leaving England.  She was going to America to live; and she mentioned the steamer on which she expected to sail.  It may strike you as impetuous, unnatural in an Englishman, and all that, but next morning I secured my passage on that same ship.  As I have just said, I am my own master and can do as I please, and I pleased to do that.  But for all the opportunity which a voyage sometimes gives, I did not succeed in making her acquaintance on shipboard, much as I desired it.  I was ill for the first three days and timorous the rest.  I could only watch her moving about the decks and wait for the happy moment in which I might be able to do her some service.  But that moment never came, and now it never will come.”

The mournfulness with which this was uttered seemed genuine.  The Coroner was silenced by it, and it was left to Mr. Gryce to take up the conversation.  This he did with the same show of respect evinced by Dr. Price.

“We are obliged to you for your confidence,” said he.  “Of course you can tell us this young girl’s name.”

“Angeline—­Angeline Willetts.  I saw it in the list of passengers.”

“What ship?”

“The Castania, from Southampton.”

“We are greatly obliged to you for this information.  It gives us the much-wanted clue to her identity.  Angeline Willetts!  Whom was she with?”

“A Madame Duclos, a French lady.  I once spoke to her.”

“You did?  And what did you say?”

“I bade her good morning as we were passing on the main-deck stairs.  But she did not answer, and I was not guilty of the impertinence again.”

“I see.  Such, then, was the situation up to this morning.  But since?  How did it happen that a young girl, six hours after landing in this country, should come to a place like this without a chaperon?”

“I don’t know what brought her here; I can only tell you why I came.  When she left the dock, I was standing near enough to hear the orders Madame Duclos gave on entering a cab.  Naturally, mine were the same.  I have been in New York before, and I knew the hotel.  If you will consult the Universal’s register for the day, you will find my name in it under hers.  You will understand why I shrank from confessing to this fact before.  I held her in such honor—­I was and am so anxious that no shadow should fall upon her innocence from my poor story of secret and unrecognized devotion.  She knew nothing of what led me to follow every step she took.  I was a witness of her fate, but that is all the connection between us.  I hope you believe me.”

It would be difficult not to, in face of his direct gaze, from which all faltering had now vanished.  Yet the matter not being completely thrashed out, Mr. Gryce felt himself obliged to say in answer to this last: 

“We see no reason to doubt your word or your story, Mr. Travis.  All that you have said is possible.  But how about your following the young girl here?  How did that come about?”