essing her in this formal manner--Miss Watson was
"sweet sixteen," or so near it that we give her the full benefit of the
majority fraction. If she was pretty at twelve, she was beautiful at
sixteen. She was rather tall for her age, but exceedingly well formed.
She had spent much of her time in the open air, and on her cheeks
glowed the roses of health.

Mrs. McGilvery, a widowed sister of Mr. Watson, who had been the
principal of a young ladies' seminary before her marriage, was
intrusted with the care of her niece's education. Though Bessie
attended school while in the city, yet she was absent four months in
the year, during three of which she studied with her governess, on the
sea-shore. Fortunately for Bessie, Mrs. McGilvery was an amphibious
lady, and was always ready for a trip in The Starry Flag, Levi
Fairfield's well-tried craft. She had a taste for yachts, not only in
pleasant weather, and on a smooth sea, but when the wind blew anything
short of a gale, and the white caps whipped over the gunwale of the
boat. Bessie, therefore, was frequently on the salt water with her
_duenna_, and her constitution had been wonderfully strengthened by
this healthful exercise.

Levi Fairfield and The Starry Flag were in demand almost every day; and
we need not add that the young skipper did not regard himself as a
martyr in the cause. Though the excursions to Halibut Point,
Straitsmouth, the Selvages, and other places in the vicinity, were
frequently repeated, he was never happier than when at the helm with
Bessie and Mrs. McGilvery on board; not particularly on account of the
latter, though he was quite a favorite with her.

Levi left Miss Watson at the door of Mr. Mogmore's cottage, and walked
over to uncle Nathan's house. Three years had not improved the
appearance of the miser's house, for he spent no money upon it in paint
and repairs. When anything about the building caved in, as it
frequently did, he tinkered it himself. If time had not improved uncle
Nathan or his house, it had improved Levi. He was nearly eighteen, was
"man grown," strong as a lion, and agile as a deer. Within the
preceding three years he had made two fishing trips, though most of his
time had been spent at the academy.

He entered his uncle's house. Though his visits, like angels', had been
few and far between, they were not so because Levi cherished any ill
will towards his former guardian, but because he had been made to feel
that he was not a