'At the same time,' continued he, 'I don't think they'll be so happy or so well cared for as by you, and knowing poor Owen's wishes, I should not feel justified in taking them away, since you are so good as to offer to keep them.' Honor eagerly declared herself much obliged, then thought it sounded ironical. 'Unless,' he proceeded, 'Charles should strongly feel it his duty to take them home, in which case--' 'Oh, of course I could say nothing.' 'Very well, then we'll leave it to his decision.' So it remained, and in trembling Honora awaited the answer. It was in her favour that he was appointed to a ship, since he was thus excluded from exercising any supervision over them at Castle Blanch, and shortly after, letters arrived gratefully acceding to her request. Family arrangements and an intended journey made her proposal doubly welcome, for the present at least, and Mrs. Charteris was full of polite thanks. Poor little waifs and strays! No one else wanted them, but with her at least they had a haven of refuge, and she loved them the more ardently for their forlorn condition. Her own as they had never before been! and if the tenure were uncertain, she prized it doubly, even though, by a strange fatality, she had never had so much trouble and vexation with them as arose at once on their being made over to her! When all was settled, doubt over, and the routine life begun, Lucilla evidently felt the blank of her vanished hopes, and became fretful and captious, weary of things in general, and without sufficient motive to control her natural taste for the variety of naughtiness! Honor had not undertaken the easiest of tasks, but she neither shrank from her enterprise nor ceased to love the fiery little flighty sprite, the pleasing torment of her life--she loved her only less than that model of childish sweetness, her little Owen. * * * * * 'Lucy, dear child, don't take your brother there. Owen dear, come back, don't you see the mud? you'll sink in.' 'I'm only getting a dear little crab, Sweet Honey,' and the four little feet went deeper and deeper into the black mud. 'I can't have it done! come back, children, I desire, directly.' The boy would have turned, but his sister had hold of his hand. 'Owen, there he is! I'll have him,' and as the crab scuttled sidelong after the retreating tide, on plunged the children.