LOUISE. Well, why, do you suppose?

MRS. CARLEY. I don't know, but I hope you'll tell me that, too,
sometime--what about Steve?

LOUISE. That must wait, mother--Dick Coleman--

MRS. CARLEY. What? Don't tell me he made another will, and didn't leave
Georgiana his money.

LOUISE. No, it's good news for Georgiana. I'm almost as afraid to tell
you as to tell her. [_Whispers._] Dick Coleman may be alive, after all.

MRS. CARLEY. Louise!

LOUISE. It is possible he was one of the three men who arrived at San
Francisco nearly a week ago.

MRS. CARLEY. Who were taken prisoners by the Ladrones and escaped?

LOUISE. Yes! The three men who got away from Cebú in a boat and were
picked up by a German steamer. It seems more than probable. They got one
name wrong in the despatches, making it "_Richard Cotten_"--who was also
missing--instead of "_Richard Coleman_."

MRS. CARLEY. But how did you find out all this?

LOUISE. From Mrs. Coleman. And it's all in the morning paper, and we
never took the trouble to look!