about to wake up and be miserable. That,
at least, was my notion, as I walked into the little village.

Not a creature did I see; not a sound did I hear except my own
footsteps. Presently I saw a cat run around the corner of a house, and
this was a relief. I walked on past a wide space, in which there were no
houses, when I came to a small, irregularly built white house, in front
of which hung a sign bearing the inscription "Central Hotel." If
anything could have made me more disgusted with the world than I then
was, it was this sign. If the name of this miserable little country
tavern had been anything suitable to itself and the place, if it had
been called The Plough and Harrow, The Gray Horse, or even The Blue
Devil, I think I should have been glad to see it. A village inn might
have been a point of interest to me, but Central Hotel in this mournful
settlement of small farmers and fishermen,--it was ridiculous!

However, the door of the house was open, and inside was a man sweeping
the sanded floor. When he saw me, he stopped his work and stared at me.

"Good-mornin'," he said. "Don't often see strangers here so airly. Did
ye come on the grocery boat? I saw her puttin' in. Do ye want a room?
Time for a good nap before breakfast."

I answered that I did not want a room, but the remark about breakfast
made me feel that I should like a cup of coffee, and perhaps I might get
it here. It might have been a more natural thing to go back to the boat
and ask Abner to make me the coffee, but I did not want to go back to
the boat. I did not want to wake Walkirk. I did not want to have him
with me on shore. I did not want to have him talk to me. My present
intention was to go to the yacht as soon as it was reasonable to suppose
that its passengers were awake, to see Mrs. Raynor, and say to her what
I had to say. I did not feel in the proper spirit for this; but, in the
spirit in which I found myself, the less I was trammeled by advice, by
suggestions of prudence, and all that sort of thing, the better it would
be for me. So I was very glad that my under-study was asleep on the
grocery boat, and hoped that he would remain in that condition until I
had had my talk with Sylvia's mother.

I put my request to the man and he smiled. "Ye can't get no coffee," he
said, "until breakfast time, and that's pretty nigh two hours off. There
is people in the place that have breakfast earlier than we do, but we
keep boarders, ye know. We've