* * * * *
Every morning while at St. John's, my uncle and I must walk the lower
streets: my hand in his, when I was a child, and, presently, when I
was grown into a lad, myself at his heels. Upon these occasions I must
be clad and conduct myself thus and so, with utmost particularity:
must be combed and brushed, and carry my head bravely, and square my
shoulders, and turn out my toes, and cap my crown so that my
unspeakably wilful hair, which was never clipped short, as I would
have it, would appear in disarray. Never once did I pass the anxious
inspection without needing a whisk behind, or, it may be, here and
there, a touch of my uncle's thick finger, which seemed, somehow,
infinitely tender at that moment.
"I'm wantin' ye, Dannie," says he, "t' look like a gentleman the day.
They'll be a thing come t' pass, come a day."
There invariably came a thing to pass--a singular thing, which I
conceived to be the object of these pilgrimages; being this: that when
in the course of our peregrinations we came to the crossing of King
Street with Water he would never fail to pause, tap-tap a particular
stone of the walk, and break into muttered imprecations, continuing
until folk stared and heads were put out of the windows. In so far as
one might discern, there was nothing in that busy neighborhood to
excite the ill-temper of any man; but at such times, as though
courting the curious remark he attracted, my uncle's staff would
strike the pavement with an angry pat, his head wag and nod, his eyes
malevolently flash, and he would then so hasten his steps that 'twas
no easy matter to keep pace with him, until, once past, he would again
turn placid and slow.
"There you haves it, Dannie!" he would chuckle. "There you haves it!"
'Twas all a mystery.
* * * * *
My uncle must once get very drunk at St. John's--this for a day and a
night, during which I must not leave my quarters. These were times of
terror--and of loneliness: for it seemed to my childish mind that when
my uncle was drunk I had no friend at all. But 'twas all plain sailing
afterwards--a sober, cheerful guardian, restless to be off to Twist
Tickle. My uncle would buy new outfits for me at the shops, arrange
the regular shipment of such delicacies as the St. John's markets
afforded according to the season, seek gifts with which to delight and
profit me, gather the news of fashion, lie in wait for dropped hints
as to the manners and customs of gentlemen, procure his allowance of
whiskey for the six months to come: in every way providing for my
happiness and well-being and for such meagre comfort as he would allow
himself.
Then off to Twist Tickle: and glad we were of it when the _Lake_ got
beyond the narrows and the big, clean, clear-aired sea lay ahead!
[3] My uncle would instantly have thrashed me had I approached an oath
(or any other vulgarity) in conversation upon ordinary
occasions.