"There, there, there!"
he said, soothingly. "What a little tempest it is!"
"Say 'delicate Ariel,'" sobbed Star. "You haven't said it to-day,
and you always say it when you love me."
"Cream Cheese from the dairy of Heaven," replied the Captain; "if
I always said it when I loved you, I should be sayin' it every minute
of time, as well you know. But you are my delicate Ariel, so you are,
and there ain't nothin' in the hull book as suits you better. So!"
and his supper ended, the good man turned his chair again to the fire,
and took the child, once more smiling, upon his knee.
"And now, Ariel, what have you been doin' all the time I was away?
Tell Daddy all about it."
Star pondered a moment, with her head on one side, and a finger hooked
confidentially through the Captain's buttonhole. "Well," she said,
"I've had a _very_ interesting time, Daddy Captain. First I cleaned
the lamps, of course, and filled and trimmed them. And then I played
Samson a good while; and--"
"And how might you play Samson?" inquired the Captain.
"With flies!" replied Star, promptly. "Heaps upon heaps, you know;
'With the jaw-bone of an ass have I slain a thousand men.' The flies
were the Philistines, and I took a clam-shell for the jaw-bone; it
did just as well.
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