all!" muttered Sir Digby.

"I'm afraid," said Richards, "I've interrupted--"

"Oh, don't mention it, dear, dear Mr. Richards. What Sir Digby was about
to tell me wasn't of the slightest consequence. That is, you know, I
mean--it will keep."

Sir Digby Auld bit his lip.

Richards nodded to him.

"I've such news for you, Gerty dear. A long, long letter from Bermuda.
Jack's ship--"

"Oh, do sit down and tell me all.--Sir Digby, you will forgive us, won't
you? You're so good! Sit near us and hear it all.--Yes, Mr. Richards;
I'm listening."

That she was. What a glad look in her face! what a happy smile! With
lips half parted and eyes which shone with an interest intense, she
never took her gaze from Mr. Richards' beaming countenance till he had
finished speaking.

The letter was from a friend of his, and told of the arrival at Bermuda
of Jack's ship, and all Jack's doings on shore; and how the _Ocean
Pride_ was ordered home; and how, if things turned out well, and she
wasn't captured by a Frenchman five times her size, she might be
expected back in a fortnight.

"O dear, dear Mr. Richards, I'm so happy; I mean, you know, that Flora
will--"

"Yes, yes; Flora, of course, you sly little puss. There! never blush; I
guess I know your secret--Jack, eh?--Ah, Sir Digby, you and I are too
old to understand the tender passion, aren't we?"

"Yes--that is, no. You better speak for yourself, sir. I--I--I believe I
have an appointment--I--Good evening, Miss Keane."

Sir Digby Auld's exit was not an impressive one.

With an amused look on his face, Richards watched him till the closed
door shut out the view; then he stretched out his sturdy legs, threw
himself back in his chair, and laughed until the rafters rang.

CHAPTER IV.

THE BATTLE AND THE BREEZE.

"The deck it was their field of fame,
And ocean was their grave."

"Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,
Uttered or unexpressed;
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast."

The good ship _Ocean Pride_ was a twenty-gun frigate, with a crew of
nearly three hundred as brave fellows as ever waved cutlass or pulled
lanyard for the honour and defence of their native land. In January
1793, when the great war broke out between Britain and France, she was
homeward bound from the West Indies and South America, where she had
been cruising, and had hardly reached Portsmouth ere she received orders
to take in additio