“That’s right,” I said approvingly.  “I shall be much easier in my mind when I know you have taken charge of that lunatic.  Don’t you lose a minute.  He, of course, will be on time—­unless heavens fall.”

“Yes.  Unless—­” she repeated in a thoughtful whisper, raising her eyes to the evening sky without a speck of cloud anywhere.  Silent for a time, we let our eyes wander over the waters below, looking mysteriously still in the twilight, as if trustfully composed for a long, long dream in the warm, tropical night.  And the peace all round us seemed without limits and without end.

And then we began again to talk Jasper over in our usual strain.  We agreed that he was too reckless in many ways.  Luckily, the brig was equal to the situation.  Nothing apparently was too much for her.  A perfect darling of a ship, said Miss Freya.  She and her father had spent an afternoon on board.  Jasper had given them some tea.  Papa was grumpy. . . .  I had a vision of old Nelson under the brig’s snowy awnings, nursing his unassuming vexation, and fanning himself with his hat.  A comedy father. . . .  As a new instance of Jasper’s lunacy, I was told that he was distressed at his inability to have solid silver handles fitted to all the cabin doors.  “As if I would have let him!” commented Miss Freya, with amused indignation.  Incidentally, I learned also that Schultz, the nautical kleptomaniac with the pathetic voice, was still hanging on to his job, with Miss Freya’s approval.  Jasper had confided to the lady of his heart his purpose of straightening out the fellow’s psychology.  Yes, indeed.  All the world was his friend because it breathed the same air with Freya.

Somehow or other, I brought Heemskirk’s name into conversation, and, to my great surprise, startled Miss Freya.  Her eyes expressed something like distress, while she bit her lip as if to contain an explosion of laughter.  Oh!  Yes.  Heemskirk was at the bungalow at the same time with Jasper, but he arrived the day after.  He left the same day as the brig, but a few hours later.

“What a nuisance he must have been to you two,” I said feelingly.

Her eyes flashed at me a sort of frightened merriment, and suddenly she exploded into a clear burst of laughter.  “Ha, ha, ha!”

I echoed it heartily, but not with the game charming tone:  “Ha, ha, ha! . . .  Isn’t he grotesque?  Ha, ha, ha!” And the ludicrousness of old Nelson’s inanely fierce round eyes in association with his conciliatory manner to the lieutenant presenting itself to my mind brought on another fit.

“He looks,” I spluttered, “he looks—­Ha, ha, ha!—­amongst you three . . . like an unhappy black-beetle.  Ha, ha, ha!”

She gave out another ringing peal, ran off into her own room, and slammed the door behind her, leaving me profoundly astounded.  I stopped laughing at once.

“What’s the joke?” asked old Nelson’s voice, half way down the steps.