"A sea voyage!" his wife repeated. "Do you mean that he should go back to England? I don't see anything serious the matter with him.

Surely there cannot be anything serious enough for that."

"No, not so serious as that, Carrie. Just a cruise for a bit--on board the Antelope, for example."

Mrs. O'Halloran looked from one to the other; and then, catching a twinkle in Bob's eye, the truth flashed across her.

"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Gerald," she said, laughing in spite of herself. "You have quite frightened me. I see now.

Captain Locket has invited Bob to go for a cruise with him, and all this about his being ill is nonsense, from beginning to end. You don't mean to say that you have been encouraging Bob in this ridiculous idea!"

"I don't know about encouraging, Carrie; but when he put it to me that he had been working very steadily, for the last six months; and that he had got into no sc.r.a.pes; and that he had really earned a holiday, and that this would be a very jolly one; I did not see any particular reason why he shouldn't have it."

"No particular reason! Why, the Antelope is a privateer; and if she is going to cruise about, that means that she is going to fight, and he may get shot."

"So he may here, Carrie, if a ball happens to come the right way.

"I think Bob certainly deserves a reward for the way he has stuck to his lessons. You know you never expected he would do as he has done; and I am sure his uncle would be delighted, if he heard how well he speaks Spanish.

"As to his health, the boy is well enough; but there is no denying that this hot weather we are having takes it out of us all, and that it would be a mighty good thing if every soul on the Rock had the chance of a month's cruise at sea, to set him up.

"But seriously, Carrie, I don't see any reason, whatever, why he should not go. We didn't bring the boy out here to make a mollycoddle of him. He has got to settle down, some day, in a musty old office; and it seems to me that he ought to have his share in any fun and diversion that he has a chance of getting at, now. As to danger, sure you are a soldier's wife; and why shouldn't he have a share of it, just the same as if he had gone into the navy? You wouldn't have made any hullabaloo about it, if he had done that.

"This is Bob's good time, let him enjoy it. You are not going to keep a lad of his age tied to your ap.r.o.n strings. He has just got the chance of having two or three years of fighting, and adventure.

It will be something for him to talk about, all his life; and my opinion is, that you had best let him go his own way. There are hundreds and hundreds of lads his age knocking about the world, and running all sorts of risks, without having elder sisters worrying over them."

"Very well, Gerald, if you and Bob have made up your minds about it, it is no use my saying no. I am sure I don't want to make a mollycoddle, as you call it, of him. Of course, uncle will blame me, if any harm comes of it."

"No, he won't, Carrie. Your uncle wants the boy to be a gentleman, and a man of the world. If you had said that a year ago, I would have agreed with you; but we know him better, now, and I will be bound he will like him to see as much life as he can, during this time. He has sent him out into the world.

"I will write to your uncle, myself, and tell him it is my doing entirely; and that I think it is a good thing Bob should take every chance he gets, and that I will answer for it that he won't be any the less ready, when the time comes, for buckling to at business."

"Well, if you really think that, Gerald, I have nothing more to say. You know I should like Bob to enjoy himself, as much as he can; only I seem to have the responsibility of him."

"I don't see why you worry about that, Carrie. If he had gone out to Cadiz or Oporto, as your uncle intended, you don't suppose the people there would have troubled themselves about him. He would just have gone his own way. You went your own way, didn't you? And it is mighty little you troubled yourself about what your uncle was likely to say, when you took up with an Irishman in a marching regiment; and I don't see why you should trouble now.

"The old gentleman means well with the boy but, after all, he is not either his father or his mother. You are his nearest relation and, though you are a married woman, you are not old enough, yet, to expect that a boy of Bob's age is going to treat you as if you were his mother, instead of his sister. There is not one boy in fifty would have minded us as he has done."

"Well, Bob, there is nothing more for me to say, after that,"

Carrie said, half laughing--though there were tears in her eyes.

"No, no, Carrie; I won't go, if you don't like," Bob said, impetuously.

"Yes, you shall go, Bob. Gerald is quite right. It is better you should begin to think for yourself; and I am sure I should like you to see things, and to enjoy yourself as much as you can. I don't know why I should fidget about you, for you showed you had much more good sense than I credited you with, when you gave up your chance of going to sea and went into uncle's office.

"I am sure I am the last person who ought to lecture you, after choosing to run about all over the world, and to take the risk of being starved here," and she smiled at her husband.

"You do as you like, Bob," she went on. "I won't worry about you, in future--only if you have to go back to England without a leg, or an arm, don't blame me; and be sure you tell uncle that I made as good a fight against it as I could."

And so it was settled.

"By the way," Bob exclaimed, presently, "I have got a letter from uncle to you, in my pocket; and one for myself, also. Captain Lockett gave them to me this morning, but I forgot all about them."

"Well, you are a boy!" his sister exclaimed.

"This is a nice sample, Gerald, of Bob's thoughtfulness.

"Well, give me the letter. Perhaps he writes saying you had better be sent home, by the first chance that offers itself."

Bob's face fell. He had, indeed, himself had some misgiving, ever since the troubles began, that his uncle might be writing to that effect.

"Well, look here, Carrie," he said, "here is the letter; but I think you had better not open it, till I have started on this cruise. Of course, if he says I must go back, I must; but I may as well have this trip, first."

Carrie laughed.

"What do you think, Gerald, shall I leave it till Bob has gone?"

"No, open it at once, Carrie. If he does say, 'send Bob on by the first vessel,' there is not likely to be one before he goes in the Antelope. Besides, that is all the more reason why he should go for a cruise, before he starts back for that grimy old place in Philpot Lane. We may as well see what the old gentleman says."

"I won't open mine till you have read yours, Carrie," Bob said. "I mean to go the cruise, anyhow; but if he says I must go after that, I will go. If he had been the old bear I used to think him, I would not mind it a snap; but he has been so kind that I shall certainly do what he wants."

Bob sat, with his hands deep in his pockets, watching his sister's face with the deepest anxiety as she glanced through the letter; Gerald standing by, and looking over her shoulder.

Ill.u.s.tration: 'The old gentleman is a brick,' exclaimed Gerald.

"The old gentleman is a brick!" Gerald, who was the first to arrive at the end, exclaimed. "I wish I had had such a sensible old relative, myself, but--barring an aunt who kept three parrots and a cat, and who put more store on the smallest of them than she did on me--never a relative did I have, in the world."

"Oh, tell me that afterwards!" Bob broke in.

"Do tell me what uncle says, Carrie."

His sister turned to the beginning again and read aloud:

"My dear niece--"

"Where does he write from?" Bob interrupted. "Is it from Philpot Lane, or from somewhere else?"

"He writes from Matlock, Derbyshire."

"That is all right," Bob said. "I thought, by what Gerald said, he could not have written from Philpot Lane."

"My dear niece," Carrie began again, "I duly received your letter, saying that Bob had arrived out safely; and also his more lengthy epistle, giving an account of the incidents of the voyage. I should be glad if you would impress upon him the necessity of being more particular in his punctuation, as also in the crossing of his t's and the dotting of his i's. I have also received your letter bearing date June 1st; and note, with great satisfaction, your statement that he has been most a.s.siduous in his studies, and that he is already able to converse with some fluency in Spanish.

"Since that time the state of affairs between the two countries has much occupied my attention--both from its commercial aspect, which is serious, and in connection with Bob. As the issue of a declaration of war is hourly expected, as I write, the period of uncertainty may be considered as over, and the two countries may be looked upon as at war. I have reason to congratulate myself upon having followed the advice of my correspondent, and of having laid in a very large supply of Spanish wine; from which I shall, under the circ.u.mstances, reap considerable profits. I have naturally been debating, with myself, whether to send for Bob to return to England; or to proceed to Lisbon, and thence to Oporto, to the care of my correspondent there. I have consulted in this matter my junior partner, Mr. Medlin, who is staying with me here for a few days; and I am glad to say that his opinion coincides with that at which I had finally arrived--namely, to allow him to remain with you.

"His conduct when with me, and the perseverance with which--as you report--he is pursuing his studies, has shown me that he will not be found wanting in business qualities, when he enters the firm. I am, therefore, all the more willing that he should use the intervening time in qualifying himself, generally, for a good position in the city of London; especially for that of the head of a firm in the wine trade, in which an acquaintance with the world, and the manners of a gentleman, if not of a man of fashion--a matter in which my firm has been very deficient, heretofore--are specially valuable. It is probable, from what I hear, that Gibraltar will be besieged; and the event is likely to be a memorable one. It will be of advantage to him, and give him a certain standing, to have been present on such an occasion.

"And if he evinces any desire to place any services he is able to render, either as a volunteer or otherwise, at the disposal of the military authorities--and I learn, from Mr. Medlin, that it is by no means unusual for the civil inhabitants of a besieged town to be called upon, to aid in its defence--I should recommend that you should place no obstacle in his way. As a lad of spirit, he would naturally be glad of any opportunity to distinguish himself. I gathered, from him, that one of his schoolfellows was serving as a midshipman in a ship of war that would, not improbably, be stationed at Gibraltar; and Bob would naturally dislike remaining inactive, when his schoolfellow, and many other lads of the same age, were playing men's parts in an historical event of such importance. Therefore you will fully understand that you have my sanction, beforehand, to agree with any desire he should express in this direction, if it seems reasonable and proper to you and Captain O'Halloran.

"As it is probable that the prices of food, and other articles, will be extremely high during the siege, I have written, by this mail, to Messieurs James and William Johnston, merchants of Gibraltar--with whom I have had several transactions--authorizing them to honour drafts duly drawn by Captain O'Halloran, upon me, to the extent of 500 pounds; such sum being, of course, additional to the allowance agreed upon between us for the maintenance and education of your brother.