Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1909-04-22


this awkward compliment, and re-
marked:
Eyes, yes, Arabella is like my lady,
except not half SO handsome. Egad,
when l married Lady Hawkshaw, |
had to cut my way, literally with my
sword. through the body-guard of gen
tlemen who wanted her. And as for
her relations-well, she defied 'em,
that's all"
l tried. with all the little art
possessed, to get some information
concerning Arabella out of Sir Peter;
but beyond telling me what l knew
before-that she was his great-niece
on the other side of the house and first
cousin to Daphne, and that her father,
now dead, was scamp and pauper,
in spite of being an earl-he told me
nothing. But even that seemed to
show the great gulf between us. Would
she, with her beauty and her title, con-
descend to a midshipman somewhat
younger than herself, and penniless? Z
doubted it, though | was, in general,
of a sanguine nature.
/ found Sir Peter unbent as the de-
canters grew empty, although | would
| not for a moment imply that he was
excessive in his drinking Only, the
mellow glow which pervades an Eng
lish gentleman after a few glasses of
good port enveloped him. He asked
me If / was glad | had Joined the
service-to which l could say yes with
great sincerity; impressed upon me
my good fortune in getting in ship
of the line in the beginning, and gave
me some admirable advice. left him
with a feeling that had a friend in
that excellent seaman, honest gentle
man, and odd fish, Admiral Sir Peter
Hawkshaw.
When l went below, told my mess
mates all that had occurred, rather
exaggerating Sir Peters attentions to
me, as midshipmen will. Then private
ly confided to Giles Vernon. l told
what little | had found out concern
ing the star of my soul, as l called
Arabella, to which Giles responded
by a long-drawn-out "Ph-ew!"
| | implored him, if he knew any Of
/ ficer in the ship who would be likely
| to be acquainted with Lady Arabella,
to pump him for me. This he promised;
and the very next day. as l sat on a
locker, studying my theorems, Giles
came up.
/ "Dickey," said he, "Mr. Buxton
/ knows the divine Arabela. She has
a fortune of 100000, and so has the
| dove eyed little Daphne, all inherited
from their granddad rich Bombay
merchant. 1t seems that Lady Ara
bella's mother bought coronet with
! her money, and it turned out a poor
bargain. However, the earl did not
live long enough to ruin his father-in-
law; and little Daphne's parents, too,
| died young, so the old Bombay man
| left the girls his fortune, and made
| Sir Peter their guardian, and that
means, of course, that Polly Hawk
shaw is their guardian. Mr.. Buxton
says he would like to see the fortune
! hunter who can rob Polly of those two
damsels. For Polly says rank and
| lineage are not everything She her
self, you know, dates back to the
| Saxon Heptarchy, though she did
marry the son of your drysalting great
| grandfather. And she wants those
| girls to marry men; and what Polly
says on that score is to be respected,
| considering that she married into a
drysalting family to please herself, or
| to displease her relations, | don't know
which. I should say, though, if you
are honest and deserving, and mind
| your book, and get good word from
| the chaplain, you will probably one
day be the husband of little Daphne,
but not of Lady Arabella; no man
shall marry her while | live, that you
may be sure of; but when marry her,
you may be side-boy at my wedding"
/ thought this speech very cruel of
Giles Vernon, and believed that he
| did not know what true love was, else
he could not so trife with my feelings,
although there was an echo of earnest
ness in his intimation that he would
kill any man who aspired to marry
Lady Arabella.
We were three weeks in the Bay of
| Biscay, thrashing to windward under
topgallant sails, and expecting daily
and hourly to run across a French
man. We were hoping for It, because
we found the Ajax to he very wealth
erly ship and fast for her class; and
both Capt Guilford and Sir Peter, who
| had sailed in her before, knew eX-
actly how to handle her. And we
were to have our wish. For. one even
ing toward suntset, we sighted
French ship of the line off our beam;
and by the time we had made her
out, light French frigate was coming
down the wind, and in an hour we
were at it hammer and tongs with
both of them.
(TO BE CONTINUED)