there had been an
opportunity for him to offer them. Kate was disconcerted, disappointed,
and greatly cast down.

The vengeful Badger was scouring the seas in search of her father,
commissioned to destroy him, and eager in his hot passion to do it; and
here was she, with a respite for that father, if only she were able to
carry it.

Day after day Kate waited for notice of a craft, not only one which
might bring Dickory back but one which might carry her away.

The optimism of Dame Charter would not now bear her up, the load which
had been put upon it was too big. Everything about her was melancholy
and depressed, and Dickory had not come back. So many things had
happened since he went away, and so many days had passed, and she had
entirely exhausted her plentiful stock of very good reasons why her son
had not been able to return to her.

The Governor was very kind; frequently he came to the Delaplaine
mansion, and always he brought assurances that, although he had not
heard anything from Captain Vince, there was every reason to suppose
that before long he would find some way to send him his commands that
Captain Bonnet should not be injured, but should be brought back safely
to Jamaica.

And then Kate would say, with tears in her eyes: "But, your Excellency,
we cannot wait for that; we must go, we must deliver ourselves your
message to the captain of the Badger. Who else will do it? And we cannot
trust to chance; while we are trusting and hoping, my father may die."

At such moments Mr. Delaplaine would sometimes say in his heart, not
daring to breathe such thoughts aloud, "And what could be better than
that he should die and be done with it? He is a thorn in the side of the
young, the good, and the beautiful, and as long as he lives that thorn
will rankle."

Moreover, not only did the good merchant harbour such a wicked thought,
but Dame Charter thought something of the very same kind, though
differently expressed. If he had never been born, she would say to
herself, how much better it would have been; but then the thought would
come crowding in, how bad that would have been for Dickory and for the
plans she was making for him.

In the midst of all this uncertainty, this anxiety, this foreboding,
almost this despair, there came a sunburst which lighted up the souls of
these three good people, which made their eyes sparkle and their hearts
swell with thankfulness. This happiness came in the shape of a letter