‘Come, my dear good soul,’ said Montesma, smiling at the angry matron, ’why not take things quietly?  You have had a good many girls under your wing; and you must know that youth and maturity see life from a different standpoint.  In your eyes my old friend Smithson is an admirable match.  You measure him by his houses, his stable, his banker’s book; but Lesbia would rather marry the man she loves, and take the risks of his fate.  I am not a pauper, Lady Kirkbank, and the home to which I shall take my love is pretty enough for a princess of the blood royal, and for her sake I shall grow richer yet,’ he added, with his eyes kindling; ’and if you care to pay us a visit next February in our Parisian apartment I will promise you as pleasant a nest as you can wish to occupy.’

‘How do I know that you will ever bring her back to Europe?’ said Lady Kirkbank, piteously.  ’How do I know that you will not bury her alive in your savage country, among blackamoors, like those horrid sailors, over there—­kill her, perhaps, when you are tired of her?’

At these words of Lady Kirkbank’s, flung out at random, Montesma blanched, and his deep black eye met hers with a strangely sinister look.

‘Yes,’ she cried, hysterically—­’kill her, kill her!  You look as if you could do it.’

Lesbia nestled closer to her lover’s heart.

‘How dare you say such things to him,’ she cried, angrily. ’I trust him, don’t you see; trust him with my whole heart, with all my soul.  I shall be his wife to-morrow, for good or evil.’

‘Very much for evil, I’m afraid,’ said Lady Kirkbank.  ’Perhaps you will be kind enough to come to your cabin and take off that ball gown, and make yourself just a little less disreputable in outward appearance, while I get a cup of tea.’

Lesbia obeyed, and went down to her cabin, where Kibble was waiting with a fresh white muslin frock and all its belongings, laid out ready for her mistress, sorely perplexed at the turn which affairs were taking.  She had never liked Horace Smithson, although he had given her tips which were almost a provision for her old age; but she had thought it a good thing that her mistress, who was frightfully extravagant, should marry a millionaire; and now they were sailing over the sea with a lot of coloured sailors, and the millionaire was left on shore.

Lady Kirkbank went into the saloon, where breakfast was laid ready, and where the steward was in attendance with that air of being absolutely unconscious of any domestic disturbance, which is the mark of a well-trained servant.

Lesbia appeared in something less than an hour, newly dressed and fresh looking, in her pure white gown, her brown hair bound in a coronet round her small Greek head.  She sat down by Lady Kirkbank’s side, and tried to coax her into good humour.