"HONOURABLE SIR:--
"It is my duty to advise you that the Honourable Lady Signora Alforgas
de Guzman, now deceased, has, in her testament, bequeathed to you the
sum of one thousand doubloons in gold as a testimony of your kind
services on the night of the 12th of August. If you will authorise any
merchant here to receive the money, it shall be paid forthwith, or
remitted in any way you please to appoint. May you live a thousand
years.
"Your most obedient servant:--
"ALFONZO XEREZ."
Jack heard the letter read, rose quietly, whistled low, as if not
attending to it, and then slipped out of the room, unperceived by the
Governor or Captain Wilson.
The fact was, that although Jack had longed to tell the Governor about
his adventures after the masquerade, he did not like yet awhile, until
he was sure that there were no consequences--because he had given the
captain's name instead of his own. As soon as he heard the letter read,
he at once perceived that it had been the old lady, and not the priests,
who had made the inquiry, and that by giving Captain Wilson's name he
had obtained for him this fine legacy. Jack was delighted, but still
puzzled, so he walked out of the room to reflect a little.
"What can it mean?" said Captain Wilson. "I never rendered any services
to any one on the 12th of August or after it. It is some mistake--12th
of August--that was the day of the grand masquerade."
"A lucky one for you, at all events--for you know, mistake or not, no
one else can touch the legacy. It can only be paid to you."
"I never heard of anything taking place at the masquerade--I was there,
but I left early, for I was not very well. Mr Easy," said Captain
Wilson, turning round, but Jack was gone.
"Was he at the masquerade?" asked the Governor.
"Yes, I know he was, for the first lieutenant told me that he requested
not to come on board till the next day."
"Depend upon it," replied the Governor, striking his fist upon the
table, "that Jack's at the bottom of it."
"I should not be surprised at his being at the bottom of anything,"
replied Captain Wilson, laughing.
"Leave it to me, Wilson, I'll find it out."
After a little more conversation, Captain Wilson went on board, leaving
Jack on purpose that the Governor might pump him. But this Sir Thomas
had no occasion to do, for Jack had made up his mind to make the
Governor his confidant, and he immediately told him the whole story.
The Governor held his sides at our hero's description, especially at his
ruse of giving the captain's name instead of his own.
"You'll kill me, Jack, before you've done with me," said old Tom, at
last; "but now what is to be done?"
Our hero now became grave; he pointed out to the Governor that he
himself had plenty of money, and would come into a large fortune, and
that Captain Wilson was poor, with a large family. All Jack wished the
Governor to manage was, that Captain Wilson might consent to accept the
legacy.
"Right, boy, right! you're my own boy," replied the Governor; "but we
must think of this, for Wilson is the very soul of honour, and there may
be some difficulty about it. You have told nobody?"
"Not a soul but you, Sir Thomas."
"It never will do to tell him all this, Jack, for he would insist that
the legacy belonged to you."
"I have it, sir," replied Jack. "When I was going into the masquerade,
I offered to hand this very old lady, who was covered with diamonds, out
of her carriage, and she was so frightened at my dress of a devil, that
she would have fallen down had it not been for Captain Wilson, who
supported her, and she was very thankful to him."
"You are right, Jack," replied the Governor, after a short pause; "that
will, I think, do. I must tell him the story of the friars, because I
swore you had something to do with it--but I'll tell him no more: leave
it all to me."
Captain Wilson returned in the afternoon, and found the Governor in the
veranda.
"I have had some talk with young Easy," said the Governor, "and he has
told me a strange story about that night, which he was afraid to tell to
everybody."
The Governor then narrated the history of the friars and the will.
"Well, but," observed Captain Wilson, "the history of that will afford
no clue to the legacy."
"No, it does not; but still, as I said, Jack had a hand in this. He
frightened the old lady as a devil, and you caught her in your arms and
saved her from falling, so he had a hand in it, you see."
"I do now remember that I did save a very dowager-like old personage
from falling at the sight of a devil, who, of course, must have been our
friend Easy."
"Well, and that accounts for the whole of it."
"A thousand doubloons for picking up an old lady!"
"Yes, why not?--have you not heard of a man having a fortune left him
for merely opening the pew-door of a church to an old gentleman?"
"Yes, but it appears so strange."
"There's nothing strange in this world, Wilson, nothing at all--we may
slave for years and get no reward, and do a trifle out of politeness and
become independent. In my opinion, this mystery is unravelled. The old
lady, for I knew the family, must have died immensely rich: she knew you
in your full uniform, and she asked your name; a heavy fall would have
been to one so fat a most serious affair; you saved her, and she has
rewarded you handsomely."
"Well," replied Captain Wilson, "as I can give no other explanation, I
suppose yours is the correct one; but it's hardly fair to take a
thousand doubloons from her relations merely for an act of civility."
"You really are quite ridiculous; the old lady owned half Murcia, to my
knowledge. It is no more to them than any one leaving you a suit of
mourning in an English legacy. I wish you joy; it will help you with a
large family, and in justice to them you are bound to take it.
Everybody does as he pleases with his own money,--depend upon it, you
saved her from breaking her leg short off at the hip joint."
"Upon that supposition I presume I must accept of the legacy," replied
Captain Wilson, laughing.
"Of course, send for it at once. The rate of exchange is now high. I
will give you government bills, which will make it nearly four thousand
pounds."
"Four thousand pounds for preventing an old woman from falling," replied
Captain Wilson.
"Devilish well paid, Wilson, and I congratulate you."
"For how much am I indebted to the father of young Easy!" observed
Captain Wilson, after a silence of some minutes; "if he had not assisted
me when I was appointed to a ship, I should not have gained my
promotion--nor three thousand pounds I have made in prize-money--the
command of a fine frigate--and now four thousand pounds in a windfall."
The Governor thought that he was more indebted to Jack than to his
father for some of these advantages, but he was careful not to point
them out.
"It's very true," observed the Governor, "that Mr Easy was of service
to you when you were appointed; but allow me to observe that for your
ship, your prize-money, and for your windfall, you have been wholly
indebted to your own gallantry in both senses of the word; still Mr
Easy is a fine generous fellow, and so is his son, I can tell you.
By-the-bye, I had a long conversation with him the other day."
"About himself?"
"Yes, all about himself. He appears to me to have come into the service
without any particular motive, and will be just as likely to leave it in
the same way. He appears to be very much in love with that Sicilian
nobleman's daughter. I find that he has written to her, and to her
brother, since he has been here."
"That he came into the service in search of what he never will find in
this world, I know very well; and I presume that he has found that out--
and that he will follow up the service is also very doubtful; but I do
not wish that he should leave it yet; it is doing him great good,"
replied Captain Wilson.
"I agree with you there--I have great influence with him, and he shall
stay yet awhile. He is heir to a very large fortune, is he not?"
"A clear eight thousand pounds a year, if not more."
"If his father dies he must, of course, leave: a midshipman with eight
thousand pounds a year would indeed be an anomaly."
"That the service could not permit. It would be as injurious to himself
as it would to others about him. At present, he has almost, indeed I
may say quite, an unlimited command of money."
"That's bad, very bad. I wonder he behaves so well as he does."
"And so do I: but he really is a very superior lad, with all his
peculiarities, and a general favourite with those whose opinions and
friendship are worth having."
"Well, don't curb him up too tight--for really he does not require it.
He goes very well in a snaffle."