f a true gentleman, Sir
Reginald at once led the conversation into a channel which soon made the
poor girl forget her embarrassment, and almost immediately afterwards
the party sat down to dinner.

During the progress of this meal--which, however, their guest scarcely
tasted--the gentlemen were made aware of the circumstances which led to
this lovely girl being thrown, helpless and friendless, into their
society and upon their hospitality.

Her name, she informed them, was Olivia D'Arcy. She was an orphan. Her
brother, formerly a lieutenant in the royal navy, had been compelled by
straitened circumstances to quit the service and enter the mercantile
marine, in which he had without much difficulty succeeded in securing a
command. By practising the most rigid economy he had contrived to
maintain his only sister, Olivia, and educate her at a first-class
school, and on her education being completed he had decided, as the
simplest way out of many difficulties, financial and otherwise, to take
her to sea with him. This had been her first voyage with him, as it had
been his first in command of the _Mercury_. The ship had been to
Manilla, and at the time of her loss was homeward-bound, with
instructions to call at Madras _en route_. The voyage had been an
unfortunate one in many respects, even from its commencement, and Olivia
thought the climax had been reached when, a week before her wreck, the
_Mercury_ had been attacked by pirates in the Straits of Malacca, and
her brother slain by the pirates' last shot, as they retired defeated.
The cruel shot, she declared in a burst of uncontrollable grief, had
robbed her, in her brother, of her sole relative; and whilst she was
deeply grateful to those she addressed for preserving her life, she felt
that it would perhaps have been better for her had she been allowed to
perish.

Such a story was calculated to excite the deepest sympathy and
commiseration in the breasts of those who listened to it; and it did; in
Sir Reginald's case, indeed, the feeling was even warmer than either of
those mentioned, especially when he learned, upon further inquiry, that
Olivia's brother had been none other than the George D'Arcy who, in the
days of their mutual boyhood, had fought many a battle on his behalf at
Eton when certain first-form bullies had shown a disposition to
tyrannise over the then delicate curly-headed "Miss Reggie" (as
Elphinstone was dubbed when he first entered the school),