delivering him helpless into their hands, was at once their opportunity,
and his. All the ladies volunteered to nurse him; it was with difficulty
that Mrs. Brimmer and Mrs. Markham, reinforced with bandages, flannels,
and liniments, and supported by different theories, could be kept from
the door of his state-room. Jellies, potted meats, and delicacies from
their private stores appeared on trays at his bedside, to be courteously
declined by the Senor Perkins, in his new functions of a benevolent type
of Sancho Panza physician. To say that this pleased the gentle optimism
of the Senor is unnecessary. Even while his companion writhed under the
sting of this enforced compassion, the good man beamed philosophically
upon him.

"Take care, or I shall end this cursed farce in my own way," said
Hurlstone ominously, his eyes again filming with a vague desperation.

"My dear boy," returned the Senor gently, "reflect upon the situation.
Your suffering, real or implied, produces in the hearts of these gentle
creatures a sympathy which not only exalts and sustains their higher
natures, but, I conscientiously believe, gratifies and pleases their
lower ones. Why should you deny them this opportunity of indulging
their twofold organisms, and beguiling the tedium of the voyage, merely
because of some erroneous exhibition of fact?"

Later, Senor Perkins might have added to this exposition the singularly
stimulating effect which Hurlstone's supposed peculiarity had upon
the feminine imagination. But there were some secrets which were not
imparted even to him, and it was only to each other that the ladies
confided certain details and reminiscences. For it now appeared that
they had all heard strange noises and stealthy steps at night; and Mrs.
Brimmer was quite sure that on one occasion the handle of her state-room