“I won’t ask you for your story till after dinner,” Mr. Palethorpe said. “To enjoy a yarn one needs to be comfortable, and I feel more at home in my arm-chair in the dining-room than I do in this room, with all its fal-lals. You see, I have taken the house furnished. When I settle down in a home of my own, I can assure you it will look very different from this. In fact I have one already building for me. It is at Dulwich, and will be as nearly as possible like my house in Jamaica. Of course there will be differences. I at first wished to have the same sort of veranda, but the architect pointed out that while in Jamaica one requires shade, here one wants light. So they are getting large sheets of glass specially made for putting in instead of wood above the windows. Then, of course, we want good fireplaces, whereas in Jamaica a fire is only necessary for a few [pg 322]days in the year. There are also other little differences, but on the whole it will remind me of the place I had for so many years.”  
“The house will have one advantage over that in Jamaica, Mr. Palethorpe.”
 
“What is that?” he asked.
 
“You will be able to go to bed comfortably without fear of having the roof taken from over your head by a hurricane.”
 
“Ah! that is indeed a matter to which I have not given sufficient consideration, but it is certainly a very substantial advantage, as we have all good reason to know.”
 
“I never think of it without shuddering,” Alice said. “It was awful! It seemed as if there was an end of everything! I think it was the memory of that night that first set me thinking of going to England.”
 
“Then I cannot but feel grateful to that hurricane, for if you had remained out there it is probable that I should never have met you again.”
 
“I am having a large conservatory built so that we can have greenness and flowers all the year,” Mr. Palethorpe remarked presently.
 
“I should think that would be charming. I hope you will be settled at Dulwich long before I come back from my next cruise.”
 
“Well, I don’t know that I can say the same, Will. I hope your next cruise will be a short one.”
 
When dinner was over, the chairs were drawn up to the fire, and Will related his adventures since his return from the West Indies.
 
[pg 323]
“Have you heard of your two favourite sailors?” Alice interrupted.
 
“Dimchurch and Tom Stevens? No, I have not. I shall feel lost without them at sea, and sincerely hope that I may some day run against them, in which case I am sure, if they are free, they will join my ship.”
 
“How terribly cut up they must have been,” the girl said, “when they got down to the beach and found that you were missing!”
 
“I am sure they would be,” he replied. “I expect the rest of the men almost had to hold them back by force.”
 
“Well, go on. You were hit and made prisoner.”
 
Will went on with his story till he came to his escape from Verdun.
 
“What was she like?” the girl asked. “I expect she was very pretty.”
 
“No, not particularly so. She was a very pleasant-looking girl.”
 
“I can imagine she seemed very pleasant to you,” the girl laughed; “and, of course, before you got out of the window and climbed to the top of the house you kissed her, didn’t you?”
 
“Yes, I did,” Will said. “Of course she expected to be kissed. I am not at all used to kissing. In fact, I only experienced it once before, and then I was a perfectly passive actor in the affair.”
 
The girl flushed up rosily.
 
“You drew that upon yourself, Alice,” her father said. “If you had left him alone he would not have brought up that old affair.”
 
[pg 324]
“I don’t care,” she said. “I was only thirteen, and he had saved my life.”
 
“You didn’t do it again, my dear, I hope, when you met him in the street to-day.”
 
“Of course not!” she exclaimed indignantly. “The idea of such a thing!”
 
“Very well, let this be a lesson to you not to enquire too strictly into such matters.”
 
“Ah! I will bear it in mind,” she said.
 
“I can assure you, Alice, that it was a perfectly friendly kiss. She was engaged to be married to a young soldier who was a prisoner at Porchester, and during the past week I have been employed in setting him free, as you will hear presently. I promised her I would do so if possible, and of course I kept my word.”
 
“What! you, an English officer, set a French prisoner free! I am shocked!” Mr. Palethorpe said.
 
“I would have tried to set twenty of them free if twenty of their sweethearts had united to get me away from prison.”
 
They laughed heartily at the story of his escape as a pedlar, and were intensely interested in his account of the manner in which he succeeded in getting a despatch from the agent of the British Government at Amsterdam. He continued the narrative until his arrival in England.
 
“Now we shall hear, I suppose, how this British officer perpetrated an act of treason against His Most Gracious Majesty.”
 
“Well, I suppose it was that in the eyes of the law,” Will laughed. “Fortunately, however, the law has no cognizance of the affair, at any rate not of my share in it. I don’t suppose it has been heard of outside Porchester. As His Gracious Majesty [pg 325]has some forty thousand prisoners in England, the loss of one more or less will not trouble his gracious brain.”
 
He then related the whole story of Lucien’s escape.
 
“I should have liked to see you dressed up like a pedlar, with your face all painted, and a wig and whiskers,” the girl said, “though I don’t suppose I should have recognized you in that disguise to-day.”
 
“It was a capitally-managed plan, Will, and had it been for a legitimate object I should have given it unstinted praise. And so you saw him fairly off from England?”
 
“Yes; and by this time I have no doubt he is on the top of a vehicle of some sort, going as fast as horses can gallop to join his sweetheart.”
 
“I wonder,” Alice said mischievously, “whether she will ever tell him of that kiss at the window.”
 
“I dare say she will,” laughed Will, “but perhaps not till they are married. I sent her the gold watch I promised her, and when she holds it up before his eyes I think he won’t grudge her the kiss. Still, I believe these things are not always mentioned.”
 
“No, I suppose not,” she said, with an affectation of not understanding him. “Why should they be?”
 
“I can’t say indeed, if you can’t.”
 
“Well, I am not ashamed of it one little bit, though I own that I never have told anybody. But I don’t see why I shouldn’t. I am sure there were at least half a dozen ladies in Jamaica who would willingly have kissed you for what you did for them.”
 
“Thank you! I should certainly not have willingly submitted to the ordeal.”
 
[pg 326]
It was late when the story was finished, and they soon afterwards went to bed.
 
Will spent a delightful week with his friends. Alice had grown up into a charming young woman, full of life and vivacity, and even prettier than she had promised to be as a girl. They went about together to all the sights of London, for Mr. Palethorpe said that he didn’t care about going, and young people were best left to themselves. When the time came for parting, Will for the first time experienced a feeling of reluctance at joining his ship. He and Alice were now almost on their old footing, and Will thought that she was by far the nicest girl he had ever seen; but it was not until he was on the top of the Portsmouth coach that he recognized how much she was to him. “Well,” he said to himself, “I never thought I should feel like this. Some young fellows are always falling in love. I used to think it was all nonsense, but now I understand it. I do not know why her father should object to me, as I am fairly well off. I must see as much of her as I can when I land next time. I hope she won’t meet anyone in the meantime she likes better.”
 
The Jason was now lying out in the harbour, and the riggers had taken possession of her. Will at once reported himself and went on board. The other officers had not yet joined, but he at once took up his work with his usual zeal, and spent a busy fortnight looking after the riggers, and seeing that everything was done in the best manner. He was, however, somewhat angry to find that Alice’s face and figure were constantly intruding themselves into the cordage and shrouds. “I am becoming a regular mooncalf,” he said angrily to himself. “It is perfectly absurd that I can’t keep my thoughts [pg 327]from wandering away from my work, and for a girl whom I can hardly dare hope to win. I shall be very glad when we are off to sea. I’ll then have, I won’t say something better, but something else to think of. If this is being in love, certainly it is not the thing a sailor should engage in. I have often heard it said that a sailor’s ship should be his wife, and I have no longer any doubt about it. But I know I’ll get over it when I hear the first broadside fired.”
 
A week later the first lieutenant joined. His name was Somerville.
 
“Ah, Mr. Gilmore,” he said, “I see you have taken time by the forelock and given an eye to everything! I only received my appointment two days ago or I should have joined before. There is nothing like having an officer to superintend things, and I feel really very much obliged to you for not having extended your leave, which, of course, you could have done, especially as, so far as I know, no boatswain has yet been appointed.”
 
“I was glad to get back to work, sir, and it is really very interesting seeing all the rigging set up from the very beginning.”
 
“That is so, but for all that men don’t generally want to rejoin,” the first lieutenant said with a smile. “The difficulty is to get young officers on board. They hang back, as a rule, till the very last moment. Well, if you will dine with me this evening, Mr. Gilmore, at the George, I shall be glad to hear of some of your services. That they are distinguished I have no doubt, for nothing but the most meritorious services or extraordinary interest could have gained you at your age the appointment of second lieutenant in a fine ship like this. I [pg 328]think it a very good thing for the first lieutenant to know the antecedents of those serving with him. Such knowledge is very useful to him in any crisis or emergency.”
 
After dinner that evening Will gave an account of his services, the lieutenant at times asking for more minute details, especially of the capture of the two pirates.
 
“Thank you very much!” Lieutenant Somerville said when he had finished. “Now I feel that I can, in any emergency, depend upon you to second me, which I can assure you is by no means commonly the case, for promotion goes so much by influence, and such incapable men are pushed up in the service that it is a comfort indeed to have an officer who knows his work thoroughly. I hope to goodness we shall have the captain so fine a ship deserves.”
 
“I hope so indeed, sir. I have hitherto been extremely fortunate in having good captains, as good as one could wish for.”
 
“You are fortunate indeed, then. I have been under two or three men who, either from ignorance or ill-temper or sheer indifference, have been enough to take the heart entirely out of their officers.”
 
On the day when the Jason was ready for commission the captain came down to Portsmouth and put up at the George, and Mr. Somerville and Will called upon him there. He was a young man, some years younger than the first lieutenant.
 
“Gentlemen,” he began, “I have pleasure in making your acquaintance. I saw the admiral this morning, and he assured me that I could not wish for better officers. I hope we shall get on pleasantly together, and can assure you that if we do not it will not be my fault. We have as fine a ship as men [pg 329]could wish to sail in, and I will guarantee that you will not find me slack in using her. As you may guess by my age, I owe my present position partly to family interest, but my object will be to prove that that interest has not been altogether misplaced. I have already had command of a frigate, and we had our full share of hard service. I am afraid that with a seventy-four we shall not have quite so many opportunities of distinguishing ourselves, but shall generally have to work with the fleet and fight when other people bid us, and not merely when we see a good chance. There is, however, as much credit, if not as much prize-money, to be gained in a pitched battle as in isolated actions. I was kindly permitted by the admiral to read both your records of service, and I cannot say how gratified I was to find that I had two such able and active officers to second me.”
 
“I am sure we are much obliged to you, sir,” Lieutenant Somerville replied, “for speaking to us as you have done. I can answer for it that we will second you to the very best of our power, and I am glad indeed to find that we have a commander whose sentiments so entirely accord with our own.”
 
“Now, gentlemen, we have done with the formalities. Let us crack a bottle of wine together to our better acquaintance, and I hope I shall very often see you at my table on board, for while I feel that discipline must be maintained, I have no belief in a captain holding himself entirely aloof from his officers, as if he were a little god. On the quarter-deck a captain must stand somewhat aloof, but in his own cabin I cannot see why he should not treat his officers as gentlemen like himself.”
 
They sat and chatted for an hour, and when they left, [pg 330]Lieutenant Somerville said to Will: “If I am not much mistaken, we shall have a very pleasant time on board the Jason. I believe Captain Charteris means every word he says, and that he is a thoroughly good fellow. He has a very pleasant face, though a firm and resolute one, and when he gives an order it will have to be obeyed promptly; but he is a man who will make allowances, and I do not think the cat will be very often brought into requisition on board.”
 
One day Will was sauntering down the High Street when he saw two country-looking men coming along. One of them looked at him and staggered back in astonishment.
 
“Why,” he exclaimed, “it is Mr. Gilmore! We thought you were in prison in the middle of France, sir.”
 
“So I was, Dimchurch; but, as you see, I have taken leg-bail.”
 
“That was a terrible affair, sir, at them French batteries. When I got down to the shore, and found you were missing, it was as much as they could do to keep Tom here and me from going back. You mayn’t believe me, Mr. Gilmore, but we both cried like children as we rowed to the Tartar.”
 
“I am indeed glad to see you again, and you too, Tom. I guessed that if I ever came across the one I should meet the other also. What are you doing in those togs?”
 
“Well, sir, we put them on because we did not want to be impressed by the first ship that came in, but preferred to wait a bit till we saw one to suit us. I see, sir, that you have shipped a swab. That means, of course, that you have got a lieutenancy. I congratulate you indeed, sir, on your promotion.”
 
“Yes, I got it a month ago, and to a fine ship, the Jason.”
 
[pg 331]
“She is a fine ship, sir, and no mistake. Tom and I were watching her lying out in the harbour yesterday, and were saying that, though we have always been accustomed to frigates, we should not mind shipping in her if we found out something about the captain.”
 
“Well, I can tell you, Dimchurch, that he is just the man you would like to serve under, young and dashing, and, I should say, a good officer and a fine fellow.”
 
“And who is the first lieutenant, sir, because that matters almost as much as the captain.”
 
“He is a good fellow too, Dimchurch, a man who loves his profession and has a good record.”
 
“And who is the second, sir? not that it matters much about him if the captain and first luff are all right. I suppose she has four on board, as she is a line-of-battle ship?”
 
“Yes, she carries four. As to the second, I can only tell you that he is one of the finest fellows in the service, and you will understand that when I say that I am the second lieutenant.”
 
“What, sir!” Dimchur............