to be filled. That
done, at a sign from me he carried the cask to a closet at the other
side of the room. Some of the men were bibulously inclined, and for
Flora's sake I had to be cautious.

Of a sudden Captain Rudstone rose, his handsome, stern face almost
transformed by an expression of genial good will.

"Mr. Carew," he began, "on such an occasion as this I feel that I must
say a word. Indeed you have won a prize. 'Tis an old proverb that a man
married is a man marred, but in you I see an exception. Were I a few
years younger I should have ventured to enter the lists against you. I
have knocked about the world, and I can pay Miss Hatherton no higher
compliment than to say that she is equally fitted to be queen of a
London drawing room or mistress of a factor's humble house. But enough.
I wish you every prosperity and happiness, and a long career in the
service of the company."

The captain was evidently sincere, and I had never liked him so well as
now, though I must confess that I felt a spark of jealousy when Flora
made him a smiling courtesy.

He was no sooner down in his seat than Christopher Burley stood up. The
law clerk's face was flushed, and his eyes had an unwonted sparkle. He
had drunk but two glasses of port, yet he was a different man to look
at.

"Mr. Carew and Miss Hatherton, my compliments," he said. "I shall think
of this convivial gathering when I am back in London--in that crowded,
bustling heart of the world, and I hope some day to have the pleasure of
seeing you there--of seeing all of you, my friends. I will take you to
my favorite haunt, the Cheshire Cheese, in Fleet Street, where the great
and learned Dr. Johnson was wont to foregather. But I have much to do
before I can return to England. The task that brought me to this
barbarous country--this land of snow and ice--is of a most peculiar and
difficult nature. I will take the present opportunity to inquire--"

"Enough!" suddenly interrupted Captain Rudstone in a harsh voice. "Your
tongue is rambling sir. I am doing you a service by requesting you to
sit down."

"Sir, do you mean to insinuate--" began Christopher Burley.

But at that instant voices were heard outside and the door was thrown
open.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

ON THE WAY.

A visitor of any sort was the last thing we could have expected, and the
reader can imagine what a surprise and scare the interruption gave