uld quit his desk. Perhaps he hastened
his work with a hope in his heart which he durst not express, but the
agitation on the usually placid face forbade him to entertain it for an
instant, and he only said, 'So our expedition has led to unforeseen
consequences, Miss Headworth.' And then she answered under her breath,
as if afraid of being overheard: 'Mr. Dutton, my poor child does not
know it yet, but the man is alive!'

Mr. Dutton compressed his lips. It was the greater shock, for he had
actually made inquiries at the Yacht Club, but the officials there
either had not been made aware of the reappearance of the two
Egremonts, or they did not think it worth while to look beyond the
record which declared that all hands had perished, and the connection
of the uncle and nephew with the Yacht Club had not been renewed.
Presently he said, 'Then hers was a right instinct. There is reason to
be thankful.'

Miss Headworth was too full of her own anxieties to heed his causes for
thankfulness. She told what she had heard from Lady Kirkaldy and from
Mark Egremont, and asked counsel whether it could be Alice's duty to
return to the man who had deserted her, or even to accept anything from
him. There was an impetuous and indignant spirit at the bottom of the
old lady's heart, in spite of the subdued life she had led for so many
years, and she hardly brooked the measured considerate manner in which
her adviser declared that all depended on circumstances, and the manner
in which Captain Egremont made the first move. At present no one was
acting but young Mark, and, as Mr. Dutton observed, it was not a matter
in which a man was very likely to submit to a nephew's dictation.

There was certainly no need for Mrs. Egremont to _force_ her presence
on him. But Mr. Dutton did think that for her own sake and her child's
there ought to be full recognition of their rights, and that this
should be proved by their maintenance.

'I imagine that Ursula may probably be a considerable heiress, and her
lights must not be sacrificed.'

'Poor little girl! Will it be for her happiness? I doubt it greatly!'

'Of that I suppose we have no right to judge,' said Mr. Dutton,
somewhat tremulously. 'Justice is what we have to look to, and to allow
Nuttie to be passed over would be permitting a slur to be cast on her
and her mother.'

'I see that,' said Miss Headworth, with an effort. 'I suppose I am
after all a selfish, faithless old woman, a