“I was not far wrong,” exclaimed Hugh, grasping his hand, “when I saluted you as Admiral, on board of the Orion.”
“No, Hugh,” returned Cobb; “and I wish I had not been, when I returned it to you as my Commodore.”
“And you were not, Junius,” laughed the President, as he drew another paper from his pocket. “Your commission as Commodore in the Aërial Navy, Hugh,” handing him the paper.
“And what does my hubby get?” cried Mollie, pouting her pretty lips.
“A colonelcy in the army for distinguished service during the war,” and the President smiled as he took a third paper from his pocket and gave it to Lester.
“And now,” said Cobb, after a pause, “as wealth more than I can use has been heaped upon me, I wish to add my mite to the happiness of the moment. Hugh,” and he took up the third paper from the bundle on the table, “here is the secret of the sympathetic telegraph; it is worth five million dollars. Take it, and divide it between yourself and Lester, as a wedding gift from me.”
Then Marie stepped forward, and filled her two hands with glittering stones from the pile on the table. “Take these, my dear sisters,” she said, as she poured them into the laps of the two astonished girls; “take these as a bridal gift from Marie Colchis.”
THE END