"Acquainted--together--" cried his companion, in a little surprise, "what better way is there to bring them together, than to have them up before a priest, or to make them acquainted by letting them swing in the same hammock?"
"It might answer the end, indeed," said the general, with a smile, "but somehow or other, it is always the best method to bring young folks together, to let them have their own way in the affair for a time."
"Own way!" rejoined Sir Peter, bluntly, "did you ever find it answer to let a woman have her own way, Sir Frederick?"
"Not common women certainly, my good friend," said the general, "but such a girl as my intended daughter is an exception."
"I don't know that," cried the sailor; "Bell is a good girl, but she has her quirks and whims like all the sex."
"You have had no trouble with her as yet, I believe, Howell," said Sir Frederick cavalierly, throwing an inquiring glance on his friend at the same time.
"No, not yet--nor do I think she will ever dare to mutiny; but there has been one wishing to take her in tow already since we got in."
"How!" said the other in alarm, "who--what is he? some officer in the navy, I suppose."
"No, he was a kind of chaplain, one Parson Ives, a good sort of a youth enough, and a prodigious favorite with my sister, Lady Hawker."
"Well, what did you answer, Peter?" said his companion in increasing uneasiness; "did you put him off?"