difference to the first day, eh? By the way,
where's the Gravesend lady? She that woke
us up out of our sleep eh, captain?"

The captain answered gruffly that he did not
know.

"You should have all your passengers here,
captain. No excuse such a morning as this.
No breakfasting in bed -- in berth, I mean -- it's
bad for the morale of the ship."

The Scotch captain shook himself at this.

"We'll have none o' that aboard. No favour
or exceptions. Here, steward!  You're not to
take in breakfast to any one -- d'ye hear?"

"No, sir. Only that lady in No. 20."

"Has she been ill?"

"No, sir, the stewardess says. She had
dinner yesterday there, and tea and breakfast
ever since she came aboard."

The captain almost leaped up with anger.

"This is outrageous. My orders defied by any
woman. Lady or woman, it's all one. I'll have
the same discipline for all. That's logic,
Mr. Colter."

"And good logic, too," said that gentleman.

"Ay, ay. The ship before everything. And
see, steward. Tell that lady -- what's her
name? --"

"Mrs. Arlington, sir."

Mr. Colter, at hearing this name, started.

"Arlington!" he said. " Are you sure?"

"Why," said the captain, "what's there in
it?"

Mr. Colter seemed to be ashamed of having
started or shown surprise.

"Nothing," he said. "There's a leading
case, you know -- Arlington and Hooker -- very
nearly the same point as the rule in Shelley's
case, but cut down a good deal, you know."

"Well, tell Mrs. Arlington she must be here
for dinner or go without any. That's blunt;
but it's the fact and truth."

The captain went on deck.

"Now," said Mr. Colter to me, "why should
that lady, who has come on board in an exceptional
manner, and who has not been in the least ill (as,
indeed, I found out in a very odd way, for I
saw her reflected in the little skylight of my
berth, and reading and working all through the
storm) -- why shouldn't she come in and take
her meals with us -- eh?"

"Well, I never thought of it in that way," I
said.

At dinner that day -- the fine weather still
continuing -- all the passengers were assembled,
except one. Just as the covers were taken off,
a little rustle was heard, and a tall, graceful
lady stood at the door, looking down tne long
table as if for a place. She was very neatly
cut out of the great human material -- slight
-- was in a purple silk -- had a very small
face and features -- soft hair, with a tiny cap.
She seemed almost as shy as a girl, and about
two-and-thirty years of age. The lawyer got
up, and, with much bustle, caused room to be
made for her opposite -- near the captain -- who
shook himself angrily like a Newfoundland dog.

"Expect every one to be in time on board the
Promised Land," he said, roughly. "Can't
allow any eating and drinking in the cabins. So
I hope, in future, ma'am -- "

She was quite composed, and answered him
with a soft voice: "I beg pardon, indeed,
Captain Magregor. I did not know the rules
-- indeed, no.  But in future yon will find me
the most obedient of all your passengers."

"Well, I hope so," he said. "Get this lady
some soup."

The barrister, who had his eye on her all this
time, said to her graciously,

"Hope you have not suffered during the rough
weather."

She answered softly, and with an expression
of pain,

"I always suffer. I am almost always a
martyr."

"Why," said the Scotch captain, "we know
that you weren't ill during the storm, for you
had your meals in regularly, and this gentleman
here saw you sitting up, reflected in some
way on his skylight, reading away when it was
blowing great guns. Now?"

She raised her eyes from her plate, and
turned them steadily on the barrister. He
helped himself to wine -- very coolly.

"You are determined to be hard on poor me,
Captain Magregor," she said. "I did not say
that I was sick, but that I was almost always
sick. I will even appeal to that gentleman who
used reflectors to see how I employed my
time."

The barrister laughed. "That's putting it
very strongly against me. But if I had had
such a reflector the other night, when our vessel
was stopped, and mysterious passengers came
on board, that would be worth something.
What do you say, captain?"

"I say it was a thing I wouldn't do again,
for this lady or for any lady."

Again her eyes were studying the barrister
very carefully. Then she turned to the captain:

"Must I beg pardon again? My offences seem
to be increasing every moment. I was always
told that ladies on board were turned into
goddesses -- could rule and dictate -- and that gallant
seamen were only too proud to put their heads
at their feet. When we made a voyage from
India, in a Queen's ship, we found it so.
But I suppose there is a difference in the
service. The captain was like a knight of King
Arthur's, and yet one of the bravest and best
seamen in the navy."

Our captain coloured up, but could not say
anything. The barrister said, suddenly, as if
putting a question:

"You were coming home from foreign
service -- you and your husband?"

She almost started, looked at him, then
answered steadily with her wonderful eyes on
him:

"Well, yes, supposing we were?"

"Oh, certainly," said he, with great politeness;
"I have no right to put inquisitive questions."