when the carnegys sat down to dinner that day there was that subtle air of constraint which is the result of family jars—an electric disturbance in the home atmosphere which each and all feel. theo, at the head of the table, looked grave and pained. geoff was uncomfortable also, and, in his awkwardness, overtalked himself, in a frantic desire to smooth matters. queenie and the captain himself were the only members of the family at their ease; while as for alick, he sat sullen and dumb, brooding over his self-made wrongs.

'well,' said the master of the house towards the end of the meal, 'have you boys come to your senses yet, hey? has order been restored on the decks? i strongly advised price to read the riot act; i hope he did so, hey?' the captain began dimly to be aware of the prevailing constraint, and then suddenly he recollected the tutor's complaining report, which had dropped out of his mind two minutes after it was spoken.

nobody spoke in answer. the captain glared, over the top of his glasses, round the party; but theo and geoff would not for worlds have told tales. each felt that silence was the best policy under the circumstances.

queenie at last, observing, with some surprise, the unusual hush, took it upon her small self to reply.

'alick's been so good! he has mended all my doll-ladies' broken legs, and the canary's head, too; and he has made such a bewful new tail for the old horse—the grey horse, you remember, father, what lost his tail when he was quite young. and alick's tidied all the toy-shelves. he has got such a long holiday, alick has! did you know, father?' she said importantly.

'ah!' the captain observed gravely, looking his youngest calmly over, and losing her last words. 'the toy-shelves are your decks, i suppose, my little woman; the play-room your ship, hey? well, well, history repeats itself. oh, by the way, what a wretched memory i've got! dear, dear! why, it has only just come into my mind! theo, my dear, i had occasion to go across the bay the other day, last week i think it was, about some references i wanted from the vicarage library, and i just looked in to have a chat with mrs. vesey in her morning-room. what a sweet woman that is! if ever there were a saint permitted to remain on earth, it is herself. but what i had to say was about a special message she gave me for you. to-morrow will be her birthday, and she wants all you young folk to go over early, to have tea and strawberries and cream. you will like that, my dear, and so will queenie. as for you boys, there's to be a special treat for you, in honour of the occasion. i was to be sure and tell you so, i remember now. you are to have the key of the museum for yourselves, and spend the evening there. but mind, no tricks with the specimens, which are a valuable collection. remember you are on honour, and being gentlemen, i presume that will suffice to prevent any mischief. stupid of me to forget the message! however, it's not too late, fortunately; to-morrow has not yet come.'

there was an involuntary shout of delight from the boys when the captain finished. a treat indeed, and a rare one, it was to be permitted to pass an evening in the curiosity-room of the vicarage. from their childhood this museum had been the most interesting spot to the young carnegys. it was packed from floor to ceiling with a collection of foreign monsters, weapons, and rarities, gathered together, during a long life on foreign stations in different quarters of the globe, by the venerable vicar, who, in his heyday, had been an army chaplain. a more entrancing treat for alick and geoff could not possibly have been devised. suddenly, however, alick's face gloomed over. he remembered that the morrow, the birthday, was wednesday, and it was on that day he had bound himself to go to brattlesby woods with jerry blunt, the bird-trainer, defying his tutor in the teeth to do so. even alick felt a spasm of regret. if he had not been so perversely obstinate in refusing to yield to mr. price, here would have been his reward—a whole evening among the wonders of the vicarage museum. it was maddening! but the misguided boy felt that he had gone too far to retrace his steps. it was too late, he ignorantly told himself; for alick knew not that it is never, it can be never, too late to confess and make amends for a fault—so long as there is breath to bravely speak out the remorseful confession.

'we know, father, about it,' theo's quiet voice was saying. 'mrs. vesey guessed you might just possibly forget the message, so she sent me a note, next day. it's all arranged, and we are all going. father, dear, wouldn't it be possible for you to come with us too?' the girl had left her seat at the head of the table, and came round to lean on the back of her father's chair. it seemed to theo that if the captain could be induced to join his family's life-pleasures, he would come, in time, to be a refuge and a help in their life-troubles also; so she pleaded.

'tut! tut! tut! don't be absurd, my dear theo. it's quite unlike you. i thought you, at least, understood what a life full of urgent importance mine is, until the magnum opus is achieved. after that—well, well, we'll see!'

'yes, but, dear, just one little holiday! i know the book is a great labour, but you might take one afternoon from your work, and come with us—just for once!'

'no, no, child! when a man has put his hand to the plough he has no right to turn back. and you ought to know better than tempt me, i say. but with regard to you young people it is very different; you haven't a care, so you can't do better than be happy, that is, at the appointed time. there's a time for everything, the book says, doesn't it? now then, my dear, let me get away back to my work, if you please.'

the fiery old sailor held a firm conviction that he had an imperative duty to perform in this world, in the shape of his proposed literary work. duty had been, hitherto, the sailor's god through thick and thin. to do him justice, the captain had not the faintest notion of the gusts of rebellious discontent that often enough swept over the little household he imagined to be so well ordered. deeply attached to his boys and girls, one and all, though he was, he took no heed of the fact that the minds of the mere children, as he considered them to be, were fast awaking up—growing apace with their youthful bodies. the truth was, the young folk were utter strangers and foreigners to the man who had married late in life. so long as his gentle, tender wife—a woman eminently fitted for her niche in life by her sweet nature and her heart filled with christian grace—lived, the captain's children were well cared for indeed. their needs both of body and soul were alike looked after. but the mother who was so qualified by her rare sweetness to bring up the children god had given her 'in the nurture and admonition of the lord,' was called away to a higher, fuller life 'beyond these voices'; and the sailor, taking the reins of the household in his unaccustomed fingers, held them over-slackly.