“I am willing,” he replied, “to take an enforced passage, provided you allow me to get my baggage.”
“That means going ashore?”
“Not necessarily; for upon a note from me to the landlady of my rooms the things would be given up.”
“We have no time to spare, Miss Laura,” said Captain Pardoe.
“It is necessary for me to go ashore,” she answered, “for a few minutes. Where are your rooms?”
“Off the Temple—in York street.”
“I think I will trust you,” she said, giving her hand, which Frank warmly clasped, the spell of her beauty being full upon him.
Within an hour they were all back on the ship, and as Big Ben struck out the hours of midnight the vessel slowly crept down the river.