Yet, worn-out and faulty as it is--inferior to the cheapest miniature vessel nowadays in any toy-shop window--I hardly know a possession of mine in this world that I would not sooner part with than Uncle George's ship.
My life at the sea-side was a very happy one.

I remained with my aunt more than a year.

My mother often came to see how I was going on, and at first always brought my sister with her; but during the last eight months of my stay Caroline never once appeared.

I noticed also, at the same period, a change in my mother's manner.

She looked paler and more anxious at each succeeding visit, and always had long conferences in private with my aunt.