of the watchful father.

It was believed by the principal men of Virginia that Talbot's sympathies
were with the revolted colonies; but the influence of his mother, to whom
he had been accustomed to defer, had hitherto proved sufficient to
prevent him from openly declaring himself. His visit to England, and the
delightful reception he had met with there, had weakened somewhat the
ties which bound him to his native country, and he found himself in a
state of indecision as humiliating as it was painful. Lord Dunmore and
Colonel Wilton had each made great efforts to enlist his support, on
account of his wealth and position and high personal qualities. It was
hinted by one that the ancient barony of the Talbots would be revived by
the king; and the gratitude of a free and grateful country, with the
consciousness of having materially aided in acquiring that independence
which should be the birthright of every Englishman, was eloquently
portrayed by the other. When to the last plea was added the personal
preference of Katharine Wilton, the balance was overcome, and the hopes
of the mother were doomed to disappointment.

For his own hopes, however, the decision had come too late, and it may be
safely presumed that his hesitation was one of the main causes through
which the woman he loved escaped him; for Katharine's heart was given to
young Seymour, after a ten days' courtship, almost before his eyes. In
any event, a wiser man would have seen in Seymour a possible, nay, a
certain rival by no means to be disregarded. An officer who had devoted
himself to the cause of his country in response to the first demand of
the Congress, who had been conspicuously mentioned for gallantry in
general orders and reports, who had been severely wounded while
protecting Katharine's father at the risk of his life; as well bred and
as well born as Talbot, of ample fortune, and with a wide knowledge of
men and things acquired in his merchant voyagings as captain of one of
his own ships in many seas,--Seymour's single-hearted devotion eminently
fitted him to woo and win Miss Katharine Wilton, as he had done.

Nevertheless, a friendship had sprung up between Seymour and the
unsuspecting Talbot which bade fair to ripen into intimacy; and it may be
supposed that the stories of battles in which the older man had
participated, his attractive personality, the consideration in which the
young sailor was held by men of weight and position in the co