“But what I want to know is this:  Is it to Senor Perkins that we ought to be thankful for seeing you here at all?” asked Mrs. Markham impatiently.

“No, no—­not that, exactly,” stammered Markham.  “Oh, come now, Susannah”—­

“No,” said Richard Keene earnestly; “by Jove! some thanks ought to go to Belle Montgomery”—­He checked himself in sudden consternation.

There was a chilly silence.  Even Miss Keene looked anxiously at her brother, as the voice of Mrs. Brimmer for the first time broke the silence.

“May we be permitted to know who is this person to whom we owe so great an obligation?”

“Certainly,” said Brimmer, “She was—­as I have already intimated—­a friend; possibly, you know,” he added, turning lightly to his companions, as if to corroborate an impression that had just struck him, “perhaps a—­a—­a sweetheart of the Senor Perkins.”

“And how was she so interested in us, pray?” said Mrs. Markham.

“Well, you see, she had an idea that a former husband was on board of the Excelsior.”

He stopped suddenly, remembering from the astonished faces of Keene and Markham that the secret was not known to them, while they, impressed with the belief that the story was a sudden invention of Brimmer’s, with difficulty preserved their composure.  But the women were quick to notice their confusion, and promptly disbelieved Brimmer’s explanation.

“Well, as there’s no Mister Montgomery here, she’s probably mistaken,” said Mrs. Markham, with decision, “though it strikes me that she’s very likely had the same delusion on board of some other ship.  Come along, James; perhaps after you’ve had a bath and some clean clothes, you may come out a little more like the man I once knew.  I don’t know how Mrs. Brimmer feels, but I feel more as if I required to be introduced to you—­than your friend’s friend, Mrs. Montgomery.  At any rate, try and look and behave a little more decent when you go over to the Presidio.”

With these words she dragged him away.  Mr. Brimmer, after a futile attempt to appear at his ease, promptly effected the usual marital diversion of carrying the war into the enemy’s camp.

“For heaven’s sake, Barbara,” he said, with ostentatious indignation, “go and dress yourself properly.  Had you neither money nor credit to purchase clothes?  I declare I didn’t know you at first; and when I did, I was shocked; before Mrs. Markham, too!”

“Mrs. Markham, I fear, has quite enough to occupy her now,” said Mrs. Brimmer shortly, as she turned away, with hysterically moist eyes, leaving her husband to follow her.