"But you, Miss Ramsey, oh,--well,--why,--you know,--time an' again we heard what a mahvel you'd grown to be, but--why,--lemme look at you again! Why, yo' just divi-i-ine! Law'! I'd give a thousand dollahs just fo' yo' red-gole hair. Why, it's the golden locks o' Veronese, that Cap'm Hugh's fatheh showed you,--don't you remembeh?--on the _Vot'ress_, an' you showed us,--in the sky. They there yet! "An'"--the five heads drew close together--"Cap'm Hugh, oh, he ain't such a su'pri-ise; we've seen him f'om time to time. But ain't he--mmm, hmm, hmmm! An'so a-a-able! Why, Miss Ramsey,--oh, you must 'a' heard it,--they say excep' fo' yo' pa he hasn't got his equal on the riveh an' could 'a' been a captain long ago had he 'a' thought best himself. He certain'y could. But ain't this boat the splendidest thing in the wi-i-ide, wi-i-ide world? It certain'y is! It's a miracle! an' he her captain and deservin' to be! "Mis' Gilmo',--Miss Ramsey,"--the lovely heads came together,--"the's a hund'ed pretty girls--an' rich as pretty--that ah just cra-a-azy about him. But they might as well be crazy about a stah. They certain'y might, an' they--know--why!" (Laughter.) "They certain'y do-- Law'! ain't Miss Ramsey got the sa-a-ame o-o-ole la-a-afe, on'y sweeteh'n eveh? Sweeteh an' mo' ketchin'! You certain'y have. No wondeh yo' call' the Belle o' the Bends. But, all the same, yo' cruel. Yo' fame' fo' yo' cruelty!" (Laughter.) "They say he's just telegrayphed yo' ma to come aboa'd at Natchez. That's just ow Southe'n hospitality. But won't that be fi-i-ine? It certain'y will!" The three husbands came bringing the actor, the junior pilot, the Californian, and his confidant of the evening before. Incited by Ramsey the wives fell into queries on the coming election, rejoicing that even should Lincoln be made President, and that incredible thing, a war, come on, the great river and its cities--New Orleans, Natchez, Memphis, and especially Vicksburg--would be far from the storm. While they made merry Mrs. Gilmore got Ramsey aside. "If Captain Hugh's telegraphed, why, then, your father----" "Oh! my father, he's roaming over the boat somewhere with Commodore Courteney! I'm going to change this hot dress for a cooler one. I'll be back before a great while." "Let me go with you. Are you not well?" Not well! The girl laughed gayly. But as she drew her friend out upon the guards and to her stateroom's rear door she talked with a soft earnestness all the way. "I don't see how I could have been so blind! If _he_ saw those things why couldn't I see them? I thought of them, over and over; but always the other things crowded them back into the dark--and there was plenty of dark. He's right, my father does hold the key, and if I'd seen things as I see them now I'd have made the twins give in, somehow, long ago. If you should see mammy Joy, or Phyllis, or both, please send them to me."