“Lord, dearie, I don’t hate them. They aren’t worth it. I just sort of despise them. I think I’ll like your husband if he keeps on as he has begun. But apart from him about the only men in the world I’ve much use for are the old doctor and Captain Jim.”

“Captain Jim is certainly splendid,” agreed Anne cordially.

“Captain Jim is a good man, but he’s kind of vexing in one way. You can’t make him mad. I’ve tried for twenty years and he just keeps on being placid. It does sort of rile me. And I s’pose the woman he should have married got a man who went into tantrums twice a day.”

“Who was she?”

“Oh, I don’t know, dearie. I never remember of Captain Jim making up to anybody. He was edging on old as far as my memory goes. He’s seventy-six, you know. I never heard any reason for his staying a bachelor, but there must be one, believe me. He sailed all his life till five years ago, and there’s no corner of the earth he hasn’t poked his nose into. He and Elizabeth Russell were great cronies, all their lives, but they never had any notion of sweet-hearting. Elizabeth never married, though she had plenty of chances. She was a great beauty when she was young. The year the Prince of Wales came to the Island she was visiting her uncle in Charlottetown and he was a Government official, and so she got invited to the great ball. She was the prettiest girl there,