“No more would I, if I had Fore Top Tom foreninst me, and daddy, and could get me tay, and toast, and mate, and granes rigalar,” muttered Judith, dropping into her old place. “I was so overjoyed to see you safe, that I forgot to ask how you were saved, or where your companions are,” said Justin. “My companions! Ah, Mr. Rosenthal, how selfish I was to forget them for a moment! They are all lost! Our boat foundered in that last gale! Only myself and Judith Riordan chanced to be saved by having life preservers on, and by being cast ashore by a wave. Our companions are lost!” said Britomarte, solemnly. “Lost!” repeated Justin, gravely. And a deep silence fell between them—a reverential silence in tribute to the dead, taken away so awfully; a long silence, broken at length by the voice of Judith, who, reminded of her losses, recommenced her howling. “Lost!” again repeated Justin. “Well, God’s will be done. All our grief will not restore them to us. And, much as I lament the calamity, I am too happy in this hour of reunion with you to feel inconsolable at any circumstance whatever.” “How were you saved? Though I am so glad to see you saved that I have scarcely room to feel curious about the manner,” said Miss Conyers. “When the storm was over, and the wind and the waves had fallen, the ship was left high and dry upon the rocks, in a crevice of which the stern was tightly wedged. These rocks formed the extremity of a long chain, or natural causeway, extending from the land far out into the sea. When the subsiding of the sea left this chain bare, I passed over it to the land. And here I am—your lover and servant, to work for you and defend you, through life and unto death!” “Again and again, and forever and forever, thank God that you are safe! But for the rest——” She paused and hesitated. “Yes, for the rest—for the rest, Britomarte?” he eagerly repeated. “Do not speak of it now, or here! It would be scarcely generous or like yourself to do so.” “It would not be like myself to do anything repugnant to your feelings!” said Justin, a little abashed; then recovering his self-possession and dignity, he added, slowly and thoughtfully, as if he weighed every word before he uttered it: