Captain Janson was given the floor then, and amid many elaborate sea phrases and involved sentences he proclaimed Herbert Harkins as his adopted son and heir.
Near the close of the dinner, Herbert arose and with trembling lips and swelling heart announced that the noblest girl in the whole world had just promised to become his wife; and although he mentioned no name, every eye turned instinctively towards Mary, who finding herself singled out from all the others, blushed desperately and shrank shyly beneath the united gaze of the company for all the world like a sweet little violet whose hiding place has been discovered by a sudden burst of glaring sunlight.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in the original publication, except that obvious typographical errors have been corrected.