as the presence of the old German clock in the corner of the room.

"Yea," said Jessie. "His dog came home without him, and we were
feared he had gone ower the cliffs, or that some other mischance
had happened him.

"Where have ye been, Halcro, so late as ye are? You should have
been in your bed lang syne."

As I went to the nail for my cap, the dominie introduced Captain
Gordon to Jessie. She greeted the sailor without ceremony--for in
Orkney we are not demonstrative in this particular. But the officer
held out his hand, and she took it with evident confusion. I think
she could not have failed to notice the difference between this
handsome young man and the gray-haired, toddy-drinking captains who
usually came into Stromness and hung about our home in the Anchor
Close.

Captain Gordon did not sit down again. Perhaps the mention of the
name Ericson reminded him of his appointment with my father. But he
had not yet effected his purpose of securing Grace Drever's cat,
and he turned to the old woman, asking her again if she would part
with Baudrons.

Grace, I do not doubt, had been impressed by the open-hearted
bearing of the captain, and I had noticed his kindly way of
addressing her, so that she might hear him without effort. But she
looked fondly at her cat as he sat before the crimson fire, licking
his lips after the fish bones he had eaten. Few mice or rats came
in his way, but--luck for Baudrons--there was an abundance of fish,