It was then nearly ten o'clock. Two hours later,
when the house shut up, Mr. Dark came back to me again in high
spirits.
"I have got the whole case here," says he, tapping his
forehead--"the whole case, as neat and clean as if it was drawn
in a brief. That master of yours doesn't stick at a trifle,
William. It's my opinion that your mistress and you have not seen
the last of him yet."
We were sleeping that night in a double-bedded room. As soon as
Mr. Dark had secured the door and disposed himself comfortably in
his bed, he entered on a detailed narrative of the particulars
communicated to him in the tap-room. The substance of what he
told me may be related as follows:
The yacht had had a wonderful run all the way to Cape Wrath. On
rounding that headland she had met the wind nearly dead against
her, and had beaten every inch of the way to the sea-port town,
where she had put in to get a supply of provisions, and to wait
for a change in the wind.
Mr. James Smith had gone ashore to look about him, and to see
whether the principal hotel was the sort of house at which he
would like to stop for a few days. In the course of his wandering
about the town, his attention had been attracted to a decent
house, where lodgings were to be let, by the sight of a very
pretty girl sitting at work at the parlor window.
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