, of course, take time. If you
will leave the matter in my hands I will cause enquiries to be made as to
the arms. That will probably only take a day or two, and it would perhaps
be a satisfaction to you to know the family with which you might be
connected. It will be in the subsequent steps that delays will occur."

"Thank you, sir! I should certainly like to know, though I quite see that,
as you say, it will be very difficult for me to establish my connection."

The lawyer then took down what particulars Will could give him of his
early history. When he returned a week later the lawyer gave him a cordial
reception.

"I congratulate you, Mr. Gilmore," he said. "The head of the family
carrying those arms is Sir Ralph Gilmore, one of our oldest baronets. He
has no male issue. He had one son who died six years ago. There was
another son, a younger one, of whom there is no record. He may be alive
and he may be dead; that is not known. It is, of course, possible that you
were stolen as a child by your reputed father, and that he gave you the
family name in order that when the time came he could produce you, but of
course that is all guesswork. When you return from sea again I will set
people to work to trace, if possible, the wanderings of this person; but
as I said, this will take time, and as you will be going to sea in a
fortnight the matter can very well stand over. So long as you are on board
a ship your parentage can make very little difference to you."

Will had still a fortnight of his leave remaining. He wandered about
London for a couple of days, but he found it rather dull now that he had
finished his business, as he had no friends in town. On the second day he
was walking along one of the fashionable streets of Bloomsbury,
considering whether he should not go down by the next coach to Portsmouth,
where he was sure of meeting friends, when a carriage passed him, drawn by
a pair of fine horses. A young lady who was sitting in it happened to
notice him. She glanced at him carelessly at first, and then with great
interest. She stopped the carriage before it had gone many yards, and when
Will came up, looked at him closely. "Excuse me, sir," she said as he was
passing; "but are you not Mr. Gilmore?" Greatly surprised he replied in
the affirmative.

"I thought so!" she exclaimed. "Do you not remember me?"

He looked at her hard. "Why--why," he hesitated, "surely it is not--"

"But it is!" she cried. "I am Alice