He was a pleasant man, of some five or six and thirty, and assured Mrs.Marryat that he would soon make her son at home on board ship, and would, moreover, put him up to the ways of things upon his arrival in India.

There were many visitors on board, saying goodbye to their friends, and all sat down to lunch, served in the saloon.
When this was over, the bell rang for visitors to go ashore.

There was a short scene of parting, in which Charlie was not ashamed to use his handkerchief as freely as did his mother and sisters.

Five minutes later, the great vessel passed through the dock gates.

Charlie stood at the stern, waving his handkerchief as long as he could catch a glimpse of the figures of his family; and then as, with her sails spread and the tide gaining strength every minute beneath her, the vessel made her way down the river, he turned round to examine his fellow passengers.
These were some twenty in number, and for the most part men.