im in charge of the wheel and went
rambling over the deck on a hospitable excursion, for he regarded every
one on board as his especial guest. He had aged much in the eighteen
years since he had joined the search party for young Roderick McRae.
The _Inverness_ had been overhauled and painted and made smart many
times in the years that had elapsed, but her captain had undergone no
such renewing process. But he was still famous from one end of the
lakes to the other for the hospitality of the _Inverness_. For though
his eye had grown dim, it was as kindly as ever, and if his step was
not so brisk as in former years, his heart was as swift to help as it
had ever been.

He pulled the Algonquin _Chronicle_ out of his pocket, smoothed it out
carefully, and moving with his wide swaying stride across the deck to
where a young girl was seated alone, he offered it to her as "the
finest weekly paper in Canada, whatefer, and a good sound Liberal into
the bargain."

The girl smiled her thanks, and, taking the paper, glanced over it with
an indifferent eye. She was the only stranger on board, and had sat
apart ever since she had left Barbay. Of course every one in Algonquin
knew that a new teacher had been appointed for the East Ward. And as
school opened the next day, the passengers on the _Inverness_ had
rightly guessed that this must be she. She had been the subject of
much discussion amongst the young ladies, for she was very pretty, and
her blue cloth suit was cut after the newest city fashion, and the one
young man seemed in danger of presenting himself, and begging to be
allowed to fetch and carry for her also. Several of the older women,
with motherly hearts, had spoken to her, but she had continued to sit
aloof, discouraging all advances. It was not because she was of an
unsociable nature, but the struggle to keep back the tears of
homesickness took all her attention. There was no place on the little
steamer where one might be alone, so she had sat all afternoon, with
her back to every one gazing over the water. Nevertheless many a
pretty sight had passed her unnoticed. Sometimes the _Inverness_ had
slipped so close to the shore that the overhanging birches bent down
and touched her fair hair with a welcoming caress, and again she ran
away out over the tumbling blue waves, where the gulls soared and
dipped with a flash of white wings. But the strange girl's mind was
far away. She was fairly aching with longin