me here! Let no one know where I am!
I'll tell you what has happened by-and-by, when I can. I have no one in
the world to go to. Do not send me away!'

'Send you away, my lady lass!' exclaimed the Captain. 'You, my Heart's
Delight! Stay a bit! We'll put up this here deadlight, and take a double
turn on the key!'

With these words, the Captain, using his one hand and his hook with the
greatest dexterity, got out the shutter of the door, put it up, made it
all fast, and locked the door itself.

When he came back to the side of Florence, she took his hand, and kissed
it. The helplessness of the action, the appeal it made to him, the
confidence it expressed, the unspeakable sorrow in her face, the pain of
mind she had too plainly suffered, and was suffering then, his
knowledge of her past history, her present lonely, worn, and unprotected
appearance, all so rushed upon the good Captain together, that he fairly
overflowed with compassion and gentleness.

'My lady lass,' said the Captain, polishing the bridge of his nose with
his arm until it shone like burnished copper, 'don't you say a word to
Ed'ard Cuttle, until such times as you finds yourself a riding smooth
and easy; which won't be to-day, nor yet to-morrow. And as to giving of
you up, or reporting where you are, yes verily, and by God's help, so I
won't, Church catechism, make a note on!'

This the Captain said, reference and all, in one breath, and with much
solemnity; taking off his hat at 'yes verily,' and putting it on again,
when he had quite concluded.

Florence could do but one thing more to thank him, and to show him how
she trusted in him; and she did it' Clinging to this rough creature as
the last asylum of her bleeding heart, she laid her head upon his honest
shoulder, and clasped him round his neck, and would have kneeled down to
bless him, but that he divined her purpose, and held her up like a true
man.

'Steady!' said the Captain. 'Steady! You're too weak to stand, you
see, my pretty, and must lie down here again. There, there!' To see the
Captain lift her on the sofa, and cover her with his coat, would have
been worth a hundred state sights. 'And now,' said the Captain, 'you
must take some breakfast, lady lass, and the dog shall have some too.
And arter that you shall go aloft to old Sol Gills's room, and fall
asleep there, like a angel.'

Captain Cuttle patted Diogenes when he made allusion to him,
and Diogenes met that overture graciously,