----------------"What is yon gentleman?"
Nurse. "The son and heir of old Tiberio."
Juliet. "What's he that follows there, that would not dance?"
Nurse. "Marry, I know not."
_Romeo and Juliet._
The sun was just heaving up, out of the field of waters in which the blue
islands of Massachusetts lie, when the inhabitants of Newport were seen
opening their doors and windows, and preparing for the different
employments of the day, with the freshness and alacrity of people who had
wisely adhered to the natural allotments of time in seeking their rests,
or in pursuing their pleasures. The morning salutations passed cheerfully
from one to another, as each undid the slight fastenings of his shop; and
many a kind inquiry was made, and returned, after the condition of a
daughter's fever, or the rheumatism of some aged grandam. As the landlord
of the "Foul Anchor" was so wary in protecting the character of his house
from any unjust imputations of unseemly revelling, so was he among the
foremost in opening his doors, to catch any transient customer, who might
feel the necessity of washing away the damps of the past night, in some
invigorating stomachic This cordial was very generally taken in the
British provinces, under the various names of "bitters," "juleps,"
"morning-drams," "fogmatics," &c., according as the situation of each
district appeared to require some particular preventive. The custom is
getting a little into disuse, it is true; but still it retains much of
that sacred character which it would seem is the concomitant of antiquity.
It is not a little extraordinary that this venerable and laudable
practice, of washing away the unwholesome impurities engendered in the
human system, at a time, when as it is entirely without any moral
protector, it is left exposed to the attacks of all the evils to which
flesh is heir, should subject the American to the witticisms of his
European brother. We are not among the least grateful to those foreign
philanthropists who take so deep an interest in our welfare as seldom to
let any republican foible pass, without applying to it, as it merits, the
caustic application of their purifying pens. We are, perhaps, the more
sensible of this generosity, because we have had so much occasion to
witness, that, so great is their zeal in behalf of our infant States,
(robust, and a little unmanageable perhaps, but still infant) they are
wont, in the warmth of their ardour, to reform Cis-atlantic sins, to
overlook not a few backslidings of their own. Numberless are the moral
missionaries that the mother country, for instance, has sent among us, on
these pious and benevolent errands. We can only regret that their efforts
have been crowned with so little success. It was our fortune to be
familiarly acquainted with one of these worthies, who never lost an
opportunity of declaiming, above all, against the infamy of the particular
practice to which we have just alluded. Indeed, so broad was the ground he
took, that he held it to be not only immoral, but, what was far worse,
ungenteel, to swallow any thing stronger than small beer, before the hour
allotted to dinner. After that important period, it was not only permitted
to assuage the previous mortifications of the flesh, but, so liberal did
he show himself in the orthodox indulgence, that he was regularly carried
to his bed at midnight, from which he as regularly issued, in the course
of the following morning, to discourse again on the thousand deformities
of premature drink. And here we would take occasion to say, that, as to
our own insignificant person, we eschew the abomination altogether; and
only regret that those of the two nations, who find pleasure in the
practice, could not come to some amicable understanding as to the precise
period, of the twenty-four hours, when it is permitted to such Christian
gentlemen as talk English to get drunk. That the negotiators who framed
the last treaty of amity should have overlooked this important moral
topic, is another evidence that both parties were so tired of an
unprofitable war as to patch up a peace in a hurry. It is not too late to
name a commission for this purpose; and, in order that the question may be
fairly treated on its merits, we presume to suggest to the Executive the
propriety of nominating, as our commissioner, some confirmed advocate of
the system of "juleps." It is believed our worthy and indulgent Mother can
have no difficulty in selecting a suitable opponent from the ranks of her
numerous and well-trained diplomatic corps.
With this manifestation of our personal liberality, united to so much
interest in the proper, and we hope final, disposition of this important
question, we may be permitted to resume the narrative, without being set
down as advocates for morning stimulants, or evening intoxication; which
is a very just division of the whole subject, as we believe, from no very
limited observation.
The landlord of the "Foul Anchor," then, was early a-foot, to gain an
honest penny from any of the supporters of the former system who might
chance to select his bar for their morning sacrifices to Bacchus, in
preference to that of his neighbour, he who endeavoured to entice the
lieges, by exhibiting a red-faced man, in a scarlet coat, that was called
the "Head of George the Second." It would seem that the commendable
activity of the alert publican was not to go without its reward. The tide
of custom set strongly, for the first half-hour, towards the haven of his
hospitable bar; nor did he appear entirely to abandon the hopes of a
further influx, even after the usual period of such arrivals began to
pass away. Finding, however, that his customers were beginning to depart,
on their several pursuits, he left his station, and appeared at the outer
door, with a hand in each pocket, as though he found a secret pleasure in
the merry jingling of their new tenants. A stranger, who had not entered
with the others, and who, of course, had not partaken of the customary
libations, was standing at a little distance, with a hand thrust into the
bosom of his vest, as if he were chiefly occupied with his own
reflections. This figure caught the understanding eye of the publican who
instantly conceived that no man, who had had recourse to the proper
morning stimulants, could wear so meditative a face at that early period
in the cares of the day, and that consequently something was yet to be
gained, by opening the path of direct communication between them.
"A clean air this, friend, to brush away the damps of the night," he said,
snuffing the really delicious and invigorating breathings of a fine
October morning. "It is such purifiers as this, that gives our island its
character, and makes it perhaps the very healthest as it is universally
admitted to be the beautifullest spot in creation.--A stranger here, 'tis
likely?"
"But quite lately arrived, sir," was the reply.
"A sea-faring man, by your dress? and one in search of a ship, as I am
ready to qualify to;" continued the publican, chuckling, perhaps, at his
own penetration. "We have many such that passes hereaway; but people
mustn't think, because Newport is so flourishing a town, that births can
always be had for asking. Have you tried your luck yet in the Capital of
the Bay Province?"
"I left Boston no later than the day before yesterday."
"What, couldn't the proud townsfolk find you a ship! Ay, they are a mighty
people at talking, and it isn't often that they put their candle under
the bushel; and yet there are what I call good judges, who think
Narraganset Bay is in a fair way, shortly, to count as many sail as
Massachusetts. There, yonder, is a wholesome brig, that is going, within
the week, to turn her horses into rum and sugar; and here is a ship that
hauled into the stream no longer ago than yesterday sun-down. That is a
noble vessel and has cabins fit for a prince! She'll be off with the
change of the wind; and I dare say a good hand wouldn't go a-begging
aboard her just now. Then yonder is a slaver, off the fort, if you like a
cargo of wool-heads for your money."
"And is it thought the ship in the inner harbour will sail with the first
wind?" demanded the stranger.
"It is downright. My wife is a full cousin to the wife of the Collector's
clerk; and I have it straight that the papers are ready, and that nothing
but the wind detains them. I keep some short scores, you know, friend,
with the blue-jackets, and it behoves an honest man to look to his
interests in these hard times. Yes, there she lies; a well-known ship, the
'Royal Caroline.' She makes a regular v'yage once a year between the
Provinces and Bristol, touching here, out and home, to give us certain
supplies, and to wood and water; and then she goes home, or to the
Carolinas, as the case may be."
"Pray, sir, has she much of an armament?" continued the stranger, who
began to lose his thoughtful air, in the more evident interest he was
beginning to lake in the discourse.
"Yes, yes; she is not without a few bull-dogs, to bark in defence of her
own rights, and to say a word in support of his Majesty's honour, too; God
bless him! Judy! you Jude!" he shouted, at the top of his voice, to a
negro girl, who was gathering kindling-wood among the chips of a
ship-yard, "scamper over to neighbour Homespun's, and rattle away at his
bed-room windows: the man has overslept himself it is not common to hear
seven o'clock strike, and the thirsty tailor not appear for his bitters."
A short cessation took place in the dialogue, while the wench was
executing her master's orders. The summons produced no other effect than
to draw a shrill reply from Desire, whose voice penetrated, through the
thin board coverings of the little dwelling as readily as sound would be
conveyed through a sieve. In another moment a window was opened, and the
worthy housewife thrust her disturbed visage into the fresh air of the
morning.
"What next! what next!" demanded the offended and, as she was fain to
believe, neglected wife, under the impression that it was her truant
husband, making his tardy return to his domestic allegiance, who had thus
presumed to disturb her slumbers. "Is it not enough that you have eloped
from my bed and board, for a long night, but you must dare to break in on
the natural rest of a whole family, seven blessed children, without
counting their mother! O Hector! Hector! an example are you getting to be
to the young and giddy, and a warning will you yet prove to the
unthoughtful!"
"Bring hither the black book," said the publican to his wife, who had been
drawn to a window by the lamentations of Desire; "I think the woman said
something about starting on a journey between two days; and, if such has
been the philosophy of the good-man, it behoves all honest people to look
into their accounts. Ay, as I live, Keziah, you have let the limping
beggar get seventeen and sixpence into arrears, and that for such trifles
as morning-drams and night-caps!"
"You are wrathy, friend, without reason; the man has made a garment for
the boy at school, and found the"--
"Hush, good woman," interrupted her husband returning the book, and
making a sign for her to retire; "I dare say it will all come round in
proper Time, and the less noise we make about the backslidings of a
neighbour, the less will be said of our own transgressions. A worthy and
hard-working mechanic, sir," he continued, addressing the stranger "but a
man who could never get the sun to shine in at his windows, though, Heaven
knows, the glass is none too thick for such a blessing."
"And do you imagine on evidence as slight as this we have seen, that such
a man has actually absconded?"
"Why, it is a calamity that has befallen his betters!" returned the
publican, interlocking his fingers across the rotundity of his person,
with an air of grave consideration. "We inn-keepers--who live, as it were,
in plain sight of every man's secrets; for it is after a visit to us that
one is apt truly to open his heart--should know something of the affairs
of a neighbourhood. If the good-man Homespun could smooth down the temper
of his companion as easily as he lays a seam into its place, the thing
might not occur, but----Do you drink this morning, sir?"
"A drop of your best."
"As I was saying," continued the other, while he furnished his customer,
according to his desire, "if a tailor's goose would take the wrinkles out
of the ruffled temper of a woman, as it does out of the cloth; and then,
if, after it had done this task, a man might eat it, as he would yonder
bird hanging behind my bar--Perhaps you will have occasion to make your
dinner with us, too, sir?"
"I cannot say I shall not," returned the stranger, paying for the dram he
had barely tasted; "it greatly depends on the result of my inquiries
concerning the different vessels in the port."
"Then would I, though perfectly disinterested, as you know, sir,
recommend you to make this house your home, while you sojourn in the town.
It is the resort of most of the sea-faring men; and I may say this much of
myself, without conceit--No man can tell you more of what you want to
know, than the landlord of the 'Foul Anchor.'"
"You advise an application to the Commander of this vessel, in the stream,
for a birth: Will she sail so soon as you have named?"
"With the first wind. I know the whole history of the ship, from the day
they laid the blocks for her keel to the minute when she let her anchor go
where you now see her. The great Southern Heiress, General Grayson's fine
daughter, is to be a passenger she, and her overlooker, Government-lady, I
believe they call her--a Mrs Wyllys--are waiting for the signal, up here,
at the residence of Madam de Lacey; she that is the relict of the
Rear-Admiral of that name, who is full-sister to the General; and,
therefore, an aunt to the young lady, according to my reckoning. Many
people think the two fortunes will go together; in which case, he will be
not only a lucky man, but a rich one, who gets Miss Getty Gray son for a
wife."
The stranger, who had maintained rather an indifferent manner during the
close of the foregoing dialogue appeared now disposed to enter into it,
with a degree of interest suited to the sex and condition of the present
subject of their discourse. After waiting to catch the last syllable that
the publican chose to expend his breath on, he demanded, a little
abruptly,--
"And you say the house near us, on the rising ground, is the residence of
Mrs de Lacey?"
"If I did, I know nothing of the matter. By 'up here,' I mean half a mile
off. It is a place fit for a lady of her quality, and none of your elbowy
dwellings like these crowded about us. One may easily tell the house, by
its pretty blinds and its shades. I'll engage there are no such shades, in
all Europe, as them very trees that stand before the door of Madam de
Lacey."
"It is very probable," muttered the stranger, who, not appearing quite as
sensitive in his provincial admiration as the publican, had already
relapsed into his former musing air. Instead of pushing the discourse, he
suddenly turned the subject, by making some common-place remark; and then,
repeating the probability of his being obliged to return, he walked
deliberately away, taking the direction of the residence of Mrs de Lacey.
The observing publican would, probably, have found sufficient matter for
observation, in this abrupt termination of the interview, had not Desire,
at that precise moment, broken out of her habitation, and diverted his
attention, by the peculiarly piquant manner in which she delineated the
character of her delinquent husband.
The reader has probably, ere this, suspected that the individual who had
conferred with the publican, as a stranger, was not unknown to himself. It
was, in truth, no other than Wilder. But, in the completion of his own
secret purposes, the young mariner left the wordy war in his rear; and,
turning up the gentle ascent, against the side of which the town is built,
he proceeded towards the suburbs.
It was not difficult to distinguish the house he sought, among a dozen
other similar retreats, by its "shades," as the innkeeper, in conformity
to a provincial use of the word, had termed a few really noble elms that
grew in the little court before its door. In order, however, to assure
himself that he was right, he confirmed his surmises by actual inquiry and
then continued thoughtfully on his path. The morning had, by this time,
fairly opened with every appearance of another of those fine bland,
autumnal days for which the climate is, or ought to be, so distinguished.
The little air there was, came from the south, fanning the face of our
adventurer as he occasionally paused, in his ascent, to gaze at the
different vessels in the harbour, like a mild breeze in June. In short, it
was just such a time as one, who is fond of strolling in the fields, is
apt to seize on with rapture, and which a seaman sets down as a day lost
in his reckoning.
Wilder was first drawn from his musings by the sound of a dialogue that
came from persons who were evidently approaching. There was one voice, in
particular, that caused his blood to thrill, he knew not why, and which
appeared unaccountably, even to himself, to set in motion every latent
faculty of his system. Profiting, by the formation of the ground, he
sprang, unseen, up a little bank, and, approaching an angle in a low wall,
he found himself in the immediate proximity of the speakers.
The wall enclosed the garden and pleasure-grounds of a mansion, that he
now perceived was the residence of Mrs de Lacey. A rustic summer-house
which, in the proper season, had been nearly buried in leaves and flowers,
stood at no great distance from the road. By its elevation and position,
it commanded a view of the town, the harbour, the isles of Massachusetts
to the east, those of the Providence Plantations to the west, and, to the
south, an illimitable expanse of ocean. As it had now lost its leafy
covering, there was no difficulty in looking directly into its centre,
through the rude pillars which supported its little dome. Here Wilder
discovered precisely the very party to whose conversation he had been a
listener the previous day, while caged, with the Rover, in the loft of the
ruin. Though the Admiral's widow and Mrs Wyllys were most in advance,
evidently addressing some one who was, like himself, in the public road,
the quick eye of the young sailor soon detected the more enticing person
of the blooming Gertrude, in the background. His observations were,
however, interrupted by a reply from the individual who as yet was unseen.
Directed by the voice, Wilder was next enabled to perceive the person of a
man in a green old age, who, seated on a stone by the way side, appeared
to be resting his weary limbs, while he answered to some interrogations
from the summer-house. Though his head was white, and the hand, which
grasped a long walking-staff, sometimes trembled, as its owner sought
additional support from its assistance, there was that in the costume, the
manner, and the voice of the speaker, which furnished sufficient evidence
of his having once been a veteran of the sea.
"Lord! your Ladyship, Ma'am," he said, in tones that were getting
tremulous, even while they retained the deep characteristic intonations of
his profession, "we old sea-dogs never stop to look into an almanac, to
see which way the wind will come after the next thaw, before we put to
sea. It is enough for us, that the sailing orders are aboard, and that the
Captain has taken leave of his Lady."
"Ah! the very words of the poor lamented Admiral!" exclaimed Mrs de Lacey,
who evidently found great satisfaction in pursuing the discourse with this
superannuated mariner. "And then you are of opinion, honest friend, that,
when a ship is ready, she should sail, whether the wind is"----
"Here is another follower of the sea, opportunely come to lend us his
advice," interrupted Gertrude, with a hurried air, as if to divert the
attention of her aunt from something very like a dogmatical termination of
an argument that had just occurred between her and Mrs Wyllys; "perhaps to
serve as an umpire."
"True," said the latter. "Pray, what think you of the weather to-day,
sir? would it be profitable to sail in such a time, or not?"
The young mariner reluctantly withdrew his eyes from the blushing
Gertrude, who, in her eagerness to point him out, had advanced to the
front, and was now shrinking back, timidly, to the centre of the building
again, like one who already repented of her temerity. He then fastened his
look on her who put the question; and so long and riveted was his gaze,
that she saw fit to repeat it, believing that what she had first said was
not properly understood.
"There is little faith to be put in the weather, Madam," was the dilatory
reply. "A man has followed the sea to but little purpose who is tardy in
making that discovery."
There was something so sweet and gentle, at the same time that it was
manly, in the voice of Wilder, that the ladies, by a common impulse,
seemed struck with its peculiarities. The neatness of his attire, which,
while it was strictly professional, was worn with an air of smartness, and
even of gentility, that rendered it difficult to suppose that he was not
entitled to lay claim to a higher station in society than that in which he
actually appeared, added to this impression. Bending her head, with a
manner that was intended to be polite, a little more perhaps in
self-respect than out of consideration to the other, as if in deference to
the equivocal character of his appearance, Mrs de Lacey resumed the
discourse.
"These ladies," she said, "are about to embark in yonder ship, for the
province of Carolina, and we were consulting concerning the quarter in
which the wind will probably blow next. But, in such a vessel, it cannot
matter much, I should think, sir, whether the wind were fair or foul."
"I think not," was the reply. "She looks to me like a ship that will not
do much, let the wind be as it may."
"She has the reputation of being a very fast sailer.--Reputation! we know
she is such, having come from home to the Colonies in the incredibly short
passage of seven weeks! But seamen have their favourites and prejudices, I
believe, like us poor mortals ashore. You will therefore excuse me, if I
ask this honest veteran for an opinion on this particular point also. What
do you imagine, friend, to be the sailing qualities of yonder ship--she
with the peculiarly high top-gallant-booms, and such conspicuous
round-tops?"
The lip of Wilder curled, and a smile struggled with the gravity of his
countenance; but he continued silent. On the other hand, the old mariner
arose, and appeared to examine the ship, like one who perfectly
comprehended the technical language of the Admiral's widow.
"The ship in the inner harbour, your Ladyship," he answered, when his
examination was finished, "which is, I suppose, the vessel that Madam
means, is just such a ship as does a sailor's eye good to look on. A
gallant and a safe boat she is, as I will swear; and as to sailing, though
she may not be altogether a witch, yet is she a fast craft, or I'm no
judge of blue water, or of those that live on it."
"Here is at once a difference of opinion!" exclaimed Mrs de Lacey. "I am
glad, however, you pronounce her safe; for, although seamen love a
fast-sailing vessel, these ladies will not like her the less for the
security. I presume, sir, you will not dispute her being _safe_."
"The very quality I should most deny," was the laconic answer of Wilder.
"It is remarkable! This is a veteran seaman, sir, and he appears to think
differently."
"He may have seen more, in his time, than myself Madam; but I doubt
whether he can, just now see as well. This is something of a distance to
discover the merits or demerits of a ship: I have been higher."
"Then you really think there is danger to be apprehended sir?" demanded
the soft voice of Gertrude whose fears had gotten the better of her
diffidence.
"I do. Had I mother, or sister," touching his hat, and bowing to his fair
interrogator, as he uttered the latter word with much emphasis, "I would
hesitate to let her embark in that ship. On my honour Ladies, I do assure
you, that I think this very vessel in more danger than any ship which has
left, or probably will leave, a port in the Provinces this autumn."
"This is extraordinary!" observed Mrs Wyllys. "It is not the character we
have received of the vessel, which has been greatly exaggerated, or she is
entitled to be considered as uncommonly convenient and safe. May I ask,
sir, on what circumstances you have founded this opinion?"
"They are sufficiently plain. She is too lean in the harping, and too full
in the counter, to steer. Then, she in as wall-sided as a church, and
stows too much above the water-line. Besides this, she carries no
head-sail, but all the press upon her will be aft, which will jam her into
the wind, and, more than likely, throw her aback. The day will come when
that ship will go down stern foremost."
His auditors listened to this opinion, which Wilder delivered in an
oracular and very decided manner, with that sort of secret faith, and
humble dependence, which the uninstructed are so apt to lend to the
initiated in the mysteries of any imposing profession. Neither of them had
certainly a very clear perception of his meaning; but there were,
apparently, danger and death in his very words Mrs de Lacey felt it
incumbent on her peculiar advantages, however, to manifest how well she
comprehended the subject.
"These are certainly very serious evils!" she exclaimed. "It is quite
unaccountable that my agent should have neglected to mention them. Is
there any other particular quality, sir, that strikes your eye at this
distance, and which you deem alarming?"
"Too many. You observe that her top-gallant masts are fidded abaft; none
of her lofty sails set flying; and then, Madam, she has depended on
bobstays and gammonings for the security of that very important part of a
vessel, the bowsprit."
"Too true! too true!" said Mrs de Lacey, in a sort of professional horror.
"These things had escaped me; but I see them all, now they are mentioned.
Such neglect is highly culpable; more especially to rely on bobstays and
gammonings for the security of a bowsprit! Really, Mrs Wyllys, I can never
consent that my niece should embark in such a vessel."
The calm, penetrating eye of Wyllys had been riveted on the countenance of
Wilder while he was speaking, and she now turned it, with undisturbed
serenity, on the Admiral's widow, to reply.
"Perhaps the danger has been a little magnified," she observed. "Let us
inquire of this other seaman what he thinks on these several points.--And
do you see all these serious dangers to be apprehended, friend, in
trusting ourselves, at this season of the year, in a passage to the
Carolinas, aboard of yonder ship?"
"Lord, Madam!" said the gray-headed mariner, with a chuckling laugh,
"these are new-fashioned faults and difficulties, if they be faults and
difficulties at all! In my time, such matters were never heard of; and I
confess I am so stupid as not to understand the half the young gentleman
has been saying."
"It is some time, I fancy, old man, since you were last at sea," Wilder
coolly observed.
"Some five or six years since the last time, and fifty since the first,"
was the answer.
"Then you do not see the same causes for apprehension?" Mrs Wyllys once
more demanded.
"Old and worn out as I am, Lady, if her Captain will give me a birth
aboard her, I will thank him for the same as a favour."
"Misery seeks any relief," said Mrs de Lacey, in an under tone, and
bestowing on her companions a significant glance. "I incline to the
opinion of the younger seaman; for he supports it with substantial,
professional reasons."
Mrs Wyllys suspended her questions, just as long as complaisance to the
last speaker seemed to require and then she resumed them as follows,
addressing her next inquiry to Wilder.
"And how do you explain this difference in judgment, between two men who
ought both to be so well qualified to decide right?"
"I believe there is a well-known proverb which will answer that question,"
returned the young man, smiling: "But some allowance must be made for the
improvements in ships; and, perhaps, some little deference to the stations
we have respectively filled on board them."
"Both very true. Still, one would think the changes of half a dozen years
cannot be so very considerable, in a profession that is so exceedingly
ancient."
"Your pardon, Madam. They require constant practice to know them. Now, I
dare say that yonder worthy old tar is ignorant of the manner in which a
ship, when pressed by her canvas, is made to 'cut the waves with her
taffrail.'"
"Impossible!" cried the Admiral's widow; "the youngest and the meanest
mariner must have been struck with the beauty of such a spectacle."
"Yes, yes," returned the old tar, who wore the air of an offended man, and
who, probably, had he been ignorant of any part of his art, was not just
then in the temper to confess it; "many is the proud ship that I have seen
doing the very same; and, as the lady says, a grand and comely sight it
is!"
Wilder appeared confounded. He bit his lip, like one who was over-reached
either by excessive ignorance or exceeding cunning; but the
self-complacency of Mrs de Lacey spared him the necessity of an immediate
reply.
"It would have been an extraordinary circumstance truly," she said, "that
a man should have grown white-headed on the seas, and never have been
struck with so noble a spectacle. But then, my honest tar, you appear to
be wrong in overlooking the striking faults in yonder ship, which this,
a--a--this gentleman has just, and so properly, named."
"I do not call them faults, your Ladyship. Such is the way my late brave
and excellent Commander always had his own ship rigged; and I am bold to
say that a better seaman, or a more honest man, never served in his
Majesty's fleet."
"And you have served the King! How was your beloved Commander named?"
"How should he be! By us, who knew him well, he was called Fair-weather:
for it was always smooth water, and prosperous times, under his orders;
though, on shore, he was known as the gallant and victorious Rear-Admiral
de Lacey."
"And did my late revered and skilful husband cause his ships to be rigged
in this manner?" said the widow, with a tremour in her voice, that bespoke
how much, and how truly, she was overcome by surprise and gratified pride.
The aged tar lifted his bending frame from the stone, and bowed low, as
he answered,--"If I have the honour of seeing my Admiral's Lady, it will
prove a joyful sight to my old eyes. Sixteen years did I serve in his own
ship, and five more in the same squadron. I dare say your Ladyship may
have heard him speak of the captain of his main-top, Bob Bunt."
"I dare say--I dare say--He loved to talk of those who served him
faithfully."
"Ay, God bless him, and make his memory glorious! He was a kind officer,
and one that never forgot a friend, let it be that his duty kept him on a
yard or in the cabin. He was the sailor's friend, that very same Admiral!"
"This is a grateful man," said Mrs de Lacey, wiping her eyes, "and I dare
say a competent judge of a vessel. And are you quite sure, worthy friend,
that my late revered husband had all his ships arranged like the one of
which we have been talking?"
"Very sure, Madam; for, with my own hands, did I assist to rig them."
"Even to the bobstays?"
"And the gammonings, my Lady. Were the Admiral alive, and here, he would
call yon 'a safe and well-fitted ship,' as I am ready to swear."
Mrs de Lacey turned, with an air of great dignity and entire decision, to
Wilder, as she continued,--"I have, then, made a small mistake in memory
which is not surprising, when one recollects, that he who taught me so
much of the profession is no longer here to continue his lessons. We are
much obliged to you, sir, for your opinion; but we must think that you
have over-rated the danger."
"On my honour, Madam," interrupted Wilder laying his hand on his heart,
and speaking with singular emphasis, "I am sincere in what I say. I do
affirm, that I believe there will be great danger in embarking in yonder
ship; and I call Heaven to witness, that, in so saying, I am actuated by
no malice to her Commander, her owners, nor any connected with her."
"We dare say, sir, you are very sincere: We only think you a little in
error," returned the Admiral's widow, with a commiserating, and what she
intended for a condescending, smile. "We are your debtors for your good
intentions, at least. Come, worthy veteran, we must not part here. You
will gain admission by knocking at my door; and we shall talk further of
these matters."
Then, bowing to Wilder, she led the way up the garden, followed by all her
companions. The step of Mrs de Lacey was proud, like the tread of one
conscious of all her advantages; while that of Wyllys was slow, as if she
were buried in thought. Gertrude kept close to the side of the latter,
with her face hid beneath the shade of a gipsy hat. Wilder fancied that he
could discover the stolen and anxious glance that she threw back towards
one who had excited a decided emotion in her sensitive bosom though it was
a feeling no more attractive than alarm. He lingered until they were lost
amid the shrubbery. Then, turning to pour out his disappointment on his
brother tar, he found that the old man had made such good use of his time,
as to be entering the gate, most probably felicitating himself on the
prospect of reaping the reward of his recent adulation.