s here, and
then _I_ could help you, for although I do not pretend to be deeply
learned in scriptural knowledge, I daresay I know enough for your
purpose; but why not get the books in London? Is there any necessity
for buying them in Yarmouth?"

Poor Captain Bream was so unused to scheming, that he had made no
preparation for such a question, and felt much confused. He could give
no good reason for making his purchase in Yarmouth, and nothing would
have induced him to tell a falsehood.

"Well, really," he said, after a few moments' hesitation, "there are
circumstances sometimes in a man's life which render it difficult for
him to explain things, but--but I _have_ a reason for wishin' to buy
this library in Yarmouth, an' it seems to me a good one. Besides, I've
got a likin' for sea-air, bein' my native air, so to speak, and I've no
doubt that theology would come more easy to me if I was in a snug little
room facin' the sea, where I could see the blue waters dancin', an' the
shipping go by, an' the youngsters playin' on the sands. Yes, it _must_
be done at Yarmouth. London would never do; it's too hot an' stuffy.
Not that I care for that, but then you might--ah--that is--I mean to
say--you might agree with me on this point if you were there. But why,"
he added with fresh animation as he saw the way opening up before him,
"why, Miss Kate, since you are so kind as to say you'd like to help me,
why might you not take a run down to Yarmouth with me, an' help me
there?"

"Because," answered Kate, laughing, "I could not very well leave my
sister alone."

"Of course not--quite right, but there's no need for that; she could
come too, and it would do you both much good, not to speak o' the
_immense_ advantage to me! I do assure you I'd feel well-nigh as
helpless as an infant, if left to tackle this business alone."

From this point there began a regular skirmish between the captain and
the sisters; the one trying to convince the others that it would be
doing him a favour for which he could never find words to thank them,
and the others endeavouring to show by every sort of argument that the
thing was utterly unpossible, that the captain little knew what a burden
he proposed to take on his shoulders, and that there was no use whatever
in talking about it.

But Captain Bream was a man of resolution. He stuck to his point and
pleaded his own cause so powerfully that the sisters began to waver.

"But think," urged Kat