In criticising the characters of my heroines it must be remembered that the morals of the Neapolitan court in the time of Maria Carolina are indescribable in an English novel; but this, as a matter of fact, is the one point in which I have shrunk from presenting things without extenuation. It will be noticed that at the period of which I write, the year of the Nile, I believe Lady Hamilton to have been a lovely and enchanting woman, and that I believe that the connection between Nelson and her began as a pure romance, each worshipping the other as the most splendid human being in the world. The beautiful letter of hero-worship which she wrote to him after the battle of the Nile I first saw in its entirety in Professor Laughton's sumptuous volume, "The Companions of Nelson." Before I conclude I have to express my thanks to Mr. E. Neville-Rolfe, British Consul at Naples; to the Marquis A. de Gregorio, and the Messrs. Whitaker, of Palermo; and to Miss A. Mason, a great-niece of Nelson, besides those whom I have mentioned above. I am also indebted to the writings of Mr. Clark Russell; to the highly valuable and hitherto unpublished Nelson documents which have been appearing in _Literature_; to the accurate and splendidly illustrated Nelsoniana which have been appearing in the popular illustrated Service paper, _The Army and Navy Illustrated_, and in the _English Illustrated Magazine_; and to Lord Charles Beresford's and Mr. H. W. Wilson's "Nelson and his Times," which was published as a supplement to the _Daily Mail_. I have followed Lord Charles's view of Nelson himself more closely than any other, because it is so sympathetic, and is written by one who is at once a brilliant naval expert and the sea-commander to whom the nation looks for exploits like Nelson's. I am prepared for much censure and acrimonious discussion, especially over the very point upon which I take my stand, that a novel dealing with the character of Nelson ought above all things to be a human document. He is, to me, the most intensely human figure in History. Douglas Sladen. Palazzo Monteleone, Palermo, _April 6th, 1898_. CONTENTS. PROLOGUE. PAGE INTRODUCING THE READER TO THE LADY KATHERINE FLEET 1 CHAPTER I. OF THE FINDING OF LORD NELSON'S JOURNAL 11 CHAPTER II. INTRODUCING THE ADMIRAL 19 CHAPTER III. OF THE LETTERS OF A BOY AND A GIRL 28 CHAPTER IV. OF OUR ENTRY INTO SYRACUSE 31 CHAPTER V. IN WHICH WILL HAS HIS FIRST CHANCE, AND HIS FIRST ESCAPADE, AND HIS FIRST MEETING WITH THE PRINCESS OF FAVARA 37 CHAPTER VI.