"Ay, that he is, with our English cruisers thick as gulls outside' waiting for a dead fish. But he has spurned the French commission they have offered him, saying that of the Congress is good enough for him. And he declares openly that when he gets ready he will sail out in the Alliance under the Stars and Stripes. And for this I honour him," added he, "and Charles honours him, and so must all Englishmen honour him when they come to their senses. And by Gads life, I believe he will get clear, for he is a marvel at seamanship." "I pray with all my heart that he may," said I, fervently. "God help him if they catch him!" my Lord exclaimed. "You should see the bloody piratical portraits they are scattering over London." "Has the risk you ran getting me into England ever occurred to you, Jack?" I asked, with some curiosity. "Faith, not until the day after we got back, Richard," says he, "when I met Mr. Attorney General on the street. 'Sdeath, I turned and ran the other way like the devil was after me. For Charles Fox vows that conscience makes cowards of the best of us." "So that is some of Charles's wisdom!" I cried, and laughed until I was forced to stop from pain. "Come, my hearty," says Jack, "you owe me nothing for fishing you out of Holland--that is her debt. But I declare that you must one day pay me for saving her for you. What! have I not always sworn that she loved you? Did I not pull you into the coffee-room of the Star and Garter years ago, and tell you that same?" My face warmed, though I said nothing. "Oh, you sly dog! I'll warrant there has been many a tender talk just where I'm sitting." "Not one," said I. "'Slife, then, what have you been doing," he cries, "seeing her every day and not asking her to marry you, my master of Carvel Hall?" "Since I am permitted to use my tongue, she has not come near me, save when I slept," I answered ruefully. "Nor will she, I'll be sworn," says he, shaken with laughter. "'Ods, have you no invention? Egad, you must feign sleep, and seize her unawares." I did not inform his Lordship how excellent this plan seemed to me. "And I possessed the love of such a woman, Richard," he said, in another tone, "I think I should die of happiness. She will never tell you how these weeks past she has scarce left your side. The threats combined of her mother and the doctor, and Charles and me, would not induce her to take any sleep. And time and time have I walked from here to Brook Street without recognizing a step of the way, lifted clear out of myself by the sight of her devotion." What was my life, indeed, that such a blessing should come into it!