'Is she fit to go to sea?' asked the girl.
'She wants about three hundred pounds spent upon her, and where am I to get it?'
The young lady looked down with a face of remorse at the beautiful bracelet upon her wrist. It was a speech in bad taste, yet it did not lessen the beauty of his face nor the agreeable mystery he seemed to carry with him.
'I doubt if you will stop here long,' said the commander. 'Any sea-faring business brought you here, may I venture to ask?'
'None. Nothing but a wish to see if the smugglers had left some booty behind them; and to lounge about this part of the land until my finances advised me to arrive at a decision.'
'You should always be able to get command of a ship, Captain Jackman,' said the girl.
'Not so easy now I have been dismissed for theft.'
'Oh no!' muttered the commander, 'dismissed for a misadventure. Had it been theft, sir, you would not have been here, nor should we be enjoying the splendid dinner you are giving us.'
He tippled down another glass of champagne. Very good champagne it was; his eyes beamed with it and the port, and the hardness had dissolved from his looks, and his face expressed the smiling side of him.