‘Certainly, it is,’ answered Sir Frederick; ‘you’ll find it in the Peerage.’
‘The lady’s initials are A. C.,’ said the captain.
Sir Frederick struck the palm of his hand with his clenched fist, and his little eyes shone triumphantly as he said: ‘I’d like to make a bet, captain, that you’ve had the honour of preserving the life of a Calthorpe. Such a likeness as I see is only to be found in families.’
‘The accident of the lady being on board the French brig is accounted for,’ said the captain, eyeing me thoughtfully and earnestly; ‘she was rescued out of an open boat. But where did that boat come from?’
‘Would not Miss C——’s handkerchief, the handkerchief you spoke of, Captain Ladmore, that has her initials, would it not be marked with something more than plain initials if she had rank?’ said Mrs. Lee.
‘I cannot tell,’ answered Captain Ladmore. ‘What should a simple sea captain know of such things?’
‘The haristocracy,’ said Sir Frederick, ‘mark their linen all ways. I’m hable to speak with authority. At a Mansion ’Ouse ball a friend picked up an ’andkerchief, a beautiful lace ’andkerchief, and brought it to my poor wife. The word “Fanny” was worked in the corner and that was my wife’s name, and he thought the ’andkerchief was ’ers. But it didn’t belong to ’er at all. It was the property of Lady —— whose ’usband ’ad been raised to the peerage in the preceding year. There was no coronet on that ’andkerchief.’
Observing that I was expected to speak, I exclaimed: ‘The names Sir Frederick mentions suggest nothing to me.’
‘Well, all that I can say is,’ exclaimed Sir Frederick, ‘that the likeness is absolutely startling.’
He again lifted his little white wideawake, and, crossing the deck, joined a group of passengers with whom he entered into conversation.