Scudamore had not been so retaken; and the Captain
(who had not received his letter until it was too late to interfere,
by reason of his own despatch to Dieppe) had encountered a sharp summer
gale just then, which must have proved fatal to the poor old boat.
The only chance was that some English ship might have picked up the
wanderer, and if so the highly respected Admiral would have heard of it
before he received this letter. As no such tidings had been received,
there could be little doubt about the issue in any reasonable mind. But
the heart of a woman is not a mind, or the man that is born of her might
as well forego the honour.
However, as forty people were quite happy, the wisest course is to
rejoin them. The ladies were resolved upon this occasion to storm the
laws of usage which required their withdrawal before the toasts began;
and so many gentle voices challenged the garrison of men behind their
bottles that terms of unusual scope were arranged. It was known that the
Marquis would make a fine speech--short, and therefore all the finer--in
proposing the toast of the evening, to wit, "Our King, and our Country."
Under the vigorous lead of Mrs. Stubbard, the ladies demanded to hear
every word; after which they would go, and discuss their own affairs, or
possibly those of their neighbours. But the gentlemen must endure their
presence till his lordship had spoken, and the Admiral replied. Faith
was against this arrangement, because she foresaw that it would make
them very late; but she yielded to the wishes of so many of her guests,
consoled with the thought that she would be supported by some one on her
left hand, who would be her support for life.
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