There was in the eyes a look
of anticipation and joy, a far-off look that sought the horizon;
one often sees it in seafaring families, inherited by girls and
boys alike from men who spend their lives at sea, and are always
watching for distant sails or the first loom of the land. At sea
there is nothing to be seen close by, and this has its counterpart
in a sailor's character, in the large and brave and patient traits
that are developed, the hopeful pleasantness that one loves so in
a seafarer.
When the family pictures were wrapped again in a big
handkerchief, we set forward in a narrow footpath and made our way
to a lonely place that faced northward, where there was more
pasturage and fewer bushes, and we went down to the edge of short
grass above some rocky cliffs where the deep sea broke with a great
noise, though the wind was down and the water looked quiet a little
way from shore. Among the grass grew such pennyroyal as the rest
of the world could not provide. There was a fine fragrance in the
air as we gathered it sprig by sprig and stepped along carefully,
and Mrs.
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