he asked; "I
want to look at the visitors' list."

"I have got it in my room, sir," said the landlord, leading the way
into a parlor at the back of the house. "Are there any friends of yours
staying here, do you think?"

Without replying, the seaman turned to the list as soon as the newspaper
was placed in his hand, and ran his finger down it, name by name.
The finger suddenly stopped at this line: "Sea-view Cottage; Mr. Noel
Vanstone." Kirke of the merchant-service repeated the name to himself,
and put down the paper thoughtfully.

"Have you found anybody you know, captain?" asked the landlord.

"I have found a name I know--a name my father used often to speak of in
his time. Is this Mr. Vanstone a family man? Do you know if there is a
young lady in the house?"

"I can't say, captain. My wife will be here directly; she is sure to
know. It must have been some time ago, if your father knew this Mr.
Vanstone?"

"It _was_ some time ago. My father knew a subaltern officer of that
name when he was with his regiment in Canada. It would be curious if the
person here turned out to be the same man, and if that young lady was
his daughter."

"Excuse me, captain--but the young lady seems to hang a little on your
mind," said the landlord, with a pleasant smile.

Mr. Kirke looked as if the form which his host's good-humor had just
taken was not quite to his mind. He returned abruptly to the subaltern
officer and the regiment in Canada. "That poor fellow's story was as
miserable a one as ever I heard," he said, looking back again absently
at the visitors' list.

"Would there be any harm in telling it, sir?" asked the landlord.
"Miserable or not, a story's a story, when you know it to be true."

Mr. Kirke hesitated. "I hardly think I should be doing right to tell
it," he said. "If this man, or any relations of his, are still alive, it
is not a story they might like strangers to know. All I can tell you
is, that my father was the salvation of that young officer under very
dreadful circumstances. They parted in Canada. My father remained with
his regiment; the young officer sold out and returned to England, and
from that moment they lost sight of each other. It would be curious if
this Vanstone here was the same man. It would be curious--"

He suddenly checked himself just as another reference to "the young
lady" was on the point of passing his lips. At the same moment the
landlord's wife came in, and Mr. Kirke at once tra