relation of Myrtle's father, wife of another captain, was returning to
America on a visit, and the child was sent back, under her care, while
still a mere infant, to her relatives at the old homestead. During the
long voyage, the strange mystery of the ocean was wrought into her
consciousness so deeply, that it seemed to have become a part of her
being. The waves rocked her, as if the sea had been her mother; and,
looking over the vessel's side from the arms that held her with tender
care, she used to watch the play of the waters, until the rhythm of their
movement became a part of her, almost as much as her own pulse and
breath.

The instincts and qualities belonging to the ancestral traits which
predominated in the conflict of mingled lives lay in this child in
embryo, waiting to come to maturity. It was as when several grafts,
bearing fruit that ripens at different times, are growing upon the same
stock. Her earlier impulses may have been derived directly from her
father and mother, but all the ancestors who have been mentioned, and
more or less obscurely many others, came uppermost in their time, before
the absolute and total result of their several forces had found its
equilibrium in the character by which she was to be known as an
individual. These inherited impulses were therefore many, conflicting,
some of them dangerous. The World, the Flesh, and the Devil held
mortgages on her life before its deed was put in her hands; but sweet and
gracious influences were also born with her; and the battle of life was
to be fought between them, God helping her in her need, and her own free
choice siding with one or the other. The formal statement of this
succession of ripening characteristics need not be repeated, but the fact
must be borne in mind.

This was the child who was delivered into the hands of Miss Silence