second officer Thompson when he had made a
brief report to the captain of the _Castle_, "but if anyone will stand
me a whiskey and soda I shall be obliged to him."

IV

MR. CLIFFORD

Although the shock of the blow she had received upon her head was
sufficient to make her insensible for so many hours, Benita's injuries
were not of a really serious nature, for as it happened the falling
block, or whatever it may have been, had hit her forehead slantwise, and
not full, to which accident she owed it that, although the skin was
torn and the scalp bruised, her skull had escaped fracture. Under proper
medical care her senses soon came back to her, but as she was quite
dazed and thought herself still on board the _Zanzibar_, the doctor
considered it wise to preserve her in that illusion for a while. So
after she had swallowed some broth he gave her a sleeping draught, the
effects of which she did not shake off till the following morning.

Then she came to herself completely, and was astonished to feel the pain
in her head, which had been bandaged, and to see a strange stewardess
sitting by her with a cup of beef-tea in her hand.

"Where am I? Is it a dream?" she asked.

"Drink this and I will tell you," answered the stewardess.

Benita obeyed, for she felt hungry, then repeated her question.

"Your steamer was shipwrecked," said the stewardess, "and a great many
poor people were drowned, but you were saved in a boat. Look, there are
your clothes; they were never in the water."

"Who carried me into the boat?" asked Benita in a low voice.

"A gentleman, they say, Miss, who had wrapped you in a blanket and put a
lifebelt on you."

Now Benita remembered everything that happened before the darkness
fell--the question to which she had given no answer, the young couple
who stood flirting by her--all came back to her.

"Was Mr. Seymour saved?" she whispered, her face grey with dread.

"I dare say, Miss," answered the stewardess evasively. "But there is no
gentleman of that name aboard this ship."

At that moment the doctor came in, and him, too, she plied with
questions. But having learned the story of Robert's self-sacrifice from
Mr. Thompson and the others, he would give her no answer, for he guessed
how matters had stood between them, and feared the effects of the shock.
All he could say was that he hoped Mr. Seymour had escaped in some other
boat.

It was not until the third morning that Benita was allowed