She is lying in the basin above now."
"O, yes, papa," Charlie and Harry broke in together. "We saw it go up
this morning. We've been out ever so long. It was so funny," Charlie
went on--everything was _funny_ with Charlie--"to see it rise up like a
Jack-in-the-box, and then slip into the quiet water through the other
gates!"
And when I thought about the waves tumbling and breaking away out there,
and the wide yellow sands between, it was wonderful--which was what Charlie
meant by funny--to see the little vessel lying so many feet above it all,
in a still plenty of repose, gathering strength, one might fancy to rush
out again, when its time was come, into the turmoil beyond, and dash its
way through the breasts of the billows.
After breakfast we had prayers, as usual, and after a visit to Connie, whom
I found tired, but wonderfully well, I went out for a walk by myself, to
explore the neighbourhood, find the church, and, in a word, do something to
shake myself into my new garments. The day was glorious. I wandered along
a green path, in the opposite direction from our walk the evening before,
with a fir-wood on my right hand, and a belt of feathery tamarisks on my
left, behind which lay gardens sloping steeply to a lower road, where stood
a few pretty cottages.
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