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Dick’s interest was thoroughly aroused, and he showed it; but he thought to himself: “That was unnecessary. Why couldn’t the fellow keep to the part he was playing?”

And Alice continued: “Then papa found out that he was a gentleman in disguise a Mr. Miles, from Sydney! He had been over some months, and was seeing England in thorough fashion. Indeed, he seemed a regular boatman, with his hands all hard and seamed with tar.”

“And your father made friends with him?”

“Naturally; he brought him up to the hotel, where I heard all about the affair. You may imagine the state I was in! After that we saw a good deal of him down there, and papa got to like him very much, and asked him to come and stay with us when he grew tired of that kind of life and returned to London. And that’s all.”

“How long did you say it is since he saved your father’s life?” Dick asked, after a short pause.

“Let me see, it’s yes, not quite a month ago.”

Dick gave vent to a scarcely audible whistle.

“And he has no other friends in England?”