“My children don’t get into passions,” Lady Cochrane said with a laugh, “at least very very seldom.”
“Don’t praise them up too much, Katherine,” her husband said. “Children are naturally plagues; and though unfortunately I have been so busy a man that I have not had time to do more than make their casual acquaintance, I don’t expect that they differ much from others; and besides, even I fly into passions occasionally—”
“Occasionally?”
“Well, pretty often, if you like—I certainly shall not be surprised if I find that they take after me.”
The next two days were spent by Mr. Embleton and Stephen in exploring Boulogne.
“I have often looked at the place from the sea,” the lieutenant said, “as we were cruising backwards and forwards, keeping a bright look-out to see that Bonaparte’s boat flotilla did not put to sea, but I did not expect that I should some day be walking quietly about the streets.”
“Lady Cochrane seems very nice, father,” Stephen said presently, as they strolled along the wharves watching the French fishing-boats come in.
“She is very nice; and so she ought to be, for she has cost Lord Cochrane a fortune. She was a Miss Barnes, and was an orphan of a family of good standing in the Midlands; she was under the guardianship of her cousin, who was high sheriff of Kent when Cochrane first met her. He fell in love with her and was accepted; he was at that time living with his uncle, the Hon. Basil Cochrane, who had realized a large fortune in the East Indies, and was anxious that Cochrane should marry the only daughter of an official of the admiralty court. Even had he not been attached to Miss Barnes the proposal was one that was signally distasteful to Cochrane. He had been engaged in exposing the serious malpractices by which the officials of the admiralty court amassed great fortunes at the expense of the seamen, and for him to have benefited by these very malpractices would have seemed a contradiction of all his principles. His uncle in vain pointed out to him that the fortune he himself would leave him, and that which he would obtain by the marriage, would suffice to reinstate the Earls of Dundonald in their former position as large landowners.
“Cochrane’s determination was unshaken and he married Miss Barnes, so his uncle cut him out from his will entirely and broke off all acquaintance with him. I am sure, however, he has never for a moment regretted his choice. I believe that she makes him as perfectly happy as it is possible for a man of his restless disposition to be.”
On the 15th of August, 1818, the Rose sailed from Boulogne, and Lieutenant Embleton, who had remained on board with his son until she got under way, returned to England.