but a few days' rest and quiet will restore him."

"He was na ower wise at the best, puir man," sighed the veteran, as he
moved away.

"Her Ladyship was quite a heroine,--is n't that so?" said Lady Janet,
tartly.

"She held the rudder, or did something with the compass, I heard,"
simpered a young lady in long flaxen ringlets.

Cashel smiled, but made no answer.

"Oh, dear," sighed Meek, "and there was a dog that swam--or was it you
that swam ashore with a rope in your mouth?"

"I grieve to say, neither man nor dog performed the achievement."

"And it would appear that the horrid wretch--what's his name?" asked
Mrs. White of her friend Howie.

"Whose name, madam?"

"The man--the dreadful man, who planned it all. Sick--Sickamore--no, not
Sickamore--"

"Sickleton, perhaps," said Cashel, strangely puzzled to make out what
was coming.

"Yes, Sickleton had actually done the very same thing twice before, just
to get possession of the rich plate and all the things on board."

"This is too bad," cried Cashel, indignantly; "really, madam, you must
pardon my warmth, if it even verges on rudeness; but the gentleman whose
name you have associated with such iniquitous suspicions saved all our
lives."

"That's what I like in him better than all," whispered Aunt Fanny to
Olivia; "he stands by his friends like a trump."

"You have compelled me," resumed Cashel, "to speak of what really I had
much rather forget; but I shall insist upon your patience now for a
few minutes, simply to rectify any error which may prevail upon this
affair."

With this brief prelude, Cashel commenced a narrative of the voyage
from the evening of the departure from Kingstown to the moment of the
vessel's sinking off the south coast.

If most of his auditors only listened as to an interesting anecdote, to
others the story had a deeper meaning. The Kennyfecks were longing to
learn how the excursion originated, and whether Lady Kilgoff's presence
had been a pre-arranged plan, or a mere accidental occurrence.

"All's not lost yet, Livy," whispered Miss Kennyfeck in her sister's
ear. "I give you joy." While a significant nod from Aunt Fanny seemed to
divine the sentiment and agree with it.

"And I suppose ye had na the vessel insured?" said Sir Andrew, at the
close of the narrative; "what a sair thing to think o'!"

"Oh, dear, yes, to be sure!" ejaculated Meek, piteously; "and the cold,
and the wetting, and the rest of it! for of course you