He found several men carrying on a stretch a body which proved to be that of a Lord Ferrars, a young Englishman who had visited the islands in his yacht, and when returning on board that night had fallen off the pier, hurt his head and been nearly drowned; and his men thought the best thing they could do was to carry him at once to the house of the nearest doctor.
Dick had met this Lord Ferrars before, and rather liked him.
So when he had examined him, bound up his head and found nothing else much amiss with him, he dismissed his attendants and delivered him into my care.
We placed him in bed in the best spare room, gave him a composing draught and made him all snug for the night. Next morning he was much better, and able to get up after breakfast. He was very grateful for my husband's attention, seemed to like amazingly his present quarters, and gladly consented to remain with us until quite convalescent.
He proved to be a choice specimen of a young English nobleman, most accomplished and agreeable; and, making himself thoroughly at home, he entered readily into all our amusements and pursuits.
From the first, he paid me the most marked attention, which Dick observing, he said to me: 'why, old lass, you have gained another admirer, and if you care to have him, I don't object — for Ferrars is a right good fellow, albeit rather fond of the ladies.'
This kind treatment of my husband made all pleasant, but events arose out of it which neither of us calculated on and which changed the whole tenor of my afterlife.