You 'll see your little Joyce again some day . '' `` But she wo n't be my baby , '' said Anne , with trembling lips . `` Oh , she may be , as Longfellow says , ' a fair maiden clothed with celestial grace ' -- but she 'll be a stranger to me . '' `` God will manage better 'n THAT , I believe , '' said Captain Jim . They were both silent for a little time . Then Captain Jim said very softly : `` Mistress Blythe , may I tell you about lost Margaret ? '' `` Of course , '' said Anne gently . She did not know who `` lost Margaret '' was , but she felt that she was going to hear the romance of Captain Jim 's life . `` I 've often wanted to tell you about her , '' Captain Jim went on . `` Do you know why , Mistress Blythe ? It 's because I want somebody to remember and think of her sometime after I 'm gone . I ca n't bear that her name should be forgotten by all living souls . And now nobody remembers lost Margaret but me . '' Then Captain Jim told the story -- an old , old forgotten story , for it was over fifty years since Margaret had fallen asleep one day in her father 's dory and drifted -- or so it was supposed , for nothing was ever certainly known as to her fate -- out of the channel , beyond the bar , to perish in the black thundersquall which had come up so suddenly that long-ago summer afternoon . But to Captain Jim those fifty years were but as yesterday when it is past . `` I walked the shore for months after that , '' he said sadly , `` looking to find her dear , sweet little body ; but the sea never give her back to me . But I 'll find her sometime , Mistress Blythe -- I 'll find her sometime . She 's waiting for me . I wish I could tell you jest how she looked , but I ca n't . I 've seen a fine , silvery mist hanging over the bar at sunrise that seemed like her -- and then again I 've seen a white birch in the woods back yander that made me think of her .
She had pale , brown hair and a little white , sweet face , and long slender fingers like yours , XXXXX Blythe , only browner , for she was a shore girl .
Mistress back channel course father life name nothing somebody story