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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12207 ***
+
+ODD CRAFT
+
+By W.W. Jacobs
+
+
+
+ESTABLISHING RELATIONS
+
+Mr. Richard Catesby, second officer of the ss. _Wizard_, emerged from the
+dock-gates in high good-humour to spend an evening ashore.  The bustle of
+the day had departed, and the inhabitants of Wapping, in search of
+coolness and fresh air, were sitting at open doors and windows indulging
+in general conversation with any-body within earshot.
+
+[Illustration: "Mr. Richard Catesby, second officer of the ss. _Wizard_,
+emerged from the dock-gates in high good-humour."]
+
+Mr. Catesby, turning into Bashford's Lane, lost in a moment all this life
+and colour.  The hum of distant voices certainly reached there, but that
+was all, for Bashford's Lane, a retiring thoroughfare facing a blank dock
+wall, capped here and there by towering spars, set an example of
+gentility which neighbouring streets had long ago decided crossly was
+impossible for ordinary people to follow.  Its neatly grained shutters,
+fastened back by the sides of the windows, gave a pleasing idea of
+uniformity, while its white steps and polished brass knockers were
+suggestive of almost a Dutch cleanliness.
+
+Mr. Catesby, strolling comfortably along, stopped suddenly for another
+look at a girl who was standing in the ground-floor window of No. 5.  He
+went on a few paces and then walked back slowly, trying to look as though
+he had forgotten something.  The girl was still there, and met his ardent
+glances unmoved: a fine girl, with large, dark eyes, and a complexion
+which was the subject of much scandalous discussion among neighbouring
+matrons.
+
+"It must be something wrong with the glass, or else it's the bad light,"
+said Mr. Catesby to himself; "no girl is so beautiful as that."
+
+He went by again to make sure.  The object of his solicitude was still
+there and apparently unconscious of his existence.  He passed very slowly
+and sighed deeply.
+
+"You've got it at last, Dick Catesby," he said, solemnly; "fair and
+square in the most dangerous part of the heart.  It's serious this time."
+
+He stood still on the narrow pavement, pondering, and then, in excuse of
+his flagrant misbehaviour, murmured, "It was meant to be," and went by
+again.  This time he fancied that he detected a somewhat supercilious
+expression in the dark eyes--a faint raising of well-arched eyebrows.
+
+His engagement to wait at Aldgate Station for the second-engineer and
+spend an evening together was dismissed as too slow to be considered.  He
+stood for some time in uncertainty, and then turning slowly into the
+Beehive, which stood at the corner, went into the private bar and ordered
+a glass of beer.
+
+He was the only person in the bar, and the land-lord, a stout man in his
+shirt-sleeves, was the soul of affability.  Mr. Catesby, after various
+general remarks, made a few inquiries about an uncle aged five minutes,
+whom he thought was living in Bashford's Lane.
+
+[Illustration: "Mr. Catesby made a few inquiries."]
+
+"I don't know 'im," said the landlord.
+
+"I had an idea that he lived at No. 5," said Catesby.
+
+The landlord shook his head.  "That's Mrs. Truefitt's house," he said,
+slowly.
+
+Mr. Catesby pondered.  "Truefitt, Truefitt," he repeated; "what sort of a
+woman is she?"
+
+"Widder-woman," said the landlord; "she lives there with 'er daughter
+Prudence."
+
+Mr. Catesby said "Indeed!" and being a good listener learned that Mrs.
+Truefitt was the widow of a master-lighterman, and that her son, Fred
+Truefitt, after an absence of seven years in New Zealand, was now on his
+way home.  He finished his glass slowly and, the landlord departing to
+attend to another customer, made his way into the street again.
+
+He walked along slowly, picturing as he went the home-corning of the
+long-absent son.  Things were oddly ordered in this world, and Fred
+Truefitt would probably think nothing of his brotherly privileges.  He
+wondered whether he was like Prudence.  He wondered----
+
+"By Jove, I'll do it!"  he said, recklessly, as he turned.  "Now for a
+row."
+
+He walked back rapidly to Bashford's Lane, and without giving his courage
+time to cool plied the knocker of No. 5 briskly.
+
+The door was opened by an elderly woman, thin, and somewhat querulous in
+expression.  Mr. Catesby had just time to notice this, and then he flung
+his arm round her waist, and hailing her as "Mother!" saluted her warmly.
+
+The faint scream of the astounded Mrs. Truefitt brought her daughter
+hastily into the passage.  Mr. Catesby's idea was ever to do a thing
+thoroughly, and, relinquishing Mrs. Truefitt, he kissed Prudence with all
+the ardour which a seven-years' absence might be supposed to engender in
+the heart of a devoted brother.  In return he received a box on the ears
+which made his head ring.
+
+"He's been drinking," gasped the dismayed Mrs. Truefitt.
+
+"Don't you know me, mother?"  inquired Mr. Richard Catesby, in grievous
+astonishment.
+
+"He's mad," said her daughter.
+
+"Am I so altered that you don't know me, Prudence?"  inquired Mr.
+Catesby; with pathos.  "Don't you know your Fred?"
+
+"Go out," said Mrs. Truefitt, recovering; "go out at once."
+
+Mr. Catesby looked from one to the other in consternation.
+
+"I know I've altered," he said, at last, "but I'd no idea--"
+
+"If you don't go out at once I'll send for the police," said the elder
+woman, sharply.  "Prudence, scream!"
+
+"I'm not going to scream," said Prudence, eyeing the intruder with great
+composure.  "I'm not afraid of him."
+
+Despite her reluctance to have a scene--a thing which was strongly
+opposed to the traditions of Bashford's Lane--Mrs. Truefitt had got as
+far as the doorstep in search of assistance, when a sudden terrible
+thought occurred to her: Fred was dead, and the visitor had hit upon this
+extraordinary fashion of breaking the news gently.
+
+"Come into the parlour," she said, faintly.
+
+Mr. Catesby, suppressing his surprise, followed her into the room.
+Prudence, her fine figure erect and her large eyes meeting his steadily,
+took up a position by the side of her mother.
+
+"You have brought bad news?" inquired the latter.
+
+"No, mother," said Mr. Catesby, simply, "only myself, that's all."
+
+Mrs. Truefitt made a gesture of impatience, and her daughter, watching
+him closely, tried to remember something she had once read about
+detecting insanity by the expression of the eyes.  Those of Mr. Catesby
+were blue, and the only expression in them at the present moment was one
+of tender and respectful admiration.
+
+"When did you see Fred last?"  inquired Mrs. Truefitt, making another
+effort.
+
+"Mother," said Mr. Catesby, with great pathos, "don't you know me?"
+
+"He has brought bad news of Fred," said Mrs. Truefitt, turning to her
+daughter; "I am sure he has."
+
+"I don't understand you," said Mr. Catesby, with a bewildered glance from
+one to the other.  "I am Fred.  Am I much changed?  You look the same as
+you always did, and it seems only yesterday since I kissed Prudence
+good-bye at the docks.  You were crying, Prudence."
+
+Miss Truefitt made no reply; she gazed at him unflinchingly and then bent
+toward her mother.
+
+"He is mad," she whispered; "we must try and get him out quietly.  Don't
+contradict him."
+
+"Keep close to me," said Mrs. Truefitt, who had a great horror of the
+insane.  "If he turns violent open the window and scream.  I thought he
+had brought bad news of Fred.  How did he know about him?"
+
+Her daughter shook her head and gazed curiously at their afflicted
+visitor.  She put his age down at twenty-five, and she could not help
+thinking it a pity that so good-looking a young man should have lost his
+wits.
+
+"Bade Prudence good-bye at the docks," continued Mr. Catesby, dreamily.
+"You drew me behind a pile of luggage, Prudence, and put your head on my
+shoulder.  I have thought of it ever since."
+
+Miss Truefitt did not deny it, but she bit her lips, and shot a sharp
+glance at him.  She began to think that her pity was uncalled-for.
+
+"I'm just going as far as the corner."
+
+"Tell me all that's happened since I've been away," said Mr. Catesby.
+
+Mrs. Truefitt turned to her daughter and whispered.  It might have been
+merely the effect of a guilty conscience, but the visitor thought that he
+caught the word "policeman."
+
+"I'm just going as far as the corner," said Mrs. Truefitt, rising, and
+crossing hastily to the door.
+
+[Illustration: "'I'm just going as far as the corner,' said Mrs.
+Truefitt."]
+
+The young man nodded affectionately and sat in doubtful consideration as
+the front door closed behind her.  "Where is mother going?"  he asked, in
+a voice which betrayed a little pardonable anxiety.
+
+"Not far, I hope," said Prudence.
+
+"I really think," said Mr. Catesby, rising--"I really think that I had
+better go after her.  At her age----"
+
+He walked into the small passage and put his hand on the latch.
+Prudence, now quite certain of his sanity, felt sorely reluctant to let
+such impudence go unpunished.
+
+"Are you going?" she inquired.
+
+"I think I'd better," said Mr. Catesby, gravely.  "Dear mother--"
+
+"You're afraid," said the girl, calmly.
+
+Mr. Catesby coloured and his buoyancy failed him.  He felt a little bit
+cheap.
+
+"You are brave enough with two women," continued the girl, disdainfully;
+"but you had better go if you're afraid."
+
+Mr. Catesby regarded the temptress uneasily.  "Would you like me to
+stay?" he asked.
+
+"I?" said Miss Truefitt, tossing her head.  "No, I don't want you.
+Besides, you're frightened."
+
+Mr. Catesby turned, and with a firm step made his way back to the room;
+Prudence, with a half-smile, took a chair near the door and regarded her
+prisoner with unholy triumph.
+
+"I shouldn't like to be in your shoes," she said, agreeably; "mother has
+gone for a policeman."
+
+"Bless her," said Mr. Catesby, fervently.  "What had we better say to him
+when he comes?"
+
+"You'll be locked up," said Prudence; "and it will serve you right for
+your bad behaviour."
+
+Mr. Catesby sighed.  "It's the heart," he said, gravely.  "I'm not to
+blame, really.  I saw you standing in the window, and I could see at once
+that you were beautiful, and good, and kind."
+
+"I never heard of such impudence," continued Miss Truefitt.
+
+"I surprised myself," admitted Mr. Catesby.  "In the usual way I am very
+quiet and well-behaved, not to say shy."
+
+Miss Truefitt looked at him scornfully.  "I think that you had better
+stop your nonsense and go," she remarked.
+
+"Don't you want me to be punished?" inquired the other, in a soft voice.
+
+"I think that you had better go while you can," said the girl, and at
+that moment there was a heavy knock at the front-door.  Mr. Catesby,
+despite his assurance, changed colour; the girl eyed him in perplexity.
+Then she opened the small folding-doors at the back of the room.
+
+"You're only--stupid," she whispered.  "Quick!  Go in there.  I'll say
+you've gone.  Keep quiet, and I'll let you out by-and-by."
+
+She pushed him in and closed the doors.  From his hiding-place he heard
+an animated conversation at the street-door and minute particulars as to
+the time which had elapsed since his departure and the direction he had
+taken.
+
+"I never heard such impudence," said Mrs. Truefitt, going into the
+front-room and sinking into a chair after the constable had taken his
+departure.  "I don't believe he was mad."
+
+"Only a little weak in the head, I think," said Prudence, in a clear
+voice.  "He was very frightened after you had gone; I don't think he will
+trouble us again."
+
+"He'd better not," said Mrs. Truefitt, sharply.  "I never heard of such a
+thing--never."
+
+She continued to grumble, while Prudence, in a low voice, endeavoured to
+soothe her.  Her efforts were evidently successful, as the prisoner was,
+after a time, surprised to hear the older woman laugh--at first gently,
+and then with so much enjoyment that her daughter was at some pains to
+restrain her.  He sat in patience until evening deepened into night, and
+a line of light beneath the folding-doors announced the lighting of the
+lamp in the front-room.  By a pleasant clatter of crockery he became
+aware that they were at supper, and he pricked up his ears as Prudence
+made another reference to him.
+
+"If he comes to-morrow night while you are out I sha'n't open the door,"
+she said.  "You'll be back by nine, I suppose."
+
+Mrs. Truefitt assented.
+
+"And you won't be leaving before seven," continued Prudence.  "I shall be
+all right."
+
+Mr. Catesby's face glowed and his eyes grew tender; Prudence was as
+clever as she was beautiful.  The delicacy with which she had intimated
+the fact of the unconscious Mrs. Truefitt's absence on the following
+evening was beyond all praise.  The only depressing thought was that such
+resourcefulness savoured of practice.
+
+He sat in the darkness for so long that even the proximity of Prudence
+was not sufficient amends for the monotony of it, and it was not until
+past ten o'clock that the folding-doors were opened and he stood blinking
+at the girl in the glare of the lamp.
+
+"Quick!"  she whispered.
+
+Mr. Catesby stepped into the lighted room.
+
+"The front-door is open," whispered Prudence.  "Make haste.  I'll close
+it."
+
+She followed him to the door; he made an ineffectual attempt to seize her
+hand, and the next moment was pushed gently outside and the door closed
+behind him.  He stood a moment gazing at the house, and then hastened
+back to his ship.
+
+"Seven to-morrow," he murmured; "seven to-morrow.  After all, there's
+nothing pays in this world like cheek--nothing."
+
+He slept soundly that night, though the things that the second-engineer
+said to him about wasting a hard-working man's evening would have lain
+heavy on the conscience of a more scrupulous man.  The only thing that
+troubled him was the manifest intention of his friend not to let him slip
+through his fingers on the following evening.  At last, in sheer despair
+at his inability to shake him off, he had to tell him that he had an
+appointment with a lady.
+
+"Well, I'll come, too," said the other, glowering at him.  "It's very
+like she'll have a friend with her; they generally do."
+
+"I'll run round and tell her," said Catesby.  "I'd have arranged it
+before, only I thought you didn't care about that sort of thing."
+
+"Female society is softening," said the second-engineer.  "I'll go and
+put on a clean collar."
+
+[Illustration: "I'll go and put on a clean collar."]
+
+Catesby watched him into his cabin and then, though it still wanted an
+hour to seven, hastily quitted the ship and secreted himself in the
+private bar of the Beehive.
+
+He waited there until a quarter past seven, and then, adjusting his tie
+for about the tenth time that evening in the glass behind the bar,
+sallied out in the direction of No. 5.
+
+He knocked lightly, and waited.  There was no response, and he knocked
+again.  When the fourth knock brought no response, his heart sank within
+him and he indulged in vain speculations as to the reasons for this
+unexpected hitch in the programme.  He knocked again, and then the door
+opened suddenly and Prudence, with a little cry of surprise and dismay,
+backed into the passage.
+
+"You!"  she said, regarding him with large eyes.  Mr. Catesby bowed
+tenderly, and passing in closed the door behind him.
+
+"I wanted to thank you for your kindness last night," he said, humbly.
+
+"Very well," said Prudence; "good-bye."
+
+Mr. Catesby smiled.  "It'll take me a long time to thank you as I ought
+to thank you," he murmured.  "And then I want to apologise; that'll take
+time, too."
+
+"You had better go," said Prudence, severely; "kindness is thrown away
+upon you.  I ought to have let you be punished."
+
+"You are too good and kind," said the other, drifting by easy stages into
+the parlour.
+
+Miss Truefitt made no reply, but following him into the room seated
+herself in an easy-chair and sat coldly watchful.
+
+"How do you know what I am?" she inquired.
+
+"Your face tells me," said the infatuated Richard.  "I hope you will
+forgive me for my rudeness last night.  It was all done on the spur of
+the moment."
+
+"I am glad you are sorry," said the girl, softening.
+
+"All the same, if I hadn't done it," pursued Mr. Catesby, "I shouldn't be
+sitting here talking to you now."
+
+Miss Truefitt raised her eyes to his, and then lowered them modestly to
+the ground.  "That is true," she said, quietly.
+
+"And I would sooner be sitting here than any-where," pursued Catesby.
+"That is," he added, rising, and taking a chair by her side, "except
+here."
+
+Miss Truefitt appeared to tremble, and made as though to rise.  Then she
+sat still and took a gentle peep at Mr. Catesby from the corner of her
+eye.
+
+"I hope that you are not sorry that I am here?"  said that gentleman.
+
+Miss Truefitt hesitated.  "No," she said, at last."
+
+"Are you--are you glad?" asked the modest Richard.
+
+Miss Truefitt averted her eyes altogether.  "Yes," she said, faintly.
+
+A strange feeling of solemnity came over the triumphant Richard.  He took
+the hand nearest to him and pressed it gently.
+
+"I--I can hardly believe in my good luck," he murmured.
+
+"Good luck?" said Prudence, innocently.
+
+"Isn't it good luck to hear you say that you are glad I'm here?"  said
+Catesby.
+
+"You're the best judge of that," said the girl, withdrawing her hand.
+"It doesn't seem to me much to be pleased about."
+
+Mr. Catesby eyed her in perplexity, and was about to address another
+tender remark to her when she was overcome by a slight fit of coughing.
+At the same moment he started at the sound of a shuffling footstep in the
+passage.  Somebody tapped at the door.
+
+"Yes?" said Prudence.
+
+"Can't find the knife-powder, miss," said a harsh voice.  The door was
+pushed open and disclosed a tall, bony woman of about forty.  Her red
+arms were bare to the elbow, and she betrayed several evidences of a long
+and arduous day's charing.
+
+"It's in the cupboard," said Prudence.  "Why, what's the matter, Mrs.
+Porter?"
+
+Mrs. Porter made no reply.  Her mouth was wide open and she was gazing
+with starting eyeballs at Mr. Catesby.
+
+"Joe!" she said, in a hoarse whisper.  "Joe!"
+
+Mr. Catesby gazed at her in chilling silence.  Miss Truefitt, with an air
+of great surprise, glanced from one to the other.
+
+"Joe!" said Mrs. Porter again.  "Ain't you goin' to speak to me?"
+
+Mr. Catesby continued to gaze at her in speechless astonishment.  She
+skipped clumsily round the table and stood before him with her hands
+clasped.
+
+"Where 'ave you been all this long time?"  she demanded, in a higher key.
+
+"You--you've made a mistake," said the bewildered Richard.
+
+"Mistake?"  wailed Mrs. Porter.  "Mistake!  Oh, where's your 'art?"
+
+Before he could get out of her way she flung her arms round the horrified
+young man's neck and em-braced him copiously.  Over her bony left
+shoulder the frantic Richard met the ecstatic gaze of Miss Truefitt, and,
+in a flash, he realised the trap into which he had fallen.
+
+"Mrs. Porter!" said Prudence.
+
+"It's my 'usband, miss," said the Amazon, reluctantly releasing the
+flushed and dishevelled Richard; "'e left me and my five eighteen months
+ago.  For eighteen months I 'aven't 'ad a sight of 'is blessed face."
+
+She lifted the hem of her apron to her face and broke into discordant
+weeping.
+
+"Don't cry," said Prudence, softly; "I'm sure he isn't worth it."
+
+Mr. Catesby looked at her wanly.  He was beyond further astonishment, and
+when Mrs. Truefitt entered the room with a laudable attempt to twist her
+features into an expression of surprise, he scarcely noticed her.
+
+"It's my Joe," said Mrs. Porter, simply.
+
+"Good gracious!" said Mrs. Truefitt.  "Well, you've got him now; take
+care he doesn't run away from you again."
+
+"I'll look after that, ma'am," said Mrs. Porter, with a glare at the
+startled Richard.
+
+[Illustration: "I'll look after that, ma'am."]
+
+"She's very forgiving," said Prudence.  "She kissed him just now."
+
+"Did she, though," said the admiring Mrs. Truefitt.  "I wish I'd been
+here."
+
+"I can do it agin, ma'am," said the obliging Mrs. Porter.
+
+"If you come near me again--" said the breathless Richard, stepping back
+a pace.
+
+"I shouldn't force his love," said Mrs. Truefitt; "it'll come back in
+time, I dare say."
+
+"I'm sure he's affectionate," said Prudence.
+
+Mr. Catesby eyed his tormentors in silence; the faces of Prudence and her
+mother betokened much innocent enjoyment, but the austerity of Mrs.
+Porter's visage was unrelaxed.
+
+"Better let bygones be bygones," said Mrs. Truefitt; "he'll be sorry
+by-and-by for all the trouble he has caused."
+
+"He'll be ashamed of himself--if you give him time," added Prudence.
+
+Mr. Catesby had heard enough; he took up his hat and crossed to the door.
+
+"Take care he doesn't run away from you again," repeated Mrs. Truefitt.
+
+"I'll see to that, ma'am," said Mrs. Porter, taking him by the arm.
+"Come along, Joe."
+
+Mr. Catesby attempted to shake her off, but in vain, and he ground his
+teeth as he realised the absurdity of his position.  A man he could have
+dealt with, but Mrs. Porter was invulnerable.  Sooner than walk down the
+road with her he preferred the sallies of the parlour.  He walked back to
+his old position by the fireplace, and stood gazing moodily at the floor.
+
+Mrs. Truefitt tired of the sport at last.  She wanted her supper, and
+with a significant glance at her daughter she beckoned the redoubtable
+and reluctant Mrs. Porter from the room.  Catesby heard the kitchen-door
+close behind them, but he made no move.  Prudence stood gazing at him in
+silence.
+
+"If you want to go," she said, at last, "now is your chance."
+
+Catesby followed her into the passage without a word, and waited quietly
+while she opened the door.  Still silent, he put on his hat and passed
+out into the darkening street.  He turned after a short distance for a
+last look at the house and, with a sudden sense of elation, saw that she
+was standing on the step.  He hesitated, and then walked slowly back.
+
+"Yes?"  said Prudence.
+
+"I should like to tell your mother that I am sorry," he said, in a low
+voice.
+
+"It is getting late," said the girl, softly; "but, if you really wish to
+tell her--Mrs. Porter will not be here to-morrow night."
+
+She stepped back into the house and the door closed behind her.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Establishing Relations, by W.W. Jacobs
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12207 ***