"Virgie, my poor, dear sister," he said in tones tremulous with emotion, "you are with relatives and friends who will gladly do anything and everything in their power for your comfort and happiness. I think you are not well----" She seemed to be making an effort to speak, and, leaving his sentence unfinished, he bent down over her with his ear almost touching her lips. "Starving," was the whispered word that came in reply, and he started back aghast, his features working with emotion. "Can it be possible!" was his half suppressed exclamation. "What is it?" asked Calhoun; "what does she say?" "She is faint and ill with hunger," returned his brother in a moved tone. "Get me a glass of hot milk as quickly as you can, Cal," and Calhoun hurried away in quest of it. In a very few minutes he was back again with a large tumbler of rich, sweet milk, which Virginia drank with avidity. Some more substantial food was then given her, and after a little she was able to exchange greetings with the other relatives on board and to give some account of herself. "Henry Neuville is dead, and I set out on my journey to beg a home with Isa as soon as I had seen him laid decently away," she said. "I have no means at all--unfortunate creature that I am--but perhaps I can make myself useful enough to earn my bread." "And your brothers will be both able and willing to clothe you," said the doctor, Calhoun adding, "certainly; and to give you a home, too, should Isa and her husband find it inconvenient to do so." At that tears coursed down Virginia's cheeks. "You are good, kind brothers," she said; "far better to me than I deserve. But living with a man of the stamp of Henry Neuville has taught me how to appreciate true gentlemen." "O Virgie, did he die as he had lived?" asked her cousin Elsie. "I saw no sign of repentance or reformation," returned Virginia; "he died of drink and with curses on his tongue. I can't mourn his loss; how could I? but I'm the most unfortunate woman--the poorest in the whole connection. I wasn't brought up to support myself either, and can't do it." "Perhaps you may learn how," said Zoe encouragingly. "There are many avenues to self-support now open to women, you know." A look of disgust and annoyance was Virginia's only response to that. A few moments of silence ensued, broken only by the prattle of the little ones, then there was a sudden sound as of some heavy body plunging into the water, and a shrill cry: "Man overboard!" A great commotion instantly followed, the captain giving his orders to lower a boat and go in search of the man, and at the same time slowing the movements of the steamer.