sight.

"Colonel Lawton, do me the favor to follow my old friend Banou--you too,
Captain Jacob, and Lieutenant Darcantel and Mr. Mouse; Paddy Burns and
Stingo, here, will show you your quarters in the old billiard-room.
Come, commodore, the rest of us will find quarters in the casa."

An hour later the saloon and sala were all alight, and the sashes of the
jalousies closed, for it was cool at times up there at Escondido. There,
too, stood the party of gentlemen, Mr. Mouse being a prominent figure in
the background. Then came a rustling of robes, and as the great folding
doors swung open, the three ladies lit up the saloon in a halo of
loveliness with brighter rays than were shed from the wax-lights in the
chandelier. Two fair hands were placed in those of Cleveland, and the
look which accompanied went back to the happy morning on the old brig's
deck, away off there to sea.

"Oh, monsieur, I can not say how glad I am to see you once more! Let me
present you to my sister, Madame Nathalie Delonde, and _our_ daughter.
Ah! my dear Captain Blunt, both your children before you again, and you
have come to take us away."

"Colonel Lawton, _ma chere_," said Piron.

"And, mesdames," said the commodore, "let me also present my nephew,
Lieutenant Darcantel, and Mr. Mouse."

What caused that woman to start as the girl took the tiny reefer by the
hand, and impulsively clasped those white hands together, while her
heart beat in yearning throbs, and her bosom rose and fell like billows
by the shore? Why did she then raise one hand to her fair neck, and, as
if in a dream, feel for the golden links of the chain, with the other
hand pressed to her panting heart for the locket which once reposed
there? How was it that, bewildered by a mother's instinct, she gazed at
the youth before her, and then turned her eyes hopelessly around in
search of her husband in the crowd?

"Yes, madame. This is my nephew, Henry Darcantel."

"Ah! Henri! Excuse me, _monsieur_. I am charmed to see you!"

Why, now, did the touch of his hand make her heart beat faster, and send
a thrill of joy through her frame? Only be a little calm, madame, for a
while longer, and don't be sad and ponder all night, like your good
Jules Piron does habitually. Wait; Jules will tell you all _he_ knows
when you are alone to-night.

The doors of the sala were thrown open. The broad pennant leading with
Madame Rosalie; the military chieftain marching beside Madame Nathalie,