"I suppose I shall have to," he said. "If I win, though mind I feel sure that I shan't, it will seem odd if I don't come. If I lose, it will look as if I sulked." "You must come," she said, "and you must have a dance with me. You have not been keeping your word, Major Mallett. You said that you would always be the same to me, and you are not. You have never once asked me to dance with you, and you are changed altogether." "I try to be--I try hard, Bertha; but just at present it is beyond me. I cannot stand by and see you going--" and he stopped abruptly. "Well, never mind, Bertha. It will all come right in time, but at any rate I cannot stand it at present. Goodbye." And without giving her time to reply, he hastily left the room. Bertha stood silent for a minute or two, then quietly followed him out of the room. The next day Ryde was astir early. It was the Queen's Cup day. Eight yachts were entered: three schooners--the Rhodope, the Isobel, and the Mayflower; four cutters--the Pearl, the Chrysalis, the Alacrity, and the Phantom; and the Osprey, which was the only yawl. It was half-past eight, and all were under way under mainsail and jib. The Solent was alive with yachts. They were pouring out from Southampton water, they were coming up from Cowes, and some were making their way across from Portsmouth. The day was a fine one for sailing. "Have you got the same extra hands as last time?" Frank asked the skipper. "All the same, sir. They all know their work well, and of course if there is anything to be done aloft, our own men go up. I don't think any of them will beat us in smartness." As the time approached for the start, the racers began to gather in the neighbourhood of the starting line; and as the five-minutes gun fired, the topsail went up, and they began to sail backwards and forwards near it. As the Phantom crossed under the lee of the Osprey, the three ladies waved their handkerchiefs to Frank, who took off his cap. "May the best yacht win," Bertha called out, as the vessels flew quickly apart. "We could not want a better day, George," Frank said. "We can carry everything comfortably, and there is not enough wind to kick up much of a sea. As far as we are concerned, I would rather that the wind had been either north or south, so that we could have laid our course all round; as it is, we shall have the wind almost dead aft till we are round the Nab, then we shall be close-hauled, with perhaps an occasional tack along the back of the island, then free again back. There is no doubt that the cutters have a pull close-hauled. I fancy with this wind the schooners will be out of it; though if it had been a reach the whole way, they would have had a good chance. "Four minutes are gone." He was holding his watch in his hand, and after a short pause called out, "Five seconds gone."