ent like Achilles, but whether brooding or
sea-sick no one was ever to know. The difference of opinion about him
was amazing. Some said he had no heart, since he had not even waited
for the funeral of the poor girl who was to have been his wife.
Others, on the contrary, said that he was broken-hearted, and that
his doctor had insisted upon his going abroad at once, doubtless
considering, as the best practitioners often do, that it is wisest
to send a patient who is in a dangerous condition to distant shores,
where some other doctor will get the credit of having killed him or
driven him mad. Some said that Mr. Van Torp was concerned in the
affair of that Chinese loan, which of course explained why he was
forced to go to Europe in spite of the dreadful misfortune that had
happened to him. The man who knew everything hinted darkly that Mr.
Van Torp was not really solvent, and that he had perhaps left the
country just at the right moment.

'That is nonsense,' said Miss More to Margaret in an undertone, for
they had both heard what had just been said.

Miss More was the lady in charge of the pretty deaf child, and the
latter was curled up in the next chair with a little piece of crochet
work. Margaret had soon found out that Miss More was a very nice
woman, after her own taste, who was given neither to flattery nor to
prying, the two faults from which celebrities are generally made to
suffer most by fellow-travellers who make their acquaintance. Miss
More was evidently delighted to find herself placed on deck next to
the famous singer, and Margaret was so well satisfied that the deck
steward had already received a preliminary tip, with instructions to
keep the chairs together during the voyage.

'Yes,' said Margaret, in answer to Miss More's remark. 'I don't
believe there is the least reason for thinking that Mr. Van Torp is
not immensely rich. Do you know him?'

'Yes.'

Miss More did not seem inclined to enlarge upon the fact, and her face
was thoughtful after she had said the one word; so was Margaret's tone
when she answered:

'So do I.'

Each of the young women understood that the other did not care to
talk of Mr. Van Torp. Margaret glanced sideways at her neighbour and
wondered vaguely whether the latter's experience had been at all like
her own, but she could not see anything to make her think so. Miss
More had a singularly pleasant expression and a face that made one
trust her at once, but she was far from b