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MACLEOD OF DARE.
147

I looked hopefully to you and the young generation of officers and men whom I had been proud to see growing up and striving in a noble emulation under my command. I felt deeply thankful at being able to leave to Adria so many ships — a body of which such an able staff of officers and such brave sailors constituted the soul. Although Providence has led me into another track, my heart still burns with the fire of naval glory; and bright and joyful for me was the day when the heroic fleet to which I had dedicated my youth, under your heroic leadership, wrote down, with a blood-red pen, the 20th of July, 1866, on the pages of naval history. For with the victory of Lissa your fleet becomes enrolled amongst those whose flag is the symbol of glory, and your name is added to the list of the naval heroes of all time. To you, the officers, and the ships' companies, I send my heartfelt good wishes; and you, as a remembrance of your admiral and friend, and as a proof of my admiration, I invest with the Grand Cross of my Guadalupe Order. Maximilian.

After the end of the war, Vice-Admiral Tegetthoff travelled for a few months in France, England, and the United States. His visit could scarcely be called private, though in name, at least, unofficial; but he had nevertheless the direct object of seeing the great naval arsenals of those countries, and studying their organization. He had returned from America, and was on his way to Paris, the seat then in 1867, as now in 1878, of a "Great Exhibition," when he was recalled by telegraph to Vienna. There he received the honorable though melancholy commission to go to Mexico, to reclaim from the government (if it may be so called) and bring home the body of the late emperor Maximilian. This duty was performed, though not without difficulty and delay raised by the government and Juarez: the body was recovered and brought to Vienna, where it now lies in the imperial vault. So great throughout Germany was the interest felt in this deep Mexican tragedy; and, notwithstanding the recent development of the north German and Austrian navies, so little familiarity is there with nautical matters, that I am barely overstating the case if I say that to the majority of even educated Germans, Tegetthoff is not so much the victor of Lissa, as the bringer home of Maximilian's body.

But his career was drawing to a close. In March, 1868, he was appointed head of the naval section of the war office, and commander-in-chief of the navy, and this he held till his death, which took place, after a short illness, on April 7, 1871; in the words of the semi-official notice — "zu früh für Oesterreich."

The portraits of Tegetthoff that I have seen represent a hard Scotch type of face. I do not know how far they are to be trusted, but they are not out of keeping with his recorded character. He is described as a man of few words, emphatically a man of action, one able to execute his meaning, but not always able to tell it; at the same time ready to speak out, and sharply too, if occasion called for it or the good of the service required it. But, as has happened to other naval officers, there were moments when he was tempted by feelings-of disgust or dissatisfaction; and once, at least, he had made up his mind to retire into private life. That he was persuaded to remain for the glory and the welfare of his country, is perhaps not the least of the benefits which the Austrian navy received from the unfortunate Maximilian.

J. K. Laughton. Greenwich, May 1878.




[Published by arrangement with Harper & Brothers.]


MACLEOD OF DARE.


CHAPTER XXIV.
ENTHUSIASMS.

She was seated alone, her arms on the table, her head bent down. There was no red rose now in the white morning dress, for she had given it to him when he left. The frail November sunshine streamed into the room, and put a shimmer of gold on the soft brown of her hair.

It was a bold step she had taken, without counsel of any one. Her dream was now to give up everything that she had hitherto cared about, and to go away into private life to play the part of Lady Bountiful. And if doubts about the strength of her own resolution occasionally crossed her mind, could she not appeal for aid and courage to him who would always be by her side? When she became a Macleod she would have to accept the motto of the Macleods. That motto is Hold fast.

She heard her sister come, into the house and she raised her head. Presently Carry opened the door; and it was clear she was in high spirits.

"Oh, Mopsy," said she — and this was a pet name she gave her sister only when