“I have never worn a low dress,” said Augusta, “and I do not want to show my shoulders.”

“Ah, well,” said Lady Holmhurst, darkly; “I daresay that that feeling will soon wear off.  But, of course, if you won’t, you won’t; and, under those circumstances, you had better say nothing about the will—­though,” she added learnedly, “of course that would be compounding a felony.”

“Would it?  I don’t quite see where the felony comes in.”

“Well, of course, it is this way:  you steal the will—­that’s felony; and if you don’t show it to him, I suppose you compound it; it is a double offence—­compound felony.”

“Nonsense!” answered Augusta to this exposition of the law, which was, it will be admitted, almost as lucid and convincing as that of an average Q.C.  “How can I steal my own shoulders?  It is impossible.”

“Oh, no; not at all.  You don’t know what funny things you can do.  I once had a cousin whom I coached for his examination for the Bar, and I learnt a great deal about it then.  Poor fellow! he was plucked eight times.”

“I am sure I don’t wonder at it,” said Augusta, rudely.  “Well, I suppose I must put on this low dress; but it is horrid—­perfectly horrid!  You will have to lend me one, that is all.”

“My dear,” answered Lady Holmhurst, with a glance at her widow’s weeds.  “I have no low dresses:  though, perhaps, I can find some among the things I put away before we sailed,” and her eyes filled with tears.

Augusta took her hand, and they began to talk of that great bereavement and of their own wonderful survival, till at last she led the conversation round to little Dick, and Bessie Holmhurst smiled again at the thought that her darling boy, her only child, was safe asleep up stairs, and not, as she had believed, washing to and fro at the bottom of the ocean.  She took Augusta’s hand and kissed it, and blessed her for having saved her child, till suddenly, somewhat to the relief of the latter, the butler opened the door and said that two gentlemen wanted very particularly to speak to Miss Smithers.  And then she was once more handed over to her old enemies, the interviewers; and after them came the representatives of the company, and then more special reporters, and then an artist from one of the illustrated papers, who insisted upon her giving him an appointment in language that, though polite, indicated that he meant to have his way; and so on till nearly midnight, when she rushed off to bed and locked her door.

Next morning Augusta appeared at breakfast dressed in an exceedingly becoming low dress, which Lady Holmhurst sent up to her with her hot water.  She had never worn one before, and it certainly is trying to put on a low dress for the first time in full daylight—­indeed, she felt as guilty as does a person of temperate habits when he is persuaded to drink a brandy and soda before getting up.  However, there was no help for it; so, throwing a shawl over her shoulders, she descended.