‘Now, you wouldn’t be so unkind as that, Maggie. But, seriously, can’t you understand _why_ I want to know more about you. It isn’t idle curiosity. It’s because--well, it’s because we seem to be rowing pretty much in the same boat. We’re going to a new country together, where we’ve got no friends; so why shouldn’t we be friends to each other?’ ‘We _are_, aren’t we? anyway, there’s no need for _you_ to be more friendly than you are, and I don’t quite see how you _could_ be.’ ‘_I_ do. I would like to be the closest friend you had,--your friend for life, Maggie. Do you understand me?’ ‘No,’ replied Maggie stoutly, ‘I don’t.’ ‘Then I’ll make it plainer to you. Will you marry me? I want a wife to make a home for me in the new world, and you suit me down to the ground. If you’ll say the word, I’ll marry you as soon as we touch land. Is it a bargain?’ ‘Lor’, Mr Farrell, are you poking fun at me?’ ‘Indeed I am in earnest. I was never more so in my life.’ ‘But you’re a gentleman born, and I’m only a servant. It’s right you should know the truth now.’ ‘Well, I’m not a gentleman by birth, Maggie, though I may look like one to you. I was in the position of a gentleman once, but I lost it through my own folly, and I shall never regain it. I got into sore trouble through the rascality of another; and though I wasn’t really guilty, appearances were against me, and I had to give up my place, and take to earning my bread by the labour of my hands. So you see we’re pretty equal; and a girl that can cook my dinner, and keep my house clean, is just the sort of wife I shall want in my new home.’ ‘What has become of the fellow as got you into trouble?’ asked Maggie, without noticing his last remark. ‘Curse him!’ exclaimed Farrell vehemently. ‘Don’t talk of him, Maggie, or I shall forget myself, and where we are. For I’ll tell you a secret, my dear. He’s on board this very ship!’ ‘Lor’! and does he know that you’re here too?’ ‘Yes. I hadn’t met him for years until I knocked up against him in the shipping-office. He was taken aback at meeting me, I can tell you, and hearing we were to sail in the same vessel. He tried to square me at first, and then he tried to insult me. But I’ll have my revenge on him yet. Wait till I meet him on the other side, and we’ll stand up, man to man, till one of us drops--’ ‘Don’t talk in that way, Mr Farrell--_don’t_!’ cried Maggie, as she seized his clenched hand. ‘You make my blood run cold. What good will it be to lose your life for a man like that? It won’t undo the wrong.’ ‘You’re right there, Maggie. But it drives me mad to know _what he is_, and then to see him carrying on as if he was a lord, and owned the whole vessel. And all the girls fawning on him, and letting him do as he likes with them. Lord, if they only knew his real character!’ ‘What is his name, Mr Farrell?’ ‘His right name is Horace Cain, but he’s hiding himself under a false one.’ ‘And what did he do?’