“Breakfast is ready, sir,” the steward announced from the companion.

“Coming, steward.

“I have told them, Bertha, to lay for three.  I thought that it would be pleasanter for you to have Anna with you at meals, as I suppose she has taken them with you since you were carried off.”

“Thank you,” she said, gratefully.  “It won’t be quite so nice for you, I know, but perhaps it will be better.”

“Well, Anna, you are looking very well,” Frank said as he sat down.

“You must officiate with the coffee, Bertha.  I will see after the eatables.”

“Yes, Anna does look well,” Bertha said.  “She has borne up capitally, ever since the first two days.  We have had all our meals together in our cabin.”

“Miss Greendale has been a great deal braver than I have, sir,” Anna said, quietly.  “She has been wonderfully brave, and though she is very good to say that I have borne up well, I know very well that I have not been as brave as I ought; and I could not help breaking down and crying sometimes, for I did think that we should never get home again.”

“Except carrying you away, Carthew did not behave altogether so badly, Bertha?”

“No.  The first day that we got on board he told me that I was to stay there until I consented to marry him.  I told him that in that case I should become a permanent resident on board, but that sooner or later I should be rescued.  He only said then, that he hoped that I should change my mind in time.  He admitted that his conduct had been inexcusable, but that his love for me had driven him to it, and that he had only won me as many a knight had won a bride before now.

“At first I made sure that, when we put into a port, I should be able somehow to make my condition known; but I realised for the first time what it was going to be, when I saw us stand off the Lizard and lay her head for the south.  Up to that time I had scarcely exchanged a word with him.  I had said at once that unless I had my meals in my own cabin with Anna, I would eat nothing at all, and he said, quite courteously, I must confess, that I should in all respects do as I pleased, consistent with safety.

“From that time he said ‘Good morning,’ gravely when I came up on deck with Anna, and made a remark about the weather.  I made no reply, and did not speak until he came to me in the morning, and said quietly, ’That is the Lizard astern of us, Miss Greendale.  We are bound for the West Indies, the finest cruising ground in the world, full of quiet little bays where we can anchor for weeks.’

“‘It is monstrous,’ I said desperately, for I own that for the first time I was really frightened.  ’Some day you will be punished for this.’

“‘I must risk that,’ he said, quietly.  ’Of course, at present you are angry.  It is natural that you should be so, but in time you will forgive me, and will make allowance for the length to which my affection for you has driven me.  It may be six months, it may be ten years, but however long it may be, I can promise you that, save for this initial offence, you will have no cause to complain of me.  I am possessed of boundless patience, and can wait for an indefinite time.  In the end I feel sure that your heart will soften towards me.’