list of
the passengers, remarking that the ship was unusually crowded for the
time of year.

The Duke ran his finger down the list, then thinking he had missed the
name he sought, he held the paper close to the lamp. But there was no
"Dr. Claudius" there. His face fell and his heart beat fast, for he had
been so positively certain. Poor Margaret! What would she do? How
foolish of Claudius not to telegraph the day he sailed!

"You are quite sure there are no omissions here?" asked the Duke of the
bursar.

"Quite sure, sir," answered he. "Wait a minute, though," he said, as the
Duke dropped the list, "there was a passenger taken ashore at Queenstown
very ill. A tall man, I should say, though they carried him. He had not
registered on board, and he was so ill he gave up the passage. I could
not tell you his name."

"Had he a light beard?" asked the Duke in great alarm.

"Um! yes; a large beard at all events. I remember how he looked as they
carried him past. He was awfully pale, and his eyes were closed."

"My God!" exclaimed the Duke; "it must have been he! Does no one know
his name?"

"The captain may. He would not see you now, just going into port, but I
will go and ask him," added the officer kindly, seeing how much
distressed the other seemed to be.

"Do--thanks--please ask him--yes!" he ejaculated, and sank into a chair.
The bursar returned in a quarter of an hour.

"I am sorry to say, sir," he said, "that no one seems to have known his
name. It sometimes happens. I am very sorry."

The Duke saw there was nothing to be done. It was clear that Claudius
was not on board; but it was by no means clear that Claudius was not
lying ill, perhaps dead, in Queenstown. The poor Englishman bit his lips
in despair, and was silent. He could not decide how much he ought to
tell Margaret, and how much he ought to keep to himself. The sick
passenger seemed to answer the description, and yet he might not have
been the Doctor for all that. Tall man--pale--he would be pale anyhow if
he were ill--fair beard--yes, it sounded like him.

"I wish Vick were here," said the Duke to himself; "she has so much
sense." Immediately the idea of consulting with his sister developed
itself in his mind. "How can I get ashore?" he asked suddenly.

"I am afraid you will have to wait till we are in," said the friendly
officer. "It will not be more than an hour now."

Impelled by some faint hope that the Doctor's name might have been
omit