"We landed at a little pier at the foot of the garden; the house, embowered in a grove of orange and magnolia trees, was close at hand. Don Pedro met us on the verandah.
"'Welcome! welcome!' he cried; 'how do you like the appearance of my bachelor's hall? But come, let's go in; my sister has arrived, and knows that I expect Captain Hopkins and Mr. Stewart, of the Cabot, and,' he added, with a significant smile, 'nothing more, though she has been very curious to find who the gentlemen is with whom I entered the church yesterday.'
"We entered the drawing-room, and there, sure enough, was my angel of the cathedral-porch. Her eye fell upon me as I passed the doorway, and, by the half start and blush, I saw that I was plainly recognized, and with pleasure. We were formally presented by Don Pedro, and, after the old skipper had been flattered into an ecstasy of mingled admiration and self-complacency, Donna Clara turned again to me.
"'I do not know that I ought to have bid you welcome, Mr. Stewart,' she said, with an arch smile, 'you treated my poor guardian shamefully, I am told.'
"'Yes,' cried Pedro, 'and just to let you know what a truculent person he is, know that yesterday he more than insinuated that he would serve me in the same way that he did Don Carlos.'"
"Land ho!" sung out the man on the look-out.
"Where away?" shouted Langley, walking forward.
"Pretty near ahead, sir; perhaps a point on our starboard bow, sir."
"Land ho!' bellowed the man at the wheel, "just abeam, sir, to loo-ard."
"What had I better do, sir?" inquired Langley, of the mate.