initial commit of ebook 10874HEADmain

1 files changed, 1567 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/10874-0.txt b/10874-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fc94f93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/10874-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,1567 @@
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10874 ***
+
+AT SUNWICH PORT
+
+BY
+
+W. W. JACOBS
+
+Part 4.
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+From Drawings by Will Owen
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+The two ladies received Mr. Hardy's information with something akin to
+consternation, the idea of the autocrat of Equator Lodge as a stowaway on
+board the ship of his ancient enemy proving too serious for ordinary
+comment.  Mrs. Kingdom's usual expressions of surprise, "Well, I never
+did!" and "Good gracious alive!" died on her lips, and she sat gazing
+helpless and round-eyed at her niece.
+
+"I wonder what he said," she gasped, at last.
+
+Miss Nugent, who was trying to imagine her father in his new role aboard
+the Conqueror, paid no heed.  It was not a pleasant idea, and her eyes
+flashed with temper as she thought of it.  Sooner or later the whole
+affair would be public property.
+
+"I had an idea all along that he wasn't in London," murmured Mrs.
+Kingdom.  "Fancy that Nathan Smith standing in Sam's room telling us
+falsehoods like that!  He never even blushed."
+
+"But you said that you kept picturing father walking about the streets of
+London, wrestling with his pride and trying to make up his mind to come
+home again," said her niece, maliciously.
+
+Mrs. Kingdom fidgeted, but before she could think of a satisfactory reply
+Bella came to the door and asked to speak to her for a moment.  Profiting
+by her absence, Mr. Hardy leaned towards Miss Nugent, and in a low voice
+expressed his sorrow at the mishap to her father and his firm conviction
+that everything that could be thought of for that unfortunate mariner's
+comfort would be done.  "Our fathers will probably come back good
+friends," he concluded.  "There is nothing would give me more pleasure
+than that, and I think that we had better begin and set them a good
+example."
+
+"It is no good setting an example to people who are hundreds of miles
+away," said the matter-of-fact Miss Nugent.  "Besides, if they have made
+friends, they don't want an example set them."
+
+"But in that case they have set us an example which we ought to follow,"
+urged Hardy.
+
+Miss Nugent raised her eyes to his.  "Why do you wish to be on friendly
+terms?" she asked, with disconcerting composure.
+
+[Illustration: "'Why do you wish to be on friendly terms?' she asked."]
+
+"I should like to know your father," returned Hardy, with perfect
+gravity; "and Mrs. Kingdom--and you."
+
+He eyed her steadily as he spoke, and Miss Nugent, despite her utmost
+efforts, realized with some indignation that a faint tinge of colour was
+creeping into her cheeks.  She remembered his covert challenge at their
+last interview at Mr. Wilks's, and the necessity of reading this
+persistent young man a stern lesson came to her with all the force of a
+public duty.
+
+"Why?" she inquired, softly, as she lowered her eyes and assumed a
+pensive expression.
+
+"I admire him, for one thing, as a fine seaman," said Hardy.
+
+"Yes," said Miss Nugent, "and--"
+
+"And I've always had a great liking for Mrs. Kingdom," he continued; "she
+was very good-natured to me when I was a very small boy, I remember.  She
+is very kind and amiable."
+
+The baffled Miss Nugent stole a glance at him.  "And--" she said again,
+very softly.
+
+"And very motherly," said Hardy, without moving a muscle.
+
+Miss Nugent pondered and stole another glance at him.  The expression of
+his face was ingenuous, not to say simple.  She resolved to risk it.  So
+far he had always won in their brief encounters, and monotony was always
+distasteful to her, especially monotony of that kind.
+
+"And what about me?" she said, with a friendly smile.
+
+"You," said Hardy, with a gravity of voice belied by the amusement in his
+eye; "you are the daughter of the fine seaman and the niece of the
+good-natured and motherly Mrs. Kingdom."
+
+Miss Nugent looked down again hastily, and all the shrew within her
+clamoured for vengeance.  It was the same masterful Jem Hardy that had
+forced his way into their seat at church as a boy.  If he went on in
+this way he would become unbearable; she resolved, at the cost of much
+personal inconvenience, to give him a much-needed fall.  But she realized
+quite clearly that it would be a matter of time.
+
+"Of course, you and Jack are already good friends?" she said, softly.
+
+"Very," assented Hardy.  "Such good friends that I have been devoting a
+lot of time lately to considering ways and means of getting him out of
+the snares of the Kybirds."
+
+"I should have thought that that was his affair," said Miss Nugent,
+haughtily.
+
+"Mine, too," said Hardy.  "I don't want him to marry Miss Kybird."
+
+For the first time since the engagement Miss Nugent almost approved of
+it.  "Why not let him know your wishes?" she said, gently.  "Surely that
+would be sufficient."
+
+"But you don't want them to marry?" said Hardy, ignoring the remark.
+
+"I don't want my brother to do anything shabby," replied the girl; "but I
+shouldn't be sorry, of course, if they did not."
+
+"Very good," said Hardy.  "Armed with your consent I shall leave no stone
+unturned.  Nugent was let in for this, and I am going to get him out if I
+can.  All's fair in love and war.  You don't mind my doing anything
+shabby?"
+
+"Not in the least," replied Miss Nugent, promptly.
+
+The reappearance of Mrs. Kingdom at this moment saved Mr. Hardy the
+necessity of a reply.
+
+Conversation reverted to the missing captain, and Hardy and Mrs. Kingdom
+together drew such a picture of the two captains fraternizing that Miss
+Nugent felt that the millennium itself could have no surprises for her.
+
+"He has improved very much," said Mrs. Kingdom, after the door had closed
+behind their visitor; "so thoughtful."
+
+"He's thoughtful enough," agreed her niece.
+
+"He is what I call extremely considerate," pursued the elder lady, "but
+I'm afraid he is weak; anybody could turn him round their little finger."
+
+"I believe they could," said Miss Nugent, gazing at her with admiration,
+"if he wanted to be turned."
+
+The ice thus broken, Mr. Hardy spent the following day or two in devising
+plausible reasons for another visit.  He found one in the person of Mr.
+Wilks, who, having been unsuccessful in finding his beloved master at a
+small tavern down by the London docks, had returned to Sunwich, by no
+means benefited by his change of air, to learn the terrible truth as to
+his disappearance from Hardy.
+
+"I wish they'd Shanghaid me instead," he said to that sympathetic
+listener, "or Mrs. Silk."
+
+"Eh?" said the other, staring.
+
+"Wot'll be the end of it I don't know," said Mr. Wilks, laying a hand,
+which still trembled, on the other' knee.  "It's got about that she saved
+my life by 'er careful nussing, and the way she shakes 'er 'ead at me for
+risking my valuable life, as she calls it, going up to London, gives me
+the shivers."
+
+"Nonsense," said Hardy; "she can't marry you against your will.  Just be
+distantly civil to her."
+
+"'Ow can you be distantly civil when she lives just opposite?" inquired
+the steward, querulously.  "She sent Teddy over at ten o'clock last night
+to rub my chest with a bottle o' liniment, and it's no good me saying I'm
+all right when she's been spending eighteen-pence o' good money over the
+stuff."
+
+"She can't marry you unless you ask her," said the comforter.
+
+Mr. Wilks shook his head.  "People in the alley are beginning to talk,"
+he said, dolefully.  "Just as I came in this afternoon old George Lee
+screwed up one eye at two or three women wot was gossiping near, and when
+I asked 'im wot 'e'd got to wink about he said that a bit o' wedding-cake
+'ad blowed in his eye as I passed.  It sent them silly creeturs into fits
+a'most."
+
+[Illustration: "He said that a bit o' wedding-cake 'ad blowed in his
+eye."]
+
+"They'll soon get tired of it," said Hardy.
+
+Mr. Wilks, still gloomy, ventured to doubt it, but cheered up and became
+almost bright when his visitor announced his intention of trying to
+smooth over matters for him at Equator Lodge.  He became quite voluble in
+his defence, and attached much importance to the fact that he had nursed
+Miss Nugent when she was in long clothes and had taught her to whistle
+like an angel at the age of five.
+
+"I've felt being cut adrift by her more than anything," he said,
+brokenly.  "Nine-an'-twenty years I sailed with the cap'n and served 'im
+faithful, and this is my reward."
+
+Hardy pleaded his case next day.  Miss Nugent was alone when he called,
+and, moved by the vivid picture he drew of the old man's loneliness,
+accorded her full forgiveness, and decided to pay him a visit at once.
+The fact that Hardy had not been in the house five minutes she appeared
+to have overlooked.
+
+"I'll go upstairs and put my hat and jacket on and go now," she said,
+brightly.
+
+"That's very kind of you," said Hardy.  His voice expressed admiring
+gratitude; but he made no sign of leaving his seat.
+
+"You don't mind?" said Miss Nugent, pausing in front of him and slightly
+extending her hand.
+
+"Not in the least," was the reply; "but I want to see Wilks myself.
+Perhaps you'll let me walk down with you?"
+
+The request was so unexpected that the girl had no refusal ready.  She
+hesitated and was lost.  Finally, she expressed a fear that she might
+keep him waiting too long while she got ready--a fear which he politely
+declined to consider.
+
+"Well, we'll see," said the marvelling Miss Nugent to herself as she went
+slowly upstairs.  "He's got impudence enough for forty."
+
+She commenced her preparations for seeing Mr. Wilks by wrapping a shawl
+round her shoulders and reclining in an easy-chair with a novel.  It was
+a good story, but the room was very cold, and even the pleasure of
+snubbing an intrusive young man did not make amends for the lack of
+warmth.  She read and shivered for an hour, and then with chilled fingers
+lit the gas and proceeded to array herself for the journey.
+
+Her temper was not improved by seeing Mr. Hardy sitting in the dark over
+a good fire when she got downstairs.
+
+"I'm afraid I've kept you waiting," she said, crisply.
+
+"Not at all," said Hardy.  "I've been very comfortable."
+
+Miss Nugent repressed a shiver and, crossing to the fire, thoughtlessly
+extended her fingers over the blaze.
+
+"I'm afraid you're cold," said Hardy.
+
+The girl looked round sharply.  His face, or as much of it as she could
+see in the firelight, bore a look of honest concern somewhat at variance
+with the quality of his voice.  If it had not been for the absurdity of
+altering her plans on his account she would have postponed her visit to
+the steward until another day.
+
+The walk to Fullalove Alley was all too short for Jem Hardy.  Miss Nugent
+stepped along with the air of a martyr anxious to get to the stake and
+have it over, and she answered in monosyllables when her companion
+pointed out the beauties of the night.
+
+A bitter east wind blew up the road and set her yearning for the joys of
+Mr. Wilks's best room.  "It's very cold," she said, shivering.
+
+Hardy assented, and reluctantly quickened his pace to keep step with
+hers.  Miss Nugent with her chin sunk in a fur boa looked neither to the
+right nor the left, and turning briskly into the alley, turned the handle
+of Mr. Wilks's door and walked in, leaving her companion to follow.
+
+The steward, who was smoking a long pipe over the fire, looked round in
+alarm.  Then his expression changed, and he rose and stammered out a
+welcome.  Two minutes later Miss Nugent, enthroned in the best chair with
+her toes on the fender, gave her faithful subject a free pardon and full
+permission to make hot coffee.
+
+"And don't you ever try and deceive me again, Sam," she said, as she
+sipped the comforting beverage.
+
+"No, miss," said the steward, humbly.  "I've 'ad a lesson.  I'll never
+try and Shanghai anybody else agin as long as I live."
+
+After this virtuous sentiment he sat and smoked placidly, with occasional
+curious glances divided between his two visitors.  An idle and ridiculous
+idea, which occurred to him in connection with them, was dismissed at
+once as too preposterous for a sensible steward to entertain.
+
+"Mrs. Kingdom well?" he inquired.
+
+"Quite well," said the girl.  "If you take me home, Sam, you shall see
+her, and be forgiven by her, too."
+
+"Thankee, miss," said the gratified steward.
+
+"And what about your foot, Wilks?" said Hardy, somewhat taken aback by
+this arrangement.
+
+"Foot, sir?" said the unconscious Mr. Wilks; "wot foot?"
+
+"Why, the bad one," said Hardy, with a significant glance.
+
+"Ho, that one?" said Mr. Wilks, beating time and waiting further
+revelations.
+
+"Do you think you ought to use it much?" inquired Hardy.
+
+Mr. Wilks looked at it, or, to be more exact, looked at both of them, and
+smiled weakly.  His previous idea recurred to him with renewed force now,
+and several things in the young man's behaviour, hitherto disregarded,
+became suddenly charged with significance.  Miss Nugent looked on with an
+air of cynical interest.
+
+"Better not run any risk," said Hardy, gravely.  "I shall be very pleased
+to see Miss Nugent home, if she will allow me."
+
+"What is the matter with it?" inquired Miss Nugent, looking him full in
+the face.
+
+Hardy hesitated.  Diplomacy, he told himself, was one thing; lying
+another.  He passed the question on to the rather badly used Mr. Wilks.
+
+"Matter with it?" repeated that gentleman, glaring at him reproachfully.
+"It's got shootin' pains right up it.  I suppose it was walking miles and
+miles every day in London, looking for the cap'n, was too much for it."
+
+"Is it too bad for you to take me home, Sam?" inquired Miss Nugent,
+softly.
+
+The perturbed Mr. Wilks looked from one to the other.  As a sportsman his
+sympathies were with Hardy, but his duty lay with the girl.
+
+"I'll do my best, miss," he said; and got up and limped, very well indeed
+for a first attempt, round the room.
+
+Then Miss Nugent did a thing which was a puzzle to herself for some time
+afterwards.  Having won the victory she deliberately threw away the
+fruits of it, and declining to allow the steward to run any risks,
+accepted Hardy's escort home.  Mr. Wilks watched them from the door, and
+with his head in a whirl caused by the night's proceedings mixed himself
+a stiff glass of grog to set it right, and drank to the health of both of
+them.
+
+[Illustration: "Mr. Wilks drank to the health of both of them."]
+
+The wind had abated somewhat in violence as they walked home, and,
+moreover, they had their backs to it.  The walk was slower and more
+enjoyable in many respects than the walk out.  In an unusually soft mood
+she replied to his remarks and stole little critical glances up at him.
+When they reached the house she stood a little while at the gate gazing
+at the starry sky and listening to the crash of the sea on the beach.
+
+"It is a fine night," she said, as she shook hands.
+
+"The best I have ever known," said Hardy.  "Good-bye."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+The weeks passed all too quickly for James Hardy.  He saw Kate Nugent at
+her own home; met her, thanks to the able and hearty assistance of Mr.
+Wilks, at Fullalove Alley, and on several occasions had the agreeable
+task of escorting her back home.
+
+He cabled to his father for news of the illustrious stowaway immediately
+the _Conqueror_ was notified as having reached Port Elizabeth.  The
+reply--"Left ship"--confirmed his worst fears, but he cheerfully accepted
+Mrs. Kingdom's view that the captain, in order to relieve the natural
+anxiety of his family, had secured a passage on the first vessel homeward
+bound.
+
+Captain Hardy was the first to reach home.  In the early hours of a fine
+April morning the _Conqueror_ steamed slowly into Sunwich Harbour, and in
+a very short time the town was revelling in a description of Captain
+Nugent's first voyage before the mast from lips which were never tired of
+repeating it.  Down by the waterside Mr. Nathan Smith found that he had
+suddenly attained the rank of a popular hero, and his modesty took alarm
+at the publicity afforded to his action.  It was extremely distasteful to
+a man who ran a quiet business on old-fashioned lines and disbelieved in
+advertisement.  He lost three lodgers the same day.
+
+[Illustration: "A popular hero."]
+
+Jem Hardy was one of the few people in Sunwich for whom the joke had no
+charms, and he betrayed such an utter lack of sympathy with his father's
+recital that the latter accused him at last of wanting a sense of humour.
+
+"I don't see anything amusing in it," said his son, stiffly.
+
+Captain Hardy recapitulated one or two choice points, and was even at
+some pains to explain them.
+
+"I can't see any fun in it," repeated his son.  "Your behaviour seems to
+me to have been deplorable."
+
+"What?" shouted the captain, hardly able to believe his ears.
+
+"Captain Nugent was your guest," pursued the other; "he got on your ship
+by accident, and he should have been treated decently as a saloon
+passenger."
+
+"And been apologized to for coming on board, I suppose?" suggested the
+captain.
+
+"It wouldn't have been amiss," was the reply.
+
+The captain leaned back in his chair and regarded him thoughtfully.
+"I can't think what's the matter with you, Jem," he said.
+
+"Ordinary decent ideas, that's all," said his son, scathingly.
+
+"There's something more in it than that," said the other, positively.
+"I don't like to see this love-your-enemy business with you, Jem; it
+ain't natural to you.  Has your health been all right while I've been
+away?"
+
+"Of course it has," said his son, curtly.  "If you didn't want Captain
+Nugent aboard with you why didn't you put him ashore?  It wouldn't have
+delayed you long.  Think of the worry and anxiety you've caused poor Mrs.
+Kingdom."
+
+"A holiday for her," growled the captain.
+
+"It has affected her health," continued his son; "and besides, think of
+his daughter.  She's a high-spirited girl, and all Sunwich is laughing
+over her father's mishap."
+
+"Nugent fell into his own trap," exclaimed the captain, impatiently.
+"And it won't do that girl of his any harm to be taken down a peg or two.
+Do her good.  Knock some of the nonsense out of her."
+
+"That's not the way to speak of a lady," said Jem, hotly.
+
+The offended captain regarded him somewhat sourly; then his face changed,
+and he got up from his chair and stood before his son with consternation
+depicted on every feature.
+
+"You don't mean to tell me," he said, slowly; "you don't mean to tell me
+that you're thinking anything of Kate Nugent?"
+
+"Why not?"  demanded the other, defiantly; "why shouldn't I?"
+
+Captain Hardy, whistling softly, made no reply, but still stood eyeing
+him.
+
+"I thought there was some other reason for your consideration besides
+'ordinary decent ideas,'" he said, at last.  "When did it come on?  How
+long have you had it?"
+
+Mr. Hardy, jun., in a studiously unfilial speech, intimated that these
+pleasantries were not to his taste.
+
+"No, of course not," said the captain, resuming his seat.  "Well, I'm
+sorry if it's serious, Jem, but I never dreamt you had any ideas in that
+quarter.  If I had I'd have given old Nugent the best bunk on the ship
+and sung him to sleep myself.  Has she given you any encouragement?"
+
+"Don't know," said Jem, who found the conversation awkward.
+
+"Extraordinary thing," said the captain, shaking his head,
+"extraordinary.  Like a play."
+
+"Play?" said his son, sharply.
+
+"Play," repeated his father, firmly.  "What is the name of it?  I saw it
+once at Newcastle.  The lovers take poison and die across each other's
+chests because their people won't let 'em marry.  And that reminds me.
+I saw some phosphor-paste in the kitchen, Jem.  Whose is it?"
+
+"I'm glad to be the means of affording you amusement," said Jem, grinding
+his teeth.
+
+Captain Hardy regarded him affectionately.  "Go easy, my lad," he said,
+equably; "go easy.  If I'd known it before, things would have been
+different; as I didn't, we must make the best of it.  She's a pretty
+girl, and a good one, too, for all her airs, but I'm afraid she's too
+fond of her father to overlook this."
+
+"That's where you've made such a mess of things," broke in his son.
+"Why on earth you two old men couldn't--"
+
+"Easy," said the startled captain.  "When you are in the early fifties,
+my lad, your ideas about age will be more accurate.  Besides, Nugent is
+seven or eight years older than I am."
+
+"What became of him?" inquired Jem.
+
+"He was off the moment we berthed," said his father, suppressing a smile.
+"I don't mean that he bolted--he'd got enough starch left in him not to
+do that--but he didn't trespass on our hospitality a moment longer than
+was necessary.  I heard that he got a passage home on the Columbus.  He
+knew the master.  She sailed some time before us for London.  I thought
+he'd have been home by this."
+
+It was not until two days later, however, that the gossip in Sunwich
+received a pleasant fillip by the arrival of the injured captain.  He
+came down from London by the midday train, and, disdaining the privacy
+of a cab, prepared to run the gauntlet of his fellow-townsmen.
+
+A weaker man would have made a detour, but he held a direct course, and
+with a curt nod to acquaintances who would have stopped him walked
+swiftly in the direction of home.  Tradesmen ran to their shop-doors to
+see him, and smoking amphibians lounging at street corners broke out into
+sunny smiles as he passed.  He met these annoyances with a set face and a
+cold eye, but his views concerning children were not improved by the
+crowd of small creatures which fluttered along the road ahead of him and,
+hopeful of developments, clustered round the gate as he passed in.
+
+[Illustration: "He met these annoyances with a set face."]
+
+It is the pride and privilege of most returned wanderers to hold forth
+at great length concerning their adventures, but Captain Nugent was
+commendably brief.  At first he could hardly be induced to speak of them
+at all, but the necessity of contradicting stories which Bella had
+gleaned for Mrs. Kingdom from friends in town proved too strong for him.
+He ground his teeth with suppressed fury as he listened to some of them.
+The truth was bad enough, and his daughter, sitting by his side with her
+hand in his, was trembling with indignation.
+
+
+"Poor father," she said, tenderly; "what a time you must have had."
+"It won't bear thinking of," said Mrs. Kingdom, not to be outdone in
+sympathy.
+
+"He met these annoyances with a set face."
+
+"Well, don't think of it," said the captain, shortly.
+
+Mrs. Kingdom sighed as though to indicate that her feelings were not to
+be suppressed in that simple fashion.
+
+"The anxiety has been very great," she said, shaking her head, "but
+everybody's been very kind.  I'm sure all our friends have been most
+sympathetic.  I couldn't go outside the house without somebody stopping
+me and asking whether there was any news of you.  I'd no idea you were so
+popular; even the milkman----"
+
+"I'd like some tea," interrupted the captain, roughly; "that is, when you
+have finished your very interesting information."
+
+Mrs. Kingdom pursed her lips together to suppress the words she was
+afraid to utter, and rang the bell.
+
+"Your master would like some tea," she said, primly, as Bella appeared.
+"He has had a long journey."  The captain started and eyed her fiercely;
+Mrs. Kingdom, her good temper quite restored by this little retort,
+folded her hands in her lap and gazed at him with renewed sympathy.
+
+"We all missed you very much," said Kate, softly.  "But we had no fears
+once we knew that you were at sea."
+
+"And I suppose some of the sailors were kind to you?" suggested the
+unfortunate Mrs. Kingdom.  "They are rough fellows, but I suppose some of
+them have got their hearts in the right place.  I daresay they were sorry
+to see you in such a position."
+
+The captain's reply was of a nature known to Mrs. Kingdom and her circle
+as "snapping one's head off."  He drew his chair to the table as Bella
+brought in the tray and, accepting a cup of tea, began to discuss with
+his daughter the events which had transpired in his absence.
+
+"There is no news," interposed Mrs. Kingdom, during an interval.  Mr.
+Hall's aunt died the other day."
+
+"Never heard of her," said the captain.  "Neither had I, till then," said
+his sister.  "What a lot of people there are one never hears of, John."
+The captain stared at her offensively and went on with his meal.  A long
+silence ensued.
+
+"I suppose you didn't get to hear of the cable that was sent?" said Mrs.
+Kingdom, making another effort to arouse interest.
+
+"What cable?" inquired her brother.
+
+"The one Mr. Hardy sent to his father about you," replied Mrs. Kingdom.
+
+The captain pushed his chair back and stared her full in the face.  "What
+do you mean?" he demanded.
+
+His sister explained.
+
+"Do you mean to tell me that you've been speaking to young Hardy?"
+exclaimed the captain.
+
+"I could hardly help doing so, when he came here," returned his sister,
+with dignity.  "He has been very anxious about you."
+
+Captain Nugent rose and strode up and down the room.  Then he stopped and
+glanced sharply at his daughter.
+
+"Were you here when he called?" he demanded.
+
+"Yes," was the reply.
+
+"And you--you spoke to him?" roared the captain.
+
+"I had to be civil," said Miss Nugent, calmly; "I'm not a sea-captain."
+
+Her father walked up and down the room again.  Mrs. Kingdom, terrified at
+the storm she had evoked, gazed helplessly at her niece.
+
+"What did he come here for?" said the captain.
+
+Miss Nugent glanced down at her plate.  "I can't imagine," she said,
+demurely.  "The first time he came to tell us what had become of you."
+
+The captain stopped in his walk and eyed her sternly.  "I am very
+fortunate in my children," he said, slowly.  "One is engaged to marry the
+daughter of the shadiest rascal in Sunwich, and the other--"
+
+"And the other?" said his daughter, proudly, as he paused.
+
+"The other," said the captain, as he came round the table and put his
+hand on her shoulder, "is my dear and obedient daughter."
+
+"Yes," said Miss Nugent; "but that isn't what you were going to say.  You
+need not worry about me; I shall not do anything that would displease
+you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+With a view to avoiding the awkwardness of a chance meeting with any
+member of the Nugent family Hardy took the sea road on his way to the
+office the morning after the captain's return.  Common sense told him
+to leave matters for the present to the healing hand of Time, and to
+cultivate habits of self-effacement by no means agreeable to one of his
+temperament.
+
+Despite himself his spirits rose as he walked.  It was an ideal spring
+morning, cool and sunny.  The short turf by the side of the road was
+fragrant under his heel, and a light wind stirred the blueness of the
+sea.  On the beach below two grizzled men of restful habit were
+endeavouring to make an old boat waterproof with red and green paint.
+
+A long figure approaching slowly from the opposite direction broke into a
+pleasant smile as he drew near and quickened his pace to meet him.
+
+"You're out early," said Hardy, as the old man stopped and turned with
+him.
+
+"'Ave to be, sir," said Mr. Wilks, darkly; "out early and 'ome late, and
+more often than not getting my dinner out.  That's my life nowadays."
+
+"Can't you let her see that her attentions are undesirable?" inquired
+Hardy, gravely.
+
+"Can't you let her see that her attentions are undesirable?"
+
+[Illustration: "'Can't you let her see that her attentions are
+undesirable?'"]
+
+"I can't be rude to a woman," said the steward, with a melancholy smile;
+"if I could, my life would ha' been very different.  She's always
+stepping across to ask my advice about Teddy, or something o' that sort.
+All last week she kept borrowing my frying-pan, so at last by way of
+letting 'er see I didn't like it I went out and bought 'er one for
+herself.  What's the result?  Instead o' being offended she went out and
+bought me a couple o' neck-ties.  When I didn't wear 'em she pretended it
+was because I didn't like the colour, and she went and bought two more.
+I'm wearing one now."
+
+He shook his head ruefully, and Hardy glanced at a tie which would have
+paled the glories of a rainbow.  For some time they walked along in
+silence.
+
+"I'm going to pay my respects to Cap'n Nugent this afternoon," said Mr.
+Wilks, suddenly.
+
+"Ah," said the other.
+
+"I knew what it 'ud be with them two on the same ship," continued Mr.
+Wilks.  "I didn't say nothing when you was talking to Miss Kate, but I
+knew well enough."
+
+"Ah," said Hardy again.  There was no mistaking the significance of the
+steward's remarks, and he found them somewhat galling.  It was all very
+well to make use of his humble friend, but he had no desire to discuss
+his matrimonial projects with him.
+
+"It's a great pity," pursued the unconscious Mr. Wilks, "just as
+everything seemed to be going on smoothly; but while there's life there's
+'ope."
+
+"That's a smart barge over there," said Hardy, pointing it out.
+
+Mr. Wilks nodded.  "I shall keep my eyes open this afternoon," he said
+reassuringly.  "And if I get a chance of putting in a word it'll be put
+in.  Twenty-nine years I sailed with the cap'n, and if there's anybody
+knows his weak spots it's me."
+
+He stopped as they reached the town and said "good-bye."  He pressed the
+young man's hand sympathetically, and a wink of intense artfulness gave
+point to his last remark.
+
+"There's always Sam Wilks's cottage," he said, in a husky whisper; "and
+if two of 'is friends _should_ 'appen to meet there, who'd be the wiser?"
+
+He gazed benevolently after the young man's retreating figure and
+continued his stroll, his own troubles partly forgotten in the desire to
+assist his friends.  It would be a notable feat for the humble steward to
+be the means of bringing the young people together and thereby bringing
+to an end the feud of a dozen years.  He pictured himself eventually as
+the trusted friend and adviser of both families, and in one daring flight
+of fancy saw himself hobnobbing with the two captains over pipes and
+whisky.
+
+Neatly dressed and carrying a small offering of wallflowers, he set out
+that afternoon to call on his old master, giving, as he walked, the last
+touches to a little speech of welcome which he had prepared during
+dinner.  It was a happy effort, albeit a trifle laboured, but Captain
+Nugent's speech, the inspiration of the moment, gave it no chance.
+
+He started the moment the bowing Mr. Wilks entered the room, his voice
+rising gradually from low, bitter tones to a hurricane note which Bella.
+could hear in the kitchen without even leaving her chair.  Mr. Wilks
+stood dazed and speechless before him, holding the wallflowers in one
+hand and his cap in the other.  In this attitude he listened to a
+description of his character drawn with the loving skill of an artist
+whose whole heart was in his work, and who seemed never tired of filling
+in details.
+
+"If you ever have the hardihood to come to my house again," he concluded,
+"I'll break every bone in your misshapen body.  Get!"
+
+Mr. Wilks turned and groped his way to the door.  Then he went a little
+way back with some idea of defending himself, but the door of the room
+was slammed in his face.  He walked slowly down the path to the road and
+stood there for some time in helpless bewilderment.  In all his sixty
+years of life his feelings had never been so outraged.  His cap was still
+in his hand, and, with a helpless gesture, he put it on and scattered his
+floral offering in the road.  Then he made a bee-line for the Two
+Schooners.
+
+Though convivial by nature and ever free with his money, he sat there
+drinking alone in silent misery.  Men came and went, but he still sat
+there noting with mournful pride the attention caused by his unusual
+bearing.  To casual inquiries he shook his head; to more direct ones he
+only sighed heavily and applied himself to his liquor.  Curiosity
+increased with numbers as the day wore on, and the steward, determined to
+be miserable, fought manfully against an ever-increasing cheerfulness due
+to the warming properties of the ale within.
+
+"I 'ope you ain't lost nobody, Sam?" said a discomfited inquirer at last.
+
+Mr. Wilks shook his head.
+
+"You look as though you'd lost a shilling and found a ha'penny," pursued
+the other.
+
+"Found a what?" inquired Mr. Wilks, wrinkling his forehead.
+
+"A ha'penny," said his friend.
+
+"Who did?" said Mr. Wilks.
+
+The other attempted to explain and was ably assisted by two friends,
+but without avail; the impression left on Mr. Wilks's mind being that
+somebody had got a shilling of his.  He waxed exceeding bitter, and said
+that he had been missing shillings for a long time.
+
+"You're labourin' under a mistake, Sam," said the first speaker.
+
+Mr. Wilks laughed scornfully and essayed a sneer, while his friends,
+regarding his contortions with some anxiety, expressed a fear that he was
+not quite himself.  To this suggestion the steward deigned no reply, and
+turning to the landlord bade him replenish his mug.
+
+"You've 'ad enough, Mr. Wilks," said that gentleman, who had been
+watching him for some time.
+
+Mr. Wilks, gazing at him mistily, did not at first understand the full
+purport of this remark; but when he did, his wrath was so majestic and
+his remarks about the quality of the brew so libellous that the landlord
+lost all patience.
+
+"You get off home," he said, sharply.
+
+"Listen t' me," said Mr. Wilks, impressively.
+
+"I don't want no words with you," said the land-lord.  "You get off home
+while you can."
+
+"That's right, Sam," said one of the company, putting his hand on the
+steward's arm.  "You take his advice."
+
+Mr. Wilks shook the hand off and eyed his adviser ferociously.  Then he
+took a glass from the counter and smashed it on the floor.  The next
+moment the bar was in a ferment, and the landlord, gripping Mr. Wilks
+round the middle, skilfully piloted him to the door and thrust him into
+the road.
+
+[Illustration: "He took a glass from the counter and smashed it on the
+floor."]
+
+The strong air blowing from the sea disordered the steward's faculties
+still further.  His treatment inside was forgotten, and, leaning against
+the front of the tavern, he stood open-mouthed, gazing at marvels.  Ships
+in the harbour suddenly quitted their native element and were drawn up
+into the firmament; nobody passed but twins.
+
+"Evening, Mr. Wilks," said a voice.
+
+The steward peered down at the voice.  At first he thought it was another
+case of twins, but looking close he saw that it was Mr. Edward Silk
+alone.  He saluted him graciously, and then, with a wave of his hand
+toward the sky, sought to attract his attention to the ships there.
+
+"Yes," said the unconscious Mr. Silk, sign of a fine day to-morrow.
+"Are you going my way?"
+
+Mr. Wilks smiled, and detaching himself from the tavern with some
+difficulty just saved Mr. Silk from a terrible fall by clutching him
+forcibly round the neck.  The ingratitude of Mr. Silk was a rebuff to a
+nature which was at that moment overflowing with good will.  For a moment
+the steward was half inclined to let him go home alone, but the
+reflection that he would never get there softened him.
+
+"Pull yourself t'gether," he said, gravely, "Now, 'old on me."
+
+The road, as they walked, rose up in imitation of the shipping, but Mr.
+Wilks knew now the explanation: Teddy Silk was intoxicated.  Very gently
+he leaned towards the erring youth and wagged his head at him.
+
+"Are you going to hold up or aren't you?" demanded Mr. Silk, shortly.
+
+The steward waived the question; he knew from experience the futility of
+arguing with men in drink.  The great thing was to get Teddy Silk home,
+not to argue with him.  He smiled good-temperedly to himself, and with a
+sudden movement pinned him up against the wall in time to arrest another`
+fall.
+
+[Illustration: "The great thing was to get Teddy Silk home."]
+
+With frequent halts by the way, during which the shortness of Mr. Silk's
+temper furnished Mr. Wilks with the texts of several sermons, none of
+which he finished, they at last reached Fullalove Alley, and the steward,
+with a brief exhortation to his charge to hold his head up, bore down on
+Mrs. Silk, who was sitting in her doorway.
+
+"I've brought 'im 'ome," he said, steadying himself against the doorpost;
+"brought 'im 'ome."
+
+"Brought 'im 'ome?" said the bewildered Mrs. Silk.
+
+"Don' say anything to 'im," entreated Mr. Wilks, "my sake.  Thing might
+'appen anybody."
+
+"He's been like that all the way," said Mr. Silk, regarding the steward
+with much disfavour.  "I don't know why I troubled about him, I'm sure."
+
+"Crowd roun 'im," pursued the imaginative Mr. Wilks.  "'Old up, Teddy."
+
+"I'm sure it's very kind of you, Mr. Wilks," said the widow, as she
+glanced at a little knot of neighbours standing near.  "Will you come
+inside for a minute or two?"
+
+She moved the chair to let him pass, and Mr. Wilks, still keeping the
+restraining hand of age on the shoulder of intemperate youth, passed in
+and stood, smiling amiably, while Mrs. Silk lit the lamp and placed it in
+the centre of the table, which was laid for supper.  The light shone on a
+knuckle of boiled pork, a home-made loaf, and a fresh-cut wedge of
+cheese.
+
+"I suppose you won't stay and pick a bit o' sup-per with us?" said Mrs.
+Silk.
+
+"Why not?" inquired Mr. Wilks.
+
+"I'm sure, if I had known," said Mrs. Silk, as she piloted him to a seat,
+"I'd 'ave 'ad something nice.  There, now!  If I 'aven't been and forgot
+the beer."
+
+She left the table and went into the kitchen, and Mr. Wilks's eyes
+glistened as she returned with a large brown jug full of foaming ale and
+filled his glass.
+
+"Teddy mustn't 'ave any," he said, sharply, as she prepared to fill that
+gentleman's glass.
+
+"Just 'alf a glass," she said, winsomely.
+
+"Not a drop," said Mr. Wilks, firmly.
+
+Mrs. Silk hesitated, and screwing up her forehead glanced significantly
+at her son.  "'Ave some by-and-by," she whispered.
+
+"Give me the jug," said Mr. Silk, indignantly.  "What are you listening
+to 'im for?  Can't you see what's the matter with 'im?"
+
+"Not to 'ave it," said Mr. Wilks; "put it 'ere."
+
+He thumped the table emphatically with his hand, and before her indignant
+son could interfere Mrs. Silk had obeyed.  It was the last straw.  Mr.
+Edward Silk rose to his feet with tremendous effect and, first thrusting
+his plate violently away from him, went out into the night, slamming the
+door behind him with such violence that the startled Mr. Wilks was nearly
+blown out of his chair.
+
+"He don't mean nothing," said Mrs. Silk, turning a rather scared face to
+the steward.  "'E's a bit jealous of you, I s'pose."
+
+Mr. Wilks shook his head.  Truth to tell, he was rather at a loss to know
+exactly what had happened.
+
+"And then there's 'is love affair," sighed Mrs. Silk.  "He'll never get
+over the loss of Amelia Kybird.  I always know when 'e 'as seen her, he's
+that miserable there's no getting a word out of 'im."
+
+Mr. Wilks smiled vaguely and went on with his supper, and, the meal
+finished, allowed himself to be installed in an easy-chair, while his
+hostess cleared the table.  He sat and smoked in high good humour with
+himself, the occasional remarks he made being received with an enthusiasm
+which they seldom provoked elsewhere.
+
+"I should like t' sit 'ere all night," he said, at last.
+
+"I don't believe it," said Mrs. Silk, playfully.
+
+"Like t' sit 'ere all night," repeated Mr. Wilks, somewhat sternly.  "All
+nex' day, all day after, day after that, day----"
+
+Mrs. Silk eyed him softly.  "Why would you like to sit here all that
+time?" she inquired, in a low voice.
+
+"B'cause," said Mr. Wilks, simply, "b'cause I don't feel's if I can
+stand.  Goo'-night."
+
+He closed his eyes on the indignant Mrs. Silk and fell fast asleep.  It
+was a sound sleep and dreamless, and only troubled by the occasional
+ineffectual attempts of his hostess to arouse him.  She gave up the
+attempt at last, and taking up a pair of socks sat working thoughtfully
+the other side of the fire-place.
+
+The steward awoke an hour or two later, and after what seemed a terrible
+struggle found himself standing at the open door with the cold night air
+blowing in his face, and a voice which by an effort of memory he
+identified as that of Edward Silk inviting him "to go home and lose no
+time about it."  Then the door slammed behind him and he stood balancing
+himself with some difficulty on the step, wondering what had happened.
+By the time he had walked up and down the deserted alley three or four
+times light was vouchsafed to him and, shivering slightly, he found his
+own door and went to bed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+Any hopes which Hardy might have entertained as to the attitude of Miss
+Nugent were dispelled the first time he saw her, that dutiful daughter of
+a strong-willed sire favouring him with a bow which was exactly half an
+inch in depth and then promptly bestowing her gaze elsewhere.  He passed
+Captain Nugent next day, and for a week afterwards he had only to close
+his eyes to see in all its appalling virulence the glare with which that
+gentleman had acknowledged his attempt at recognition.
+
+[Illustration: "Captain Nugent."]
+
+He fared no better in Fullalove Alley, a visit to Mr. Wilks eliciting the
+fact that that delectable thoroughfare had been put out of bounds for
+Miss Nugent.  Moreover, Mr. Wilks was full of his own troubles and
+anxious for any comfort and advice that could be given to him.  All the
+alley knew that Mrs. Silk had quarrelled with her son over the steward,
+and, without knowing the facts, spoke their mind with painful freedom
+concerning them.
+
+"She and Teddy don't speak to each other now," said Mr. Wilks, gloomily,
+"and to 'ear people talk you'd think it was my fault."
+
+Hardy gave him what comfort he could.  He even went the length of saying
+that Mrs. Silk was a fine woman.
+
+"She acts like a suffering martyr," exclaimed Mr. Wilks.  "She comes over
+'ere dropping hints that people are talking about us, and that they ask
+'er awkward questions.  Pretending to misunderstand 'er every time is
+enough to send me crazy; and she's so sudden in what she says there's no
+being up to 'er.  On'y this morning she asked me if I should be sorry if
+she died."
+
+"What did you say?"  inquired his listener.
+
+"I said 'yes,'" admitted Mr. Wilks, reluctantly.  "I couldn't say
+anything else; but I said that she wasn't to let my feelings interfere
+with 'er in any way."
+
+Hardy's father sailed a day or two later, and after that nothing
+happened.  Equator Lodge was an impregnable fortress, and the only member
+of the garrison he saw in a fortnight was Bella.
+
+His depression did not escape the notice of his partner, who, after first
+advising love-philtres and then a visit to a well-known specialist for
+diseases of the heart, finally recommended more work, and put a generous
+portion of his own on to the young man's desk.  Hardy, who was in an evil
+temper, pitched it on to the floor and, with a few incisive remarks on
+levity unbecoming to age, pursued his duties in gloomy silence.
+
+A short time afterwards, however, he had to grapple with his partner's
+work in real earnest.  For the first time in his life the genial
+shipbroker was laid up with a rather serious illness.  A chill caught
+while bathing was going the round of certain unsuspected weak spots, and
+the patient, who was of an inquiring turn of mind, was taking a greater
+interest in medical works than his doctor deemed advisable.
+
+"Most interesting study," he said, faintly, to Hardy, as the latter sat
+by his bedside one evening and tried to cheer him in the usual way by
+telling him that there was nothing the matter with him.  "There are
+dozens of different forms of liver complaint alone, and I've got 'em
+all."
+
+"Liver isn't much," said his visitor, with the confidence of youth.
+
+"Mine is," retorted the invalid; "it's twice its proper size and still
+growing.  Base of the left lung is solidifying, or I'm much mistaken; the
+heart, instead of waltzing as is suitable to my time of life, is doing a
+galop, and everything else is as wrong as it can be."
+
+"When are you coming back?" inquired the other.
+
+"Back?" repeated Swann.  "Back?  You haven't been listening.  I'm a
+wreck.  All through violating man's primeval instinct by messing about in
+cold water.  What is the news?"
+
+Hardy pondered and shook his head.  "Nugent is going to be married in
+July," he said, at last.
+
+"He'd better have had that trip on the whaler," commented Mr. Swann; "but
+that is not news.  Nathan Smith told it me this morning."
+
+"Nathan Smith?" repeated the other, in surprise.
+
+"I've done him a little service," said the invalid.  "Got him out of a
+mess with Garth and Co.  He's been here two or three times, and I must
+confess I find him a most alluring rascal."
+
+"Birds of a feather--" began Hardy, superciliously.
+
+"Don't flatter me," said Swann, putting his hand out of the bed-clothes
+with a deprecatory gesture.
+
+"I am not worthy to sit at his feet.  He is the most amusing knave on the
+coast.  He is like a sunbeam in a sick room when you can once get him to
+talk of his experiences.  Have you seen young Nugent lately?  Does he
+seem cheerful?"
+
+"Yes, but he is not," was the reply.
+
+"Well, it's natural for the young to marry," said the other, gravely.
+"Murchison will be the next to go, I expect."
+
+"Possibly," returned Hardy, with affected calmness.
+
+"Blaikie was saying something about it this morning," resumed Swann,
+regarding him from half-closed lids, "but he was punching and tapping me
+all about the ribs while he was talking, and I didn't catch all he said,
+but I think it's all arranged.  Murchison is there nearly every day, I
+understand; I suppose you meet him there?"
+
+Mr. Hardy, whistling softly, rose and walked round the room, uncorking
+medicine bottles and sniffing at their contents.  A smile of unaffected
+pleasure lit up his features as he removed the stopper from one
+particularly pungent mixture.
+
+[Illustration: "Sniffing at their contents."]
+
+"Two tablespoonfuls three times a day," he read, slowly.  "When did you
+have the last, Swann?  Shall I ring for the nurse?"
+
+The invalid shook his head impatiently.  "You're an ungrateful dog," he
+muttered, "or you would tell me how your affair is going.  Have you got
+any chance?"
+
+"You're getting light-headed now," said Hardy, calmly.  "I'd better go."
+
+"All right, go then," responded the invalid; "but if you lose that girl
+just for the want of a little skilled advice from an expert, you'll never
+forgive yourself--I'm serious."
+
+"Well, you must be ill then," said the younger man, with anxiety.
+
+"Twice," said Mr. Swann, lying on his back and apparently addressing the
+ceiling, "twice I have given this young man invaluable assistance, and
+each time he has bungled."
+
+Hardy laughed and, the nurse returning to the room, bade him "good-bye"
+and departed.  After the close atmosphere of the sick room the air was
+delicious, and he walked along slowly, deep in thought.  From Nathan
+Smith his thoughts wandered to Jack Nugent and his unfortunate
+engagement, and from that to Kate Nugent.  For months he had been
+revolving impossible schemes in his mind to earn her gratitude, and
+possibly that of the captain, by extricating Jack.  In the latter
+connection he was also reminded of that unhappy victim of unrequited
+affection, Edward Silk.
+
+It was early to go indoors, and the house was dull.  He turned and
+retraced his steps, and, his thoughts reverting to his sick partner,
+smiled as he remembered remarks which that irresponsible person had made
+at various times concerning the making of his last will and testament.
+Then he came to a sudden standstill as a wild, forlorn-hope kind of idea
+suddenly occurred to him.  He stood for some time thinking, then walked a
+little way, and then stopped again as various difficulties presented
+themselves for solution.  Finally, despite the lateness of the hour, he
+walked back in some excitement to the house he had quitted over half an
+hour before with the intention of speaking to the invalid concerning a
+duty peculiarly incumbent upon elderly men of means.
+
+The nurse, who came out of the sick room, gently closing the door after
+her, demurred a little to this second visit, but, receiving a promise
+from the visitor not to excite the invalid, left them together.  The
+odour of the abominable physic was upon the air.
+
+"Well?" said the invalid.
+
+"I have been thinking that I was rather uncivil a little while ago," said
+Hardy.
+
+"Ah!" said the other.  "What do you want?"
+
+"A little of that skilled assistance you were speaking of."
+
+Mr. Swann made an alarming noise in his throat.  Hardy sprang forward in
+alarm, but he motioned him back.
+
+"I was only laughing," he explained.
+
+Hardy repressed his annoyance by an effort, and endeavoured, but with
+scant success, to return the other's smile.
+
+"Go on," said the shipbroker, presently.
+
+"I have thought of a scheme for upsetting Nugent's marriage," said Hardy,
+slowly.
+
+"It is just a forlorn hope which depends for its success on you and
+Nathan Smith."
+
+"He's a friend of Kybird's," said the other, drily.
+
+"That is the most important thing of all," rejoined Hardy.  "That is,
+next to your shrewdness and tact; everything depends upon you, really,
+and whether you can fool Smith.  It is a great thing in our favour that
+you have been taking him up lately."
+
+"Are you coming to the point or are you not?" demanded the shipbroker.
+
+Hardy looked cautiously round the room, and then, drawing his chair close
+to the bed, leaned over the prostrate man and spoke rapidly into his ear.
+
+"What?" cried the astounded Mr. Swann, suddenly sitting up in his bed.
+"You--you scoundrel!"
+
+"It's to be done," said Hardy.
+
+"You ghoul!" said the invalid, glaring at him.  "Is that the way to talk
+to a sick man?  You unscrupulous rascal!"
+
+"It'll be amusement for you," pleaded the other, "and if we are
+successful it will be the best thing in the end for everybody.  Think of
+the good you'll do."
+
+"Where you get such rascally ideas from, I can't think," mused the
+invalid.  "Your father is a straightforward, honest man, and your
+partner's uprightness is the talk of Sunwich."
+
+"It doesn't take much to make Sunwich talk," retorted Hardy.
+
+"A preposterous suggestion to make to a man of my standing," said the
+shipbroker, ignoring the remark.  "If the affair ever leaked out I should
+never hear the end of it."
+
+"It can't leak out," said Hardy, "and if it does there is no direct
+evidence.  They will never really know until you die; they can only
+suspect."
+
+"Very well," said the shipbroker, with a half-indulgent, half-humorous
+glance.  "Anything to get rid of you.  It's a crack-brained scheme, and
+could only originate with a young man whose affections have weakened his
+head--I consent."
+
+"Bravo!" said Hardy and patted him on the back; Mr. Swann referred to the
+base of his left lung, and he apologized.
+
+"I'll have to fix it up with Blaikie," said the invalid, lying down
+again.  "Murchison got two of his best patients last week, so that it
+ought to be easy.  And besides, he is fond of innocent amusement."
+
+"I'm awfully obliged to you," said Hardy.
+
+"It might be as well if we pretended to quarrel," said the invalid,
+reflectively, "especially as you are known to be a friend of Nugent's.
+We'll have a few words--before my housekeeper if possible, to insure
+publicity--and then you had better not come again.  Send Silk instead
+with messages."
+
+Hardy thanked him and whispered a caution as a footstep was heard on the
+landing.  The door opened and the nurse, followed by the housekeeper
+bearing a tray, entered the room.
+
+"And I can't be worried about these things," said Swann, in an
+acrimonious voice, as they entered.  "If you are not capable of settling
+a simple question like that yourself, ask the office-boy to instruct you.
+
+"It's your work," retorted Hardy, "and a nice mess it's in."
+
+"H'sh!" said the nurse, coming forward hastily.  "You must leave the
+room, sir.  I can't have you exciting my patient."
+
+Hardy bestowed an indignant glance at the invalid.
+
+"Get out!"  said that gentleman, with extraordinary fierceness for one in
+his weak condition.  "In future, nurse, I won't have this person admitted
+to my room."
+
+"Yes, yes; certainly," said the nurse.  "You must go, sir; at once,
+please."
+
+"I'm going," said Hardy, almost losing his gravity at the piteous
+spectacle afforded by the house-keeper as she stood, still holding the
+tray and staring open-mouthed at the combatants.  "When you're tired of
+skulking in bed, perhaps you'll come and do your share of the work."
+
+Mr. Swann rose to a sitting position, and his demeanour was so alarming
+that the nurse, hastening over to him, entreated him to lie down, and
+waved Hardy peremptorily from the room.
+
+"Puppy!" said the invalid, with great relish.  "Blockhead!"
+
+[Illustration: "'Puppy!' said the invalid."]
+
+He gazed fixedly at the young man as he departed and then, catching sight
+in his turn of the housekeeper's perplexity, laid himself down and buried
+his face in the bed-clothes.  The nurse crossed over to her assistant
+and, taking the tray from her, told her in a sharp whisper that if she
+ever admitted Mr. Hardy again she would not be answerable for the
+consequences.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+Charmed at the ease with which he had demolished the objections of Mr.
+Adolphus Swann and won that suffering gentleman over to his plans, Hardy
+began to cast longing glances at Equator Lodge.  He reminded himself that
+the labourer was worthy of his hire, and it seemed moreover an extremely
+desirable thing that Captain Nugent should know that he was labouring in
+his vineyard with the full expectation of a bounteous harvest.  He
+resolved to call.
+
+Kate Nugent, who heard the gate swing behind him as he entered the front
+garden, looked up and stood spellbound at his audacity.  As a fairly
+courageous young person she was naturally an admirer of boldness in
+others, but this seemed sheer recklessness.  Moreover, it was
+recklessness in which, if she stayed where she was, she would have to
+bear a part or be guilty of rudeness, of which she felt incapable.  She
+took a third course, and, raising her eyebrows at the unnecessarily loud
+knocking with which the young man announced his arrival, retreated in
+good order into the garden, where her father, in a somewhat heated
+condition, was laboriously planting geraniums.  She had barely reached
+him when Bella, in a state of fearsome glee, came down the garden to tell
+the captain of his visitor.
+
+[Illustration: "Bella, in a state of fearsome glee, came down the garden
+to tell the captain of his visitor."]
+
+"Who?" said the latter, sharply, as he straightened his aching back.
+
+"Young Mr. Hardy," said Bella, impressively.  "I showed 'im in; I didn't
+ask 'im to take a chair, but he took one."
+
+"Young Hardy to see me!" said the captain to his daughter, after Bella
+had returned to the house.  "How dare he come to my house?  Infernal
+impudence!  I won't see him."
+
+"Shall I go in and see him for you?" inquired Kate, with affected
+artlessness.
+
+"You stay where you are, miss," said her father.  "I won't have him
+speak to you; I won't have him look at you.  I'll----"
+
+He beat his dirty hands together and strode off towards the house.  Jem
+Hardy rose from his chair as the captain entered the room and, ignoring a
+look of black inquiry, bade him "Good afternoon."
+
+"What do you want?" asked the captain, gruffly, as he stared him straight
+in the eye.
+
+"I came to see you about your son's marriage," said the other.  "Are you
+still desirous of preventing it?"
+
+"I'm sorry you've had the trouble," said the captain, in a voice of
+suppressed anger; "and now may I ask you to get out of my house?"
+
+Hardy bowed.  "I am sorry I have troubled you," he said, calmly, "but I
+have a plan which I think would get your son out of this affair, and, as
+a business man, I wanted to make something out of it."
+
+The captain eyed him scornfully, but he was glad to see this
+well-looking, successful son of his old enemy tainted with such sordid
+views.  Instead of turning him out he spoke to him almost fairly.
+
+"How much do you want?" he inquired.
+
+"All things considered, I am asking a good deal," was the reply.
+
+"How much?" repeated the captain, impatiently.
+
+Hardy hesitated.  "In exchange for the service I want permission to visit
+here when I choose," he said, at length; "say twice a week."
+
+Words failed the captain; none with which he was acquainted seemed
+forcible enough for the occasion.  He faced his visitor stuttering with
+rage, and pointed to the door.
+
+"Get out of my house," he roared.
+
+[Illustration: "'Get out of my house,' he roared.]
+
+"I'm sorry to have intruded," said Hardy, as he crossed the room and
+paused at the door; "it is none of my business, of course.  I thought
+that I saw an opportunity of doing your son a good turn--he is a friend
+of mine--and at the same time paying off old scores against Kybird and
+Nathan Smith.  I thought that on that account it might suit you.  Good
+afternoon."
+
+He walked out into the hall, and reaching the front door fumbled clumsily
+with the catch.  The captain watching his efforts in grim silence began
+to experience the twin promptings of curiosity and temptation.
+
+"What is this wonderful plan of yours?" he demanded, with a sneer.
+
+"Just at present that must remain a secret," said the other.  He came
+from the door and, unbidden, followed the captain into the room again.
+
+"What do you want to visit at my house for?" inquired the latter, in a
+forbidding voice.
+
+"To see your daughter," said Hardy.
+
+The captain had a relapse.  He had not expected a truthful answer,
+and, when it came, in the most matter-of-fact tone, it found him quite
+unprepared.  His first idea was to sacrifice his dignity and forcibly
+eject his visitor, but more sensible thoughts prevailed.
+
+"You are quite sure, I suppose, that your visits would be agreeable to my
+daughter?" he said, contemptuously.
+
+Hardy shook his head.  "I should come ostensibly to see you," he said,
+cheerfully; "to smoke a pipe with you."
+
+"Smoke!" stuttered the captain, explosively; "smoke a pipe with ME?"
+
+"Why not?" said the other.  "I am offering you my services, and
+anything that is worth having is worth paying for.  I suppose we could
+both smoke pipes under pleasanter conditions.  What have you got against
+me?  It isn't my fault that you and my father have quarrelled."
+
+"I don't want anything more to say to you," said the captain, sternly.
+"I've shown you the door once.  Am I to take forcible measures?"
+
+Hardy shrugged his broad shoulders.  "I am sorry," he said, moving to the
+door again.
+
+"So am I," said the other.
+
+"It's a pity," said Hardy, regretfully.  "It's the chance of a lifetime.
+I had set my heart on fooling Kybird and Smith, and now all my trouble is
+wasted.  Nathan Smith would be all the better for a fall."
+
+The captain hesitated.  His visitor seemed to be confident, and he would
+have given a great deal to prevent his son's marriage and a great deal to
+repay some portion of his debt to the ingenious Mr. Smith.  Moreover,
+there seemed to be an excellent opportunity of punishing the presumption
+of his visitor by taking him at his word.
+
+"I don't think you'd enjoy your smoking here much," he said, curtly.
+
+"I'll take my chance of that," said the other.  "It will only be a matter
+of a few weeks, and then, if I am unsuccessful, my visits cease."
+
+"And if you're successful, am I to have the pleasure of your company for
+the rest of my life?" demanded the captain.
+
+"That will be for you to decide," was the reply.  "Is it a bargain?"
+
+The captain looked at him and deliberated.  "All right.  Mondays and
+Thursdays," he said, laconically.
+
+Hardy saw through the ruse, and countered.
+
+"Now Swann is ill I can't always get away when I wish," he said, easily.
+"I'll just drop in when I can.  Good day."
+
+He opened the door and, fearful lest the other should alter his mind at
+the last moment, walked briskly down the path to the gate.  The captain
+stood for some time after his departure deep in thought, and then
+returned to the garden to be skilfully catechized by Miss Nugent.
+
+"And when my young friend comes with his pipe you'll be in another room,"
+he concluded, warningly.
+
+Miss Nugent looked up and patted his cheek tenderly.  "What a talent for
+organization you have," she remarked, softly.  "A place for everything
+and everything in its place.  The idea of his taking such a fancy to
+you!"
+
+The captain coughed and eyed her suspiciously.  He had been careful not
+to tell her Hardy's reasons for coming, but he had a shrewd idea that his
+caution was wasted.
+
+"Today is Thursday," said Kate, slowly; "he will be here to-morrow and
+Saturday.  What shall I wear?"
+
+The captain resumed his gardening operations by no means perturbed at the
+prophecy.  Much as he disliked the young man he gave him credit for a
+certain amount of decency, and his indignation was proportionately great
+the following evening when Bella announced Mr. Hardy.  He made a genial
+remark about Shylock and a pound of flesh, but finding that it was only
+an excellent conversational opening, the subject of Shakespeare's plays
+lapsed into silence.
+
+It was an absurd situation, but he was host and Hardy allowed him to see
+pretty plainly that he was a guest.  He answered the latter's remarks
+with a very ill grace, and took covert stock of him as one of a species
+he had not encountered before.  One result of his stock-taking was that
+he was spared any feeling of surprise when his visitor came the following
+evening.
+
+"It's the thin end of the wedge," said Miss Nugent, who came into the
+room after Hardy had departed; "you don't know him as well as I do."
+
+"Eh?" said her father, sharply.
+
+"I mean that you are not such a judge of character as I am," said Kate;
+"and besides, I have made a special study of young men.  The only thing
+that puzzles me is why you should have such an extraordinary fascination
+for him."
+
+"You talk too much, miss," said the captain, drawing the tobacco jar
+towards him and slowly filling his pipe.
+
+Miss Nugent sighed, and after striking a match for him took a seat on the
+arm of his chair and placed her hand on his shoulder.  "I can quite
+understand him liking you," she said, slowly.
+
+The captain grunted.
+
+"And if he is like other sensible people," continued Miss Nugent, in a
+coaxing voice, "the more he sees of you the more he'll like you.  I do
+hope he has not come to take you away from me."
+
+[Illustration: "I do hope he has not come to take you away from me."]
+
+The indignant captain edged her off the side of his chair; Miss Nugent,
+quite undisturbed, got on again and sat tapping the floor with her foot.
+Her arm stole round his neck and she laid her cheek against his head and
+smiled wickedly.
+
+"Nice-looking, isn't he?" she said, in a careless voice.
+
+"I don't know anything about his looks," growled her father.
+
+Miss Nugent gave a little exclamation of surprise.  "First thing I
+noticed," she said, with commendable gravity.  "He's very good-looking
+and very determined.  What are you going to give him if he gets poor Jack
+out of this miserable business?"
+
+"Give him?" said her father, staring.
+
+"I met Jack yesterday," said Kate, "and I can see that he is as wretched
+as he can be.  He wouldn't say so, of course.  If Mr. Hardy is successful
+you ought to recognize it.  I should suggest one of your new photos in an
+eighteenpenny frame."
+
+She slipped off the chair and quitted the room before her father could
+think of a suitable retort, and he sat smoking silently until the
+entrance of Mrs. Kingdom a few minutes later gave him an opportunity of
+working off a little accumulated gall.
+
+While the junior partner was thus trying to obtain a footing at Equator
+Lodge the gravest rumours of the senior partner's health were prevalent
+in the town.  Nathan Smith, who had been to see him again, ostensibly to
+thank him for his efforts on his behalf, was of opinion that he was
+breaking up, and in conversation with Mr. Kybird shook his head over the
+idea that there would soon be one open-handed gentleman the less in a
+world which was none too full of them.
+
+"We've all got to go some day," observed Mr. Kybird, philosophically.
+"'Ow's that cough o' yours getting on, Nat?"
+
+Mr. Smith met the pleasantry coldly; the ailment referred to was one of
+some standing and had been a continual source of expense in the way of
+balsams and other remedies.
+
+"He's worried about 'is money," he said, referring to Mr. Swann.
+
+"Ah, we sha'n't 'ave that worry," said Mr. Kybird.
+
+"Nobody to leave it to," continued Mr. Smith.  "Seems a bit 'ard, don't
+it?"
+
+"P'r'aps if 'e 'ad 'ad somebody to leave it to 'e wouldn't 'ave 'ad so
+much to leave," observed Mr. Kybird, sagely; "it's a rum world."
+
+He shook his head over it and went on with the uncongenial task of
+marking down wares which had suffered by being exposed outside too long.
+Mr. Smith, who always took an interest in the welfare of his friends,
+made suggestions.
+
+"I shouldn't put a ticket marked 'Look at this!' on that coat," he said,
+severely.  "It oughtn't to be looked at."
+
+"It's the best out o' three all 'anging together," said Mr. Kybird,
+evenly.
+
+"And look 'ere," said Mr. Smith.  "Look what an out-o'-the-way place
+you've put this ticket.  Why not put it higher up on the coat?"
+
+"Becos the moth-hole ain't there," said Mr. Kybird.
+
+Mr. Smith apologized and watched his friend without further criticism.
+
+"Gettin' ready for the wedding, I s'pose?" he said, presently.
+
+Mr. Kybird assented, and his brow darkened as he spoke of surreptitious
+raids on his stores made by Mrs. Kybird and daughter.
+
+"Their idea of a wedding," he said, bitterly, "is to dress up and make a
+show; my idea is a few real good old pals and plenty of licker."
+
+"You'll 'ave to 'ave both," observed Nathan Smith, whose knowledge of the
+sex was pretty accurate.
+
+Mr. Kybird nodded gloomily.  "'Melia and Jack don't seem to 'ave been
+'itting it off partikler well lately," he said, slowly.  "He's getting
+more uppish than wot 'e was when 'e come here first.  But I got 'im to
+promise that he'd settle any money that 'e might ever get left him on
+'Melia."
+
+Mr. Smith's inscrutable eyes glistened into something as nearly
+approaching a twinkle as they were capable.  "That'll settle the five
+'undred," he said, warmly.  "Are you goin' to send Cap'n Nugent an invite
+for the wedding?"
+
+[Illustration: "Are you goin' to send Cap'n Nugent an invite for the
+wedding?"]
+
+"They'll 'ave to be asked, o' course," said Mr. Kybird, with an attempt
+at dignity, rendered necessary by a certain lightness in his friend's
+manner.  "The old woman don't like the Nugent lot, but she'll do the
+proper thing."
+
+"O' course she will," said Mr. Smith, soothingly.  "Come over and 'ave a
+drink with me, Dan'l it's your turn to stand."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of At Sunwich Port, Part 4., by W.W. Jacobs
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10874 ***