which very much flattered his boyish pride; made considerable headway
with Major Dowlas, who, by the way, was a bachelor; and never failed to
accept the proffered arm of the attentive Captain, when on deck; for
although married and on the wrong side of fifty, being an Irishman and a
Corkonian, he was not insensible to the charms of a handsome woman some
years his junior.

Her account of herself was, that she was the wife of a surgeon at
Graham's Town, had been some time in England, and had spent the spring
and part of the summer in London, and intended to remain at Cape Town
until her husband came for her. She had several thousand pounds, the
savings of some twenty years, dressed with excellent taste, and had
taken such good care of her constitution, that she looked at least ten
years younger than she really was, and felt convinced from all she had
heard and read, that she would experience but little difficulty in
procuring a suitable husband and establishment in one of the Indian
Presidencies, she cared not which, and having no acquaintances in the
army, was not at all likely to be recognized as the ex-governess of
Vellenaux.




CHAPTER XVI.


There was another change that had taken place in the little village of
Vellenaux which has not been brought to the notice of the reader, and
may as well be introduced here as elsewhere, since it must be known
sooner or later. The venerable rector who had performed the last sad