Mrs. Laurison invited the admiral to stay to dinner, and he accepted frankly. Brydell slipped upstairs and washed and changed his clothes; then the admiral went upstairs, too, and had a long talk with him. He took Brydell’s books and gave him a pretty sharp examination, which Brydell stood remarkably well; he had not wasted his time.
When dinner was ready they found Mr. Laurison dressed in his best clothes, and Mrs. Laurison had put on a pretty gown for the admiral. The dinner was very jolly, and Brydell was glad that the admiral saw what excellent quarters he had fallen into.
After dinner, when it was time for the train, Mr. Laurison wanted to send the admiral to the station in the old carriage that was used on great occasions, but the admiral preferred to walk. He and Brydell started off, therefore, in the autumn evening to walk, with Billy Bowline rolling along after them.
“I have waited to write to your father until I should see you,” said the admiral; “but now I can write with a cheerful heart. Zounds, sir, you are in luck; a year of hard study, hard work, and independence will make a man of you. I thought your failure in your examination the worst thing that could befall you. But don’t you see, youngster, that what seems to be the worst may sometimes be wrested to make the very best?”
Brydell was not quite prepared to admit that his two mortifying failures were the best things that could have happened to him; but he rightly considered himself a fortunate fellow in the way his resolve to earn his living had turned out. He told the admiral of the letter he had received from his father, and what he had replied. And then he spoke of Grubb and Esdaile.
“I have heard of that Esdaile fellow, and mark my words, he’s a scamp. It’s well enough to elevate himself; poor Grubb is an honest, sensible fellow, though uneducated; but I hear that his boy would have nothing to do with him, except on the sly, and actually has been heard to deny that Grubb is his father. I say that fellow is a pernicious, unqualified, and unmitigated scamp and scalawag; and I don’t care if he passes No. 1 in his class, I’d fire him out of the navy in short order, if I had my way.”
Presently out of the darkness came the roar and thunder of the train, the admiral wrung Brydell’s hand as did Billy Bowline, Billy saying, “Good-by, Mr. Brydell, I hopes as how you’ll git through and be a ornament to the sarvice, sir, afore I trips my anchor and sets out for the other coast.”
Brydell went back wonderfully encouraged. The admiral believed in him, and that belief of others in us does wonders. Even Billy Bowline’s appreciation was not lost on Brydell.
The autumn and winter passed rapidly. Lieutenant Brydell’s ship was still cruising in the Pacific, stopping occasionally for letters that were months in reaching their destination. Brydell received several letters from his father, all encouraging in tone, especially after Admiral Beaumont’s letter.
The spring came on apace, and at last one day in May, exactly a year from the time Brydell had gone to Annapolis before, he was notified to present himself before the examining board.