Matty, said Stephen to his wife, as he jolted his daughter into a state of wild delight on his knee, Tottie is becoming very like you. Shes got the same pretty little turned-up nose, an the same huge grey eyes with the wicked twinkle in em about the corners.
Dont talk nonsense, Stephen, but tell me about this robbery.
I know nothin about it more than Ive told ye, Matty. Eve didnt know the man, and her description of him is confusedshe was frightened, poor thing! But I promised to send some one to look after her at once, for her drunken mother isnt fit to take care of herself, let alone the sick child. Who can I send, think ee?
Mrs Lockley pursed her little mouth, knitted her brows, and gazed thoughtfully at the baby, who, taking the look as personal, made a face at her. Finally she suggested Isabella Wentworth.
And where is she to be found? asked the skipper.
At the Martins, no doubt, replied Mrs Lockley, with a meaning look. Shes been there pretty much ever since poor Fred Martin came home, looking after old granny, for Mrs Martins time is taken up wi nursing her son. They say hes pretty bad.
Then Ill go an see about it at once, said Stephen, rising, and setting Tottie down.
He found Isa quite willing to go to Eve, though Mrs Mooney had stormed at her and shut the door in her face on the occasion of her last visit.
But you mustnt try to see Fred, she added. The doctor says he must be kep quiet and see no one.
All right, returned the skipper; Ill wait till hes out o quarantine. Good day; Ill go and tell Eve that youre coming.
On his way to Mrs Mooneys hut Stephen Lockley had again to pass the Blue Boar. This time he did not give it a wide berth. There were two roads to the hut, and the shorter was that which passed the public-house. Trusting to the strength of his own resolution, he chose that road. When close to the blue monster, whose creaking sign drew so many to the verge of destruction, and plunged so many over into the gulf, he was met by Skipper Ned Bryce, a sociable, reckless sort of man, of whom he was rather fond. Bryce was skipper of the Fairy, an iron smack, which was known in the fleet as the Ironclad.
Hullo! Stephen. You here?
Ay, a week before my time, Ned. That lubber Groggy Fox ran into me, cut down my bulwarks, and carried away my bowsprit an some o my top-hamper.
Come alonghave a glass, an lets hear all about it, said Bryce, seizing his friends arm; but Lockley held back.
No, Ned, he said; Im on another tack just now.
What! not hoisted the blue ribbon, eh!
No, returned Lockley, with a laugh. Ive no need to do that.
You havent lost faith in your own power o self-denial surely?
No, nor that either, butbut
Come now, none o your buts. Come along; my mate Dick Martin is in here, an hes the best o company.
Dick Martin in there! repeated Lockley, on whom a sudden thought flashed. Is he one o your hands?
In course he is. Left the Grimsby fleet a-purpose to jine me. Rather surly he is at times, no doubt, but a good fellow at bottom, and great company. You should hear him sing. Come.
Oh, I know him well enough by hearsay, but never met him yet.
Whether it was the urgency of his friend, or a desire to meet with Dick Martin, that shook our skippers wavering resolution we cannot tell, but he went into the Blue Boar, and took a glass for good-fellowship. Being a man of strong passions and excitable nerves, this glass produced in him a desire for a second, and that for a third, until he forgot his intended visit to Eve, his promises to his wife, and his stern resolves not to submit any longer to the tyranny of drink. Still, the memory of Mrs Mooneys conduct, and of the advice of his friend Fred Martin, had the effect of restraining him to some extent, so that he was only what his comrades would have called a little screwed when they had become rather drunk.
There are many stages of drunkenness. One of them is the confidential stage. When Dick Martin had reached this stage he turned with a superhumanly solemn countenance to Bryce and winked.
Ifif you ththink, said Bryce thickly, ththat winkin suits you, youre mistaken.
Look ere, said Dick, drawing a letter from his pocket with a maudlin leer, and holding it up before his comrade, who frowned at it, and then shook his headas well he might, for, besides being very illegibly written, the letter was presented to him upside down.
After holding it before him in silence long enough to impress him with the importance of the document, Dick Martin explained that it was a letter which he had stolen from his sisters house, because it contained something to his advantage.
See here, he said, holding the letter close to his own eyes, still upside down, and evidently reading from memory: If Mr Frederick Martin will ccall at this office any day next week between 10 an 12, hhe will ear suthin to his adadvantage. Bounce and Brag, slicitors. There!
But you aint Fred Martin, said Bryce, with a look of supreme contempt, for he had arrived at the quarrelsome stage of drunkenness.
Right you are, said Martin; but Im his uncle. Same name ccause his mother mmarried her ccousin; and there aint much difference tween Dick and Fredfour letters, both of emso if I goes wi the letter, an says, Im Fred Martin, wy, theyll hand over the blunt, or the jewels, or wotiver it is, to medee see?
No, I dont see, returned Bryce so irritatingly that his comrade left the confidential stage astern, and requested to know, with an affable air, when Bryce lost his eyesight.
When I first saw you, and thought you worth your salt, shouted Bryce, as he brought his fist heavily down on the table.
Both men were passionate. They sprang up, grappled each other by the throat, and fell on the floor. In doing so they let the letter fall. It fluttered to the ground, and Lockley, quietly picking it up, put it in his pocket.
Youd better look after them, said Lockley to the landlord, as he paid his reckoning, and went out.
In a few minutes he stood in Widow Mooneys hut, and found Isa Wentworth already there.
Im glad you sent me here, said the girl, for Mrs Mooney has gone out
She stopped and looked earnestly in Lockleys face. Youve been to the Blue Boar, she said in a serious tone.
Yes, lass, I have, admitted the skipper, but without a touch of resentment. I did not mean to go, but its as well that I did, for Ive rescued a letter from Dick Martin which seems to be of some importance, an he says he stole it from his sisters house.
He handed the letter to the girl, who at once recognised it as the epistle over which she and Mrs Martin had puzzled so much, and which had finally been deciphered for them by Dick Martin.
He must have made up his mind to pretend that he is Fred, said Isa, and so get anything that was intended for him.
Youre a sharp girl, Isa; youve hit the nail fair on the head, for I heard him in his drunken swagger boast of his intention to do that very thing. Now, will you take in hand, lass, to give the letter back to Mrs Martin, and explain how you came by it?
Of course Isa agreed to do so, and Lockley, turning to Eve, said he would tell her a story before going home.