named, as it was a business hour, and, the
transaction being of a friendly and private nature--"

"My dear sir," interrupted Mrs Dotropy, "if it is private, pray do not
make it public."

"Has not Miss Ruth, then, told you--"

He stopped and looked from one lady to the other.

"Miss Ruth," said that young lady, flushing deeply, "is supposed to know
nothing whatever about your transactions with Captain Bream. Shall I go
and tell James to carry the box down-stairs, mother?"

Mrs Dotropy gave permission, and Ruth retired. A few minutes later,
young Dalton drove away with the captain's chest of gold.

A week after that the mother and daughter drove away from the same door
to the railway station, and in process of time found themselves one
pleasant afternoon at Yarmouth, in the little parlour with the window
that commanded the gorgeous view of the sea, taking tea with the captain
himself and his friends Jessie and Kate Seaward.

A lodging had been secured quite close to their own by the Dotropys.

"Now," said Ruth to Jessie that evening in private, with flushed cheeks
and eager eyes, "I shall be able to carry out my little plot, and see
whether I am right, now that I have at last got Captain Bream down to
Yarmouth."

"What little plot?" asked Jessie.

"I may not tell you yet," said Ruth with a laugh. "I shall let you know
all about it soon."

But Ruth was wrong. There was destined to be a slip 'twixt the cup and
her sweet lip just then, for that same evening Captain Bream received a
telegram from London, which induced him to leave Yarmouth hastily to see
a friend, he said, and keep an old-standing engagement. He promised,
however, to be back in two or three days at furthest.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

A CLOUD COMES OVER RUTH'S HOPES, AND DIMS THEIR BRIGHTNESS.

To prevent the reader supposing that there is any deep-laid scheme or
profound mystery, with which we mean to torment him during the course of
our tale, we may as well say at once that the little plot, which Ruth
had in view, and which began to grow quite into a romance the longer she
pondered it, was neither more nor less than to bring Captain Bream and
Mrs David Bright face to face.

Ruth had what we may style a constructive mind. Give her a few rough
materials, and straight-way she would build a castle with them. If she
had not enough of material, she immediately invented more, and thus
continued her castle-building. Being highly imaginative an