Show N STORY 70 THE LOVS 0 f the LADY by MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL coper low bobbs dobbs merr 11 co go SYNOPSIS at U 14 bears ears of age admiral sir peter aw s nephew tell fell deeply in love at first sini t v th lady arabella stor mont who spurned I 1 Is ons the lad an an NN i as given a berti bertl as in d Fi hipman on tt ti e ajai ajax by I 1 s uncle G es vernon nep ew of S r tl TI omas vernon beban e t the he boys boy s pal CHAPTER I 1 cont continued aued now the peculiar of 0 my bringing up I 1 ad given ftfe a rl di culous haughtiness for betty green had never ceased to implore me to re member my ty so I 1 replied to this offhand off hand speech in I 1 md ind V 11 ship of the I 1 ne said I 1 damme damine do you think I 1 id d seri sene e in a gun brig 9 he came up a littfe little closer to me looked at me attentively and said it its s an infant rodne rodney sure was not americus Amerl cus vespucius your grand father and was not your grand methel in lov toy with noah when he was oakum boy at the portsmouth doci sa I 1 considered this very offensive and drawing draving myself up said my grandfather was ras a baronet and my giand gi and uncle is admiral sir peter hawkshaw whose flagship as yo i may know is the ajax 74 I 1 kno v him well responded my new nem acquaintance we were drunk together this night week he bears for arms lots lot s wife after she was turned into a pillar of salt with mith this device I 1 thirst this was an allusion to the diy daiy salter for I 1 soon found that the young gentlemen in the cockpit were intimately acquainted with all of the antecedents glorious or otherwise of their superior officers the lie in the early part of this sentence was patent to me but so great was the power ao 0 o charm of this squinting wide mouthed fellow that I 1 felt myself drawn to him irresistibly and something tn in my countenance showed shored it for he linked his arm through mine and began again I 1 know your our gre great aunt too polly hawkshaw dreadful old girl I 1 hear she can tack ship as well as the ad miral knows to a shilling what his mess bill is and teaches him trigo when he Is on leave this was of course a vilification and lady Hawk hawkshaw shaws s name was not polly but Apoll apollonia onla but I 1 blush to eay ray I 1 spoke not one word in defense of either her or her name it occurred to me that my new friend was a per son who could give me much informs tion about my outfit and uniforms and I 1 candidly stated my case to him come on he cried there s a rascal of a haberdasher here who lives off his majesty s officers and take you there and fit you out for sir peters the man to have nis y oung officers smart A friend of mine poor fellow fellor happened to be caught in mufti in the ajax the other day and sir peter had all hands turned up tor for an execution my unhappy friend begged that he might be shot instead of hanged and sir peter admit granted him the fa favor vor the poor fel low tied the over his eyes himself forgave all bis his enemies and asked his friends to pay his debts zounds the most at af scene I 1 eer ever witnessed I 1 plainly perceived that my corn com canlon was R as talking to frighten me and showed it by thrusting my tongue into my cheek which caused him to burst out laughing he ile presently became grave however and assured me sol emaly that a sea officer had his choice of dressing handsomely or being court marti aled and shot for said he the one hundred and forty fourth regulation of the service reads all of his maje majesty s sea officers are corn com banded to marry heiresses and in these cases the usual penalties for the abduction of heiresses are re emitted now how can we abduct heir esses or even get them to look at us without fine clothes 9 women my boy are caught by the eye alone and I 1 know era em by gad this trifling speech remained in my memory and the day da came when I 1 recalled the idle talk of us two tho laugh ing midshipmen as prophetic NN we e went together to a shop where under his direction and that of an oily olly tongued I 1 ordered one of the handsomest outfits any mid shipman could possibly have include ing two tro dozen of silk stocal ings as my nw found friend informed me that every man on board his maje majesty s sl its li s from the admiral down to the acko lacko ack lack o the dust always wore silk stockings because in the event of being struck by a ball or a pike or a cutlass in action the danger from in pan fan mation was much less with silk than with cotton or wool all went swin bingly until it was time to pa pay for the things then I 1 acknowledge I 1 was at a loss the suddenly changing his tone cried out to my companion mr G log vernon I 1 remember the last reefer aoi i brought here bought near a boatload and paid with the foie sail is you gentlemen of the sea call it amill I 1 will not be done this time las I 1 as sure you at this giles vernon promptly drew his s or I 1 which d dd d not d st esturb urb the in the least as I 1 found out afterward young gentlemen of giles age and rank in portsmouth diew their swords whenever they could not draw their purses but I 1 waa was very i not on giles account but on that ot the poor whom I 1 ex pecked to gee see weltering in his blood after a wordy war giles left the shop tal ing me with him and menacing the sho man in case the purchases I 1 had ordered did not come aboard the jax that night I 1 thought it wise to suggest that I 1 should now go aboard as it was well on to three clock giles agreed with me I 1 had forgotten to him what ship he was attached to brit it sud denly occurred to me that he too might be in the ajax and I 1 asked him imagine my delight when he said yes but if the admiral does not be have himself better he added and it if the captain does not ask me to din ner oftener than he has been doing lately I 1 shall prefer charges against both of them I 1 have been assured by the lord in admiralty that any re quest of mine will be regarded as an order by them and I 1 shall request that admiral hawkshaw and capt glut ford be relieved of their commands by thit that time we had reached the ater and there stepping into a asplen did eight oared barge I 1 saw sir peter harmshaw Hank HaRk shaw he caught sight of us at the same moment and the change in files ciles vernon s manner wa what might have been expected he ile was even more modest and deferential than I 1 as R e advanced here you are pleasantly cried the admiral to me you ran away so fast t other day that I 1 had bad no chance to give YOU any directions and I 1 scarcely expected you to turn up to 0 arabella day however I 1 shall now take you to the ship mr vernon I 1 have room for you thant sou you sir responded giles very ver gratefully but I 1 have a pressing engagement on shore a matter of tin im business at which I 1 saw the cusp cion of a grin on the admiral admirals s homely old face he said little to me until we were in the great cabin of the ajax for myself I 1 can only say that I 1 was ras so awed by the beauty the majesty the splendor of one of the finest ships ot of the line in the world that I 1 was dumb with delight and amazement once in the cabin the admiral asked me about my m mean means and my outfit I 1 burst out with the whole story of what occurred in the haberdasher s shop at which sir peter looked very solemn and lectured me upon the recklessness of my conduct in ordering th with no money to pay for them and followed fol loRed it up with an offer to fit me out handsomely this I 1 accepted with the utmost gratt tude and in a day or two I 1 found my self established as one of his majesty s midshipmen in the cockpit of the ajax and I 1 began to see life CHAPTER II 11 my ily introduction into the cockfi of the ajax was pretty much that of every other reefer in hia his majesty s navy nav I 1 was of course told that I 1 showed the most brazen presumption in daring to wish to enter the naval service that I 1 ought to be a choir boy at st pauls paul s that bay ha making was my profess profession lori by nature to u bay noth ing of an exchange of black eyes and bloody noses with every midshipman of my size in the cod pit through all this giles vernon was my chief tormentor and best friend he pro claimed the fact of my dry saltIng an bestry and when I 1 impudently re minded him that I 1 was the grandson of a baronet he gave me one kick kieb tor for the and two for the baronet he showed me a battered old cocked hat hung up on a nail in the steerage country do vou you see that hat you young rapscallion 9 he asked asbed I 1 replied that I 1 d d and a shocking bad hat it was too that hat was ras once the property of that old pirate and buccaneer sir peter hawl haal shaw vice admiral amiral of the white it is named after him and whenever his conduct d sp leases the lunior junior of fibers on this ship which it generally does that hat dear boy is k eked and cursed as a proxy tor for vo r respected non was undoubtedly the smartest of fleer among them an I 1 cod of the walk wall between s he lie had annu merable good s but the beggar ly virtie ale of prudenc 1 was as not among grea great uncle now understand your po in the coci pit Is that ot of this hat in tact fact you ou will take the hats place A awl wl ich I 1 fo nd to be true and I 1 was ras called to acco nt every day for some part of the conduct of admiral hawkshaw hawl shaw altho gh I 1 did ait see him twice in the weel mr B axton 0 ir first lieutenant was a fine officer and celebrated for lick ing midshipmen into shai shale e and if I 1 learned my duty q akly he rather than I 1 de demeries series the credit my experience of other ships con u me that the juniors in the aja ajax t were wire clever fellows but giles ver them he had however another vir tue in a high degree a daring and invincible co arage that and his smartness as an officer made mr buxton his friend and caused miny many m iny of his peccadilloes to be overlooked the tact fact that at 19 giles vernon was still only a midah aufan aman made me think that he was without fortune or influence but I 1 was soon eul enl on the subject though not by him he was the distant cousin and heir of sir thomas vernon of vernon court near aorl and of 0 grosvenor square lon don this man was generally spoken of as the wicked sir thomas and tf S mortal hatred subsisted between him and his heir giles had been caught trying to induce the money sharks to tahe take his pos but as sir thomas was not yet 50 years of age and it was quitt possible that he should marry the only result was to fan the flame of i animosity between him and his heir without giles getting a shilling the next heir to dies viles was ras another cousin remote from both h in m and sir thomas one capt philip overton ot of the coards who was as much disliked by sir thomas as was giles giles who had been at sea since his twelfth year I 1 new little or nothing of capt overton although he swore many times in a month that he meant to marry the first woman who would take him for the purpose of cutting oft off Ov overton ertons s hopes but it occurred to me young as I 1 was that giles was ro rot the man to give up his liberty to the first woman roman who was willing to accept of it we were fitting for the fanean and the ship lay in the inner harbor at portsmouth waiting her turn to go in dry dock to be coppered there was plenty for the seniors to do but not much for the midshipmen at that part cular time and we had more runs on shore than usual the rest of 0 us were satisfied with ports meuth mouth but giles was always raving of london and the london playhouses platho ies knowing how long I 1 had lived in london he said to me one day r etere ere you eer ever at drury late thea teu my lada W I 1 said no I 1 had never been to the playhouse and I 1 blushed as I 1 said it not desiring my messmates to know that I 1 had been bro ight up by betty green a corporals corporal s widow then child he cried nhac hacking king me on n the back you ou have yet to live have you not seen mistress trenchard the divine sylvia as roxana as lady percy as Violetta 9 oh what a galaxy of parts oh the divine creature he ile threw himself across the mess table at that for we were in the cock pit at the time I 1 laughed at his raptures and he groaned loudly such a face and figure such a foot and ankle anklet such a melting eye such a luscious voice I 1 own that this outburst did more to make me realize that giles after all was ras but 19 than anything that had gone before for I 1 knew that older men did not so rave and he cried wildly I 1 can not see her before we pail fail by heaven I 1 will see her 74 71 miles between me and her anaw bacq tac it can be done in I 1 hours and 20 minutes I 1 can get 24 hours aae baie but not a word of this you haymaking son of a farmer TO BE dt CONTINUED |