arms a little child. It was a
girl, two months old. Cecile was proud; but M. Andre chuckled
incessantly, as old cocks will. I, with my terrible secret, could
hardly bear to look at her.

"You are not friendly with me now, M. Crepin," she said; "not as you
used to be. I desire to keep all my old friends, and to make as many
new ones as I can."

I replied as well as I could; for I was thinking of Madame Debois, and
not of Madame Andre, as she was now called.

"I have come to ask a favour. Say you will grant it me?"

Like a Frenchman, I bowed complaisantly.

Cecile went on, like a Frenchwoman, flatteringly, "Pierre--for I will
call you by the old name; I like it best--I cannot be so stiff with an
old friend as to keep calling you Monsieur Crepin; but, if you will let
me, I will call you Captain Crepin."

Again I bowed, slightly mystified.

"Captain Crepin, you are--you are brave. All Benevent knows it. You
are an able and experienced seaman."

"Madame is too good."

"Not a bit," put in my mother, who would have heard me called angel with
pleasure.

"I love the sea. M. Andre does not; but he humours me in everything.
I have made him buy a fine yacht--large, strong, swift, of English
build. You have seen her. I have called her the _Zephire_. She lies
in the harbour there, and wants a captain and a crew. You must be the
captain, P-i-e-r-r-e!"

You know how women wheedle--handsome, especially?

"This summer," continued Cecile, "we intend to cruise north. I long to
see new countries. I am tired of life here. I long to skim over the
waves and feel the cool breezes of northern seas."

"Madame, I will consider. I must have time. You must give me time."

"You will not refuse me--nobody would. I shall feel safe only with you
in command of our yacht. What answer shall I give M. Andre, who is all
impatience to know?"

"I will answer myself to M. Andre to-morrow."

When she was gone, my good mother pressed me to go--though she would a
thousand times rather have kept me at home. But she knew that it is
necessary for a man to be doing something. Ah, she is a woman, indeed!

"This will be an easy berth, Pierre," she said. "You will be at home
with me here all the winters, with the _Zephire_ safely laid up in
dock."

The next day I called upon M. Andre at his office.

"I accept the command of your yacht, monsieur," I said. "I shall always
do my best for you, I hope."

The wages were l