"Am I in your service?" he asked.

"From to-day," she answered, "and I will give you a note to
Captain Landry."

"Then you will be Miss Fenacre to me from now on," he said.

"You must say good-bye to Florence first," she said, smiling. "You
may kiss my hand," she said, as she gave it to him. "You used to
do it so gallantly in the old days--such a Spaniard that you are,
Frank--and I liked it so much!"

He did so, and for the first time in his life with a kind of
shame.

"I hope we are not both of us making a terrible mistake,
Florence," he said.

"Oh, I couldn't want a better chief!" she said, "and, as for you,
it's the wisest thing you ever did. It's me, after all, who is
making the sacrifice, for, in a month or two, all the gilt will
wear off, and you will see me as I really am. You will find it
very disillusioning to go to sea with your divinity," she added.
"You will discover she is a very flesh-and-blood affair, after
all, Frank, and not worth the tip of your little finger."

"I had a good many opportunities of judging before," he replied,
"and the more I knew her the more I loved her."

"Well, I am changed now," she said. "I suppose all the bad has