"Never! I have lived this long, and this long suffered, enough to know the irony of that royal barrier! Your aunt and I, dear child, are passing toward the shadows of life, while you and my boy Jack are just starting out. Your happiness shall not be cindered upon a false altar--I swear it!" "Good old boy," Tommy murmured. "Do you mean that, honest?" "_Pardieu_, have I not sworn it?" "And you wouldn't try to muddy the water again if I confessed that our Marine Law was a hocus-pocus?" "What is that hocus-pocus?" "A no-such-a-thing." "_Sacre bleu_! I see! Pipes and iron safes and hocus-pocus! But I do not care!" He turned to Doloria and, taking one of her hands, said: "You, _mon ami_, shall find your heart's best desire. It is I who say it!--I, who have the authority!" The way he clung to that authority was really pathetic. "It occurs to me, Monsieur," Tommy crossed and looked down at them--and I saw that Doloria read in his eyes the sadness of one who must remain outside while others pass through to happiness--"that you, too, can find your heart's best desire. Jack and our sweet Princess will be leaving for Azuria as soon as passports are procurable. Now, the day they arrive, you might be moseying about the railroad station, borrow her for an hour, and personally conduct her to the palace. The late lamented King's royal authority contained no stipulation about the missing child being returned in a state of single blessedness, therefore the reward is yours. Add that up, and see if it doesn't spell Eureka!" Doloria turned to Monsieur with a glorious smile and, being nearest, received the first hug as the light of Tommy's reasoning burst upon him. Then he bounded up and hugged me; but Gates and Tommy ran away, the cowards, yet did a lot of laughing from a distance. And now the forward watch called something, at the same time pointing off our port bow. Low upon the water lay Miami. Excitedly we took turns focusing the binoculars on it, and after a little as we drew fairly near Tommy, with a puzzled look, asked: "Who are those people on your Colonel's dock?" "My father, maybe. I wired him to come." "Boy, I mean the petticoats! Look at 'em--there're two!" "Can you make out their faces?" I asked, having a good time all to myself; for here was my chance to return an obligation in the matter of courtships which, if not cancelled, would furnish the versatile Tommy with an anecdote I should never outlive. "Not yet," he mumbled, squinting more closely. "One's probably the Mater," I suggested. "I hope so," he smiled, lowering the binoculars. "What was the toast you gave her, Jack?--'if romance and adventure are alive I'll bring them home to you!'--wasn't that it?" "Yes, and we sailed out on that quest only seventeen days ago. It seems incredible, doesn't it!"