"Didn't you say she was drowned off the African coast?"
"Didn't you tell me about the _Falcon_ rescuing her from the pirates, and then getting wrecked with all on board?"
"Yes, but then there was a girl that escaped."
"Oh ho!" said my father, with a long whistle. "I didn't know that."
He turned and looked at me hastily, but in deep perplexity.
"So you're the girl, are you?" said he at last.
I saw him look at John, who winked in return.
He walked up and down for a few minutes, and at last stopped and looked at me again.
"That's all very well," said he at last, "but how do I know that you're the party? Have you any proof of this?"
"You have nothing but your own statement?"
"And you may be an impostor. Mind you--I'm a magistrate--and you'd better be careful."
"You can do what you choose," said I, coldly.
"No, I can't. In this country a man can't do what he chooses."
"Johnnie," said my father, "I'll have to leave her to you. You arrange it."
John looked at me lazily, still smoking, and for some time said nothing.
"I suppose," said he at last, "you've got to put it through. You began it, you know. You would send for her. I never saw the use of it."
"Oh, I dare say. It don't make any difference any way. Nobody would take the trouble to come to you with a sham story."
"So I don't see but you've got to take her."
"Well," said my father, "if you think so, why all right."
"I don't think any thing of the kind," returned John, snappishly. "I only think that she's the party you sent for."
"Oh, well, it's all the same," said my father, who then turned to me again.
"If you're the girl," he said, "you can get in. Hunt up Mrs. Compton, and she'll take charge of you."
Compton! At the mention of that name a shudder passed through me. She had been in the family of the murdered man, and had ever since lived with his murderer. I went in without a word, prepared for the worst, and expecting to see some evil-faced woman, fit companion for the pair outside.
A servant was passing along. "Where is Mrs. Compton?" I asked.
"Somewhere or other, I suppose," growled the man, and went on.
I stood quietly. Had I not been prepared for some such thing as this I might perhaps have broken down under grief, but I had read the MS., and nothing could surprise or wound me.