In due course the _Blankshire_ was signalled and arrived, and the usual mob of people swarmed aboard to meet their friends. Among these, carrying a heavy heart, was Shafto; after all, he realised that he must do the right thing and go to receive his cousin; but, amazing to relate, there was no Miss Larcher among the passengers! On inquiry he was presented to an excited lady, who had brought her all the way from Tilbury, filling the situation of lady nurse. Miss Larcher had not completed the voyage, but had landed at Colombo! On hearing of his relationship to her late employé, Mrs. Jones, a hot-tempered matron, fell figuratively tooth and nail upon defenceless Shafto. In a series of breathless sentences she assured him that “his cousin, Miss Larcher, was no better than an adventuress, and had behaved in the most dishonest and scandalous manner.” After a moment—to recover her breath—she went on in gasps: “I took her on the recommendation of a mutual acquaintance, and at our interview she appeared quite all right and most anxious to please; but once on board ship, with her passage paid, I soon discovered that she was not anxious to please _me_, but any and every unmarried man she could come across! Such a shameless and outrageous flirt I _never_ saw. As to her duties, she was absolutely _useless_; I don’t believe she had ever washed or dressed a child in her life before she came to me; she did nothing but dress herself and sit about the deck with men, leaving me to do her work. When I spoke to her she simply laughed in my face; the children couldn’t endure her and screamed whenever she came near them. So I was obliged to do nursemaid whilst she danced and amused herself—and all at my expense. She made no secret of the fact that she was on the look out for a husband; and she has gained her end—for she is married.” “Married!” repeated Shafto. The news was too good to be true. “Well, at least they landed at Colombo with that intention,” announced the lady sourly; “she and a coffee planter, a widower, with a touch of black blood. They were going up country to his estate, and she declared that she was about to have the time of her life—but I doubt it.” This piece of news was an unspeakable relief to Shafto. The hypocrite listened to the long list of his cousin’s enormities with a downcast and apologetic air, whilst all the time he could have shouted for joy. When at last he was permitted an opportunity of speaking, he assured the angry matron that he much deplored Miss Larcher’s shortcomings. His sympathy even took a practical form, for he generously offered to refund Mrs. Jones half of Miss Larcher’s passage money; this the lady vouchsafed to receive and subsequently always spoke of young Shafto as “a remarkably nice, gentlemanly fellow.” Little did she suspect that the cheque so punctually lodged at her banker’s was in the form of a heartfelt thank-offering—the price of a young man’s peace! CHAPTER XXIII MYSTERY AND SUSPICION