was never going to be so stupid as to feel jealous of the little attentions Captain Lovell showed her, and which he himself had no time to pay! If _that_ was to be the order of march at this early stage of the proceedings, what would Jack do before the voyage was over. The very thought made Alice’s only half-subdued heart rebellious, and her smiles became sweeter, and her laughter more hilarious, than there was any need they should be.