specially asked him to keep his
eye upon him, and had begged him, frankly, to let him know how he
conducted himself. That rather set me against him, you know."

"I don't think that was anything," James urged. "I do not much like
Horton, but I should not like you to have a false impression of him. It
was a mere boyish affair, sir--in fact, it was connected with that
fight with me. I don't think he gave a very strictly accurate account
of it, and his uncle, who in some matters is very strict, although one
of the kindest of men, took the thing up, and sent him away to sea.
Horton was certainly punished severely enough, for that stupid
business, without its counting against him afterwards."

"I like the way you speak up in his defence, Captain Walsham,
especially as you frankly say you don't like him, and henceforth I will
dismiss the affair from my mind, but I should say that he has never
forgiven it, although you may have done so."

"That's natural enough," James laughed, "because I came best out of
it."

To Richard Horton, the news that James Walsham was about to undertake a
desperate enterprise, which, if he succeeded in it, would bring him
great honour and credit, was bitter in the extreme, and the admiration
expressed by the other officers, at his courage in undertaking it,
added to his anger and disgust. He walked moodily up and down the
quarterdeck all the afternoon, to think the matter over, and at each
moment his fury increased. Could he in any way have put a stop to the
adventure, he would instantly have done so, but there was no possible
way of interfering.

The thought that annoyed him most was of the enthusiasm with which the
news of the successful termination of the enterprise would be received
at Sidmouth. Already, as he knew, Aggie regarded James as a hero, and
the squire was almost as proud of his mention in despatches as if he
had been his own son; but for this he cared but little. It was Aggie's
good opinion Richard Horton desired to gain. James Walsham still
thought of her as the girl of twelve he had last seen, but Richard
Horton knew her as almost a woman, and, although at first he had
resolved to marry her as his uncle's heiress, he now really cared for
her for herself.

On the visit before James had left home, Richard had felt certain that
his cousin liked him; but, since that time, he had not only made no
progress, but he felt that he had lost rather than gained ground. The
girl was always