desert island.

'My poor Alice!' sighed the old lady.

'Aunt Ursel!' exclaimed Nuttie, 'was--I mean--is my father a good or
a bad man?'

'My dear, should a daughter ask such a question?'

'Aunt Ursel, I can't help it. I think I ought to know all about it,'
said Nuttie gravely, putting away her childishness and sitting down
by her aunt. 'I did not think so much of it when mother told me they
eloped, because, though I know it was very wrong, people do do odd
things sometimes when they are very much in love (she said it in a
superior patronising tone that would have amused Miss Headworth very
much at any other time); and it has not spoilt mother for being the
dearest, sweetest, best thing in the world, and, besides, they had
neither of them any fathers or mothers to disobey. But, then, when I
found he was so old, and that he kept it a secret, and must have told
stories only for the sake of money (uttered with extreme contempt), I
didn't like it. And if he left her as Theseus left Ariadne, or Sir
Lancelot left Elaine, I--I don't think it is nice. Do you think he
only pretended to be lost in the Ninon to get rid of her, or that he
could not find her?'

'The Ninon was really reported lost with all on board,' said Miss
Headworth. 'That was ascertained. He was saved by a Chilian ship,
and seems to have been a good while making his way back to Europe. I
had taken care that our address should be known at Dieppe, but it is
quite possible that he may not have applied to the right people, or