Part 34 (1/2)

”A very nice lad--very slight, sir,” replied the first lieutenant. ”We have two vacancies.”

”Well, see what you make of him: and if you think he will do, you may put him on the books.”

”I have tried him, sir. He says that he has been a short time at sea.

I made him mount the main-rigging, but he did not much like it.”

”Well, do as you please, Osbaldistone,” replied O'Brien. And the first lieutenant quitted the cabin.

In about a quarter of an hour he returned. ”If you please, sir,” said he, laughing, ”I sent the boy down to the surgeon to be examined, and he refused to strip. The surgeon says that he thinks she is a woman I have had her up on the quarter-deck, and she refused to answer any questions, and requires to speak with you.”

”With me!” said O'Brien, with surprise. ”Oh! one of the men's wives, I suppose, trying to steal a march upon us. Well, send her down here, Osbaldistone, and I'll prove to her the moral impossibility of her sailing in His Majesty's brig _Rattlesnake_.”

In a few minutes, the first lieutenant sent her down to the cabin door, and I was about to retire as she entered; but O'Brien stopped me.

”Stay, Peter; my reputation will be at stake if I'm left all alone,”

said he, laughing.

The sentry opened the door, and, whether boy or girl, a more interesting face I never beheld; but the hair was cut close like a boy's, and I could not tell whether the surgeon's suspicions were correct.

”You wish to speak--holy Saint Patrick!” cried O'Brien, looking earnestly at her features; and O'Brien covered his face, and bent over the table, exclaiming, ”My G.o.d, my G.o.d!”

In the meantime, the colour of the young person fled from her countenance, and then rushed into it again, alternately leaving it pale and suffused with blushes. I perceived a trembling over the frame, the knees shook and knocked together, and had I not hastened, she--for a female it was--would have fallen on the deck.

I perceived that she had fainted; I therefore laid her down on the deck, and hastened to obtain some water. O'Brien ran up, and went to her.

”My poor, poor girl!” said he sorrowfully. ”Oh! Peter, this is all your fault.”

”All my fault! How could she have come here?”

”By all the saints who pray for us--dearly as I prize them, I would give up my s.h.i.+p and my commission, that this could be undone.”

As...o...b..ien hung over her, the tears from his eyes fell upon her face, while I bathed it with the water I had brought from the dressing-room.

I knew who it must be, although I had never seen her. It was the girl to whom O'Brien had professed love, to worm out the secret of the exchange of my uncle's child; and as I beheld the scene, I could not help saying to myself, ”Who now will a.s.sert that evil may be done that good may come?” The poor girl showed symptoms of recovering, and O'Brien waved his hand to me, saying, ”Leave us, Peter, and see that no one comes in.”

I remained nearly an hour at the cabin-door, by the sentry, and prevented many from entering, when O'Brien opened the door, and requested me to order his gig to be manned, and then to come in. The poor girl had evidently been weeping bitterly, and O'Brien was much affected.

”All is arranged, Peter; you must go on sh.o.r.e with her, and not leave her till you see her safe off by the night coach. Do me that favour, Peter--you ought indeed,” continued he, in a low voice, ”for you have been partly the occasion of this.”

I shook O'Brien's hand, and made no answer--the boat was reported ready, and the girl followed me with a firm step. I pulled on sh.o.r.e, saw her safe in the coach, without asking her any question, and then returned on board.

”Come on board, sir,” said I, entering the cabin with my hat in my hand, and reporting myself according to the regulations of the service.

”Thank you,” replied O'Brien: ”shut the door, Peter. Tell me, how did she behave?--what did she say?”

”She never spoke, and I never asked her a question. She seemed to be willing to do as you had arranged.”

”Sit down, Peter. I never felt more unhappy, or more disgusted with myself in all my life. I feel as if I never could be happy again. A sailor's life mixes him up with the worst part of the female s.e.x, and we do not know the real value of the better. I little thought when I was talking nonsense to that poor girl, that I was breaking one of the kindest hearts in the world, and sacrificing the happiness of one who would lay down her existence for me, Peter. Since you have been gone, it's twenty times that I've looked in the gla.s.s just to see whether I don't look like a villain. But by the blood of St. Patrick! I thought woman's love was just like our own, and that a three months' cruise would set all to rights again.”

”I thought she had gone over to France.”