g to receive
me; that is, if the fate of that vessel be not already known. In that
case, I shall not be obliged to avail myself of your services, and will
acquaint you; but, otherwise, promise that you will conduct me from the
ship yourself, either to the hotel or to your wife, as you prefer."

"Wall, I promise you," he said, doggedly, as he prepared literally to
undouble his long frame before executing another dive beneath my
door-guarding drapery, and with this brief assurance I was fain to rest
content.

At all events, I was reassured on one subject--those honest eyes, that
frank if ugly mouth had no acquaintance with lies, or the father of
them, I saw at once; and the voice of the ship's doctor had for the
nonce deceived my practised ear, overstrung by suspicion--enfeebled by
suffering.

So I rested calmly until the afternoon, with Mrs. Clayton sewing
silently by my side, when with a little tap Lady Anastasia (or Mrs.
Raymond, as she declared she preferred to be called by "Americans")
entered, bearing a basket in her hand, and wearing on her head a
Dunstable bonnet simply trimmed, which she came, she said, to place,
along with other articles of dress, at my disposal.

It had not occurred to me before that, in order to go on shore
respectably clad, some attire very different from a bed-gown would be
essential, and I could but feel grateful for such proofs of unselfish
consideration on the part of strangers, pitying both my indigence and
imbecility, and so expressed myself.

In accordance with their generous intentions, I submitted myself to be
arrayed by Mrs. Clayton and her mistress: first, in the flimsy
black-silk gown now completed, on which I had seen my attendant working
when I first unclosed my eyes after long unconsciousness, and the
measure which she had taken, while I lay in this condition, as coolly in
all probability as an undertaker measures a corpse for its shroud;
secondly, in a cardinal of the same material, a wrapping cut in the
shape in vogue at that period; thirdly, in certain loosely-fitting boots
and gloves with which I was fain to cover up my naked feet and blistered
hands _in forma pauperis_ and, lastly, in the collarette and cuffs
provided by the economic and considerate Lady Anastasia, composed of
cotton lace! The Dunstable bonnet was hung upon a peg in readiness, and
I was kindly counseled to lie still, "accoutred as I was," and exhausted
by means of such accoutrement as I felt, until e