“Espousal, Jack! You astonish me; it can’t be true!”
“Oh, but it is.”
He picked his sword off the couch as he spoke and held it out to his father.
“Let me present my bride,” he said, laughing.
The general himself could laugh now.
“So pleased, so pleased! But, ’pon honour, you young rascal, you pretty nearly took your old father’s breath away. Married! bless my soul, talk about that thirty years hence; and blame me, Jack, but that itself might be too soon.
“So you knocked the French about a bit? Well done, Jack; and well done, Lieutenant Fairlie.”
“Oh,” said the young sailor, laughing, “they always call me Tom.”
“Well, Tom,” said the general, holding out his hand, “you and my brave lad fought nobly; but bless my heart, he wouldn’t be a true Mackenzie if he couldn’t fight. So you gave it to the Froggies hot, eh? I knew you would. Second only to the British army is the British navy, lads.”
“And second only to the British navy, father, is the British army.”