“No, I only want to stay for a moment,” she said; “I am quite sure now I oughtn't to have interrupted you, and I know papa will be angry; but I had a favor to ask, and--”
“And what, my little friend?” said the captain, quite won over to whatever the favor might be.
“And you looked so kind I dared to speak to you.”
“Kind, did I?” laughed the captain, immensely pleased. “Well, then, you must sit down, else, you see, you'll keep me standing; too, and tell me right away what the favor is, and I'll try to act up to the kindness for which you give me credit.”
“Well, it's just this, Captain Revell: first, _could_ you let me sometimes go over into the second-class cabin?”
“Certainly I could; but what for, may I ask?”
“To see Chris Hartley; he's a second-class passenger, and he's the postman in our street; but it wouldn't do, would it, to undo the gate for me?”
“And it wouldn't do any better for me to climb over it, would it? I could do it easily.”
“Then, what are we going to do? There isn't any other way, I suppose,” with very evident despair.
“Oh, yes, there is, and I'll show it to you myself.”
Whereupon Marie-Celeste laid one little brown hand upon the captain's sleeve from an impulse of sheer gratitude, and the captain straightway laid a big brown hand atop of it.
“Now, that is what you wanted to ask first,” he said; “I am anxious to know what comes second.”
“No, I guess I won't bother you any more; I--”
“No, you shall not go till you have told me;” and the captain detained the little hand a prisoner beneath his own.
“Well, I was going to ask--you see, it is very much more interesting up here near the bow and the bridge and the crow's-nest--I was going to ask, if once in a while Chris could come over to the first cabin. You see, Chris doesn't know any one on board, excepting just me, and we're such good friends at home.”
“Well, that's a little different,” for the captain was puzzled to know how to answer, “and it's against the regulations; but it's very hard to refuse a little maid like you.”
Mr. Harris was on a search for Marie-Celeste, and chancing to pass the captain's room, glanced in, and glancing in, beheld his little daughter, and heard these last words.
“Excuse me, Captain Revell,” he said, touching his hat, and apparently much annoyed, “but I cannot imagine how my little daughter has found her way in here, or what favor she has made so bold as to ask. I trust you will not suspend any of the ship's regulations on her account.”