rt."

"Ah! this may be so with _men_; but--surely--surely--_women_ never can
feel thus!"

"I suppose, a sailor's daughter yourself, you know Jack's account of his
wife's domestic creed! 'A good fire, a clean hearth, the children abed,
and the husband at sea,' is supposed to be the climax of felicity."

"This may do for the sailor's jokes, Admiral Bluewater," answered
Mildred, smiling; "but it will hardly ease a breaking heart. I fear from
all I have heard this afternoon, and from the sudden sailing of the
ships, that a great battle is at hand?"

"And why should you, a British officer's daughter, dread that? Have you
so little faith in us, as to suppose a battle will necessarily bring
defeat! I have seen much of my own profession, Miss Dutton, and trust I
am in some small degree above the rhodomontade of the braggarts; but it
is _not_ usual for us to meet the enemy, and to give those on shore
reason to be ashamed of the English flag. It has never yet been my luck
to meet a Frenchman who did not manifest a manly desire to do his
country credit; and I have always felt that we must fight hard for him
before we could get him; nor has the result ever disappointed me. Still,
fortune, or skill, or _right_, is commonly of our side, and has given us
the advantage in the end."

"And to which, sir, do you ascribe a success at sea, so very uniform?"

"As a Protestant, I ought to say to our _religion_; but, this my own
knowledge of Protestant _vices_ rejects. Then to say _fortune_ would be
an exceeding self-abasement--one, that between us, is not needed; and I
believe I must impute it to skill. As plain seamen, I do believe we are
more expert than most of our neighbours; though I am far from being
positive we have any great advantage over them in tactics. If any, the
Dutch are our equals."

"Notwithstanding, you are quite certain of success. It must be a great
encouragement to enter into the fight with a strong confidence in
victory! I suppose--that is, it seems to me--it is a matter of course,
sir,--that our new Sir Wycherly will not be able to join in the battle,
this time?"

Mildred spoke timidly, and she endeavoured to seem unconcerned; but
Bluewater read her whole heart, and pitied the pain which she had
inflicted on herself, in asking the question. It struck him, too, that a
girl of his companion's delicacy and sensibility would not thus advert
to the young man's movements at all, if the latter had done aught justly
t