ed his approval of the arrangement, and followed
Magdalen to the garden gate. As she opened it to pass through, her
attention was attracted by a lady, with a nursery-maid and two little
boys behind her, loitering on the path outside the garden wall. The lady
started, looked eagerly, and smiled to herself as Magdalen came out.
Curiosity had got the better of Kirke's sister, and she had come to
Aldborough for the express purpose of seeing Miss Bygrave.

Something in the shape of the lady's face, something in the expression
of her dark eyes, reminded Magdalen of the merchant-captain whose
uncontrolled admiration had annoyed her on the previous evening. She
instantly returned the stranger's scrutiny by a frowning, ungracious
look. The lady colored, paid the look back with interest, and slowly
walked on.

"A hard, bold, bad girl," thought Kirke's sister. "What could Robert be
thinking of to admire her? I am almost glad he is gone. I hope and trust
he will never set eyes on Miss Bygrave again."

"What boors the people are here!" said Magdalen to Captain Wragge. "That
woman was even ruder than the man last night. She is like him in the
face. I wonder who she is?"

"I'll find out directly," said the captain. "We can't be too cautious
about strangers." He at once appealed to his friends, the boatmen.
They were close at hand, and Magdalen heard the questions and answers
plainly.

"How are you all this morning?" said Captain Wragge, in his easy jocular
way. "And how's the wind? Nor'-west and by west, is it? Very good. Who
is that lady?"

"That's Mrs. Strickland, sir."

"Ay! ay! The clergyman's wife and the captain's sister. Where's the
captain to-day?"

"On his way to London, I should think, sir. His ship sails for China at
the end of the week."

China! As that one word passed the man's lips, a pang of the old sorrow
struck Magdalen to the heart. Stranger as he was, she began to hate the
bare mention of the merchant-captain's name. He had troubled her dreams
of the past night; and now, when she was most desperately and recklessly
bent on forgetting her old home-existence, he had been indirectly the
cause of recalling her mind to Frank.

"Come!" she said, angrily, to her companion. "What do we care about the
man or his ship? Come away."

"By all means," said Captain Wragge. "As long as we don't find friends
of the Bygraves, what do we care about anybody?"

They walked on southward for ten minutes or more, then turne