hen he had said that in a tone of tender condolence, he
disappeared.

Florence was very sorry that she should unwittingly, though naturally,
have awakened these associations in the mind of her protector, by taking
refuge there; and sitting down before the little table where the Captain
had arranged the telescope and song-book, and those other rarities,
thought of Walter, and of all that was connected with him in the past,
until she could have almost wished to lie down on her bed and fade away.
But in her lonely yearning to the dead whom she had loved, no thought
of home--no possibility of going back--no presentation of it as yet
existing, or as sheltering her father--once entered her thoughts. She
had seen the murder done. In the last lingering natural aspect in which
she had cherished him through so much, he had been torn out of her
heart, defaced, and slain. The thought of it was so appalling to
her, that she covered her eyes, and shrunk trembling from the least
remembrance of the deed, or of the cruel hand that did it. If her fond
heart could have held his image after that, it must have broken; but it
could not; and the void was filled with a wild dread that fled from all
confronting with its shattered fragments--with such a dread as could
have risen out of nothing but the depths of such a love, so wronged.

She dared not look into the glass; for the sight of the darkening mark
upon her bosom made her afraid of herself, as if she bore about her
something wicked. She covered it up, with a hasty, faltering hand, and
in the dark; and laid her weary head down, weeping.

The Captain did not go to bed for a long time. He walked to and fro in
the shop and in the little parlour, for a full hour, and, appearing
to have composed himself by that exercise, sat down with a grave and
thoughtful face, and read out of a Prayer-book the forms of prayer
appointed to be used at sea. These were not easily disposed of; the good
Captain being a mighty slow, gruff reader, and frequently stopping at
a hard word to give himself such encouragement as Now, my lad! With a
will!' or, 'Steady, Ed'ard Cuttle, steady!' which had a great effect
in helping him out of any difficulty. Moreover, his spectacles greatly
interfered with his powers of vision. But notwithstanding these
drawbacks, the Captain, being heartily in earnest, read the service to
the very last line, and with genuine feeling too; and approving of it
very much when he had done, turn