Illustrated by BERTR4ND 8UITB& BOOK STORK 140 PAC-I-FIC A VENW& LONG Bb.ACH. TLc Loves of tie Lacb Arabella Arabella OF /^ LADY ARABELLA MOLLY- ELLIOT- SEAWELL Tluthor o/ The For tunes Of Fi Pi Children Of Destiny, eto. JJ/ith Illustrations by Clarence F. Underwood Decorations by Franklin Booth INDIANAPOLIS THE.BOBB5-MEARJLL COMPANY PUBL15HLK.5 COPYRIGHT 1898 MOIXY EIJJOT SEAWEUL COPYRIGHT 1906 THE BOBBS-MEBRILL COMPANY OCTOBER PRESS OP BRAUNWORTH & CO BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS BROOKLYN. N. Y Tie Loves of tie Lady Arabella 2062003 Tic Loves of tie Lacy AraDella 'Tis not in my nature to be cowed by any woman whatever. Therefore, when I found myself in the presence of my Lady Hawkshaw, in her Chinese drawing-room, with her great black eyes glaring at me, and her huge black plume of feathers nodding at me, as she sat, enveloped in a vast black velvet robe like a pall, I said to myself, " After all, she is but a woman." So I stared back at her with all the coolness in the world and I was a seeker after favor, too and but fourteen years of age, and had only seven and sixpence in my pocket. The tall footman who stood behind Lady Hawk- shaw's chair made a grimace at me; and I re- sponded by a fierce look, as if I were about to run him through the body. " Jeames," said her ladyship, " go and make 1 my compliments to Sir Peter Hawkshaw, and say to him that his roistering kept me awake half the night, and consequently I feel very ill this morning ; and that his great-nephew, Master Richard Glyn from America, is come after a midshipman's warrant in his Majesty's navy, and I desire Sir Peter to attend me in my bvw- dwor immediately." Her ladyship's French was the queerest im- aginable, yet in her youth she had the French tutor who had taught the daughters of the Regent of France. There was a silence after the tall footman left, during which my lady and I eyed each other closely. I remembered having heard that she had defied her father, Lord Bosanquet, and one of the greatest family connections in the kingdom, in order to marry Sir Peter, who was then a penniless lieutenant in his Majesty's navy and the son of a drysalter in the city. This same drysalter was my great-grandfather; but I had an infusion of another blood through my mother, God bless her ! who was of a high family and a baronet's daughter. The dry- salter strain was honest, but plebeian, while * " Here is your nephew Tom's brat." Page j TLc Loves of tic Lacly Arabella the baronet strain was rather more lofty than honest, I fancy. Having heard, as I say, of the desperate struggle it cost Lady Hawkshaw to marry her lieutenant, I somewhat expected to find her and Admiral Sir Peter Hawkshaw living like doves in a cage, and was disconcerted at the message her ladyship sent her lord. But I was still more disconcerted when Sir Peter, a short, stout man, with a choleric eye, presently bounced into the room. " Sir Peter," said her ladyship, " here is your nephew Tom's brat, who wants a midshipman's warrant." Sir Peter stopped short, looked me over, I was tall for my age, and grinned savagely. I thought it was all up with me and was almost ready to haul down my flag. " And Sir Peter," screamed her ladyship, " he must have it ! " " Hang me, my lady ! " snapped Sir Peter, " but when did you take such an interest in my nephew Tom's brat? " " This very hour," replied Lady Hawkshaw tartly, and tossing her black plumes haughtily. TLc Loves of tLe Lac^ Arabella " You behaved like a wretch to the boy after the death of his father and mother in America ; and God has given you the chance to make amends, and I say he shall have his warrant." " Zounds, Madam ! " bawled Sir Peter ; " since you take the liberty of disposing of my war- rants, I presume you are the holder of my commission as Vice-Admiral of the White in his Majesty's service. Let me know it if you are let me know it, I say ! " " Stuff ! " responded my lady, to which Sir Peter answered something that sounded like "Damme!" and then my attention was dis- tracted from this matrimonial engagement by the silent entrance of two young girls. One of them was about twelve years of age. She had dove-like eyes, and her dark lashes kissed her cheek. She came and stood familiarly by Lady Hawkshaw's chair; and the gentle affec- tionateness of her manner toward that redoubt- able person amazed me at the time. This was my first sight of Daphne Carmichael; and when she fixed her soft, childish glance upon me, it was like the sight of stars on a cloudy night. But the other one, a tall girl of sixteen 4 Tie Loves of tic Lacbr Arabella or thereabouts, dazzled me so that I am obliged to confess I had no more eyes for Daphne. This older girl was the Lady Arabella Stor- mont, and was then and always by far the handsomest creature I ever beheld. I shall not attempt to describe her. I will only say that her brilliant face, with such a complexion as I never saw before or since, showed a haughty indifference toward the shabby boy over whom Sir Peter and Lady Hawkshaw were squabbling, and the sense of my shabbiness and helplessness pierced my heart under Lady Arabella's calmly scornful gaze. Both of these young girls were the great- nieces of Sir Peter Hawkshaw, but not on the drysalter's side, so they were no blood-relation to me. Sir Peter was their guardian, and Lady Hawkshaw had charge of them, and was most kind and devoted to them in her way. I soon found out that every one of Sir Peter's family had a good friend in Lady Hawkshaw; and I may as well say here that for true devotion and incessant wrangling, I never saw a married pair that equaled Sir Peter and Lady Hawkshaw. 5 TLc Loves of tie Lacb Arabella The discussion between them concerning me grew hotter, and I grew as hot as the dis- cussion, in thinking what a figure I was making before that divinely beautiful Lady Arabella. I had clean forgotten Daphne. Lady Hawk- shaw lugged in a great variety of extraneous matter, reminding Sir Peter of certain awful predictions concerning his future which had been made by the last chaplain who sailed with him. Sir Peter denounced the chaplain as a sniveling dog. Lady Hawkshaw indulged in some French, at which Lady Arabella laughed behind her hand. The battle royal lasted some time longer, but Lady Hawkshaw's metal was plainly heavier than Sir Peter's; and it ended by Sir Peter's saying to me angrily : " Very well, sir, to oblige my lady I will give you the remaining midshipman's berth on the Ajax, seventy-four. You may go home now, but show yourself aboard the Ajax at Ports- mouth, before twelve o'clock on this day week, and be very careful to mind your eye." I had nerved myself to hear with coolness the refusal of this fiery admiral; but his real 6 Tnc Loves of tie Lady Arabella kindness, disguised under so much of choler, overcame me. I stammered something and stopped, that hound of a footman was grin- ning at me, because my eyes were full of tears, and also, perhaps, because my coat was of cheap make, and my shoes needed attention. But at that moment little Daphne, with the greatest artlessness, came up and slipped her little hand into mine, saying: " He means he is very much obliged to you, uncle, and to you, dear aunt." I do not know how I got out of the house, but the next thing I knew I was standing on the street outside. I had been told to go home. I had no home now unless the Bull-in-the-Bush tavern be one. But I did not return to the Bull-in-the-Bush, whose tawdry splendors re- volted me now, after I had seen Sir Peter Hawkshaw's imposing house, as much as they had before attracted me. I was tingling with the sense of beauty newly developed in me. I could not forget that exquisite vision of Lady Arabella Stormont, who seemed to my boyish mind more like a white rose-bush in full flower than anything I could call to memory. I made 7 TLc Loves of tie Lady Arabella my way instead to the plain, though clean lodg- ings, where I had spent the years since my par- ents' death, with good Betty Green, the widow of Corporal Green, late of my father's regiment. These two excellent but humble creatures had brought me, an orphan, home from my birthplace, America, consigned to Sir Peter and Lady Hawkshaw. This woman, Betty Green, had been my mother's devoted servant, as her husband had been my father's, and it was thought perfectly safe to send me home with them. But there was a danger which no one foresaw. Betty was one of those strange women who love like a lioness. This lioness* love she felt for me; and for that reason, I believe, she deliberately planned to prevent my family from ever getting hold of me. It is true, on landing in England, her husband's regiment being ordered to Winchester, she went to see Sir Peter Hawkshaw and, I suspect, pur- posely made him so angry that, Lady Hawkshaw being absent, he almost kicked Betty Green out of the house. That is what I fancy my lady meant when she reproached Sir Peter with cruelty to me. I well remember the air of 8 Tie Loves of tie Lac^ Arabella triumph with which Betty returned and told the corporal of her ill success; then, clasping me in her arms, she burst out with a cry that no admiral nor ladies nor lords neither should take her darling boy away from her. Green, her husband, being a steady, cool-headed fellow, waited until the paroxysm was over, when he told her plainly that she must carry out my parents' instructions, and he himself would go to see Sir Peter as soon as he could. But Fate disposed of this plan by cutting short the corporal's life the next week, most unexpectedly. Then this woman, Betty Green, illiterate, a stranger in England, and supporting us both by her daily labor, managed to foil all of the efforts of Admiral Sir Peter Hawkshaw to find me ; for he had done all he could to discover the whereabouts of his nephew's orphan. 'Tis not for me to say one word against Betty Green, for she slaved for me as only a woman can slave, and, besides, brought me up in the habits and manners of a gentleman, albeit she did little for my education, and to this day I am prone to be embarrassed when I have a pen in my hand. I can not say that I was happy in the 9 TLc Loves of tlie Lacb Arabella devoted, though savage love she lavished upon me. She would not allow me to play with the boys of her own class, and those of my class I never saw. All my clamorings to know some- thing about my family on either side were met by her declaring that she had forgotten where my mother's people lived ; and as for Sir Peter, she gave me such a horrifying account of him that I never dreamed it possible to receive any kindness from him. At last, though, on her death-bed, she acknowledged a part of the de- ception her desperate affection had impelled her to play upon me. The poor soul had actually forgotten about my mother's family, and had destroyed everything relating to them, but di- rected me to go to Sir Peter; and thus it was that, on the day after I saw Betty Green, my only friend on earth, laid in a pauper's grave, I went to the house of my father's uncle, with the result narrated. When I got back to the humble lodgings where I had lived before Betty's death, I looked up a small box of trinkets of little value which had belonged to my mother, and from the sale of them I got enough to live upon for a week, and to make 10 Toe Loves of tie Laqy Arabella my way to Portsmouth at the end of it. Either Sir Peter had forgotten to tell me anything about my outfit, or else I had slipped out so quickly galled by the fear of weeping before that rascally footman that he had no chance. At all events, I arrived at Portsmouth by the mail-coach, with all of my belongings in one shabby portmanteau. I shall not describe my feelings during that journey toward the new life that awaited me. In fact, I scarcely recall them coherently ; all was a maze, a jumble, and an uproar in my mind. We got down in the inn yard, a coach full of passengers, I the only cne who seemed adrift and alone among them. I stood looking about me at a pert chambermaid who impu- dently ogled the hostlers and got a kiss in re- turn; at the pretentious entrance to the inn; at all of the bustle and confusion of the arrival of the coach. Presently I saw a young gentle- man somewhat older than myself, and wearing the uniform of his Majesty's sea-service, come out of the inn door. He had a very elegant figure, but his face was rather plain. Within 11 TLc Loves of tie Lacbr Arabella five minutes of my first meeting with Giles Vernon, I had an example of what was one of his most striking traits every woman in sight immediately fixed her attention on him and smiled at him. One was the chambermaid, who left off ogling the hostlers and gaped at this young officer with her coarse, handsome face all aflame; another was the landlady, who fol- lowed him to the door, smirking and fanning herself; and the third was a venerable Quaker- ess, who was about entering the inn, and who beamed benevolently on him as he bowed gal- lantly in passing. I know not why this should have made such an impression on me; but being young and a fool, I thought beauty was as highly prized by women as by men, and it surprised me that a fellow with a mouth so wide and with something dangerously near a squint should be such a lady-killer. It was common enough for young gentlemen holding midship- men's warrants to come down by the coach, and as soon as he saw me this young officer called out: "Halloo, my hearty ! Is it a ship of the line or a frigate you are booked for? Or is it one 12 Tic Loves or tie Lacy Arabella of those damned gun-brigs which are unfit for a gentleman to serve in ? " Now, the peculiar circumstances of my bring- ing^up had given me a ridiculous haughtiness, for Betty Green had never ceased to implore me to remember my quality, so I replied to this offhand speech in kind. " A ship of the line," said I. " Damme, do you think I'd serve in a gun-brig? " He came up a little closer to me, looked at me attentively, and said, " It's an infant Rodney, sure. Was not Americus Vespucius your grandfather? And was not your grandmother in love with Noah when he was oakum boy at the Portsmouth docks?" I considered this very offensive and, drawing myself up, said, " My grandfather was a baronet, and my grand-uncle is Admiral Sir Peter Hawkshaw, whose flagship, as you may know, is the Ajax, seventy-four." " I know him well," responded my new ac- quaintance. " We were drunk together this night week. He bears for arms Lot's wife 13 Ttc Loves of tie Lacjy Arabella after she was turned into a pillar of salt, with the device, I thirst '." This was an allusion to the drysalter. For I soon found that the young gentlemen in the cockpit were intimately acquainted with all of the antecedents, glorious or otherwise, of their superior officers. The lie in the early part of this sentence was patent to me, but so great was the power to charm of this squinting, wide-mouthed fellow, that I felt myself drawn to him irresistibly, and something in my countenance showed it, for he linked his arm through mine and began again, " I know your great-aunt, too, Polly Hawk- shaw. Dreadful old girl. I hear she can tack ship as well as the admiral; knows to a shil- ling what his mess bill is, and teaches him trigonometry when he is on leave." This was, of course, a vilification, and Lady Hawkshaw's name was not Polly, but Apol- lonia; but I blush to say I spoke not one word in defense of either her or her name. It oc- curred to me that my new friend was a person who could give me much information about my 14 TLc Loves of tie Laciy Arabella outfit and uniforms, and I candidly stated my case to him. " Come on," he cried. " There's a rascal of a haberdasher here who lives off his Majesty's officers, and I'll take you there and fit you out; for Sir Peter's the man to have his young officers smart. A friend of mine poor fel- low ! happened to be caught in mufti in the Ajax the other day, and Sir Peter had all hands turned up for an execution. My unhappy friend begged that he might be shot instead of hanged, and Sir Peter, I'll admit, granted him the favor. The poor fellow tied the handker- chief over his eyes himself, forgave all his enemies, and asked his friends to pay his debts. Zounds, 'twas the most affecting scene I ever witnessed." I plainly perceived that my companion was talking to frighten me, and showed it by thrusting my tongue into my cheek, which caused him to burst out laughing. He pres- ently became grave, however, and assured me solemnly that a sea-officer had his choice of dressing handsomely, or being court-martialed and shot. " For," said he, " the one hundred 15 and forty-fourth regulation of the service reads, ' All of his Majesty's sea-officers are com- manded to marry heiresses, and in these cases, the usual penalties for the abduction of heiresses are remitted '. Now, how can we abduct heir- esses, or even get them to look at us, without fine clothes? Women, my boy, are caught by the eye alone and I know 'em, by Gad ! " This trifling speech remained in my memory, and the day came when I recalled the idle talk of us two laughing midshipmen as prophetic. We went together to a shop, where, under his direction and that of an oily-tongued shop- man, I ordered one of the handsomest outfits any midshipman could possibly have, including two dozen of silk stockings, as my new-found friend informed me that every man on board his Majesty's ships, from the admiral down to the jack-o'-the-dust, always wore silk stockings, because in the event of being struck by a ball or a pike or a cutlass in action, the danger from inflammation was much less with silk than with cotton or wool. All went swimmingly, until it was time to pay for the things. Then, I acknowledge, I 16 was at a loss. The shopman, suddenly chang- ing his tone, cried out to my companion, " Mr. Giles Vernon, I remember the last reefer you brought here bought near a boat- load and paid with the foresail, as you gentle- men of the sea call it. I will not be done this time, I assure you." At this, Giles Vernon promptly drew his sword, which did not disturb the shopman in the least, as I found out afterward; young gentlemen of Giles' age and rank, in Ports- mouth, drew their swords whenever they could not draw their purses. But I was very un- happy, not on Giles' account, but on that of the poor shopman, whom I expected to see weltering in his blood. After a wordy war, Giles left the shop, taking me with him, and menacing the shopman, in case the purchases I had ordered did not come aboard the Ajax that night. I thought it wise to suggest that I should now go aboard, as it was well on to three o'clock. Giles agreed with me. I had for- gotten to ask him what ship he was attached to, but it suddenly occurred to me that he, too, 17 Toe Loves of tLe Lac^ Arabella might be in the Ajax, and I asked him. Im- agine my delight when he said yes. " But if the admiral does not behave him- self better," he added, " and if the captain does not ask me to dinner oftener than he has been doing lately, I shall prefer charges against both of them. I have been assured by the lords in admiralty that any request of mine will be re- garded as an order by them, and I shall request that Admiral Hawkshaw and Captain Guilford be relieved of their commands." By that time we had reached the water and there, stepping into a splendid, eight-oared barge, I saw Sir Peter Hawkshaw. He caught sight of us at the same moment, and the change in Giles Vernon's manner was what might have been expected. He was even more modest and deferential than I, as we advanced. " Here you are ! " pleasantly cried the ad- miral to me. " You ran away so fast t'other day, that I had no chance to give you any directions, and I scarcely expected you to turn up to-day. However, I shall now take you to the ship. Mr. Vernon, I have room for you." * Thank you, sir," responded Giles very 18 TLc Loves of tie Lac^ Arabella gratefully, " but I have a pressing engagement on shore a matter of important business " at which I saw the suspicion of a grin on the admiral's homely old face. He said little to me until we were in the great cabin of the Ajax. For myself, I can only say that I was so awed by the beauty, the majesty, the splendor of one of the finest ships of the line in the world, that I was dumb with delight and amazement. Once in the cabin, the admiral asked me about my means and my outfit. I burst out with the whole story of what oc- curred in the haberdasher's shop, at which Sir Peter looked very solemn, and lectured me upon the recklessness of my conduct in ordering things with no money to pay for them, and followed it up with an offer to fit me out handsomely. This I accepted with the utmost gratitude, and in a day or two I found myself established as one of his Majesty's midshipmen in the cockpit of the Ajax, and I began to see life. 19 n My introduction into the cockpit of the Ajax was pretty much that of every other reefer in his Majesty's navy. I was, of course, told that I showed the most brazen presumption in daring to wish to enter the naval service; that I ought to be a choir boy at St. Paul's ; that haymalcing was my profession by nature, to say nothing of an exchange of black eyes and bloody noses with every midshipman of my size in the cockpit. Through all this Giles Vernon was my chief tormentor and best friend. He proclaimed the fact of my drysalting ancestry, and when I imprudently reminded him that I was the grandson of a baronet, he gave me one kick for the drysalter and two for the baronet. He showed me a battered old cocked hat hung up on a nail in the steerage country. " Do you see that hat, you young rapscal- lion ? " he asked. I replied that I did, and a shocking bad hat it was, too. 20 TLe Loves of tie Lac^ Arabella " That hat was once the property of that old pirate and bucaneer, Sir Peter Hawkshaw, Vice- Admiral of the White. It is named after him, and whenever his conduct displeases the junior officers on this ship, which it generally does, that hat, dear boy, is kicked and cursed as a proxy for your respected great-uncle. Now understand: your position in the cockpit is that of this hat. In fact, you will take the hat's place," which I found to be true, and I was called to account every day for some part of the conduct of Admiral Hawkshaw, although I did not see him twice in the week. Mr. Buxton, our first lieutenant, was a fine officer, and celebrated for licking midshipmen into shape; and if I learned my duty quickly, he, rather than I, deserves the credit. My experience of other ships convinces me that the juniors in the Ajax were clever fel- lows; but Giles Vernon was undoubtedly the smartest officer among them and cock of the walk between decks. He had innumerable good qualities, but the beggarly virtue of prudence was not among them. He had, however, an- other virtue in a high degree, a daring and 21 Tic Loves of tie Lady Arabella invincible courage. That, and his smartness as an officer, made Mr. Buxton his friend, and caused many of his peccadilloes to be over- looked. The fact that at nineteen Giles Vernon was still only a midshipman made me think that he was without fortune or influence; but I was soon enlightened on the subject, though not by him. He was the distant cousin and heir of Sir Thomas Vernon of Vernon Court, near York, and of Grosvenor Square, London. This man was generally spoken of as the wicked Sir Thomas, and a mortal hatred subsisted between him and his heir. Giles had been caught trying to induce the money sharks to take his post- obits ; but as Sir Thomas was not yet fifty years of age, and it was quite possible that he should marry, the only result was to fan the flame of animosity between him and his heir, without Giles' getting a shilling. The next heir to Giles was another cousin, remote from both him and Sir Thomas, one Captain Philip Overton of the Guards, who was as much disliked by Sir Thomas as was Giles. Giles, who had been at sea since his twelfth year, knew little or nothing of Captain Overton, although he swore many times in a month that he meant to marry the first woman who would take him, for the purpose of cutting off Overton's hopes; but it occurred to me, young as I was, that Giles was not the man to give up his liberty to the first woman who was willing to accept of it. We were fitting for the Mediterranean, and the ship lay in the inner harbor at Portsmouth, waiting her turn to go in dry dock to be cop- pered. There was plenty for the seniors to do, but not much for the midshipmen at that par- ticular time; and we had more runs on shore than usual. The rest of us were satisfied with Portsmouth, but Giles was always raving of London and the London playhouses. Knowing how long I had lived in London, he said to me one day, " Were you ever at Drury Lane Theater, my lad?" I said no, I had never been to the playhouse ; and I blushed as I said it, not 'desiring my messmates to know that I had been brought up by Betty Green, a corporal's widow. " Then, child," he cried, whacking me on the 23 Tie, Loves of tic Lac^ Arabella back, " you have yet to live. Have you not seen Mistress Trenchard the divine Sylvia as Roxana, as Lady Percy, as Violetta? Oh, what a galaxy of parts ! Oh, the divine creature ! " He threw himself across the mess-table at that, for we were in the cockpit at the time. I laughed, boylike, at his raptures, and he groan- ed loudly. " Such a face and figure ! Such a foot and ankle! Such a melting eye! Such a luscious voice ! " I own that this outburst did more to make me realize that Giles, after all, was but nine- teen than anything that had gone before ; for I knew that older men did not so rave. " And," he cried wildly, " I can not see her before we sail. By Heaven, I will see her! 'Tis seventy-four miles between me and her angel face. It can be done in seven hours and twenty minutes. I can get twenty-four hours* leave but not a word of this, you haymaking son of a farmer." No sooner had Giles said this than with the determination to be known as a man of spirit (I was, as I said, but fourteen), I concluded I 24- TLe Loves of tie Lady Arabella would go to London, too. On the day that Giles Vernon got his twenty-four hours' leave, I also got the same. Mr. Buxton looked a little queer when I asked him for it, and said something about not allowing the midshipmen to leave Portsmouth; but I answered readily enough that I wished very much to go on a little expedition with Giles Vernon, which would last overnight. As the other midshipmen had been allowed similar liberty, I got my request; and next morning, as the Phosbus coach for London rolled out of the stables into the inner yard, I appeared. Giles Vernon was also on hand. His surprise was great when he saw me. " You take a risk, my lad," he said. " No more than you do," I replied stoutly. " And I, too, love a roguish eye and a blushing cheek, and mean to go to the playhouse with you to see Mistress Trenchard." At which Giles roared out one of his rich laughs, and cried, " Come along then, my infant Don Juan." We got inside the coach, because it was far from unlikely that we might meet some of our own officers on the road, or even Sir Peter 25 TLc Loves of tie Laqy Arabella Hawkshaw himself, who traveled much between Portsmouth and the Admiralty. And had we been caught, there is little doubt that we should have been forced to right about face, in spite of the leave each one of us had in his pocket. So we made ourselves extremely small in a corner of the coach, and only ventured to peep out once, when we caught sight of Sir Peter Hawkshaw's traveling chaise going London- wards, and Sir Peter himself lying back in it, reading a newspaper. After that, you may be sure we were very circumspect. I noticed, however, the same thing in the coach that I had observed the first hour I set eyes on Giles Vernon that every woman he met was his friend. There were some trades- men's wives, a French hairdresser, and the usual assortment of women to be found in a public coach; and in half an hour Giles Vernon had said a pleasant word to every one of them, and basked in their smiles. The day was in April, and was bright throughout; and the relays of horses were so excellent that we reached London at four in the afternoon, having left Portsmouth at nine in 26 Tic Loves of tie Laqy Arabella the morning. We went straight to a chop- house, for we were ravenously hungry. " And now, Dicky boy," said Giles to me, " keep a bright lookout for any of our men ; and if you see one, cut your cable and run for it, and if we are separated, meet me at the White Horse Cellar at twelve o'clock to-night to take the midnight coach." By the time we had got our dinner, it was time to go to the play. We marched off, and made our way through the mob of footmen, and got seats for the pit; and when we went in, and I saw the playhouse lighted up and the boxes filled with beautiful creatures, I was near beside myself. Giles laughed at me, but that I did not mind. I gaped about me until suddenly Giles gripped my arm, and whispered to me, " Don't look to the left. There is a box with Peter Hawkshaw in it, and Polly, and two girls one of them the greatest beauty I ever saw, though but a slip of a girl. If Peter or Polly sees us, Lord help us ! " I did not look around immediately, but the desire to have a glimpse of the adorable Lady 27 TLc Loves of tie Lac^ Arabella Arabella made me steal a glance that way. She was very beautifully dressed, and though but little more than sixteen, such a vision of loveliness as fairly to rival reigning beauties of several seasons' standing. I own that I saw little Daphne sitting by Lady Arabella, but I noted her scarcely at all. Nor could Giles keep his eyes off Lady Ara- bella; and I noticed that even when the divine Sylvia, as he called her, was on the stage, he was not strictly attentive to her, but rather sought that fateful box where so much beauty was enthroned. The divine Sylvia was a delightful actress, I must admit, and in spite of being forty if she was a day, and though raddled with paint, she had something winning in her air and face, and I could understand her tremendous popularity with the young bloods. Neither Sir Peter nor Polly, as Giles called her, showed any signs whatever of having recog- nized us in the large crowd in the pit, and we began to congratulate ourselves heartily. There was a seat next to us held by a gentleman's servant, and presently he gave way to a re- 28 Tic Loves of tic Lady Arabella markably handsome young man of six or seven and twenty. A few words passed between master and man, and then we knew that the handsome gentleman was Captain Philip Overton, of the Second Life Guards. Giles exchanged significant looks with me. Captain Overton seated himself quietly, and, after a careless glance at the house, seemed to retire into his own thoughts, quite unmindful of the stage and what was going on upon it. I wondered why a man who seemed so little in harmony with his surroundings should take the trouble to come to the play. But if Captain Overton were indifferent to all about him, one person, the young beauty in Lady Hawkshaw's box, was far from indifferent to him. Lady Arabella saw his entrance, and from that moment she was occupied in trying to obtain his attention. When at last he recog- nized her and bowed slightly, she flamed all over with color, and gave him as good an invi- tation as any man might want to come to her box. But Overton made no sign of any inten- tion to go to her, and, when she finally seemed 29 Toe Loves or the Laqy Arabella to realize this, she became as indifferent to all about her as he was. Other persons came to the box and went during the play, but they got little heed from Lady Arabella. Little Daphne, although but a child, not yet in her teens, showed a lively interest in all that passed and behaved in a most young-ladyish way, much to my diversion. (I wias all of two years older than she.) As the play progressed, I saw that Giles was becoming more and more infatuated with the fledgling beauty, and he even whispered to me a suggestion that we present ourselves boldly at the door of the box. This I received with hor- ror, fearing both Sir Peter and Lady Hawk- shaw. Indeed, I had not been able to shake off this fear of my great-uncle and aunt for a moment. One's first night at the play is usually a magic dream, but mine was tempered with the dread of being caught on the spot, of being delayed in our return to Portsmouth, and the torment of seeing the adored of my heart quite absorbed in another man. When the play was over, we sat still until 30 o- There was nothing for me to do but to walk along beside him. Page the Hawkshaw party had passed out, and then, more for the sake of bravado, I think, than inclination, Giles ran pell-mell to the stage door, where he made one of a mob of gentlemen to see the divine Sylvia to her chair. And, to my alarm, as soon as the lady was within and the curtain drawn, he tipped the wink to one of the chairmen, who silently gave up his place, and Giles, taking up the pole, trudged off, assisting to carry his portly mistress. There was nothing for me to do but to walk along beside him amid the rattle and roar of coaches, the shouting of the hackney coachmen, the pushing and jostling of chairmen and linkboys, and all the confusion that attends the emptying of a London playhouse. Mrs. Trenchard's door was not far away, and when she was put down, and Giles sneaked off, I observed the handsome Captain Overton standing at the turn of the street laughing at him. Giles, who was so timid in his % love, was bold enough in his wrath, and stepping up to Overton said coolly: " Sir, I perceive you are smiling. Who is the harlequin that amuses you, may I ask ? " " You, sir," promptly answered Overton. 31 TLc Loves of tie Lacb Arabella " You are too good," responded Giles, " and I have before pinked my man in beauty's quarrel," and then he slapped Overton in the mouth. The next thing I knew their two swords were flashing in the moonlight. I stood paralyzed with fear. Not so a couple of burly watchmen, who, running forward, clutched the offenders and dragged them apart. But the two late enemies, making common cause against the watchmen, fought them off; and when the watchmen desisted from the fight to spring their rattles for assistance, both Giles and the officer ran down a dark alley, followed by me as fast as my short legs would carry me, and soon all three of us were huddled together in the porch of a church, some distance away from the scene of the fracas. " Neatly done," remarked Overton with a smile, to Giles. " I should have been in that brawny fellow's clutches now, but for the clip over the head you gave him." " You did your share, sir," politely responded Giles. " But time presses and our affairs must be settled," said Overton ; " here is my card. It Tic Loves of tne Lacy Arabella is too dark to read it, but I am Captain Philip Overton, of the Second Life Guards." " And I," replied Giles, " am Midshipman Giles Vernon, of the Ajax, ship of the line, now at Portsmouth." By the dim light of a lantern in the church porch, I saw the expression of astonishment upon Overton's face. " Then," he stammered, " we are related." " Yes," replied Giles, smiling, " and if you pierce me through with sword or pistol, it will be worth one of the finest estates in the king- dom to you, provided always that old villain, Sir Thomas Vernon, does not marry and have children to spite us." Overton reflected, half laughing and half frowning. " If only you had not passed a blow ! Any- thing else, there could be an accommodation for. It was most unfortunate." " Yes, as it turns out," responded Giles ; " but the question is, now, when and where can we meet ? " Just then the great bell of St. Paul's tolled out the half-hour before midnight, and I, who 33 Tne Loves or we Lacy Arabella had been an almost unobserved listener, spoke, out of the fullness of my heart. " Giles," said I, " the coach leaves at twelve. If we do not get to Portsmouth in time, we are deserters. Let Captain Overton write to you and fight afterward." " Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings comes wisdom," replied Overton, smiling; and so in two minutes it was settled, Overton agree- ing to come to Portsmouth to fight, if Giles could not get leave to meet him half-way be- tween Portsmouth and London. We then bade him good-by, and ran off as fast as our legs could carry us, and barely made the coach. We traveled all night, Giles sleeping soundly and snoring very loud, in one corner. I felt great uneasiness about the coming meeting between him and Overton, although I believed there was no hostile feeling between them. But when two men face each other with arms in their hands, there is always the possibility of awful catastrophe. The roseate morning broke when we were still some distance from Portsmouth. The sight of the blooming hedge-rows, the bird-songs, and 34 Tie Loves or tie Laqy Arabella all the fair beauty of the morning made me long to be outside, and at the last stage my com- panion still sleeping I got out, and with a shilling to the coachman, got the box seat. There were only two or three persons, besides the guard, on the coach. Once up there, I could not rest satisfied with- out handling the ribbons. I had never even driven a donkey in my life, but, nevertheless, I aspired to drive four fresh roadsters. The coachman, a good-natured, foolish fellow, gave me the reins, down a perfectly smooth lane. I seized the whip, too, and brought it down across the wheelers' backs, and, the next thing I knew, the coach was lying on its side on the road, and I was on the ground. It was over in a wink, and it seemed scarcely longer before it had been righted; for the load was extremely light, and no one was hurt except Giles. He scrambled out of the coach window, his arm hanging down, not broken, but out of joint. I pointed to it. " Your sword arm," I said. There was nothing for it but to make for Portsmouth as fast as possible. Giles was in 35 Tte Loves of tie Laqy Arabella extreme pain; he said nothing, but great drops came out upon his forehead. When we reached the town, I at once put off in search of a sur- geon, while Giles remained at the inn. I soon fetched the surgeon, who got the arm into place. When the man had finished, Giles asked when he could use his arm for pistol shooting. " In a week, perhaps ; possibly not for two weeks." And the surgeon departed. As soon as he was out of the room, Giles sent for pen and paper, and with the most painful effort, guiding his right hand by his left, managed to indite the following epistle to Captain Overton: PHEENIX INN, PORTSMOUTH, Friday. "DEAR SIR: " This is to inform you that I met with a most unfortnit axerdent while coming down on the coach. My friend and messmate, the infant admiral which you saw with me, had read the story of Gehu in the Bible or Homar, I forget which, and aspired to drive four horses. Which he did, with the result that my right arm was rentched out of place, and the rascally doctor who sett it says I cannot use it for some days. This is most unfortnit, as it delays the pleasure we antissipatcd in our meeting. You will here from me as soon as I am recovered. The only 36 TLc Loves of tic Lac^ Arabella thing witch disturbs me is that if we both go to Davy Jones's, twil please that old curmudgin, Sir Thomas Vernon, bad luck to him. Believe me, sir, " Your very obliged, and " Most obedient servant, " GILES VERNON, Mid. on H. M. S. A jax." Giles gave me this to read, and I pointed out several mistakes he had made in spelling, al- though the tone of the letter was gentlemanlike, as everything was that Giles did. With great vexation and some difficulty, he added a post- script. " P. S. Please excuse speling as my arm is very paneful. G. V." At that moment a marine from the Ajax bounced, breathless and in great excitement, into the room. " We are to sail with the tide, to-night, sir ! " he said. " The admiral passed the messenger on the road; the jib is loose, and the blue peter flying," and out he ran, to notify the other absentees. Giles seized the paper, and added labori- ously : 37 " P. S. No 2. I am just enformed that the Blue Peter is flying from the Ajax, and that, my dear sir, signifies that we are about to sail. Our meeting must be postponed, for god knose when we will eat fresh butter again. But you shall hear from me. G. V." And that night we sailed with the tide. 88 m We were ordered to join Sir John Jervis' fleet in the Mediterranean without the loss of a day, and, when the tide served at nine o'clock that night, Sir Peter Hawkshaw was ready for it. The officers, who knew Sir Peter's capacity for picking up his anchors at short notice, were generally prepared, and were but little surprised at the sudden departure of the ship. The men, however, are never prepared to go, and the ship was besieged, from the time she showed the blue peter until she set her topsails, by the usual crowd of bumboat women, sailors' wives, tavern- keepers, shop-dealers, and all the people with whom Jack trades, and who are loath to part with him for reasons of love or money. Al- though all of the stores were on board, there were market supplies to get, and the midship- men were in the boats constantly until the last boat was hoisted in, just as the music called the men to the capstan bars. It was a brilliant moonlight night, a good breeze was blowing, 39 Tic Loves of tie Lacly Arabella and the Ajax got under way with an unusual spread of sail. As we passed out the narrow entrance into the roads, the wind freshened and the great ship took her majestic way through the fleet, a mountain of canvas showing from rail to truck. The first few days I was over- come, as it were, with my new life and its duties. Two other midshipmen, junior to my- self, had joined, so I was no longer the exclusive butt of the cockpit. We spent most of our spare time expressing the greatest longing for a meeting with the French, although for my own part, even while I was bragging the most, I felt a sickness at the heart when I imagined a round shot entering my vitals. Giles Vernon was still the dearest object of my admiration and affections always excepting that divinely beautiful Lady Arabella. But this was rather the admiration of a glowworm for a star. I had no one else to love except Giles, and even a midshipman must love something. I did not much trouble myself about that meeting, so far in the future, between Giles and Overton. Youth has no future, as it has no past. 40 TLe Loves of tie Lacbr Arabella Naturally, I did not see much of my great- uncle, the admiral. He was a very strict disci- plinarian, probably because he was used to discipline at home, and busied himself more with the conduct of the ship than the captain liked. The other midshipmen alleged that there was no love lost between Captain Guilford and the admiral, and the captain had been heard to say that having an admiral on board was like having a mother-in-law in the house. Never- theless, Sir Peter was a fine seaman, and the gun-room joke was that he knew how to com- mand, from having learned how to obey under Lady Hawkshaw's iron rule. One day the admiral's steward brought me a message. The admiral's compliments, and would I dine in the great cabin at five o'clock that day? I was frightened out of a year's growth by the invitation, but of course I responded that I should be most happy. This, like my pro- fessed anxiety to meet the French, was a great lie. At five o'clock I presented myself, trem- bling in every limb. The first thing I noted in the cabin was a large portrait of Lady Hawk- 41 TLc Loves of tie Lady Arabella shaw as a young woman. She must have been very handsome. Sir Peter gave me two fingers, and turning to the steward, said, " Soup." Soup was brought. We were mostly out of fresh vegetables then, and it was pea-soup, such as we had in the cockpit. Sir Peter grumbled a little at it, and it was soon removed and a leg of pork brought on; a pig had been killed that day. "Aha!" sniffed Sir Peter delightedly. " This is fine. Nephew, you have no pig in the gun-room to-day." Which was true; and Sir Peter helped me liberally, and proceeded to do the same by himself. The steward, however, said respect- fully, " Excuse me, Sir Peter, but in the interview I had the honor to have with Lady Hawkshaw before sailing, sir, she particularly desired me to request you not to eat pork, as it always dis- agreed with you." " Wh-wh-what ! " roared Sir Peter. " I am only repeating Lady Hawkshaw's mes- sage, sir," humbly responded the man; but I 42 thought I saw, under all his humility, a sly kind of defiance. Sir Peter had no fear of either round, grape, or double-headed shot, and was indifferent to musketry fire. Likewise, it was commonly said of him in the service that if he were ordered to attack hell itself, he would stand on until his jib caught fire; but neither time nor distance weakened the authority over him of Lady Hawkshaw. Sir Peter glared at the steward and then at the leg of pork, and, suddenly jumping up, seized the dish and threw it, pork and all, out of the stern window. As I had secured my por- tion, I could view this with equanimity. The next dish was spareribs. The steward said nothing, but Sir Peter let it pass with a groan. It seemed to me that everything appe- tizing in the dinner was passed by Sir Peter, in response to a peculiar kind of warning glance from the steward. This man, I heard after- ward, had sailed with him many years, and was understood to be an emissary of Lady Hawk- shaw's. We had, besides the pea-soup and roast pork, spareribs, potatoes, turnips, anchovy with sauce, 43 TLc Loves of tie Lac^ Arabella and a custard. Sir Peter, however, dined off pea-soup and potatoes; but I observed that he was his own master as far as the decanters were concerned, and it occurred to me that he had made a trade with the steward, by which he was allowed this indulgence, as I noticed the man turned his back every time Sir Peter filled his glass. Dinner being over, the cloth removed, and the steward gone, Sir Peter appeared to be in a somewhat better humor. His first remark was, " So you are fond of the play, sir ? " I replied that I had been but once. " The time you went with Giles Vernon. If the coach had broken down between London and Portsmouth, we should have sailed without either one of you." I did not mention that the coach had upset, but merely said that we thought there was no danger of any detention, and that Giles Vernon was in no way responsible for my going to London, as he knew nothing about it until we met at the coach door. I was revolving in my mind whether I could 44 He turned his back every time Sir Peter filled his glass. Page 44 TLc Loves of tie Lacy Arabella venture to ask of the welfare of the divine Ara- bella, and suddenly a direct inspiration came to me. I remarked with blushes and tremors, I must admit, " How very like Lady Arabella Stormont must Lady Hawkshaw have been at her age! And Lady Arabella is a very beautiful young lady." Sir Peter grinned like a rat-trap at this awkward compliment, and remarked, " Yes, yes, Arabella is like my lady, except not half so handsome. Egad, when I married Lady Hawkshaw, I had to cut my way, literally with my sword, through the body-guard of gentlemen who wanted her. And as for her relations well, she defied 'em, that's all." I tried, with all the little art I possessed, to get some information concerning Arabella out of Sir Peter; but beyond telling me what I knew before, that she was his great-niece on the other side of the house and first cousin to Daphne, and that her father, now dead, was a scamp and a pauper, in spite of being an earl, he told me nothing. But even that seemed to show the great gulf between us. Would she, 45 TLe. Loves or tie Law Arabella with her beauty and her title, condescend to a midshipman somewhat younger than herself, and penniless? I doubted it, though I was, in general, of a sanguine nature. I found Sir Peter unbent as the decanters grew empty, although I would not for a mo- ment imply that he was excessive in his drink- ing. Only, the mellow glow which pervades an English gentleman after a few glasses of good port enveloped him. He asked me if I was glad I had joined the service, to which I could say yes with great sincerity ; impressed upon me my good fortune in getting in a ship of the line in the beginning, and gave me some admirable advice. I left him with a feeling that I had a friend in that excellent seaman, honest gentle- man, and odd fish, Admiral Sir Peter Hawkshaw. When I went below, I told my messmates all that had occurred, rather exaggerating Sir Peter's attentions to me, as midshipmen will. Then privately I confided to Giles Vernon. I told what little I had found out concerning the star of my soul, as I called Arabella, to which Giles responded by a long-drawn-out " Ph-ew ! " I implored him, if he knew any officer in the 46 Tic Loves of tLc Lac^ Arabella ship who would be likely to be acquainted with Lady Arabella, to pump him for me. This he promised; and the very next day, as I sat on a locker, studying my theorems, Giles came up. " Dicky," said he, " Mr. Buxton knows the divine Arabella. She has a fortune of thirty thousand pounds, and so has the dove-eyed little Daphne, all inherited from their granddad, a rich Bombay merchant. It seems that Lady Arabella's mother bought a coronet with her money, and it turned out a poor bargain. However, the earl did not live long enough to ruin his father-in-law; and little Daphne's par- ents, too, died young, so the old Bombay man left the girls his fortune, and made Sir Peter their guardian, and that means, of course, that Polly Hawkshaw is their guardian. Mr. Bux- ton says he would like to see the fortune-hunter who can rob Polly of those two damsels. For Polly says rank and lineage are not everything. She herself, you know, dates back to the Saxon Heptarchy, though she did marry the son of your drysalting great-grandfather. And she wants those girls to marry men; and what Polly says on that score is to be respected, considering 47 TLc Loves of tie Laclyr Arabella that she married into a drysalting family to please herself, or to displease her relations, I don't know which. I should say, though, if you are honest and deserving, and mind your book, and get a good word from the chaplain, you will probably one day be the husband of little Daphne, but not of Lady Arabella; no man shall marry her while I live, that you may be sure of; but when I marry her, you may be side-boy at my wedding." I thought this speech very cruel of Giles Vernon, and believed that he did not know what true love was, else he could not so trifle with my feelings, although there was an echo of earnestness in his intimation that he would kill any man who aspired to marry Lady Arabella. We were three weeks in the Bay of Biscay, thrashing to windward under topgallant-sails, and expecting daily and hourly to run across a Frenchman. We were hoping for it, because we found the Ajax to be a very weatherly ship and fast for her class; and both Captain Guilford and Sir Peter, who had sailed in her before, knew exactly how to handle her. And we were to have our wish. For, one evening 48 TLc Loves of tic Lad/ Arabella toward sunset, we sighted a French ship of the line off our beam ; and by the time we had made her out, a light French frigate was coming down the wind, and in an hour we were at it hammer and tongs with both of them. The Frenchmen thought they had us. We heard afterward that a prize crew was already told off to take us into Corunna, but no man or boy on the A jax dreamed of giving up the ship. The Ajax was cleared for action in eleven minutes; and, with four ensigns flying, we headed for the ship of the line, which was wait- ing for us, with her topsails shivering. The Ajax had been lately coppered, and, with all sail to royals set, legged it at a lively gait, in spite of the heavy sea, which occasionally caused our lower-deck guns to roll their noses in the water. As we wallowed toward the ship of the line, which was the Indomptable, the frigate, the Xantippe, was maneuvering for a position on our starboard quarter to rake us. Seeing this, the Ajax came up a little into the wind, which brought our broadside to bear directly on the Xantippe, and she hedged off a little. The steadiness, coolness, and precision with 49 The Loves of tLe Laqy Arabella which the ship was handled astonished my young mind. I knew very well that if we were de- feated, Sir Peter Hawkshaw would stand no show of leniency, for there was no doubt that, owing to our new copper, we could easily have outsailed the Frenchmen; but Sir Peter pre- ferred to outfight them, even against desperate odds. The officers and men had entire confidence in Sir Peter and in the ship, and went into action with the heartiest good-will imaginable. The people were amused by two powder monkeys coming to blows in the magazine passage over which one would be entitled to the larger share of prize-money. The gaiety of the men was contagious. Every man's face wore a grin ; and when the word was given to take in the royals, and send down the yards, furl all staysails and the flying jib, they literally rushed into the rigging with an " Aye, aye, sir," that seemed to shake the deck. The admiral, who had been on the bridge, left it and went below. Presently he came up. He was in his best uniform, with a gold-hilted sword, his order of the Bath on his breast, and 50 TLc Loves of tie Lacjy Arabella he wore a cocked hat. As he passed me, Mr. Buxton, who was stepping along briskly, said, " Pardon me, Sir Peter, but a French musket wants no better target than a cocked hat." " Sir," replied Sir Peter, " I have always fought in a cocked hat and silk stockings, as becomes a gentleman; and I shall always fight in a cocked hat and silk stockings, damme ! " Mr. Buxton passed on, laughing. Now, I had taken the opportunity, after we had sighted the Frenchman, to run below and put on my newest uniform, with silk stockings, and to get out several cambric pocket handker- chiefs; and I had also scented myself liberally with some attar of rose, which I had bought in Portsmouth. Sir Peter, putting his fingers to his nose, sniffed the attar of rose, and, speedily identifying me, he surveyed me calmly all over, while I blushed and found myself unable to stand still under his searching gaze. When he spoke, however, it was in words of praise. " Nephew, you have the right idea. It is a Holiday when we meet the enemy, and officers should dress accordingly." Mr. Buxton, who was standing near, sneaked 51 Tie Loves of tie La