Fanny, why do you not rebel, and say we won't be put
ashore? I call it horrid, after a fortnight on board this dear little
yacht, to have to get on to a crowded steamer, with no accommodation
and lots of seasick women, perhaps, and crying children. You surely
cannot be in earnest?"
"I do not like it any more than you do, Minnie; but, as Tom says
we had better do it, and my husband agrees with him, I am afraid
we must submit. Do you really think it is quite necessary, Mr.
Virtue? Minnie and I are both good sailors, you know; and we would
much rather have a little extra tossing about on board the Seabird
than the discomforts of a steamer."
"I certainly think that it will be best, Mrs. Grantham. You know
very well we would rather have you on board, and that we shall
suffer from your loss more than you will by going the other way;
but there's no doubt the wind is getting up, and though we don't
feel it much here, it must be blowing pretty hard outside. The
Seabird is as good a seaboat as anything of her size that floats;
but you don't know what it is to be out in anything like a heavy
sea in a thirty tonner. It would be impossible for you to stay on
deck, and we should have our hands full, and should not be able to
give you the benefit of our society.
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