Mr. Wenlock laughed. "Not much," he said. "I'm on my own hook. Why, hang it all, Captain, you must see that no man of his own free will would be idiot enough to resurrect a long-forgotten niece just to make himself into a beggar." "I don't see why not, sir, if he got to know she was alive. Some men have consciences, and even a lord, I suppose, is a man." "The present earl has far too good a time of it to worry about running a conscience. No, I bet he fights like a thief for the plunder, however clear a case we have to show him. And as he's the man in possession and has plenty of ready cash for law expenses, the odds are he'll turn out too big to worry at through all the courts, and we shall compromise. I'd like that best myself. Cash down has a desirable feel about it." "It has, sir," said Kettle with a reminiscent sigh. "Even to pocket a tenth of what is rightfully yours is better than getting mixed up with that beastly law. But will the other relatives of the young lady, those that are employing you, I mean, agree to that?" "Don't I tell you, Captain, I'm on my own hook? There are no other relatives--or at least none that would take a ha'porth of interest in Teresa's getting the estates. I've gone into the thing on sheer spec, and for what I can make out of it, and that, if all's well, will be the whole lump." "But how? The young lady may give you something in her gratitude, of course, but you can't expect it all." "I do, though, and I tell you how I'm going to get it. I shall marry the fair Teresa. Simple as tumbling off a house." Kettle drew himself up stiffly and walked to the other end of the bridge, and began ostentatiously to look with a professional eye over his vessel. Wenlock was quick to see the change. "Come, what is it now, Captain?" he asked with some surprise. "I don't like the idea of those sort of marriages," said the little sailor, acidly. Wenlock shrugged his shoulders good-humoredly. "Neither do I, and if I were a rich man, I wouldn't have dreamed of it. Just think of what the girl probably is: she's been with those niggers since she was quite a kid; she'll be quite uneducated; I'm in hopes she's good-looking and has a decent figure; but at the best she'll be quite unpresentable till I've had her in hand for at least a couple of years, if then. Of course you'll say there's 'romance' about the thing. But then I don't care tuppence about romance, and anyway it's beastly unconfortable to live with." "I was not looking at that point of view."