"Found on the shore where wrecks come in! And she is just fifteen. Oh, Nell, are you sure you are telling the truth?"
There was a sound in Reine's voice that startled Nell.
"The plain truth. Every village child knows it. What has it got to do with you?"
"I don't know. I don't know. I am afraid to think. Why, Nell, listen to me. When I was a child of seven years old, my mother and father took me to France. They had inherited a property there and were going to take possession of it. They were fond of the sea, and they long travelled by sea. While still near this coast the vessel was overtaken by storm and wrecked. My father, mother, and myself were saved. But my little baby sister was washed out of my mother's arms and drowned."
"Well?"
"Well!"
"If she was drowned how can she be Hetty, if that is what you mean?"
"They thought she was drowned. We were taken into another vessel and carried on to France."
"And never asked any more questions about the baby?"
"I don't know. My father and mother are both dead," said Reine pathetically; "I am sure they did all they could. But I know they thought they saw her drowned before their eyes."