accomplishments, to make that young man look foolish."

"And I assure you, father dear, he did look foolish this morning, and
again this afternoon in the summer-house."

"Now, upon my soul, Sophia! I call your attention to the fact I've
been suspecting ever since you began to speak, that you're at the
bottom of all to-day's mischief. If that unfortunate youth hadn't
been making love to you when he should have been attending to the
bees, the chances are they would never have taken it into their heads
to swarm upon that accursed arch, and consequently . . ."

There was nothing which Captain Runacles enjoyed so thoroughly as to
discover the connection between effects and their causes. When such
a chance offered, it was a common experience with him to be drawn
into prolixity. But he was pained and surprised, nevertheless, after
twenty minutes' discourse (in which he proved Sophia, and Sophia
alone, to be responsible for the disasters of the day), to find that
she had dropped asleep. He looked down for a minute or so upon her
closed lids, then moved to the rail of the balcony and ejaculated
under his breath:

"O woman--woman! Wise art thou as the dove, and about as harmless as
the serpent!"

He considered the heavens for some moments, and added with some
tartness but with a far-off look at the stars, as though aiming the
remark at the late Mrs. Runacles:

"Her charm, at any rate, is not derived from her mother!"

He turned abruptly and considered her as she slept under the stars.
Stooping after a minute or two, and lifting her very gently, he bore
her into the house and down to her own room. As they descended the
ladder from the attic, she stirred and opened her eyes drowsily:

"You will bring Tristram back?" she murmured, but so softly that he
had to bend his head to catch the syllables.

Her eyes closed again before he could answer. He carried her to her
bed and laid her upon it; then, after waiting a while to assure
himself that she was fast asleep, retraced his steps softly to the
little balcony.

He was pacing it, round and round, like a caged beast, when the stars
grew faint and the silver ripple of the dayspring broke over the sea.
For two hours and more he had been thinking hard, and he rested his
elbows on the balcony and paused for a minute or two to watch the red
ball of the sun as it heaved above the waters. To the north, beyond
the roofs of Harwich, he saw the lights of the royal squadron