George blushed a little, but he was very willing, boy like, to tell of how Lord Fairfax gave him the rapier, and Laurence and Mrs. Washington and Betty were all delighted, except that Betty wished it had been the one with the diamond hilt, which caused George to sniff at her ignorance. “That was a sword that anybody could buy who had money enough; but this is a sword that has seen service, as Lord Fairfax told me. He wore it at Bouchain.” As Betty had never heard of Bouchain before, she very wisely held her peace. But she soon dragged George off up-stairs to the little room which was his whenever he stayed at Mount Vernon, and where Billy had preceded him with the portmanteau. George was full of questions about his mother and everybody at Ferry Farm, and Betty was full of questions about Greenway Court and Lord Fairfax, so they made but little headway in their mutual inquiries. Suddenly, as George glanced out of the window towards the river, he saw a beautiful black frigate lying at anchor. It was near sunset of a clear December evening, and a pale green light was over the river, the land, and the sky. Every mast was clearly outlined, and her spars were exactly and beautifully squared in true man-of-war style. The union jack flying from her peak was distinctly visible in the evening light, and the faint echo of the bugle came softly over the water and died among the wooded hills along the shore. George stood motionless and entranced. It was the first ship of war he had ever seen, and the beauty and majesty of the sight thrilled him to the core of his heart. Betty chattered on glibly. “That is the frigate _Bellona_. The captain and officers are here all the time, and some of them are brother Laurence’s old friends that he served with at the siege of Cartagena. I expect some of them will be here to supper to-night. Besides Admiral Vernon, who is staying here, are Mr. William Fairfax and his son William,” and Betty rattled off a dozen names, showing that the house was full for Christmas. After Betty went out, when George, with Billy’s assistance, was putting on his best clothes, he could not keep his eyes from wandering to the window, through which the _Bellona_ was still seen in the waning light, looming up larger as the twilight fell. Presently he saw a boat put off with several officers, which quickly made the Mount Vernon landing.