Grace Vansittart, with the light weight of twenty summers on her brow, was an attractive young woman, although her lowly origin was plainly traceable in the style of her beauty. A prolonged and fashionable training had done much to make a lady of her, and her milliners contributed largely to the general effect. But nothing could do away with the deep colouring, the large hands and feet, and the somewhat coarse voice that remained to her as the heritage of her forefathers. She had rich brown hair and eyes, a straight thick nose, a rather full-lipped mouth, and a figure which, though very tempting under the rounded lines of girlhood, would probably be too much of a good thing ten years later. She was attired in an expensive dress of some _mauve_ material, much covered with laces and drapery, and her ears, arms, neck, and fingers glittered with gold and jewellery. She threw a long look at Godfrey from her full brown eyes, as he approached her chair, which emboldened him to take a seat beside her. ‘So you are really going out with us to Tabbakooloo,’ she said, with a smile. ‘Yes. Are you sorry?’ ‘I don’t know. You may be useful on the voyage out. I shall want a great deal of waiting on, I warn you.’ ‘You cannot possibly want more than I shall be proud to render you,’ replied Godfrey. ‘That is really a very nice speech. You make me quite eager to start, and put your gallantry to the test.’ ‘Well, it will not be long now. I think Mr Vansittart told me the _Pandora_ sails on the 24th.’ ‘Three months at sea!’ exclaimed Grace, shrugging her shoulders. ‘What an awful prospect. I hope you will think of something very nice, Mr Harland, to make the time pass quickly.’ ‘I will do my best. Are you fond of reading or playing games? Are you a chess player? And if not, shall I teach you? I don’t know a better plan to make time fly.’ ‘I really have no choice. I shall leave that to you. But I hope we are going to be great friends. Do you think we shall?’ ‘I am _sure_ of it,’ replied Godfrey fervently. ‘Harland,’ interrupted Mr Vansittart at this juncture, ‘have you any engagement for this evening?’ ‘None, sir. I am completely at your service.’ ‘Well, then, you had better stay here to-night, and go with me to the shipping office the first thing to-morrow morning to secure your berth. Time’s getting on, you know, and if we delay it, we may not be able to get you a comfortable one.’ This proposal did not at all meet with Harland’s views. He had no wish that a servant should be despatched from Mr Vansittart’s house to his own, to bring back his morning clothes, and all the information Maggie might choose to give him. And so he readily forged a lie to excuse himself.