There was no hesitation in her answer. 'Yes.'
How could she resist his pleading presence, his manly candour with her, the love that lighted his eyes, the love that was now the single impulse of her life? Worthier women for more worthless men have consented to go to the devil.
He kissed and released her face, and said, as he stepped from her—
'I shall be a proud man when I have you by my side. We ought to get married soon, Ada. Will you leave it to me to make all the arrangements, writing under cover to you at this little inn?'
'Yes,' she answered. 'Father will never consent. Only think if he should get to hear——' She stopped herself.
The captain laughed. 'I must be off to the west,' said he, 'in a day or two, in search of suitable vaults and a temporary home for you.'
The girl arched her black eyebrows, and her lips fixed themselves in an expression of determination.
'I must,' he continued, 'discover if there are any smugglers' vaults on the Cornwall coast. I want to get as near to the Land's End as possible. You, without suspicion, can make inquiries amongst the men on the wharf and elsewhere.'
'Will you return for the news I receive?'
'You must write——' And he wrote an address on the fly-leaf of a pocket-book which he gave to her. 'That till next Monday.'