ame, so I
write it out for you like this."

In a few minutes the order was given, "All ashore who are going ashore!"

Girard kept that slip of paper, and a few years afterward, in a generous
mood, sent the girl a present of a blue shawl. She wrote in
acknowledgment, and incidentally said she was soon to sail for France
"to get an education."

Girard was surprised that any woman would want an education, and still
more amazed at the probability that she could acquire one. In fact, when
the girl had written her name for him, he kept the slip of paper more as
a curiosity than anything else--it was the handwriting of a woman!
Girard never received but that one letter from the young lady, but from
his shipping agent in Martinique word came that Marie Josephine Rose had
married, when sixteen, the Vicomte Beauharnais. Some years after, Girard
heard from the same source that she was a widow.

Later, he learned she had married a Corsican by the name of Napoleon
Bonaparte.

* * * * *

Girard used to say that he did not come to Philadelphia of his own
accord, but having been sent there by Providence, he made the best of
it.

War was on, and all American ports were blockaded. How long this war
would last, no one knew. Girard's sympathies were with the Colonies, and
the cause of liberty was strong in his heart. He was glad that
France--his La Belle France--had loaned us money wherewith to fight
England. Yet all his instincts were opposed to violence, and the pomps
of army life for him had no lure.

He unloaded his ship, put the craft at safe anchorage and settled down,
trying to be patient. He could have sold his cargo outright, but he had
a head for business--prices were rising, and he had time--he had all the
time there was. He rented a store on Water Street and opened up at
retail. It was the best way to kill time until the war closed.

The rogue biographer has told us that Girard's ship was loaded with
"niggers," and that these were sold by the mercenary captain and the
money pocketed by himself, "all being fair in love and war."

This tale of business buccaneering has long been exploded, but it is a
fact that the cargo was used by Girard as his first capital. He used the
money wisely and well, and repaid the other owners--one-third being his
own property--with interest.

When the war was over, it was expected that Captain Girard would again
take to the deck and manage his craft. But t