"Yes, on the chance of your getting off."

"But you did not say they were for me!"

"No; and I was vague in what I had said until then. I had a daughter--a
widow--whom I rather expected to arrive from abroad towards the end of
the week. But I was quite vague."

"Because you thought I had no chance!"

"I had not heard your evidence. The very afternoon I did hear it, and
had no longer any doubt about the issue in my own mind, I also heard of
this wreck. The very thing! I waited till next morning for the list of
the saved; luckily there were plenty of them; and I picked out the name
of a married woman travelling alone, and therefore very possibly a
widow, from the number. Then I went to the manager. The daughter whom I
expected had been wrecked, but she was saved, and would arrive that
night. As a matter of fact, the survivors were picked up by a passing
North German Lloyd, and they did reach London on Saturday night.
Meanwhile I had impressed it upon the manager to keep the matter as
quiet as possible, for many excellent reasons, which I need not go into
now."

"But the reason for so elaborate a pretence?"

And the keen, dark face was searched with a scrutiny worthy of itself.
Steel set his mouth in another visible resolution to tell the truth.

"I thought you might not be sorry to cease being Mrs. Minchin--the Mrs.