You shall not degrade yourself like this!" cried the
admiral; and Miss Jerrold caught her niece's hands.

"There would be no degradation, Sir Mark," said Guest firmly; "but, Mrs
Barron, you cannot go. For years Malcolm has been like my brother. He
had no secrets from me, and I can tell you from my heart that there is
but one reason for his absence--a sudden seizure. Don't keep me,
though, pray. Stay here and wait my return. Unless,"--he added
quickly, with a deprecating glance at Sir Mark.

"What! I--go with you to hunt up the man and beg him to come? Pshaw!"

"Mark, it is your duty to go," said his sister sternly. "I don't
believe Mr Stratton would insult us like this."

"Then for once in my life, madam, I will not do my duty!" cried the
admiral furiously. "It is not the only occasion upon which a man has
gained the confidence of his friends. It is not the first time I have
been so cruelly deceived. I can see it plainly. Either, like a
pusillanimous coward, he turned tail, or there is some disgraceful
entanglement which holds him back!"

"Father, it is not true!" cried Myra angrily. "How dare you insult me
like that?"

"I--insult you?"

"Yes, in the person of the man I love--my husband, but for this terrible
mischance. You do not mean it; you are mad with anger, but you will go
with Mr Guest at once."

"Never!" roared the admiral.

"For my sake," she cried as she flung her arms about his neck and clung
to him. "I give up--I will not attempt to go there myself--you are
quite right; but," she murmured now, so that her words were almost
inaudible to all but him for whom they were intended, "I love him, dear,
and he is in pain and suffering. Go to him; I cannot bear it. Bring
him to me, or I shall die."

The admiral kissed her hastily, and she clung to him for a moment or two
longer as he drew a long, deep breath.

"My own dearest father," she whispered, and she would have sunk at his
feet, but he gently placed her in a lounge chair and turned to Guest.

"Now, sir," he said, as if he were delivering an order from the
quarter-deck, "I am at your service."

Myra sprang from her chair and caught her aunt's arm, looking wildly in
her eyes; and the meaning of the look was grasped.

"Stop a moment, Mark," she said. "My carriage is waiting. You may want
a woman there; I'll come with you."

"You?" cried her brother. "Absurd!"

"Not at all," said the lady firmly. "Mr Guest, take me down to