‘Good afternoon,’ I answered.
‘There’s a gossip running about the passengers aft,’ said he, ‘that you belong to a noble family. What d’ye think yourself?’
‘How can I tell, Mr. Harris?’ I exclaimed. ‘I do not know who I am.’
‘I haven’t rightly caught the name of the noble family,’ said he. ‘I’m a poor hand at fine language. Perhaps you know it?’
‘Sir Frederick Thompson,’ I answered, says that I resemble a certain Lady Lucy Calthorpe.’
‘Ah, that’s it,’ he exclaimed. ‘Calthorpe’s the word. Don’t the mention of it give you any inward sensations?’
‘No,’ I answered.
‘Then bet your life, mam, you’re somebody else. That’s what I’ve been wanting to find out. No inward sensations! Over goes the show as far as concerns Calthorpe.’
‘Mrs. Lee is waiting for me,’ said I, making a step.
‘One minute,’ he exclaimed. ‘I’ve been turning over the matter of shocks in my mind. There’s nothing for it, I fear, but a shock. Now, if you are willing, I’ll have a talk with the captain, and tell him the scheme that’s running in my head. But you must know nothing about it, or it won’t be a shock.’