"Why, of course," replied the captain somewhat surprised at his tone. "Like yourself, I am a lonely man, and am glad sometimes to find a fellow-creature to whom I can talk." He had entered the little low-roofed shop by this time and had seated himself upon a bench. "Why, it's quite cold to-night, isn't it?" he added. He had spoken in his usual quick, rather highly pitched voice, and suddenly the shoemaker raised a warning forefinger, and glanced toward the door at the back of the shop. "Hush!" he whispered softly. The captain looked at him in amazement. "I--I'm very sorry," he said, lowering his voice. "I had no idea that there was any one in here." "Yes, sleeping," whispered the old man eagerly. "When the winds sang of her in the trees, and the trees bent to each other to whisper of her coming, she came suddenly to me in the old place where I had waited so long; she came weeping, as I had dreamed she would come, and crying to me to take her away and hide her. And so I brought her here, that none may find her." "I don't understand," said the captain in a startled whisper. "Who is it?" "She came to me as a little child; was sent to me by God for my comfort. Often and often she has sat where you sit now while I worked, and has made the dreams I dreamed about her more real than my waking life. But they shall not find her--they shall not find her." "'Linda!" whispered the captain, and caught the other's arm. "What brings her here; what is the meaning of it?" "I do not know; I have not asked," replied the shoemaker. "I know only that she came weeping, as I had dreamed she would come; weeping as that other child who grew to be a woman must have wept, as all women are born to weep. But she is safe now; they shall not find her again." "Let me see her," whispered the captain, rising from the bench on which he sat and approaching the door of the inner room. "Remember, I loved her too; let me see her." For a moment old Medmer Theed stood jealously before the door; then drew aside somewhat reluctantly, and pushed it open and signed to the captain to follow him. Treading cautiously, they went in and stood beside the little rough bed on which she lay. She was still sleeping soundly, and as the captain bent over her he saw that there were traces of tears still on her face. After a few moments they came out again into the shop.