e really Lady Agatha
Fairhaven?"

For answer Lady Agatha went to one of her trunks and opened it. She
drew therefrom a letter, and passed it over without a word.

As Miss Pringle read it, her face lighted up. She did not lose her
primness, but her suspicion seemed altogether to depart.

"A letter from Emmeline Pankhurst!" she said, in a hushed voice,
handling the missive as if it were a sacred relic. "Can you ever
forgive me?"

"There is nothing to forgive," beamed Lady Agatha. "I am willing to
admit, now that you understand me, that the thing looked a bit
suspicious, on the face of it."

"You have suffered for the cause," said Miss Pringle. "I have suffered
for it, too!" And, with a certain shyness, she patted Lady Agatha on
the arm. But the next moment she said:

"But what IS in the box you brought here then, Lady Agatha? Two boxes
were shipped to Newark, addressed to me. Which one did you get? What
is really in the one you have been carrying around? My plum preserves,
or----"

She shuddered and left the sentence unfinished.

"Let us open it," said Cleggett.

"No! No!" cried Lady Agatha. "Clement, no! I could not bear to have it
opened."

Miss Pringle rose. It was evident that a bit of her earlier suspicion
had returned.

"After all," said Miss Pringle, indicating the letter again, "how do I
know that----"

"That it is not a forgery?" said Lady Agatha. "I see." She mused a
moment, and then said, with a sigh, "Well, then, let us open the box!"

"I think it best, Agatha," said Cleggett. "I shall have it brought
down."

But even as he turned upon his heel to go on deck and give the order,
Dr. Farnsworth and the Rev. Simeon Calthrop ran excitedly down the
cabin companionway.

"The box of Reginald Maltravers," cried the Doctor, who was in
Cleggett's confidence, "is gone!"

CHAPTER XIX

TWO GREAT MEN MEET

"Gone!" Lady Agatha, who had emerged from her stateroom, turned pale
and caught at her heart.

They rushed on deck. The young Doctor was right; the box, which had
stood on the larboard side of the cabin, had disappeared.

"It might have been blown into the canal during the storm," suggested
the Rev. Mr. Calthrop. All of the crew of the Jasper B. knew Lady
Agatha's story, and were aware of the importance of the box.

"It was on the lee side of the cabin," objected Dr. Farnsworth, "and
while it might have been blown flat to the deck, in spite of its
protected position, it