She heard him say: "Father," and in the next instant she saw the old man open his arms and the officer rush to embrace him.
Dada never took her eyes off the couple who walked on, arm in arm and talking eagerly, till they disappeared into a large house on the further side of the dockyard.
"What a handsome man!" Dada repeated to herself, but while she waited to see him return she gazed across the lake by which Marcus might find his way to her.

And as she lingered, idly dreaming, she involuntarily compared the two men.

There were fine soldiers in plenty in Rome, and the ship-builder's son was in no particular superior to a hundred others; but such a man as Marcus she had never before seen--there could hardly be such another in the world.

The young guard was one fine tree among a grove of fine trees; but Marcus had something peculiar to himself, that distinguished him from the crowd, and which made him exceptionally attractive and lovable.

His image at length so completely filled her mind that she forgot the handsome officer, and the shipmaster and every one else..