CHAPTER I.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 18, 30 January 1891, Page 23

CHAPTER I.

As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ucean. A blizing sun, a cloudless blue sky, a sea smooth as a mirror, a misty shore line with a distant background of purple hills, aad our trim yacht, the Sea Fern, motionless as the ship of the " Ancient Mariner." We had been spending a sbcrt vacation at Tom Ferguson's newly-acquired lodgy oa the Meßruiamiori in lavernes«ehire. Having "hunted" the grouse win most unsatisfactory results, and having experienced a variety of weather, for the most part unpleasant, some of us were very glad to accept Majur Oakford 's invitation to have a short cruise along the Ea9t (Joust in his yacht, the S"a Fern, which wa9 awaiting his orders in Cromnrty Bay. Having got out of the mountain ranges we found the weather suddenly changed to intense heat, and here we were beoalmed off the Northumbrian coast, our summer raiment left behind at the lodge, and no ice on board. Our indefatigable sportsman, Tom Ferguson, our host, Major Oakf jrd, and two other men have taken the email boat, a heap of fishing tackle, and their cigar cases and, under pretence of fishing, are all smoking or sleeping at some distance from the yacht with a tangle of fishing lines over the boat's side. And here are we women left to our owu devices. There is nothing to do or discuss. There i% Lady Ferguson, Tom's mother, placid aud stout, who would be perfectly hippy if we would let her sleep in peace with a hideous sun-boanet ulted over her eyes : there is her eldest daughter, Elsie, unmarried and satirical ; her murned daughter, Jenny, romantic and lackadaisical ; there is also a dashing young widow, and there is ihe pretty youag bride of our host, Daisy Oakford, a lively, saucy girl, fully tweuty years younger than her gravhaired husband, aad myself, her bumble" scho )1 friend, Carrie Freshton. \ There was a whisper of some kind of romance about the meeting of Major Oakford and his young wile, still no one leally knew their story ; but we were shortly io listen to the interesting narrative from the li{. b of one of the principa's. " Why don't you settle to some work, girls, and don.t fidget 1" said Lady Ferguson. " We cannot settle to work when there's no work to do," grumbled Elsie, " nd there's nothing new to read."

" Well, thtn, talk about something interesting." "There's nothing to talk about," said Jenny ; "we have exhausted every subject." " Then go to sleep like good girls, dean." "We are not dormice, mamma. Carrie Freshton, can you not suggest something ? " "If Carrie cannot I can," exclaimed our lively widow. " Let us make a second editiun of the • Canterbury Tiles ; ' let us tell the adventures of ourselves or our friends ; it will pass the time until dinner if we are not melted in the interval." "Nothing ever happened to me except my husband's getting knighted for being Jlayor of C and spending an ocean of money when Royalty came to open our new Town H»!l," sad Lady Ferguson, placidly. " Oh, pray spare as that episode, mamma," snapped Elsie ; " we all know it by heart ! " "Nothing ever happened to me except mairying James," simpered Jenny, ready to tell her love story in detail, but sharp-tongued Elsie nipped the design on the bud, exclaiming : " Tbere was nothing very exciting in that ; you had been friends from children. But even that experience has not happened to me." " The most exciting event in my career was the loss of nearly all I possessed by the failure of the Glasgow bank," said the widow. "It is not a pleasant remembrance. I will not recount it for your benefit. How singularly monotonous the life of a woman is, after all." " Here is dear Daisy Oakford," said Lady Ferguson, as the pretty, dainty bride came up from the tiny cabin, fresh and rosy, after her siesta. " Now, perhaps her history has been more exciting than ours, though she is the youngest of the party." "Age has nothing to do with adventures," said Miss Elsie, tartly. Age was becoming a tender subject with her. "We were going to tell our adventures to pass the time, Mrs Oakford," said the widow, gaily : but upon reflection, we find that none of us ever had any, Please to tell ns if you have been more fortunate. " I have had nothing worth calling an adventure," said oar fair host«B8. "Stay— did you ever hear how and where I met Chris?" " Oh, no, we are dying to know," we all exclaimed. "We looked upon Major Oakford as a confirmed old btchelor until he surprised us by bringing home his fair young wife ," said Lady Ferguson. "Did you really? Well, I see you all look a trifle coloured with the heat and monotony, so I must make an effort to interest you, even though I have to give undue prominence to myself in the narrative. Lady Ferguson, you will hear so much if you close your eyes and shelter under your sun-bonnet. Elsie, dear, lounge over the bulwarks and signal to our truants to our satisfaction and theirs ; Carrie, pass the decanter of water — ±nd now for my trifling adventure."