But, continued the old gentleman, the rascal had no right to enter my house without ringing. He might have been a thief, you know. He looked rough and coarse enough to be one.
Oh papa, said Aileen entreatingly, dont be too hasty in judging those who are sometimes called rough and coarse. I do assure you Ive met many men in my district who are big and rough and coarse to look at, but who have the feelings and hearts of tender women.
I know it, simple one; you must not suppose that I judged him by his exterior; I judged him by his rude manner and conduct, and I do not extend my opinion of him to the whole class to which he belongs.
It is strangeand illustrative of the occasional perversity of human reasoningthat Mr Hazlit did not perceive that he himself had given the diver cause to judge him, Mr Hazlit, very harshly, and the worst of it was that Maxwell did, in his wrath, extend his opinion of the merchant to the entire class to which he belonged, expressing a deep undertoned hope that the whole bilin of em might end their days in a place where he spent many of his own, namely, at the bottom of the sea. It is to be presumed that he wished them to be there without the benefit of diving-dresses!
It is curious, however, continued Mr Hazlit, that I had been thinking this very morning about making inquiries after a diver, one whom I have frequently heard spoken of as an exceedingly able and respectable manBalding or Bolding or some such name, I think.
Oh! Baldwin, Joe Baldwin, as his intimate friends call him, said Aileen eagerly. I know him well; he is in my district.
What! exclaimed Mr Hazlit, not one of your paupers?
Aileen burst into a merry laugh. No, papa, no; not a pauper certainly. Hes a well-off diver, and a Wesleyana local preacher, I believebut he lives in my district, and is one of the most zealous labourers in it. Oh! If you saw him, papa, with his large burly frame and his rough bronzed kindly face, and broad shoulders, and deep bass voice and hearty laugh.
The word suggested the act, for Aileen went off again at the bare idea of Joe Baldwin being a pauperone at whose feet, she said, she delighted to sit and learn.
Well, Im glad to have such a good account of him from one so well able to judge, rejoined her father, and as I mean to go visit him without delay Ill be obliged if youll give me his address.
Having received it, the merchant sallied forth into those regions of the town where, albeit she was not a guardian of the poor, his daughters light figure was a much more familiar object than his own.
Does a diver named Baldwin live here? asked Mr Hazlit of a figure which he found standing in a doorway near the end of a narrow passage.
The figure was hazy and indistinct by reason of the heavy wreaths of tobacco-smoke wherewith it was enveloped.
Yis, sur, replied the figure; he lives in the door it the other ind o the passage. Its not over-light here, sur; mind yer feet as ye go, an pay attintion to your head, for what betune holes in the floor an beams in the ceilin, tall gintlemen like you, sur, come to grief sometimes.
Thanking the figure for its civility, Mr Hazlit knocked at the door indicated, but there was no response.
Sure its out they are! cried the figure from the other end of the passage. Joe Baldwins layin a charge under the wreck off the jetty to-dayno doubt thats whats kep im, and its washin-day with Mrs Joe, I belave; but Im his pardner, sur, an if yell step this way, Mrs Machowlll be only too glad to see ye, sur, an I can take yer orders.
Not a little amused by this free-and-easy invitation, Mr Hazlit entered a small apartment, which surprised him by its clean and tidy appearance. A pretty little Irishwoman, with a pert little turned-up nose, auburn hair so luxuriant that it could not be kept in order, and a set of teeth that glistened in their purity, invited him to sit down, and wiped a chair with her apron for his accommodation.
Youve got a nice little place here, remarked the visitor, looking round him.
Troth, sur, ye wouldnt have said that if youd seen it whin we first came to it. Of all the dirty places I iver saw! I belave an Irish pig would have scunnered at it, an held his nose till he got out. Its very well for England, but we was used to cleaner places in the owld country. Howsiver weve got it made respictable now, and were not hard to plaze.
This was a crushing reply. It upset Mr Hazlits preconceived ideas regarding the two countries so completely that he was perplexed. Not being a man of rapid thought he changed the subject:
You are a diver, you say?
I am, sur.
And Mr Baldwins partnerif I understand you correctly?
Well, we work togetherwhin were not workin apartpritty regular. He took in hand to train me some months gone by, an as our two missusses has took a fancy to aich other, were likely to hold on for some timebarrin accidents, av coorse.
Well, then, said Mr Hazlit, I came to see Mr Baldwin about a vessel of mine, which was wrecked a few days ago on the coast of Wales
Och! The Seagull it is, exclaimed Rooney.
The same; and as it is a matter of importance that I should have the wreck visited without delay, I shall be obliged by your sending your partner to my house this evening.
Rooney promised to send Baldwin up, and took his wife Molly to witness, with much solemnity, that he would not lose a single minute. Thereafter the conversation became general, and at last the merchant left the place much shaken in his previous opinion of Irish character, and deeply impressed with the sagacity of Rooney Machowl.
The result of this visit was that Baldwin was engaged to dive for the cargo of the Seagull, and found himself, a few days later, busy at work on the Welsh coast with a staff of men under him, among whom were our friends Rooney Machowl and surly David Maxwell. The latter had at first declined to have anything to do with the job, but, on consideration of the wages, he changed his mind.
Chapter Five.
Treats of Plots and Plans, Engineering and otherwise
The spot where the wreck of the Seagull lay was a peaceful sequestered cove or bay on the coast of Anglesea. The general aspect of the neighbouring land was bleak. There were no trees, and few bushes. Indeed, the spire of a solitary little church on an adjoining hill was the most prominent object in the scene. The parsonage belonging to it was concealed by a rise in the ground, and the very small hamlet connected with it was hid like a rabbit in the clefts of some rugged cliffs. The little church was one of those temples which are meant to meet the wants of a rural district, and which cause a feeling of surprise in the minds of town visitors as to where the congregation can come from that fills them.
But, bleak though the country was, the immediate shore was interesting and romantic in its form. In one place perpendicular cliffs, cut up by ragged gorges, descended sheer down into deep water, and meeting the constant roll of the Irish Channel, even in calm weather, fringed themselves with lace-work of foam, as if in cool defiance of the ocean. In another place a mass of boulders and shattered rocks stretched out into the sea as if still resistant though for the time subdued. Elsewhere a half-moon of yellow sand received the ripples with a kiss, suggestive of utter conquest and the end of strife.