I suppose we shall land in an hour or two."

Bluebell's curiosity was excited by the _Times_ newspaper, which a
gentleman had just laid down. It was only the advertisement sheet, for
some one else had immediately snapped up the rest, and she glanced
vaguely down the first columns, puzzling over such enigmatical insertions
as "Our tree, our bridge, our walk," "What shall we do with the Tusk?"
and that "John is entreated to write and send remittances to his
afflicted Teapot,"--when her eye lit upon the following name among the
deaths:--

"On the 22nd inst., at Leighton Court, of scarlet fever, Evelyn Cora,
only child of Mrs. and the late Henry Leighton, Esq., aged eleven
years."

Bluebell sat petrified,--the ground cut beneath her feet,--she could only
be shocked for the poor child whom she had never known. But what was to
become of herself in a strange land, with no place to go to? Besides
Leighton Court there was not a place in all England, except an inn, that
she would have a right to enter; and in a few minutes more the shelter
of the ship would be withdrawn,--even now she could see the smoke of the
tug coming to disembark them. Perfectly appalled and unnerved, she pushed
the paragraph towards Mr. Dutton, who had just entered, and gazed
helplessly at him with large frightened eyes.

He took in the situation at a glance, and the thought that had struck him
before of the strangeness of sending this beautiful girl, like a bale of
goods, to an unknown country, where she had no connections, returned with
confirmed force. How friendless she was! But slenderly supplied with
money, of course. A daring possibility had darted into his mind. It was
an irresistible temptation,--and sailors are proverbially reckless.
Matrimony hitherto had never entered into his views. It would entail
leaving the navy and living with his uncle, who, though kind, was
arbitrary enough, and would have very decided opinions upon whom his
choice should fall. Connection, money, he knew would be a _sine qua non_.
More than one well-born and tochered _debutante_ had successively been
indicated to him as a bride that would in all respects suit Lord
Bromley's views; and Bluebell, as far as he knew, fulfilled none of these
conditions. All the same the struggle in his mind was in combatting the
difficulties that opposed his resolution to marry her.

Bluebell, of course, could not guess his thoughts, and she only felt very
desponding that he seemed