'With Captain Rattenbury.'
'Of the Royal Navy?'
'No, sir. I don't reckon he was a proper captain, nowhere——'
'I beg your pardon—anywhere.'
'Never mind the grinding, sir.'
'My dear, polish is everything—you see it in the pebbles.'
She considered a moment, then smiled: 'Yes, sir, polish is a great deal. I suppose we are all of us rolled up by the great sea of time, alike on the beach, but some are smoothed and shaped—and those are the ladies and gentlemen, and some are left in the rough, and those are such as mother and me.'
'You are a shrewd observer. Now about this grinding stone?'
'We shall move it to the captain's house. Will you come and see it on the undercliff? Mother is there.'
'I—I—no—no!' replied Mr. Holwood hastily. 'My avocations call me. I cannot to-day. On some future occasion, perhaps. Pray, how long have you been with this Captain Rattenbury?'