explained Virginia. "We shall be
so long at sea that otherwise it really wouldn't be safe."

"For my part I'd much rather have a maid than a doctor," sighed Kate, to
whom Virginia's Celestine had made herself agreeably useful. "We shall
have nothing worse the matter with us than seasickness; and how _are_ we
to do our hair?"

Thus bemoaning her fate, she passed along the line of white and gold
painted doors, and stopped suddenly at a sixth, the only one which was
closed. Gently she tried the handle. It did not yield.

"One would think that this ought to be another cabin," she remarked
sweetly; "else what becomes of the symmetry? Now, if only it _were_ one,
you might take Celestine. You'd be so _much_ more comfortable."

"That cabin can't be used," Virginia said, her eyes very bright, her
cheeks very red. "And if you want Celestine, Kate, you must stop on
land."

Lady Gardiner at once protested that she was not thinking of _herself_;
oh, indeed no! but merely of her _dear_ girl, who was not used to being
her own maid. She said no more of the locked door, but she could think of
nothing else. Why could the cabin not be used, and why had Virginia
suddenly grown cross at the bare suggestion that it should be? Was it
possible that Madeleine Dalahaide was going after all, that her presence
was to be kept secret from Kate until the last moment, and that she was
to have this stateroom? Perhaps, Lady Gardiner's jealous suspicion
whispered, she was already in the cabin, and had locked herself in,
fearing just such an intrusion as the turned key had prevented.

That night she saw Loria, and told him precisely what had happened on
board. "I shouldn't wonder," she said reflectively, "if the whole mystery
of this trip were not on the other side of that closed door. Something
tells me it is so."

"When do you start?" asked the Italian.

"To-morrow, at five in the afternoon."

"Could you make an excuse to go on board in the morning alone?"

"Yes. Celestine has taken most of our things on to-day, and put them away
for us. We are not supposed to leave the hotel till three o'clock. But I
could say I had lost something, and hoped that I'd left it on the _Bella
Cuba_. Or perhaps I could slip on board without saying anything until
afterward. But what good would it do me? The door isn't likely to be
unlocked; and I can see nothing through the keyhole. I tried this
afternoon."

"I will get you a key which, if there isn't one alread