me. She's a dear, quaint little thing."

"That's good of you," said Captain Wards, heartily. "I was about to ask
you--you're so kind and have made friends with her, you see--to tell her
that her uncle isn't here."

"Oh!"--Miss Drayton shrank from that bearing of bad tidings. "How can
I?"

The captain looked uncomfortable. "It is a good deal to ask," he
admitted. "I suppose I--or the stewardess--"

"But no. Poor little one!" Miss Drayton took herself in hand as she
thought of the shy, lonely child. "She must be told. And, as you say,
I've made friends with her, so it may come less hard from me. Leave it
to me, then, captain." And she went slowly back to Anne whose face
clouded at seeing her new friend alone.

"I thought Uncle Carey would come back with you," she said.
"Please--where is he?"

"Anne, when was the last time that you saw Uncle Carey?" inquired Miss
Drayton.

"A little while before the steamer left New York," answered Anne. "He
said he was going to walk around. And he was down there on the--the
platform below."

"The dock? On shore, you mean, and not on the steamer?"