"Yes, my dear, and not only tell it, but be the hero of it, likewise; ain't you astonished?"--"I am, indeed."
"Well, you'll be more astonished then before I've done; so just listen. As Jack Pringle says, it was the matter of about somewhere forty years ago, that I was in command of the Victory frigate, which was placed upon the West Indian station, during a war then raging, for the protection of our ports and harbours in that vicinity. We'd not a strong force in that quarter, therefore, I had to cut about from place to place, and do the best I could. After a time, though, I rather think that we frightened off the enemy, during which time I chiefly anchored off the island of Antigua, and was hospitably received at the house of a planter, of the name of Marchant, who, in fact, made his house my home, and introduced me to all the elite of the society of the island. Ah! Miss Flora, you've no idea, to look at me now, what I was then; I held a captain's commission, and was nearly the youngest man in the service, with such a rank. I was as slender, ay, as a dancing master. These withered and bleached locks were black as the raven's plume. Ay, ay, but no matter: the planter had a daughter."
"And you loved her?" said Flora--"Loved her," said the old man, and the flush of youthful animation come to his countenance; "loved her, do you say! I adored her; I worshipped her; she was to me--but what a d----d old fool, I am; we'll skip that if you please."
"Nay, nay," said Flora; "that is what I want to hear."--"I haven't the least doubt of that, in the world; but that's just what you won't hear; none of your nonsense, Miss Flora; the old man may be a fool, but he isn't quite an idiot."
"He's neither," said Flora; "true feelings can never disgrace any one."--"Perhaps not; but, however, to make a long story short, somehow or other, one day, Belinda was sitting alone, and I rudely pounced upon her; I rather think then I must have said something that I oughtn't to have said, for it took her so aback; I was forced, somehow or other, to hold her up, and then I--I--yes; I'm sure I kissed her; and so, I told her I loved her; and then, what do you think she said?"
"Why," said Flora, "that she reciprocated the passion."--"D--n my rags," said Jack, who at the moment came into the room, "I suppose that's the name of some shell or other."
"You here, you villain!" said the admiral; "I thought you were gone."--"So I was," said Jack, "but I came back for my hat, you see."
Away he went again, and the admiral resumed his story.
"Well, Miss Flora," he said, "you haven't made a good guess, as she didn't say anything at all, she only clung to me like some wild bird to its mother's breast, and cried as if her heart would break."--"Indeed!"
"Yes; I didn't know the cause of her emotion, but at last I got it out of her."--"What was it?"
"Oh, a mere trifle; she was already married to somebody else, that's all; some d----d fellow, who had gone trading about the islands, a fellow she didn't care a straw about, that was old enough to be her father."
"And you left her?"--"No, I didn't. Guess again. I was a mad-headed youngster. I only felt--I didn't think. I persuaded her to come away with me. I took her aboard my ship, and set sail with her. A few weeks flew like hours; but one day we were hailed by a vessel, and when we neared her, she manned a boat and brought a letter on board, addressed to Belinda. It was from her father, written in his last moments. It began with a curse and ended with a blessing. There was a postscript in another hand, to say the old man died of grief. She read it by my side on the quarter-deck. It dropped from her grasp, and she plunged into the sea. Jack Pringle went after her; but I never saw her again."
"Gracious Heavens! what a tragedy!"--"Yes, tolerable," said the old man.
He arose and took his hat and placed it on his head. He gave the crown of it a blow that sent it nearly over his eyes. He thrust his hands deep into his breeches pockets, clenched his teeth, and muttered something inaudible as he strode from the apartment.
"Who would have thought, Henry," said Flora, "that such a man as Admiral Bell had been the hero of such an adventure?"--"Ay, who indeed; but it shows that we never can judge from appearances, Flora; and that those who seem to us the most heart-whole may have experienced the wildest vicissitudes of passion."
"And we must remember, likewise, that this was forty years ago, Henry, which makes a material difference in the state of the case as regards Admiral Bell."