"Yes. I would not let mother come with me to Southampton, so I came on alone with Elsie, the maid, you remember? She left me, expecting to find my aunt in the cabin. But, just as the boat put off, this came," she spread out a telegram, "instead of my aunt to chaperon me across the Atlantic.
"Auntie was taken sick at the last moment, you see, and had telegraphed me to find a Mrs. Burrett on board who is a very good friend of hers and whom she also telegraphed to care for me. But I have just found that even Mrs. Burrett did not sail."
"Mrs. Burrett?" Preston repeated. "No, she didn't. I know," he explained, "because it is her cabin I have—or rather half of it. I wanted to get home as soon as possible after leaving you, Miss Varris," he skipped over that recollection quickly, "so I tried a day or two more at Plymouth and then cast about Southampton looking for some released reservation. And, as Mr. Dunneston has finally fixed up his property contest with his ungouted
216
