give them a
chance. Glassell escaped, you remember, when he tried the _New
Ironsides_."

"He will be killed! He will be killed!" she cried piteously,
"and--Admiral Vernon!"

"What is the Yankee admiral to you, to any of us?" Lacy asked,
curiously interested to know the meaning of her remark.

"Why do you tell me of all this?" she asked, failing to notice his
question in her anxiety and alarm.

"Because I want you to know Sempland as the hero he is, and
because--forgive my frankness--I believe that you love him. So I want
him to hear you say it before he goes out. It will double his chances
of escape if he has your love to think of. You will inspire him to come
back. As it is now, I am afraid he does not especially care to. He's
too good a man to lose, if we--if you--can save him, Miss Fanny."

"And this man abused you to me this afternoon!" murmured the girl.

"He said what was true. I honor him for it. I love you, Miss Fanny. I
am proving it to you now as I proved it to him when I gave him my place
at his earnest entreaty. The detail was mine."

"Why did you do it?"

"For his sake, for yours. It's his solitary chance. I've had so many,
you know."

"And he is going to blow up the _Wabash_, the admiral's ship, did you
say?"

"Yes, if he can."

Fanny Glen was a picture of terror plainly apparent in spite of her
valiant effort to conceal her feelings. Her agitation was so
overwhelming, her anxiety so pronounced, that even on the hypothesis of
an ardent affection for Sempland, Lacy was completely at loss to
account for her condition. What could it mean? But he had no time to
speculate upon it. The minutes were flying by.

"Come, Miss Glen," he said at last, "it isn't so bad as all that."

"But those men on the ship, the--the admiral! They won't have a chance
for their lives. It is appalling to think of! I cannot bear it! I--"

"Let them lift the blockade then," coolly returned the young officer;
"it is a chance of war. Don't waste your sympathy on them. Bestow it
nearer at hand. Sempland starts in half an hour. Won't you see him
before he goes?"

"Yes," whispered the girl, "if you will send him to me."

"There is no time to lose. I will have him here in a few moments."

As he turned away the girl stretched out her hand to him.

"You have been very good--very brave--very noble," she faltered. "I
wish--I--I loved you more than--than I do."

He stooped over her and kissed her bended head. She was a lit