Flora could scarcely refuse a smile, as the nationality of the old admiral peeped out even in the midst of his most liberal and best feelings.

“Well,” he continued, “I don’t intend that he shall have so much trouble as he has had.  The enemies of his king and his country shall free him from his embarrassments.”

“The enemies?”

“Yes; who else?”

“You speak in riddles, sir.”

“Do I?  Then I’ll soon make the riddles plain.  When I went to sea I was worth nothing—­as poor as a ship’s cat after the crew had been paid off for a month.  Well, I began fighting away as hard and fast as I could, and the more I fought, and the more hard knocks I gave and took, the more money I got.”

“Indeed.”

“Yes; prize after prize we hauled into port, and at last the French vessels wouldn’t come out of their harbours.”

“What did you do then?”

“What did we do then?  Why what was the most natural thing in the whole world for us to do, we did.”

“I cannot guess.”

“Well, I am surprised at that.  Try again.”

“Oh, yes; I can guess now.  How could I have been so dull?  You went and took them out.”

“To be sure we did—­to be sure we did, my dear; that’s how we managed them.  And, do you see, at the end of the war I found myself with lots of prize money, all wrung from old England’s enemies, and I intend that some of it shall find it’s way to your brother’s pocket; and you see that will bear out just what I said, that the enemies of his king and his country shall free him from his difficulties—­don’t you see?”

“I see your noble generosity, admiral.”

“Noble fiddlestick!  Now I have mentioned this matter to you, my dear, and I don’t so much mind talking to you about such matters as I should to your brother, I want you to do me the favour of managing it all for me.”

“How, sir?”

“Why, just this way.  You must find out how much money will free your brother just now from a parcel of botherations that beset him, and then I will give it to you, and you can hand it to him, you see, so I need not say anything about it; and if he speaks to me on the subject at all, I can put him down at once by saying, ’avast there, it’s no business of mine.’”

“And can you, dear admiral, imagine that I could conceal the generous source from where so much assistance came?”

“Of course; it will come from you.  I take a fancy to make you a present of a sum of money; you do with it what you please—­it’s yours, and I have no right and no inclination to ask you what use you put it to.”

Tears gushed from the eyes of Flora as she tried to utter some word, but could not.  The admiral swore rather fearfully, and pretended to wonder much what on earth she could be crying for.  At length, after the first gush of feeling was over, she said,—­

“I cannot accept of so much generosity, sir—­I dare not”