aid the boatswain, hastily.
"Remember your promise, mind."

"Of course I will," said Rosa, carelessly.

"You've promised not to 'ave your evening out till I come back," the
boatswain reminded her; "week-days and Sundays both. And it oughtn't to
be no 'ardship to you. Gals wot's going to be married don't want to go
gadding about."

"Of course they don't," said Rosa. "I shouldn't enjoy being out without
you neither. And I can get all the fresh air I want in the garden."

"And cleaning the winders," said the thoughtful boatswain.

Miss Jelks, who held to a firm and convenient belief in the likeness
between promises and piecrusts, smiled cheerfully.

"Unless I happen to be sent on an errand I sha'n't put my nose outside
the front gate," she declared.

"You've passed your word," said Mr. Walters, slowly, "and that's good
enough for me; besides which I've got a certain party wot's promised to
keep 'is eye on you and let me know if you don't keep to it."

"Eh?" said the startled Rosa. "Who is it?"

"Never you mind who it is," said Mr. Walters, judicially. "It's better
for you not to know, then you can't dodge 'im. He can keep his eye on
you, but there's no necessity for you to keep your eye on 'im. I don't
mind wot _he_ does."

Miss Jelks maintained her temper with some difficulty; but the absolute
necessity of discovering the identity of the person referred to by Mr.
Walters, if she was to have any recreation at all during the next two
years, helped her.

"He'll have an easy job of it," she said, at last, with a toss of her
head.

"That's just wot I told 'im," said the boatswain. "He didn't want to
take the job on at first, but I p'inted out that if you behaved yourself
and kept your promise he'd 'ave nothing to do; and likewise, if you
didn't, it was only right as 'ow I should know. Besides which I gave 'im
a couple o' carved peach stones and a war-club that used to belong to a
Sandwich Islander, and took me pretty near a week to make."

Miss Jelks looked up at him sideways. "Be a bit of all right if he
comes making up to me himself," she said, with a giggle. "I wonder
whether he'd tell you that?"

"He won't do that," said the boatswain, with a confident smile. "He's
much too well-behaved, 'sides which he ain't old enough."

Miss Jelks tore her arm away. "You've never been and set that
old-fashioned little shrimp Bassett on to watch me?" she said, shrilly.

"Never you mind who it is," growled the discomfi