He had come up to leeward of the poop, still feeling very much of a stranger, and an untried officer, at six in the evening to take his watch.

To see her was quite as unexpected as seeing a vision.

When she turned away her head he recollected himself and dropped his eyes.

What he could see then was only, close to the long chair on which she reclined, a pair of long, thin legs ending in black cloth boots tucked in close to the skylight seat.
Whence he concluded that the 'old gentleman,' who wore a grey cap like the captain's, was sitting by her--his daughter.

In his first astonishment he had stopped dead short, with the consequence that now he felt very much abashed at having betrayed his surprise.