xcept one solitary cheroot after breakfast, when
she asked me? Who ever saw me take a nip of brandy of a forenoon since
that day she cried out, 'Shame, Jack, don't do that'? And do you think
I was n't as fond of my weed and my glass of schnapps as ever she was of
all those little airs and graces she puts on to make fools of men?"

"Carriage waiting, sir," said a servant, entering with a mass of cloaks
and rugs on his arm.

"Confound the carriage and the journey too," muttered he, below his
breath. "Look here, Nelly; if you are right, and I hope with all my
heart you are, I 'll not go."

"That would be ruin, Jack; you must go."

"What do I care for the service? A good seaman--a fellow that knows how
to handle a ship--need never want for employment. I 'd just as soon be a
skipper as wear a pair of swabs on my shoulders and be sworn at by some
crusty old rear-admiral for a stain on my quarter-deck. I'll not go,
Nelly; tell Ned to take off the trunks; I'll stay where I am."

"Oh, Jack, I implore you not to wreck your whole fortune in life. It is
just because Julia loves you that you are bound to show yourself worthy
of her. You know how lucky you were to get this chance. You said only
yesterday it was the finest station in the whole world. Don't lose it,
like a dear fellow--don't do what will be the imbitter-ment of your
entire life, the loss of your rank, and--the------" She stopped as she
was about to add something still stronger.

"I 'll go, then, Nelly; don't cry about it; if you sob that way I 'll
make a fool of myself. Pretty sight for the flunkies, to see a sailor
crying, would n't it? all because he had to join his ship. I'll
go, then, at once. I suppose you'll see her to-day, or to-morrow at
farthest?"

"I'm not sure, Jack. Marion said something about hunting parsons, I
believe, which gave George such deep pain that he wouldn't come here on
Wednesday. Julia appears to be more annoyed than George, and, in fact,
for the moment, we have quarantined each other."

"Isn't this too bad?" cried he, passionately.

"Of course it is too bad; but it's only a passing cloud; and by the
time I shall write to you it will have passed away."

Jack clasped her affectionately in his arms, kissed her twice, and
sprang into the carriage, and drove away with a full heart indeed; but
also with the fast assurance that his dear sister would watch over his
interests and not forget him.

That dark drive went over like a hideous d