"It may be," I added, "that, on reaching the port of New York, a friend
or friends who expected me on the Kosciusko may be in waiting to receive
me; that is, if the fate of that vessel be not already known. In that
case, I shall not be obliged to avail myself of your services, and will
acquaint you; but, otherwise, promise that you will conduct me from the
ship yourself, either to the hotel or to your wife, as you prefer."
"Wall, I promise you," he said, doggedly, as he prepared literally to
undouble his long frame before executing another dive beneath my
door-guarding drapery, and with this brief assurance I was fain to rest
content.
At all events, I was reassured on one subject--those honest eyes, that
frank if ugly mouth had no acquaintance with lies, or the father of
them, I saw at once; and the voice of the ship's doctor had for the
nonce deceived my practised ear, overstrung by suspicion--enfeebled by
suffering.
So I rested calmly until the afternoon, with Mrs. Clayton sewing
silently by my side, when with a little tap Lady Anastasia (or Mrs.
Raymond, as she declared she preferred to be called by "Americans")
entered, bearing a basket in her hand, and wearing on her head a
Dunstable bonnet simply trimmed, which she came, she said, to place,
along with other articles of dress, at my disposal.
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