"
"Then, in that case," she said, demurely, "perhaps we had better go
below."
It was half an hour before they came on deck again.
"Well, my dears," Lady Greendale said, "the more I think of it the
better I am pleased. As far as I am concerned, nothing could be
nicer. I shall have Bertha within a short drive of me, and it won't
be like losing her.
"Do you know, Bertha, your father said to me once, 'I would give
anything if some day Frank Mallett and our Bertha were to take a
fancy to each other. There is nothing I should like more than to
have her settled near us, and there is no one I know more likely to
make her happy than he would be.' I am sure, dear, that you will be
glad to know that your engagement would have had his approval, as
it has mine."
Bertha bent down and kissed her mother, with tears standing in her
eyes.
"It will be a great pleasure to us both to have you so near us,"
Frank said, earnestly. "You know that, having lost my own mother so
long ago, I have always looked upon you as more of a mother than
anyone else, and have always felt almost as much at home in your
house as in my own.
"Now, let us sit down and talk it over quietly.
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