‘Captain,’ said the visitor, ‘isn’t ten o’clock the usual time for young ladies to go to bed?’
At this hint, the old man made a signal to his daughter, who retired.
‘Now then,’ continued Rodley, ‘let’s to business.’
‘I’m not aware that I have any business with you,’ said the captain.
‘Well, you’ll soon have some with me. Look here. We’re men of the world, and we must understand each other. I’ve only met you twice before: each time you were coming from the same place, and each time you were astonished, in fact, alarmed, at seeing me.’
‘Well, sir, and what of that?’ asked the old sailor. ‘Here am I, an old East India Company’s skipper, living in a lonely place, where I don’t see half-a-dozen people in the course of a month. You came upon me suddenly, just when it was getting dark, and I was naturally startled.’
‘O no; that’s not it,’ continued Rodley. ‘But we’ll leave that for a bit. First of all, I’m head over heels in love with your daughter.’
‘I’m sorry for it.’
‘And I intend to marry her,’ continued his visitor.
‘That depends firstly whether she will have you, which I very much doubt,’ said the captain; ‘and secondly upon whether I let her go, which I also doubt.’