ng of your bedstead, ma'am. Ah, pretty dreams, what pretty
dreams, with a virtuous knowledge of having done the right! Shall we say
it is a bargain, ma'am, and wet it with a glass, at my expense, of the
crystal spring that comes under the sea?"

"Naw, Sir, naw!--not till I knaw what. I niver trafficks with the divil,
Sir. There wur a chap of Flaambro deed--"

"My good madam, I can not stop all day. I have far to ride before
night-fall. All that I want is simply this, and having gone so far, I
must tell you all, or make an enemy of you. I want to match this; and I
have reason to believe that it can be matched in Flamborough. Produce me
the fellow, and I pay you fifty guineas."

With these words Mr. Mordacks took from an inner pocket a little
pill-box, and thence produced a globe, or rather an oblate spheroid, of
bright gold, rather larger than a musket-ball, but fluted or crenelled
like a poppy-head, and stamped or embossed with marks like letters.
Widow Precious looked down at it, as if to think what an extraordinary
thing it was, but truly to hide from the stranger her surprise at the
sudden recognition. For Robin Lyth was a foremost favorite of hers, and
most useful to her vocation; and neither fifty guineas nor five hundred
should lead her to do him an injury. At a glance she had known that
this bead must belong to the set from which Robin's ear-rings came; and
perhaps it was her conscience which helped her to suspect that a trap
was being laid for the free-trade hero. To recover herself, and have
time to think, as well as for closer discretion, she invited Master
Mordacks to the choice guest-chamber.

"Set ye doon, Sir, hereaboot," she said, opening a solid door into
the inner room; "neaver gain no fear at aw o' crackin' o' the setties;
fairm, fairm anoo' they be, thoo sketterish o' their lukes, Sir. Set ye
doon, your Warship; fafty poons desarveth a good room, wi'oot ony lugs
o' anemees."

"What a beautiful room!" exclaimed Mr. Mordacks; "and how it savors of
the place! I never should have thought of finding art and taste of such
degree in a little place like Flamborough. Why, madam, you must have
inherited it direct from the Danes themselves."

"Naw, Sir, naw. I fetched it aw oop fra the breck of the say and the
cobbles. Book-folk tooneth naw heed o' what we do."

"Well, it is worth a great deal of heed. Lovely patterns of sea-weed
on the floor--no carpet can compare with them; shelves of--I am sure
I don'