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34 "And it was long and thin," he said; "it looked something like a cigar."

"That's probably what it was," said Jim; "a sea-gar. Give Miss Kirkland some more toast, Elspeth."

Joan was laughing in spite of herself; and, because Garth was laughing, too, gloriously and deliciously, she found to her annoyance that she could not stop quite as soon as she wished.

When Joan went into the kitchen to help Mrs. Pemberley with the breakfast things, she almost ran into a lanky person on his way out, bearing a plate and cup in his hands. He was of indeterminate age, sandy-haired and lean-jawed, with mild blue eyes and an anxious expression.

"That's just Caleb," Elspeth explained, as she supplied Joan with a tea-towel.

"And who is Caleb?" Joan inquired.

"A kindly shadow," Elspeth replied, "brought up on a rule of 'don't speak 'less ye 're spoke to, and then no more 'n you have to.' He's a noiseless, unseen cog in the machinery of Silver Shoal Light."

"What a paragon!" said Joan.

"He's a benevolent Lob-lie-by-the-fire," Elspeth continued; "he's a Blessing. In short,