"We were just about to retire, my lord," observed the elder Miss Ossulton, with great asperity: "I have been trying to catch the eye of Mrs Lascelles for some time, but--" "I was looking another way, I presume," interrupted Mrs Lascelles, smiling. "I am afraid that I am the unfortunate culprit," said Mr Seagrove. "I was telling a little anecdote to Mrs Lascelles--" "Which, of course, from its being communicated in an undertone, was not proper for all the company to hear," replied the elder Miss Ossulton; "but if Mrs Lascelles is now ready," continued she, bridling up, as she rose from her chair. "At all events, I can hear the remainder of it on deck," replied Mrs Lascelles. The ladies rose and went into the cabin, Cecilia and Mrs Lascelles exchanging very significant smiles as they followed the precise spinster, who did not choose that Mrs Lascelles should take the lead merely because she had once happened to have been married. The gentlemen also broke up, and went on deck. "We have a nice breeze now, my lord," observed Mr Stewart, who had remained on deck, "and we lie right up Channel." "So much the better," replied his lordship; "we ought to have been anchored at Cowes a week ago. They will all be there before us." "Tell Mr Simpson to bring me a light for my cigar," said Mr Ossulton to one of the men. Mr Stewart went down to his dinner; the ladies and the coffee came on deck: the breeze was fine, the weather (it was April) almost warm; and the yacht, whose name was the _Arrow_, assisted by the tide, soon left the Mewstone far astern. CHAPTER TWO. CUTTER THE SECOND.