"I told you before that I liked Nellie, and you are all the time coming between me and her. She would have taken my arm if you had stepped aside."
"I don't choose to step aside," added Donald.
"I want to get in there, Don John," added Laud, in a milder tone.
"Perhaps not now, but I can make it all right with her," said Laud, as he twirled his colored mustache, which he probably regarded as a lady-killer. "Besides, you are not old enough to think of such things yet, Don John."
"Well, I don't think of such things yet," replied Donald, who really spoke only the truth, so far as he was consciously concerned.
"But you ought not to stick by her to-day. You are the boat-builder, and you should bestow your attentions upon Maud Rodman, after whom the yacht was named. She is the daughter of the man who gave you the job. If you will just keep away from Nellie, I can paddle my own canoe, as you say."
"Mr. Cavendish," interposed Mr. Rodman, "I believe you are not a member of the Belfast Yacht Club."
"I am not yet, but I intend to join," replied Laud.
"In the mean time, this occasion is for the members of the club and their friends; and I wish to suggest the propriety of your withdrawing, as I believe you are here without an invitation," added Mr. Rodman.
"I came with Don John," said Laud, rather startled by the plain speech of the host.
"I didn't invite him, or any one else. I did not consider that I had any right to do so," protested Donald, as he walked forward and joined Nellie.
Laud could not gainsay this honest avowal; but there was no limit to his wrath at that moment, and he determined to punish the boat-builder for "going back" on him, as he regarded it.
The collation was a sumptuous one, for when Belfast nabobs do anything, they do it. The guests had good appetites, and did abundant justice to the feast. The incident of which Laud Cavendish had been the central figure caused some talk and some laughter.
"He had the impudence to say he was going to name his boat after me," said Nellie Patterdale. "He don't like the name of Juno."
"Does he own the Juno?" asked Captain Patterdale, quietly.
"How is that, Don John?" added the captain.
"Yes, sir, he owns her; Captain Shivernock got tired of the Juno, and Laud bought her."