"No. Remain here to keep watch over Flora's safety while I am gone; I can alone do all that can be done."
"And don't forget to offer the two hundred pounds reward," said the admiral, "to any one who can bring us news of Charles, on which we can rely."
"I will not."
"Surely—surely something must result from that," said Flora, as she looked in the admiral's face, as if to gather encouragement in her dawning hopes from its expression.
"Of course it will, my dear," he said. "Don't you be downhearted; you and I are of one mind in this affair, and of one mind we will keep. We won't give up our opinions for anybody."
"Our opinions," she said, "of the honour and honesty of Charles Holland. That is what we will adhere to."
"Of course we will."
"Ah, sir, it joys me, even in the midst of this, my affliction, to find one at least who is determined to do him full justice. We cannot find such contradictions in nature as that a mind, full of noble impulses, should stoop to such a sudden act of selfishness as those letters would attribute to Charles Holland. It cannot—cannot be."
"You are right, my dear. And now, Master Henry, you be off, will you, if you please."
"I am off now. Farewell, Flora, for a brief space."