"Why, then, you've already established a connection with the strange
yacht!" he said, laughing--"The owner, according to your Highland
fellow, has the same blossoms on board,--probably gathered from the
same morass!--surely this is quite romantic and exciting!"
And at breakfast, when Dr. Brayle and Mr. Swinton appeared, they all
made conversation on the subject of my bunch of heather, till I got
rather tired of it, and was half inclined to take it off and throw it
away. Yet somehow I could not do this. Glancing at my own reflection in
a mirror, I saw what a brilliant yet dainty touch of colour it gave to
the plain white serge of my yachting dress,--it was a pretty contrast,
and I left it alone.
Miss Catherine did not get up to breakfast, but she sent for me
afterwards and asked if I would mind sitting with her for a while. I
did mind in a way,--for the day was fair and fine,--the 'Diana' was
preparing to pursue her course,--and it was far pleasanter to be on
deck in the fresh air than in Miss Catherine's state-room, which,
though quite spacious for a yacht's accommodation, looked rather
dreary, having no carpet on the floor, no curtains to the bed, and no
little graces of adornment anywhere,--nothing but a few shelves against
the wall on which were ranged some blue and black medicine bottles,
relieved by a small array of pill-boxes. But I felt sorry for the poor
woman who had elected to make her life a martyrdom to nerves, and real
or imaginary aches and pains, so I went to her, determined to do what I
could to cheer and rouse her from her condition of chronic depression.
Directly I entered her cabin she said:
"Where did you get that bright bit of heather?"
I told her the whole story, to which she listened with more patience
than she usually showed for any talk in which she had not first share.
"It's really quite interesting!" she said, with a reluctant smile--"I
suppose it was the strange yacht that had the music on board last
night. It kept me awake. I thought it was some tiresome person out in a
boat with a gramophone."