final crushing out of the rebellion at that spot.

At the conclusion of the war he rejoined his ship, and returned with
her when she finally left the station for England, after an absence of
five years. He was now three-and-twenty, and having been twice
mentioned in despatches, was looked upon as a rising young officer.

A month or two after his return he received a letter from Count
Preskoff, with whom he had, at intervals corresponded ever since his
escape from captivity. The count said that he, with the countess and
his youngest daughter, Olga, were at present in Paris. The two elder
girls had been for some years married. The count said that he
intended, after making a stay for some time in Paris, to visit
England, but invited Jack to come over to pay them a visit in Paris.
Jack gladly assented, and a few days later joined his Russian friends
at the Hotel Meurice, in the Rue Rivoli. They received him with the
greatest warmth, and he was soon upon his old terms of familiarity
with them. He found, to his great pleasure, that Olga could now speak
English fluently, and as he had forgotten a good deal of his Russian,
and had learned no French, she often acted as interpreter between him
and her parents. Jack's Russian, however, soon returned to him, and at
the end of a fortnight he was able to converse fluently in it again.

He found Olga very little altered, but she, on her part, protested
that she should not have known him again. He had thought very often of
her during the years which had passed, but although he had steadfastly
clung to the determination he had expressed to his friend Hawtry, of
some day marrying her if she would have him, he was now more alive
than before to the difference between her position and his. The
splendid apartments occupied by the count, his unlimited expenditure,
the beauty of his carriages and horses, all showed Jack the difference
between a great Russian seigneur and a lieutenant on half-pay. Feeling
that he was becoming more and more in love with Olga, he determined to
make some excuse to leave Paris, intending upon his return to apply at
once to be sent on active service.

One morning, accordingly, when alone with the count, he said to him
that he feared he should have to leave for England in a few days, and
it was probable he should shortly join his ship.

The count looked keenly at him.

"My young friend," he said, "have we been making a mistake? The
countess and I have thought