ed in, under the counter (but not before
he had been upstairs, and listened at Florence's door), with a serene
breast, and a most benevolent visage.

The Captain turned out several times in the course of the night,
to assure himself that his charge was resting quietly; and once, at
daybreak, found that she was awake: for she called to know if it were
he, on hearing footsteps near her door.

'Yes' my lady lass,' replied the Captain, in a growling whisper. 'Are
you all right, di'mond?'

Florence thanked him, and said 'Yes.'

The Captain could not lose so favourable an opportunity of applying
his mouth to the keyhole, and calling through it, like a hoarse breeze,
'Poor Wal'r! Drownded, ain't he?' after which he withdrew, and turning
in again, slept till seven o'clock.

Nor was he free from his uneasy and embarrassed manner all that day;
though Florence, being busy with her needle in the little parlour, was
more calm and tranquil than she had been on the day preceding. Almost
always when she raised her eyes from her work, she observed the captain
looking at her, and thoughtfully stroking his chin; and he so often
hitched his arm-chair close to her, as if he were going to say something
very confidential, and hitched it away again, as not being able to
make up his mind how to begin, that in the course of the day he cruised
completely round the parlour in that frail bark, and more than once went
ashore against the wainscot or the closet door, in a very distressed
condition.

It was not until the twilight that Captain Cuttle, fairly dropping
anchor, at last, by the side of Florence, began to talk at all
connectedly. But when the light of the fire was shining on the walls
and ceiling of the little room, and on the tea-board and the cups and
saucers that were ranged upon the table, and on her calm face turned
towards the flame, and reflecting it in the tears that filled her eyes,
the Captain broke a long silence thus:

'You never was at sea, my own?'

'No,' replied Florence.

'Ay,' said the Captain, reverentially; 'it's a almighty element. There's
wonders in the deep, my pretty. Think on it when the winds is roaring
and the waves is rowling. Think on it when the stormy nights is so pitch
dark,' said the Captain, solemnly holding up his hook, 'as you can't
see your hand afore you, excepting when the wiwid lightning reweals the
same; and when you drive, drive, drive through the storm and dark, as
if you was a driving, h