"And yet I think I carried you in my arms once, and for a considerable distance!"
"You, Mr. Ramsay? Surely you must be mistaken! Pray tell me when."
"In Australia. You were staying at the Federation Hotel the night it caught fire. A fireman carried you down a ladder in his arms!"
"Good gracious! You were not that fireman?"
"I was, though please say nothing about it. If you do, I shall be sorry I recalled the circumstance to your memory."
"But you saved my life. Oh, where is my husband? I must tell him. Maud, do you hear what Mr. Ramsay says?"
"Yes, I have heard about it before, and I am very proud of him," said Maud; and that little sentence was more than sufficient praise for me.
Next moment Major Welbourne—for he was Major now—was overwhelming me with protestations of gratitude, and I was bitterly regretting having said anything about the matter. But for all that it was a strange coincidence, wasn't it?
As soon as the reception was over, we bade Sir Benjamin good-bye, and started for Southsea, en route to the Isle of Wight, where, as the guests of Mr. Sanctuary, Maud's cousin, we proposed to spend our honeymoon.
It is under his hospitable roof that this account of my strange adventures has been written, and now comes to a conclusion.