"I count it well lost," he replied, softly, "for it has brought me to you."
"You must not say that," she answered, gravely; "and I am forgetting my duty. Breakfast is nearly ready. I came to tell you. Will you come into the house?"
It was not the first time that a maiden forgot her duty—even in trifles like this—in the presence of a man she was beginning to love, nor would it be the last.
"Did you, then, do me the honor to seek me? I am delighted."
"At the prospect of breakfast?" she asked, smiling at him merrily.
"Of course. Did you ever see a sailor-man who wasn't?"
"The only sailor-men I know are my grandfather and Captain Barry. Grandfather cares nothing about it, but I must say that Captain Barry——"
"Does full justice to his rations, I doubt not. He looks like it. Well, I am only a lieutenant. I will follow the captain. May I help you up the hill?"
She laughed lightly at him.
"Why, Mr. Revere, I run up and down that hill a dozen times a day, and I should think, after your battering of last night, you would rather depend upon me. Come, let us go."