Miss Verner was at home. She started, and the colour rose to her cheeks when Captain Ripley was announced. She put out her hand, and did not withdraw it, for Pearce forgot to let it go.
“Are you really a captain already?” she asked.
“Yes; that is, a commander. I am captain of the ‘Vestal,’” he answered, and he told her how Captain Gale had been compelled to go home, and that he had been appointed in his stead. He mentioned also the number of prizes he had taken—a matter which interested Colonel Verner more than it did her.
“That young Ripley is a very fine fellow,” observed the colonel to a brother officer. “Why, in one cruise he must have made not far short of ten thousand pounds as his own share of prize-money. A capital haul for the admiral. Those naval men have better chances than we have of filling their purses.”
If Pearce had received attentions when only a young lieutenant, he was doubly courted now that he was a commander, with an established name for gallantry and energy. Alice Verner no longer hesitated acknowledging to herself that she had given him her entire heart. She felt honoured by his preference, and proud of it among so many others who seemed anxious to obtain it. Halifax was always a lively place. There were a great number of resident families with young people, and dances were therefore much in vogue. Consequently naval officers were always welcome, lieutenants and passed midshipmen were acceptable, but young commanders were treated with especial favour. A more experienced man than Pearce might have had his head turned with the attentions he received. While, however, he was grateful for them, he enjoyed to the full the society in which he found himself, and became neither conceited nor vain. He had also the opportunity of comparing Alice Verner with other girls, and he became more than ever convinced of her superiority to them all. His stay at Halifax was likely to be short. He naturally wished to spend as much of his time as possible in her society. She invariably received him so frankly and cordially that all restraint was thrown aside. He felt almost sure that she loved him; so he took her hand and told her how much he loved her, and that he believed he had made enough prize-money already to enable her to live as she had been accustomed to; that he hoped to make more, and that he had good reason to believe he should before long be a post-captain, when he should be her father’s equal in rank. Alice was not very much surprised nor agitated, because she was before sure that he loved her. Still it was very pleasant to hear him say so. Pearce also felt supremely happy, and did not for a moment contemplate the clouds and storms which might be ahead. Alice herself might possibly have seen difficulties which he did not. She loved her father, but she knew that he was a proud man and weak on certain points, and that few men thought more of family and connections. It had always surprised her that he had not inquired more particularly about Pearce’s parentage, but she concluded that he was acquainted with the circumstances of the case, and was satisfied. It was, at all events, her duty to tell her father that Captain Ripley had declared himself. Pearce was to dine with them that day. In the meantime he had to go on board. He returned some time before the dinner hour. Colonel Verner had not come in, so that Alice had not had an opportunity of speaking to her father. Pearce told her that a frigate had arrived that morning direct from England. Everybody was eager to hear the news she brought. Probably that kept the colonel from home. While seated together, and interested more in themselves than in the world at large, the door was suddenly opened, and Lieutenant Harry Verner was announced.
“Why, Cousin Harry, where have you dropped from?” said Alice, rising to welcome him, “I did not even know that you were a lieutenant. You have grown up out of a little midshipman since I saw you last.”
“I’ve dropped from His Britannic Majesty’s Frigate ‘Hecate,’ of which I have the honour of being third lieutenant,” announced the young man. “And as for changes, though you are lovely as ever, I shall not know soon whether I am standing on my head or my feet;” he looked fixedly at Pearce as he spoke.
“I beg your pardon, Captain Ripley,” said Alice, recovering herself from the slight confusion into which she had been thrown; “I should have introduced my cousin to you.”
“Harry Verner and I are old shipmates I suspect, unless there are two of the name very much like each other,” said Pearce, rising and putting out his hand.
“Yes, as midshipmen we were together, I believe,” answered Harry, superciliously; “but really it is difficult to remember all one’s old shipmates.”