Biddy stared up at him.
'It's my papa,' she said.
It was the old man's turn to stare now.
'Your papa!' he exclaimed. He had never dreamt but that Biddy was a Seacove child, tempted out too far by the fine afternoon—a fisherman's or boatman's daughter. But however curious he was to hear more, he had too much sense to cross-question her just then.
'Get into bed, missie, and get to sleep for a bit, while your things dry.'
Biddy had had her share of weak brandy and water; she had never tasted it before, and it soon sent her to sleep.
Tobias went back to Mr. Vane.
'She's all right, sir. I'd no notion as she was your young lady. Was she awaitin' for you on the sands, or how?'
Mr. Vane shook his head.
'I know no more about it than you,' he said. But he still looked so white and faint that the lighthouse man and the others gave all their attention to getting him warmed and dried, and at last they got him to look a little better, though he declared he could not go to sleep.