Chapter Three.
At the Church Door.
Captain James Armstrong had a few more words with his cousin, Lieutenant Humphrey, anent his marriage.
“Perhaps you would like me to marry that girl off the beach,” he said, “Mr Morality?”
“I don’t profess to be a pattern of morality, cousin,” replied the lieutenant, shortly.
“And don’t like pretty girls, of course,” sneered the captain. “Sailors never do.”
“I suppose I’m a man, Jem,” said Humphrey, “and like pretty girls; but I hope I should never be such a scoundrel as to make a girl miserable by professing to care for her, and then throwing her away like a broken toy.”
“Scoundrel, eh?” said the captain, hotly.