"No Miss--ma'am, I mean--I can't."
"That's a pity," returned Aileen, with a little frown of perplexity; "I
am also much in want of a cook--do you know of one?"
"No, ma'am," said Joe, "I don't."
"What a stupid, unobservant fellow you must be, Joe," said Edgar, "not
to be able to recommend a cook or a gardener, and you living, as I may
say, in the very midst of such useful personages. Now, Aileen, _I_ can
recommend both a cook and a gardener to you."
"You see, ma'am," interrupted Joe, with profound gravity, and an
earnestness of manner that quite threw his questioners off their guard,
"this is an occasion when you may learn a valuable lesson at the outset
of wedded life, so to speak--namely, that it is much safer an' wiser,
when you chance to be in a difficulty, to apply to your husband for
information than to the likes of me; you see, he's ready with what you
want at a moment's notice."
Aileen and Edgar were upset by this; they both laughed heartily, and
then the former said:--
"Now, Mr Baldwin, we won't beat any longer about the bush. We have not
succeeded in getting a cook, being in the meantime obliged to content
ourselves with a temporary loan of the green-grocer's wife, and of Miss
Pritty's small domestic; therefore I want to engage _your_ wife, who is
at present, I believe, open to an engagement. We are also unprovided
with a man to tend our garden, look after our pony, and help me in the
missionary work, in which I hope immediately to be engaged in this town.
Do you accept that situation?"
Aileen said this with such an earnest irresistible air, that Joe Baldwin
struck his colours on the spot, and said, "I do!" with nearly as much
fervour as Edgar had said these words six weeks before.
The thing was settled then and there, for Joe felt well assured that his
amiable Susan would have no objection to such an arrangement.
Now, while this was going on in the bower, Mr Hazlit, observing that
his children were occupied with something important, sauntered down the
sea-shell road in the direction of his own cottage. Here he met Miss
Pritty.
The sight of her mild innocent face called up a thought. Dozens of
other thoughts immediately seized hold of the first thought, and
followed it. Mr Hazlit was sometimes, though not often, impulsive. He
took Miss Pritty's hand without saying a word, drew her arm within his
own, and led her into the cottage.
"Miss Pritty," he said, sitting down and pointing to a chair, "you have
always been very kind to my daughter."
"She has always been very kind--_very_ kind--to me," answered Miss
Pritty, with a slight look of surprise.
"True--there is no doubt whatever about that," returned Mr Hazlit, "but
just now I wish to refer to your kindness to her. You came,
unselfishly, at great personal inconvenience, to China, at my selfish
request, and for her sake you endured horrors in connection with the
sea, of which I had no conception until I witnessed your sufferings. I
am grateful for your self-sacrificing kindness, and am now about to take
a somewhat doubtful mode of showing my gratitude, namely, by asking you
to give up your residence in town, and come to be my housekeeper--my
companion and friend."
Mr Hazlit paused, and Miss Pritty, looking at him with her mild eyes
excessively wide open, gave no audible expression to her feelings or
sentiments, being, for the moment, bereft of the power of utterance.
"You see," continued Mr Hazlit, in a sad voice, looking slowly round
the snug parlour, "I shall be a very lonely man now that my darling has
left my roof. And you must not suppose, Miss Pritty, that I ask you to
make any engagement that would tie you, even for a year, to a life that
you might not relish. I only ask you to come and try it. If you find
that you prefer a life of solitude, unhampered in any way, you will only
have to say so at any time--a month, a week, after coming here--and I
will cheerfully, and without remonstrance, reinstate you in your old
home--or a similar one--exactly as I found you, even to your small
domestic, who may come here and be your private maid if you choose."
Miss Pritty could not find it in her heart to refuse an offer so kindly
made. The matter was therefore settled then and there, just as that of
the diver and his wife had been arranged next door.
Is it necessary to say that both arrangements were found, in course of
time, to answer admirably? Miss Pritty discovered that housekeeping was
her forte, and that she possessed powers of comprehension, in regard to
financial matters connected with the payment of debts and dividends,
such as she had all her previous life believed to be unattainable
anywhere, save in the Bank of England or on the Stock Exchange.
Mrs Baldwin discovered that cooking was her calling--the end for which
she had been born--although discovered rather late in life. Joe made
the discovery that gardening and stable-work were very easy employments
in the Berrington household, and that his young mistress kept him
uncommonly busy amongst the poor of the town, encouraging him to attend
chiefly to their spiritual wants, though by no means neglectful of their
physical. In these matters he became also agent and assistant to Mr
Hazlit--so that the gardening and stable-tending ultimately became a
mere sham, and it was found necessary to provide a juvenile assistant,
in the person of the green-grocer's eldest boy, to fill these
responsible posts.
The green-grocer himself, and his wife, discovered that Christian
influence, good example, and kind words, were so attractive and powerful
as to induce them, insensibly, to begin a process of imitation, which
ended, quite naturally, in a flourishing business and a happy home.
The small domestic also made a discovery or two. She found that a
kitchen with a view of the open sea from its window, and a reasonable as
well as motherly companion to talk to, was, on the whole, superior to a
kitchen with a window opening up a near prospect of bricks, and the
companionship of black pots and beetles.
At first, Aileen travelled a good deal with her husband in his various
business expeditions, and thus visited many wild, romantic, and
out-o'-the-way parts of our shores; but the advent of a juvenile
Berrington put a sudden stop to that, and the flow of juvenile
Berringtons that followed induced her to remain very much at home. This
influx of "little strangers" induced the building of so many wings to
Sea-beach Villa, that its body at last became lost in its wings, and
gave rise to a prophecy that it would one day rise into the air and fly
away: up to the present time, however, this remains a portion of
unfulfilled prophecy.
Mr Hazlit became rich again, not indeed so rich as at first, but
comfortably rich. Nevertheless, he determined to remain comparatively
poor, in order that he might pay his debts to the uttermost farthing.
His cottage by the sea had comforts in it, but nothing that could fairly
be styled a luxury, except, of course, a luxurious army of well-trained
grandchildren, who invaded his premises every morning with terrific
noise, and kept possession until fairly driven out by force of arms.
Rooney Machowl and David Maxwell stuck to their colours manfully. They
went into partnership, and continued for years struggling together at
the bottom of the sea. Mrs Machowl tended the amiable Teddy during the
early, or chokable period of infancy, but when he had safely passed that
season, his father took him in hand, and taught him to dive. He began
by tumbling him into a washing-tub at odd times, in order to accustom
him to water. Then, when a little older, he amused himself by
occasionally throwing him off the end of the pier, and jumping in to
save him. Afterwards he initiated him into the mysteries of the dress,
the helmet, the life-line, the air-pipe, etcetera, and, finally, took
him down bodily to the bottom of the sea. At last, Teddy became as good
and fearless a diver as his father. He was also the pride of his
mother.
One afternoon--a bright glowing afternoon--in the autumn of the year,
Mr Hazlit sat in a favourite bower in the garden of his cottage, with
Aileen on one side of him, and Edgar on the other. At the foot of the
garden a miscellaneous group of boys, girls, and babies, of all ages,
romped and rolled upon the turf. In front lay the yellow sands, and,
beyond, the glorious glittering sea rolled away to the horizon.
Mr Hazlit had just been commenting on their happy condition as compared
with the time when they "knew not God." The children having just romped
themselves into a state of exhaustion, were reasonably quiet, and the
sun was setting in floods of amber and gold.
"What a peaceful evening!" remarked Aileen.
"How different," said Edgar, "from that of which it is the anniversary!
Don't you remember that this is the evening of the day in which we
attacked the Malay pirates long ago?"
"So it is. I had forgotten," said Mr Hazlit.
"Dinner, sir," said a boy in buttons, who bore a marked resemblance to
the green-grocer's wife.
As he spoke a stout gentleman opened the garden gate and walked up the
path leading to the bower. At the same moment Miss Pritty issued from
the house and echoed the green-grocer's boy's announcement.
They were all silent as the stout gentleman approached.
"What! _can_ it be?" cried Edgar, starting up in excitement.
"The captain!" exclaimed Mr Hazlit.
"Impossible!" murmured Aileen.
"Pirates!" cried Miss Pritty, turning deadly white, and preparing to
fall into Edgar's arms, but curiosity prevented her.
There could be no mistake. The bright glittering eyes, the black beard
and moustache, the prominent nose, the kindly smile, the broad chest and
shoulders, revealed unquestionably the captain of the Rajah's gun-boat.
"Miraculous!" cried Edgar, as he wrung the captain's right hand. "We
were just talking of the great fight of which this is the anniversary."
"Amazing coincidence!" exclaimed Mr Hazlit, seizing the other hand.
"Not so much of a coincidence as it seems, however," said the captain
with a laugh, as he shook hands with the ladies, "for I made
arrangements on purpose to be here on the anniversary day, thinking that
it might add to the interest of my visit."
"And to come _just_ at dinner-time too," said Miss Pritty, who had
recovered.
"Another coincidence," observed Aileen, with an arch look.
"Come--come in--here, this way, captain," cried Mr Hazlit, dragging his
friend by the hand. "Welcome--heartily welcome to Sea Cottage."
The captain submitted to be dragged; to be placed by the side of Aileen;
to be overwhelmed with kindness by the elder members of the family, and
with questions by the younger members, who regarded him as a hero of
romance quite equal, if not superior, to Jack the Giant-killer.
But how can we describe what followed? It is impossible. We can only
say that the evening was one of a thousand. All the battles were fought
over again. The captain came out strong for the benefit of the
youngsters, and described innumerable scenes of wild adventure in which
he had been personally engaged. And to cap it all, after dinner, when
they went out into the garden, and were seated in floods of moonlight in
the bower, two men opened the garden gate and made for the back kitchen,
with the evident intention of calling on the cook. These were
discovered to be Rooney Machowl and David Maxwell.
Of course they were made to come and shake hands with their old
commander, the captain, and gradually got into a talk, and laughed a
good deal at the recollection of old times, insomuch that the noise they
made drew Joe Baldwin to the scene, and, as a natural result, this led
the conversation into divers channels--among others to life and
adventure at the bottom of the sea, and there is no saying how long they
might have talked there if a cloud had not obliterated the moon, and
admonished them that the night was at hand.
And now, good reader, with regret we find that our tale has reached its
close. We may not have added much to your knowledge, but if we have, in
any degree, interested you in the characters we have summoned to our
little stage, or in the incidents that have been enacted thereon, we
shall not have wrought in vain, for the subject into which you have
consented to dive with us is not only an interesting, but a dangerous
one--involving as it does the constant risking of manly lives, the
well-being of large communities, the progress of important industries,
and the salvation of much valuable property to the world at large.