“Oh, that it had come to me!” I cried.

“I wish from the bottom of my soul that it had,” said Mary, compassionately.  “It would have done you a lot of good on that lonely ship.”

“Instead of which,” observed Captain Guy, “some shark probably swallowed it, and little good it did him.”

“It put a lot of affection and consideration into him,” said Mary, a little brusquely, “and there are other creatures connected with the sea who wouldn’t be hurt by that sort of thing.”

“There’s a shot into me!” cried the captain.  “Don’t do it again.  I cry quarter!”

“I must go,” I said, rising; “I can wait no longer.”

“Well,” said Mary, “you may not be much too soon, if you go slowly.”

“But before I go,” I said, “tell me this:  Why did she not send me some word from Lisbon?  Why did she not give Captain Stearns a line on a piece of paper or some message?”

“A line! a message!” exclaimed Mary.  “She sent you a note; she sent you a dozen messages by Captain Stearns.”

“And I’ll wager a month’s pay,” said Captain Guy, “that he never delivered one of them.”

“He gave me no note,” I cried.

“It’s in the pocket of his pea-jacket now,” said Captain Chesters.

“He did deliver some messages,” I said, “after I questioned him; but they were such as these:  Keep up a good heart; everything’s bound to be right in the end; the last to get back gets the heartiest welcome.  Now, anybody could have sent such words as those.”

“Upon my word,” cried Mary Phillips, “those were the messages I sent.  I remember particularly the one about the last one back and the heartiest welcome.”

“Confound that Stearns!” cried Captain Guy; “what did he mean by giving all his attention to you, and none to the lady that he was sent for to see?”

“Good bye, Mrs. Chesters,” I said, taking her by the hand.  “I can never thank you enough for what you have done for her and for me.  But how you could leave her I really do not understand.”

“Well,” said Mary, coloring a little, “I can scarcely understand it myself; but that man would have it so, and he’s terribly obstinate.  But I don’t feel that I’ve left her.  She’s in the best of hands, and I see her nearly every day.  Here’s her address, and when you meet her, Mr. Rockwell, you’ll find that in every way I’ve told you truly.”  I took a hearty leave of Captain Guy, shook Mary by the hand once more, rushed down stairs, roused the sleeping cabby, and glancing at the card, ordered him to gallop to 9 Ravisdock Terrace, Parmley Square.

I do not know how I got into the house, what I said nor what I asked, nor whether the family had had their breakfast or not; but the moment my eyes fell upon my beloved Bertha I knew that in everything Mary Phillips had told me truly.  She came into the room with beaming eyes and both hands extended.  With outstretched arms I rushed to meet her, and folded her to my breast.  This time there was no one to object.  For some moments we were speechless with joyful emotion, but there was no need of our saying anything, no need of statements nor explanations.  Mary Phillips had attended to all that.