The next moment the captain remembered her, and releasing the children, introduced her.  “This, my darlings, is the sweet lady whose picture I sent you the other day, I am sure you will love her for papa’s sake and her own too.”

“Will you not, dears?” Vi said, kissing them in turn.  “I love you already because you are his.”

“I think I shall,” Lulu said emphatically, after one long, searching look into the sweet azure eyes; then turned to her father again.

But Gracie, putting both arms round Violet’s neck, held up her face for another kiss, saying in joyous tones, “Oh, I do love you now! my sweet, pretty new mamma!”

“You darling!” responded Violet, holding her close.  “I’ve wanted to have you and nurse you well again ever since I heard how weak and sick you were.”

The words, reaching the ear of Mrs. Scrimp, as she hovered in the background, brought a scowl to her brow.  “As if she—­an ignorant young thing—­could do better for the child than I!” she said to herself.

“Ah, Mrs. Scrimp!” the captain said, suddenly becoming aware of her presence, and turning toward her with outstretched hand, “how d’ye do?  Allow me to introduce you to Mrs. Raymond.”  Violet offered her hand and was given two fingers, while a pair of sharp black eyes looked coldly and fixedly into hers.

Violet dropped the fingers, seated herself, and drew Gracie into her lap.

“Am I not too heavy for you to hold?” the child asked, nestling contentedly in the arms that held her.

“Heavy!” exclaimed Violet, tears starting to her eyes as they rested upon the little thin, pale face.  “You are extremely light, you poor darling! but I hope soon to see you grow fat and rosy in the sea air your papa will take you to.”

The captain had just left the room in search of Mr. Fox, taking Max with him.

“You will have to be very careful not to overfeed that child, or you will have her down sick,” remarked Mrs. Scrimp with asperity, addressing Violet.  “She ought never to eat anything at all after three o’clock in the afternoon.”

Vi’s heart swelled with indignation.  “No wonder she is little more than skin and bone, if that is the way she has been served!” she said, giving Mrs. Scrimp as severe a look as her sweet, gentle countenance was capable of expressing.

“She’d have been in her grave long ago if she hadn’t been served so!” snapped Mrs. Scrimp.  “I’m old enough to be your mother, Mrs. Raymond, and having had that child in charge for over two years—­ever since her own mother died—­I ought to know what’s good for her and what isn’t.  She is naturally delicate, and to be allowed to overload her stomach would be the death of her.  I can’t eat after three o’clock, and neither can she.”

“A grown person is no rule for a child,” observed Violet, gently smoothing Gracie’s hair; “children need to eat enough to supply material for growth in addition to the waste of the system.  Was it by the advice of a competent physician you subjected her to such a regimen?”