n rectitude. I shall be far away,
and can afford to despise all such insinuations. But the greatest doubt
Bertha, in her over-anxious love, has raised up before me, is that
regarding Hernan himself. Still I feel sure that he is all that is
honourable and noble. He has given me numberless assurances, undoubted,
that he is what he represents himself. The proofs he offers are so
clear, can I for a moment doubt him? His I have promised to be: his I
will be. I should be unworthy of the name of woman were I now to
discard him."

Such was the style of argument with which Hilda Wardhill persuaded
herself that she was right in the course she had resolved to adopt.

The marriage was duly solemnised according to the terms of the Roman
Catholic Church by Father Mendez. Hilda and Don Hernan signed their
names on a parchment placed before them, Bertha and Nanny Clousta
signing as witnesses, while Rolf Morton stepped forward and added his
name.

Two of Don Hernan's officers, Pedro Alvarez and another, signed their
names to the document as witnesses; whilst Lawrence protested against
the marriage, as being without the consent or knowledge of Hilda's
father, and, therefore, according to Shetland law, invalid. This
protest he made with an air of dignity wholly different from his usual
manner.

The midnight wedding ceremony at the old chapel terminated in a most
terrific hurricane, and the new married couple were compelled to take
refuge from the storm in the house of Bertha Morton.

CHAPTER SIX.

ROLF MORTON'S HISTORY--DON HERNAN AND HILDA IN THE MORTON'S HOUSE--
MORTON DISPATCHED TO THE CORVETTE.

Bertha Morton had been considered not only one of the prettiest girls in
that part of Shetland where she was known, but as good and modest as she
was pretty, which is saying much in her favour, where beauty, modesty,
and kindness of heart are the characteristics of the people. Her
cottage, which was one of the largest in the island, was fitted up with
more taste and comfort than was usually found in others, and everything
about it bore the marks of competency and good taste. She had but
lately married Rolf Morton, who had, a year or two before, been left a
small property by his friend and guardian, Captain Andrew Scarsdale.
Rolf Morton's own history was somewhat romantic.

Captain Scarsdale, a Shetlander by birth, commanded one of the many
Greenland whalers belonging to Hull, Aberdeen, and other northern parts,
which