"Go! We shall be happy. Nothing shall part us, darling."
"But Grace? What if she is alive?" she asked faintly.
"God grant she is. I'll throw myself at her feet and she shall be made to understand," he said, but a nameless chill crossed him.
"You would break her heart," moaned she. "Our poor, poor wedding day."
"There will be another glad and joyous day," he said, trying to find heart.
"I will go where you go, Hugh," she said.
A few long sweeps of the oars and the white boat, with its blue trimmings, shot upon the beach, and the officer leaped forward to meet the waiting pair.
"I am Ensign Carruthers, United States cruiser Winnetka, Captain Hildebrand commanding. We saw your flag and were considerably mystified," he said, doffing his cap to her Ladyship. But Ridgeway, forgetting politeness, dignity and reserve, rushed up and grabbed him by the hand, mad with the exuberance of joy.
"Saved! Saved! Saved!"
Carruthers, dumbfounded, looked from one to the other of the now frantic couple. He saw white people dressed in most unusual garments, the woman possessing a gloriously beautiful face and the air of royalty, the man bushy haired and stalwart, every inch a gentleman and an American.