We could have found a thousand things to say to each other; there were memories of sixteen years of my life common to us both. I could have told her of my engagement and shown her my sweetheart's picture; but I was anxious to hear Captain Burke on the subject of my proposed voyage, and so after ten minutes we went downstairs, where we found my father and the captain seated before a glowing fire, already deep in talk. The captain jumped up when I entered, my father placed a chair for Mrs. Burke, who curtseyed her thanks, and the four of us sat. 'Well, now, Mrs. Burke,' said my father, addressing her very earnestly, 'your husband's ship is your suggestion, you know. You've sailed round the world in her and you can tell me more about the sea than your husband knows'--the captain gave a loud, nervous laugh--'as to the suitability of such a ship and such a voyage as you recommend to Miss Otway.' 'I am sure, Sir Mortimer,' answered Mrs. Burke, 'that it'll do her all the good, and more than all the good, that the doctors promise. I should love to have her with me.' She turned to look at me affectionately. 'Since you can't accompany her, sir, I'd not like to think of her at sea, and me without the power of caring for her. No steamer could be safer than the "Lady Emma."' The captain uttered a nervous laugh of good-humoured derision of steamers. 'If you will trust my dear young lady to me, I'll warrant you, Sir Mortimer, there's not the most splendid steamship afloat that shall make her a comfortabler home than my husband's vessel.' 'I have some knowledge of the sea, Captain Burke,' said my father. 'I have made the voyage to India. What is the tonnage of the "Lady Emma"?' 'Six hundred, sir.' 'That's a small ship. The "Hindostan" was fourteen hundred tons.' 'You don't want stilts aboard of six hundred tons to look over the head of the biggest sea that can run,' answered the captain. 'She sails beautifully and is a sweet-looking ship,' said my old nurse. 'When do you start?' asked my father. 'I hope to get away by the end of next month, sir.' 'Your little ships, I understand, which are not passenger vessels, often sail very deeply loaded and are unsafe in that way,' said my father. 'There can be nothing wrong with a man's freeboard, sir, when his cargo is what mine's going to be next trip: stout, brandy, whisky, samples of tinned goods, a lot of theatre scenery, builder's stuff like as doors and window frames, patent fuel and oil-cake.' 'Gracious, what a mixture!' cried his wife. 'What I suppose is termed a general cargo?' said my father; 'not the best of cargoes in case of fire.' 'What cargo is good when it comes to that, sir?' asked Captain Burke, smiling. 'We must never think of risks at sea any more than we do ashore. To my fancy there's more peril in a railway journey from here to London than in a voyage from the Thames round the world.' 'Miss Otway must be under somebody's care, Sir Mortimer,' said Mrs. Burke.