ing, at the time,
that he oughtn't to have been left alone with such a dreadful temptation
before him to slip overboard and end his sorrow or his crime." Mrs.
Markham also remembered that it was about five o'clock--or was it
six?--that morning when she distinctly thought she had heard a splash,
and she was almost impelled to get up and look out of the bull's-eye.
She should never forgive herself for resisting that impulse, for she
was positive now that she would have seen his ghastly face in the water.
Some indignation was felt that the captain, after a cursory survey
of his stateroom, had ordered it to be locked until his fate was more
positively known, and the usual seals placed on his effects for their
delivery to the authorities at San Francisco. It was believed that some
clue to his secret would be found among his personal chattels, if only
in the form of a keepsake, a locket, or a bit of jewelry. Miss Chubb had
noticed that he wore a seal ring, but not on the engagement-finger. In
some vague feminine way it was admitted without discussion that one of
their own sex was mixed up in the affair, and, with the exception of
Miss Keene, general credence was given to the theory that Mazatlan
contained his loadstar--the fatal partner and accomplice of his crime,
the siren that allured him to his watery grave. I regret to say that the
facts gathered by the gentlemen were equally ineffective. The steward
who had attended the missing man was obliged to confess that their most
protracted and confidential conversation had been on the comparative
efficiency of ship biscuits and soda crackers. Mr. Banks, who was known
to have spoken to him, could only remember that one warm evening, in
reply to a casual remark about the weather, the missing man, burying his
ears further in the turned-up collar of his pea-jacket, had stated, "'It
was cold enough to freeze the ears off a brass monkey,'--a remark, no
doubt, sir, intended to convey a reason for his hiding his own." Only
Senor Perkins retained his serene optimism unimpaired.

"Take my word for it, we shall yet hear good news of our missing friend.
Let us at least believe it until we know otherwise. Ah! my dear Mrs.
Markham, why should the Unknown always fill us with apprehension? Its
surprises are equally often agreeable."

"But we have all been so happy before this; and this seems such an
unnecessary and cruel awakening," said Miss Keene, lifting her sad eyes
to the speaker, "that I