Farewell, Marmaduke! he said. He took the Captains hand, but soon parted with it.
Then he looked at me.
Good-day, young fellow, he said. Do not forget that I told you you went on a fools errand.
I drew aside to make way for him, and he left the room without a look or a word for Cornelys Jensen. In another minute I saw him through the window hobbling along the street.
He looked malignant
enough, but I did not know then how malignant a thing he was. I was ever a weak wretch at figures and business and finance, but it was made plain to me later that Master Nathaniel had so handled Master Marmaduke in this matter of the lending of moneys, that if by any chance anything grave were to happen to Master Marmaduke and to the lad Lancelot and the lass Marjorie all that belonged to Captain Marmaduke would swell the wealth of his brother. And here were Captain Marmaduke and Lancelot and Marjorie all going to sea together and going in company of Cornelys Jensen. And I know now that Master Nathaniel knew Cornelys Jensen very well. But I did not know it then or dream it as I turned from the window and looked at the handsome rascal, who seemed agog to be going.
Shall you need me longer, Captain? Jensen asked. There is much to do which should be doing.
Nay, said the Captain, you are free, for me. I know that there is much to do, and I know that you are the man to do it. But I shall see you in the evening.
Jensen saluted the Captain, nodded to me, and strode out of the room. Then the Captain sat me down and talked for some twenty minutes of his plan and his hope. If I did not understand much, I felt that I was a fortunate fellow to be in such a glorious enterprise. I wish I had been more mindful of all that he said, but my mind was ever somewhat of a sieve for long speeches, and the dear gentleman spoke at length.
Presently he consulted his watch.
The coach should be in soon, he said. Let us go forth and await it.
We went out of the Dolphin together into the hall, and there we came to a halt, for he had thought upon some new point in his undertaking, and he began to hold forth to me upon that.
I can see the whole place now the dark oak walls, the dark oak stairs, and my Captains blue coat and scarlet face making a brave bit of colour in the sombre place. The Noble Rose is gone long since, but that hall lives in my memory for a thing that just then happened.
CHAPTER X SHE COMES DOWN THE STAIRS
Indeed, though she was a beautiful girl, and soon to make a beautiful woman, there was a quality of manliness in her which pleased me much then and more thereafter. There is a play I have seen acted in which a girl goes to live in a wood in a mans habit. I have thought since that she of the play must have showed like this girl, and indeed I speak but what I know when I say that mans apparel became her bravely. Now, as she came down the stairs she was clad in some kind of flowered gown of blue and white which set off her fair loveliness divinely. She carried some yellow flowers at her girdle; they were Lent lilies, as I believe.
This apparition distracting my attention from the Captains words, he wheeled round upon his heel and learnt the cause of my inattention. Immediately he smiled and called to the maiden.
Come here, niece; I have found you a new friend.
She came forward, smiling to him, and then looked at me with an expression of the sweetest gravity in the world. Surely there never was such a girl in the world since the sun first shone on maidens.
Lass, said the Captain, this is our new friend. His name is Raphael Crowninshield, but, because I think he has more of the man in him than of the archangel, I mean to call him Ralph.
The girl held out her hand to me in a way that reminded me much of Lancelot.
As I took her hand I felt that my face was flaming like the sun in a sea-fog no less round and no less red. I was timid with girls, for I knew but few, and after my misfortune I had shunned those few most carefully. She was not shy herself, though, and she did not seem to note my shyness or, if she did, it gave her no pleasure to note it, as it would have given many less gracious maidens. Her hand was not very small, but it was finely fashioned a noble hand, like my Captains and like Lancelots; a hand that gave a true grasp; a hand that it was a pleasure to hold.
Shall I call you Ralph or Raphael? she said.
My face grew hotter, and I stammered foolishly as I answered
her that I begged she would call me by what name she pleased, but that if it pleased my Captain to call me Ralph, then Ralph I was ready to be.
Well and good, Ralph, she said.
We had parted hands by this time, but I was still staring at her, full of wonder.
This boy, said the Captain, goes with us in the Royal Christopher. We will find our New World together. He is a good fellow, and should make a good sailor in time.
As the Captain spoke of me and the girl looked at me I felt hotter and more foolish, and could think of nothing to say. But even if I could have thought of anything to say I had no time to say it in, for there came an interruption which ended my embarrassment; a horn sounded loudly, and every soul in Sendennis knew that the coach was in.