The next
mail should bring a letter from the Captain himself to his wife.
Both letters were duly posted, but when the steamer on which George
Fairfield was mate was ready to sail again no answer had been
received from, France, and George had to cross the ocean again.
Having received my address from Mrs. Taylor he intended to come and
see me on his arrival in this port, and this time he was more
fortunate: the ship made a quick voyage, and as Mrs. Taylor had
written to me by a previous steamer, informing me of all these
strange incidents, I looked out for him.
One afternoon in the month of August, 1871, when I was driving along
the wharf, I saw a steamer coming in, and on enquiring the name of
it I found it was the one with which I expected Mr. Fairfield. I
drove home with all speed, and as it was late in the afternoon
Master George had his little white frock pretty well soiled; but, on
telling him his papa would soon, be here to see him, he consented
readily to leave his play and undergo an extra bathing--his little
skin being so fair the least speck would show--and scarcely had we
finished the operation when the door-bell rang and a weather-beaten
gentlemen inquired for me. His surprise was great when he found I
had expected him, and on seeing his beautiful child his happiness
knew no bounds.
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