s just. I have rarely known a midshipman or a mate passed over,
in this way, that there was not some great fault at the bottom. We must
think of the service, as well as of generosity."

"I confess all this, my lord--and yet I did hope poor Clinch's
delinquencies would at length be forgotten."

"If there are any particular reasons for it, I should like to hear
them."

Cuffe now related all that had passed between himself and the master's
mate, taking care to give Jane a due place in his history. Nelson began
to twitch the stump of his arm, and by the time the story was told
Clinch's promotion was settled. An order was sent forthwith to the
secretary, to make out the orders, and Cuffe carried them back with him
to the Proserpine that night, when he returned to his own ship.

All Nelson's promotions were confirmed by the Admiralty, pretty much as
a matter of course. Among others was that of Clinch, who now became the
junior lieutenant of the Proserpine. This elevation awakened new
feelings within him. He dressed better; refrained from the bottle; paid
more attention to his mind; improved in manners, by keeping better
company; and, in the course of the next twelvemonth, had made rapid
advances toward respectability. At the end of that time, the ship was
sent home; and Jane, in her imagination at least, received the reward of
all her virtuous constancy, by becoming his wife. Nor did Cuffe cease
his friendly offices here. He succeeded in getting Clinch put in command
of a cutter; in which he captured a privateer, after a warm action,
within a month. This success procured him a gun-brig, and with her he
was still more fortunate; actually cutting out, with her boats, a French
sloop-of-war, that was not half manned, it is true, but which was still
considered a handsome prize. For this affair he got the sloop; thus
demonstrating the caprice of fortune, by whose means he found himself a
commander in less than three years after he had been a mate. Here he
stuck, however, for a long time, until he got another sloop in fair
fight, when he was posted. From that moment, we have lost sight of him.

Cuffe being sent into the Gulf of Genoa, shortly after, seized the
opportunity to restore the vice-governatore and his friend to their
native island. The fame of their deeds had preceded them, exaggerated,
as a matter of course, by the tongue of rumor. It was understood that
the two Elbans were actually in the fight in which Raoul Yvard f