"Badly--for us," was the reply. "Lestrange certainly arrived by the boat he said he came by. I saw his name, Achille Lestrange, on the passenger-list of the Negress."
"Ah! the devil speaks true sometimes!" said the Rector. "And what about Beauchamp?"
"Yes, yes!" cried Sophy. "Did you find him? Did you see him?"
"No," replied Alan quietly, "but I heard of him. Beauchamp is dead!"
[CHAPTER XVI.]
ALAN'S DEFENSE
"Dead!" repeated Sophy, after a pause. "Then was this Mr. Beauchamp really my father or a relative?"
"I think he was Mr. Marlow, dear," said her lover gravely. "No doubt your father intended to feign death to escape Lestrange, but it would seem that he overdid it, and really died. I saw the manager of the Occidental Bank. He informed me that he had received a letter telling him that Beauchamp was dead."
"How long ago was this?"
"A little over a week."