Little did I think it was my little wife who had prepared them all for me.

But as I entered the front door a strange feeling of happiness and brightness came over me." "And I knew the first tone of your voice, Cardo.

Oh, I would know it anywhere--among a thousand." There were innumerable questions for the one to ask and the other to answer as they sat in the glowing firelight.

First, there was the description of the repairs required by Captain Owen's ship--"Blessed repairs, Valmai!"-- and the extraordinary special Providence which had caused the ss.

_Ariadne_ to collide at midships with the _Burrawalla_, and, moreover, so to damage her that Cardo's berth and those of the three other inmates of his cabin would alone be disturbed by the necessary repairs.
"Captain Owen thinks we shall be ready to sail in three days, so it is not worth while writing to my father," said Cardo.