‘I know it,’ said I, after thinking a little; ‘because Miss Lee told me that her mother had hired the cabin for the round voyage.’ ‘Ha!’ he exclaimed, exchanging a look with Mrs. Lee. ‘Well?’ he continued, slightly smiling, ‘you will consider yourself a passenger who does not pay. You are the guest of the ship. Some ships are hospitable and liberal hostesses, and the owners of the _Deal Castle_ would wish her to be one of them. Do, pray, be perfectly easy on that score.’ I bowed my head, murmuring a ‘Thank you.’ ‘There is one consoling part to be borne in mind,’ said he, addressing Mrs. Lee; ‘one fact that should tend to console and soothe this lady: it is this--she is single. She might have been a married woman driven by disaster from her husband, and, worse still, from her children. But put it that she has parents--it may not be so, who can tell that her parents are living? But to be sundered from a mother and a father to whom, in the course of time, one is certain to return, is not like being torn from one’s children. This is a consideration to console you, Miss C----.’ ‘Do not cry,’ said Mrs. Lee, taking my arm. ‘I fully agree with the captain. Only think how it would be if, instead of being single, you were a mother cruelly and strangely taken away from your children.’ At this point, Sir Frederick Thompson, who had been intently surveying us from the other side of the deck, approached. He bowed, and lifted a little white wideawake. ‘I beg pardon for intruding,’ said he, ‘but I should like to ask this lady a question.’ ‘If it refers to anything that is past, Sir Frederick,’ exclaimed Captain Ladmore, ‘I fear she will not be able to satisfy your curiosity.’ ‘There’s no curiosity,’ said Sir Frederick; ‘it’s merely this: when I was sheriff, Lady Thompson and me, for my poor wife was then living, were invited to the ’ouse of Lord ----,’ and he named a certain nobleman; ‘and I remember that at supper I sat next to his lordship’s sister-in-law, Lady Loocy Calthorpe, whose father was the third Earl ----,’ and here he pronounced the name of another nobleman. ‘What I wanted to say is that this lady is the very himage of Lady Loocy, excepting that Lady Loocy ’adn’t white ’air. Now, mam,’ said he, addressing me; ‘of course you’re not Lady Loocy; but you might be a relative, for Lady Loocy had several sisters and a great number of cousins.’ ‘I do not know who I am,’ I answered. ‘How long ago is it since you sat beside Lady Lucy Calthorpe at supper, Sir Frederick?’ asked the captain. ‘Why, getting on for two years and an ’arf.’ ‘And you remember her distinctly enough to enable you to find a likeness to her in this lady?’ ‘God bless you, captain, yes. If it wasn’t for the white ’air, I should say that this lady was Lady Loocy herself.’ ‘Is Calthorpe the family name of the Earl of ----?’ said Mrs. Lee. ‘Certainly, it is,’ answered Sir Frederick; ‘you’ll find it in the Peerage.’ ‘The lady’s initials are A. C.,’ said the captain.