chester platform. Mrs. Chalk, in a smart yachting
costume, with a white-peaked cap, stood by a pile of luggage discoursing
to an admiring circle of friends who had come to see her off. She had
shut up her house and paid off her servants, and her pity for Mrs.
Stobell, whose husband had forbidden such a course in her case, provided
a suitable and agreeable subject for conversation. Mrs. Stobell had
economised in quite a different direction, and Mrs. Chalk gazed in
indignant pity at the one small box and the Gladstone bag which contained
her wardrobe.

[Illustration: "Mrs. Chalk stood by a pile of luggage, discoursing to an
admiring circle of friends."]

"She don't want to dress up on shipboard," said Mr. Stobell.

Mrs. Chalk turned and eyed her friend's costume--a plain tweed coat and
skirt, in which she had first appeared the spring before last.

"If we're away a year," she said, decidedly, "she'll be in rags before we
get back."

Mr. Stobell said that fortunately they would be in a warm climate, and
turned to greet the Tredgolds, who had just arrived. Then the train came
in, and Mr. Chalk, appearing suddenly from behind the luggage, where he
had been standing since he had first caught sight of the small, anxious
face of Selina Vickers on the platform, entered the carriage and waved
cheery adieus to Binchester.

To the eyes of Mr. Chalk and his wife Biddlecombe appeared to have put on
holiday attire for the occasion. With smiling satisfaction they led the
way to the ferry, Mrs. Chalk's costume exciting so much attention that
the remainder of the party hung behind to watch Edward Tredgold fasten
his bootlace. It took two boats to convey the luggage to the schooner,
and the cargo of the smaller craft shifting in mid-stream, the boatman
pulled the remainder of the way with a large portion of it in his lap.
Unfortunately, his mouth was free.

Mr. Chalk could not restrain a cry of admiration as he clambered on board
the _Fair Emily_. The deck was as white as that of a man-of-war, and her
brass-work twinkled in the sun. White paint work and the honest and
healthy smell of tar completed his satisfaction. His chest expanded as
he sniffed the breeze, and with a slight nautical roll paced up and down
the spotless deck.

[Illustration: "A slight nautical roll."]

"And now," said Captain Brisket, after a couple of sturdy seamen had
placed the men's luggage in the new cabin, "which of you ladies is going
to have