But a little incident occurred, just as they were going aboard the steamer, which was to influence the young girl’s whole after life.
Brownie was the last to step aboard, excepting Wilbur, and not paying strict heed to her steps, she caught her foot in a coil of rope, stumbled, and would have fallen had she not been quickly caught and upheld by a strong arm. The shock was so severe that, overcome with dizziness, she lay almost unconscious for a moment in the stranger’s clasp.
“Has she fainted?” asked Wilbur Coolidge, in anxious tones, as he sprang forward, too late to render service.
“I think not. It was only the shock; she will rally in a moment,” were the words which Brownie, on coming to herself, heard in such deep, rich tones, that she was conscious of a sudden thrill running through her whole frame.
She opened her eyes, and found herself looking up into a face that was strange, yet familiar.
For one instant her eyes met his, and their souls met through that glance. Then, with a vivid blush of shame staining her fair cheek, as she realized she was being held in the arms of a stranger, Brownie gently disengaged herself, and tried to stand alone.
“Brownie Douglas!” the stranger murmured, in wondering surprise, and as if the words were forced from him by some previous memory.
As she caught them, the color again flew to her face, and he, seeing her embarrassment, hastened to say:
“I beg your pardon, but my surprise made me forget myself. Will you take my arm and allow me to conduct you below? I fear you are not quite strong yet.”
“Thank you,” Brownie began, when Wilbur Coolidge suddenly interfered.