Entering playfully into the veteran’s humour, Mrs. Hamilton took his arm and returned to the ball-room, where she was speedily joined by her husband, who welcomed Sir George Wilmot with as much warmth and cordiality as his wife had done, and as soon as the quadrille was finished, a glance from her mother brought Caroline and her partner, Lord Alphingham, to her side.

The astonishment of Sir George, as Mrs. Hamilton introduced the blooming girl before him as her daughter, was so irresistibly comic, that no one present could prevent a smile; and that surprise was heightened when, in answer to his supposition that she must be the eldest of Mrs. Hamilton’s family, Mrs. Hamilton replied that her two sons were both older, and Caroline was, indeed, the youngest but one.

“Then I tell you what, Mrs. Hamilton,” the old veteran said, “Old Time has been playing tricks with me, and drawing me much nearer eternity than I at all imagined myself, or else he has stopped with me and gone on with you.”

“Or rather, my good friend,” replied Mr. Hamilton, “you can only trace the hand of Time upon yourself, having no children in whose increasing years you can behold him, and, therefore, he is very likely to slip the cable before you are aware; but with us such cannot be.”

“Ay, ay, Hamilton, suppose it must be so—­wish I had some children of my own, but shall come and watch Time’s progress on these instead.  Ah, Miss Hamilton, why am I such an old man?  I see all the youngsters running off with the pretty girls, and I cannot venture to ask one to dance with me.”

“May I venture to ask you then, Sir George?  The name of Admiral Wilmot would be sufficient for any girl, I should think, to feel proud of her partner, even were he much older and much less gallant than you, Sir George,” answered Caroline, with ready courtesy, for she had often heard her mother speak of him, and his manner pleased her.

“Well, that’s a pretty fair challenge, Sir George; you must take up the glove thrown from so fair a hand,” observed Lord Alphingham, with a smile that, to Caroline, and even to her mother, rendered his strikingly handsome features yet handsomer.  “Shall I relinquish my partner?”

“No, no, Alphingham; you are better suited to her here.  At home—­at your own home, Miss Hamilton, one night, I shall remind you of your promise, and we will trip it together.  Now I can only thank you for your courtesy; it has done my heart good, and reconciled me to my old age.”

“I may chance to find a rival at home, Sir George.  If you see my sister, you will not be content with me.  She will use every effort to surpass me in your good graces; for when I tell her I have seen the brave admiral whose exploits have often caused her cheek to flush with pride—­patriot pride she calls it—­she will be wild till she has seen you.”

“Will she—­will she, indeed?  Come and see her to-morrow; tell her so, with an old man’s love, and that I scolded your mother heartily for not bringing her to-night.  Mind orders; let me see if you are sailor enough instinctively to obey an old captain’s orders.”