THE SAME.
Nan was growing desperate. Speak she must, if only to let him know
that she was sensible of his kindness in affording her this blissful
relief; for she believed it was entirely on her account that he had
proposed to sit out the dance. So she said, wildly,
'You go to a great many balls, I suppose?'
'Oh, dear no,' he said. 'I am not much ashore.'
Of course. She might have known. Was there not an air of command
about him, young as he was? No doubt he held far too important a
position to waste time on idle entertainments.
'I mean earlier--as a midshipman,' she stammered. 'You must have been
to many places, and--and--I thought the life of a midshipman was
nothing but parties and balls, along with a great deal of mischief.
That is what one reads, you know, about the young gentlemen--always
tumbling into trouble, and always getting happily out of it, and always
amusing themselves just as much as they amuse others.'
This was not so bad. Nan's face had brightened; she regarded him with
her clear eyes.
'You are thinking of Captain Marryat,' said he, laughing. 'But times
have changed sadly for the middy since then. It isn't all beer and
skittles now. Nowadays, the poor chap can scarcely call his soul his
own; and if he is going in for his Three Ones----'
'I beg your pardon; what is that?' she said, with a grave interest.
'Trifling little things,' said he, jocosely. 'Only first-class
certificates in gunnery, seamanship, and mathematics; then, to finish
up with, the unhappy youth has to look forward to an interview or two
with the hydrographer, who isn't at all a gentleman to be made a fool
of.'
How was it that she knew instinctively that this young officer had got
his Three Ones--nay, that he had carried them off easily, triumphantly?
What was there in his manner, or the shape of his forehead, or his
expression, that rendered her perfectly certain that he had nothing to
fear from all the hydrographers ever born?
'Why, even in my time, I can remember, when the middy was allowed a
good deal more law,' he continued; and now he had sat down beside her,
and her eyes met his quite frankly. 'I remember a fearful scene at
Cherbourg, at a ball there; that was when the fleet went over, and
there was a great round of festivities. Well, this ball, I think, was
given by the Mayor--I am not quite sure; but, at all events, the
midshipmites were invited with the rest, and those who could get leave
went of course. Well, we had the run of the refreshment-room, and we
used it. There was far too much champagne, and all our seniors were in
the ball-room,--the Duke of Somerset, and the whole of them,--so we set
to work to chaff the waiters in unknown tongues. Anything more patient
or friendly than the conduct of these amiable creatures I never saw.
They entirely entered into the spirit of the thing, and grinned and
nodded in high glee when we inquired about their mothers and
sisters--in English, of course; and then we tried bad French on them,
and Welsh, with a touch of Lancashire thrown in; and then they grinned
all the more, and shrugged their shoulders. My chum Greville was the
worst, I think; he kept asking for all sorts of ridiculous things, and
was very angry when he couldn't get them. "_Avez-vous du vin de
Cockalorum_?" he asked of one fellow: of course Greville spoke real
true-blue English-French. "_Coque-a-lorrrrme_?" said the waiter. "_Je
crois que non, Monsieur----._" "_Pourquoi n'avez vous pas du vin de
Cockalorum_?" said Greville, with great indignation. "_C'est une chose
monstrueuse. Nous sommes les invites de la grande nation Francaise;
nous sommes les officiers de sa Majeste la Reine d'Angleterre; et vous
n'avez pas du vin de Cockalorum!_" There was enough of other wine, at
all events,' added Frank King. 'I am afraid there was a good deal of
headache next morning among the younger officers of her Majesty's
fleet.'
'Weren't you afraid,' said Nan, who had forgotten what shyness was by
this time; 'weren't you afraid the French might be tempted to take a
mean advantage and capture the fleet bodily?'
'It would have been no more mean advantage,' said he, with a laugh,
'than we used to take in fighting them when they were sea-sick.'
'Sailors sea-sick?' she exclaimed.
'Yes, that's just where it was,' he said, and the friendly interest he
displayed in this young lady was very wonderful. Already they seemed
to have known each other for a quite indefinite time. 'Mind you,
people laugh nowadays at the old belief that one English sailor was as
good as seven French ones. But it was quite true; and the explanation
is simple enough. The fact was that the English kept such a strict
blockade of the French ports that the French sailors never had a proper
chance of finding their sea legs. They never got out. When they did
come out they had to fight; and how can you expect a sea-sick man to
fight? But I was talking of that chum of mine, Greville. He was the
coolest hand I ever came across. Once he and I--when we were mids, you
know--had to go down by rail from Genoa to Spezia----'
At this moment the music slowly ceased; and the kaleidoscopic groups
out there, that had been going through all sorts of interminglings and
combinations, lost cohesion, as it were, and melted away into the
murmuring and amorphous crowd. Miss Nan knew very well that she ought
now to return to her mamma; but how was she to break in upon this
story? When one has already begun to tell you something, more
particularly when that something is about himself and an old
companion--and especially if you do not wish to be perplexed with
invitations to dance--it is not polite to interrupt.
So the young lieutenant, taking no notice whatever of the cessation of
the dancing, continued his story, and told several more, which Miss Nan
found intensely interesting--so absorbing, indeed, that she met the
eyes of her companion without any abashment, and frequently laughed in
her low, quiet way. These two seemed very friendly, and heedless of
what was going on around them; and might, in fact, have continued
talking for a quite indefinite time had not, all of a sudden, Charley
Stratherne come up, followed by a tall man with a long yellow beard;
and before Nan knew what had happened, she was being led away to pierce
the great throng that had now grown very dense indeed, a waltze having
already begun. As for the young lieutenant, he somewhat abruptly
declined his friend's offer to find him a partner.
'You have plenty of dancing men; there won't be room to move shortly.'
Charley Stratherne was too busy to stay and ask why his friend refused
to dance, and would not even remain in the ball-room; the next second
he was off. Then the young lieutenant managed to make his way through
the crowd to the door; and as there were still plenty of people
arriving, he succeeded in passing his hostess unobserved and making his
way downstairs.
He entered the brilliantly-decorated but quite empty supper-room, and
sat down. One of the servants happened to come in and stared at him.
'Look here,' said he, 'could you get me an evening paper?'
'Oh yes, sir,' said the man: and he went off and speedily returned with
the newspaper.
Frank King sat down, turned his back to the table, and was soon all by
himself in this long chamber, apparently deeply absorbed in the
evening's news. What he really was doing, however, was listening to
the music overhead.
Meanwhile, Nan got through the waltz somehow. The crush was so great
that her partner, who was not much of a pilot, generally succeeded in
steering her into some little side bay, where they came slowly to rest
by mere friction, or else landed her right in the middle of the room,
where there was a throng of unskilful dancers become stationary in
spite of themselves. At last she was surrendered again to her mother's
care.
'Well, Nan,' said Lady Beresford, with an amused look, 'how did you get
on?'
'You mean how much did I get off?' said she.
'I believe I'm all in rags. And that elephant of a man bumped me
against every person in the room.'
Here the Admiral came along--bustling as was his wont, talking to
everybody at the same time, and invariably putting his hand on the
shoulder of those whom he knew best, to give effect to his speech.
'Well, well, my girl,' he said, 'how did you like your partner? Did he
amuse you? Did he compliment you on the roses in your cheeks--ah,
that's the Brighton air, that is.'
'Oh, if you mean Lieutenant King,' said Nan, without any hesitation or
embarrassment, 'I think he is very amusing indeed--very. And very
clever, too, is he not?
'Oh yes, he's a smart young fellow--a smart young fellow is Frank King.
We've had an eye on him for some time back.'
'I should say now,' remarked Nan, with a wise air, 'that he had got his
Three Ones?'
The Admiral stared at her, and then burst out laughing.
'You young impertinence! What do you know about the Three Ones? He
had got his certificates before he was one-and-twenty. But here, I
will tell you something.'
He took her a step aside.
'Hush, now--hush-sh. It is a State secret. Don't say a word. But
I'll tell you what we're going to do with Frank King to-morrow; we're
going to give him the command of the _Fly-by-Night_. What do you think
of that for a lieutenant of five-and-twenty?'
'If he has relatives, I suppose they will be very proud,' said Nan.
'Relatives? Don't you know the Kings of Kingscourt? But there now, I
mustn't keep you talking; I suppose you're engaged for every dance.
Mind you are down at supper while I'm there; I will drink a glass of
wine to the roses in your cheeks----'
And so he was off again before she could say, as she greatly wished to
say--'Oh, Sir George, I would rather talk to you than have to do any
more dancing. Surely there are enough people dancing.'
Then she looked round the room for some considerable time. At last she
said to herself contentedly,
'Yes, I thought he was too clever looking to care about dancing, and I
don't wonder he has gone home. But it would have been nice if I had
had the chance to tell him he was going to have the command of the
_Fly-by-Night_.'