appeared again.

"I beg your pardon, ma'am," he said; "the lady and gentleman who
have taken these rooms have just arrived."

Mrs. Presty got up in a hurry, and cordially shook hands with the
Captain. Looking round, she took up the railway guide and her
knitting left on the table. Was there anything else left about?
There was nothing to be seen. Mrs. Presty crossed the passage to
her daughter's bedroom, to hurry the packing. Captain Bennydeck
went downstairs, on his way back to the yacht.

In the hall of the hotel he passed the lady and gentleman--and,
of course, noticed the lady. She was little and dark and would
have been pretty, if she had not looked ill and out of spirits.
What would he have said, what would he have done, if he had known
that those two strangers were Randal Linley's brother and
Roderick Westerfield's daughter?



Chapter XXXVI



Mr. and Mrs. Herbert.


The stealthy influence of distrust fastens its hold on the mind
by slow degrees. Little by little it reaches its fatal end, and