child was brought to her.
Several times she pressed it to her bosom, but she had no nourishment to
afford it. Then, giving one convulsive gasp, before the surgeon could
pour the restorative he had ready into her mouth, she sank back and
expired. There was nothing about the woman to show who she was, or
whence she had come. Her dress, as I have said, was that of an ayah or
native nurse, such as all Europeans employ to take care of their
children. Conjecture was rife as to who the little stranger was. What
the Captain and officers thought about the matter I do not know.
Forward, however, the general opinion ran in favour of her being of
exalted birth.

"She is a little lady, no doubt about that," remarked Toby Kiddle, as he
scrutinised her delicate features and the fineness of her clothing, and
the "Little Lady" she was ever afterwards called.

But to whose charge she should fall was the next question. The Captain
had a wife ashore, but he seemed to think that she would not be
particularly well-pleased should he present her with an infant to look
after. It would be something like reversing the order of things, and it
might be difficult to persuade her that he was entirely ignorant of the
child's parentage.

"You had better have her, Gunning," he said to the First-Lieutenant of
Marines, "you have eight or nine already, have you not? And surely
another can make no odds, and your wife will be delighted, I'm sure.
Mrs Cobb would not mind standing godmother, I dare say, supposing the
little damsel is not christened, and, to make sure, it will be just as
well to have that done when we get home. I suppose they can go to
heaven without it, but it is a matter I am not very clear about, and it
is as well to be on the right side, do you see."

These remarks of the Captain enabled Mr Gunning to think over the
matter. He had only joined us a few months, and he had some idea that
on his return he should find a further increase to his large family.
Though he was a kind-hearted man, and really would have been glad to
look after the little stranger, yet he did not consider himself
justified in undertaking further responsibilities, in addition to those
already upon his shoulders. Still, who could take care of the little
girl? The junior lieutenants were all young men, not at all fitted for
the office. The surgeon was not exactly the person to whom a female
infant could be committed. The master was a good seaman, but a som