carry out, if necessary, the medical treatment prescribed by superior
authority on shore--the lovely invalid embarked on her summer cruise,
and sprang up into a new existence in the life-giving breezes of
the sea. After two happy months of lazy coasting round the shores of
England, all that remained of Natalie's illness was represented by a
delicious languor in her eyes, and an utter inability to devote herself
to anything which took the shape of a serious occupation. As she sat
at the cabin breakfast-table that morning, in her quaintly-made sailing
dress of old-fashioned nankeen--her inbred childishness of manner
contrasting delightfully with the blooming maturity of her form--the man
must have been trebly armed indeed in the modern philosophy who could
have denied that the first of a woman's rights is the right of being
beautiful; and the foremost of a woman's merits, the merit of being
young!

The other two persons present at the table were the two gentlemen who
have already appeared on the deck of the yacht.

"Not a breath of wind stirring!" said Richard Turlington. "The weather
has got a grudge against us. We have drifted about four or five miles in
the last eight-and-forty hours. You will never take another cruise with
me--you must be longing to get on shore."

He addressed himself to Natalie; plainly eager to make himself agreeable
to the young lady--and plainly unsuccessful in producing any impression
on her. She made a civil answer; and looked at her tea-cup, instead of
looking at Richard Turlington.

"You might fancy yourself on shore at this moment," said Launce. "The
vessel is as steady as a house, and the swing-table we are eating our