"I will do something for you, Richard!" she cried at length. "My lover shall not think me hard. I will go with you, Richard, and let the admiral and the cowman console each other. Between you and your friend it seems as if I were never to be left alone. Well, I am ready; I have plenty of spirit, and I say I will learn the meaning of this love which has made a hypochondriac of my sailor friend. I will be your wife and try to make the best of it--if it will make Richard himself again." She stopped, excited but steadfast. Tregurtha, with a last laugh of amused wretchedness, said: "Senorita! no one could deny that you are brave and ready; but beware of your adventurous spirit. You are forgetting what kind of a man it is to whose rescue you would hasten. Why, I would sooner a shark should devour me on my next voyage than that I should have to think of you as a patient martyr--you, my--my---- Oh, good gracious, what a fool I am! My dear Rosetta, go back to your happiness. When the Fates mean you to love, you will--and then--I envy the man! But till then, recollect that there is nothing so hopeless as mistaken heroism. Shun it, pretty one, as you would all evil; for it is a peculiar danger to you women. My darling, shall we shake hands? for I am going." "And you will not come again? I shall miss you so!" "I'll write and let you know about that," said Tregurtha. She stood opposite him, murmuring pathetic words in Spanish. Then she caught her breath, and was silent. A man who knew her less would have thought she really loved him. "Richard, you should have waited, I believe!" she exclaimed, as by sudden inspiration. "What do you say?" "While there is life there is hope; but in sailors, they tell me, there is not always constancy," meditated Rosetta, aloud. "Not always, dear; only sometimes. Once would be enough for us. But do you know where you are leading me? For Heaven's sake, Rosetta, don't say anything you do not mean!" "I take back my words, Richard. Perhaps I lost my way in this darkness. I am not well informed in these matters." "No, dear, so I see," answered Tregurtha, gently, as the high hope of an instant died in his breast forgotten. "And you have my 'Logic' still in your pocket," suggested Rosetta, melting again into tears. "So I have! There--don't cry any more to-day. To-morrow I give you leave to cry, because you will then have forgotten all about it. Shall I tell you, senorita, who should have been your lover instead of me?" "Please," whispered Rosetta, ashamed but curious. "Job," said Tregurtha solemnly; and, the sailor nature being too strong for him, he kissed her lips, then left her under her chestnut-tree and went away, nor ever looked behind him. IX. THE WAY WE BEHAVE WHEN WE ARE YOUNG.