I will run down to Cowes tomorrow and have a chat with Johnson; we shall want a different sort of stores altogether from those we generally carry, and I suppose we must do her up a bit below." Having made up his mind to the infliction of female passengers, Tom Virtue did it handsomely, and when the party came on board at Ryde they were delighted with the aspect of the yacht below.

She had been repainted, the saloon and ladies' cabin were decorated in delicate shades of gray, picked out with gold; and the upholsterer, into whose hands the owner of the Seabird had placed her, had done his work with taste and judgment, and the ladies' cabin resembled a little boudoir.
"Why, Tom, I should have hardly known her!" Grantham, who had often spent a day on board the Seabird, said.
"I hardly know her myself," Tom said, rather ruefully; "but I hope she's all right, Mrs.Grantham, and that you and Miss Graham will find everything you want." "It is charming!" Mrs.Grantham said enthusiastically.

"It's awfully good of you, Tom, and we appreciate it; don't we, Minnie?
It is such a surprise, too; for James said that while I should find everything very comfortable, I must not expect that a small yacht would be got up like a palace." So a fortnight had passed; they had cruised along the coast as far as Plymouth, anchoring at night at the various ports on the way.

Then they had returned to Southampton, and it had been settled that as none of the party, with the exception of Virtue himself, had been to the Channel Islands, the last fortnight of the trip should be spent there.

The weather had been delightful, save that there had been some deficiency in wind, and throughout the cruise the Seabird had been under all the sail she could spread.