y on board the _Hermione_, which I did as fully
as I possibly could, exciting thereby her keenest anger against the
mutineers and her tenderest commiseration for the sufferers.

"Poor boy!" said she as I concluded my narrative, "what a dreadful
experience for you to pass through!"

After that we seemed to get along capitally together; and in due time--
an incredibly short time it seemed to me--we reached the castle without
misadventure; and, parting with our charges at the chief entrance,
Courtenay and I repaired to our own quarters to take a bath and don dry
clothing preparatory to sitting down to dinner.

Courtenay, it seemed, had been as favourably impressed with his
companion as I had been with mine; and for the next two or three days we
could talk of little but the two charming girls who had burst in upon us
so unexpectedly on the afternoon of that, for us, lucky thunder-storm,
reiterating our hopes that the soaking had done them no harm, and
wondering whether we should ever be favoured with another meeting, and,
if so, when. And, indeed, trivial as the incident may seem, it
exercised an important and beneficial influence on our lives after the
eight months of hardship and misery unspeakable which we had so recently
experienced; it gave us something fresh and pleasant to think about, and
prevented our dwelling for ever upon the subject of our escape, which
event seemed every day to assume a more thoroughly impossible aspect.

On the fourth day after the eventful one of the storm, and just when we
were beginning to despair of ever seeing our fail acquaintances again,
we were agreeably surprised by seeing them enter the workshop one
afternoon, about half an hour after we had returned from luncheon.

They paused just within the threshold, and Dona Inez, glancing somewhat
shyly at me, said:

"Will you allow us to come in and sit down for a little while? We
should like to watch you at your work."

We replied, as coherently as our fluster of delight would allow us, that
nothing would give us greater pleasure; and, flinging down our tools,
Courtenay and I hastened to dust down a bench, place a tool-box in such
a position that it would serve for a footstool, and in other ways
arrange as far as we could to make our visitors comfortable.

Our preparations completed, the young ladies sat down, and, Courtenay
and I pairing off as before, an animated conversation ensued which
lasted for the remainder of the afternoon,