第141章 MR. COSWAY AND THE LANDLADY.(16)

"In three-quarters of an hour," he said, "we must be on board."Mrs. Pounce entirely agreed with him. "And if you are not on board," she remarked "you will be tried by court-martial, and dismissed the service with your characters ruined for life.""My dear creature, we haven't time to send home, and we know nobody in the town," pleaded Cosway. "For God's sake take our watches and jewelry, and our luggage--and let us go.""I am not a pawnbroker," said the inflexible lady. "You must either pay your lawful debt to me in honest money, or--"She paused and looked at Cosway. Her fat face brightened--she smiled graciously for the first time.

C osway stared at her in unconcealed perplexity. He helplessly repeated her last words. " We must either pay the bill," he said, "or what?""Or," answered Mrs. Pounce, "one of you must marry ME."Was she joking? Was she intoxicated? Was she out of her senses?

Neither of the three; she was in perfect possession of herself;her explanation was a model of lucid and convincing arrangement of facts.