The departure of the bridal party from Woodburn was soon followed by
that of the guests, till all were gone but those from Sunnyside. They
were entreated to linger, and assured there was nothing to hurry them
away from their father's house.
"I can't bear to have you go yet," said Violet entreatingly. "You are
the only ones of my husband's children left to us, and the house will
seem desolate enough to him and me till we, too, can start for Viamede.
Besides, you are none of you going there with us, so we want to see all
we can of you now and here."
"We do, indeed," said the captain; "and especially of you, Max, as
there is no knowing how long it may be before Uncle Sam will let us
have you with us again."
"True, father, and I don't want to lose a minute of the time I may have
with you," returned Max feelingly, "or with the other dear ones--wife,
child, sister and brother," he added, glancing from one to another.
"No; and we all want to be together while we can; it is so sad to
have to part even for a time," sighed Lucilla, turning a regretfully
affectionate look upon one and another, especially her father, her eyes
filling as they met the tenderly loving expression in his.
"Yes, parting is hard," he said with forced cheerfulness; "but we will
console ourselves with the thought that it is not likely to be for very
long. We seem to be in that respect an unusually happy family."
"True, and I think our wedding party has been an entire success," said
Violet in her usual sprightly tones; "nothing went wrong, and our
darling Grace made the loveliest of brides."
There was a word of cordial assent to that from all present except Baby
Mary, who had fallen asleep in her mother's arms.
"How long may you stay with us this time, Max?" asked Chester.
"I must leave next Tuesday morning," was the reply. "May I trust you to
take good care of my wife and daughter while they are left alone with
you and Sister Lu?"
"Certainly; I intend to do the very best I can for them," returned
Chester with the air of one making a very solemn promise. "I hope you
are willing to trust me, Sister Eva?" turning to her.
"Perfectly," she said with a pleasant little laugh. "And Lu and I will
try to take good care of Baby Mary's Uncle Chester."
"Ah, it seems it is worth my while to claim to be that," he laughed.
"My dear," said Violet, addressing the captain, "don't you think we can
make our arrangements to leave for Viamede by next Tuesday morning?"
"Yes; I think we can if you wish to go then," he replied; "and by so
doing we should probably reach Key West only a day or two later than
our party on the _Dolphin_."
"Which would be very pleasant for our dear ones, especially Elsie and
Ned."
"And how glad they will be to see papa and mamma," remarked Lucilla,
unable to repress a sigh as she spoke.
"Daughter dear, I am sorry, indeed, that you, Chester, Eva and Max
are not all to be of our party," her father said, regarding her with
a loving, regretful look; "but cheer up with the thought that the
separation is not likely to be a very long one. We may hope to be all
together again in a few months; and I hope with Ned quite restored to
wonted health and strength."
"Oh, I hope so," she said. "Dear little fellow! His Sister Lu is very
fond of him. And, father, you will write frequently to me?"
"Every day if you will do the same by me," he answered with a smile.
"And in addition to that we can have telegrams and 'phone messages.
So that the separation, will not be so bad as it was in the days when
I was in Uncle Sam's naval service. Now I think I'll go to the 'phone
and ask if cousins Ronald and Annis can be ready to start on Tuesday
morning."
He did so, and the answer was in the affirmative. Everybody was glad,
for those cousins were esteemed good company by one and all, and Ned
was known to be always greatly entertained by Cousin Ronald's use of
his ventriloquial powers.
"The fun he will make for our Neddie boy will do the little chap a
world of good, no doubt," said Max with satisfaction.
"Surely it will," said Lucilla; "and I am so glad that Dr. Harold still
has him in his charge, for certainly Harold is a skilful physician,
even though related to us," she added with a little laugh.
"Yes," said her father; "I am glad he is to be with us, and that our
dear ones here will still have the services of his brother Herbert
and Dr. Arthur Conly, both equally skilful in the practice of their
profession. Don't let them neglect you, daughter," he added earnestly.
"Don't fail to summon them promptly, Chester, should any one of you be
at all ill."
"Rest assured I will not, sir," returned Chester with prompt decision.
"Trust me to do my very best for the health and happiness of the two
dear ladies left in my charge; the little newcomer also."
"Thank you, Brother Chester," said Max. "It is a great comfort to me
that I can leave my dear ones in your care."
"It seems hard to give our dear ones into the care of others," sighed
Violet. "It was hard for us to part with our darling Neddie for even
a few days, but mamma and Harold can and will take better care of him
than we could, and we hope to join them very soon."
"Yes," said the captain; "and when we start we may hope to overtake
them in somewhat less than two days."
"Yes, father," responded Max; "and what a blessing it is that
travelling is so much speedier work than it used to be even not so very
many years ago."
"And that messages can be sent and received so promptly by telegraph
and 'phone," responded the captain. "It seems to bring distant parts
of the world much nearer than they used to be, so that temporary
separations by land or sea are not now the sore trials they were in
former days."
"Eva and I feel it a great comfort," said Max, turning to his wife and
child with a tender smile, "as in case I were needed here I might be so
easily summoned and come promptly, even at the risk of having to resign
from the navy," he added in a half jesting tone.
"Ah, Max, the possibility of tempting you to so rash an act as that
would certainly make me hesitate to summon you, except in a case of the
direst necessity," said Eva in tones tremulous with emotion.
"But we will hope that no such necessity may ever arise," remarked
Captain Raymond in a cheery tone. "By the way, let us take another look
at Grace's bridal gifts. Many of them are well worth close scrutiny."
"Yes, indeed," said Violet; "and I must see them carefully packed away
to-day or to-morrow."
"Oh, let us help you with it to-day, Mamma Vi," said Lucilla.
"Thank you, I will," replied Violet.
Examining, chatting over and the packing away of the numerous bridal
gifts occupied the greater part of the afternoon; an early tea
followed, and soon after that the Sunnyside folk returned to their
homes, thinking it not well to have the baby out any later than that in
cold weather.
For the next few days Violet and the captain felt it lonely enough
without the dear ones aboard the _Dolphin_, but busied themselves with
preparations for following them, and in the meantime greatly enjoyed
their daily intercourse with their near and loved neighbors, his older
children and the baby granddaughter.
So the time passed, and to most of them it seemed but a little
while before Tuesday morning dawned. Good-bys were then said; Max
went his way northward and the others of the captain's party took a
southward-bound train of cars, which carried them to Cedar Keys, on
the western Florida coast. From there they went down by steamer to
Key West. As we have seen, the captain had sent a telegram ahead, and
their arrival was a glad event, but not a surprise to the _Dolphin's_
passengers. Ned's joy was very great. He had been happy with grandma,
uncle and sisters, but papa and mamma were even more to him than were
they, so that their coming seemed to quicken his recovery. Several
days were spent at that port, that all might have abundant opportunity
to see all on both land and water that they cared to see. Ned had no
desire to visit the sponge yards or auctions, but some sponges were
brought on board the _Dolphin_, and he was rather startled for a moment
when, on picking one up, a scream as of pain and anger seemed to come
from it. "Don't, you naughty boy; just let me alone!"
"Oh," cried Ned, dropping it hastily, "I didn't know you were alive.
But don't be scared; I'll not hurt you."
Then noticing a quizzical look in his father's eye, and catching the
sound of a half-smothered laugh from his sister and some of the others,
he suddenly comprehended how it happened that the sponge seemed so
alive and able to speak in good, plain English.
"Oh, I know; it was Cousin Ronald making the thing talk; for it can't
be that it's alive after being pulled up out of the water and scraped
and cleaned and all that."
"Silly boy! Dead folks can't talk, but I can," the sponge seemed to
reply, speaking in a sneering tone.
"No," laughed Ned; "but Cousin Ronald isn't dead, if you are. Besides,
I don't believe you could talk when you were alive."
"Huh! Much you know about it. Some silly little folks think they know a
great deal more than they do."
Ned seemed highly amused. "Oh, it's good fun, Cousin Ronald, so please
keep on," he begged, looking up into the kindly face of the old
gentleman.
"Well, now," Mr. Lilburn exclaimed, as if much surprised, "I don't live
in that bit of sponge."
"No," laughed Ned; "it's much too little for anybody to live in; but I
think your voice can get in it, and it's real fun to hear it talk, so
please make it say something more."
"I used to live on the rocks away down under the water," the sponge
seemed to say; "that was my home, and I wanted to stay there, but a
cruel man came down, pulled me off, and brought me up, and I've had an
awful time ever since; they shook me and scraped me and squeezed me so
hard and long that now I'm more dead than alive."
"Oh, it's too bad!" exclaimed Ned. "I think they might have let you
live on in your own home. Maybe we might send you back to it, if you
were alive; but it's no use now if you are dead."
"Well, Neddie boy, don't you think Mr. Sponge has talked enough now?"
asked Cousin Ronald in his own natural voice. "I am really afraid our
good friends here must be tired of the very sound of his voice."
"Perhaps they are," replied Ned; "and I'm afraid you are tired making
him talk. But it has been good fun, and I am very much obliged to you
for it, Cousin Ronald."
"You are very welcome," replied Mr. Lilburn; "and I am very glad to be
able to give a bit of amusement to a young cousin who has been so ill."
"Thank you, sir; you are ever so kind," returned Ned in grateful tones.
All this happened on deck, late in the afternoon, and Dr. Harold now
said he thought it time for his little patient to be taken down into
the saloon, as the air was growing quite cool.
"Oh uncle, I don't want to go down yet, leaving all this good company,"
exclaimed Ned imploringly.
"But you don't want to get worse, do you?" asked Harold in kindly tones.
"And mother will go with you," said Violet, rising and taking his hand
in hers.
"Father, too; and he'll carry you down," added the captain, taking the
little fellow in his arms and hastening toward the stairway leading to
the cabin of the vessel. Violet followed close behind them, and Dr.
Harold and Grace brought up the rear; Grandma Elsie, the younger Elsies
and Alie Leland following them also, Annis and Cousin Ronald, too, so
that in a few minutes the _Dolphin's_ passengers had all deserted the
deck for the saloon.
Then presently came the call to supper, and all gathered about a table
well furnished with wholesome, satisfying food and drink.
Grace sat at her father's right hand, between him and her husband, and
as he carved the fowl and filled the plates, he every now and then gave
her a pleased, scrutinizing, smiling glance.
"You are looking bright and well, daughter," he said at length. "Your
honeymoon seems to agree with you, though it is perhaps rather early to
judge of that."
"It has been very delightful so far, papa," she returned with a smiling
glance first at him and then up into Harold's face; "it could hardly
be otherwise in such a vessel and in such company--with a dear mother,
a good doctor, a kind husband--indeed, everything heart could wish,
except the dear ones left behind--my dear father, mamma and sisters Lu
and Eva; not to mention darling Baby Mary. And now," she concluded,
"since two of the dearest ones, and Cousin Ronald and Annis have
joined us, I am full of content, of joy, and very, very happy."
"Yes, Gracie, it's ever so nice to have them all here--particularly
papa and mamma," remarked Ned, with a sigh of content; "and I hope
Cousin Ronald is going to make lots of fun for us."
"But maybe Dr. Harold won't approve of so much fun for his young
patient," suggested a voice that seemed to come from somewhere in Ned's
rear.
"Oh, who are you now?" queried the little fellow, turning half round in
his chair to look behind him.
"Somebody that knows a thing or two," replied the same voice, now
apparently coming from a distant part of the room.
"Oh, you do, do you?" laughed Ned. "Well, I think I begin to know who
you are," he added, turning a half-convinced, half-inquiring look upon
Cousin Ronald.
"Ha! ha! Some little boys think themselves very wise, even when they
don't understand a matter at all," returned the voice of the invisible
speaker.
"But I do, though," returned Ned; "I know Cousin Ronald and a thing or
two about what he can do. But it's fun, anyhow; it seems so real, even
if I do know he's doing it."
"And you think I'm your Cousin Ronald, do you? Do I look like that
old gent?" asked the voice, seeming to come from within an adjoining
stateroom.
"Old gent isn't a nice name to give a real gentleman like our Cousin
Ronald," retorted Ned in a tone of disgust, which caused a laugh of
amusement from most of those about the table.
"There, my son, that will do now; let us see you finish your supper
quietly," said Captain Raymond, and Ned obeyed.