distinctive as the first. We will leave for a moment the question of my
officiousness in the matter, and we'll suppose, for the sake of
argument, that I was authorized by you to do what in fact I have done.
All last week the papers were literally full of your trial, but on
Saturday there was a second sensation as well, and this morning it is
hard to say which is first and which second; they both occupy so many
columns. You may not know it, but the Cape liner due on Saturday was
lost with scores of lives, off Finisterre, on Friday morning last."

Rachel failed to see the connection, and yet she felt vaguely that there
was one, if she could but recall it; meanwhile she said nothing, but
listened with as much attention as a mental search would permit.

"I heard of it first," continued Steel, "late on Friday afternoon, as I
came away from the Old Bailey. Now, it was on Friday afternoon, if you
recollect, that you gave evidence yourself in your own defence. When you
left the witness-box, Mrs. Minchin, and even before you left it, I knew
that you were saved!"

Rachel remembered the Swiss maid's remark about the loss of her clothes
and the number of persons who had fared so much worse and lost their
lives. But Steel's last words dismissed every thought but that of their
own import. And in an instant she was trembling upright in the
easy-chair.

"You believed me!" she whispered. "You believed me at the time!"

And for nothing had he earned such gratitude yet; her moist eyes saw the
old-fashioned courtesy of his bow in answer, but not the subtlety of the
smile that bore it company in the depths of the dark eyes: it was a