e opening of the present chapter. The
movement on the Head, and about the cottage, was so great, as to deprive
him of every chance of seeing Mildred alone, and he had hoped that, led
by some secret sympathy, she, too, might seek this perfectly retired
seat, to obtain a moment of unobserved solitude, if not from some still
dearer motive. He had not waited long, ere he heard a heavy foot over
his head, and a man entered the summer-house. He was yet debating
whether to abandon all hopes of seeing Mildred, when his acute ear
caught her light and well-known footstep, as she reached the
summer-house, also.

"Father, I have come as you desired," said the poor girl, in those
tremulous tones which Wycherly too well understood, not to imagine the
condition of Dutton. "Admiral Bluewater dozes, and mother has permitted
me to steal away."

"Ay, Admiral Bluewater is a great man, though but little better than a
dead one!" answered Dutton, as harshly in manner as the language was
coarse. "You and your mother are all attention to _him_; did _I_ lie in
his place, which of you would be found hanging over my bed, with pale
cheeks and tearful eyes?"

"_Both_ of us, father! _Do_ not--_do_ not think so ill of your wife and
daughter, as to suppose it possible that either of them could forget her
duty."

"Yes, _duty_ might do something, perhaps; what has duty to do with this
useless rear-admiral? I _hate_ the scoundrel--he was one of the court
that cashiered me; and one, too, that I am told, was the most obstinate
in refusing to help me into this pitiful berth of a master."

Mildred was silent. She could not vindicate her friend without
criminating her father. As for Wycherly, he would have given a year's
income to be at sea; yet he shrunk from wounding the poor daughter's
feelings by letting her know he overheard the dialogue. This indecision
made him the unwilling auditor of a conversation that he ought not to
have heard--an occurrence which, had there been time for reflection, he
would have taken means to prevent.

"Sit you down here, Mildred," resumed Dutton, sternly, "and listen to
what I have to say. It is time that there should no longer be any
trifling between us. You have the fortunes of your mother and myself in
your hands; and, as one of the parties so deeply concerned, I am
determined _mine_ shall be settled at once."

"I do not understand you, father," said Mildred, with a tremour in her
voice that almost induced the young