"Good morning, Mr. Dryden," she said, "and if you've any consideration for my feelings, please don't tell me it's a beautiful day. I have heard that from three different people already." I looked at her with deep contentment. She was wearing a plain linen frock that showed off the graceful lines of her figure, and altogether she was as fresh and delightful a picture as ever gladdened the eye of sinful man. "I am sorry," I said regretfully. "I had made up one or two very bright remarks on the subject, but under the circumstances I'll keep them for somebody else." I paused. "How is Señor de Roda this morning?" I asked. "I hope he hasn't heard anything about our adventures in the harbour?" She shook her head. "Not a word apparently. I am beginning to think that nobody saw us after all, except the sailor who spoke to you." In a few words I acquainted her with what Ross had told me the previous evening--a piece of information which she received with obvious thankfulness. "I have always liked Dr. Ross," she said. "He is so kind and cheery. Is he a special friend of yours?" "We have been together for a dozen voyages," I explained, "and so far we have managed to get along without squabbling." "A dozen voyages!" she repeated, opening her eyes. "You must be getting a little tired of the _Neptune_, aren't you?" "She has lost some of her first charm," I admitted frankly. "I have been thinking of applying for a separation for some time." She looked up at me with a friendly interest that I found very refreshing. "What are you going to do?" she asked. "I don't know exactly," I replied. "It depends to a certain extent upon Messrs. Wilmot and Drayton." There was a short pause. "They sound like two very important people," she said, wrinkling her forehead, "but I am afraid I have never heard of either of them." "Neither had I until I got back yesterday," I returned. "Then I found a cable from them in my cabin telling me that my uncle was dead." She gave a little exclamation of sympathy. "Oh, I am so sorry," she began. "I'm afraid----" "It's quite all right," I interrupted cheerfully. "I never saw him in my life, and I believe he was several kinds of a blackguard. The only reason they wired to me was because I happen to be the next of kin, and as he died without making a will I suppose I come into his goods and chattels--if there are any to come into." "But don't you know? Didn't they give you any details?" I shook my head. "Nothing at all. I may be a millionaire, or he may have left me a parrot and an old suit of clothes. I should think the latter was much the more likely of the two, but Ross won't have it at any price. He says that he has got a kind of second sight about money matters, and that he's always felt I was born to be one of the idle rich." She laughed easily. "I do hope he's right. Aren't you tremendously excited about it?"