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in London. I should have cut but a poor figure asking for work and

calling myself Sir Cyril Shenstone. I should have had to enter into

all sorts of explanations before anyone would have believed me, and I

don't think that, even with you, I should have been so comfortable as

I have been."

"Well, at any rate, no harm has been done," Captain Dave said; "but I

think you might have told me."

"If I had, Captain Dave, you would assuredly have told your wife and

Mistress Nellie; and it was much more pleasant for me that things

should be as they were."

"Well, perhaps you were right, lad. And I own that I might not have

let you work at my books, and worry over that robbery, had I known

that you were of a station above me."

"That you could never have known," Cyril said warmly. "We have been

poor ever since I can remember. I owed my education to the kindness

of friends of my mother, and in no way has my station been equal to

that of a London trader like yourself. As to the title, it was but a

matter of birth, and went but ill with an empty purse and a shabby

doublet. In the future it may be useful, but until now, it has been

naught, and indeed worse than naught, to me."

The next morning when Cyril went into the parlour he found that

Nellie was busy assisting the maid to lay the table. When the latter

had left the room, the girl went up to Cyril and took his hand.

"I have never thanked you yet," she said. "I could not bring myself

to speak of it, but now that I have told them I can do so. Ever since

that dreadful night I have prayed for you, morning and evening, and

thanked God for sending you to my rescue. What a wicked girl you must

have thought me--and with reason! But you could not think of me worse

than I thought of myself. Now that my father and mother have forgiven

me I shall be different altogether. I had before made up my mind to

tell them. Still, it did not seem to me that I should ever be happy

again. But now that I have had the courage to speak out, and they

have been so good to me, a great weight is lifted off my mind, and I

mean to learn to be a good housewife like my mother, and to try to be

worthy, some day, of an honest man's love."

"I am sure you will be," Cyril said warmly. "And so, Mistress Nellie,

it has all turned out for the best, though it did not seem so at one

time."

At this moment Captain Dave came in. "I am glad to see you two

talking together as of old," he said. "We had thought that there must

be some quarrel between you, for you had given up rating him, Nellie.

Give her a kiss, Cyril; she is a good lass, though she has been a

foolish one. Nay, Nellie, do not offer him your cheek--it is the

fashion to do that to every idle acquaintance. Kiss him heartily, as

if you loved him. That is right, lass. Now let us to breakfast. Where

is your mother? She is late."

"I told her that I would see after the breakfast in future, father,

and I have begun this morning--partly because it is my duty to take

the work off her hands, and partly because I wanted a private talk

with Sir Cyril."

"I won't be called Sir Cyril under this roof," the lad said,

laughing. "And I warn you that if anyone calls me so I will not

answer. I have always been Cyril with you all, and I intend to remain

so to the end, and you must remember that it is but a few months that

I have had the right to the title, and was never addressed by it

until by Prince Rupert. I was for the moment well nigh as much

surprised as you were last night."

An hour later Cyril again donned his best suit, and started to pay

his visit to the Earl. Had he not seen him over-night, he would have

felt very uncomfortable at the thought of the visit; but he had found

him so pleasant and friendly, and so entirely free from any air of

pride or condescension, that it seemed as if he were going to meet a

friend. He was particularly struck with the manner in which he had

placed Captain Dave and his family at their ease, and got them to

talk as freely and naturally with him as if he had been an

acquaintance of long standing. It seemed strange to him to give his

name as Sir Cyril Shenstone to the lackeys at the door, and he almost

expected to see an expression of amusement on their faces. They had,

however, evidently received instructions respecting him, for he was

without question at once ushered into the room in which the Earl of

Wisbech and his daughters were sitting.

The Earl shook him warmly by the hand, and then, turning to his

daughters, said,--

"This is the gentleman to whom you owe your lives, girls. Sir Cyril,

these are my daughters--Lady Dorothy, Lady Bertha, and Lady Beatrice.

It seems somewhat strange to have to introduce you, who have saved

their lives, to them; but you have the advantage of them, for you

have seen them before, but they have not until now seen your face."

Each of the girls as she was named made a deep curtsey, and then

presented her cheek to be kissed, as was the custom of the times.

"They are somewhat tongue-tied," the Earl said, smiling, as the

eldest of the three cast an appealing glance to him, "and have begged

me to thank you in their names, which I do with all my heart, and beg

you to believe that their gratitude is none the less deep because

they have no words to express it. They generally have plenty to say,

I can assure you, and will find their tongues when you are a little

better acquainted."

"I am most happy to have been of service to you, ladies," Cyril said,

bowing deeply to them. "I can hardly say that I have the advantage

your father speaks of, for in truth the smoke was so thick, and my

eyes smarted so with it, that I could scarce see your faces."

"Their attire, too, in no way helped you," the Earl said, with a

laugh, "for, as I hear, their costume was of the slightest. I believe

that Dorothy's chief concern is that she did not have time to attire

herself in a more becoming toilette before the smoke overpowered

her."

"Now, father," the girl protested, with a pretty colour in her

cheeks, "you know I have never said anything of the sort, though I

did say that I wished I had thrown a cloak round me. It is not

pleasant, whatever you may think, to know that one was handed down a

ladder in one's nightdress."

"I don't care about that a bit," Beatrice said; "but you did not say,

father, that it was a young gentleman, no older than Sydney, who

found us and carried us out. I had expected to see a great big man."

"I don't think I said anything about his age, Beatrice, but simply

told you that I had found out that it was Sir Cyril Shenstone that

had saved you."

"Is the nurse recovering, my Lord?"

"She is still in bed, and the doctor says she will be some time

before she quite recovers from the fright and shock. They were all

sleeping in the storey above. It was Dorothy who first woke, and,

after waking her sisters, ran into the nurse's room, which was next

door, and roused her. The silly woman was so frightened that she

could do nothing but stand at the window and scream until the girls

almost dragged her away, and forced her to come downstairs. The

smoke, however, was so thick that they could get no farther than the

next floor; then, guided by the screams of the other servants, they

opened a door and ran in, but, as you know, it was not the room into

which the women had gone. The nurse fell down in a faint as soon as

she got in. The girls, as it seems, dragged her as far as they could

towards the window, but she was too heavy for them; and as they had

not shut the door, the smoke poured in and overpowered them, and they

fell beside her. The rest you know. She is a silly woman, and she has

quite lost my confidence by her folly and cowardice, but she has been

a good servant, and the girls, all of whom she nursed, were fond of

her. Still, it is evident that she is not to be trusted in an

emergency, and it was only because the girls' governess is away on a

visit to her mother that she happened to be left in charge of them.

Now, young ladies, you can leave us, as I have other matters to talk

over with Sir Cyril."

The three girls curtsied deeply, first to their father, and then to

Cyril, who held the door for them to pass out.

"Now, Sir Cyril," the Earl said, as the door closed behind them, "we

must have a talk together. You may well believe that, after what has

happened, I look upon you almost as part of my family, and that I

consider you have given me the right to look after your welfare as if

you were a near relation of my own; and glad I am to have learned

yesterday evening that you are, in all respects, one whom I might be

proud indeed to call a kinsman. Had you been a cousin of mine, with

parents but indifferently off in worldly goods, it would have been my

duty, of course, to push you forward and to aid you in every way to

make a proper figure on this expedition. I think that, after what has

happened, I have equally the right to do so, and what would have been

my duty, had you been a relation, is no less a duty, and will

certainly be a great gratification to me to do now. You understand

me, do you not? I wish to take upon myself all the charges connected

with your outfit, and to make you an allowance, similar to that which

I shall give to my son, for your expenses on board ship. All this is

of course but a slight thing, but, believe me, that when the

expedition is over it will be my pleasure to help you forward to

advancement in any course which you may choose."

"I thank you most heartily, my Lord," Cyril said, "and would not

hesitate to accept your help in the present matter, did I need it.

However, I have saved some little money during the past two years,

and Captain Dowsett has most generously offered me any sum I may

require for my expenses, and has consented to allow me to take it as

a loan to be repaid at some future time, should it be in my power to

do so. Your offer, however, to aid me in my career afterwards, I most

thankfully accept. My idea has always been to take service under some

foreign prince, and Prince Rupert has most kindly promised to aid me

in that respect; but after serving for a time at sea I shall be

better enabled to judge than at present as to whether that course is

indeed the best, and I shall be most thankful for your counsel in

this and all other matters, and feel myself fortunate indeed to have

obtained your good will and patronage."

"Well, if it must be so, it must," the Earl said. "Your friend

Captain Dowsett seems to me a very worthy man. You have placed him

under an obligation as heavy as my own, and he has the first claim to

do you service. In this matter, then, I must be content to stand

aside, but on your return from sea it will be my turn, and I shall be

hurt and grieved indeed if you do not allow me an opportunity of

proving my gratitude to you. As to the career you speak of, it is a

precarious one. There are indeed many English and Scotch officers who

have risen to high rank and honour in foreign service; but to every

one that so succeeds, how many fall unnoticed, and lie in unmarked

graves, in well-nigh every country in Europe? Were you like so many

of your age, bent merely on adventure and pleasure, the case would be

different, but it is evident that you have a clear head for business,

that you are steady and persevering, and such being the case, there

are many offices under the Crown in which you might distinguish

yourself and do far better than the vast majority of those who sell

their swords to foreign princes, and become mere soldiers of fortune,

fighting for a cause in which they have no interest, and risking

their lives in quarrels that are neither their own nor their

country's.

"However, all this we can talk over when you come back after having,

as I hope, aided in destroying the Dutch Fleet. I expect my son up

to-morrow, and trust that you will accompany him to the King's

_levee_, next Monday. Prince Rupert tells me that he has already

presented you to the King, and that you were well received by him, as

indeed you had a right to be, as the son of a gentleman who had

suffered and sacrificed much in the Royal cause. But I will take the

opportunity of introducing you to several other gentlemen who will

sail with you. On the following day I shall be going down into Kent,

and shall remain there until it is time for Sydney to embark. If you

can get your preparations finished by that time, I trust that you

will give us the pleasure of your company, and will stay with me

until you embark with Sydney. In this way you will come to know us

better, and to feel, as I wish you to feel, as one of the family."

Cyril gratefully accepted the invitation, and then took his leave.

Captain Dave was delighted when he heard the issue of his visit to

the Earl.

"I should never have forgiven you, lad, if you had accepted the

Earl's offer to help you in the matter of this expedition. It is no

great thing, and comes well within my compass, and I should have been

sorely hurt had you let him come between us; but in the future I can

do little, and he much. I have spoken to several friends who are

better acquainted with public affairs than I am, and they all speak

highly of him. He holds, for the most part, aloof from Court, which

is to his credit seeing how matters go on there; but he is spoken of

as a very worthy gentleman and one of merit, who might take a

prominent part in affairs were he so minded. He has broad estates in

Kent and Norfolk, and spends the greater part of his life at one or

other of his country seats. Doubtless, he will be able to assist you

greatly in the future."

"I did not like to refuse his offer to go down with him to Kent,"

Cyril said, "though I would far rather have remained here with you