CHAPTER X.
"Penny for your thoughts, uncle," said Miss Drewitt, as they sat at dinner an hour or two after the departure of Mr.Vickers.
"_H'm ?_" said the captain, with a guilty start.

"You've been scowling and smiling by turns for the last five minutes," said his niece.
"I was thinking about that man that was here this morning," said the captain, slowly; "trying to figure it out.

If I thought that that girl Selina----" He took a draught of ale and shook his head solemnly.
"You know my ideas about that," said Prudence.
"Your poor mother was obstinate," commented the captain, regarding her tolerantly.

"Once she got an idea into her head it stuck there, and nothing made her more angry than proving to her that she was wrong.
Trying to prove to her, I should have said." Miss Drewitt smiled amiably.

"Well, you've earned half the sum," she said.