mouth with cold meat and pickles, enlarged on his plans for the capture
of his assailant; plans to which the undecided Miss Pilbeam turned a
somewhat abstracted ear.
By the time her father had finished his supper she was trying, but in
vain, to devise means for the prisoner's escape. The sergeant had opened
the door of the room for the sake of fresh air, and it was impossible
for anybody to come downstairs without being seen. The story of a sickly
geranium in the back-yard left him unmoved.
“I wouldn't get up for all the geraniums in the world,” he declared.
“I'm just going to have one more pipe and then I'm off to bed. Running
don't agree with me.”
He went, despite his daughter's utmost efforts to prevent him, and she
sat in silent consternation, listening to his heavy tread overhead. She
heard the bed creak in noisy protest as he climbed in, and ten minutes
later the lusty snoring of a healthy man of full habit resounded through
the house.
She went to bed herself at last, and, after lying awake for nearly a
couple of hours, closed her eyes in order to think better. She awoke
with the sun pouring in at the window and the sounds of vigorous
brushing in the yard beneath.
“I've nearly got it off,” said the sergeant, looking up. “It's
destroying evidence in a sense, I suppose; but I can't go about with my
uniform plastered with mud. I've had enough chaff about it as it is.”
Miss Pilbeam stole to the door of the next room and peeped stealthily
in. Not a sound came from the cupboard, and a horrible idea that the
prisoner might have been suffocated set her trembling with apprehension.
“H'sh!” she whispered.
An eager but stifled “H'st!” came from the cup-board, and Miss Pilbeam,
her fears allayed, stepped softly into the room.
“He's downstairs brushing the mud off,” she said, in a low voice.
“Who is?” said the skipper.
“The fat policeman,” said the girl, in a hard voice, as she remembered
her father's wrongs.
“What's he doing it here for?” demanded the astonished skipper.
“Because he lives here.”
“Lodger?” queried the skipper, more astonished than before.
“Father,” said Miss Pilbeam.
A horrified groan from the cupboard fell like music on her ears. Then
the smile forsook her lips, and she stood quivering with indignation as
the groan gave way to suppressed but unmistakable laughter.
“H'sh!” she said sharply, and with head erect sailed out of the room and
went downstairs to give Mr. Pilbeam his breakfast.
To the skipper in the confined space and darkness of the cupboard the
breakfast seemed unending. The sergeant evidently believed in sitting
over his meals, and his deep, rumbling voice, punctuated by good-natured
laughter, was plainly audible. To pass the time the skipper fell to
counting, and, tired of that, recited some verses that he had acquired
at school. After that, and with far more heartiness, he declaimed a
few things that he had learned since; and still the clatter and rumble
sounded from below.
It was a relief to him when he heard the sergeant push his chair back
and move heavily about the room. A minute later he heard him ascending
the stairs, and then he held his breath with horror as the foot-steps
entered the room and a heavy hand was laid on the cupboard door.
“Elsie!” bawled the sergeant. “Where's the key of my cupboard? I want my
other boots.”
“They're down here,” cried the voice of Miss Pilbeam, and the skipper,
hardly able to believe in his good fortune, heard the sergeant go
downstairs again.
At the expiration of another week—by his own reckoning—he heard the
light, hurried footsteps of Miss Pilbeam come up the stairs and pause at
the door.
“H'st!” he said, recklessly.
“I'm coming,” said the girl. “Don't be impatient.”
A key turned in the lock, the door was flung open, and the skipper,
dazed and blinking with the sudden light, stumbled into the room.
“Father's gone,” said Miss Pilbeam.
The skipper made no answer. He was administering first aid to a right
leg which had temporarily forgotten how to perform its duties, varied
with slaps and pinches at a left which had gone to sleep. At intervals
he turned a red-rimmed and reproachful eye on Miss Pilbeam.
'He Was Administering First Aid to a Right Leg.'
“You want a wash and some breakfast,” she said, softly, “especially a
wash. There's water and a towel, and while you're making yourself tidy
I'll be getting breakfast.”
The skipper hobbled to the wash-stand, and, dipping his head in a basin
of cool water, began to feel himself again. By the time he had done his
hair in the sergeant's glass and twisted his moustache into shape he
felt better still, and he went downstairs almost blithely.
“I'm very sorry it was your father,” he said, as he took a seat at the
table. “Very.”
“That's why you laughed, I suppose?” said the girl, tossing her head.
“Well, I've had the worst of it,” said the other. “I'd sooner be upset
a hundred times than spend a night in that cupboard. However, all's well
that ends well.”
“Ah!” said Miss Pilbeam, dolefully, “but is it the end?”
Captain Bligh put down his knife and fork and eyed her uneasily.
“What do you mean?” he said.
“Never mind; don't spoil your breakfast,” said the girl. “I'll tell you
afterwards. It's horrid to think, after all my trouble, of your doing
two months as well as a night in the cupboard.”
“Beastly,” said the unfortunate, eying her in great concern. “But what's
the matter?”
“One can't think of everything,” said Miss Pilbeam, “but, of course, we
ought to have thought of the mate getting uneasy when you didn't turn up
last night, and going to the police-station with a description of you.”
The skipper started and smote the table with his fist.
“Father's gone down to watch the ship now,” said Miss Pilbeam. “Of
course, it's the exact description of the man that assaulted him.
Providential he called it.”
“That's the worst of having a fool for a mate,” said the skipper,
bitterly. “What business was it of his, I should like to know? What's
it got to do with him whether I turn up or not? What does he want to
interfere for?”
“It's no good blaming him,” said Miss Pilbeam, thinking deeply, with her
chin on her finger. “The thing is, what is to be done? Once father gets
his hand on you——”
She shuddered; so did the skipper.
“I might get off with a fine; I didn't hurt him,” he remarked.
Miss Pilbeam shook her head. “They're very strict in Woodhatch,” she
said.
“I was a fool to touch him at all,” said the repentant skipper. “High
spirits, that's what it was. High spirits, and being spoken to as if I
was a child.”
“The thing is, how are you to escape?” said the girl. “It's no good
going out of doors with the police and half the people in Woodhatch all
on the look-out for you.”
“If I could only get aboard I should be all right,” muttered the
skipper. “I could keep down the fo'-c's'le while the mate took the ship
out.”
Miss Pilbeam sat in deep thought. “It's the getting aboard that's the
trouble,” she said, slowly. “You'd have to disguise yourself. It would
have to be a good disguise, too, to pass my father, I can tell you.”
Captain Bligh gave a gloomy assent.
“The only thing for you to do, so far as I can see,” said the girl,
slowly, “is to make yourself up like a coalie. There are one or two
colliers in the harbor, and if you took off your coat—I could send it on
afterwards—rubbed yourself all over with coal-dust, and shaved off your
moustache, I believe you would escape.”
“Shave!” ejaculated the skipper, in choking accents. “Rub—! Coal-dust!”
“It's your only chance,” said Miss Pilbeam.
Captain Bligh leaned back frowning, and from sheer force of habit passed
the ends of his moustache slowly through his fingers. “I think the
coal-dust would be enough,” he said at last.
The girl shook her head. “Father particularly noticed your moustache,”
she said.
“Everybody does,” said the skipper, with mournful pride. “I won't part
with it.”
“Not for my sake?” inquired Miss Pilbeam, eying him mournfully. “Not
after all I've done for you?”
“No,” said the other, stoutly.
Miss Pilbeam put her handkerchief to her eyes and, with a suspicious
little sniff, hurried from the room. Captain Bligh, much affected,
waited for a few seconds and then went in pursuit of her. Fifteen
minutes later, shorn of his moustache, he stood in the coal-hole,
sulkily smearing himself with coal.
“That's better,” said the girl; “you look horrible.”
She took up a handful of coal-dust and, ordering him to stoop, shampooed
him with hearty good-will.
'She Took up a Handful of Coal-dust And, Ordering Him To Stoop,
Shampooed Him With Hearty Good-will.'
“No good half doing it,” she declared. “Now go and look at yourself in
the glass in the kitchen.”
The skipper went, and came back in a state of wild-eyed misery. Even
Miss Pilbeam's statement that his own mother would not know him failed
to lift the cloud from his brow. He stood disconsolate as the girl
opened the front door.
“Good-by,” she said, gently. “Write and tell me when you are safe.”
Captain Bligh promised, and walked slowly up the road. So far from
people attempting to arrest him, they vied with each other in giving
him elbow-room. He reached the harbor unmolested, and, lurking at a
convenient corner, made a careful survey. A couple of craft were
working out their coal, a small steamer was just casting loose, and a
fishing-boat gliding slowly over the still water to its berth. His own
schooner, which lay near the colliers, had apparently knocked off work
pending his arrival. For Sergeant Pilbeam he looked in vain.
He waited a minute or two, and then, with a furtive glance right and
left, strolled in a careless fashion until he was abreast of one of
the colliers. Nobody took any notice of him, and, with his hands in his
pockets, he gazed meditatively into the water and edged along towards
his own craft. His foot trembled as he placed it on the plank that
formed the gangway, but, resisting the temptation to look behind, he
gained the deck and walked forward.
“Halloa! What do you want?” inquired a sea-man, coming out of the
galley.
“All right, Bill,” said the skipper, in a low voice. “Don't take any
notice of me.”
“Eh?” said the seaman, starting. “Good lor'! What ha' you——”
“Shut up!” said the skipper, fiercely; and, walking to the forecastle,
placed his hand on the scuttle and descended with studied slowness. As
he reached the floor the perturbed face of Bill blocked the opening.
“Had an accident, cap'n?” he inquired, respectfully.
“No,” snapped the skipper. “Come down here—quick! Don't stand up there
attracting attention. Do you want the whole town round you? Come down!”
“I'm all right where I am,” said Bill, backing hastily as the skipper,
putting a foot on the ladder, thrust a black and furious face close to
his.
“Clear out, then,” hissed the skipper. “Go and send the mate to me.
Don't hurry. And if anybody noticed me come aboard and should ask you
who I am, say I'm a pal of yours.”
The seaman, marvelling greatly, withdrew, and the skipper, throwing
himself on a locker, wiped a bit of grit out of his eye and sat down to
wait for the mate. He was so long in coming that he waxed impatient, and
ascending a step of the ladder again peeped on to the deck. The first
object that met his gaze was the figure of the mate leaning against the
side of the ship with a wary eye on the scuttle.
“Come here,” said the skipper.
“Anything wrong?” inquired the mate, retreating a couple of paces in
disorder.
“Come—here!” repeated the skipper.
The mate advanced slowly, and in response to an imperative command from
the skipper slowly descended and stood regarding him nervously.
“Yes; you may look,” said the skipper, with sudden ferocity. “This is
all your doing. Where are you going?”
He caught the mate by the coat as he was making for the ladder, and
hauled him back again.
“You'll go when I've finished with you,” he said, grimly. “Now, what do
you mean by it? Eh? What do you mean by it?”
“That's all right,” said the mate, in a soothing voice. “Don't get
excited.”
“Look at me!” said the skipper. “All through your interfering. How dare
you go making inquiries about me?”
“Me?” said the mate, backing as far as possible. “Inquiries?”
“What's it got to do with you if I stay out all night?” pursued the
skipper.
“Nothing,” said the other, feebly.
“What did you go to the police about me for, then?” demanded the
skipper.
“Me?” said the mate, in the shrill accents of astonishment. “Me? I
didn't go to no police about you. Why should I?”
“Do you mean to say you didn't report my absence last night to the
police?” said the skipper, sternly.
“Cert'nly not,” said the mate, plucking up courage. “Why should I? If
you like to take a night off it's nothing to do with me. I 'ope I know
my duty better. I don't know what you're talking about.”
“And the police haven't been watching the ship and inquiring for me?”
asked the skipper.
The mate shook his bewildered head. “Why should they?” he inquired.
The skipper made no reply. He sat goggle-eyed, staring straight before
him, trying in vain to realize the hardness of the heart that had been
responsible for such a scurvy trick.
“Besides, it ain't the fust time you've been out all night,” remarked
the mate, aggressively.
The skipper favored him with a glance the dignity of which was somewhat
impaired by his complexion, and in a slow and stately fashion ascended
to the deck. Then he caught his breath sharply and paled beneath the
coaldust as he saw Sergeant Pilbeam standing on the quay, opposite the
ship. By his side stood Miss Pilbeam, and both, with a far-away look
in their eyes, were smiling vaguely but contentedly at the horizon. The
sergeant appeared to be the first to see the skipper.
“Ahoy, Darkie!” he cried.
Captain Bligh, who was creeping slowly aft, halted, and, clenching his
fists, regarded him ferociously.
“Give this to the skipper, will you, my lad?” said the sergeant, holding
up the jacket Bligh had left behind. “Good-looking young man with a very
fine moustache he is.”
'Give This to the Skipper, Will You, My Lad?' Said The Sergeant.
“Was,” said his daughter, in a mournful voice.
“And a rather dark complexion,” continued the sergeant, grinning madly.
“I was going to take him—for stealing my coal—but I thought better
of it. Thought of a better way. At least, my daughter did. So long,
Darkie.”
He kissed the top of a fat middle finger, and, turning away, walked
off with Miss Pilbeam. The skipper stood watching them with his head
swimming until, arrived at the corner, they stopped and the sergeant
came slowly back.
“I was nearly forgetting,” he said, slowly. “Tell your skipper that if
so be as he wants to apologize—for stealing my coal—I shall be at home
at tea at five o'clock.”
He jerked his thumb in the direction of Miss Pilbeam and winked with
slow deliberation. “She'll be there, too,” he added. “Savvy?”
“MATRIMONIAL OPENINGS”
Mr. Dowson sat by the kitchen fire smoking and turning a docile and
well-trained ear to the heated words which fell from his wife's lips.
“She'll go and do the same as her sister Jenny done,” said Mrs. Dowson,
with a side glance at her daughter Flora; “marry a man and then 'ave to
work and slave herself to skin and bone to keep him.”
“I see Jenny yesterday,” said her husband, nodding. “Getting quite fat,
she is.”
“That's right,” said Mrs. Dowson, violently, “that's right! The moment I
say something you go and try and upset it.”
“Un'ealthy fat, p'r'aps,” said Mr. Dowson, hurriedly; “don't get enough
exercise, I s'pose.”
“Anybody who didn't know you, Joe Dowson,” said his wife, fiercely,
“would think you was doing it a purpose.”
“Doing wot?” inquired Mr. Dowson, removing his pipe and regarding her
open-mouthed. “I only said——”
“I know what you said,” retorted his wife. “Here I do my best from
morning to night to make everybody 'appy and comfortable; and what
happens?”
“Nothing,” said the sympathetic Mr. Dowson, shaking his head. “Nothing.”
“Anyway, Jenny ain't married a fool,” said Mrs. Dowson, hotly; “she's
got that consolation.”
“That's right, mother,” said the innocent Mr. Dowson, “look on the
bright side o' things a bit. If Jenny 'ad married a better chap I don't
suppose we should see half as much of her as wot we do.”
“I'm talking of Flora,” said his wife, restraining herself by an effort.
“One unfortunate marriage in the family is enough; and here, instead
o' walking out with young Ben Lippet, who'll be 'is own master when
his father dies, she's gadding about with that good-for-nothing Charlie
Foss.”
Mr. Dowson shook his head. “He's so good-looking, is Charlie,” he said,
slowly; “that's the worst of it. Wot with 'is dark eyes and his curly
'air——”
“Go on!” said his wife, passionately, “go on!”
Mr. Dowson, dimly conscious that something was wrong, stopped and
puffed hard at his pipe. Through the cover of the smoke he bestowed a
sympathetic wink upon his daughter.
“You needn't go on too fast,” said the latter, turning to her mother. “I
haven't made up my mind yet. Charlie's looks are all right, but he ain't
over and above steady, and Ben is steady, but he ain't much to look at.”
“What does your 'art say?” inquired the sentimental Mr. Dowson.
Neither lady took the slightest notice.
“Charlie Foss is too larky,” said Mrs. Dowson, solemnly; “it's easy come
and easy go with 'im. He's just such another as your father's cousin
Bill—and look what 'appened to him!”
Miss Dowson shrugged her shoulders and subsiding in her chair, went
on with her book, until a loud knock at the door and a cheerful, but
peculiarly shrill, whistle sounded outside.
'Miss Dowson, Subsiding in Her Chair, Went on With Her Book.'
“There is my lord,” exclaimed Mrs. Dowson, waspishly; “anybody might
think the 'ouse belonged to him. And now he's dancing on my clean
doorstep.”
“Might be only knocking the mud off afore coming in,” said Mr. Dowson,
as he rose to open the door. “I've noticed he's very careful.”
“I just came in to tell you a joke,” said Mr. Foss, as he followed his
host into the kitchen and gazed tenderly at Miss Dowson—“best joke I
ever had in my life; I've 'ad my fortune told—guess what it was! I've
been laughing to myself ever since.”
“Who told it?” inquired Mrs. Dowson, after a somewhat awkward silence.
“Old gypsy woman in Peter Street,” replied Mr. Foss. “I gave 'er a wrong
name and address, just in case she might ha' heard about me, and she did
make a mess of it; upon my word she did.”
“Wot did she say?” inquired Mr. Dowson.
Mr. Foss laughed. “Said I was a wrong 'un,” he said, cheerfully, “and
would bring my mother's gray hairs to the grave with sorrow. I'm to 'ave
bad companions and take to drink; I'm to steal money to gamble with,
and after all that I'm to 'ave five years for bigamy. I told her I
was disappointed I wasn't to be hung, and she said it would be a
disappointment to a lot of other people too. Laugh! I thought I should
'ave killed myself.”
“I don't see nothing to laugh at,” said Mrs. Dowson, coldly.
“I shouldn't tell anybody else, Charlie,” said her husband. “Keep it a
secret, my boy.”
“But you—you don't believe it?” stammered the crestfallen Mr. Foss.
Mrs. Dowson cast a stealthy glance at her daughter. “Its wonderful
'ow some o' those fortune-tellers can see into the future,” she said,
shaking her head.
“Ah!” said her husband, with a confirmatory nod. “Wonderful is no name
for it. I 'ad my fortune told once when I was a boy, and she told me I
should marry the prettiest, and the nicest, and the sweetest-tempered
gal in Poplar.”
Mr. Foss, with a triumphant smile, barely waited for him to finish.
“There you—” he began, and stopped suddenly.
'I Just Came in to Tell You a Joke.'
“What was you about to remark?” inquired Mrs. Dowson, icily.
“I was going to say,” replied Mr. Foss—“I was going to say—I 'ad just
got it on the tip o' my tongue to say, 'There you—you—you 'ad all the
luck, Mr. Dowson.'”
He edged his chair a little nearer to Flora; but there was a chilliness
in the atmosphere against which his high spirits strove in vain. Mr.
Dowson remembered other predictions which had come true, notably the
case of one man who, learning that he was to come in for a legacy, gave
up a two-pound-a-week job, and did actually come in for twenty pounds
and a bird-cage seven years afterwards.
'He Edged his Chair a Little Nearer to Flora.'
“It's all nonsense,” protested Mr. Foss; “she only said all that because
I made fun of her. You don't believe it, do you, Flora?”
“I don't see anything to laugh at,” returned Miss Dowson. “Fancy five
years for bigamy! Fancy the disgrace of it!”
“But you're talking as if I was going to do it,” objected Mr. Foss. “I
wish you'd go and 'ave your fortune told. Go and see what she says about
you. P'r'aps you won't believe so much in fortune-telling afterwards.”
Mrs. Dowson looked up quickly, and then, lowering her eyes, took her
hand out of the stocking she had been darning and, placing it beside its
companion, rolled the pair into a ball.
“You go round to-morrow night, Flora,” she said, deliberately. “It
sha'n't be said a daughter of mine was afraid to hear the truth about
herself; father'll find the money.”
“And she can say what she likes about you, but I sha'n't believe it,”
said Mr. Foss, reproachfully.
“I don't suppose it'll be anything to be ashamed of,” said Miss Dowson,
sharply.
Mr. Foss bade them good-night suddenly, and, finding himself accompanied
to the door by Mr. Dowson, gave way to gloom. He stood for so long
with one foot on the step and the other on the mat that Mr. Dowson, who
disliked draughts, got impatient.
'Mr. Foss Bade Them Good-night Suddenly.'
“You'll catch cold, Charlie,” he said at last.
“That's what I'm trying to do,” said Mr. Foss; “my death o' cold. Then I
sha'n't get five years for bigamy,” he added bitterly.
“Cheer up,” said Mr. Dowson; “five years ain't much out of a lifetime;
and you can't expect to 'ave your fun without—”
He watched the retreating figure of Mr. Foss as it stamped its way down
the street, and closing the door returned to the kitchen to discuss
palmistry and other sciences until bedtime.
Mrs. Dowson saw husband and daughter off to work in the morning, and
after washing up the breakfast things drew her chair up to the kitchen
fire and became absorbed in memories of the past. All the leading
incidents in Flora's career passed in review before her. Measles,
whooping-cough, school-prizes, and other things peculiar to the age
of innocence were all there. In her enthusiasm she nearly gave her a
sprained ankle which had belonged to her sister. Still shaking her head
over her mistake, she drew Flora's latest portrait carefully from its
place in the album, and putting on her hat and jacket went round to make
a call in Peter Street.
By the time Flora returned home Mrs. Dowson appeared to have forgotten
the arrangement made the night before, and, being reminded by her
daughter, questioned whether any good could come of attempts to peer
into the future. Mr. Dowson was still more emphatic, but his objections,
being recognized by both ladies as trouser-pocket ones, carried no
weight. It ended in Flora going off with half a crown in her glove and
an urgent request from her father to make it as difficult as possible
for the sibyl by giving a false name and address.
No name was asked for, however, as Miss Dowson was shown into the untidy
little back room on the first floor, in which the sorceress ate, slept,
and received visitors. She rose from an old rocking-chair as the visitor
entered, and, regarding her with a pair of beady black eyes, bade her
sit down.
“Are you the fortune-teller?” inquired the girl.
“Men call me so,” was the reply.
“Yes, but are you?” persisted Miss Dowson, who inherited her father's
fondness for half crowns.
“Yes,” said the other, in a more natural voice.
She took the girl's left hand, and pouring a little dark liquid into the
palm gazed at it intently. “Left for the past; right for the future,”
she said, in a deep voice.
She muttered some strange words and bent her head lower over the girl's
hand.
'She Muttered Some Strange Words and Bent Her Head Lower Over the Girl's
Hand.'
“I see a fair-haired infant,” she said, slowly; “I see a little girl of
four racked with the whooping-cough; I see her later, eight she appears
to be. She is in bed with measles.”
Miss Dowson stared at her open-mouthed.
“She goes away to the seaside to get strong,” continued the sorceress;
“she is paddling; she falls into the water and spoils her frock; her
mother——”