"Well, certain things looked very strange to me. I was amazed as we were
leaving to see a man whom I was positive had twice fallen as if dead,
raise his head and look after us with a smile on his ugly face.

"Whatever I thought, I was so glad to get away on any terms that I said
nothing, and when the next engagement took place I found Sir Lionel very
much in earnest.

"On this account, although feeling sure that he was the cause of all the
trouble, I have been disposed to forgive him. You know the poor fellow
professes to be in love with me, though I have had some reason to
believe it is my fortune he is after as well, for my father
unfortunately left me an heiress."

"Well, I'm in a position to be generous, and though I condemn his
methods, I can easily see how, in his despair he might forget his honor.
I have good reason to believe this is not the first time he has tried to
play the hero."

Lady Ruth looks surprised.

"How is that?" she asks.

Thereupon John narrates what the boatman said to him off Malta,
concerning a broken plank in the bottom of the little craft, which of
course astonishes the young girl.

She shows some indignation at the thought of his imperiling her life.

"The joke of the whole thing lies in the fact that it was you who saved