She sat down by Captain Barber, and laying her hand upon his, pressed it affectionately. The captain, a picture of misery, exchanged a significant glance with Nibletts, and emitted an involuntary groan.
“Don’t take on so,” said Mrs. Banks, compassionately. “Do you know, I’ve got a feeling that poor Fred has been saved!”
“That’s my feeling, too,” said Captain Barber, in a firm voice.
“It’s very likely,” said Captain Nibletts, slowly.
“What’s easier than for him to have been picked up by a passing vessel, and carried off goodness knows where?” enquired Mrs. Banks, with a glance evenly distributed between her daughter and the housekeeper.
“I heard of a man once who fell overboard,” said Captain Nibletts, softly, “and he turned up safe and sound twenty years arter.”
“Married man?” enquired Miss Banks, softly.
“He was,” said the captain, with the doggedness of a witness under cross-examination.
Mrs. Church turned her eyes upwards. “Fancy the joyful meeting of husband and wife,” she said, sentimentally.
“She died just two days afore he turned up,” said Captain Nibletts, simply.