ind her.

The deserted English wife had been sent for by her uncle, who had become
a large sugar planter in Cuba. Sharp found her; and her relative had
died but a short time before, leaving her a large fortune. The wretch
who had abandoned her was arrested for his crimes, and sent back to New
York, and was soon serving a long sentence at Sing Sing. He had been
obliged to leave his steam-yacht, and it had been awarded to his wife.

By the influence of Captain Ringgold, Penn Sharp had been appointed
captain of her; and he had sailed for New York, and then for England, in
her. The lady was still on the sunny side of forty, and Sharp had
married her. After this happy event, they had sailed for the
Mediterranean; and the commander and passengers of the Guardian-Mother
had met them at Gibraltar. How Captain Penn Sharp happened to be in
command of the Blanche was a mystery to Captain Ringgold, though it was
possible that the million or more of Mrs. Penn Sharp enabled her to
support such a steam-yacht.

It seemed as though Captain Sharp would never release the hand of the
commander of the Guardian-Mother, who had not only been a good friend to
him in every sense of the word, but he had unintentionally put him in
the way of achieving the remarkably good fortune which had now crowned
his life.

"I don't know what to make of this, Captain Sharp," said he of the
Guardian-Mother. "Are you in command of this fine steamer?"

"Without a ghost of a doubt I am," replied he of the Blanche, with a
renewed pressure of the hand.

"Of course I am astonished, surprised, astounded, as I ought to be on an
occasion like this. About the last I knew of you, you had just got
married. Have you become so accustomed to married life that you are
ready to leave your wife on shore while you wander over the ocean
again?" asked the visitor in a good-humored, rallying tone.

"Not a bit of it, my dear Captain. My wife is worth more to me than all
the money she brought me, though she is as much of a millionaire as
young Mr. Belgrave, we find. She is on board of the Blanche at this
moment; and Ruth will be delighted to see you and all your people."

"I am glad all is so happy with you, and I may be tempted to marry
myself," laughed the commander.

"You are already tempted, and you will yield to the temptation."

"I have not been tempted like Adam in the garden; if I had been, I
should have swallowed the apple whole," replied Captain Ringgold, who
ha