"Then this time is an exception to all other times, for I haven't a word of fault to find with you."
"I am so glad! I was trying to think what wicked thing I had been doing."
"Nothing, child. Don John seemed to be supremely happy this afternoon."
"I dare say he was; but the firm of Ramsay & Son had a successful launch, and Don John had compliments enough to turn the head of any one with a particle of vanity in his composition."
"No doubt of it; and I suppose you were not behind the others in adding fuel to the flame."
"On the contrary, I don't think I uttered a single compliment to him."
"It was hardly necessary to utter it; but if you had danced with him only half as often, it would have flattered his vanity less."
"How could I help it, when he asked me? There were more gentlemen than ladies present, and I did not like to break up the sets," protested Nellie.
"Of course not; but being the lion of the occasion, don't you think he might have divided himself up a little more equitably?"
"I don't know; but I couldn't choose my own partner," replied Nellie, her cheeks glowing.
"I certainly do, father," replied she, honestly. "Don't you?"
"Perhaps it don't make so much difference whether I like him or not."
"You have praised him to the skies, father. You said he was a very smart boy; and not one in a hundred young fellows takes hold of business with so much energy and good judgment. I am sure, if you had not said so much in his favor, I shouldn't have thought half so much of him," argued Nellie.
"I don't blame you for thinking well of him, my child," interposed her father. "I only hope you are not becoming too much interested in him."
"I only like him as a good-hearted, noble fellow," added Nellie, with a deeper blush than before, for she could not help understanding just what her father meant.
"He appears to be a very good-hearted fellow now; but he is young, and has not yet fully developed his character. He may yet turn out to be a worthless fellow, dissolute and dishonest," continued the captain.
"Don John!" exclaimed Nellie, utterly unwilling to accept such a supposition.
"Even Don John. I can recall more than one young man, who promised as well as he does, that turned out very badly; and men fully developed in character, sustaining the highest reputations in the community, have been detected in the grossest frauds. I trust Don John will realize the hopes of his friends; but we must not be too positive."