ng for an opportunity of introducing the baby, which she now
brought to its mamma.

The admiral started up on seeing it. "What! I hadn't heard of this
small stranger!" he exclaimed; "is it a boy or a girl? A fine little
creature, at all events! I congratulate you, my dear Mrs Murray, with
all my heart. A sailor's wife is all the better for a few small ones to
occupy her thoughts when her `guid mon,' as you call him in Scotland, is
away from home; though I suppose you have no intention of letting Murray
go to sea again just yet?"

"I hope not, indeed," answered Stella, turning pale at the thought.
"There are numberless officers who have nothing to do on shore, and he
has plenty to occupy him."

"But he ought to take a trip to sea, to prevent himself from growing
rusty," said the admiral. "We want the best officers to command Her
Majesty's ships, and he is among them. You will not contradict me on
that point?"

"I am sure he is," said Stella, with a sigh.

"Then, in case the Admiralty require his services, you will not dissuade
him from accepting an appointment?"

"Oh, admiral, are they going to send him to sea?" exclaimed Stella
suddenly.

"Not that I know of," answered the admiral. "I have not been let into
their secret intentions, and I don't wish to act the part of a bird of
ill-omen; though I confess that, were he to have the offer of a ship, I
should advise him to accept it."

Stella's lips quivered. She had thought herself very heroic, and that
she should be ready to sacrifice her husband for the good of his
country; but when it came to the point, she could not bear the idea of
parting from him.

Alick had gone round to see that the boat's crew were attended to. On
coming back, he took another glance through his telescope down the loch.
"Here comes the _Stella_; we shall soon have Terence Adair with us!" he
exclaimed.

"What brought him home?" asked the admiral. "Surely he went out with
Jack Rogers to India?"

"He got an ugly wound in cutting out a piratical junk in the Indian
seas," said Murray. "It was a near thing for him, and the doctors
insisted on his returning home as the only chance of saving his life; so
he wrote me word in a few lines. But he is not much addicted to
letter-writing; I, therefore, know no particulars. He will give us the
account when he arrives."

Murray stood watching the cutter, while the admiral continued talking to
Stella. The little craft, a vessel of ab