FAREWELL, WIFE AND CHILDREN DEAR
Now Robin Lyth held himself in good esteem; as every honest man is bound
to do, or surely the rogues will devour him. Modesty kept him silent as
to his merits very often; but the exercise of self-examination made
them manifest to himself. As the Yorkshireman said to his minister, when
pressed to make daily introspection, “I dare na do it, sir; it sets
me up so, and leaveth no chance for my neighbors;” so the great
free-trader, in charity for others, forbore to examine himself too much.
But without doing that, he was conscious of being as good as Master
Anerley; and intended, with equal mind and manner, to state his claim to
the daughter's hand.
It was not, therefore, as the farmer thought, any deep sense of
illegality which kept him from coming forward now, as a gallant sailor
always does; but rather the pressure of sterner business, and the hard
necessity of running goods, according to honorable contract. After
his narrow escape from outrage upon personal privilege--for the habeas
corpus of the Constitution should at least protect a man while making
love--it was clear that the field of his duties as a citizen was
padlocked against him, until next time. Accordingly he sought the
wider bosom of the ever-liberal sea; and leaving the noble Carroway
to mourn--or in stricter truth, alas! to swear--away he sailed, at the
quartering of the moon, for the land of the genial Dutchman.
Now this was the time when the forces of the realm were mightily
gathered together against him. Hitherto there had been much fine feeling
on the part of his Majesty's revenue, and a delicate sense of etiquette.
All the commanders of the cutters on the coast, of whom and of which
there now were three, had met at Carroway's festive board; and, looking
at his family, had one and all agreed to let him have the first chance
of the good prize-money. It was All-saints' Day of the year gone by when
they met and thus enjoyed themselves; and they bade their host appoint
his time; and he said he should not want three months. At this they
laughed, and gave him twelve; and now the twelve had slipped away.
“I would much rather never have him caught at all,” said Carroway, to
his wife, when his year of precaption had expired, “than for any of
those fellows to nab him; especially that prig last sent down.”
“So would I, dear; so would I, of course,” replied Mrs. Carroway, who
had been all gratitude for their noble self-denial when they made the
promise; “what airs they would give themselves! And what could they do
with the money? Drink it out! I am sure that the condition of our best
tumblers, after they come, is something. People who don't know anything
about it always fancy that glass will clean. Glass won't clean, after
such men as those; and as for the table--don't talk of it.”
“Two out of the three are gone”--the lieutenant's conscience was not
void of offense concerning tables--“gone upon promotion. Everybody gets
promotion, if he only does his very best never to deserve it. They ought
to have caught Lyth long and long ago. What are such dummies fit for?”
“But, Charles, you know that they would have acted meanly and
dishonestly if they had done so. They promised not to catch him; and
they carried out their promise.”
“Matilda, such questions are beyond you altogether. You can not be
expected to understand the service. One of those trumpery, half-decked
craft--or they used to be half-deckers in my time--has had three of
those fresh-meat Jemmies over her in a single twelvemonth. But of course
they were all bound by the bargain they had made. As for that, small
thanks to them. How could they catch him, when I couldn't? They chop and
they change so, I forget their names; my head is not so good as it was,
with getting so much moonlight.”
“Nonsense, Charles; you know them like your fingers. But I know what you
want; you want Geraldine, you are so proud to hear her tell it.”
“Tilly, you are worse. You love to hear her say it. Well, call her in,
and let her do it. She is making an oyster-shell cradle over there, with
two of the blessed babies.”
“Charles, how very profane you are! All babes are blest by the Lord, in
an independent parable, whether they can walk, or crawl, or put up their
feet and take nourishment. Jerry, you come in this very moment. What
are you doing with your two brothers there, and a dead skate--bless the
children! Now say the cutters and their captains.”
Geraldine, who was a pretty little girl, as well as a good and clever
one, swept her wind-tossed hair aside, and began to repeat her lesson;
for which she sometimes got a penny when her father had made a good
dinner.
“His Majesty's cutter Swordfish, Commander Nettlebones, senior officer
of the eastern division after my papa, although a very young man still,
carries a swivel-gun and two bow-chasers. His Majesty's cutter Kestrel,
commanded by Lieutenant Bowler, is armed with three long-John's, or
strap-guns, capable of carrying a pound of shrapnel. His Majesty's
cutter Albatross, Lieutenant Corkoran Donovan, carries no artillery
yet--”
“Not artillery--guns, child; your mother calls them 'artillery.'”
“Carries no guns yet, because she was captured from the foreign enemy;
and as yet she has not been reported stanch, since the British fire
made a hole in her. It is, however, expected that those asses at the
dock-yard---”
“Geraldine, how often must I tell you that you are not to use that word?
It is your father's expression.”
“It is, however, expected that those donkeys at the dock-yard will
recommend her to be fitted with two brass howisyers.”
“Howitzers, my darling. Spell that word, and you shall have your penny.
Now you may run out and play again. Give your old father a pretty kiss
for it. I often wish,” continued the lieutenant, as his daughter flew
back to the dead skate and the babies, “that I had only got that
child's clear head. Sometimes the worry is too much for me. And now if
Nettlebones catches Robin Lyth, to a certainty I shall be superseded,
and all of us go to the workhouse. Oh, Tilly, why won't your old aunt
die? We might be so happy afterward.”
“Charles, it is not only sinful, but wicked, to show any wish to hurry
her. The Lord knows best what is good for us; and our prayers upon such
matters should be silent.”
“Well, mine would be silent and loud too, according to the best chance
of being heard. Not that I would harm the poor old soul; I wish her
every heavenly blessing; and her time is come for all of them. But I
never like to think of that, because one's own time might come first. I
have felt very much out of spirits to-day, as my poor father did the day
before he got his billet. You know, Matilda, he was under old Boscawen,
and was killed by the very first shot fired; it must be five-and-forty
years ago. How my mother did cry, to be sure! But I was too young to
understand it. Ah, she had a bad time with us all! Matilda, what would
you do without me?”
“Why, Charles, you are not a bit like yourself. Don't go to-night; stay
at home for once. And the weather is very uncertain, too. They never
will attempt their job to-night. Countermand the boats, dear; I
will send word to stop them. You shall not even go out of the house
yourself.”
“As if it were possible! I am not an old woman, nor even an old man yet,
I hope. In half an hour I must be off. There will be good time for
a pipe. One more pipe in the old home, Tilly. After all I am well
contented with it, although now and then I grumble; and I don't like so
much cleaning.”
“The cleaning must be done; I could never leave off that. Your room is
going to be turned out to-morrow, and before you go you must put away
your papers, unless you wish me to do it. You really never seem to
understand when things are really important. Do you wish me to have
a great fever in the house? It is a fortnight since your boards were
scrubbed; and how can you think of smoking?”
“Very well, Tilly, I can have it by-and-by, 'upon the dancing waves,' as
little Tommy has picked up the song. Only I can not let the men on duty;
and to see them longing destroys my pleasure. Lord, how many times I
should like to pass my pipe to Dick, or Ellis, if discipline allowed of
it! A thing of that sort is not like feeding, which must be kept apart
by nature; but this by custom only.”
“And a very good custom, and most needful,” answered Mrs. Carroway. “I
never can see why men should want to do all sorts of foolish things with
tobacco--dirty stuff, and full of dust. No sooner do they begin, like a
tinder-box, than one would think that it made them all alike. They want
to see another body puffing two great streams of reeking smoke from
pipe and from mouth, as if their own was not enough; and their good
resolutions to speak truth of one another float away like so much smoke;
and they fill themselves with bad charity. Sir Walter Raleigh deserved
his head off, and Henry the Eighth knew what was right.”
“My dear, I fancy that your history is wrong. The king only chopped off
his own wives' heads. But the moral of the lesson is the same. I will
go and put away my papers. It will very soon be dark enough for us to
start.”
“Charles, I can not bear your going. The weather is so dark, and the sea
so lonely, and the waves are making such a melancholy sound. It is not
like the summer nights, when I can see you six miles off, with the moon
upon the sails, and the land out of the way. Let anybody catch him that
has the luck. Don't go this time, Charley.”
Carroway kissed his wife, and sent her to the baby, who was squalling
well up stairs. And when she came down he was ready to start, and she
brought the baby for him to kiss.
“Good-by, little chap--good-by, dear wife.” With his usual vigor and
flourish, he said, “I never knew how to kiss a baby, though I have had
such a lot of them.”
“Good-by, Charley dear. All your things are right; and here is the key
of the locker. You are fitted out for three days; but you must on no
account make that time of it. To-morrow I shall be very busy, but you
must be home by the evening. Perhaps there will be a favorite thing of
yours for supper. You are going a long way; but don't be long.”
“Good-by, Tilly darling--good-by, Jerry dear--good-by, Tommy boy, and
all my countless family. I am coming home to-morrow with a mint of
money.”