nd the remark, "But you know your own business best," there was
no comment. It struck the young man, however, that Mr. Dingwall's slight
coolness on receiving the news might be attributed to a suspicion that
he was following Miss Avondale, whom he had fancied Dingwall disliked,
and he quickly made certain inquiries in regard to Miss Eversleigh and
the possibility of his meeting her. As, without intending it, and to his
own surprise, he achieved a blush in so doing, which Dingwall noted, he
received a gracious reply, and the suggestion that it was "quite proper"
for him, on arriving, to send the young lady his card.

Captain Dornton, under the alias of "Captain Johns," was ready to catch
the next steamer to the Isthmus, and in two days they sailed. The voyage
was uneventful, and if Randolph had expected any enthusiasm on the part
of the captain in the mission on which he was now fairly launched, he
would have been disappointed. Although his frankness was unchanged, he
volunteered no confidences. It was evident he was fully acquainted with
the legal strength of his claim, yet he, as evidently, deferred making
any plan of redress until he reached England. Of Miss Eversleigh he was
more communicative. "You would have liked her better, my lad, it you
hadn't been bewitched by the Avondale woman, for she is the whitest of
the Dorntons." In vain Randolph protested truthfully, yet with an even
more convincing color, that it had made no difference, and he HAD
liked her. The captain laughed. "Ay, lad! But she's a poor orphan, with
scarcely a hundred pounds a year, who lives with her guardian, an
old clergyman. And yet," he added grimly, "there are only three lives
between her and the property--mine, Bobby's, and Bill's--unless HE
should marry and have an heir."

"The more reason why you should assert yourself and do what you can for
her now," said Randolph eagerly.

"Ay," returned the captain, with his usual laugh, "when she was a child
I used to call her my little sweetheart, and gave her a ring, and I
reckon I promised to marry her, too, when she grew up."

The truthful Randolph would have told him of Miss Evereleigh's gift,
but unfortunately he felt himself again blushing, and fearful lest the
captain would misconstrue his confusion, he said nothing.

Except on this occasion, the captain talked with Randolph chiefly of his
later past,--of voyages he had made, of places they were passing, and
ports they visited. He spent muc