rgo of flaccid and
feeble sub-females. And they grew charmingly conceited.

"Am I in my cabin?" murmured the martyr, about a quarter of an hour after
Miss Ingate, having obtained soda water, had administered to her a dose of
the miraculous specific.

Her delicious cheeks were now a delicate crimson. But they had been of a
delicate crimson throughout.

"No," said Audrey. "You're in ours. Which is yours?"

"It's on the other side of the ship, then. I came out for a little air. But
I couldn't get back. I'd just as lief have died as shift from that seat out
there by the railings."

Something in the accent, something in those fine English words "lief" and
"shift," destroyed in the minds of Audrey and Miss Ingate the agreeable
notion that they had a peeress on their hands.

"Is your husband on board?" asked Audrey.

"He just is," was the answer. "He's in our cabin."

"Shall I fetch him?" Miss Ingate suggested. The corners of her lips had
begun to fall once more.

"Will you?" said the young woman. "It's Lord Southminster. I'm Lady
Southminster."

The two saviours were thrilled. Each felt that she had misinterpreted the
accent, and that probably peeresses did habitually use such words as "lief"
and "shift." The corners of Miss Ingate's lips rose to their proper
position.

"I'll look for the number on the cabin list," said she hastily, and went
forth with trembling to summon the peer.

As Audrey, alone in the cabin with Lady Southminster, bent curiously over
the prostrate form, Lady Southminster exclaimed with an air of childlike
admiration:

"You're real ladies, you are!"

And Audrey felt old and experienced. She decided that Lady Southminster
could not be more than seventeen, and it seemed to be about half a century
since Audrey was seventeen.

"He can't come," announced Miss Ingate breathlessly, returning to the
cabin, and supporting herself against the door as the solid teak sank under
her feet. "Oh yes! He's there all right. It was Number 12. I've seen him. I
told him, but I don't think he heard me--to understand, that is. If you ask
me, he couldn't come if forty wives sent for him."

"Oh, couldn't he!" observed Lady Southminster, sitting up. "Couldn't he!"

When the boat was within ten minutes of France, the remedy had had such an
effect upon her that she could walk about. Accompanied by Audrey she
managed to work her way round the cabin-deck to No. 12. It was empty, save
for hand-luggage! The two gir