"Do not fear, Heaven is as near
By water as by land."


And the little yacht was so close when the great ship blew up that it
got sucked down in the whirlpool, and rescuers and all died a noble
death together!'

'Has your mother been telling you?' asked Miss Mary.

'Oh no! she never mentions him. She does not know. No one does; but
I am quite sure he died nobly, with no one to tell the tale, only the
angels to look on, and that makes it all the finer. Or just suppose
he was on a desert island all the time, and came back again to find
us! I sometimes think he is.'

'What? When you are _quite sure_ of the other theory?'

'I mean I am quite sure while I am thinking about it, or reading
Robinson Crusoe, or the Swiss Family.'

'Oh!'

'Miss Mary, has no one ever told you anything about my father?'

'No one.'

'They never tell me. Mother cries, and aunt Ursula puts on her
"there's-an-end-of-it look." Do you think there is anything they are
waiting to tell me till I am older?'