I should not be surprised if she had been a yacht at one time. She
is not carrying much sail, but she is going along fast. I think
they would have done better if they had rigged her as a
fore-and-aft schooner instead of putting those heavy yards on the
foremast. That broad band of white round her spoils her appearance;
her jib boom is unusually long, and she must carry a tremendous
spread of canvas in light winds. I should think that she must be
full up to the hatches, for she is very low in the water for a
trader."
The Osprey was lying in the outside tier of yachts off Cowes. The
party that had been on board her for the regatta had broken up a
week before, and only Lady Greendale and Bertha remained on board.
The former had not been well for some days, and had had her maid
down from town as soon as the cabins were empty. It had been
proposed, indeed, that she and Bertha should return to town, but,
being unwilling to cut short the girl's pleasure, she said that she
should do better on board than in London; and, moreover, she did
not feel equal to travelling. She was attended by a doctor in
Cowes, and the Osprey only took short sails each day, generally
down to the Needles and back, or out to the Nab.
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