haperon?'

'Mrs. Nettlepoint--the lady under whose protection she is.'

'Protection?' Mrs. Peck stared at me a moment, moving some valued morsel
in her mouth; then she exclaimed, familiarly, 'Pshaw!' I was struck with
this and I was on the point of asking her what she meant by it when she
continued: 'Are we not going to see Mrs. Nettlepoint?'

'I am afraid not. She vows that she won't stir from her sofa.'

'Pshaw!' said Mrs. Peck again. 'That's quite a disappointment.'

'Do you know her then?'

'No, but I know all about her.' Then my companion added--'You don't
meant to say she's any relation?'

'Do you mean to me?'

'No, to Grace Mavis.'

'None at all. They are very new friends, as I happen to know. Then you
are acquainted with our young lady?' I had not noticed that any
recognition passed between them at luncheon.

'Is she yours too?' asked Mrs. Peck, smiling at me.

'Ah, when people are in the same boat--literally--they belong a little
to each other.'

'That's so,' said Mrs. Peck. 'I don't know Miss Mavis but I know all
about her--I live opposite to her on Merrimac Avenue. I don't know
whether you know that part.'

'Oh yes--it's very beautiful.'

The consequence of this remark was another 'Pshaw!' But Mrs. Peck went
on--'When you've lived opposite to people like that for a long time you
feel as if you were acquainted. But she didn't take it up to-day; she
didn't speak to me. She knows who I am as well as she knows her own
mother.'

'You had better speak to her first--she's shy,' I remarked.

'Shy? Why she's nearly thirty years old. I suppose you know where she's
going.'

'Oh yes--we all take an interest in that.'

'That young man, I suppose, particularly.'

'That young man?'

'The handsome one, who sits there. Didn't you tell me he is Mrs.
Nettlepoint's son?'

'Oh yes; he acts as her deputy. No doubt he does all he can to carry out
her function.'

Mrs. Peck was silent a moment. I had spoken jocosely, but she received
my pleasantry with a serious face. 'Well, she might let him eat his
dinner in peace!' she presently exclaimed.

'Oh, he'll come back!' I said, glancing at his place. The repast
continued and when it was finished I screwed my chair round to leave the
table. Mrs. Peck performed the same movement and we quitted the saloon
together. Outside of it was a kind of vestibule, with several seats,
from which you could descend to the lower cabins or mount to the
promenade-deck. Mrs. P