afterwards, came a
telegram from Albany, in Australia, giving the names of Lady Holmhurst
and the others who were saved, and specially mentioning 'Miss
Smithers--the novelist' and Lord Holmhurst as being among the drowned,
and that is how the dreadful suspense came to an end. It was awful, I can
tell you."

Both of the young women looked at Eustace's face and saw that there was
no mistaking the real nature of the trial through which he had passed. So
real was it, that it never seemed to occur to him that there was anything
unusual in his expressing such intense interest in the affairs of a young
lady with whom he was outwardly, at any rate, on the terms of merest
acquaintance.

"It was very kind of you to think so much about me," said Augusta,
gently. "I had no idea that you would call again, or I would have left
word where I was going."

"Well, thank God you are safe and sound, at any rate," answered Eustace;
and then, with a sudden burst of anxiety, "you are not going back to New
Zealand just yet, are you?"

"I don't know. I am rather sick of the sea just now."

"No, indeed, she is not," said Lady Holmhurst; "she is going to stop with
me and Dick. Miss Smithers saved Dick's life, you know, when the nurse,
poor thing, had run away. And now, dear, you had better tell Mr. Meeson
about the will."

"The will. What will?" asked Eustace.

"Listen, and you will hear."

And Eustace did listen with open eyes and ears while Augusta, getting
over her shyness as best she might, told the whole story of his
uncle's death, and of the way in which he had communicated his
testamentary wishes.

"And do you mean to tell me," said Eustace, astounded, "that you allowed
him to have his confounded will tattooed upon your neck?"

"Yes," answered Augusta, "I did; and what is more, Mr. Meeson, I think
that you ought to be very much obliged to me; for I daresay that I shall
often be sorry for it."

"I am _very_ much obliged," answered Eustace; "I had no right to expect
such a thing, and, in short, I do not know what to say. I should never
have thought that any woman was capable of such a sacrifice for--for a
comparative stranger."

Then came another awkward pause.

"Well, Mr. Meeson," said Augusta, at last rising brusquely from her
chair, "the document belongs to you, and so I suppose that you had better
see it. Not that I think that it will be of much use to you, however, as
I see that 'probate had been allowed to issue,' what