“I have not much doubt that she is artful, and would not scruple to take advantage of Wilbur’s weakness for pretty faces, notwithstanding she appears so meek and demure.” “Meek and demure, mamma! Why, she is anything but that. She has the manners and bearing of a little queen!” interrupted Miss Coolidge. “Well, but she is very quiet, and does not appear to be seeking his attentions; but, as I said before, we cannot help it now; all we can do is to watch them closely.” “Never fear but that we can do that with our sharp eyes; and with you and I both on the lookout, I reckon we can manage them,” laughed the young lady. “Yes; and if we find any indications of anything serious upon Wilbur’s part, I will find some excuse for shipping her off our hands as soon as we land. I will not have my son’s prospects ruined by a poverty-stricken governess,” replied the haughty woman, sternly. They moved away from the place where they had been standing, and the young Englishman resumed his pacings, a smile of ineffable scorn curling his fine lips. “A poverty-stricken governess, indeed!” he muttered between his teeth; “and I would not have her prospects for future happiness ruined by the son of such a woman! Poor child!” and his face softened into tenderness; “then she has been reduced to that cruel necessity, and she will have a hard time of it if left to the tender mercies of those two. At all events,” he continued, “I will manage some way to get acquainted with her before the voyage is ended, and return her cuff button. I shall miss it, too, for it has lain so long in its place that it seems like a precious talisman.” He took it from the pocket of his vest as he spoke—that beautiful little trifle of black enamel and gold, with its sparkling initial in the center, inclosed in its brilliant circle. He turned it over, and read the tiny letters engraved on the back. “Brownie!” he murmured. “I could not help speaking her name as I held her in my arms; and how beautiful she looked when the lovely color leaped into her face as she heard it. Never mind, when I put this into her own little hands, I will explain it all.” He replaced the button in his pocket, with a deep sigh, and then turned his attention to the steamer, as she cast off her moorings and began to move out into the mighty deep. The reader has doubtless recognized in the stranger the person of Adrian Dredmond, one of the young men who stood in the vestibule of the Art Gallery at Philadelphia, on the day when Miss Huntington met with such a series of accidents to her elaborate toilet. He had come from the old country to attend the world’s wonderful exposition, and was now returning—but more of him hereafter. CHAPTER XII DRESSING FOR THE OPERA The passage proved to be an exceedingly rough one, and Brownie suffered more than any of the party, not being able to leave her stateroom during all the voyage.