always risen, as he approached Mistress Kate, for he perceived that,
although she held the handle of her rod in her hand, the other end of it
was lying on the ground, not very far away from the bait and the hook
which, it was very plain, had not been in the water at all. She must
have been thinking of something else besides fishing, he thought. But he
did not dare to go on with that sort of thinking in the way he would
have liked to do it. He had not too great a belief in himself, though he
was very much in love with Kate Bonnet.

"Is this the best time of day for fishing, Master Newcombe?" she said,
without rising or offering him her hand. "For my part, I don't believe
it is."

He smiled as he threw his hat upon the ground. "Let me put your line a
little farther out." And so saying, he took the rod from her hand and
stepped between her and the bait, which must have been now quite hot
from lying so long in a bit of sunshine. He rearranged the bait and
threw the line far out into the river. Then he gave her the rod again.
He seated himself on the ground near-by.

"This is the second time I have been over the bridge to-day," he said,
"and this morning, very early, I saw, for the first time, your father's
ship, which was lying below the town. It is a fine vessel, so far as I
can judge, being a landsman."

"Yes," said she, "and I have been on board of her and have gone all over
her, and have seen many things which are queer and strange to me. But
the strangest thing about her, to my mind, being a landswoman, is, that
she should belong to my father. There are many things which he has not,
which it would be easy to believe he would like to have, but that a