Then they ceased altogether, and after a year or two of unbroken silence Mrs.
Kingdom asserted herself, and a photograph in her possession, the only one extant, exposing the missing Jack in petticoats and sash, suddenly appeared on the drawing-room mantelpiece.
The captain stared, but made no comment.

Disappointed in his son, he turned for consolation to his daughter, noting with some concern the unaccountable changes which that young lady underwent during his absences.

He noticed a difference after every voyage.

He left behind him on one occasion a nice trim little girl, and returned to find a creature all legs and arms.

He returned again and found the arms less obnoxious and the legs hidden by a long skirt; and as he complained in secret astonishment to his sister, she had developed a motherly manner in her dealings with him which was almost unbearable.
"She'll grow out of it soon," said Mrs.Kingdom; "you wait and see." The captain growled and waited, and found his sister's prognostications partly fulfilled.