y associate. But no! If ever the signs of race and breeding
were distinguishable in personal appearance, they were so in the case of
the girl before him. A glance at the head in its graceful setting, the
delicate features, the dainty hands and feet, was sufficient to settle
the question in the mind of a man who prided himself on being an adept
in such matters. To his own surprise, he found himself floundering
through a complimentary denial of her own estimate of herself, and being
rescued from a breakdown by a gracious acknowledgment.

"Praise," murmured the young lady sweetly--"praise from Major Darcy is
praise indeed! When `Haughty Hector' deigns to approve--"

The big man jumped as if he had been shot, and turned a flushed, excited
face upon her.

"Wh-at?" he gasped. "What do you say? You know me--you know my old
home name! Who are you, then? Who can you be?"

The girl rose to her feet and stood before him. The top of her smooth
little head barely reached his shoulders, but she held herself with an
air of dignity which gave an appearance of far greater height. For one
long minute they stared at one another in silence; then she stretched
out her hand and laid it frankly in his own.

"Why, I'm Peggy!" she cried. "Don't you remember me? I'm Peggy
Saville!"

CHAPTER TWO.

Hector Darcy knitted his brows, and started in bewilderment at the
little figure before him. "Peggy Saville!" he repeated blankly. "No,
you cannot mean it! The little girl who had lessons with Rob, and who
saved Rosalind's life at the time of the fire? The little girl I met at
The Larches with the pale face, and the pink sash, and the pigtail down
her back?"

"The self-same Peggy--at your service!"--and Miss Saville swept a
curtesy in which dignity mingled with mischief. Her eyes were sparkling
with pleasure, and Major the Honourable Hector Darcy--to give that
gentleman his full title--looked hardly less radiant than herself. Here
was a piece of luck--to make the acquaintance of an interesting and
attractive girl at the very beginning of a voyage, and then to discover
in her an intimate friend of the family! True, he himself had seen
little of her personally, but the name of Peggy Saville was a household
word with his people, and one memorable Christmas week, which they had
spent together at The Larches in years gone by, might be safely accepted
as the foundation of a friendship.

"Of course I remember you!" he cried.