‘You are very kind, Mr Courtney, but I have made up my mind on this subject, and the child will remain with me. Sending her away now to the care of a hireling, will not remove the stain her presence here has cast upon my character; and I have reasons for wishing to bring her up myself. If you object to it, I will relieve you of the burden of both of us; but that infant is my father’s last charge to me, and I will keep it.’ ‘If you would only trust _me_ with the secret of its birth, I could fight your battle with you,’ said Mr Courtney sadly. ‘I will trust no one, sir. I have lost all that I cared for in this world, through its means, and I will at least have the satisfaction of knowing that I have remained true to myself.’ ‘Very well, my dear; good-night; and remember I am still your friend,’ replied the planter, as he walked slowly away. Lizzie looked after him for a moment, and then returning to the apartment, and regardless of the presence of Hugh Norris, she flung herself into a chair, and burst into a flood of tears. ‘_Still my friend!_’ she repeated. ‘Yes, but a friend without any trust or confidence left in me. Ah! what is the use of his assurances? I can read his heart too well! I have not a friend left in the world.’ [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER II. As she said the words, Captain Norris sprang towards her. ‘_Not a friend left in the world_, Liz! Oh! how can you say such a cruel thing whilst I am here?’ She could not answer him immediately for weeping, but she stretched forth her hand and laid it on his arm. ‘Forgive me, Captain Norris. I know that you are my friend, but grief makes us all selfish. Yet that they should think such a thing of me,--that even Mr Courtney, who has known me from a little child, should suspect me of so unworthy an action, it is bitterly, _bitterly_ hard.’ ‘You are speaking in riddles to me, Lizzie! Of _what_ do they suspect you? Surely of nothing of which you need be ashamed? If so, they must answer to _me_ for it. Your dead father honoured me with his friendship, and no one shall insult his daughter whilst I am able to prevent it.’ ‘I should have known that I might count upon your championship, Captain Norris; but it is useless. I have entangled myself in a net from which I see no prospect of freedom. You must leave me to bear the consequences by myself.’ ‘I shall do no such thing!’ replied the Captain warmly. ‘What is the worth of friendship if it cannot stand by you in the time of need? Confide in me, Lizzie. Tell me your trouble, and let us devise a way out of it together.’ ‘We cannot do that,’ replied Lizzie mournfully; ‘but you shall hear it, all the same. If I did not tell you, San Diego would soon do so. All the hands are talking of it by this time. Even that yellow girl in the verandah is ready to believe me to have fallen to a level with herself.’ ‘You alarm me!’ exclaimed Hugh Norris. ‘What is it they dare to say of you?’ ‘That that child is mine!’