She rose, curtseyed, and conducted him to a front room of a fair size.
'This will do,' said Captain Jackman. 'Here's quite room enough. I want to give a dinner to two friends at six o'clock to-night. Can you manage it for me?'
'You shall have the best that is to be had, sir; and I may truly say that my cooking is known far and wide.'
'The guests are Commander Conway and his daughter. Do you know them?'
'By sight and name, sir. They are a little——' And here, not choosing to abase herself, she curtseyed.
Why should worthy Mrs. Davis have told the handsome gentleman that Miss Conway would no more have regarded her than the mould she trod on?
'I will make out a list of dishes now,' said the captain.
Mrs. Davis fetched a pencil and slate, and Captain Jackman, in the time that the well-known poet, Smithson, takes to turn out a sonnet, safe in the applause of fifty other Smithsons, had made out a really handsome dinner for those days of plain dishes. He then left the inn, and walked slowly up the High Street, looking into the shops on either hand, until he came to a jeweller's shop, at which he made a stand.
After inspecting the furnished window, he entered, and said to a bald-headed man behind the counter—
'This is a little place for a big order.'