Mrs. Gebbie
(for that was her name) was by great good fortune heavily
incommoded by the sea, and lay day and night on the broad of her
back. We were besides the only creatures at all young on board the
Rose, except a white-faced boy that did my old duty to attend upon
the table; and it came about that Catriona and I were left almost
entirely to ourselves. We had the next seats together at the
table, where I waited on her with extraordinary pleasure. On deck,
I made her a soft place with my cloak; and the weather being
singularly fine for that season, with bright frosty days and
nights, a steady, gentle wind, and scarce a sheet started all the
way through the North Sea, we sat there (only now and again walking
to and fro for warmth) from the first blink of the sun till eight
or nine at night under the clear stars. The merchants or Captain
Sang would sometimes glance and smile upon us, or pass a merry word
or two and give us the go-by again; but the most part of the time
they were deep in herring and chintzes and linen, or in
computations of the slowness of the passage, and left us to our own
concerns, which were very little important to any but ourselves.
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