urtains were down, and there was no response to her knock, except
from a door in the passage opposite. A woman opened the door wide enough
to show her head and to make it evident that she was not sufficiently
dressed to come out, and said that Father Damon had gone. He was very
much better, and his friend had taken him up-town. Dr. Leigh thanked
her, and said she was very glad.

She was so glad that, as she walked away, scarcely heeding her steps or
conscious of the chaffing, chattering crowd, all interest in her work
and in that quarter of the city seemed dead.

XIII

It is well that there is pleasure somewhere in the world. It is possible
for those who have a fresh-air fund of their own to steam away in a
yacht, out of the midsummer ennui and the weary gayety of the land. It
is a costly pleasure, and probably all the more enjoyed on that
account, for if everybody had a yacht there would be no more feeling
of distinction in sailing one than in going to any of the second-rate
resorts on the coast. There is, to be sure, some ennui in yachting on
a rainy coast, and it might be dull but for the sensation created
by arrivals at watering-places and the telegraphic reports of these
sensations.

If there was any dullness on the Delancy yacht, means were taken
to dispel it. While still in the Sound a society was formed for the
suppression of total abstinence, and so successful was this that Point
Judith was passed, in a rain and a high and chopping sea, with a kind of
hilarious enjoyment of the commotion, which is one of the things desired
at sea. When the party came round to Newport it declared that it had had
a lovely voyage, and inquiry brought out the great general principle,
applicable to most coast navigation for pleasure, that the enjoyable way
to pass Point Judith is not to know you are passing Point Judith.

Except when you land, and even after you have got your sea-legs on,
there is a certain monotony in yachting, unless the weather is very bad,
and unless there are women aboard. A party of lively women make even the
sea fresh and entertaining. Otherwise, the game of poker is much what it
is on land, and the constant consulting of charts and reckoning of speed
evince the general desire to get somewhere--that is, to arrive at
a harbor. In the recollections of this voyage, even in Jack's
recollections of it after he had paid the bills, it seemed that it had
been simply glorious, free from care, generally a ph