‘Good morning, Miss C----,’ exclaimed Mrs. Richards, entering the cabin with a breakfast-tray. ‘I am glad to find you up and dressed. It is a quarter to nine o’clock, and a truly beautiful morning. There is a nice breeze on the quarter, and the ship is going along as steadily as a carriage. Have you slept well?’ ‘I have slept a little.’ ‘Well, to-day you must appear on deck. You will really show yourself to-day. All the passengers are longing to see you, and do not forget that by mingling amongst them, and talking, and hearing them talk, ideas may come, and your memory with them. Here have you been a prisoner since yesterday morning.’ ‘No, I was on deck last night.’ ‘What, in the dark?’ ‘At one o’clock this morning.’ ‘The captain would not like to hear that,’ said she, arching her eyebrows; ‘but you will not do it again. I mean you will not go alone on deck when everybody is asleep except the sailors on watch. What officer was on watch last night?’ ‘The first officer, Mr. Harris,’ said I. ‘Did he talk with you?’ ‘Yes; he told me that a shock might give me back my memory.’ ‘What did the man mean?’ ‘He said he believed if I were to fall overboard from the height of the ship, that when I was taken out of the water the shock would be found to have restored my memory.’ She burst into a loud laugh. ‘He is a truly comical gentleman,’ she exclaimed, ‘though he never intends to be funny, for he is always in earnest. It is said of him that ever since he was second officer, now getting on for five years, he has offered marriage in every voyage he has made to one of the lady-passengers. Our head steward has been shipmate with him three voyages, and on every occasion he has offered marriage. He is always rejected. A shock indeed!’ she exclaimed, growing suddenly very grave--‘what an idea to put into your head! You might go and throw yourself overboard in the belief that the act would cure you of loss of memory. I will tell the doctor to give Mr. Harris a hint not to talk too much. Now make a good breakfast, and by-and-by I will call and take you to see Mrs. and Miss Lee.’