"Rough? For an able fisherman and an able master and crew? No, Mrs. Pentle. The wind's fair, ma'am, as a man'd want for a run offshore--a great chance for Peter to try the new vessel out. This time to-morrow, ma'am, and if you could listen to Peter I'll bet you'd be proud to have such a wonderful vessel named after you. A new, able vessel and a new, lovely young wife--he oughter be the happy man sailin' to sea this night." "But his wife--won't she be lonesome, John?" "For her own good and Peter's, I cert'nly hope so, ma'am. But she won't be lonesome for too long, ma'am. Their age--an' healthy an' lovin'--they're the kind, ma'am, to have a houseful o' children. An' that'll be a good thing. Many's the day an' night, out on the wide ocean there, Peter'll be drivin' his vessel, thinkin' o' them children an' the mother to home, an' plannin' how he's ever goin' to kill fish enough to pay for the shoes an' their clothes an' their schoolin' an' the house rent, an' all the rest of it. Many a hard night out to sea he'll be thinkin' o' that, an' it'll be that'll hold him to his work an' make a full man o' him. And the mother she'll be keepin' the home, lovin' the children an' lovin' Peter that's workin' night an' day to keep 'em. I tell you, ma'am, they're the wise ones that lay their courses so that by 'n' by, whether they will or no, they got to go on with the steady drivin'." "Look at her now, ma'am, down to the rail already an' whalin' away through it! An' there's Peter--look at him--in the oilskins up by the wind'ard bitt! An'-- But there's some one callin' you, ma'am." It was her maid, who came running over to say that there was an urgent telephone message. "It is from Mr. Henston, madam." Mrs. Pentle nodded that she heard, but continued to look through the glasses at the _Celia_ sailing out to sea. The maid coughed. She was at the foot of the tower, looking up. "He says, madam, that the silk-buyer wishes him to go to New York for that stock of pongees, and that he is waiting for an answer to his letter before he goes." Mrs. Pentle stood at the hatch of the tower, looking down. "Fishermen are pretty careful of what they use for bait, aren't they, John?" John, after consideration, said: "Bank fishermen are maybe more careful than most, ma'am; though, when we was hard put to it, I've seen some pretty poor quality o' stuff cut up for bait." Mrs. Pentle looked down the ladder to the maid. "Tell Mr. Henston there is no answer. Tell him to go to New York and that, hereafter, he had better stay there and look after the silks exclusively." For as long as the falling darkness would allow, John saw Mrs. Pentle picking out the plunging course of Peter's vessel through the green-white waters. And then, turning to him, she said: "I've been thinking that I ought to take more interest in my young girls when they marry. On the day the Cruddens have a baby born to them I shall make over the _Celia Pentle_ to the baby."