, you see, you have left the
army much younger than I did. I suppose you are not thirty yet? The
Crimea and India ran you fast up the tree."

"No, I am only twenty-eight. You know I was only a brevet Major,
and had two more steps to get before I had a regimental majority."

"That makes all the difference, Mallett; and it is absurd, a young
fellow of your age crying out against society."

"I don't cry out against it," Mallett laughed. "I simply say that
it is out of my line, and I have never been broken into it. I was
talking of buying a yacht, or rather of building one."

"What size do you want? I know of one to be had cheap, if you are
thinking of a good big craft."

And thus it was that Mallett came to hear of the yawl at Poole.

"I have fixed on the Osprey, Major Mallett," Bertha Greendale said,
when he took her down to dinner two days after he had last seen
her. "What do you say to that? There are two or three yachts of the
same name, but none of them is over thirty tons."

"I think the Osprey is a pretty name, Miss Greendale. I should have
accepted the Crocodile if you had suggested it. The name that you
have chosen will suit admirably; so henceforth she shall be the
Osprey, pending your formally christening her by that name. I
might, of course, be hypercritical and point out that, although a
fishing eagle, the Osprey can scarcely be called a water bird,
inasmuch that it is no swimmer."

"But it is hypercritical even to suggest such a thing," she said,
pouting. "The Osprey has to do with the sea. It is strong and swift
on the wing, and the sails of the yacht are wings, are they not?
Then it is strong and bold, and I am sure your boat will not be
afraid to meet a storm. Altogether, I think it is an excellent
name."

"I think it a very good name, too."

"You ought to have one for your figurehead."

"Yachts don't have figureheads, else I would certainly have it. At
any rate, I will choose an eagle for my racing flag."

"I have never been on board a yacht yet," the girl said. "I think I
only know one man who has one, at least a large one; that is Mr.
Carthew. Of course you know him; he had a new one this spring--the
Phantom. He has won several times this season."

"I saw he had," Frank said, quietly. "Yes, I used to know him, but
it's seven or eight years since we met."

"And you don't like him," she said, quickly.

"What makes you think that, Miss Greendale?"

"Oh, I can tell by the tone of your v