“If it _was_ a woman? It’s very odd, though, that she hasn’t left some little sign of her sex behind her--a hairpin, a button, or a bonnet-pin. There are only short hairs (Hughes’ evidently) on the brush and comb, but she may have had her own and have taken them with her. But anyhow I might have expected to find, if not some hair-combings, at least a stray hair or two which would have let me into the secret, and the neighbourhood of the mirror’s the most likely place to find them.” But, search as I would, not a single hair could I find, and in another half-minute the near dip of oars announced Hughes’ return. As I heard him jerk the sculls from the rowlocks, and the grinding of the dinghy against the ship’s side, I took another despairing look around in the hopes of lighting on something that had hitherto escaped my notice. One object after another was hastily lifted, investigated, and as hastily put down, but always with the same result. As I heard Hughes’ step upon the deck my eyes fell upon a little square of soap which had fallen to the floor and had escaped the notice--probably of Hughes as well as of myself--on account of its being hidden by the corner of an oilskin which was hanging from the wall. This oilskin I had taken down to overhaul, and it was when replacing it that I found the soap, which I saw, when I lifted it, was of better quality than one would expect to find in such a place. It was still damp from recent usage, and as I turned it over two or three hairs came off from the under side and adhered to my hand. As I looked at them I gave a low, long, but almost silent, whistle. They were beyond question the bristles of a shaving brush which was fast going to pieces from long service. And that I was not mistaken in so thinking was proved by the fact that the under side of the soap still bore the marks made by the sweep of the brush over the surface, and that the lather upon it was damp. Some one had been shaving, and that quite recently, on the “Cuban Queen.” It could not be Hughes, for he wore a thick, full beard. If the person who passed as “Mrs. Hughes” really was a woman she was not likely to have recourse to a razor to enhance her charms. If, on the other hand, that person was a man, who was personating a woman for purposes of disguise, a razor would be an absolute necessity among his toilet requisites. CHAPTER XI PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS