“No more than I am,” returned Captain Von Blusen. “It has been my chief fault.”
He pressed Dick’s hand once more, and then turned to the two girls, who had been too stunned by what they had witnessed, to speak.
The captain extended a hand to each in turn and Shirley and Mabel shook hands with him.
“I am pleased to have met you, Miss Ashton,” he said courteously, “and you, Miss Willing, and I regret that I have been the means of causing you unpleasantness. But as I have said to your fathers, what I did was but in the line of duty. Now I must say good-bye, but when the war is over,” he looked at Mabel, “I hope that I shall see you both again.”
He bowed low, and before the girls could reply, he made his way toward the spot where the German lieutenant stood awaiting him. He motioned the latter to precede him over the side, and was just about to follow, when he seemed to think of something.
He walked quickly back across the deck to where Shirley and Mabel stood, and spoke.
“I suppose you all wonder who I am,” he said quietly, “and while I would greatly like to satisfy your curiosity, I fear it is impossible at this time.”
Now Shirley found her tongue.
“You can at least tell us whether you are of royal birth,” she cried.
Again Captain Von Blusen bowed low.