and poetic, and all that, like giving one's shirt to an impostor. All

of us make mistakes sometimes. I have made a great many myself, and

have always been the foremost to perceive them. But your own brave

lover--have you forgotten him? He fought like a hero, I am told;

and nothing could save his life except that he wore a new-fashioned

periwig."

"I would rather not talk of him now, Lord Nelson, although he had no

periwig. I am deeply thankful that he escaped; and no doubt did his

best, as he was bound to do. I try to be fair to everybody, but I cannot

help blaming every one, when I come to remember how blind we have been.

Captain Stubbard must have been so blind, and Mrs. Stubbard a great deal

worse, and worst of all his own aunt, Mrs. Twemlow. Oh, Lord Nelson, if

you had only stopped here, instead of hurrying away for more glory! You

saw the whole of it; you predicted everything; you even warned us

again in your last letter! And yet you must go away, and leave us to

ourselves; and this is how the whole of it has ended."

"My dear child, I will not deny that the eye of Nelson has a special

gift for piercing the wiles of the scoundrelly foe. But I was under

orders, and must go. The nation believed that it could not do without

me, although there are other men every bit as good, and in their own

opinion superior. But the enemy has never been of that opinion; and a

great deal depends upon what they think. And the rule has been always

to send me where there are many kicks but few coppers. I have never been

known to repine. We all err; but if we do our duty as your dear father

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