broken bottles, but D'Orsay
went on,--

"I'd marry _her_; 'pon honour I should."

"Think of life with that old hag."

"Think of life in the Fleet, my friend."

Sir Digby winced, and for a time made no reply.

"D'Orsay," he said at last, "I am a man, and, I trust, a gentleman. I'd
prefer to marry Gerty even--even--"

"If she were a beggar. Bravo, Digby!" And D'Orsay laughed in the way men
of the world do laugh.

"I didn't say that. I--I--'pon my soul, D'Orsay, I do not know what to
do."

* * * * *

Miss Gordon was the belle of that ball, as far at least as dress and
jewellery were concerned. She came of a noble family, too, and gave
herself all the airs common in those days to ladies of title--hauteur,
dignity, and condescension by turns. But towards Sir Digby she was as
soft and sweet as a three-month-old kitten.

If Sir Digby Auld had meant to propose to sweet Gerty Keane that night,
he never had a chance, for neither she nor her father appeared. It was
reported that he had had a fit. But this was not so. After he was
dressed, however, and the carriage waiting, he received a letter. He no
sooner read it than it dropped from his hands on the floor, and he
leaned back in his chair with his face to his hands.

Gerty was by his side in a moment.

"O father, are you ill?" she cried. "Shall I summon assistance?"

He recovered himself at once. "Nay, nay," he said; "only grief for the
death of an old friend." He smoothed her hair as he replied. "Gerty, we
will not go out to-night."

But the letter he picked off the floor and carefully put away in his
pocket-book.

* * * * *

A whole half-year passed away without any events transpiring that much
concern our narrative. Jack Mackenzie was still on the war-path, playing
havoc with the commerce of France and Spain. Indeed he had constituted
himself a kind of terror of the seas. His adventures were not only most
daring, but carried out with a coolness that proved they were guided by
a master mind. Indeed Jack Mackenzie and all his officers knew now to a
very nicety what might be done with the swift _Tonneraire_, and what
could not. Her bold young captain did not mean to be either captured or
sunk, and he was wise enough to run away whenever he found himself
overmatched. But this was not very often.

One surprise, during this time, Jack and his officers had received, and
it was a very happy one. Whi