There was mockery and a new pleasure in the man's voice now. He was open to revelation in regard to Quinton characteristics, and he sensed an original type before him. "You to tell me in this brutally frank manner that you want money! You with _that_ face!" A flush tinged the bronze of Janet's cheeks again. "Yes: I want money!" she said defiantly. "Some get it by waiting on table. Some feed you and wash for you. I cannot do those things, I just cannot!" "Heaven forbid!" "But there must be some way?" The frank, almost boyish tone disarmed the listener. His smile fled and when he spoke the mockery had departed. His better nature rose to meet the blind need in the girl's desire, and his artistic sense guided him to a possible path. "I wish you would give me some name to call you by," he said. "You have mentioned Cap'n Daddy, am I to understand that your name is--is--" "My Captain's name is Morgan: I'm Janet." "Thank you, Miss Janet. I haven't a card, but Mr. Richard Thornly presents his compliments." The humor of the situation began to dawn upon the girl. "We are all captains down here," she explained, "we each have our captain. Mine is over at the Station on the beach. I'm staying just now with Captain David at the Light, while I'm looking for something to do." "Miss Janet, I have a business proposition!" Thornly folded his arms. "I've had an inspiration. During the three-quarters of an hour that you lay upon the sands, I saw you, not only as I saw you then and caught you, but I saw you flitting through several pictures. I even named the pictures, Spirit of the Dunes. I advise you for your own good, Miss Janet, do not struggle to learn to make daubs! It never pays. It's hard enough to make the best go. But you can help me, and together we'll create some pictures that will set the town gaping. What do you say?" "I do not understand." "Well, sit for me; be my model! Let me put you in my pictures. I'll pay you well, and if I sell the pictures, you'll have a kind of fame to offer your Cap'n Daddy that no girl need be ashamed of. Have you caught my meaning?" "You mean, if I sit here upon the Hills--" "Sit, stand, or lie among them," Thornly explained. "You'll paint me, and pay me, and then take your pictures to the city and sell them?" "Try to," Thornly laughed easily. "I'm one of the few fortunate devils who has sold a picture or two. My hopes for the future are good." "I'll do it!" cried Janet. "It's about the easiest way to get the boarders' money I've heard of yet!" The laugh that rang out made Thornly stare. "I did not know any one could laugh in quite that way," he said. "It sounded--well, it sounded like part of the air and place. Miss Janet,"--he spoke slower, feeling his way as he went,--"I'm going to ask you to keep this business arrangement private. The other artists would be quick enough to filch my prize if they could."