'Yes,' said the captain with a careless laugh, 'and so I came down here to enjoy myself by getting locked down in a cave, and making for one of the ugliest of deaths. How can I thank you--how can I thank you, madam?' he said, languishing towards Ada. Just then a single knock fell upon the hall door, and the commander returned with Captain Jackman's round hat. 'Thanks for all things,' he exclaimed, as he took it. 'I wonder, sir,' remarked the commander, 'that you should have thought proper to venture your life in an underground cutting with one candle only.' 'It was a tall candle,' answered the captain; 'and I did not think that I was going below to be locked down.' 'True!' exclaimed old Conway. Captain Jackman, in these few moments of pause in the talk, seemed to make an askant study of the commander, who sat opposite. The light was poor for facial revelations. He distinguished a rather stern expression, brows heavily thatched with white hair, a nearly bald head, with the white hair cut short about the ears. He was disproportionately square, and sat a massive figure. The captain's scrutiny was brief. He turned his eyes upon the young lady, whose eyes met his; then he looked at the clock. 'I am the cause of keeping you out of bed,' he said, rising. 'Will you permit me to retire?' 'Show the captain his room, Ada,' said the commander. The girl lighted a rush-light that was upon the hall table, and led the way upstairs, and the commander followed, calmly receiving the impassioned shake of the hand Captain Jackman bestowed upon him. That morning at ten o'clock Captain Jackman awoke, and found himself in a snug little bedroom of white dimity, trembling with brilliance that streamed upon the blinds from the sea. As he got out of bed, he heard a woman singing low and clear. He raised the blinds, and beheld a prospect that assuredly justified Commander Conway's choice of residence. No loftiest mast-head yields you a grander scene. It was painted here and there with a ship, and was coloured blue and white, and the heavens bent blue to the edge of it; but a number of clouds of delicate shape, and charged with a dark softness of rain, were rolling up from the south-west. 'This is a home to suit me,' thought the captain, and, hearing the girl singing either next door or downstairs, he fell a-musing. The maidservant, answering his bell, brought him the commander's razor and some hot water, and in twenty minutes he was downstairs. The house door was open, and the commander walked up and down his lawn, smoking a pipe of Dutch pattern. He showed himself by daylight as a man of strong features, heavily bronzed, as by years of travel. His eyes were a keen blue, and deep set, and his mouth a curl, the under lip slightly protruding. 'Good-morning, sir!' he exclaimed to the captain. 'I hope you slept well.' The usual civilities were exchanged. 'Breakfast will be ready when my daughter is pleased to appear. She is risen,' said the commander.