



Produced by David Widger




AT SUNWICH PORT

BY

W. W. JACOBS

Part 2.



ILLUSTRATIONS

From Drawings by Will Owen




CHAPTER VI

For the first few days after his return Sunwich was full of surprises to
Jem Hardy.  The town itself had changed but little, and the older
inhabitants were for the most part easily recognisable, but time had
wrought wonders among the younger members of the population: small boys
had attained to whiskered manhood, and small girls passing into
well-grown young women had in some cases even changed their names.

The most astounding and gratifying instance of the wonders effected by
time was that of Miss Nugent.  He saw her first at the window, and with a
ready recognition of the enchantment lent by distance took the first
possible opportunity of a closer observation.  He then realized the
enchantment afforded by proximity.  The second opportunity led him
impetuously into a draper's shop, where a magnificent shop-walker, after
first ceremoniously handing him a high cane chair, passed on his order
for pins in a deep and thrilling baritone, and retired in good order.

[Illustration: "The most astounding and gratifying instance of the
wonders effected by time was that of Miss Nugent."]

By the end of a week his observations were completed, and Kate Nugent,
securely enthroned in his mind as the incarnation of feminine grace and
beauty, left but little room for other matters.  On his second Sunday at
home, to his father's great surprise, he attended church, and after
contemplating Miss Nugent's back hair for an hour and a half came home
and spoke eloquently and nobly on "burying hatchets," "healing old
sores," "letting bygones be bygones," and kindred topics.

"I never take much notice of sermons myself," said the captain,
misunderstanding.

"Sermon?" said his son.  "I wasn't thinking of the sermon, but I saw
Captain Nugent there, and I remembered the stupid quarrel between you.
It's absurd that it should go on indefinitely."

"Why, what does it matter?" inquired the other, staring.  "Why shouldn't
it?  Perhaps it's the music that's affected you; some of those old
hymns--"

"It wasn't the sermon and it wasn't the hymns," said his son,
disdainfully; "it's just common sense.  It seems to me that the enmity
between you has lasted long enough."

"I don't see that it matters," said the captain; "it doesn't hurt me.
Nugent goes his way and I go mine, but if I ever get a chance at the old
man, he'd better look out.  He wants a little of the starch taken out of
him."

"Mere mannerism," said his son.

"He's as proud as Lucifer, and his girl takes after him," said the
innocent captain.  "By the way, she's grown up a very good-looking girl.
You take a look at her the next time you see her."

His son stared at him.

"She'll get married soon, I should think," continued the other.  "Young
Murchison, the new doctor here, seems to be the favourite.  Nugent is
backing him, so they say; I wish him joy of his father-in-law."

Jem Hardy took his pipe into the garden, and, pacing slowly up and down
the narrow paths, determined, at any costs, to save Dr. Murchison from
such a father-in-law and Kate Nugent from any husband except of his
choosing.  He took a seat under an old apple tree, and, musing in the
twilight, tried in vain to think of ways and means of making her
acquaintance.

Meantime they passed each other as strangers, and the difficulty of
approaching her only made the task more alluring.  In the second week he
reckoned up that he had seen her nine times.  It was a satisfactory
total, but at the same time he could not shut his eyes to the fact that
five times out of that number he had seen Dr. Murchison as well, and
neither of them appeared to have seen him.

He sat thinking it over in the office one hot afternoon.  Mr. Adolphus
Swann, his partner, had just returned from lunch, and for about the fifth
time that day was arranging his white hair and short, neatly pointed
beard in a small looking-glass.  Over the top of it he glanced at Hardy,
who, leaning back in his chair, bit his pen and stared hard at a paper
before him.

"Is that the manifest of the North Star?" he inquired.

"No," was the reply.

Mr. Swann put his looking-glass away and watched the other as he crossed
over to the window and gazed through the small, dirty panes at the
bustling life of the harbour below.  For a short time Hardy stood gazing
in silence, and then, suddenly crossing the room, took his hat from a peg
and went out.

"Restless," said the senior partner, wiping his folders with great care
and putting them on.  "Wonder where he's put that manifest."

He went over to the other's desk and opened a drawer to search for it.
Just inside was a sheet of foolscap, and Mr. Swann with growing
astonishment slowly mastered the contents.

[Illustration: "Mr. Swann with growing astonishment slowly mastered the
contents."]

"See her as often as possible."

"Get to know some of her friends."

"Try and get hold of the old lady."

"Find out her tastes and ideas."

"Show my hand before Murchison has it all his own way."

"It seems to me," said the bewildered shipbroker, carefully replacing the
paper, "that my young friend is looking out for another partner.  He
hasn't lost much time."

He went back to his seat and resumed his work.  It occurred to him that
he ought to let his partner know what he had seen, and when Hardy
returned he had barely seated himself before Mr. Swann with a mysterious
smile crossed over to him, bearing a sheet of foolscap.

"Try and dress as well as my partner," read the astonished Hardy.
"What's the matter with my clothes?  What do you mean?"

Mr. Swann, in place of answering, returned to his desk and, taking up
another sheet of foolscap, began to write again, holding up his hand for
silence as Hardy repeated his question.  When he had finished his task he
brought it over and placed it in the other's hand.

"Take her little brother out for walks."

Hardy crumpled the paper up and flung it aside.  Then, with his face
crimson, he stared wrathfully at the benevolent Swann.

"It's the safest card in the pack," said the latter.  "You please
everybody; especially the little brother.  You should always hold his
hand--it looks well for one thing, and if you shut your eyes--"

"I don't want any of your nonsense," said the maddened Jem.  "What do you
mean by reading my private papers?"

"I came over to look for the manifest," said Mr. Swann, "and I read it
before I could make out what it was.  You must admit it's a bit cryptic.
I thought it was a new game at first.  Getting hold of the old lady
sounds like a sort of blind-man's buff.  But why not get hold of the
young one?  Why waste time over--"

"Go to the devil," said the junior partner.

"Any more suggestions I can give you, you are heartily welcome to," said
Mr. Swann, going back to his seat.  "All my vast experience is at your
service, and the best and sweetest and prettiest girls in Sunwich regard
me as a sort of second father."

"What's a second father?" inquired Jim, looking up--"a grandfather?"

"Go your own way," said the other; "I wash my hands of you.  You're not
in earnest, or you'd clutch at any straw.  But let me give you one word
of advice.  Be careful how you get hold of the old lady; let her
understand from the commencement that it isn't her."

Mr. Hardy went on with his work.  There was a pile of it in front of him
and an accumulation in his drawers.  For some time he wrote assiduously,
but work was dry after the subject they had been discussing.  He looked
over at his partner and, seeing that that gentleman was gravely busy,
reopened the matter with a jeer.

"Old maids always know most about rearing children," he remarked; "so I
suppose old bachelors, looking down on life from the top shelf, think
they know most about marriage."

"I wash my hands of you," repeated the senior, placidly.  "I am not to be
taunted into rendering first aid to the wounded."

The conscience-stricken junior lost his presence of mind.  "Who's trying
to taunt you?" he demanded, hotly.  "Why, you'd do more harm than good."

"Put a bandage round the head instead of the heart, I expect," assented
the chuckling Swann.  "Top shelf, I think you said; well, I climbed there
for safety."

"You must have been much run after," said his partner.

"I was," said the other.  "I suppose that's why it is I am always so
interested in these affairs.  I have helped to marry so many people in
this place, that I'm almost afraid to stir out after dark."

Hardy's reply was interrupted by the entrance of Mr. Edward Silk, a young
man of forlorn aspect, who combined in his person the offices of
messenger, cleaner, and office-boy to the firm.  He brought in some
letters, and placing them on Mr. Swann's desk retired.

"There's another," said the latter, as the door closed.  "His complaint
is Amelia Kybird, and he's got it badly.  She's big enough to eat him,
but I believe that they are engaged.  Perseverance has done it in his
case.  He used to go about like a blighted flower--"

"I am rather busy," his partner reminded him.

Mr. Swann sighed and resumed his own labours.  For some time both men
wrote in silence.  Then the elder suddenly put his pen down and hit his
desk a noisy thump with his fist.

"I've got it," he said, briskly; "apologize humbly for all your candour,
and I will give you a piece of information which shall brighten your dull
eyes, raise the corners of your drooping mouth, and renew once more the
pink and cream in your youthful cheeks."

"Look here--" said the overwrought Hardy.

"Samson Wilks," interrupted Mr. Swann, "number three, Fullalove Alley,
at home Fridays, seven to nine, to the daughter of his late skipper, who
always visits him on that day.  Don't thank me, Hardy, in case you break
down.  She's a very nice girl, and if she had been born twenty years
earlier, or I had been born twenty years later, or you hadn't been born
at all, there's no saying what might not have happened."

"When I want you to interfere in my business," said Hardy, working
sedulously, "I'll let you know."

"Very good," replied Swann; "still, remember Thursdays, seven to nine."

"Thursdays," said Hardy, incautiously; "why, you said Fridays just now."

Mr. Swann made no reply.  His nose was immersed in the folds of a large
handkerchief, and his eyes watered profusely behind his glasses.  It was
some minutes before he had regained his normal composure, and even then
the sensitive nerves of his partner were offended by an occasional
belated chuckle.

Although by dint of casual and cautious inquiries Mr. Hardy found that
his partner's information was correct, he was by no means guilty of any
feelings of gratitude towards him; and he only glared scornfully when
that excellent but frivolous man mounted a chair on Friday afternoon, and
putting the clock on a couple of hours or so, urged him to be in time.

The evening, however, found him starting slowly in the direction of
Fullalove Alley.  His father had gone to sea again, and the house was
very dull; moreover, he felt a mild curiosity to see the changes wrought
by time in Mr. Wilks.  He walked along by the sea, and as the church
clock struck the three-quarters turned into the alley and looked eagerly
round for the old steward.

The labours of the day were over, and the inhabitants were for the most
part out of doors taking the air.  Shirt-sleeved householders, leaning
against their door-posts smoking, exchanged ideas across the narrow space
paved with cobble-stones which separated their small and ancient houses,
while the matrons, more gregariously inclined, bunched in little groups
and discussed subjects which in higher circles would have inundated the
land with libel actions.  Up and down the alley a tiny boy all ready for
bed, with the exception of his nightgown, mechanically avoided friendly
palms as he sought anxiously for his mother.

[Illustration: "Fullalove Alley."]

The object of Mr. Hardy's search sat at the door of his front room, which
opened on to the alley, smoking an evening pipe, and noting with an
interested eye the doings of his neighbours.  He was just preparing to
draw himself up in his chair as the intruder passed, when to his utter
astonishment that gentleman stopped in front of him, and taking
possession of his hand shook it fervently.

"How do you do?" he said, smiling.

Mr. Wilks eyed him stupidly and, releasing his hand, coyly placed it in
his trouser-pocket and breathed hard.

"I meant to come before," said Hardy, "but I've been so busy.  How are
you?"

Mr. Wilks, still dazed, muttered that he was very well.  Then he sat bolt
upright in his chair and eyed his visitor suspiciously.

"I've been longing for a chat with you about old times," said Hardy; "of
all my old friends you seem to have changed the least.  You don't look a
day older."

"I'm getting on," said Mr. Wilks, trying to speak coldly, but observing
with some gratification the effect produced upon his neighbours by the
appearance of this well-dressed acquaintance.

"I wanted to ask your advice," said the unscrupulous Hardy, speaking in
low tones.  "I daresay you know I've just gone into partnership in
Sunwich, and I'm told there's no man knows more about the business and
the ins and outs of this town than you do."

Mr. Wilks thawed despite himself.  His face glistened and his huge mouth
broke into tremulous smiles.  For a moment he hesitated, and then
noticing that a little group near them had suspended their conversation
to listen to his he drew his chair back and, in a kind voice, invited the
searcher after wisdom to step inside.

Hardy thanked him, and, following him in, took a chair behind the door,
and with an air of youthful deference bent his ear to catch the pearls
which fell from the lips of his host.  Since he was a babe on his
mother's knee sixty years before Mr. Wilks had never had such an
attentive and admiring listener.  Hardy sat as though glued to his chair,
one eye on Mr. Wilks and the other on the clock, and it was not until
that ancient timepiece struck the hour that the ex-steward suddenly
realized the awkward state of affairs.

"Any more 'elp I can give you I shall always be pleased to," he said,
looking at the clock.

Hardy thanked him at great length, wondering, as he spoke, whether Miss
Nugent was of punctual habits.  He leaned back in his chair and, folding
his arms, gazed thoughtfully at the perturbed Mr. Wilks.

"You must come round and smoke a pipe with me sometimes," he said,
casually.

Mr. Wilks flushed with gratified pride.  He had a vision of himself
walking up to the front door of the Hardys, smoking a pipe in a
well-appointed room, and telling an incredulous and envious Fullalove
Alley about it afterwards.

"I shall be very pleased, sir," he said, impressively.

"Come round on Tuesday," said his visitor.  "I shall be at home then."

Mr. Wilks thanked him and, spurred on to hospitality, murmured something
about a glass of ale, and retired to the back to draw it.  He came back
with a jug and a couple of glasses, and draining his own at a draught,
hoped that the example would not be lost upon his visitor.  That astute
person, however, after a modest draught, sat still, anchored to the
half-empty glass.

"I'm expecting somebody to-night," said the ex-steward, at last.

"No doubt you have a lot of visitors," said the other, admiringly.

Mr. Wilks did not deny it.  He eyed his guest's glass and fidgeted.

"Miss Nugent is coming," he said.

Instead of any signs of disorder and preparations for rapid flight, Mr.
Wilks saw that the other was quite composed.  He began to entertain a
poor idea of Mr. Hardy's memory.

"She generally comes for a little quiet chat," he said.

"Indeed!"

"Just between the two of us," said the other.

His visitor said "Indeed," and, as though some chord of memory had been
touched, sat gazing dreamily at Mr. Wilks's horticultural collection in
the window.  Then he changed colour a little as a smart hat and a pretty
face crossed the tiny panes.  Mr. Wilks changed colour too, and in an
awkward fashion rose to receive Miss Nugent.

"Late as usual, Sam," said the girl, sinking into a chair.  Then she
caught sight of Hardy, who was standing by the door.

[Illustration: "She caught sight of Hardy."]

"It's a long time since you and I met, Miss Nugent," he said, bowing.

"Mr. Hardy?" said the girl, doubtfully.

"Yes, miss," interposed Mr. Wilks, anxious to explain his position.  "He
called in to see me; quite a surprise to me it was.  I 'ardly knowed
him."

"The last time we three met," said Hardy, who to his host's discomfort
had resumed his chair, "Wilks was thrashing me and you were urging him
on."

Kate Nugent eyed him carefully.  It was preposterous that this young man
should take advantage of a boy and girl acquaintance of eleven years
before--and such an acquaintance!--in this manner.  Her eyes expressed a
little surprise, not unmixed with hauteur, but Hardy was too pleased to
have them turned in his direction at all to quarrel with their
expression.

"You were a bit of a trial in them days," said Mr. Wilks, shaking his
head.  "If I live to be ninety I shall never forget seeing Miss Kate
capsized the way she was.  The way she----"

"How is