her own counsel ’twas Nancy Prince.  I know as much about her affairs as anybody, and what I say to you is between ourselves.  I know just how far to sail with her and when to stop, if I don’t want to get wrecked on a lee shore.  Your aunt has known how to take care of what she had come to her, and I’ve done the best I could to help her; it’s a very handsome property,—­very handsome indeed.  She helped George Gerry to get his education, and then he had some little money left him by his father’s brother,—­no great amount, but enough to give him a start; he’s a very smart, upright fellow, and I am glad for whatever Nancy did for him; but it didn’t seem fair that he should be stepping into your rights.  But I never have dared to speak up for you since one day—­she wouldn’t hear a word about it, that’s all I have to remark,” the captain concluded in a hurry, for wisdom’s sake, though he longed to say more.  It seemed outrageous to him at this moment that the girl at his side should have been left among strangers, and he was thankful that she seemed at last to have a good chance of making sure of her rightful possessions.

“But I haven’t needed anything,” she said, giving Captain Walter a grateful glance for his championship.  “And Mr. Gerry is very kind and attentive to my aunt, so I am glad she has been generous to him.  He seems a fine fellow, as you say,” and Nan thought suddenly that it was very hard for him to have had her appear on the scene by way of rival, if he had been led to suppose that he was her aunt’s heir.  There were so many new things to think of, that Nan had a bewildering sense of being a stranger and a foreigner in this curiously self-centred Dunport, and a most disturbing element to its peace of mind.  She wondered if, since she had not grown up here, it would not have been better to have stayed away altogether.  Her own life had always been quite unvexed by any sort of social complications, and she thought how good it would be to leave this talkative and staring little world and go back to Oldfields and its familiar interests and associations.  But Dunport was a dear old place, and the warm-hearted captain a most entertaining guide, and by the time their walk was over, the day seemed a most prosperous and entertaining one.  Aunt Nancy appeared to be much pleased with the plan for the afternoon, and announced that she had asked some of the young people to come to drink tea the next evening, while she greeted Nan so kindly that the home-coming was particularly pleasant.  As for the captain, he was unmistakably happy, and went off down the street with a gentle, rolling gait, and a smile upon his face that fairly matched the June weather, though he was more than an hour late for the little refreshment with which he and certain dignified associates commonly provided themselves at eleven o’clock in the forenoon.  Life was as regular ashore as on board ship with these idle mariners of high degree.  There was no definite business among them except that of occasionally settling an estate, and the forming of decided opinions upon important questions of the past and future.