OCKEN & HUNKEN 
 
 ir A. T. Quiller=Couch)
 
 Hocken and Hunken
 
 Hocken and Hunken 
 
 A Tale of Troy 
 
 BY 
 
 "Q." 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 'TROY TOWN,' 'the DELECTABLE DUCHY,' 'HETTY WESLEY, 
 
 'SIR JOHN CONSTANTINE,' ETC., ETC. 
 
 William Blackwood and Sons 
 
 Edinburgh and London 
 
 1912 
 
 /frr T?rnTTT<^ PT-'^ri^i^nn
 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 IHSlVERSnv OF CALfFORWU 
 
 SAINTA BARBARA 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. 
 
 CAPTAIN CAI HAULS ASHORE 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 II. 
 
 THE barber's CHAIR . 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 III. 
 
 tabb's child . 
 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 IV. 
 
 VOICES IN THE TWILIGHT 
 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 V. 
 
 A TESTIMONIAL 
 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 VI. 
 
 RILLA FARM 
 
 
 
 
 56 
 
 VII. 
 VIII. 
 
 'bias arrives . 
 'bias approves 
 
 BOOK ] 
 
 I. 
 
 
 
 69 
 80 
 
 IX. first suspicions 
 X. regatta night 
 
 XL MRS BOSENNA PLAYS A PARLOUR GAME 
 
 XII. AMANTIUM JR/E 
 
 Xin. FAIR CHALLENGE 
 
 XIV. THE LETTERS .... 
 
 XV. palmerston's genius . 
 
 XVI. IS IN TWO PARTS 
 XVn. APPARENTLY DIVIDES INTO THREE 
 
 99 
 114 
 126 
 138 
 154 
 165 
 178 
 192 
 204
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 THK I'LOUQHING 
 
 . 221 
 
 XIX. 
 
 ROSKS AND THREE-PER-CENTS 
 
 . 238 
 
 XX. 
 
 A NEWSPAPER PARAGRAPH . 
 
 251 
 
 XXI. 
 
 THE AUCTION .... 
 
 . 262 
 
 xxn. 
 
 THE LAST CHALLENGE 
 
 . 283 
 
 XXIU. 
 
 PASSAGE REGATTA 
 
 . 296 
 
 XIIV. 
 
 FANCY BRINGS NEWS 
 
 . 313 
 
 XXV. 
 
 CAI RENOUNCKS 
 
 . 328 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 'bias renounces 
 
 . 342 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 MRS BOSENNA GIVES THE ROSE 
 
 . 354 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 JUBILEE .... 
 
 . 363
 
 BOOK I.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CAPTAIN CAI HAULS ASHORE. 
 
 " Well, that's over ! " 
 
 Captain Caius Hocken, from the stern-sheets of 
 the boat bearing him shoreward, slewed himself 
 half-about for a look back at his vessel, the Hannah 
 Hoo barquentine. This was a ticklish operation, 
 because he wore a tall silk hat and had allowed 
 his hair to grow during the passage home — St 
 Michael's to Liverpool with a cargo of oranges, and 
 from Liverpool around to Troy in charge of a tug. 
 
 "I'm wonderin' what 'twill feel like when it comes 
 to my turn," mused his mate Mr Tregaskis, likewise 
 pensively contemplating the Hannah Hoo. "Not 
 to be sure, sir, as I'd compare the two cases; me 
 bein' a married man, and you — as they say — with 
 the ship for wife all these years, and children too." 
 
 " I never liked the life, notwithstandin'," confessed 
 the Captain. "And I'll be fifty come Michaelmas. 
 Isn' that enough ? " 
 
 "Nobody likes it, sir; not at our age. But all 
 the same I reckon there be compensations." Mr 
 Tregaskis, shading his eyes (for the day was sunny), 
 let his gaze travel up the spars and rigging of the
 
 4 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 barquentine — up to the truck of her maintopmast, 
 where a gull had perched itself and stood with tail 
 pointing like a vane. "If the truth were known, 
 maybe your landsman on an average don't do as 
 he chooses any more than we mariners." 
 
 " Tut, man ! " The Captain, who held the tiller, 
 had ceased to look aft. His eyes were on the quay 
 and the small town climbing the hillside above it in 
 tier upon tier of huddled grey houses. " Why, 
 damme ! Your landsman chooses to live ashore, to 
 begin with. What's more, he can walk where he 
 has a mind to, no matter where the wind sits." 
 
 Mr Tregaskis shook his head. Having no hat, he 
 was able to do this, and it gave him some dialectical 
 advantage over his skipper. 
 
 " In practice, sir, you'd find it depend on who's left 
 to mind the shop." 
 
 " Home's home, all the same," said Captain Cai 
 positively, thrusting over the tiller to round in for the 
 landing-stairs. "I was born and reared in Troy, d'ye 
 see ? and as the sayin' goes — Steady on ! " 
 
 A small schooner, the Pure Gem of Padstow, had 
 warped out from the quay overnight after discharging 
 her ballast with the usual disregard of the Harbour 
 Commissioners' bye-laws ; and a number of ponderable 
 stones, now barely covered by the tide, encumbered 
 the foot of the landing. On one of these the boat 
 caught her heel, with a jerk that flung the two oarsmen 
 sprawling and toppled Captain Hocken's tall hat over 
 his nose. Mr Tregaskis thrust out a hand to catch it, 
 but in too great a haste. The impact of his finger-tips 
 on the edge of the crown sent the hat spinning forward 
 over the thwart whereon sprawled Ben Price, the 

 
 CAPTAIN CAI HAULS ASHORE 5 
 
 stroke oar, and into the lap of Nathaniel Ber^JDOW- 
 man. 
 
 Nathaniel Berry, recovering his balance, rescued the 
 headgear from the grip of his knees, gave it a polite 
 brush the wrong way of the nap, and passed it aft to 
 Ben Price. Ben — a bald-headed but able seaman — 
 eyed it a moment, rubbed it the right way dubiously 
 with his elbow, and handed it on to the mate ; who in 
 turn smoothed it with the palm of his hand, which — 
 being an alert obliging man — he had dexterously wetted 
 overside before the Captain could stop him. 
 
 " That's no method to improve a hat," said Captain 
 Hocken shortly, snatching it and wiping it with his 
 handkerchief. He peered into it and pushed out a 
 dent with his thumb. "The way this harbour's 
 allowed to shoal is nothing short of a national 
 disgrace ! " 
 
 He improved on this condemnation as, having pushed 
 clear and brought his boat safely alongside, he climbed 
 the steps and met the Quaymaster, who advanced to 
 greet him with an ingratiating smile. 
 
 " — A scandal to the civilised world ! There's a way 
 to stack ballast, now ! Look at it, sproiled about the 
 quay-edge like a skittle-alley in a cyclone ! But that 
 has been your fashion, Peter Bussa, ever since I knowed 
 'ee, and ' Nigh enough ' your motto." 
 
 " You've no idea, Cap'n Cai, the hard I work to 
 keep this blessed quay tidy." 
 
 " Work ? Ay — like a pig's tail, I believe : goin' all 
 day, and still in a twist come night." 
 
 " Chide away — chide away, now ! But you're 
 welcome home for all that, Cap'n Cai, — welcome as a 
 man's heart to his body."
 
 6 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 Captain Cai relaxed his frown. After all, 'twas 
 good to return and iind the little town running on just 
 as he left it, even down to Quaymaster Bussa and his 
 dandering ways. Yes, there stood the ancient crane 
 with its broken-cogged winch — his own initials, carved 
 with his first clasp-knife, would be somewhere on the 
 beam ; and the heap of sand beside it differed nothing 
 from the heap on which he and his fellows had pelted 
 one another forty years ago. Certainly the two 
 bollards — the one broken, the other leaning aslant — 
 were the same over which he and they had played 
 leap-frog. Yes, and yonder, in the arcade supporting 
 the front of the " King of Prussia," was Long Mitchell 
 leaning against his usual pillar; and there, on the 
 bench before the Working Men's Institute, sat the trio 
 of septuagenarians — Un' Barnicoat, Roper Vine, Old 
 Cap'n Tom — and sunned themselves ; inseparables, who 
 seldom exchanged a remark, and never but in terms 
 and tones of inveterate contempt. Facing them in his 
 doorway lounged the town barber, under his striped 
 pole and sign-board — " gimeon Toy, Hairdresser" 
 with the s's still twiddling the wrong way ; and beyond, 
 outside the corner-shop, Mr Rogers, ship-broker and 
 ship-chandler — half paralytic but cunning yet, — sat 
 hunched in his invalid chair, blinking; for all the 
 world like a wicked old spider on the watch for 
 flies. 
 
 " Ahoy, there ! " Captain Cai hailed, and made across 
 at once for the invalid chair : for Mr Rogers was his 
 man of business. " Lost no time in reportin' myself, 
 you see." 
 
 Mr Rogers managed to lift his hand a little way to 
 meet Captain Cai's grasp. " Eh ? Eh ? I've been moored 
 
 I
 
 CAPTAIN CAI HAULS ASHORE 7 
 
 here since breakfast on the look-out for 'ee." He 
 spoke indistinctly by reason of his paralysis. " They 
 brought word early that the Hannah Hoo was in, and 
 I gave orders straight away for a biled leg o' mutton — 
 with capers — an' spring cabbage. Twelve-thirty we 
 sit down to it, if that suits ? " 
 
 " Thank 'ee, I should just say it did suit ! . . . You 
 got my last letter, posted from the Azores ? " 
 
 " To be sure I did. I've taken the two houses for 
 'ee, what's more, an' the leases be drawn ready to sign. 
 . . . But where's your friend ? He'll be welcome too — 
 that is, if you don't hold three too many for a leg o' 
 mutton ? " 
 
 " 'Bias Hunken ? . . . You didn't reckon I was 
 bringing him along with me, did you ? " 
 
 " I reckoned nothin' at all, not knowin' the 
 man." 
 
 " Well, he's at West Indy Docks, London, — or was, a 
 week ago. I saw it on ' The Shipping Gazette ' two 
 days before we left the Mersey : the I'll Away, from 
 New Orleans ; barquentine, and for shape in tonnage 
 might be own sister to the Hannah Hoo; but soft 
 wood and Salcombe built. I was half fearing 'Bias 
 might get down to Troy ahead of me." 
 
 " He hasn't reported himself to me, anyway. . . . 
 But we'll talk about him and other things later 
 on." 
 
 Mr Rogers dismissed the subject as the Quay master 
 came sidling up to join them. Mild gossip was a 
 passion with the Quaymaster, and eavesdropping his 
 infirmity. 
 
 " Well, Cap'n Cai, and so you've hauled ashore — and 
 for good, if I hear true ? "
 
 8 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " For <xood it is, please God," answered Captain 
 Cai, liftinjx his hat at the word. He was a simple man 
 and a pious. 
 
 " And a householder you've become already, by all 
 accounts. I don't set much store by Town Quay talk 
 as a rule " 
 
 " That's right," interrupted Mr Rogers. " There's no 
 man ought to know its worth better than you, that 
 sets most of it goin'." 
 
 " They do say as you've started by leasin' the two 
 cottages in Harbour Terrace." 
 
 " Do they ? " Captain Cai glanced at the ship- 
 chandler for confirmation. " Well, then, I hope it is 
 true." 
 
 " 'Tis nothing of the sort," snapped Mr Rogers. 
 Seeing how Captain Cai's face fell, he added, " I may 
 be wrong, o' course, but I reckon there was two tenants, 
 and they wanted a cottage apiece." 
 
 " Ah, to be sure ! " agreed the honest captain, visibly 
 relieved. 
 
 But the Quaymaster persisted. " Yes, yes ; there 
 was talk of a friend o' yours, an' that you two were 
 for settin' up house alongside one another, Hunken 
 was the name, if I remember ? " 
 
 Again Captain Cai glanced at the ship-chandler. He 
 was plainly puzzled, as the ship-chandler was plainly 
 nettled. But he answered simply — 
 
 " That's it— 'Bias Hunken." 
 
 " Have I met the man, by any chance ? " 
 
 " No," said Captain Cai firmly, " you haven't, or you 
 wouldn't ask the question. He's the best man ever 
 wore shoe-leather, and you can trust him to the end o' 
 the earth."
 
 CAPTAIN CAI HAULS ASHORE 9 
 
 "I can't say as I know a Hunken answerin' that 
 description," Mr Bussa confessed dubiously. 
 
 " You've heard the description, anyway," suggested 
 Mr Rogers, losing patience. " And now, Peter Bussa, 
 what d'ye say to running off and annoying somebody 
 else?" 
 
 The Quaymaster fawned, and was backing away. 
 But at this point up came Barber Toy, who for some 
 minutes had been fretting to attract Captain Cai's 
 notice, and could wait no longer. 
 
 " Hulloa, there ! Is it Cap'n Cai ? — an' still carryin' 
 his gafF-tops'l, I see " (this in pleasant allusion to the 
 tall hat). " Well, home you be, it seems, an' welcome 
 as flowers in May ! " 
 
 " Thank 'ee. Toy." Captain Cai shook hands. 
 
 "We was talkin' business," said the ship-chandler 
 pointedly. 
 
 " Then you might ha' waited for a better occasion," 
 Mr Toy retorted. " Twasn' mannerly of ye, to say the 
 least." 
 
 "Better be unmannerly than troublesome, I've 
 heard." 
 
 " Better be both than unf eelin'. What ! Leave 
 Cap'n Cai, here, pass my door, an' never a home- 
 comin' word ? " 
 
 " I was meanin' to pay you a visit straight away ; 
 indeed I was," said Captain Cai contritely. "Troy 
 streets be narrow and full o' friends; and when a 
 
 man's accustomed to sea-room " He broke off 
 
 and drew a long breath. "But O, friends, if you 
 knew the good it is ! " 
 
 " Ay, Cap'n : East or West, home is best." 
 
 "And too far East is West, as every sailor man
 
 10 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 knows. . . . There, now, take mc along and think 
 that out while you're giving me a clip ; for the 
 longer you stand scratching your head the longer 
 my hair's growing." He turned to Mr Rogers. "So 
 long, soce ! I'll be punctual at twelve-thirty — what's 
 left of me."
 
 11 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE BARBERS CHAIR. 
 
 " This is home ! " Captain Cai settled himself down 
 in the barber's chair with a sigh of luxurious content. 
 
 "I've heard married men call it better," said Mr 
 Toy, fetching forth a clean wrapper. 
 
 "Very likely." The Captain sighed again con- 
 tentedly. "I take no truck in marriage, for my 
 part. A friend's company enough for me." 
 
 " What's his name, Cap'n ? The whole town's 
 dyin' to know." 
 
 " He's called Hunken — Tobias Hunken." 
 
 The barber paused, snapping his scissors and 
 nodding. " Bussa was right then, or Bussa and Philp 
 between 'em." 
 
 "Hey?" 
 
 " 'Tis wonderful how news gets abroad in Troy. . . . 
 ' Hunken,' now ? And where might he be one of ? I 
 don't seem to fit the name in my mem'ry at all." 
 
 " You wouldn't. He comes from t'other side of the 
 Duchy — a Padstow - born man, and he've never set 
 eyes on Troy in his life." 
 
 " Yet he takes a house an' settles here ? That's 
 queer, as you might say."
 
 12 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " I see nothing queer about it. He's my friend — 
 that's why. And what's more, the Lord never put 
 bowels into a better man." 
 
 " He'll be a pleasure to shave, then," opined Mr Toy. 
 
 " No, he won't ; he wears his hair all over his face. 
 Talkin' of that reminds me — when you've done 
 croppin' me I want a clean shave." 
 
 " Chin-beard an' all, Cap'n ? " 
 
 " Take it off — take it off ! 'Twas recommended to 
 me against sore throat; but I never liked the thing 
 nor the look of it." 
 
 "Then there's one point, it seems, on which you 
 an' your friend don't agree, sir?" 
 
 The barber meant this facetiously, but Captain 
 Cai considered it in all seriousness. 
 
 " You're mistaken," he answered. " Between friends 
 there's a give-an'-take, and until you understand that 
 you don't understand friendship. 'Bias Hunken likes 
 me to do as I choose, and I like 'Bias to do as he 
 chooses : by consekence o' which the more we goes 
 our own ways the more we goes one another's. That 
 clear, I hope." 
 
 " Moderately," the barber assented. 
 
 "I'll put it t'other way-about an' make it still 
 clearer. Most married folks, as I notice, start t'other 
 way about. For argyment's sake we'll call 'em Jack 
 an' Joan. Jack starts by thinkin' Joan pretty near 
 perfection; but he wants her quite perfect and all 
 to his mind — his mind, d'ye see ? Now if you 
 follow that up, as you followed it between 'Bias 
 and me " 
 
 " I don't want my missus to wear a beard, if that's 
 what you mean."
 
 THE BARBER'S CHAIR 13 
 
 " 'Twasn't a good illustration, I admit. But the 
 p'int is, I like 'Bias because he's 'ijias, an' 'Bias likes 
 me because I'm Cai Hocken. That bein' so, don't it 
 follow we're goin' to be better friends than ever, now 
 we've hauled ashore to do as likes us ? " 
 
 The barber shook his head. "You're determined 
 to have off your chin-beard ? " 
 
 " To be sure. I'm ashore now, aren't I ? — and free 
 to wear what face I choose." 
 
 "You won't find it so, Cap'n." 
 
 " T'ch't ! You landsmen be so fed with liberty you 
 don't know your privileges. If you don't like your 
 habits, what hinders you from changin' 'em ? But 
 do you ? Here I come back : here's th' old Town 
 Quay same as ever it was ; and here likewise you all 
 be, runnin' on as I left 'ee, like a clockwork — a bit 
 slower with age maybe — that's all. Whereby I 
 conclude your ways content ye." 
 
 " You're wrong, Cap'n Cai — you're wrong. We 
 bide by our habits — an', more by token, here comes 
 Mr Philp. 'Morning, Mr Philp." The barber, without 
 turning, nodded towards the newcomer as he entered 
 — a short man, aged about sixty, with a square-cut 
 grey beard, sanguine complexion, and blue eyes that 
 twinkled with a deceptive appearance of humour. 
 "Here's Cap'n Cai Hocken, home from sea." 
 
 " Eh ? I am very glad to see you, Cap'n Hocken," 
 said Mr Philp politely. " There's a post-card waitin' 
 for you, up at the Office." 
 
 Captain Cai sat bolt upright of a sudden, narrowly 
 missing a wound from the scissors. "That will be 
 from 'Bias! To think I hadn' sense enough to go 
 straight to the Post Office and inquire ! "
 
 14 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 '•'Tis from your friend, sure enough," announced 
 Mr Philp. " He paid off his crew last Toosday, an' 
 took his discharge an' the train down to Plymouth. 
 He've bought a wardrobe there — real wornut — an' 
 'tis comin' round by sea. There's a plate-chest, too, 
 he thinks you may fancy — price thirty-five shillin 
 secondhand : an' he hopes to reach Troy the day 
 after next, which by the post-mark is to-morra." 
 
 " Mr Philp," explained the barber, " calls in at the 
 Office every mornin' to read all the post-cards. 'Tis 
 one of his habits." 
 
 "Recent bereavement?" asked Mr Philp, before 
 Captain Cai could well digest this. 
 
 " Eh ? " 
 
 " Recent bereavement ? " Mr Philp was examining 
 the tall hat, which he had picked up to make room 
 for his own person on the customers' bench. 
 
 "That's another of his aptitoods," the bai-ber 
 interpolated. " He attends all the funerals in the 
 parish." 
 
 "In the midst o' life we are in death," observed 
 Mr Philp. "That's a cert, Cap'n Hocken, an' your 
 hat put me in mind of it." 
 
 " Oh, 'tis my hat you're meanin' ? What's wrong 
 with it?" 
 
 " Did I say there was anything wrong ? No, I 
 didn't — God forbid ! An' no doubt," concluded Mr 
 Philp cheerfully, "the fashions '11 work round to it 
 again." 
 
 " I'll change it for another." 
 
 " You won't find that too easy, will you ? " The 
 barber paused in his snipping, and turned about for 
 a thoughtful look at the hat.
 
 THE BARBER'S CHAIR 15 
 
 "I mean I'll buy another, of a different shape. 
 First the beard, then the headgear — as I was tellin' 
 Toy, a man ashore can reggilate his ways as he chooses, 
 an' here's to prove it." 
 
 "They do say a clean shave is worth two virtuous 
 resolutions," answered the barber, shaking his head 
 again, " And you're makin' a brave start, I don't 
 deny. But wait till you pick up with a few real 
 habits." 
 
 " What sort o' habits ? " 
 
 " The sort that come to man first-along in the shape 
 o' duties — like church-goin'. Look here, Cap'n, I'll 
 lay a wager with 'ee. . . . Soon as you begin to 
 walk about this town a bit, you'll notice a terrible 
 lot o' things that want improvin' " 
 
 " I don't need to walk off the Town Quay for 
 that." 
 
 " Ah, an' I daresay it came into your head that if 
 you had the orderin' of Bussa you wouldn' be long 
 about it ? The town'll think it, anyway. We're a 
 small popilation in Troy, all tied up in'neighbourly 
 feelin's an' hangin' together till — as the sayin' is — 
 you can't touch a cobweb without hurtin' a rafter 
 What the town's cryin' out for is a new broom — a 
 man with ideas, eh, Mr Philp ? — above all, a man 
 who's independent. So first of all they'll flatter ye 
 up into standin' for the Parish Council, and put ye 
 head o' the poll " 
 
 " Tut, man ! " interrupted Captain Cai, flushing a 
 little. " What do I know about such things ? Not 
 o' course that I shan't take an interest — as a 
 ratepayer " 
 
 " To be sure. I heard a man say, only last Satur-
 
 16 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 day, sittin' in that very chair, as there was never 
 a ship's captain hauled ashore but in three weeks he'd 
 be ready to teach the Chancellor of th' Exchequer 
 his business an' inclined to wonder how soon he'd 
 be offered the job." 
 
 " A ship's captain needn't be altogether a born fool." 
 
 " No : an' next you'll be bent on larnin' to speak 
 in public ; and takin' occasions to practise, secondin' 
 votes o' thanks an' such like. After that you'll be 
 marryin' a wife " 
 
 " I don't want to marry a wife, I tell 'ee ! " 
 
 " Who said you did ? Well, then, you'll get 
 married— they dotes on a public man as a rule; and 
 for tanglin' a man up in habits there's no snare like 
 wedlock, not in the whole world. I've known scores 
 o' men get married o' purpose to break clear o' their 
 habits an' take a fresh start; but ne'er a man that 
 didn't tie himself up thereby in twenty new habits 
 for e'er a one he'd let drop." 
 
 " Go on with your folly, if it amuses you." 
 
 " Then, again, you've taken a house." 
 
 " So Rogers tells me. I don't even know the rent, 
 at this moment." 
 
 " Twenty-five pound p'r annum," put in Mr Philp. 
 
 Captain Cai — released just then from his wrapper 
 — turned and stared at him. 
 
 "I had it from the Postmistress," Mr Philp's tone 
 was matter-of-fact, his gaze unabashed. " Bein' para- 
 lytic, Rogers did your business with the widow by 
 letter ; he keeps a type-writin' machine an' pays 
 Tabb's girl three shillin' a-week to work it. The 
 paper's thin, as I've had a mind to warn 'er more 
 than once."
 
 THE BARBER'S CHAIR 17 
 
 '"Twould be a Christian act," suggested Mr Toy. 
 " If there's truth in half what folks say, some of old 
 Johnny Rogers' correspondence 'd make pretty readin' 
 for the devil." 
 
 " But look here," interposed Captain Cai, " what's 
 this about doin' business with a widow ? Wliose 
 widow ? " 
 
 " Why, your landlady, to be sure — the Widow 
 Bosenna, up to Rilla Farm." 
 
 "No — stop a minute — take that blessed latherin'- 
 brush out o' my mouth ! You don't tell me old 
 Bosenna's dead, up there ? " 
 
 " It didn' altogether surprise most of us when it 
 happened," said the barber philosophically. " A man 
 risin' sixty-five, with his habits ! . . . But it all came 
 about by the County Council's widenin' the road up at 
 Four Turnin's. . . . You see, o' late years th' old man 
 'd ride home on Saturdays so full he had to drop off 
 somewhere 'pon the road ; an' his mare gettin' to find 
 this out, as dumb animals do, had picked up a comfort- 
 able way of canterin' hard by Four Turnin's and stop- 
 pin' short, slap in the middle of her stride, close by th' 
 hedge, so 's her master 'd roll over it into the planta- 
 tion there, where the ditch is full of oak-leaves. There 
 he'd lie, peaceful as a suckin' child ; and there, every 
 Sabbath mornin' in the small hours, one o' the farm 
 hands 'd be sent to gather 'em in wi' the new-laid eggs. 
 So it went on till one day the County Council, busy as 
 usual, takes a notion to widen th' road just there ; an' 
 not only pulls down th' hedge, but piles up a great 
 heap o' stones, ready to build a new one. Whereby 
 either the mare hadn' noticed the improvement or it 
 had escaped her memory. Anyway — the night bein' 
 
 B
 
 18 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 dark — she shoots old Bosenna neck-an'-crop 'pon the 
 stones. It caused a lot o' feelin' at the time, an' the 
 coroner's jury spoke their minds pretty free about it. 
 They brought it in that he'd met his death by the 
 visitation o' God brought about by a mistake o' the 
 mare's an' helped on by the over-zealous behaviour of. 
 the County Surveyor. Leastways that's how they put 
 it at first ; but on the Coroner's advice they struck out 
 the County Surveyor an' altered him to a certain party 
 or parties unknown." 
 
 " I mind Mrs Bosenna well," said Captain Cai, rising 
 as the barber unwrapped him ; " a smallish well- 
 featured body, with eyes like bullace plums." 
 
 " Ay, an' young enough to ha' been old Bosenna's 
 daughter — a penniless maid from Holsworthy in Devon, 
 as I've heard ; an' now she's left there, up to Rilla, 
 happy as a mouse in cheese. Come to think, Cap'n 
 Cai, you might do worse than cock your hat in that 
 quarter." 
 
 But Captain Cai did not hear for the moment. He 
 was peering into the looking-glass and thinking less 
 of Mrs Bosenna than of his shaven-altered appear- 
 ance. 
 
 " 'Twould be a nice change for her, too," pursued Mr 
 Toy in a rallying tone ; " an adaptable man like you, 
 Cap'n." 
 
 " Eh ? What's that you were sayin' about my hat ? " 
 asked Captain Cai ; and just then, letting his gaze 
 wander to the depths of the glass, he was aware of 
 Mr Philp shamelessly trying on that same hat before 
 another mirror at the back of the shop. 
 
 " Hullo, there ! " 
 
 Mr Philp faced about solidly, composedly.
 
 THE BARBER'S CHAIR 19 
 
 " I was thinkin'," said he, " as I'd bid you three-an'- 
 six for this, if you've done with it. I've long been 
 wantin' something o' the sort, for interments." 
 
 " Done with you ! " said Captain Cai, reaching for it 
 and clapping it on his head. "Only you must send 
 round for it to-morrow, when I've found myself some- 
 thing more up-to-date." Again he contemplated his 
 shaven image in the mirror. " Lord ! A man do look 
 younger without a chin-beard ! " 
 
 "Ay, Cap'n." Barber Toy, knuckles on hips, re- 
 garded and approved his handiwork. "The world's 
 afore 'ee. Go in and win ! " 
 
 As he stepped out upon the Quay, Captain Cai lifted 
 his gaze towards the tower of the Parish Church, 
 visible above an alley- way that led between a gable- 
 end of the Town Hall and the bulging plank of the 
 "King of Prussia." Aloft there the clock began to 
 chime out the eight notes it had chimed, at noon 
 and at midnight, through his boyhood, and had 
 been chiming faithfully ever since. 
 
 Yes, it was good to be home ! Captain Cai would 
 have been astonished to learn that his thirty-five 
 years at sea had left any corner for sentiment. Yet 
 a sudden mist gathered between him and the face of 
 the old clock. Nor had it cleared when, almost punctu- 
 ally on the last stroke, a throng of children came 
 pouring from school through the narrow alley-ways. 
 They ran by him with no more than a glance, not 
 interrupting their shouts. In a moment the Quay was 
 theirs ; they were at leap-frog over the bollards ; they 
 were storming the sand -heap, pelting a king of the 
 castle, who pelted back with handfuls. Captain Cai
 
 20 HOCKEN AND HUNKER 
 
 felt an absurd sense of being left out in the cold. Not 
 a child had recognised him. 
 
 All very well . . . but to think that these thirty-odd 
 years had made not a scrap of difference — that the 
 Quay lay as it had lain, neglected, untidy as ever ! 
 Thirty-odd years ago it had been bad enough. But 
 what conscience was there in standing still and making 
 no effort to move with the times ? As Barber Toy 
 said, it was scandalous.
 
 21 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 tabb's child. 
 
 " Three hundred pounds a-year . . ." mused Captain 
 Cai between two puffs of tobacco smoke. He re- 
 peated the words, rolling them in his mouth, as 
 though they tasted well. " You're pretty sure 'twill 
 come to that ? " 
 
 " Sure," answered Mr Rogers. The pair had dined, 
 and were now promoting digestion with pipes and grog 
 in Mr Rogers' bow-window overlooking the harbour. 
 " You might put your money to an annuity, o' 
 course, an' live like a lord : but I'm reckonin' it in 
 safe ord'nary investments, averagin' (let's say) four 
 per cent. An' that's leavin' out your thirty-odd shares 
 in the Hannah Hoo, when she's for sale. Ship-auctions 
 be chancey things in these days, an' private purchasers 
 hard to find." 
 
 " I never knew 'em when they weren't," said Captain 
 Cai. 
 
 " When d'ye pay off, by the way ? " 
 
 " Not till Saturday. Theie's no hurry. When a 
 man drops hook on his last cruise I allow 'tis his duty 
 to tidy up an' leave all ship-shape; injustice to hisself,
 
 22 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 you understand. There's Tregaskis an' the crew, too, — 
 old shipmates every one " 
 
 The chandler nodded. 
 
 " Ay, you're to be envied, Cap'n. There's others — 
 masters of oil-tanks, f'r instance — as makes their pile 
 faster ; some of em' in ways that needn't be mentioned 
 atween you an' me. But slow an' honest has been 
 your motto ; an' here you be — What's your age ? Fifty ? 
 Say fifty at the outside. — Here you be at fifty with a 
 tidy little income and a clean conscience to sit with in 
 your pew o' Sundays ; nothing to do o' week-days but 
 look after a few steady- goin' investments an' draw 
 your little dividends." 
 
 "That 'd be more business than I've a mind for, 
 Rogers," answered Captain Cai ; " at any rate, while 
 you live. I've a-left my affairs to you these twelve 
 year, an' mean to continue, please God — you knowin' 
 my ways." 
 
 The chandler blinked. " That's very han'some o' ye, 
 Cap'n," he said after a long pause. " But " 
 
 " There's no ' but ' about it," interrupted Captain Cai 
 shortly, looking away and resting his gaze on the 
 Hannah Hoo out in the harbour, where she lay on 
 the edge of the deep-water channel among a small 
 crowd of wind-bounders. Her crew had already made 
 some progress in unbending sails, and her stripped 
 spars shone as gold against the westering sunlight. 
 " No ' but ' about it, Rogers — unless o' course you're 
 unwillin'." 
 
 " What's willin' or unwillin' to a man broken in 
 health as I be ? That's the pint, Cap'n — here, set 
 opposite to 'ee, staring 'ee in the face — a hulk, shall 
 we say ? — rudder gone, ridin' to a thread o' life — ■ — "
 
 TABB'S CHILD 23 
 
 "You'll ride to it a many years yet, please God 
 again." 
 
 " I take 'e to witness this is not my askin'." 
 
 Captain Cai stared. " 'Tis my askin', Rogers. I put 
 it as a favour." 
 
 " What about your friend ? I was thinkin' as 
 maybe hed take over the job." 
 
 " 'Bias ? " Captain Cai shook his head. " He've no 
 gift in money matters ; let be that I don't believe in 
 mixin' friendship in business." 
 
 Mr Rogers pondered this for some while in silence. 
 Then he struck a hand-bell beside him, and his summons 
 was answered by a small short -skirted handmaiden 
 who had waited table. 
 
 " Pipe's out, my dear," he announced. " An' while 
 you're about it you may mix us another glassful 
 apiece." 
 
 " Not for me, thank 'ee," said Captain Cai. 
 
 " An' not for him, neither," said the girl. She was 
 but a child, yet she spoke positively, and yet again 
 without disrespect in her manner. " 'Tis poison for 
 'ee," she added, knocking out the ash from her master's 
 churchwarden pipe and refilling it from the tobacco-jar. 
 " You know what the doctor said ? " 
 
 " Ugh ! — a pair o' tyrants, you an' the doctor ! 
 Just a thimbleful now — if the Cap'n here will join 
 me." 
 
 " You heard him ? He don't want another glass." 
 Her solemn eyes rested on Captain Cai, and he re- 
 peated that he would take no more grog. 
 
 She struck a match and held it to the pipe while the 
 chandler drew a few puff's. Then she was gone as 
 noiselessly as she had entered.
 
 24 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " That's a question now," observed Captain Cai after 
 a pause. 
 
 " What's a question ? " 
 
 "Servants. I've talked it over with 'Bias, and he 
 allows we should advertise for a single housekeeper ; a 
 staid honest woman to look after the pair of us — with 
 maybe a trifle of extra help. That gel, for instance, as 
 waited table " 
 
 "Tabb's child?" 
 
 " Is that her name ? " 
 
 " She was christened Fancy — Fancy Tabb — her 
 parents being a brace o' fools. Ay, she's a nonesuch, 
 is Tabb's child." 
 
 "With a manageable woman to give her orders — 
 What's amiss with ye, Rogers ? " 
 
 Captain Cai put the question in some alarm, for 
 the heaving of the ship-chandler's waistcoat and a 
 strangling noise in his throat together suggested a 
 sudden gastric disturbance. 
 
 But it appeared they were but symptoms of mirth. 
 Mr Rogers lifted his practicable hand, and with a red 
 bandanna handkerchief wiped the rheum from his eyes. 
 
 " Ho, dear ! — you'll excuse me, Cap'n ; but ' with a 
 manageable woman,' you said ? I'd pity her startin' 
 to manage the like of Fancy Tabb." 
 
 " Why, what's wrong wi' the child ? " 
 
 " Nothin' — let be I can't keep a grown woman in the 
 house unless she's a half-wit. I have to get 'em from 
 Tregarrick, out o' the Home for the Feeble-Minded. 
 But it don't work so badly. They're cheap, you 
 understand; an' Fancy teaches 'em to cook. If they 
 don't show no promise after a fortni't's trial, she sends 
 'em back. I hope," added the chandler, perceiving
 
 TABB'S CHILD 25 
 
 Captain Cai to frown, "you're not feelin' no after- 
 thoughts about that leg o' mutton. Maybe I ought 
 to have warned 'ee that 'twas cooked by a person of 
 weak intellect." 
 
 " Don't mention it," said Captain Cai politely. " What 
 the eye don't see the heart don't grieve, as they say ; an' 
 the jint was boiled to a turn. ... I was only wonderin' 
 how you picked up such a maid ! " 
 
 The chandler struck again upon the small hand-bell. 
 " I got her from a bad debt." 
 
 " Seems an odd way " began Captain Cai, after 
 
 pondering for a moment, but broke oft* for the hand- 
 maiden stood already on the threshold. 
 
 " Fancy Tabb," commanded the chandler, " step fore, 
 here, into the light." 
 
 The child obeyed. 
 
 " You see this gentleman ? " 
 
 " Yes, master." Her eyes, as she turned them upon 
 Captain Cai, were frank enough, or frank as eyes 
 could be that guarded a soul behind glooms of reserve. 
 They were straight, at any rate, and unflinching, and 
 very serious. 
 
 " You know his business ? " 
 
 "I think so, master. . . . Has he come to sign the 
 lease ? I'll fetch it from your desk, if you'll give me 
 the keys." 
 
 " Bide a bit, missy," said Captain Cai. " That 'd be 
 buying a pig in a poke, when I ha'n't even seen the 
 house yet — not," he added, with a glance at Mr Rogers, 
 " that I make any doubt of its suiting. But business 
 is business." 
 
 The child turned to her master, as much as to ask, 
 " What, then, is your need of me ? "
 
 26 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 "Cap'n Hocken wants a servant," said Mr Rogers, 
 answering the look. 
 
 She appeared to ponder this. " Before seein' the 
 house ? " she asked, after a moment or two. 
 
 " She had us there, Rogers ! " chuckled Captain Cai ; 
 but the child was perfectly serious. 
 
 " You would like me to show you the house ? 
 Master has the key." 
 
 " That's an idea, now ! " He was still amused. 
 
 "When?" 
 
 " This moment — that's to say, if your master '11 spare 
 you ? " He glanced at Mr Rogers, who nodded. 
 
 " Couldn't do better," he agreed. " You've a good 
 two hours afore dusk, an' she's a proper dictionary on 
 taps an' drainage." 
 
 " Please you to come along, sir." The child waited 
 respectfully while Captain Cai arose, picked up his 
 hat, and bade his host " So long ! " He followed her 
 downstairs. 
 
 Their way to the street lay through the shop, and by 
 the rearward door of it she paused to reach down her 
 hat and small jacket. The shop was long, dark, 
 intricate ; its main window overshadowed by the bulk 
 of the Town Hall, across the narrow alley- way ; its end 
 window, which gave on the Quay, blocked high with 
 cheeses, biscuit-tins, boxes of soap, and dried New- 
 foundland cod. Into this gloom the child flung her 
 voice, and Captain Cai was aware of the upper half of a 
 man's body dimly silhouetted there against the panes. 
 
 " Daddy, I'm going out." 
 
 " Yes, dear," answered the man's voice dully. 
 
 " For an hour, very likely. This gentleman wants 
 to see his new house, and I'm to show it to him."
 
 TABB'S CHILD 27 
 
 " Yes, dear." 
 
 " You'll be careful, won't you now ? Mrs M — f us '11 
 be coming round, certain, for half-a-pound of bacon; 
 and that P — fus girl for candles, if not for sugar. 
 You've to serve neither, mind, until you see their money." 
 
 " Yes, dear. What excuse shall I make ? " The 
 man's voice was weary but patient. The tone of it set 
 a chord humming faintly somewhere in Captain Cai's 
 memory : but his mind worked slowly and (as he would 
 have put it) wanted sea-room, to come about. 
 
 They had taken but a few steps, however, when in 
 the narrow street, known as Dolphin Row, he pulled up 
 with all sail shaking. 
 
 " That there party as we passed in the shop " 
 
 " He's my father," said the child quickly. 
 
 " And you're Tabb's child. . . . You don't tell me that 
 was Lijah Tabb, as used to be master o' the Uncle an' 
 Aunt ? " 
 
 " I don't tell you anything," said the child, and 
 added, "he's a different man altogether." 
 
 "That's curious now." Captain Cai walked on a 
 pace or two and halted again. "But you're Tabb's 
 child," he insisted. " And, by the trick of his voice, if 
 that wasn't Lijah " 
 
 " His name is Elijah." 
 
 " Eh ? " queried Captain Cai, rubbing his ear. " But 
 I heard tell," he went on in a puzzled way, searching 
 his memory, "as Lijah Tabb an' Rogers had quarrelled 
 desp'rate an' burnt the papers, so to speak." 
 
 " 'Twas worse than that." She did not answer his 
 look, but kept her eyes fixed ahead. 
 
 " Yet here I find the man keepin' shop for Rogers : 
 and as for you — if you're his daughter "
 
 28 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " I'm in service with Mr Rogers," said Fancy, who as 
 if in a nioinent had recovered her composure. " If you 
 want to know why, sir, and won't chat about it, I don't 
 mind tellin' you." 
 
 " You make me curious, little maid : that I'll own." 
 
 " 'Tis simple enough, too," said she. " He's had a 
 stroke, an' he's goin to hell." 
 
 " Eh ? ... I don't see " 
 
 " He's goin' to hell," she repeated with a nod as over 
 a matter that admitted no dispute. 
 
 " Well, but dang it all ! " protested Captain Cai after 
 a pause, " we'll allow as he's goin' there, for the sake 
 of argyment. Is that why you're tendin' on him so 
 careful ? " 
 
 "You mustn't think," answered the child, "that 
 I'm doin' it out o' pity altogether. There's some- 
 thing terrible fascinatin' about a man in that 
 position."
 
 29 
 
 CHAPTER ly. 
 
 VOICES IN THE TWILIGHT. 
 
 "I don't see anything immodest in it," said Mrs 
 Bosenna looking up. She was on her knees and had 
 just finished pressing the earth about the roots of a 
 small rose-bush. " The house is mine, and naturally I 
 am curious to know something about my tenant." 
 
 Dinah, her middle-aged maid, who had been holding 
 the bush upright and steady, answered this challenge 
 with a short sniff. " He don't seem over curious, for 
 his part, about yon." She, too, glanced upward and 
 toward the house, the upper storey alone of which, 
 from where they stood, was visible above the spikes of 
 a green palisade. A roadway divided the house from 
 the garden, which descended to the harbour-cliflf in a 
 series of tiny terraces. " They've been pokin' around 
 indoors this hour and more." 
 
 " You don't suppose he caught sight of us ? " 
 "Maybe not; but Tabb's child did. That girl 've 
 a -got eyes like niddles. If he don't come down to 
 pay his respects, you may bet 'tis because he don't 
 want to." Dinah, being vexed, spoke viciously. Her 
 speech implied that her mistress's conduct had been 
 not only indelicate but clumsy.
 
 30 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " You are a horrid woman," Mrs Bosenna accused 
 her ; " and I can't think what put such nasty-minded 
 thoughts into your head." 
 
 "No more can I, unless you suggested 'em," Dinah 
 retorted. 
 
 " You were willing enough to come, when — . 
 when " 
 
 "When you proposed it," Dinah relentlessly con- 
 cluded the sentence. " Of course. Why not ? " 
 
 "And you were excited enough — you can't deny 
 it" — her mistress insisted, "when you brought the 
 news this morning, that his ship had arrived. But 
 now, and only because you happen to be put 
 out " 
 
 "Who said I was put out?" 
 
 " As if I couldn't tell by your tone ! Now, just 
 because you happen to be put out, I'm indelicate all 
 of a sudden." 
 
 "I never said so," Dinah protested sullenly. 
 
 " Said so ? " Mrs Bosenna, rising, faced her with 
 withering scorn. "I hope you've a better sense 
 of your position than to say such a thing. Oh, 
 you content yourself with hinting ! . . . But who 
 owns this house and garden, I should like to 
 know ? " 
 
 Dinah, though remorseful, showed fight yet. "Then 
 why couldn' ye take the bull by the horns an' march 
 in by the front door ? " 
 
 " Why ? Because you agreed with me that to 
 plant a two or three roses for him would be a nice 
 attention ! . . . You can't start planting roses in the 
 dusk, at the end of an afternoon call ; and, as it 
 is, we've only just finished before twilight."
 
 VOICES IN THE TWILIGHT 31 
 
 Dinah was minded to retort that, as it was, the 
 planting had taken a long time. But she contented 
 herself with glancing again at the house and saying 
 evasively that the new tenant appeared to take 
 more interest in fixtures than in flowers. 
 
 " I own," sighed Mrs Bosenna, " I thought he'd 
 have been eager to take stock of the garden before 
 it grew dark. Such a beautiful garden, as it is, in 
 a small way ! " 
 
 "When a man has passed his whole life at 
 sea 
 
 " True," her mistress agreed. " Yet how it must 
 enlarge the mind ! So different from farming ! " 
 
 " It must be ekally dependent on the weather," 
 Dinah opined. "At least. More so, takin' one 
 thing with another. Oh, decidedly. It stands to 
 reason." 
 
 " I'm romantic perhaps," confessed Mrs Bosenna ; 
 "but I can never think of any ship's captain as 
 being quite an ordinary man. The dangers he must 
 go through — and the foreign countries he visits — 
 and up night after night in all weathers, staring 
 into the darkness in an oilskin suit ! " 
 
 "'Tisn' the sort o' man I should ever choose for a 
 husband, if I wanted one," maintained Dinah. 
 
 " Who was talking of husbands, you silly woman ? " 
 
 " I don't see how else the men - folk consarn us, 
 mistress." 
 
 "You're coarse, Dinah." 
 
 " I'm practical, anyway. If they choose to toss up 
 an' down 'pon the sea they're welcome, for me. But, 
 for my part, when I lay me down at night, I like 
 to be sure o' gettin' up in the same position next
 
 32 HOCKEN AND HUNK EN 
 
 mornin'; and I'd to feel the same about a husband, 
 supposin' I cared for the man." 
 
 " I often think," mused Mrs Bosenna, " that we're 
 not half grateful enough to sailors, considering the 
 risks they run and the things they bring us home : 
 tea and coffee, raisins, currants, with all kinds of 
 spices and cordial drinks." 
 
 "Oranges an lemons, say the bells o' St Clemen's. 
 Oranges " 
 
 "I wasn't thinking of this Captain Hocken in 
 particular," interrrupted the widow hastily. "Take 
 a Christmas pudding, for instance. Flour and suet, 
 and there's an end if you depend on the farmer; just 
 an ordinary dumpling. Whereas the sailor brings 
 the figs, the currants, the candied peel, the chopped 
 almonds, the brandy — all the ingredients that make 
 it Christmassy." 
 
 "And then the farmer takes an' eats it. Aw, be- 
 lieve me, mistress. Stay - at - home fares best in this 
 world ! " 
 
 "I don't know, Dinah," sighed Mrs Bosenna. 
 " Haven't you ever in your life wished for a pair 
 o' wings ? " 
 
 " To wear in my hat ? Why, o' course I have." 
 
 "No, no; I mean, for the wings of a dove, to fly 
 away and be — well, not at rest exactly " 
 
 "No, I haven't, mistress. But 'tis the way with 
 you discontented rich folks. Like Hocken's ducks, 
 all of 'ee — never happy unless you be where you 
 baint. ... I wonder if that Hocken was any rela- 
 tion— S-sh ! now! Talk of the devil!" 
 
 Captain Cai and Fancy had spent a good hour-
 
 VOICES IN THE TWILIGHT 33 
 
 and-a-half in overhauling the two cottages. Their 
 accommodation was narrow enough, but Captain Cai, 
 after half a lifetime on shipboard, found them little 
 short of palatial. The child could scarcely drag him 
 away from the tiny bath-rooms with their hot and 
 cold water taps. 
 
 " Lord," said he, gazing down into the newly 
 painted bath in No. 1. " To think of 'Bias in the 
 likes o' this!" 
 
 "You may, if you care to," said Fancy. 
 
 " 'Tis a knack of mine," he apologised. " We'll 
 suppose him safely out of it, an' what happens 
 next ? Why, he'll step across to the linen - cupboard 
 here, wi' the hot pipes behind it, an' there's a clean 
 shirt dried an' warmed to his skin. He gets into 
 that — the day bein' Sunday, as we'll suppose — 
 an' finishes his dressin', danderin' forth an' back 
 from one room to t'other; breakfast gettin' ready 
 downstairs an' no hurry for it — all his time his own, 
 clean away to sundown. Up above the lower window- 
 sash here with the Prodigal Son in stained glass, and 
 very thoughtful of the architect, too " 
 
 " It isn't stained glass," the child corrected ; " it's 
 what they call a transparency." 
 
 "I hope you're mistaken. ... I must try it from 
 the outside before I let 'Bias undress here. As I 
 was sayin', through the upper pane he'll see his 
 cabbages comin' on at the back ; an' in the front, 
 under his window, there's the bread-cart " 
 
 "But you said 'twas Sunday." 
 
 "So I did. . . . Well, there's the milk-cart any- 
 way, an' a boy janglin' the cans. You can't think 
 how pretty these shore -noises be to a sailor -man. 
 

 
 34 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 An' down in the town the church bell goin' for 
 early Communion, but he'll attend mornin' service 
 later on. An', across the road, there's the garden, 
 full o' flowers, an' smellin' — an' a blessed sense as 
 he can pick an' choose an' take his time with it 
 all." Captain Cai had wandered to the front window. 
 He let fall these last words slowly, in a kind of 
 reverie, as he gazed out on the garden over which 
 the twilight was fast gathering. 
 
 " With all this time on your hands, I reckon you 
 won't be takin' a look round the garden ? " hazarded 
 Fancy. 
 
 "Certainly. Why not?" 
 
 " Well, 'tis drawiu' in dusk. But there ! I wouldn' 
 disappoint Mrs Bosenna, if I was you." 
 
 " Eh ? " 
 
 " She's been down in the garden this hour and 
 more, waitin' for you to take her by surprise." 
 
 " Oh — come now, I say ! " 
 
 Fancy nodded her head. " I don't know as I 
 blame her," she said judicially. " She's curious to 
 know what you look like, that's all ; or else she's 
 curious for you to know what she looks like. Any- 
 way, she's down there, if you've a mind to be 
 polite." 
 
 Seeing that he hesitated, the child led the way. 
 Captain Cai followed her in something of a tremor. 
 Across the road they went and through the garden- 
 gate ; and the sound of their footsteps on the flagged 
 pathway gave Mrs Bosenna warning. By the time 
 they reached the second terrace she was down on 
 her knees again, packing the soil about the rose- 
 bush, which Dinah obediently held upright for her.
 
 VOICES IN THE TWILIGHT 35 
 
 " Losh, here's visitors ! " exclaimed Dinah. 
 
 Mrs Bosenna turned with the prettiest start of sur- 
 prise, and sprang to her feet. If there was a suspicion 
 — a shade — of overacting, the twilight concealed it. 
 She had a charming figure, very supple and maidenly : 
 she bought her corsets in London. The kneeling pos- 
 ture and the swift rise from it were alike noticeably 
 graceful, even in the dusk. 
 
 " Visitors ? " she echoed. " And me in this state to 
 receive 'em, earthed up to the wrists ! " She plucked 
 off her gardening-gloves, handed them to Dinah, and 
 stooped to snatch up one of a pair of white cuffs — 
 badges of her widowhood — that she had laid aside on 
 the turf before starting to work. While slipping it 
 over her wrist she found time to glance up at Captain 
 Cai, who fumbled confusedly with the rim of his tall 
 hat. 
 
 "Excuse me, madam — no wish to intrude. We'll 
 take ourselves off this minute, eh ? " He turned to 
 the child, who, however, did not budge. 
 
 " Please, don't go. You are ? " 
 
 "Caius Hocken, ma'am — of the Hannah Hoo — at 
 your service." 
 
 " Dear me, what a very pleasant surprise ! " (Oh, 
 Mrs Bosenna!) She held out a hand. "I am glad 
 to make your acquaintance, Captain Hocken." 
 
 " I hope I see you well, ma'am ? " Captain Cai took 
 the hand and dropped it nervously, 
 
 " Quite well, I thank God, . . . They told me your 
 ship had arrived, sir ; but I could not count — could I ? 
 — on your coming to inspect the house so soon." 
 
 " If I've been over hasty, ma'am " 
 
 "Not at all," she interrupted. "There now! I put
 
 36 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 things so clumsily at times ! I meant to excuse Tny- 
 sclf ; for, you see, the house has been yours since Lady- 
 day — that's to say, if you sign the lease, — and Lady- 
 day's more than a week past. So 'tis / that am the 
 intruder, . . . But passing the garden yesterday, I'd a 
 notion that half a dozen dwarf roses would improve it,- 
 without your knowledge. You're not offended, I hope, 
 now that you've caught me ? I dote on roses, for my 
 part." 
 
 " I — I take it very kindly, ma'am." 
 
 " 'Tis a funny time o' the year to be plantin' roses, 
 isn't it ? " asked Fancy. 
 
 " Eh ? " In the dusk Mrs Bosenna treated her to a 
 disapproving stare. " Is that Elijah Tabb's child ? . . . 
 You've grown such a lot lately, I hardly recognised 
 
 you." 
 
 "I noticed that," said the child with composure, 
 "though I didn't guess the reason. But 'tis a funny 
 time to be plantin' roses, all the same." 
 
 "And pray, child, what do you know about 
 roses ? " 
 
 " Nothing," answered Fancy, " 'cept that 'tis a funny 
 time to be plantin' 'em." 
 
 " When you grow a little older," said Mrs Bosenna 
 icily, "you'll know that anything can be done with 
 roses in these days — with proper precautions. Why " 
 — she turned to Captain Cai — "I've planted out roses 
 in July month — in pots, of course. You break the 
 pots in the October following. But there must be 
 precautions." 
 
 " Meanin' manure ? " 
 
 " Cow," interposed Dinah tersely, " it's the best. Pig 
 comes next, for various reasons."
 
 VOICES IN THE TWILIGHT 37 
 
 "We need not go into details," said Mrs Bosenna. 
 " I sent down a cartload this morning and had it well 
 dug in. Provided you dig it deep enough, and don't 
 let it touch the young roots " 
 
 "I thank you kindly, ma'am," said Captain Cai, 
 " and so will my friend 'Bias Hunken when he hears 
 of it." 
 
 " Ah, my other tenant ? — or tenant in prospect, I 
 ought to say. He has not arrived yet, I understand." 
 
 " He's due to-morrow, ma'am, by th' afternoon train." 
 
 " You must bring him over to Rilla Farm, to call on 
 me," said Mrs Bosenna graciously. 
 
 Captain Cai rubbed his chin. He was taken at 
 unawares ; and not finding the familiar beard under 
 his fingers, grew strangely helpless. " As for that, 
 ma'am," he stammered, " I ought to warn you that 
 'Bias isn' easily caught." 
 
 " God defend me ! " answered the widow, who had a 
 free way of speaking at times. " Who wants to catch 
 him?" 
 
 " Vou don't take my meanin', ma'am, if you'll excuse 
 me," floundered Captain Cai in a sweat. " I ought to 
 ha' said that 'Bias, though one in a thousand, is terrible 
 shy with females — or ladies, as I should say." 
 
 " He'll be all the more welcome for that," said Mrs 
 Bosenna relentlessly. " You must certainly bring him. 
 Captain Hocken." 
 
 Before he could protest further, she had shaken 
 hands, gathered up trowel and kneeling-pad, given 
 them into Dinah's keeping, unpinned and shaken down 
 the skirt of her black gown, and was gone — gone up 
 the twilit path, her handmaiden following, — gone with 
 a fleeting smile that, while ignoring Fancy Tabb, left
 
 38 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 Captain Cai strangely perturbed, so nicely it struck a 
 balance between understanding and aloofness. 
 
 He rubbed his chin, then his ear, then the back of 
 his neck. 
 
 " Lord ! " he groaned suddenly, " where was my 
 manners ? " 
 
 "Eh?" 
 
 " I never said a word about her affliction." 
 
 " What might that be, in your opinion ? " 
 
 "Her first husband, o' course — or, as I should say, 
 the loss of him. Shockin' thing to forget. . . . I've 
 almost a mind now to follow her an' make my excuses." 
 
 " Do," said Fancy ; "I'd like to hear you start 'pon 
 em. 
 
 " Well, you can if you will. Come over with me 
 to Rilla to - morrow forenoon. I'll get leave for 
 you." 
 
 "That'd spoil the fun," said Fancy, not one risible 
 muscle twitching; "but go you'll have to. Mrs 
 Bosenna has left one of her cuffs behind." 
 
 She pointed to a white object on the turf. Captain 
 Cai stooped, picked it up, and held it gingerly in his 
 hand. 
 
 " She didn' seem a careless sort, neither," he mused. 
 
 " Not altogether," the child agreed with him. 
 
 "Dinah," said Mrs Bosenna, halting suddenly as they 
 walked homeward in the dusk, "I've left one of my 
 cuffs behind ! " 
 
 " Yes, mistress." 
 
 " ' Yes, mistress,' " Mrs Bosenna mimicked her. " If 
 'twas anything belonging to you, you'd be upset 
 enough."
 
 VOICES IN THE TWILIGHT 39 
 
 "I'd have more reason," said Dinah stolidly. "Do 
 'ee want me to run back an' fetch it ? " 
 
 " No — o." Her mistress seemed to hesitate. " 'Tisn't 
 worth while; and ten chances to one somebody will 
 find it." 
 
 " That's what I was thinkin'," agreed Dinah.
 
 40 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A TESTIMONIAL. 
 
 Captain Cai's sea-chest had been conveyed to the 
 Ship Inn, Trafalgar Square (so called — as the land- 
 lord, Mr Oke, will inform you — after the famous battle 
 of that name), and there he designed to lodge while his 
 friend and he furnished their new quarters. 
 
 His bed, a four-poster, was luxurious indeed after 
 his old bunk in the Hannah Hoo, and he betook him- 
 self to it early. Yet he did not sleep well. For some 
 while sleep was forbidden by a confusion of voices in 
 the bar-parlour downstairs ; then, after a brief lull, the 
 same voices started exchanging good - nights in the 
 square without; and finally, when the rest had dis- 
 persed, two belated townsmen lingered in private con- 
 versation, now walking a few paces to and fro on 
 the cobbles, but ever returning to anchorage under a 
 street lamp beneath his window. By-and-by the town 
 lamplighter came along, turned off the gas-jet and 
 wished the two gossips good-night, adding that the 
 weather was extraordinary for the time of year ; but 
 still they lingered. Captain Cai, worried by the 
 murmur of their voices, climbed out of bed to close the
 
 A TESTIMONIAL 41 
 
 window. His hand was outstretched to do so when, 
 through the open sash, he caught a few articulate 
 words — a fragment of a sentence. 
 
 Said one — speaking low but earnestly — " If I should 
 survive my wife, as I ho])e to do " 
 
 Unwilling to play the eavesdropper, or to startle 
 them by shutting the window, Captain Cai very deli- 
 cately withdrew, climbed back into bed, and drew the 
 edge of the bedclothes over his ear. Soon he was 
 asleep ; but, even as he dropped off, the absurd phrase 
 wove itself into the midnight chime from the church 
 tower and passed on to weave itself into his dreams 
 
 and vex them. "If I should survive my wife " 
 
 In his dreams he was back in Troy, indeed, and yet 
 among foreigners. They spoke in English, too ; but 
 they conversed with one another, not with him, as 
 though he might overhear but could not be expected 
 to understand. One dream — merely ludicrous when he 
 awoke and recalled it — gave him real distress while it 
 lasted. In it he saw half a dozen townsmen — Barber 
 Toy, Landlord Oke, the Quaymaster, and Mr Philp 
 among them — gathered around the mound of sand on 
 the Quay, solemnly playing a child's game with his 
 tall hat. Mr Philp took it from the Quaymaster's 
 head, transferred it to his own, and, lifting it by the 
 brim, said reverently, " If I should survive my 
 wife," &c., to pass it on to the barber, who recited 
 tlie same formula to the same ritual. In the middle of 
 the sandheap was a pit, which appeared to be some- 
 body's grave ; and somewhere in the background, on 
 the far side of the pit, stood Mrs Bosenna and Tabb's 
 girl together, the one watching with a queer smile, 
 while the other kept repeating, "He's going to hell.
 
 42 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 He couldn't change his habits, and it's high time the 
 Quay was improved." 
 
 From this dream Captain Cai awoke in a sweat, and 
 though the rest of the night yielded none so terrifying, 
 his sleep was fitful and unrefreshing. The return of 
 day brought with it a sense of oppression, of a load on 
 his mind, of a task to be performed. 
 
 Ah, yes ! — he must pay a call on Mrs Bosenna. She 
 had as good as engaged him by a promise, and, more- 
 over, there was her cuff to be returned. . . . Well, the 
 visit must be paid this morning. 'Bias would be arriv- 
 ing by the afternoon train ; and, apart from that, when 
 you've a daunting job that cannot be escaped, the wise 
 course is to play the man and get it over. 
 
 Still, he could not well present himself at Rilla Farm 
 before eleven o'clock — say half-past eleven — or noon 
 even. No, that would be too late; might suggest 
 a hint of staying to dinner — which God forbid ! He 
 resolved upon eleven. 
 
 He grudged to lose the latter half of the morning ; 
 for the gardens — his and Hunken's — had yet to be 
 explored, and the rainwater cisterns in rear of the 
 houses, and the back premises generally, and the 
 patches where the cabbages grew. Also (confound the 
 woman !) he could well have spent an hour or two 
 about the streets and the Quay, renewing old acquaint- 
 ance. The whole town had heard of his return, and 
 there were scores of folk to remember him and bid 
 him welcome. They would chase away this feeling of 
 forlornness, of being an alien. . . . Strange that, wide 
 awake though he was, it should continue to haunt 
 him ! 
 
 But Troy, on all save market mornings, is a slug-a-
 
 A TESTIMONIAL 43 
 
 bed town ; and even at nine o'clock, when he issued 
 forth after an impatient breakfast, the streets wore an 
 unkempt, unready, unsociable air. Housewives were 
 still beating mats, shopboys washing down windows; 
 ash-buckets stood in the gutter-ways, by door and ope, 
 awaiting the scavenger. 
 
 " These people want a Daylight Saving Bill," thought 
 Captain Cai, and somewhat disconsolately wheeled 
 about, setting his face for the Rope Walk. Here his 
 spirits sensibly revived. There had been rain in the 
 night, but the wind had flown to the northward, and 
 the sun was already scattering the clouds with promise 
 of a fine day. Cleansing airs played between the 
 houses, the line of ash-buckets grew sparser, and the 
 buckets — for he had encountered the scavenger's cart 
 on the slope of the hill — were empty now, albeit their 
 owners showed no hurry to fetch them indoors. 
 
 A row of houses — all erected since his young days 
 — still blocked the view of the harbour. But just 
 beyond them, where a roadway led down to the ferry, 
 the exquisite scene broke upon him — the harbour 
 entrance, with the antique castles pretending to guard 
 it; the vessels (his own amongst them) in the land- 
 locked anchorage ; the open sea beyond, violet blue to 
 the morning under a steady ofF-shore breeze ; white 
 gulls flashing aloft, and, in the offing, a pair of gannets 
 hunting aljove the waters. 
 
 Captain Cai took no truck (as he would have said) 
 in the beauties of nature ; but here was a scene he 
 understood, and he began to feel at home again. He 
 halted, rested his elbows on a low wall and watched 
 the gannets at their evolutions — the poise, the terrific 
 dive, the splash clearly visible at more than a mile's
 
 44 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 distance. Tlie wall on which he leaned overhung a 
 trim garden, gay with scentless flowers such as tulips 
 and late daffodils, and yet odorous — for early April has 
 a few days during which the uncurling leaf has all the 
 fragrance of blossom : and this was such a day, lustrous 
 from a bath of rain. To our uninstructed seaman the 
 scent seemed to exhale from the tulips ; it recalled his 
 attention from the gannets, and he drew in deep 
 breaths of it, pondering the parterres of Kaiserskroon 
 and Duchesse de Parme — bold scarlet splashed with 
 yellow — of golden Chrysoloras, of rosy white Cottage 
 Maids. Unknowing it, he had a sense of beauty, and 
 he decided that horticulture, for a leisured man, was 
 well worth a trial. 
 
 "That's the best of living ashore," he told himself. 
 " A man can choose what hobby he will and, if he don't 
 like it, pick up another." 
 
 He climbed the hill briskly, to view his own garden 
 and take stock of its possibilities. , . . The roses 
 planted by Mrs Bosenna had scarcely flagged at all, 
 thanks to the night's rain. Around them and to right 
 and left along the border under the walls of the two 
 first terraces, green shoots were pushing up from the 
 soil — sword-like spikes of iris, red noses of peonies, 
 green fingers of lupins. Into what flowers these 
 various shootlets would expand Captain Cai knew no 
 more than Adam, first of gardeners. He would consult 
 some knowledgable person — no, not Mrs Bosenna — and 
 label them ' as per instructions ' : or, stay ! 'Bias 
 Hunken had a weakness for small wagers. Here was 
 material for a long summer game, more deliberate even 
 than draughts ; to buy a botanical book and with its 
 help back one's fancy, flower or colour. A capital
 
 A TESTIMONIAL 45 
 
 game : no doubt (thought Captain Cai) quite commonly 
 played among landsmen possessing gardens. 
 
 At this point he made a discovery he had missed in 
 the dusk overnight. His eyes fell on a flat-topped felt- 
 covered roof, almost level with his feet and half-hidden 
 between two bushes (the one a myrtle, the other a 
 mock-orange ; but he knew no such distinctions). There 
 was yet a third terrace, then ; and on this third terrace 
 — yes, by the Lord, a summer-house fit for a king ! 
 glass - fronted, with sliding sashes ; match - boarded 
 within, fitted with racks and shelves for garden tools ; 
 with ample room for chairs and a table at which two 
 could sup and square their elbows. Such a view, more- 
 over ! It swept the whole harbour. . . . 
 
 Captain Cai's first impulse was to search around for a 
 rack whereon to stow a telescope : his next, to run to 
 the party- wall and hoist himself high enough to scan 
 his friend's garden. 
 
 Yes ! 'Bias, too, had a summer-house ; not precisely 
 similar in shape, however. Its roof was a lean-to, and 
 its frontage narrower; but of this Captain Cai could 
 not be sure. He was short of stature, and with toes 
 digging into the crevices of the wall and hands clutch- 
 ing at its coping he could take no very accurate survey. 
 He dropped back upon terra firma and hurried up the 
 flights of steps to the roadway, in haste to descend 
 from it into 'Bias's garden and resolve his doubts. 
 
 For you must understand that the two cottages com- 
 prised by the name of Harbour Terrace were (according 
 to Mr Rogers) " as like as two peas, even down to their 
 water-taps," and even by name distinguished only as 
 Number 1 and Number 2 : and that, taking this simi- 
 larity on trust, Captain Cai had chosen Number 2,
 
 46 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 because — well, simply because it was Number 2. If 
 inadvertently he, being first in the field, had collared 
 
 the better summer-house ! The very thought of 
 
 it set him perspiring. 
 
 At the head of the garden, to his annoyance, he found 
 Mr Philp leaning over the gate. 
 
 " Ah, Good morning ! " said Mr Philp. " You was 
 expectin' me, o' course." 
 
 " Good morning," returned Captain Cai. " Expectin' 
 you ? No, I wasn't. Why ? " 
 
 " About that hat. I've brought you the three-an'-six." 
 He held out the coins in his palm. 
 
 " You can't have it just now. I'm in a hurry." 
 
 " So I see," said Mr Philp deliberately, not budging 
 from the gate. "It don't improve a hat as a 
 rule." 
 
 " What d'ye mean ? " 
 
 "Perspiration works through the linin'. I've seen 
 hats ruined that way." 
 
 " Very well, then : we'll call the bargain oif. The 
 fact is, I'd forgot about it; and you can't very well 
 have the hat now. 'Tis my only one, an' — well the 
 fact is, I'm due to pay a call." 
 
 " Where ? " 
 
 " I don't see as 'tis any business o' yours," answered 
 Captain Cai with vexation ; " but, if you want to know, 
 I've to call on my landlady, Mrs Bosenna." 
 
 " Is that where you're hurryin' just now ? " 
 
 " Well, no : not at this moment," Captain Cai had to 
 confess. 
 
 " Where, then ? " 
 
 " Oh, look here " 
 
 "You needn't tell, if you don't w^ant to. But I'm
 
 A TESTIMONIAL 47 
 
 goin' to a funeral at eleven o'clock," said Mr Philp. 
 " Eleven A.M.," he added pointedly. "Not that I hold 
 with mornin' funerals in a general way : but the corpse 
 is old Mrs Wedlake, and I wasn't consulted." 
 
 " Relative ? " asked Captain Cai. 
 
 " No relation at all ; though I don't see as it matters." 
 Mr Philp was cheerful but obdurate. " A bargain's a 
 bargain, as I take it." 
 
 " That fact is " 
 
 " And a man's word ought to be good as his bond. 
 Leastways that's how I look at it." 
 
 " Here, take the darned thing ! " exclaimed Captain 
 Cai. His action, however, was less impulsive than his 
 speech : he removed the hat carefully, lowering his head 
 and clutching the brim between both hands, A small 
 parcel lay inside. 
 
 " What's that ? " asked Mr Philp. 
 
 " It's — it's a cufF," Captain Cai admitted. 
 
 "Belongs to the Widow Bosenna, I shouldn't won- 
 der ? " Mr Philp hazarded with massive gravity. " It's 
 the sort o' thing a woman wears now-a days when 
 she 've lost her husband. I follows the fashions in 
 my distant way." He paused and corrected himself 
 carefully — " Them sort." 
 
 " I thought — it occurred to me — as it might be the 
 handiest way of returnin' the thing." 
 
 "It seems early days to be carryin' that sort of 
 article around in the crown o' your hat. Dangerous, 
 too, if you use hair-oil. But you don't. I took notice 
 that you said ' no ' yesterday when Toy offered to rub 
 something into your hair. Now that's always a 
 temptation with me, there bein' no extra charge. . . . 
 Did she give it to you ? "
 
 48 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " Who ? . . . Mrs Bosenna ? No, she left it behind 
 here." 
 
 " When ? " 
 
 " Yesterday evening." 
 
 " What was she doin' here, yesterday eveniu', to want 
 to take off her cuffs ? " 
 
 " If you must know, she was planting roses." 
 
 " What ? In April ? . . . You mustn't think I'm 
 curious." 
 
 " Not at all," Captain Cai agreed grimly. 
 
 "Nice little place you've pitched on here, I must 
 say." Mr Philp changed his tone to one of extreme 
 affability. "There's not a prettier little nest in all 
 Troy than these two cottages. And which of the pair 
 might be your choice ? " 
 
 " It's not quite decided." 
 
 " Well, you can't do wrong with either. But " — 
 Mr Philp glanced back across the roadway and lowered 
 his voice — " I'd like to warn you o' one thing. I don't 
 know no unhandier houses for gettin' out a corpse. 
 There's a turn at the foot o' the stairs ; most awk'ard." 
 
 " I reckon," said Captain Cai cheerfully, " 'Bias an' 
 me '11 leave that to them as it concerns. But, man ! 
 what a turn you've a-got for funerals ! " 
 
 "They be the breath o' life to me," Mr Philp con- 
 fessed, and paused for a moment's thought. " Tell 'ee 
 what we'll do : you shall come with me down to Fore 
 Street an' buy yourself a new hat at Shake Benny's : 
 'tis on your way to Rilla Farm. There in the shop 
 you can hand me over the one you're wearin', and 
 Shake can send mine home in a bandbox." He 
 twinkled cunningly. "I shall be wantin' a bandbox, 
 an' that gets me one cost- free."
 
 A TESTIMONIAL 49 
 
 The man was inexorable. Captain Cai gave up re- 
 sistance, and the pair descended the hill together 
 towards Mr Benny's shop. 
 
 Young Mr Benny, " S. Benny, Gents' Outfitter," had 
 suffered the misfortune to be christened Shakespeare 
 without inheriting any of the literary aspirations to 
 which that name bore witness. It was, in any event, 
 a difficult name to live up to, and so incongruous 
 with this youth in particular that, as he grew up, his 
 acquaintances abbreviated it by consent to Shake ; and, 
 again, when, after serving an apprenticeship with a 
 pushing firm in Exeter, he returned to open a haber- 
 dashery shop in his native town, it had been reduced, 
 for business purposes, to a bare initial. 
 
 But it is hard to escape heredity. Albeit to young 
 Mr Benny pure literature made no appeal, and had 
 even been summarised by him as "footle," in the 
 business of advertising he developed a curious literary 
 twist. He could not exhibit a new line of goods with- 
 out inventing an arresting set of labels for it ; and upon 
 these labels (executed with his own hands in water- 
 colour upon cardboard) he let play a fancy almost Asiatic. 
 Not content with mere description, such as " Neck-wear 
 in Up-to-date Helios " or " Braces, Indispensable," he 
 assailed the coy purchaser with appeals frankly personal, 
 such as " You passed us Yesterday, but We Hit you 
 this time," or (of pyjamas) " WJiM ! You don't Tell us 
 You Go to Bed like your Grandfather," or (of a collar) 
 "If you Admire Lord Rosebery, Now is Your Time." 
 
 Captain Cai wanted a hat. "I be just returned from 
 foreign," he explained; "and this here head -gear o' 
 mine "
 
 50 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 Young Mr Benny smiled with a smile that deprecated 
 his being drawn into criticism. " We keep ahead of 
 the Germans yet, sir, — in some respects. Is it Captain 
 Hocken I have the pleasure of addressin' ? " 
 
 " Now, how did he know that ? " Captain Cai mur- 
 mured. 
 
 "Why, by your hat," answered Mr Philp with 
 readiness. 
 
 " You'll be wanting something more nautical, Cap- 
 tain ? Something yachty, if I may suggest. . . . I've 
 a neat thing here in yachting caps." Mr Benny selected 
 and displayed one, turning it briskly in his hands. 
 " The Commodore. There's a something about that 
 cap, sir, — a what shall I say ? — a distinction. Or, if 
 you prefer a straight up-and-down peak, what about 
 the Squadron here ? A little fuller in the crown, you'll 
 observe ; but that " — with a flattering glance — " would 
 suit you. You'd carry it off." 
 
 " Better have it full in the crown," suggested Mr 
 Philp ; " by reason it's handier to carry things." 
 
 "None of your seafarin' gear, I'll thank you," said 
 Captain Cai hastily. "I've hauled ashore." 
 
 " And mean to settle among us, I hope, sir ? . . . 
 Well, then, with the summer already upon us — so to 
 speak — what do we say to a real Panama straw ? The 
 Boidters Lock here, f'r instance, — extra brim — at hve 
 and sixpence ? How these foreigners do it for the 
 money is a mystery to me." 
 
 " I see they puts ' Smith Brothers, Birmingham,' in 
 the lining," said Captain Cai. 
 
 " Importers' mark, sir, — to insure genuineness. . . . 
 Let me see, what size were you saying ? H'm, six- 
 seven-eighths, as I should judge." Young Mr Benny
 
 A TESTIMONIAL 51 
 
 pulled out a drawer with briskness, ran his hand 
 through a number of genuine Panamas of identical 
 pattern, selected one, and poised it on the tips of his 
 lingers, giving it the while a seductive twist. " If you 
 will stand so, Captain, while I tilt the glass a trifle ? " 
 
 Captain Cai gazed hardily at his reflection in the 
 mirror, " It don't seem altogether too happy wi' the 
 rest of the togs," he hazarded, and consulted Mr Philp. 
 " What do you think ? " 
 
 " I ain't makin' no bid for your tail-coat, if that's 
 what you mean," answered Mr Philp with sudden 
 moroseness, pulling out his watch. "I got one." 
 
 " Our leading townsmen, sir," said young Mr Benny, 
 " favour an alpaca lounge coat with this particular line. 
 We stock them in all sizes. Alpacas are seldom made 
 to measure, — 'free-and-easy' being their motto, if I 
 may so express it." 
 
 " It's mine, anyway," 
 
 " And useful for gardening, too. In an alpaca you 
 
 can " Young Mr Benny, without finishing the 
 
 sentence, indued one and went through brisk motions 
 indicative of digging, hoeing, taking cuttings and 
 transplanting them. 
 
 The end of it was that Captain Cai purchased an 
 alpaca coat as well as a Panama hat, and having bidden 
 "so long" to Mr Philp, and pocketed his three-and- 
 sixpence, steered up the street in the direction of Rilla 
 Farm, nervously stealing glimpses of himself in the 
 shop windows as he went. As he hove in sight of the 
 Custom House, however, this bashfulness gave way of 
 a sudden to bewilderment. For there, at the foot of 
 the steps leading up to its old-fashioned doorway 
 lounged his mate, Mr Tregaskis, sucking a pipe.
 
 52 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " Hullo ! What are you doin' here ?" asked Captain Cai. 
 
 " What the devil's that to you ? " retorted Mr Tre- 
 ^askis. But a moment later he gasped and all but 
 dropped the pipe from his mouth. " Good Lord ! " 
 
 " Took me for a stranger, hey ? " 
 
 The mate stared, slowly passing a hand across his 
 chin as though to make sure of his own beard, 
 " What indooced 'ee ? " 
 
 " When you're in Rome," said Captain Cai, with 
 a somewhat forced nonchalance, "you do as the 
 Romans do." 
 
 " Do they ? " asked Mr Tregaskis vaguely. " Besides, 
 we ain't," he objected after a moment. 
 
 " Crew all right ? " 
 
 "Upstairs," — this with a jerk of the thumb. 
 
 "Hey? ... But why? We don't pay ofF t.il 
 Saturday, as you ought to know, for I told 'ee plain 
 enough, an' also that the men could have any money 
 advanced, in reason." 
 
 " Come along and see," said the mate mysteriously. 
 "I've been waitin' here on the look-out for 'ee." He 
 led the way up the steps, along a twisting corridor 
 and into the Collector's office, where, sure enough, 
 the crew of the Hannah Hoo were gathered. 
 
 " Here's the Cap'n, boys ! " he announced. " An' 
 don't call me a liar, but take your time." 
 
 The men — they were standing uneasily, with doffed 
 hats, around a table in the centre of the room — gazed 
 and drew a long breath. They continued to breathe 
 hard wliile the Collector bustled forward from his desk 
 and congratulated Captain Cai on a prosperous passage. 
 
 "There's one thing about it," said Ben Price the 
 bald-headed, at length breaking through the mortuary
 
 A TESTIMONIAL 53 
 
 silence that reigned around the table ; " it do make 
 partin' easier." 
 
 " But what's here ? " demanded Captain Cai, as his 
 gaze fell upon a curious object that occupied the centre 
 of the table. It was oblong : it was covered with a 
 large red handkerchief : and, with the men grouped 
 respectfully around, it suggested a miniature coffin 
 draped and ready for committal to the deep. 
 
 " Well, sir," answered Nat Berry, who was generally 
 reckoned the wag of the ship, "it might pass, by its 
 look, for a concealment o' birth. But it ain't. It's 
 a testimonial." 
 
 " A what ? " 
 
 But here the mate — who had been standing for some 
 moments on one leg — suddenly cleared his throat. 
 
 "Cap'n Hocken," said he in a strained unnatural 
 voice, " we the undersigned, bein' mate and crew of the 
 Hannah Hoo barquentine " 
 
 " Be this an affidavit ? " 
 
 " No it isn' : 'tis a Musical Box. ... As I was 
 sayin'. We the undersigned, bein' mate an' crew of the 
 Hannah Hoo barquentine, which we hear that you're 
 givin' up command of the same, Do hereby beg leave 
 to express our mingled feelin's at the same in the 
 shape of this here accompanyin' Musical Box. And 
 our united hope as you may have live long to enjoy 
 the noise it kicks up, which" — here Mr Tregaskis 
 dropped to a confidential tone — " it plays ' Home. 
 Sweet Home,' with other fashionable tunes, an' can 
 be turned off at any time by means of a back-handed 
 switch marked ' Stop ' in plain letters. It is therefore 
 — " here the speaker resumed his oratorical manner 
 — " our united wish, sir, as you will accept the forth-
 
 54 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 coming Musical Box from the above-mentioned under- 
 signed as a mark of respect in all weathers, and that 
 you may live to marry an' pass it down to your 
 offspring — " 
 
 " Hear, hear ! " interjected Mr Nat Berry, and was 
 told to shut his head. 
 
 " — to your offspring, or, in other words, progenitors," 
 perorated Mr Tregaskis. "And if you don't like it, 
 the man at the shop'll change it for something of equal 
 value." Here with a sweep of the hand he withdrew 
 the handkerchief and disclosed the gift. " I forget the 
 chap's name for the moment, but he's a watchmaker, 
 and lives off the Town Quay as you turn up west- 
 an' -by-north to the Post Office. The round mark on 
 the lid — as p'raps I ought to mention — was caused 
 by a Challenge Cup of some sort standin*' upon it all 
 last summer in the eye of the sun, which don't affect 
 the music, an' might be covered over with a brass 
 plate in case of emergency; but time didn't permit." 
 Thus Mr Tregaskis concluded, and stood wiping 
 his brow. 
 
 Captain Cai stared at the gift and around at the 
 men's faces mistily. 
 
 " Friends " — he managed to say. " Friends," he be- 
 gan again after a painful pause, and then, " It's all 
 very well, William Tregaskis, but you might ha' given 
 a man warnin' — after all these years ! " 
 
 " It don't want no acknowledgment : but take your 
 time," said the mate handsomely, conscious, for his 
 part, of having performed with credit. 
 
 At this suggestion Captain Cai with a vague gesture 
 pulled out his watch, and amid the whirl of his brain 
 was aware of the hour — 10.45.
 
 A TESTIMONIAL 55 
 
 "I've — I've an appointment, friends, as it happens," 
 
 he stammered. " And I thank you kindly, but " 
 
 On a sudden happy inspiration he fixed an eye ujjon 
 the mate. " All sails unbent aboard ? " he asked 
 sternly. 
 
 " There's the mizzen, sir " 
 
 "I thought so. We'll have discipline, lads, to the 
 end — if you please. We'll meet here on Saturday : 
 and when you've done your unbendin' maybe I'll start 
 doin' mine." 
 
 He took up the musical box, tucked it under his 
 arm, and marched out.
 
 56 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 RILLA FARM. 
 
 The way was long, the sun was hot, the minstrel (as 
 surely he may be called who carries a musical box) 
 was more than once in two minds about turning back. 
 He perspired under his absurdly superfluous burden. 
 
 To be sure he might — for Troy is always neigh- 
 bourly — have knocked in at some cottage on his way 
 through the tail-end of the town and deposited the 
 box, promising to return for it. But he was flurried, 
 pressed for time, disgracefully behind time, in fact; 
 and, moreover, thanks to his attire and changed ap- 
 pearance, no friendly face had smiled recognition 
 though he had recognised some half a dozen. There 
 was no time to stop, renew old acquaintance, ask a 
 small favour with explanations. . . . All this was 
 natural enough : yet he felt an increasing sense of 
 human selfishness, human ingratitude — he, toiling 
 along with this token of human gratitude under 
 his arm ! 
 
 At the extreme end of the town his way led him 
 through the entrance of a wooded valley, or coombe, 
 down which a highroad, a rushing stream, and a rail- 
 way line descend into Troy Harbour, more or less in
 
 RILLA FARM 67 
 
 parallels, from the outside world. A creek runs some 
 little way up the vale. In old days — in Captain Cai's 
 young days — it ran up for half a mile or more to an 
 embanked mill-pool and a mill-wheel lazily turning: 
 and Rilla Farm had in those days been Rilla Mill, with 
 a farmstead attached as the miller's parergon. 
 
 But the railway had swept away mill - pool and 
 wheel : and Rilla was now Rilla Farm. The railway, 
 too, cutting sheer through the slope over which the 
 farmstead stood, had transformed shelving turf to 
 rocky cliff and farmstead to eyrie. You approached 
 Rilla now by a footbridge crossing the line, and there- 
 after by a winding pathway climbing the cliff, with 
 here and there a few steps hewn in the living rock. 
 Nature in some twenty odd years had draped the cliff 
 with fern — the Polypodium vulgare — and Mrs Bo- 
 senna in her early married days had planted the 
 crevices with arabis, alyssum, and aubrietia, which 
 had taken root and spread, and now, overflowing their 
 ledges, ran down in cascades of bloom — white, yellow, 
 and purple. The ascent, in short, was very pretty and 
 romantic, and you might easily imagine it the ap- 
 proacli to some foreign hill-castle or monastery: for 
 the farmhouse on the summit hid itself behind out- 
 buildings the walls of which crowned the escarpment 
 and presented a blank face, fortress-like, overlooking 
 the vale. The path (as you have gathered) was for 
 pedestrians only. Mrs Bosenna's farm-carts and milk- 
 carts — her dairy trade was considerable — had to fetch 
 a circuit by the road-bridge, half a mile inland. 
 
 The air in the valley was heavy, even on this April 
 day. Captain Cai reached the footpath-gate in a bath 
 of perspiration, despite his alpaca coat and notwith-
 
 58 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 standing that the last half mile of his way had lain 
 under the light shade of budding trees. He gazed up 
 at the ascent, and bethought him that the musical box 
 was an intolerable burden for such a climb. It would 
 involve him in explanations, too, being so unusual an 
 accessory to a morning call. He searched about, there- 
 fore, for a hiding-place in which to bestow it, and 
 found one at length in a clump of alder intermixed 
 with brambles, that overhung the stream a few paces 
 beyond the gate, almost within the shadow of the 
 footbridge. 
 
 Having made sure that the bed on which it rested 
 was firm and moderately dry, he covered the box with 
 a strewing of last year's leaves, cunningly trailed a 
 bramble or two over it, and pursued his way more 
 lightsomely, albeit still under some oppression : for 
 the house stood formidably high, and he feared all 
 converse with women. For lack of practice he had 
 no presence of mind in their company, Moreover, his 
 recent fiasco in speech-making had dashed his spirits. 
 
 He reached the last turn of the path. It brought 
 him in sight of a garden-gate some ten yards ahead, 
 on his left hand. The gate was white, and some one 
 inside was even at this moment engaged in repainting 
 it ; for as he halted to draw breath he caught sight of 
 a paint-brush — or rather the point of one — briskly 
 waggling between the rails. 
 
 The gate opened and llrs Bosenna peeped out. " Ah, 
 I thought I heard footsteps ! " said she. She wore a 
 widow's cap — a very small and natty one ; and a large 
 white apron covered the front of her widow's gown 
 from bosom to ankles. 
 
 " I — I'm sorry to call so late, ma'am."
 
 RILLA FARM 59 
 
 " Late ? Why, it can't be past noon, scarcely. . . . 
 We don't have dinner till one o'clock. You'll excuse 
 my not shaking hands, but I never could paint without 
 messing my fingers." 
 
 "But I hadn't an idea, ma'am " 
 
 " Eh ? " 
 
 " Nothing was farther from my thoughts than — 
 than " 
 
 " Staying to dinner ? Oh, but it's understood ! 
 There's roast sucking-pig," said Mrs Bosenna tran- 
 quilly, as if this disposed of all argument. She added, 
 "I didn't recognise you for the moment. You're 
 wearing a different hat." 
 
 " Actin' under advice, ma'am." 
 
 " I don't know that it's an improvement." Her eyes 
 rested on him in cool scrutiny, and he flinched under 
 it. " There's always a — a sort of distinction about a 
 top hat. Of course, it w^as very thoughtful of you to 
 change it for something more free-and-easy. But 
 different styles suit different persons, and — as I'm 
 always telling Dinah — the secret of dressing is to find 
 out the style that suits you, and stick to it." 
 
 " Bein' free-an'-easy, ma'am, was the last thing in 
 my mind," stammered Captain Cai. 
 
 " There, didn't I guess ? . . . Well, you shall 
 wear your top hat next time, and 1 11 take back my 
 first impressions if I find 'em wrong." 
 
 " But, ma'am, the — the fact is " 
 
 " Of course it was in the dusk," continued Mrs 
 Bosenna ; " but I certainly thought it suited you. One 
 meets with so little of the real old-fashioned politeness 
 among men in these days ! Now " — she let her voice 
 trail off reflectively as her eyes wandered past Captain
 
 60 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 Cai and rested on the tree-tops in the valley — "if I 
 was asked to name my bo ideal of an English gentle- 
 man — and the foreigners can't come near it, you 
 needn't tell me — 'twould be Sir Brampton Golds- 
 worthy, Bart., of Halberton Court, Devon." 
 
 "Ma'am?" 
 
 " That's close to Holsworthy, where I was brought 
 up. ' Goldsworthy of Holsworthy ' he liked to be 
 known as, dropping the ' Sir ' : and he always wore a 
 top hat, rather flat in the brim. But he'd ofi" with it 
 to anything in woman's shape. . . . And that's what 
 
 women value. Respect. ... It isn't a man's age " 
 
 She broke oflf and half closed her eyes in reverie. 
 "And so particular, too, about his body-linen ! Always 
 a high stock collar . . . and his cufis ! " 
 
 " Talkin' about cuifs, now " Captain Cai dived a 
 
 hand into a hip - pocket and drew forth a circlet of 
 white lawn, much flattened. " I found this in the 
 garden last night — by the rose-bushes." 
 
 " Thank you — yes, it is mine, of course. I missed 
 it on the way home." Mrs Bosenna reached out her 
 hand for it. " You must have set me down for a very 
 careless person? But with all my responsibilities just 
 
 now " She concluded the sentence with a sigh, 
 
 and held open the gate, warning him to beware of the 
 wet paint. "You see, there is so much to be looked 
 after on a farm. One can never trust to servants — 
 or at any rate not to the men kind. Dinah is 
 
 different; but even with Dinah " Mrs Bosenna 
 
 let fall another, slightly fainter, sigh. 
 
 "That reminds me," said Captain Cai hardily 
 entering, and for all his lack of observation falling 
 at once under the spell of the little front garden — so
 
 RILLA FARM 61 
 
 scrupulously tidy it was, so trim and kempt, with a 
 pathway of white pebbles leading up between clumps 
 of daffodils and tulips to a neatly thatched porch : so 
 homely too, with but a low fence of euonymus shutting 
 off all that could oiFend in the court before the cow- 
 byres ; so fragrant already with scent of the just 
 sprouting lemon verbena ; so obviously the abode of 
 cleanly health, with every window along the white- 
 washed house front open to the April air. "That 
 reminds me, I never mentioned the — the deceased — 
 your late husband, I mean, ma'am — nor how sorry I 
 was to hear of it." 
 
 " Did you know him ? " asked Mrs Bosenna, scarcely 
 glancing up as she pinched the fragrance out of an 
 infant bud of the lemon verbena. 
 
 "Very slightly, ma'am. Indeed, I don't remember 
 meetin' him but once, and that was at Summercourt 
 Fair, of all places ; me bein' home just then from a 
 trip, an' takin' a day off, as you might say, just to see 
 how things was gettin' on ashore. As fate would have 
 it I happened into a boxin' booth, which was twopence, 
 and there, as I was watchin' a bout, some one says at 
 ray elbow, ' 'Tis a noble art, deny it who can ! ' An' 
 that was your late husband. We'd never met afore to 
 my knowledge, an' we never met again ; but his words 
 have come back to me more'n once, an' the free manly 
 way he spoke 'em." 
 
 " I feel sure," said Mrs Bosenna, " you and he would 
 have found many things in common, had he been 
 spared. . . Now, I dare say, you'd like to look 
 around the place a bit before dinner. Where shall we 
 begin ? With the live stock ? " 
 
 "As you please, ma'am."
 
 G2 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " Well, as we're to eat sucking-pig, we'll go and have 
 a look at the litter he was one of ; and then we'll take 
 the cows J and then you'll have to excuse me for a few 
 minutes while I attend to the apple-sauce, about which 
 I'm very particular." 
 
 They visited the sow and her farrows — a family 
 group which Captain Cai pronounced to be " very 
 comfortable-lookin'.' 
 
 " But how stupid of me I " exclaimed Mrs Bosenna. 
 "To forget that you sailors are tired to death with 
 pork ! " 
 
 " Not with this variety, ma'am," Captain Cai assured 
 her. 
 
 They passed on to the cow-houses, which were empty 
 just then, but nevertheless worth visiting, being brick- 
 floored, well-ventilated, and roomy, with straw 
 generously spread in the stalls, fresh and ready for the 
 cattle's return. There were two houses, one for Jerseys 
 (as Mrs Bosenna explained), the other for Devons ; and 
 she drew his attention to their drainage system. "If I 
 had my way, every cow in the land should be as cleanly 
 lodged as a cottager. None of your infected milk for 
 me ! " 
 
 From the cow-houses she conducted him through the 
 mowhay, where the number and amplitude of the ricks 
 fairly took his breath away. " Oh, we call Rilla quite 
 a small farm ! " said Mrs Bosenna carelessly. " But I 
 could never endure to be short of straw. Clean bedding 
 is a craze with me." She halted and invited him to 
 admire some details in the thatching — the work of an 
 old man past seventj^ she told him, and sighed. 
 " Thatching's a lost art, almost. Too much education 
 nowadays, and everybody in a hurry — that's what's the
 
 RILLA FARM 63 
 
 matter. ... In a few years we shall all be thatch- 
 ing with corrugated iron." 
 
 " An' by that time every one will be in steam." 
 
 " Eh ? " 
 
 " Shipping, ma'am." 
 
 " Ah, yes — to be sure. And everybody making butter 
 with a County Council separator. ' All very scientific,' 
 I tell them, ' so long as you don't ask me to eat it ! ' 
 Why, look at this!" Captain Cai looked. She was 
 holding out her hand palm uppermost, and a very 
 pretty, plump hand it was to be sure. 
 
 " I should be sorry to say how many hundredweights 
 of butter I've made wi" that very hand — or how many 
 hundreds of persons have eaten it." 
 
 Captain Cai dived his own hands into the hip- 
 pockets of his new coat, aimlessly searching for pipe 
 and tobacco-pouch ; not that he would have ventured 
 to smoke in her presence ! — but it gave his hands 
 something to do. 
 
 "'Glad,' I think j^ou must mean, ma'am," said he 
 slowly. 
 
 She laughed, " If you're going to make pretty 
 speeches, it's time for me to run indoors,", and she left 
 him with a warning that dinner would be ready in 
 ten minutes, or at one o'clock to the tick. 
 
 This was by the gate of a broad-acred field (" Pare 
 Veor " she had called it) in which her Jerseys browsed. 
 Captain Cai counted them — they were five — while 
 still half-consciously searching for pipe and pouch, 
 which, in fact, he had left behind in the shop, in the 
 pockets of his old coat. By-and-by he realised this, 
 and with a curious sense of helplessness — of having lost 
 his bearings. . . .
 
 64 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 Ten minutes later Dinah, coming across the mowhay 
 to invite Captain Cai into tlie house, found him leaning 
 against the gate, sunk in a brown study, contemplating 
 the kine. 
 
 The smell of roasted sucking-pig dissipated this tran- 
 sient cloud upon his spirits. Mrs Bosenna (who had 
 discarded her apron, and looked mighty genteel with a 
 gold locket dependent from her throat) avowed, appeal- 
 ing to his sympathy, that it mightn't be senti- 
 mental, but she, for her part, adored the savour of 
 crackling. 
 
 "And as for Robert — my late husband — he doted 
 on it." 
 
 Captain Cai came within an ace of saying fatuously it 
 was a pity the late Mr Bosenna couldn't be present to 
 partake of this ; but checked himself. 
 
 "To think that you should have met him ! Well, it's 
 a small world." 
 
 " There's a lot of folks attend Summercourt Fair — or 
 used to," said Captain Cai, and added that the world 
 was not so noticeably small, if you tried sailing up and 
 down it a bit. 
 
 • " Ah ! " exclaimed Mrs Bosenna, dropping knife and 
 fork and clasping her hands. " Yes, to be sure, the 
 vastness of it — the great distances ! . . . And so 
 you met my late husband in a boxing tent ? Sport of 
 all kinds appealed to him. But isn't boxing a — er — 
 more or less degrading exhibition ? " 
 
 " Nothing of the sort, ma'am. I never went in for it 
 myself — worse luck ; never had the time. But my 
 friend 'Bias, now ! He's past his prime, o' course ; but 
 if only you'd seen him strip — in the old time "
 
 RILLA FARM 65 
 
 " Er — you're surely not referring to your friend 
 Captain Hunken ? " 
 
 " But I am, ma'am. . . . He had a way o' step- 
 ping back an' usin' his reach ... a trifle slow 
 with the left, always . . . that was his failin'. 
 But the length of his arms would delight you — and 
 he had a hug, too, of his own — if you happened to 
 take an interest in such things." 
 
 " But I don't," protested Mrs Bosenna. " And you 
 frighten me ! If I'd guessed that my other tenant was 
 a prize-fighter " 
 
 "Prize-fighter, ma'am? What, 'Bias? . . . He's 
 the gentlest you ever knew, and the easiest-goin' : and 
 for ladies' company — well, I don't know," confessed 
 Captain Cai, " as he ever found himself in such, least- 
 ways not to my knowledge. But I'll be bound he 
 wouldn't be able to open his mouth." 
 
 " — Unless in defence of a friend," suggested Mrs 
 Bosenna, laughing. " You must bring him to call on 
 me." 
 
 Captain Cai shook his head. 
 
 " Oh " — she nodded confidently — " I'll make him talk, 
 never fear ! If he's half so true a friend to you as you 
 are to him " 
 
 " He's a truer." 
 
 "Then, as a last resource, I have only to run you 
 down. So it's easy." 
 
 The sucking-pig was followed by a delectable junket 
 with Cornish cream; and the junket — when Dinah had 
 removed the cloth — by a plate of home-made biscuits, 
 flanked by decanters of port and sherry. 
 
 " Widow's port is the best, they say." Mrs Bosenna 
 
 £
 
 66 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 invited him to fill his glass without waiting for cere- 
 mony. " You smoke ? " she asked. 
 
 He confessed that he was without pipe or tobacco. 
 Dinah was summoned again, left the room after a 
 whispered consultation, and returned with a small sheaf 
 of clean churchwarden pipes and a cake of tobacco, 
 dark in hue, somewhat dry but (as a quick inspection 
 assured Captain Cai) quite smokeable. 
 
 "Now you're to make yourself at ease," said 
 Mrs Bosenna, rising and moving to the door. Captain 
 Cai, remembering his manners, rose and held it open 
 for her. " The wine is at your elbow and (oh, believe 
 me, I understand men !) when you've finished your 
 smoke you will find me in the rose-garden. That's my 
 real garden, though nothing to boast of at this time of 
 the year. But April's the month for pruning tea-roses, 
 and this weather in April is not to be missed. I want 
 to hear more of your friend ; and when you are ready — 
 you are not to hurry — Dinah will show you the way." 
 
 Captain Cai, left alone, carved a pipeful of tobacco 
 with his pocket-knife ; chose a clay ; filled, lit it, and 
 smoked. Two glasses of wine had sufficed him, for he 
 was an abstemious man : but, for all his hard life, he 
 could enjoy comfort. He found it here ; in the good 
 food, the generous liquor, the twinkle on the glass and 
 decanter, the ill-executed but solid portraits on the 
 walls, the hearthrug soft beneath his sole, the April 
 combination of sunshine slanting through the window 
 and a brisk but not oppressive coal fire on the hearth. 
 
 He smoked. The tobacco (smuggled and purchased 
 at low cost by the late Mr Bosenna) had been excellent 
 in its time, and was palatable yet. 
 
 It stuck in Captain Cai's conscience, however, and
 
 RILLA FARM 67 
 
 pricked it while he smoked, that he had given Mrs 
 Bosenna a wrong impression of his friend. 
 
 'Bias a mere prize-fighter ! 'Bias of all people ! But 
 that is what comes of laying stress on one particular 
 accomplishment of an Admirable Crichton. 
 
 He ruminated on this : finished his pipe : and having 
 knocked out the ashes thoughtfully on the bars of the 
 grate, sought the back garden without the help of Dinah. 
 
 The rose-garden to the uninstructed eye was — now in 
 April — but a wilderness of scrubby stunted thorns. In 
 the midst of it he found Mrs Bosenna, gloved, armed 
 with a pair of secateurs, and engaged in cutting the 
 thorns back to a few ugly inches. 
 
 She smiled as he approached. " You don't under- 
 stand roses ? " she asked. " If you don't, you'll be sur- 
 prised at my hard pruning. If there's real strength in 
 the root, you can trust for June, no matter what a stick 
 you leave. The secret's under the ground ; or, as you 
 may say, under the surface, as it is with folks." 
 
 " That helps me, ma'am," said Captain Cai, " to tell 
 you it's like that with my friend 'Bias " 
 
 A whistle sounded up the valley. 
 
 " The three-thirty coming ! " said Mrs Bosenna. " It's 
 at the signal-box outside the tunnel." 
 
 "The three-thirty?" Captain Cai gasped and pulled 
 out his watch. " But that's 'Bias's train — and I was to 
 meet him ! " 
 
 "You TYiight just do it," hazarded Mrs Bosenna. 
 " We count it half a mile to the station, and by the 
 time they have the luggage out " 
 
 " I must do it, ma'am ! To think that " Captain 
 
 Cai held out a hand. " I'd no notion — the time has 
 flown so ! "
 
 68 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " Dinah ! Dinah ! " called Mrs Boscnna, and as 
 Dinah appeared at the back door with a promptitude 
 almost suspicious, — " Run and fetch Captain Hocken's 
 hat, girl ! He has to catch a train." 
 
 Dinah vanished, and in the twinkling of an eye 
 came running with the hat ; with a clothes-brush, too. 
 " Confound her ! " Captain Cai swore inwardly as she 
 insisted on brushing his coat, paying special attention 
 to a dry spot of mud on the right hip - pocket. 
 Feminine attentions may be overdone, and Mrs 
 Bosenna showed more tactfulness than her maid. 
 
 " Have finished, you silly woman ! Cannot you see 
 that Captain Hocken is dying to leave us ? . . . 
 But you are to bring your friend, sir, at the first 
 opportunity ! " 
 
 She repeated this, calling it after him as he raced 
 down the path. At the footbridge he remembered the 
 musical box in the bushes. But it was too late. Mrs 
 Bosenna had followed him to the head of the slope, and 
 stood watching, waving her handkerchief. 
 
 As he glanced back and up at her over his shoulder, 
 his ear caught the rumble of a train, not far up the 
 valley. He must run ! . . . 
 
 He ran, sticking his elbow to his sides. But soon 
 the rumble of the train grew to a roar. It was upon 
 him. ... It overtook him some three hundred 
 yards from the station, and the carriage windows, as he 
 staggered down the high road, went past him in a blur.
 
 69 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 BIAS ARRIVES. 
 
 Captain Tobias Hunken sat patiently and ponderously 
 upon a wooden sea-chest, alone on the platform, but 
 stacked about by such a miscellany of luggage as gave 
 him no slight resemblance to Crusoe on his raft. Besides 
 parcels, boxes, carpet-bags, canvas-bags, tarpaulin-bags, 
 it included a pile of furniture swathed in straw, a 
 parrot-cage covered with baize, and a stone jar calcu- 
 lated to hold nine gallons of liquor. 
 
 He was a dark-bearded man, heavy shouldered, of 
 great bulk, and by temperament apparently phlegmatic; 
 for when Captain Cai arrived, panting, red in the face, 
 stammering contrition, he betrayed neither emotion nor 
 surprise. 
 
 " 'Twas all my thoughtlessness ! " cried Captain 
 Cai. 
 
 " What's the matter ? " asked Captain Tobias. " No 
 hurry, is there ? We've retired." 
 
 " If I'd known I was so late ! " 
 
 " Five minutes." Captain Tobias gazed across at 
 the station clock, then at his friend's face, as if com- 
 paring the two. " You've altered your appearance 
 recently. Which some might say 'twas for the better."
 
 70 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " Glad you think so," said Captain Cai, modestly 
 pleased. 
 
 " Others, again, mightn't. But, there ! " added Cap- 
 tain Tobias with sudden intensity. " Who cares what 
 folks say ? If you chose to go about like a Red 
 Indian, 'twouldn' be no affair o' theirs, I should 
 hope ? " 
 
 " Why, o' course not," Captain Cai agreed, albeit a 
 trifle dashed. " As you say, we've retired, an' can do 
 as we like." 
 
 " Ah ! " Captain Tobias eyed him and drew a long 
 breath. " Got such a thing as a match about ye ? " he 
 asked, pulling forth a short clay pipe. 
 
 " No — yes ! " Captain Cai, clapping a hand to either 
 hip, was about to admit that he had come without 
 pipe, tobacco, or matches, when he felt something hard 
 and angular within the left pocket, and (to his con- 
 fusion) produced — a silver matchbox. " Good Lord ! " 
 he exclaimed stupidly. 
 
 " That's a pretty trifle," said Captain Tobias, pos- 
 sessing himself of the box and extracting a match from 
 it. " Where did ye pick it up, now ! " 
 
 " From a — a lady — a Mrs Bosenna." Captain Cai 
 recovered the box, pocketed it, and desperately changed 
 the subject. " What's become of all the porters here- 
 abouts ? " he demanded. " Leaviu' us alone an' all this 
 luggage, like a wreck ashore ! " 
 
 " I sent 'em away," Captain Tobias explained with 
 composure, " knowin' as you'd turn up sooner or later. 
 Who's Mrs Bosenna ? " 
 
 "She's our landlady; a widow -woman. She lives 
 up the valley yonder." Captain Cai jerked a thumb 
 in that direction, and with renewed anxiety looked
 
 'BIAS ARRIVES 71 
 
 about for a porter. " Hadn't we better whistle one 
 across ? " 
 
 " Sells matches, does she ? " 
 
 " No," — he knew his friend's persistence, and faced 
 about to make a clean breast. " I was callin' there 
 
 to-day. There's the leases to be fixed up, you see " 
 
 He paused. 
 
 Captain Tobias assented with a slow nod. " Premises 
 all satisfactory ? " 
 
 " Aiid shipshape. That's one load off my mind, 
 anyway," sighed Captain Cai, " You're bound to like 
 'em — that is, if you like Troy at all. There's hot and 
 cold water laid on, so's you can have a bath at a 
 moment's notice." 
 
 " I don't see myself, exactly," said Captain Tobias. 
 " But never mind." 
 
 " Well, as I was sayin', I called there to-day — to 
 break the ice, so to speak " 
 
 " You didn't mention ice ; or, if you did, I missed 
 hearin' it." 
 
 " 'Tis a way of speakin'. Well, the widow pressed 
 me to stay to dinner, and there was a suckin' pig ; and 
 afterwards " 
 
 " Hold hard." Captain Tobias removed the pipe 
 from his mouth and stared earnestly at his friend. 
 "Say that agen," he commanded. 
 
 " There was roast suckin' pig, I tell you. It melted 
 in y'r mouth. Well, after dinner she left me alone 
 with pipes an' tobacco ; an' 'twas then, I suppose, that 
 in my forgetful way I must have slij)ped the box into 
 my pocket." 
 
 " 'Twasn' very nice treatment, was it ? — after the 
 length she'd gone to put herself out."
 
 72 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " But 'twas absence o' mind, you understand." 
 
 " I seem to remember," mused Captain Tobias, " there 
 was a Lord Somebody-or-otlier suffered from the same 
 complaint. I read about it in the papers, an' only wish 
 I'd cut it out. Any little valu'bles lyin' about he'd 
 slip into his pocket. But I never heard of your bein' 
 afflicted in that way." 
 
 " Of course I'm not ! " Captain Cai protested warmly. 
 
 "Then I don't see what excuse you'll put up. . . . 
 But wait till we get all this cargo stowed. Ahoy, 
 there ! " Captain Tobias called up the porters, and 
 after consultation it was decided to convert the goods- 
 shed into a cloak-room for housing the bulk of his 
 luggage, but to send on his sea-chest and the birdcage 
 by wheelbarrow to his lodgings. 
 
 " What's the address ? " he asked, turning to Caj)tain 
 Cai. 
 
 "Ship Inn." 
 
 " What ? " Captain Tobias paused in the act of 
 picking up the nine - gallon jar. " Drinks on the 
 premises ? " 
 
 " Lashin's." 
 
 " What a world o' fuss that arrangement do save ! 
 Here ! — " to the porter who stood checking the articles 
 deposited — " this goes into hold wi' the rest Contents, 
 rum, an' don't you forget it, my son ; leastways, pr'aps 
 I'd better say, don't j'ou remember it." 
 
 " I'm a total abstainer, sir," said the porter proudly. 
 
 " You don't tell me ? . . . One meets with such cases, 
 about. . . . Well," — Captain Tobias turned to Captain 
 Cai again, as one averting his face from a sorrow to 
 which no help can be proffered — " what's the dis- 
 tance ? "
 
 'BIAS ARRIVES 73 
 
 " To the Ship ? About half a mile — a nice easy 
 walk, an' the barrow can follow us." 
 
 They were no sooner outside the station premises, 
 however, than Captain Tobias called halt to the driver 
 of the wheelbarrow, paid him, and instructed him to 
 proceed ahead. 
 
 "And you may tell the landlord," he added, "to 
 expect us when he sees us." 
 
 He watched the man out of sight before explaining 
 this manoeuvre. " 'Twas clever of you to mistake me, 
 in front of those fellows ; but I tneant, what distance 
 to this here widow's ? " 
 
 " Eh ? You don't mean to say — after your journey, 
 too " 
 
 '* We'll get it over," said Captain Tobias firmly. 
 
 Captain Cai could not but approve. Here was 
 prompt occasion not only to repair and apologise for 
 his small blunder, but to make Mrs Bosenna acquainted 
 with his paragon. She would soon correct that un- 
 fortunate image of him as a coarse prize - fighting 
 fellow. 
 
 To tell the truth, while reproaching himself for 
 having evoked that image by his clumsy praise, he 
 had doubted it might be difiicult to efface : knowing 
 his friend's shyness of womankind. He had doubted 
 that 'Bias, who (to use his own words) " shunned the 
 fair sex in all its branches," might decline even to 
 make the lady's acquaintance. Lo ! here was that 
 admirable man setting his face and — sternly, for 
 iriendship's sake — marching upon an introduction. 
 What a friend ! 
 
 They took their way up the valley, walking side by 
 side. For a long while both kept silence.
 
 74 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " Pretty country ! " by - and - by observed Captain 
 Tobias. He paused as if to take stock of it, but his 
 gaze was meditative rather than observant. " Suckin' 
 pigs, too, . . ." he added after a while, and resumed 
 his wa}^ 
 
 " What about 'em ? " 
 
 " Why, to drop in on a lone woman unexpected, an' 
 find her sittin' down to roast suckin' pig . . . it's — it's 
 like Solomon an' the lilies." 
 
 Captain Cai flushed half-guiltily. " I didn't say I 
 called quite unexpectedly, did I ? " 
 
 " To break the ice, was your words." 
 
 " You see, I'd happened to meet Mrs Bosenna the 
 evenin' before, an' — hullo ! " 
 
 They had come to the bend of the road beneath 
 Rilla Farm, and either his e3'esight had played him a 
 trick or Captain Cai had caught a glimpse — just a 
 glimpse and no more — of a print gown some fifty yards 
 ahead, where the hedge made an angle about a clump 
 of trees. The small entrance gate and the footbridge 
 lay just beyond this angle. 
 
 " Hullo ! " exclaimed Captain Cai. 
 
 " What's up ? " 
 
 " Nothin' " — for the light apparition had vanished. 
 "Besides, she'd be wearin' black, o' course." 
 
 "I wish you'd talk more coherent," said Captain 
 Tobias, stopping short again and eyeing him. " I put 
 it to you, now. Here I be, tumbled out 'pon a terminus 
 platform in a country I've never set eyes on. As if 
 that wasn' enough, straightaway things start to happen 
 so that I want to hold my head. And as if that wasn' 
 enough, you work loose on the jawin' tacks till steerage 
 way there's none. I put it to you."
 
 'BIAS ARRIVES 75 
 
 " I'm sorry, 'Bias," Cai assured him contritely as they 
 moved on. " Maybe I'm upset by the pleasure o' seein' 
 ye here. Many a time I've picter'd it, an' — I don't 
 know if you've noticed, but these little things never 
 do fall out just like a man expects." 
 
 "I've noticed it to-day, right enough," said Tobias 
 with some emphasis. But he was mollified, and indeed 
 seemed on the point of adding a word when of a sudden 
 he came to yet another halt and eyed his friend more 
 reproachfully than ever — no, not reproachfully save by 
 implication : with bewilderment rather, and helpless 
 surmise. 
 
 " What ? " gasped Captain Tobias. " Which ? "—and, 
 with that, speech failed him. 
 
 The pair had come to the footbridge and were in the 
 act of crossing it, when they became aware that the 
 stream beneath them differed from all streams in their 
 experience. It was not rippling like other streams ; it 
 was not murmuring; it was tinkling out a gay little 
 operatic tune ! 
 
 To be more precise, it was rendering the waltz-tune 
 in " Faust," an opera by the late M. Gounod. Captain 
 Hocken and Captain Hunken knew nothing of " Faust " 
 or of its composer. But they could recognise a tune. 
 
 " Which '( " repeated Tobias gasping, holding by the 
 handrail of the bridge. " You or me ? Or both, 
 perhaps ? " 
 
 " Two glasses o' port wine only, 'Bias . . . and you 
 saw me at the station. I'd run all the way too. . . . 
 Besides, 'ifon hear it." Relief, of a sudden, broke over 
 Captain Cai's face. " It's the box ! " he cried. 
 
 With that he was aware of the sound of a merry 
 laugh behind him — a feminine laugh, too, not less
 
 76 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 musical than the melody still tinkling at his feet. 
 He turned about and confronted Mrs Bosenna as she 
 stepped forth from her hiding in the bushes, her maid 
 Dinah in attendance close behind her. 
 
 " Good afternoon again, Captain Hocken ! And is 
 this Captain Hunken ? ... It was polite of you — 
 polite indeed — to bring him so soon." 
 
 She held out a hand to Tobias, who, to take it, was 
 forced to relinquish for a moment his clutch on the 
 rail. 
 
 " Servant, ma'am," said he in a gruff unnatural voice, 
 and fell back on his support. 
 
 She laughed again merrily. " And you'll forgive me 
 for making you welcome with musical honours ? That 
 was a sudden notion of Dinah's. She spied you coming 
 up the road, and — Dinah, can you manage to stop that 
 silly tune ? " 
 
 " I'll try, mistress." Dinah stooped, groped amid the 
 grasses, and produced the musical box from its lair. 
 
 " You can," stammered Captain Cai, as if repeating 
 a formula, "turn it off — at any time — by means of a 
 back-handed switch." 
 
 " It's yours, then ! " Mrs Bosenna clapped her hands 
 together as she turned on him. 
 
 " It's mine," confessed Captain Cai. " The question 
 might occur to 3"ou, ma'am " 
 
 " It has. Oh, it has ! " She rippled with laughter. 
 "You should have seen Dinah's face when she came 
 upon it ! " 
 
 •'Caius," said Captain Hunken, interrupting her 
 mirth as with a stroke tolled on a bell, "would ye 
 mind pinching me ? " 
 
 " Not at all, 'Bias — if you'll tell me where."
 
 'BIAS ARRIVES 77 
 
 "Anywheres. Only rememberin' we're in the pres- 
 ence o' ladies." 
 
 "It's 'perfectly simple," said Captain Cai, "if you'll 
 only let me explain ! You see, the thing's what you 
 might call a testimonial. I picked it up, comin' 
 through the town to-day." 
 
 " A testimonial ? How interesting ! " murmured Mrs 
 Bosenna. 
 
 "From my late crew, ma'am. As I was sayin', on 
 my way through the town to call on you, ma'am, I 
 was taken on the hop, so to speak, an' made the 
 recipient " 
 
 " What for ? " demanded 'Bias. He was breathing hard. 
 
 " It don't become me," said Captain Cai, and, speak- 
 ing under stress of desperation, he found himself of 
 a sudden wondering at his own fluency. "It don't 
 become me to repeat all the — sentiments which, er, 
 emanated." 
 
 "Give me some," growled Captain Tobias, and was 
 heard to add, under stertorous breath — " Testimonial ? 
 I'd like to ha' seen nny lot try it on r)ic ! " 
 
 " They said," confessed Captain Cai, " as how it was 
 
 their united wish " Here he recalled Mr Tregaskis' 
 
 allusion to possible offspring, and blushed painfully. 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 "That was the words: as how it was their united 
 wish — adding ' in all weathers.' " 
 
 " And, the next news, it's playin' tunes in a ditch," 
 pursued Captain Tobias. 
 
 " I think I can explain," put in Mrs Bosenna sweetly, 
 hastening to close up the little breach which, for some 
 reason or other, had suddenly opened between these 
 two good friends. " Captain Hocken, being cumbered
 
 78 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 with the box on his way to pay me a visit, hid it in 
 the bushes here for a time, meaning to recover it on 
 his way back to the station." 
 
 " That's so, ma'am," Captain Cai corroborated her. 
 
 "But having misjudged the time, and in his hurry 
 to meet you — good friend that he is — Oh, Captain 
 Hunken, if you could have heard the way he spoke 
 of you ! What he led me to expect — not," she added 
 prettily, "that I admit to being disappointed." 
 
 " Go on, ma'am," said Captain Tobias sturdily. But 
 in truth it had come to his turn to look ashamed. 
 
 " Well, you see, in his haste he forgot it. And now 
 he brings you back to fetch it — am I not right ? " 
 
 " Not exactly, ma'am," confessed Captain Cai. " The 
 truth is " 
 
 " Well, you shall hear how meantime we happened 
 on it. . . . We are very particular about our cream, 
 here at Rilla : and with this warm weather coming on, 
 Dinah has been telling me it's time we stood the pans 
 out in running water. Haven't you, Dinah ? " 
 
 Dinah smoothed her print gown. It was not for her 
 to admit here that early in the day from an upper 
 window she had been watching for Captain Hocken's 
 approach, had witnessed it, had witnessed also the act 
 of concealment, and had faithfully reported it to her 
 mistress. 
 
 "So," continued Mrs Bosenna hardily, "reckoning 
 that the bed of the stream may have been choked by 
 what the winter rains carry down, and this being our 
 favourite place for the pans, under the cool of the 
 bridge, down happens Dinah " 
 
 " Excuse me, ma'am ; but ain't it rather near the 
 high road ? " 
 
 I
 
 'BIAS ARRIVES 79 
 
 " It is, Captain Hunken : and I have often thought 
 of it at nights. But the folks are honest in these parts 
 — extraordinarily honest." 
 
 She broke off", perceiving that Captain Tobias was 
 looking with sudden earnestness at Captain Cai, and 
 that Captain Cai was somewhat awkwardly evading 
 the look. 
 
 " Be a man, Caius ! " Tobias exhorted his friend. 
 
 " It's — it's this way, ma'am," said Captain Cai sheep- 
 ishly, after a long pause, diving in his pocket. " We 
 wasn't exactly bound to fetch the — the musical box — 
 which, Lord forgive me ! I'd forgot for the moment — 
 but to return this. How it came to find its way to 
 my pocket I don't know." 
 
 • •••••• 
 
 " And I don't know, either," mused Mrs Bosenna, as 
 Dinah helped her to undress that night. (This un- 
 dressing was, in fact, but a well-worn excuse for 
 mistress and maid to chat and — due difference of posi- 
 tion observed — exchange confidences before bedtime). 
 "Captain Hocken is simple-minded, as any one can 
 tell ; but not absent-minded by nature. At least, I 
 hope not. I hate absent-minded men." 
 
 She glanced at her glass, and turned about sharply. 
 
 " Dinah, you designing woman ! I believe you 
 slipped that box into his pocket? Yes, when you 
 pretended that his coat wanted brushing, — I saw 
 you ! "
 
 80 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 BIAS APPROVES. 
 
 As they departed and went their way down the 
 coombe, a constrained silence fell between the two 
 friends. Nor did either break it until they came 
 again in sight of the railway station. 
 
 " I don't altogether like the air in this valley," 
 announced 'Bias. 
 
 " It is a trifle close, now you mention it," Cai 
 agreed. 
 
 " Nor I don't altogether cotton to the valley, neither. 
 Pretty enough, you may say ; but it gives you a feelin 
 — like as if you didn't know what was goin' to happen 
 next." 
 
 " Places do have that effect with some," Cai assented 
 again, but more dejectedly. Horrid apprehension — if 
 'Bias should extend his dislike to Troy itself ! 
 
 " I'm feeling better already," 'Bias continued, 
 answering and allaying this unspoken fear. " Is that 
 the gasworks yonder ? " 
 
 " Yes. The real scenery's at the other end o' the 
 town." 
 
 " The smell's healthy, they tell me." 'Bias halted in 
 the roadway, and casting back his head took a lou^
 
 'BIAS APPROVES 81 
 
 stare up at the gasometer. " You mustn' hurry me," 
 he said, "I've got to enjoy everything." 
 
 " No hurry at all," said Cai, from whose heart the 
 words lifted a burden at least as heavy as the musical 
 box under his arm. " Hullo ! here's Bill Tregaskis 
 with his missus ! . . . Evenin', William — good 
 evenin', ma'am ! " Captain Cai pulled off his hat. " I 
 hope you find your husband none the worse for the 
 voyage ? — though, to be sure, 'tisn' fair on him nor on 
 any seamen, the way some folks reproaches us when 
 we get back home." 
 
 Mrs Tregaskis dropped a curtsey. " But be sure, sir 
 — what reproaches ? " 
 
 " Your looks, ma'am — your looks, if I may say so ! 
 . . . William married you soon as he could, I'll 
 wager ; but, to be fair, that should ha' been ten years 
 afore you married hiin." 
 
 " La, sir ! " answered Mrs Treo-askis blushino-. " J 
 wonder you never married, yourself — you talk such 
 nonsense ! But you're in spirits to-day, as any one 
 can see." She glanced at the broad back of Captain 
 Tobias, who stood a few paces away, with legs planted 
 wide and gaze still wrapped in contemplation of the 
 gasometer. "Makin' so bold, sir, is that your friend 
 we've heard tell so much about ? " 
 
 " It is, ma'am," Captain Cai turned about to call up 
 'Bias to be introduced, when Mr Tregaskis gently 
 checked him, laying a hand on the musical box. 
 
 " I didn' think it worth mentionin' at the time, sir ; 
 but these instruments aren't intended for carryin' 
 about." 
 
 " No, no," Captain Cai agreed hastily. " Here, 
 'Bias ! Look around an' see who's the first to welcome 
 
 F
 
 82 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 ye ! Tregaskis, of all men ! And this here's his 
 missus." 
 
 " How d'e do, Mr Tregaskis," said Captain Tobias, 
 shaking hands. He knew the mate of the Hannah 
 Hoo, and respected him for a capable seaman. " I 
 hope I see you well, ma'am ? " 
 
 " Nicely, sir, thank you ! " Mrs Tregaskis curtseyed 
 and beamed. 
 
 But Captain Tobias, though with her, too, he shook 
 hands politely enough, was plainly preoccupied. " 'Tis 
 a wonderful invention," said he. " You just let the gas 
 run in, an' then it is ready for use at any time. I 
 hadn't a notion you was so up-to-date here." 
 
 Mr Tregaskis looked puzzled. " It don't work by 
 gas. You wind it up with a cog arrangement, which 
 acts on a spring coil, I'm told — ^just like the inside of a 
 watch. But we can see by liftin' up the lid." 
 
 " Eh ? " Captain Tobias glanced back over his 
 shoulder. 
 
 " But as I was tellin' the boss, 'twas never intended 
 for a country walk. You sets it down at home and 
 calls for a tune — as it might be drinks," continued Mr 
 Tregaskis lucidly. 
 
 Captain Cai touched his friend's elbow. "You're 
 talkin' o' different things, you two," he explained in a 
 nervous haste, anxious to get oif delicate ground. 
 " Tregaskis was alludin' to — er — this here ; which " he 
 concluded, " nobody could have been more taken aback 
 than I was this mornin' . . . when it happened." 
 
 " You don't say that's the musical box ! " cried Mrs 
 Tregaskis. " Now, don't you agree, sir " — she appealed 
 to Captain Tobias — " with what I said to William at 
 dinner-time, when he told me about the presentation
 
 'BIAS APrROVES 83 
 
 and the speeches ? [Here Captain Cai shot a look at 
 his mate, who flushed but kept his eyes averted, pre- 
 tending carelessness.] I said that for a lot of ignorant 
 seamen 'twas quite a happy thought, an' nobody could 
 say as Captain Hocken didn' deserve it ; but, the thing 
 bein' bought in such a hurry — an' knowin' William as 
 I do — ten to one he'd been taken in an' the thing 
 wouldn't work when it came to be tried." 
 
 " I told you," put in her spouse, " as the salesman 
 had shown us how to work it, an' it played the most 
 life-like tunes, ' Home Sweet Home ' inclooded." 
 
 " The salesman ! " said Mrs Tregaskis scornfully. 
 " A long way you'll go in the world if you trust a sales- 
 man ! Why, there was a young man once in Harris's 
 Drapery showed me a bonnet — with humming-birds — 
 perfectly outrageous; I wouldn' ha' been seen in it; 
 and inside o' five minutes he had me there with the 
 tears in my eyes to think I couldn' afford it." 
 
 " It works all right indeed, ma'am," Captain Cai 
 assured her. 
 
 " Ah, maybe you're cleverer with machinery than 
 William ? I don't know how you find him at sea, but 
 / can't trust him to wind the clock." 
 
 " I didn' set it goin' myself, ma'am ; not personally." 
 
 " Wei]," sighed Mrs Tregaskis, " I wish William had 
 consulted me, anyway, before buying the thing in such 
 a hurry. It's shop-soiled, he has to admit; which I 
 only hope you'll overlook." 
 
 " I've told you, my dear," put in Mr Tregaskis 
 patiently, " that the mark was done by a Challenge Cup. 
 The fellow was quite honest about it." 
 
 " A more thoughtful man," the lady insisted, " would 
 have consulted his wife — would have brought the thing
 
 84 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 home, maybe, for a trial, to have her opinion on it. 
 The others wouldn't have raised any objection, I'm sure. 
 And," she concluded with another sigh, " he knows that 
 I fairly dote on music ! " 
 
 " If that's so, ma'am," began Captain Cai, and 
 hesitated, overtaken by sudden caution, " I might let 
 you have the loan of it, some time." 
 
 " You got out o' that very well," said Tobias, as they 
 
 moved on. " I like this place " He paused, to scan 
 
 a bill hoarding, " I likes it the more the further I 
 gets. But the women hereabouts seem more than usual 
 forward. Which an unprejoodiced man might call it a 
 drawback." 
 
 " I'm sorry, 'Bias, she would keep talkin' about the 
 darned box. ... I couldn' prevent the lads, d'ye see 
 • — not knowin' they'd any such thing in their minds." 
 
 " She as good as invited herself to call an' listen to 
 it," Tobias pursued stolidly. " You headed her off very 
 well. 'Tis possible, o' course, we may get tired o' the 
 tunes in time ; an' then she may be welcome to it for a 
 spell. We'll see. Plenty o' time for that when we've 
 done listeuin' to it together." 
 
 Captain Cai halted and gazed at his friend with an 
 emotion too deep for words. But Tobias did not see : 
 he was staring up at a wire which crossed the street 
 overhead. 
 
 " Telephone ! What next ? . . . You never told 
 me, neither — or not to my recollection — as you went in 
 for speech-makin'." 
 
 " But I don't. I — er — the fact is, I had thoughts of 
 takin' a lesson or two. Private lessons, you understand." 
 
 " You don't need to, so far as I can see. What was
 
 •BIAS APPROVES 85 
 
 it I heard you tellin' that widow-woman ? — ' You Avas 
 made the recipient — of sentiments — which emanated ' — 
 that's the way to talk to 'em in public life. I can 
 reckernise the lingo, though I couldn' manage it for 
 worlds, an' don't know as I want to try." 
 
 " Troy is my native town, you see," explained Cai, 
 drinking encouragement. 
 
 " An' a rattlin' fine one, too ! " Tobias halted in 
 front of a wall letter-box. " Look at that, now ! 
 ' Hours of Collection ' so-an'-so. It do make a difference 
 — fancy a thing o' that sort at sea ! ... D'ye 
 know, although you never expressed yourself that 
 way, I'd always a thought at the back o' my head that 
 you'd end by takin' up with public life in one form or 
 another." 
 
 " It has been hinted to me," confessed Cai, colouring. 
 " As one might say, it has been — er — " 
 
 " Emanated," his friend suggested. 
 
 " It has been emanated, then — that there was a thing 
 or two wanted puttin' to rights." 
 
 " We'll make notes as we go along." 
 
 " But I don't want you to start by lookin' out our 
 little weaknesses ! " cried Cai, suddenly fearful for his 
 beloved town. 
 
 Nevertheless he was in the seventh heaven, divining 
 that his friend (so chary of speech as a rule) had been 
 trying to make amends, to sweep away the little cloud 
 that for a moment — no more — had crossed their 
 perfect understanding. 'Bias was here, determined to 
 like Troy : and 'Bias was succeeding. What else 
 mattered ? 
 
 " Tidy little trade here," commented 'Bias, as they 
 reached the Passage Slip and conned the business reach
 
 86 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 of the river, the vessels alongside the jetties, the cranes 
 at work, the shipping moored off at the buoys — vessels 
 of all nations, but mostly Danes and Russians, awaiting 
 their turn. 
 
 " Twenty thousand tons a - month, my boy ! See 
 that two-funnelled craft 'longside the second jetty ? 
 Six thousand — not a fraction under. We're things o' 
 the past, you an' me, an' 'twas high time we hauled out 
 o' the competition.'' 
 
 " China clay ? " 
 
 "All of it." 
 
 " I don't know much about china clay," said 'Bias 
 reflectively, " But I never met twenty thousand tons 
 of anything where it wasn' time for somebody to 
 protect the public." 
 
 "There's a Harbour Commission here, o' course — 
 bye-laws an' all that sort o' thing." 
 
 " Ay ; there's one openin' for ye. We'll find others." 
 
 They resumed their way. The street — Troy has but 
 one street, but makes up for this by calling various 
 lengths of it by various names — was in places so narrow 
 that to avoid passing vehicles they were forced to take 
 refuge in handy doorways. In three out of four the 
 door stood open, and Captain Cai, popping his head in 
 at kitchen or small parlour, would beg pardon for 
 intruding, pass the time of day with the mistress of 
 the house, inquire for her husband's health — "Do I 
 remember him, I wonder ? " — and how many children 
 there were, and what might be their ages ? He always 
 wound up by introducing his friend. Nobody resented 
 these salutations, these questions. Indeed how was it 
 possible to be morose with Captain Cai ? — he bubbled 
 such transparent gaiety, kindliness, innocence.
 
 'BIAS APPROVES 87 
 
 " 'Tis our way in Troy, you see," he told 'Bias as they 
 dived into a cobbler's shop to escape the omnibus. 
 " You have to be neighbourly if you don't want to be 
 run over. ... In London, now, you'd waste a lot 
 o' time explainin' that you didn' want your boots 
 mended." 
 
 " It's like what I've heard about canvassin' for Par- 
 ly ment," said 'Bias. " And that's another suggestion 
 for ye." 
 
 Of the most important shops in the length of 
 thoroughfare known as Fore Street and in Church 
 Square (which is the same street with a corkscrew 
 twist in it) 'Bias showed much appreciation. He was 
 especially allured by the rainbow-tinted goods in Mr 
 Shake Benny's window, and by the cards recommend- 
 ing them for sale. If you admire Lord Rosebery, 
 Now is Your Time — He studied this for some 
 moments. 
 
 " Time for what ? " he asked, rubbing his ear softly. 
 
 " Drinks," suggested Cai, and laughed in pure 
 pleasure of heart. " Come along, man — or you'll be 
 makin' me Prime Minister before we get to the Ship. 
 . . . Yes, yon's the church — Established. You 
 can tell by the four spikes an' the weathercock ; like- 
 wise by the tombstones. But they bury folks up the 
 hill nowadays." He paused — " That reminds me " — 
 he paused again. 
 
 " What of ? " 
 
 " Oh — er — nothing ; nothing particular. . . . 
 Well, if you must know, I was thinkin' about that old 
 hat o' mine." 
 
 " You don't tell me you've buried it ? " 
 
 " No."
 
 88 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " It is time for drinks," said 'Bias with decision. 
 
 They called at the Ship Inn, where they ascertained 
 that Captain Hunken's chest and parrot- cage had been 
 duly delivered. 
 
 " Very decent beer," pronounced 'Bias as they shared 
 a quart. 
 
 " When a man has a job to tackle " began Cai, 
 
 and glanced at his friend. "You're sure we hadn' 
 better wait till you've had a meal ? — till to-morrow 
 mornin' if you like." 
 
 'Bias drained his tankard and arose — a giant visibly 
 refreshed, " I'm a-goin' to see the house, instanter." 
 
 " Things," said Cai, " strike different parties from 
 different points o' view. That's notorious. One man's 
 born an' bred in a place, and another isn't. . . . Now if 
 the latter — as we'll call him for argyment's sake " 
 
 But 'Bias, cutting short this parley, had gained the 
 door and was marching forth. 
 
 To be sure (and Captain Cai might with better com- 
 mand on his nerves have hailed the omen) Nature could 
 hardly have dressed shore and harbour of Troy in 
 weather more auspicious. The smoke of chimneys arose 
 straight on the " cessile air," making a soft dun-coloured 
 haze through which the light of the declining day was 
 filtered in streams of yellow — pale lemon-yellow, 
 golden-yellow, orange, orange-tawny. On the far shore 
 of the harbour, windows blazed as if cottage after 
 cottage held the core of a furnace intense and steady. 
 The green hillside above them lay bathed in this 
 aureate flush, which permeated too the whole of the 
 southern sky, up to its faint blue zenith. 
 
 " Pretty weather," grunted 'Bias, " I see the glass is
 
 'BIAS APPROVES 89 
 
 steady too ; leastways if you can trust the one they 
 keep in the Inn parlour." 
 
 Cai did not respond : the crucial moment was draw- 
 ing too near. 
 
 "Pretty li'l view, too. ... A man with a box o' 
 paints, now, might be tempted to have a slap at it." 
 
 Well-meant but artless simulation ! Captain Hunken 
 had once in his life purchased a picture ; it represented 
 Vesuvius by night, in eruption, and he had yielded to 
 the importunity of the Neapolitan artist — or, rather, 
 had excused himself for yielding — on the ground that 
 after all you couldn't mistake the dam thing for 
 anything else. 
 
 They came abreast of Harbour Terrace. They were 
 passing by the green front door of Number Two. Still 
 Captain Cai made no sign. 
 
 " There's a house, f 'r instance — supposin' a man could 
 
 afford the rental " 'Bias halted and regarded it. 
 
 " Hullo, 'tis unoccupied ! " He turned about slowly. 
 " You don't — mean — to tell me — as that's of it ? " 
 
 " That's of it," Cai admitted tremulously. After a 
 long pause, " 'Bias," he stammered, " break it gently." 
 
 " I'm tryin' to," said 'Bias, breathing and backing to 
 the railings for a better view. He removed his hat and 
 wiped the top of his head sevei'al times around. Then 
 of a sudden — 
 
 " Hooray ! " he exploded. 
 
 " 'Bias ! " Cai stared, as well he might, for his 
 friend's face was totally impassive. 
 
 " Hoo " began 'Bias again, " Who the devil's 
 
 this ? " he demanded, as the door opened and Tabb'a 
 child appeared in the entry. 
 
 " I been expectin' you this hour an' more," an-
 
 90 HOCKEN AND PIUNKEN 
 
 nounced Tabb's child. "Stoppin' for drinks on the 
 road, I reckon ? " 
 
 " We did take a drink, now you mention it," stam- 
 mered Captain Cai, caught aback : " though, as it 
 happens that don't account for our bein' late. But 
 what brings you here, missy ? " 
 
 She laid a finger on her lip. " Sh ! I've got 'em." 
 
 " Got what ? " 
 
 " Servants for 'ee. The3^'re inside." She pointed 
 back in to the passage mysteriously. 
 
 " Who's this child ? " demanded Captain 'Bias. 
 
 " She's — er — a young friend o' mine " began 
 
 Captain Cai. But Fancy interrupted him, dropping a 
 slight curtsey, and addressing his friend straight. 
 
 " My name's Fancy Tabb, sir. Which I hope you'll 
 like Troy, and Cap'n Hocken ast me to make myself 
 useful an' find you a pair of servants — woman an' boy." 
 
 " Oh, but hold hard ! " protested Captain Cai. " We 
 haven't started furnishin' yet." 
 
 She nodded. "That's all right. No hurry with 
 either of 'em — not for some weeks, or so long as it 
 suits you. But you'll be safer to bespeak 'em : an' Mrs 
 Bowldler is the chance of a lifetime." 
 
 She led the way through to the unfurnished and 
 somewhat dingy kitchen. It had a low window-seat, 
 from the extreme ends of which, as the two skippers 
 entered, two figures — a middle-aged woman and a 
 gawky lad — arose and saluted them ; the one with a 
 highly genteel curtsey, the other with an awkward 
 half-pull at his forelock, and much scraping with his 
 feet. 
 
 " This is Mrs Bowldler," Fancy nodded towards the 
 middle-aged woman.
 
 'BIAS APPROVES 91 
 
 " Your servant, sirs," Mrs Bowldler curtseyed again 
 and coughed. " With a W if you don't object." 
 
 " She's quite a good plain cook ; and well connected, 
 though reduced in circumstances. Mr Rogers, sir, is 
 often glad to employ her at a pinch." 
 
 " At a what ? " asked Captain Tobias, breathing 
 hard. 
 
 " Which," said Mrs Bowldler with a trembling cough. 
 " the bare thought of taking service again with two 
 strange gentlemen in my state of health is a nordeal, 
 and as such I put it to you," Here she smoothed the 
 front of her gown and turned upon Tobias with un- 
 expected spirit. " You can say to me what you like, 
 sir, and you can do to me what you like, but if you'd 
 been laying awake all night with geese walking over 
 your grave, I'd put myself in your place and say, 
 ' Well, if he don't spit blood 'tis a mercy ! ' " 
 
 " Plain cookin', did you say ? " asked Captain Tobias, 
 turning stonily upon the girl. 
 
 " And knick-knacks. You mustn't mind her talk, 
 sir : she was brought up to better things and 'tis only 
 her tricks. : . . Now the boy here — his name's 
 Pam, which is short for Palmerston : and I can't con- 
 scientiously say more for him, except that he's willin' 
 and tells me he can carry coals." 
 
 She might not be able to say more for him, and yet 
 her voice had a wistfulness it had lacked while she 
 commended Mrs Bowldler. Certainly the lad's looks 
 did not take the casual glance. He was coltish and 
 angular, with timid, hare-like eyes. He wore curduroy 
 trousers (very short in the leg), a coat which had 
 patently been made for a grown man, and in place of 
 waistcoat a crimson guernsey which as patently was a
 
 92 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 piece of feminine apparel. The sleeves of his coat were 
 folded back above his wrists, and in his hand he 
 dangled, by a string of elastic, a girl's sailor hat. 
 
 " Healthy ? " asked Captain Tobias. 
 
 As if at a military command, the boy put out his 
 tongue. 
 
 " La ! " exclaimed Mrs Bowldler, " look at that for 
 manners !" 
 
 " Where does he come from ? " 
 
 The boy glanced at Fancy in a helpless way. Fancy 
 was prompt. " 'Twould save time — wouldn't it ? — now 
 that you've seen Mrs Bowldler, if she went round an' 
 had a look at the house ? " 
 
 " Which I trust," said Mi:s Bowldler, " it would not 
 be required of me to sleep in a nattic. It's not that 
 I'm peculiar, but as I said to my sister Martha at break- 
 fast only this morning, ' Attics I was never accustomed 
 to, and if 'tis to be attics at my age, with the roof on 
 your head all the time and not a wink in consequence, 
 Martha,' I said, ' you wouldn't ask it of me, no, not to 
 oblige all the retired gentlemen in Christendom.' " 
 
 " You'd better trot along upstairs, then, an' make 
 sure," said Fancy. As soon as the woman was gone 
 she jerked a nod towards the door. " Now we can 
 talk. I didn't want her to know, but Pam comes from 
 the woi'k'ouse. His father was mate of a vessel and 
 drowned at sea, and his mother couldn't manage 
 alone." 
 
 " What vessel ? " asked Captain Cai. Both skippers 
 were regarding the boy with interest. 
 
 "The Tartar Girl — one of Mr Rogers's — with coal 
 from South Shields, but a Troy crew. It happened 
 five years ago ; an' last nieht when you said you wanted
 
 'BIAS APPROVES 93 
 
 a boy it came into my head that one of the Burts 
 would be just about the age. [Para's other name is 
 Burt, but I didn't tell it just now, not wanting Mrs 
 Bowldler to guess who he was.] So this morning I got 
 Mr Rogers to let me telephone to Tregarrick Work'ouse 
 — an' here he is." 
 
 "Do they dress 'em like that in there?" asked 
 Captain Cai. 
 
 " Better fit they did ! " said the girl angrily. " They 
 sent him over in a clean corduroy suit with ' Work- 
 'ouse ' written all over it : and a nice job I had to rig 
 him up so's Mrs Bowldler shouldn' guess." 
 
 At this moment a piercing scream interrupted Fancy's 
 explanation. It came from one of the front rooms, and 
 was followed by another shorter scream — the voice 
 unmistakably Mrs Bowldler's. 
 
 Running to the lady's rescue, they found her in the 
 empty parlour — alone, clutching at the mantelshelf 
 with both hands, and preparing to emit another cry for 
 succour. 
 
 " What in the world's happened ? " demanded Fancy 
 the first to arrive. 
 
 " There was a man ! " Mrs Bowldler ran her eyes 
 over her protectors and turned them, with a slow- 
 shudder, towards the window. " I seen him distinctly. 
 It sent my blood all of a cream." 
 
 " A man ? What was he doing ? " they asked. 
 
 "He was a-looking in boldly through the window 
 . . ." Mrs Bowldler covered her face with her 
 hands. 
 
 " Well ? " Fancy prompted her impatiently, while 
 Captain Cai stepped out to the front door in quest of 
 the apparition.
 
 94 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " He had on a great black hat. I thought 'twas 
 Death itself come after me ! " 
 
 While Mrs Bowldler paused to take breath and re- 
 cord her further emotions, Captain Cai, reaching the 
 front door, threw it open, looked out into the roadway, 
 and recoiled with a start. Close on his right a man 
 in black stood peering, as Mrs Bowldler had described, 
 but now into the drawing-room window ; shielding, for 
 a better view, the brim of a tall hat which Captain Cai 
 recognised with an exclamation — 
 
 " Mr Philp ! " 
 
 Mr Philp withdrew his gaze, turned about and 
 nodded without embarrassment. 
 
 " Good evenin', Cap'u. Friend arrived ? " 
 
 " Funny way to behave, isn't it ? " asked Captain Cai 
 with sternness. " Pokin' an' pryin' in at somebody 
 else's windows — what makes ye do it ? " 
 
 "I was curious to know what might be ofoin' on 
 inside." 
 
 There was a finality about this which held Captain 
 Cai gravelled for a moment. It hardly seemed to 
 admit of a repl3^ At length he said — 
 
 " Well, you've frightened a woman into hysterics by 
 it, if that's any consolation." 
 
 " There, now ! Mrs Bosenna ? " 
 
 " No, it was not Mrs Bosenna. . . . By the way, that 
 reminds me. I've changed my mind over that hat." 
 
 " Hey ? " 
 
 " I find I've a use for it, after all." 
 
 But at this moment 'Bias appeared in the doorway 
 behind him. 
 
 " Seen anything ? " demanded 'Bias. 
 
 "Interduce me," said Mr Philp with majestic calm.
 
 'BIAS APPROVES 95 
 
 Captain Cai, caught in this act of secret traffic, 
 blushed in his confusion, but obeyed. 
 
 " 'Bias," said he, " this is the gentleman that caused 
 the mischief inside. His name's Philp, and he'd like to 
 make your acquaintance."
 
 BOOK 11.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FIRST SUSPICIONS. 
 
 It was August, and the weather for weeks had been 
 superb. It was also the week of Troy's annual 
 regatta, and a whole fleet of yachts lay anchored in 
 the little harbour, getting ready their riding lights. 
 Two or three belated ones — like large white moths in 
 the grey offing — had yet to make the rendezvous, and 
 were creeping towards it with all canvas piled : for the 
 wind — light and variable all day — had now at sunset 
 dropped almost to a flat calm. 
 
 " A few pounds to be picked up out yonder," com- 
 mented Captain Cai, " if the tugs had any enterprise." 
 
 Captain 'Bias reached out a hand for the telescope. 
 " That yawl — the big fellow — 'd do better to take in 
 her jib-tops'le. The faster it's pullin' her through the 
 water the more it's pullin' her to leeward. She'd set 
 two p'ints nigher with it down." 
 
 " The fella can't make up his mind about it, either : 
 keeps it shakin' half the time." 
 
 The two friends sat in 'Bias's summerhouse, the scent 
 of their tobacco mingling, while they discoursed, with 
 the fragrance of late roses, nicotianas, lemon verbenas. 
 "Discoursed," did I say ? Well, let the word pass: for
 
 100 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 their talk was discursive enough. But when at in- 
 tervals one or the other opened his mouth, his 
 utterance, though it took the form of a comment 
 upon men and affairs, was in truth but the breathing 
 of a deep inward content. On the table between 
 them Captain Cai's musical box tinkled the waltz from 
 " Faust." 
 
 They had become house-occupiers early in May, and 
 at first with a few bare sticks of furniture a-piece. 
 But by dint of steady attendance at the midsummer 
 auctions they had since done wonders. Captain Cai 
 had acquired, among other things, a refrigerator, a 
 linen-press, and a set of ' The Encyclopaedia Britan- 
 nica' (edition of 1881); Captain 'Bias a poultry run (in 
 sections) and a framed engraving of " The Waterloo 
 Banquet," — of which, strange to say, he found himself 
 possessor directly through his indifference to art ; for, 
 oppressed by the heat of the saleroom, he had yielded 
 to brief slumber (on his legs) while the pictures were 
 being disposed of, and awaking at the sound of his own 
 name was aw^are that he had secured this bargain by an 
 untimely and unpremeditated nod. 
 
 Such small accidents, however, are a part of the fun 
 of house-furnishing. On the whole our two friends 
 had bought judiciously, and now looking around them, 
 could say that their experiment had hitherto prospered ; 
 that, so far, the world was kind. 
 
 Especially were they fortunate (thanks to Fancy 
 Tabb) precisely where bachelor householders are apt to 
 miss good fortune — in the matter of domestic service. 
 The boy Palmerston, to be sure, suffered from a trick — 
 acquired (Fancy assured them) under workhouse treat- 
 ment and eradicable by time and gentle handling — of
 
 FIRST SUSPICIONS 101 
 
 bursting into tears upon small provocation or none. 
 But Mrs Bowldler was a treasure. Of this there could 
 be no manner of doubt ; and in nothing so patently as 
 in relation with the boy Palmerston did the gold in 
 Mrs Bowldler's nature — the refined gold — reveal itself. 
 
 It was suspected that she had once been a kitchen- 
 maid in the West End of London : but a discreet veil 
 hung over this past, and she never lifted it save by 
 whatever of confession might be read into the words, 
 " When we were in residence in Eaton Square," — with 
 which she preluded all reminiscences (and they were 
 frequent) of the great metropolis. Her true test as a 
 good woman she passed when — although she must 
 have known the truth, being a confirmed innocent 
 gossip — she chose to extend the same veil, or a corner 
 of it, over the antecedents of Palmerston. She said — 
 
 "The past is often enveloped. In the best families 
 it is notoriously so. We know what we are, an' may 
 speckilate on what we was ; but M'hat we're to be, who 
 can possibly tell ? It might give us the creeps." 
 
 She said again : " Every man carries a button in his 
 knapsack, by which he may rise sooner or later to 
 higher things. It was said by a Frenchman, and a 
 politer nation you would not find." 
 
 Again : " Blood will tell, always supposin' you 'ave 
 it, and will excuse the expression." 
 
 Thus did Mrs Bowldler "turn her necessity to 
 glorious gain," colouring and enlarging her sphere of 
 service under tlie prismatic lens of romance. In her 
 conversation either cottage became a " residence," and 
 its small garden "the grounds," thus: — 
 
 " Palmerston, inform Captain Hunken that dinner is 
 served. You will find him in the grounds."
 
 102 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 Or, " Where's that boy ? " Captain Cai might 
 ask. 
 
 " Palmerston, sir ? He is at present in the adjacent, 
 cleaning the knives and forks." 
 
 She had indeed set this high standard of expression 
 in the very act of taking service ; when, being asked 
 what wages she demanded, she answered, "If accept- 
 able to you, sir, I would intimate eighteen guineas — 
 and my viands." 
 
 "That's two shilling short o' nineteen pound," said 
 Captain Hunken. 
 
 " I thank you, sir " — Mrs Bowldler made obeisance — 
 " but I have an attachment to guineas." 
 
 She identified herself with her employers by speak- 
 ing of them in the first person plural : " No, we do not 
 dress for dinner. Our rule is to dine in the middle of 
 the day, as more agreeable to health." [A sigh.] 
 "Sometimes I wish we could persuade ourselves that 
 vegetables look better on the side-table." 
 
 Such was Mrs Bowldler : and her housekeeping, no 
 less vigilant than romantic, protected our two friends 
 from a thousand small domestic cares. 
 
 " Committee-meeting, to-night ? " asked 'Bias, 
 
 "Eight o'clock: to settle up details — mark-boats, 
 handicap, and the like. . . . It's a wonder to me," said 
 Cai reflectively, "how this regatta has run on, year 
 after year. With Bussa for secretary, if you can 
 understand such madness." 
 
 " They'll be runnin' you for the next Parish Council, 
 sure as fate." 
 
 Cai ignored this. " There's the fireworks, too. No- 
 body chosen yet to superintend 'em, an' who's to do
 
 FIRST SUSPICIONS 103 
 
 it I don't know, unless I take over that little job in 
 addition." 
 
 " I thought the firm always sent a couple o' hands to 
 fix an' let 'em off." 
 
 " So it does. They arrived a couple of hours ago — 
 both drunk as Chloe." 
 
 " Plenty o' time to sleep it off between this an' then," 
 opined 'Bias comfortably. 
 
 " But they're still on the drink. Likely as not we 
 shall find 'em to-morrow in Highway lock-up, which is 
 four miles from here. ... It happened once before," 
 said Cai with a face of gloom, "and Bussa did the 
 whole display by himself." 
 
 " Good Lord ! How did it go off ? " 
 
 " He can't remember, except that it did go off. He 
 was drunk, too — drunk o' purpose : for, as he says very 
 reas'nably, 'twas the only way he could find the 
 courage. The fellow isn' without public spirit, if he'd 
 only apply it the right way. Toy tells me that he, for 
 his part, saw it from his bedroom window — the Town 
 Quay wasn't safe, wi' the rocket-sticks fairly rainin' — 
 an' the show wasn' a bad show, if you looked at it 
 horizontal ; but the gentry on the yachts derived next 
 to no enjoyment from it, bein' occupied in gettin' up 
 their anchors." 
 
 Before 'Bias could comment on this, a footstep — 
 light, yet audible between the tinkling notes of the 
 musical box — drew the gaze of the pair to a small 
 window on the right, outside of which lay the gravelled 
 approach to their bower. 
 
 "May I come in? " asked a, voice — a woman's — with 
 a pretty hesitation in its note : and Mrs Bosenna stood 
 in the doorway.
 
 104 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " Please keep your seats," she entreated as both arose 
 awkwardly. She added with a mirthful little laugh, 
 " I heard the musical box playing away, and so I took 
 French leave. Now, don't tell me that I'm an intruder ! 
 It is only for a few minutes ; and — strictly speaking, 
 you know — the lease says I may enter at any reason- 
 able time. Is this a reasonable time ? " 
 
 They assured her, but still awkwardly, that she was 
 welcome at any time. Captain Cai found her a chair. 
 
 " So this," she said, looking around, " is where you sit 
 together and talk disparagingly of our sex. At least, 
 that's what Dinah assures me, though I don't see how 
 she can possibly know." 
 
 " Ma'am ! " said Cai, " we were talkin', this very 
 moment, o' fireworks : nothing more an' nothing less." 
 
 " Well, and you couldn't have been talking of any- 
 thing more to the point," said Mrs Bosenna ; " for, as it 
 happens, it's fireworks that brought me here." 
 
 'Bias looked vaguely skyward, while " You don't 
 tell me, ma'am, those fellows are making trouble down 
 in the town ? " cried Cai. 
 
 " Eh ? I don't understand. . . . Oh, no," she laughed 
 when he explained his alarm, " I am afraid my errand 
 is much more selfish. You see, I positively dote on 
 fireworks." 
 
 She paused. 
 
 " Well," said 'Bias, " that's womanlike." 
 
 " Hallo ! " said Cai. " How do you know what's 
 womanlike ? " 
 
 " I am afraid it is womanlike," confessed Mrs 
 Bosenna hastily. " And from Rilla Farm you get 
 no view at all on Regatta night. So I was wondering 
 — if you won't think it dreadfully forward of me "
 
 FIRST SUSPICIONS 105 
 
 " You're welcome to watch 'em from here, ma'am, 
 if that's what you mean," said 'Bias. 
 
 " Or from my garden, ma'am, if you prefer it," said 
 Cai. 
 
 " Why should she ? " asked 'Bias. 
 
 " Well, 'tis a yard or two nearer, for one thing." 
 
 " Anything else ? " 
 
 " Yes : the other summer-house fronts a bit more 
 up the harbour ; t' wards the fireworks, that's to say." 
 
 " You ought to know : you chose it, . . . But any- 
 way I asked her first." 
 
 " Thank you — thank you both ! " interposed Mrs 
 Bosenna, leaving the question open. "And may I 
 bring Dinah too ? She's almost as silly about fire- 
 works as I am, poor woman ! and life on a farm can 
 be dull." She sighed, and added, " Besides, 'twould be 
 more proper. We mustn't set people talking — eh. 
 Captain Hocken ? " She appealed to him with a 
 laugh. 
 
 " Cai won't be here," announced 'Bias heavily. 
 
 " Who said so ? " demanded Cai. 
 
 "'Said so yourself, not twenty minutes ago. . . . 
 'Said you didn' know how the fireworks was ever goin' 
 off" without you, or words to that effect. I didn' make 
 no comment at the time. All I say now is, if Mrs 
 Bosenna comes here to see fireworks, she'll expect 'em 
 to go off": an' I leave it at that," 
 
 " They'll go ofl^, all right," said Cai cheerfully, put- 
 ting a curb on his temper. [But what ailed 'Bias to- 
 night ?] " I'll get a small Sub-committee appointed 
 this very evening. But about takin' a hand myself, 
 I've changed my mind." 
 
 "Indeed, Captain Hocken, I hope you'll not desert
 
 106 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 the party," said Mrs Bosenna prettily, and laughed 
 again, " Do you know that, having made so bold I've 
 a mind to make bolder yet, and pretend I am enter- 
 taining you to-morrow". It's the only chance you give 
 me, you two." 
 
 She said this with her eyes on 'Bias, who started as 
 if stung and glanced first at her, then at Cai. But Cai 
 observed nothing, being occupied at the moment in 
 winding up the musical box, which had run down. 
 
 Mrs Bosenna smiled a demure smile. She had dis- 
 covered what she had come to learn ; and having 
 discovered it, she presently took her leave, with a 
 promise to be punctual on the morrow. 
 
 When she was gone the pair sat for some time in 
 silence. Tink, tink-tink-a-tink, tink, went the musical 
 box on the table. ... At length Cai stood up, 
 
 " Time to be gettin' along to Committee," he said, 
 and stepped to the doorway ; but there he turned and 
 faced about. " 'Bias " 
 
 " Eh ? " 
 
 " You don't really think as I chose th' other summer- 
 house because it had a better view ? " 
 
 " Has it a better view ? " asked 'Bias. 
 'For fireworks, it seems," said Cai sadly. "But I 
 reckoned — though I hate to talk about it — as this one 
 looked straighter out to sea an' by consequence 'd 
 please ye better. That's why. . . . You're welcome 
 to change gardens to-morrow." 
 
 "Mrs Bosenna's comin' to-morrow," grunted 'Bias, 
 and then, after a second's pause, swore under his breath, 
 yet audibly. 
 
 " What's the matter with ye, 'Bias ? "
 
 FIRST SUSPICIONS 107 
 
 "I don't know. . . . Maybe 'tis that box o' tunes 
 gets on my temper. No, don't take it away. I didn' 
 mean it like that, an' the music used to be pretty 
 enough, first- along." 
 
 " We'll give it a spell," said Cai, stooping and switch- 
 ing off the tune. " I'm not musical myself ; I'd as lief 
 hear thunder, most days. But the thing was well 
 meant." 
 
 " Ay, an' no doubt we'll pick up a taste for it again — 
 indoors of an evenin', when the winter comes 'round." 
 
 "Tell ye what," suggested Cai. "To-morrow, I'll 
 take it off to John Peter and ask him to put a brass 
 plate on the lid, with an inscription. He's clever at 
 such things, an' terrible dilatory. . . . An' to-night Mrs 
 Bowldler can have it in the kitchen. She dotes on it — 
 '/ dreamt that I divelt ' in particular." 
 
 " Which," said Mrs Bowldler to Palmerston later on, 
 as they sat drinking in that ditty, one on either side 
 of the kitchen table, "it can't sing, but the words is 
 that I dreamt I dwelt in Marble Halls with Princes 
 and Peers by my si-i-ide — just like that. Princes!" 
 She leaned back in the cheap chair and closed her eyes. 
 "It goes through me to this day. I used to sing it 
 frequent in my 'teens, along with another popular 
 favourite which was quite at the other end of the social 
 scale, but artless — ' My Mother said that I never should 
 Play with the gypsies In the wood. If I did, She 
 would say, Tum tiddle, tum tiddle, tum-ti-tay' — my 
 memory is not what it was." Mrs Bowldler wiped her 
 eyes. 
 
 " And did you ? " asked Palmerston. " Tell me what 
 happened."
 
 108 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 Next morning, while the Church bells were ringing 
 in Regatta Day, Captain Cai tucked the musical box 
 under his arm and called, on his way to the Committee 
 Ship, upon Mr John Peter Nanjulian (commonly 
 " John Peter " for short). 
 
 John Peter, an elderly man, dwelt with a yet more 
 elderly sister, in an old roomy house set eminently on 
 the cliff- side above the roofs of the Lower Town, 
 approachable only by a pathway broken by flights 
 of steps, and known by the singular name of On the 
 Wall. 
 
 The house had been a family mansion, and still 
 preserved traces of ancient dignity, albeit jostled by 
 cottages which had climbed the slope and encroached 
 nearer and nearer as the Nanjulians under stress of 
 poverty had parted with parcel after parcel of their 
 terraced garden. Of the last generation — five sons 
 and three daughters, not one of whom had married — 
 John Peter and his sister " Miss Susan " were now 
 the only survivors, and lived, each on a small annuity, 
 under the old roof, meeting only at dinner on Sundays, 
 and for the rest of the week dwelling apart in their 
 separate halves of the roomy building, up and down 
 the wide staircase of which they had once raced as 
 children at hide-and-seek with six playmates. 
 
 John Peter was eccentric, as all these later Nanjulians 
 had been : a lean, stooping man, with a touch of breed- 
 ing in his face, a weak mouth, and a chin dotted with 
 tufts of gray hair which looked as if they had been 
 affixed with gum and absent-mindedly. He was 
 reputed to be a great reader, and could quote the 
 poetical works of Pope by the yard. He had some 
 skill with the pencil and the water-colour brush. He
 
 FIRST SUSPICIONS 109 
 
 understood and could teach the theory of navigation ; 
 dabbled in chess problems ; and had once constructed 
 an astronomical timepiece. His not-too-clean hands 
 were habitually stained with acids : for he practised 
 etching, too, although his plates invariably went 
 wrong. He had considerable skill in engraving upon 
 brass and copper, and was not above eking out his 
 income by inscribing coffin-plates. But the under- 
 taker was shy of employing him because he could 
 never be hurried. 
 
 John Peter received Captain Cai in his workshop — 
 a room ample enough for a studio and lit by a large 
 window that faced north, but darkened by cobwebs, 
 dirty, and incredibly littered with odds and ends of 
 futile apparatus. He put a watchmaker's glass to 
 his eye and peered long into the bowels of the musical 
 box. 
 
 " The works are clogged with dust," he announced. 
 "Fairly caked with oil and dirt. No wonder it 
 won't go." 
 
 " But it does go," objected Captain Cai. 
 
 " You don't tell me ! . . . Well, you'd best let me 
 take out the works, any way, and give them a bath 
 of paraffin." 
 
 " Is it so serious as all that ? . . . What I came 
 about now, was to ask you to make a brass plate for 
 the lid — with an inscription." Captain Cai pulled out 
 a scrap of paper. " Something like this, ' Presented to 
 Caius Hocken, Master of the Hannah Hoo, on the 
 Occasion of his Retirement. By his affisctionate under- 
 signed ' : then the names, with maybe a motto or a 
 verse o' poetry if space permits."
 
 110 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " What sort of poetry ? " 
 
 " Eh ? . . . 'Tell ye the truth, I didn' know till this 
 moment that there were different sorts. Well, we'll 
 have the best." 
 
 " Why not go to Benny, and get him to fix you up 
 something appropriate ? " suggested John Peter. " Old 
 Benny, I mean, that writes the letters for seamen. 
 He's a dab at verses. People go to him regular for the 
 In-Memoriams they put in the newspaper." 
 
 " That's an idea, too," said Captain Cai. " I'll con- 
 sult him to-morrow. But that won't hinder your get- 
 ting ahead wi' the plate ? " he added ; for John Peter's 
 ways were notorious. 
 
 " How would you like it ? " John Peter looked pur- 
 blindly about him, rubbing his spectacles with a thread- 
 bare coat-tail. 
 
 " Well, I don't mind," said Cai with promptitude- 
 "Though 'tis rather early in the morning." 
 
 "Old English?" 
 
 " Perhaps I don't know it by that name." 
 
 " Or there's Plain." 
 
 " Not for me, thank ye." 
 
 " — Or again, there's Italic ; to my mind the best of 
 all. It lends itself to little twiddles and flourishes, 
 according to your taste." Old John Peter led him to 
 the wall and pointed with a dirty finger; and Cai 
 gasped, finding his attention directed to a line of en- 
 graved coffin-plates. 
 
 " That's Italic," said John Peter, selecting an inscrip- 
 tion and tracing over the flourishes with his thumb-nail. 
 
 " ' WilliaTn Penwarne, b. 1837 ' that's the year the 
 
 Queen came to the throne. It's easier to read, you see, 
 than old English, and far easier than what we call
 
 FIRST SUSPICIONS 111 
 
 Gothic, or Ecclesiastical — which is another variety — 
 though, of course, not so easy as Plain. Here you 
 
 have Plain " He indicated an inscription — 
 
 "Samuel Bosenna, of Rilla, b. 1830, d. 1895." 
 
 " Would that be th' old fellow up the valley, as was ? 
 — Mrs Bosenna's husband ? " asked Cai, somewhat 
 awed. 
 
 " That's the man." 
 
 " But what's it doing here ? " 
 
 "'Tis my unfortunate propensity," confessed John 
 Peter with simple frankness. " You see, by the nature 
 of things these plates must be engraved in a hurry — I 
 quite see it from the undertaker's point of view. But, 
 on the other hand, if you're an artist, it isn't always 
 you feel in the mood ; you wait for what they call in- 
 spiration, and then the undertaker gets annoyed and 
 throws the thing back on your hands." With a 
 pathetic, patient smile John Peter rubbed his spectacles 
 again, and again, adjusted them. "Perhaps you'd like 
 Plain, after all ? " he suggested. " It usually doesn't 
 take me so long." 
 
 "No," decided Cai somewhat hurriedly; "it might 
 remind — I mean, there isn't the same kind of hurry 
 with a musical box." 
 
 " It would be much the better for a bath of paraffin," 
 muttered John Peter, prying into the works. But Cai 
 continued to stare at the plate on the wall, and was 
 staring at it when a voice at the door called " Good 
 mornin' ! " and Mr Philp entered. 
 
 " Ho ! " said Mr Philp, " I didn' know as you two 
 were acquainted. And what might you be doin' here, 
 cap'n ? " 
 
 " A triflin' matter of business, that's all," answered
 
 112 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 Cai, who chafed under Mr Philp's inquisitiveness ; but 
 chafed, like everybody else, in vain. 
 
 " Orderin' your breastplate ? . . . It's well to be 
 in good time when you're dealin' with John Peter," 
 said Mr Philp with dreadful jocularity. "As I came 
 along the head o' the town," he explained, "I heard 
 that Snell's wife had passed away in the night. A 
 happy release. I dropped in to see if they'd given 
 you the job." 
 
 John Peter shook his head. 
 
 "And I don't suppose you'll get it, neither," said 
 Mr Philp ; " but I wanted to make sure. Push, — 
 that's what you want. That's the only thing nowa- 
 days. Push. . . . You're lookin' at John Peter's 
 misfits, I see," he went on, turning to Cai. " Now, 
 there's a man whose place, as you might say, won't 
 go unfilled much longer — hey ? " Mr Philp pointed 
 his walking-stick at the name of the late owner of 
 Rilla, and achieved a sort of watery wink. 
 
 " I daresay you mean something by that, Mr Philp," 
 said Cai, staring at him, half angry and completely 
 puzzled. " But be dashed if I know what you do 
 mean." 
 
 " There now ! And I reck'ned as you an' Cap'n 
 Hunken had ne'er a secret you didn't share ! " 
 
 " 'Bias ? " asked Cai slowly. " Who was talkin' of 
 'Bias?" 
 
 " It takes 'em that way sometimes," said Mr Philp, 
 wiping a rheumy eye. " An' the longer they puts it 
 off the more you can't never tell which way it will 
 take 'em. 0' course, if Cap'n Hunken didn't tell you 
 he'd been visitin' Rilla lately, he must have had his 
 reasons, an' I'm sorry I spoke."
 
 FIRST SUSPICIONS 113 
 
 Cai was breathing hard. " Bias ? . . . When ? " 
 
 " The last time I spied him was two days ago . . . 
 in the late afternoon. Now you come to mention it, 
 I'd a notion at the time he wasn't anxious to be seen. 
 For he came over the fields at the back — across the 
 ten-acre field that Mrs Bosenna carried last week — 
 and a very tidy crop, I'm told, though but moderate 
 long in the stalk. . . . Well, there he was comin' 
 across the stubble — at a fine pace, too, with his coat 
 'pon his arm — when as I guess he spied me down in 
 the road below and stopped short, danderin' about an' 
 pretendin' to poke up weeds with his stick. ' Some 
 new-fashioned farmin',' thought I ; ' weedin' stubble, 
 and in Aucrust month too ! I wonder who taught 
 the Widow that trick ' — for I won't be sure I recker- 
 nised your friend, not slap-off. But Cap'n Hunken 
 it was : for to make certain I called and had a drink 
 o' cider with Farmer Middlecoat, t'other side of the 
 hill, an' he'd seen your friend frequent these last few 
 weeks. . . . There now, you don't seem pleased about 
 it ! — an' yet 'twould be a very good match for him, 
 if it came off." 
 
 Cai's head was whirling. He steadied himself to 
 say, " You seem to take a lot of interest, Mr Philp, 
 in other people's affairs." 
 
 " Heaps," said Mr Philp. " I couldn' live without it."
 
 114 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 REGATTA NIGHT. 
 
 It must be admitted, though with sorrow, that on the 
 Committee Ship that day Captain Cai did not shine. 
 He bungled two " flying starts " by nervously playing 
 with his stop-watch and throwing it out of gear ; he 
 fired off winning guns for several hopelessly belated 
 competitors; he made at least three mistakes in dis- 
 tributing the prize-money (and nobody who has not 
 committed the indiscretion of paying out a first prize 
 to a crew which has actually come in third can con- 
 ceive the difficulty of enforcing its surrender) ; finally, 
 he provoked something like a free fight on deck by 
 inadvertently crediting two boats each with the other's 
 time on a close handicap. It was the more vexatious, 
 because he had in committee meetings taken so many 
 duties upon himself, virtually cashiering many old 
 hands, whose enforced idleness left them upon the 
 ship with a run of the drinks, and whose resentment 
 (as the day wore on) made itself felt in galling com- 
 ments while, with no offer to help, they stood by 
 and watched each painful development. The worst 
 moment arrived when Captain Cai, who had replaced 
 the old treasurer by a new and pushing man, and
 
 REGATTA NIGHT 115 
 
 had, further, carried a resolution that prizes for all 
 the major events should be paid by cheque, discovered 
 his protege to be too tipsy to sign his name. This 
 truly terrible emergency Captain Cai met by boldly 
 subscribing his own name to the cheques. They 
 would be drawn, of course, upon his private account, 
 and he trusted the Committee to recoup him, while 
 reading in the eyes of one or two that they had 
 grasped this opportunity of revenge. But Regatta 
 Day happens on a Wednesday, when the banks in 
 Troy close early ; and these cheques were accepted 
 with an unflattering show of suspicion. 
 
 The longest day, however, has its end. All these 
 vexations served at least to distract our friend's mind 
 from the morning's discovery ; and when at length, 
 the last gun fired, he dropped into a boat to be pulled 
 for shore, he was too far exhausted physically — 
 having found scarcely a moment for bite or sup — to 
 load his mind any more than did Walton's milk- 
 maid "with any fears of many things that will 
 never be." 
 
 He reached home, washed ofl" the cares of the day 
 and the reek of black gunpowder together in a warm 
 bath, dressed himself with more than ordinary spruce- 
 ness, and was descending the stair on his way to 
 'Bias's garden, when at the foot of them he was 
 amazed to find Mrs Bowldler, seated and rocking her- 
 self to and fro with her apron cast over her head. 
 Nay, in the dusk of the staircase he but just missed 
 turning a somersault over her. 
 
 " Hullo ! Why, what's the matter, missus ? " 
 
 "Oh— oh!" sobbed Mrs Bowldler. "Bitter is the 
 bread of poverty, deny it who can ! And me, that
 
 116 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 liave gone about Troy streets in my time with one 
 pound fifteen's worth of feathers on my hat ! Ostrich. 
 And now to be laying a table for the likes of her, 
 that before our reverses I wouldn't have seen in the 
 street when I passed her ! " 
 
 Captain Cai, already severely shaken by the events 
 of the day, put a hand to his head. 
 
 " For goodness' sake, woman, talk sense to me ! 
 Who is it you're meanin' ? — Mrs Bosenna ? And 
 what's this talk about layin' table ? " 
 
 " Mrs Bosenna ? " echoed Mrs Bowldler, who had 
 by this time arisen from the stair. She drew her 
 skirts close with a gesture of dignity. " It is not for 
 me to drag Mrs Bosenna into our conversation, sir — 
 far from it, — and I hope I know my place better. For 
 aught I know, Captain Hocken — if, as a menial, I 
 may use the term " 
 
 " Not at all," said Captain Cai vaguely, as she 
 paused with elaborate humility, 
 
 " For aught that I know, sir, Mrs Bosenna may be 
 a Duchess fresh dropped from heaven. I have heard 
 it mentioned in a casual way that she came from Hols- 
 worthy in Devon, and (unless my memory deceives 
 me, sir) nothing relative to Duchesses was dropped — 
 or not at the time, at least. But I pass no remarks 
 on Mrs Bosenna. If she chose to marry an old man 
 with her eyes open, it's not for me to cast it up, 
 beyond saying that some folks know on which side 
 their bread's buttered. I never dragged in Mrs 
 Bosenna. You will do me that justice, I hope ? " 
 
 " Then who the dickens is it you're talkin' about ? " 
 
 "Which to mention any names, sir, it is not my 
 desire ; and the best of us can't help how we was born
 
 REGATTA NIGHT 117 
 
 nor in wliat position. But farm service is farm ser- 
 vice, call it what you please ; and if a party as shall 
 be nameless starts sitting down with her betters, 
 perhaps you will tell me when and where we are 
 going to end ? That, sir, is the very question I put 
 to Captain Hunken; and with all respect, sir, 
 ' dammit ' doesn't meet the case." 
 
 "Perhaps not," agreed Captain Cai, but not with 
 entire conviction. 
 
 " It was all the answer Captain Hunken gave me, 
 sir. 'Dammit,' he says, 'Mrs Bowldler, go and lay 
 supper as I tell you, and we'll talk later,' " 
 
 " Supper ? Where ? " 
 
 " In the summer-house, sir : which it's not for me 
 to talk about taking freaks into your head, and the 
 spiders about, or the size o' them at this time o' the 
 year. Captain Hunken and the lady and the other 
 party are at present in your portion of the grounds, 
 hoping that you'll join them in time for the fireworks ; 
 which it all depends if you like mixed company. And 
 afterwards the guests" — Mrs Bowldler threw wither- 
 ing scorn into the word — "the guests is to adjourn to 
 Captain Hunken's summer-house or what not, there 
 to partake of supper. And if I'm asked to wait, sir," 
 she concluded, "I must beg to give notice on the 
 grounds that I'm only flesh and blood." 
 
 " 0-oh ! " said Captain Cai reflectively. It occurred 
 to him that 'Bias had hit on a compromise with some 
 tact. For the moment he was not thinking of Mrs 
 Bowldler, and did not grasp the full meaning of her 
 ultimatum. 
 
 She repeated it. 
 
 " Tut — tut," said he. " Who wants you to wait
 
 118 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 table against your will ? The boy '11 do well 
 enough." 
 
 "Which," said Mrs Bowldler, "I have took the 
 opportunity of sounding Palmerston, and he offers no 
 objection." 
 
 "Very well, then." 
 
 Mrs Bowldler was visibly relieved. She heaved a 
 sigh and fired a parting shot. 
 
 "I can only trust," she said, "if Palmerston waits 
 as he'll catch up with no low tricks. Boys are so 
 receptive ! " 
 
 Cai descended to his garden, and at the foot of it 
 found a trio of dark figures by the low fence of the 
 edge of the clifi" — 'Bias and Mrs Bosenna in talk to- 
 gether, Dinah standing a little apart. "But that," 
 thought he, "is only her place, as I've just been hear- 
 ing." He had a just mind and was slow to suspect. 
 Even now he could not assimilate the poison of Mr 
 Philp's story. Everybody knew Mr Philp and his pro- 
 pensities. As Mr Toy the barber was wont to say, 
 " Philp don't mean any harm : he just makes mischief 
 like a bee makes honey." 
 
 So Cai said, " Cheer-o, 'Bias ! " — his usual greeting — 
 hoped he saw Mrs Bosenna well, and fell in on the 
 other side of her by the breast-rail. The sky by this 
 time was almost pitch dark, with a star or two shin- 
 ing between somewhat heavy masses of clouds. He 
 begged Mrs Bosenna to be sure that she was comfort- 
 ably anchored, as he put it. The rail was stout and 
 secure ; she might lean her weight against it without 
 fear. He went on to apologise for his late arrival. The 
 Committee Ship had been at sixes and sevens all day.
 
 REGATTA NIGHT 119 
 
 " Nobody could have guessed it, from the shore," 
 said Mrs Bosenna graciously, and appealed to 'Bias. 
 "Coming through the town I heard it on all hands." 
 
 " Not so bad," agreed 'Bias, and this, from him, was 
 real praise. 
 
 " ' Not a hitch from first to last — the most success- 
 ful Regatta we've had for years.' Those were the 
 very expressions that reached me." 
 
 " We'll do better next time," Cai assured her, swallow- 
 ing down the flattery. " Believe it or not, I had 
 trouble enough to keep things straight; and being 
 one to fret when they're not ship-shape " 
 
 " / know ! " murmured Mrs Bosenna sympathetically. 
 " You could not bear to come away until you'd seen 
 everything through. Well, as it happens, there are 
 people in Troy who recognise this ; and it does me 
 good to hear you talk about ' next time.' Though, to 
 be sure, one can't count next time on such perfect 
 weather." 
 
 " There'll be rain in half an hour or less," grunted 
 'Bias. 
 
 " Oh, not before the fireworks, surely ? " she ex- 
 claimed in pretty dismay. "Do say, now, Captain 
 Hocken ! " 
 
 She turned to Cai, and then — 
 
 " Oh — oh ! " she cried as, far away up the harbour, 
 the signal rocket shot hissing aloft and exploded with 
 a tremendous detonation. The roar of it filled their 
 ears ; but Cai scarcely heeded the roar. It reverberated 
 from shore to shore, and the winding creeks took 
 it up, to re-echo it ; but Cai did not hear the 
 echoes. 
 
 For (it was no fancy ! ) a small hand had clutched at
 
 120 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 liis arm out of the darkness and was clinging to it, 
 trembling, for protection. . . . Yes, it trembled there 
 yet ! . . . He put a hand over it, to reassure it and at 
 the same time to detain it. 
 
 He could not see her face. The rocket was of the 
 kind known as " fog detonator," and scattered no light 
 with its explosion. He greatly desired to know whether 
 her gaze was turned towards him or up at the dark 
 sky, and this he could not tell. But the hand lay 
 under cover of his arm, and, as moments went by was 
 not withdrawn. . . . 
 
 Half a minute passed thus, and then (oh, drat the 
 fireworks after all !) a salvo of rockets climbed the 
 sky — luminous ones, this time. As they shot up with 
 a wroo-oo-sh I the hand was snatched away, gently, 
 swiftly. . . . 
 
 They burst in balls of fire — blue, green, yellow, 
 crimson. They lit up the garden so vividly that each 
 separate leaf on the laurustinus bushes cast its own 
 sharp shadow. " 0-oh ! " breathed Mrs Bosenna, but 
 now on a very different note, and as though her whole 
 spirit drank deep, quenching a celestial desire. Cai, 
 stealing a look, saw her profile irradiated, her gaze 
 uplifted to the zenith. 
 
 The fiery shower died out, was extinct. Across the 
 party hedge the boy Palmerston was heard inquir- 
 ing if that was the way the angels behaved in 
 heaven. 
 
 " Moderately so," responded the polite, high-pitched 
 voice of Mrs Bowldler (who never could resist fire- 
 works). " Moderately so, but without the accom- 
 panyin' igsplosion. That is, so far as we are permitted 
 tc guess. . . . And highly creditable to them" it wound
 
 REGATTA NIGHT 121 
 
 up, with sudden asperity, " considering the things they 
 sometimes have to look down on ! " 
 
 " I'd love," aspired the romantic boy, " to go up — an' 
 up — an' up, just like that, an' then bust — bust in red 
 and yellow blazes." 
 
 " You will, one o' these days ; that is, if you behave 
 yourself. We have that assurance within us." 
 
 " I wouldn' mind the dyin' out," ingeminated Palmer- 
 ston, "so's I could have one jolly good bust." 
 
 " In the land of marrow an' fatness we shall be 
 doing of it permanent," Mrs Bowldler assured him 
 for his comfort. "That's to say if we ever get there. 
 But you just wait till they let off the set pieces. 
 There's one of Queen Victoria, you can see the very 
 eyelids. Sixty years Queen of England, come next 
 June : with Ood Bless Her underneath in squibs like 
 Belshazzar's Feast. And He will, too, from what I 
 know of 'im." 
 
 As it turned out, at the distance from which our 
 company viewed them, these set pieces laid some tax 
 on the imagination. They were duly applauded to be 
 sure ; and when Mrs Bosenna exclaimed " How lovely ! " 
 and 'Bias allowed " Not so bad," their tribute scarcely 
 differed, albeit paid in different coin. The rockets, 
 however, won the highest commendation, and a blaze 
 of coloured fires on the surrounding hills ran the 
 rockets a close second. 
 
 Towards the close of the display a few drops of rain 
 began to fall from the overcharged clouds : large pre- 
 monitory drops, protesting against this disturbance of 
 the upper air. 
 
 " That's the fine-alley ! " announced 'Bias, as another
 
 122 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 detonator banged aloft, while a volcano of " fiery 
 serpents " hissed and screamed behind it. " Let's run 
 for shelter ! " 
 
 He offered his arm. Cai did the same. But Mrs 
 Bosenna — she had not clung to any one this time — 
 very nimbly slipped between them and took Dinah for 
 protector. She was in the gayest of moods, as they 
 all scrambled up the wet steps to the roadway, and 
 so down other flights of wet steps under the pattering 
 rain to the shelter of 'Bias's summer-house. 
 
 " Just in time ! " she panted, shaking the drops 
 from her cloak. "And I can't remember whenever 
 I've enjoyed myself so much. But — " as she looked 
 about her and over the table — " what a feast ! " 
 
 It was a noble feast. If Cai had been busy all day, 
 no less had 'Bias been busy. There were lobsters; 
 there were chickens, with a boiled ham ; there was a 
 cold sirloin of beef, for grosser tastes; there were 
 jellies, tartlets, a trifle, a cherry pie. There was beer 
 in a nine-gallon jar, and cider in another. There were 
 bottles of fizzy lemonade, with a dash of which Mrs 
 Bosenna insisted on diluting her cider. Her mirth 
 was infectious as they feasted, while the rain, now 
 descending in a torrent, drummed on the summer- 
 house roof. 
 
 " How on earth we're ever to get home, Dinah, I'm 
 sure I don't know ! And what's more, I don't seem to 
 care, just yet." 
 
 Captain Cai and Captain 'Bias protested in unison 
 that, when the time came, they would escort her home 
 against all perils. 
 
 " You can trust me, ma'am, I hope ? " blurted 
 'Bias.
 
 REGATTA NIGHT 123 
 
 "I can trast both of you, I hope." Mrs Bosenna 
 glanced towards Cai, or so Cai thought. 
 
 "The jokes they keep makin' !" Pahnerston reported 
 to Mrs Bowldler. (With the utmost cheerfulness he 
 continued running to and fro between summer-house 
 and residence under the downpour.) " When Mrs 
 Bosenna said that about a merrythought I almost 
 split myself." 
 
 " There's a medium in all things," Mrs Bowldler 
 advised him. " Stand-offish should be your expression 
 when waiting at table ; like as if you'd heard it all 
 before several times, no matter how funny they talk. 
 As for splitting, I shiver at the bare thought." 
 
 " Well, I didn't do it, really. I just got my hand 
 over my mouth in time." 
 
 " And what did that other woman happen to be 
 doing ? " asked Mrs Bowldler. 
 
 " I partic'l'ly noticed," said Palmerston. " She was 
 sittin' quiet and toyin' with her 'am." 
 
 The rain continuing, 'Bias at the close of supper 
 sensationally produced two packs of cards and proposed 
 that, as soon as Palmerston had removed the cloth, 
 they should play what he called " a rubber to whist." 
 He and Mrs Bosenna cut together; Cai with Dinah. 
 Now the two captains could, as a rule, play a good 
 hand at whist. On this occasion they played so 
 abominably as to surprise themselves and each other. 
 Dinah did not profess to be an expert, and Cai's 
 blunders were mostly lost on her. But 'Bias disgraced 
 himself before his partner, who neither reproached 
 him nor once missed a trick.
 
 12-i HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " I can't tell what's come over me to-night," he con- 
 fessed at the end of the second rubber. 
 
 " Regatta-day ! " laughed Mrs Bosenna, and pushed 
 the cards away. The wedding-ring on her third finger 
 glanced under the light of the hanging lamp. " Dinah 
 shall tell our fortunes," she suggested. 
 
 Dinah took the pack and proceeded very gravely to 
 tell their fortunes. She began with Captain Hunken, 
 and found that, a dark lady happening in the " second 
 house," he would certainly marry one of that hue, with 
 plenty of money, and live happy ever after. 
 
 She next attempted Captain Hocken's. " Well, that's 
 funny, now ! " she exclaimed, after dealing out the 
 cards face uppermost. 
 
 " What's funny ? " asked Cai. 
 
 " Why," said Dinah, after a long scrutiny, during 
 which she pursed and unpursed her lips half a dozen 
 times at least, " the cards are different, o' course, but 
 they say the same thing — dark lady and all — and I 
 can't make it other." 
 
 " No need," said Cai cheerfully, drawing at his pipe 
 (for Mrs Bosenna had given the pair permission to 
 smoke). " So long as you let 'Bias and me run on the 
 same lines, I'm satisfied. Eh, 'Bias ? " 
 
 " But 'tis the same lady ! " 
 
 " Oh ! That would alter matters, nat'ch'rally." 
 
 Dinah swept the cards together again and shuffled 
 them. " Shall I tell your fortune, mistress ? " she asked 
 mischievously. 
 
 " No," said Mrs Bosenna, rising. " The rain has 
 stopped, and it's time we were getting home, between 
 the showers." 
 
 Again Captain Cai and Captain 'Bias ofiered gal-
 
 REGATTA NIGHT 125 
 
 lantly to accompany her to the gate of Rilla Farm ; 
 but she would have none of their escort. 
 
 •' No one is going to insult me on the road," she 
 assured them. " And besides, if they did, Dinah would 
 do the screaming. That's why I brought her." 
 
 She had enjoyed her evening amazingly. She took 
 her departure with a few happily chosen words which 
 left no doubt of it. 
 
 After divesting himself of his coat that night, Cap- 
 tain Cai laid a hand on his upper arm and felt it 
 timidly. Unless he mistook, the flesh beneath the 
 shirt - sleeve yet kept some faint vibration of Mrs 
 Bosenna's hand, resting upon it, thrilling it. 
 
 "The point is," said Cai to himself, "it can't be 'Bias, 
 anyway. I felt pretty sure at the time that Philp was 
 lyin'. But what a brazen fellow it is ! " 
 
 Strangely enough, in his bedroom on the other side 
 of the party wall Captain 'Bias stood at that moment 
 deep in meditation. He, too, was rubbing his arm, just 
 below the biceps. 
 
 Yet the explanation is simple. You have only to 
 bethink you that Mrs Bosenna, like any other woman, 
 had two hands.
 
 126 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 MRS BOSENNA PLAYS A PARLOUR GAME. 
 
 " We have runned out simultaneous," announced Mrs 
 Bowldler next morning, as the two friends sat at 
 breakfast in Captain Cai's parlour, each immersed (or 
 pretending to be immersed) in his own newspaper. 
 They had slept but indiflferently, and on meeting at 
 table had avoided, as if by tacit consent, allusions to 
 last night's entertainment. Each of the newspapers 
 contained a full-column report of the Regatta, with its 
 festivities, which gave excuse for silence. With a 
 thrill of innocent pleasure Cai saw his own name in 
 print. He harked back to it several times in the 
 course of his perusal, and confessed to himself that it 
 looked very well. 
 
 But Mrs Bowldler, too, had slept indifferently, if her 
 eyes — which were red and tear-swollen — might be 
 taken as evidence. Her air, as she brought in the 
 dishes, spoke of sorrow rather than of anger. Finding 
 that it attracted no attention, she sighed many times 
 aloud, and at each separate entrance let fall some 
 gloomy domestic news, dropping it as who should say, 
 " I tell you, not expecting to be believed or even 
 heeded, still less applauded for any vigilant care of
 
 MRS BOSENNA PLAYS A PARLOUR GAME 127 
 
 your interests, but rather that I may not hereafter 
 reproach myself." 
 
 " We have runned out simultaneous," she repeated 
 as Captain Cai glanced up from the newspaper. 
 " Which I refer to coals. Palmerston tells me there's 
 not above two-and-a-half scuttlefuls in either cellar, 
 search them how you will." (The search at any rate 
 could not be extensive, since the cellars measured 8 
 feet by 4 feet apiece.) 
 
 " Which," resumed Mrs Bowldler, after a pause and 
 a sigh, "it may be un- Christian to say so of a man 
 that goes about in a bath-chair with one foot in the 
 grave, but in my belief Mr Rogers sends us short 
 weight." 
 
 " I'll order some more this very morning, eh, 'Bias ? " 
 
 'Bias grunted approval. 
 
 " And while we're about it, we may as well order in 
 a quantity, — as much as the sheds will hold. We've 
 pretty well reached the end o' summer, an' prices will 
 be risin' before long. ... If I were you, Mrs Bowldler," 
 added Cai with a severity beyond his wont, " I shouldn't 
 call people dishonest on mere suspicion." 
 
 "If you were me, sir — makin' so bold, — you'd ha' 
 seen more of the world with its Rogerses and Dod- 
 gerses. There now ! " Mrs Bowldler set down a dish 
 of fried potatoes and stood resigned. "Dismiss me 
 you may. Captain Hocken, and this instant, I ask 
 no less. It was bound to come. As my sister warned 
 me, 'You was always high in the instep, from a child, 
 and,' says she, 'high insteps are out of place in the 
 Reduced.' " 
 
 " God bless the woman ! " Cai laid down the paper 
 and stared. " Who ever talked of dismisain' you ? "
 
 128 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " I have rode in my time in a side-saddle : and that, 
 sir, is not easily forgotten. But if you will overlook 
 it, gentlemen," said Mrs Bowldler tearfully, " I might 
 go on to mention that Palmerston have had a misfor- 
 tune with a tumbler last night." 
 
 Cai continued to stare. " I saw a couple performin' 
 in the street yesterday. How did the boy get mixed 
 up in it ? " 
 
 " He broke it clearin' up the debree in the summer- 
 house after the visitors had gone," Mrs Bowldler ex- 
 plained. " Which being a new departure, I hope you 
 will allow me to pass it by in his case with a caution." 
 
 In the course of the forenoon Cai paid a call at Mr 
 Rogers's harbour-side store, where he found Mr Rogers 
 himself superintending, from his invalid - chair, the 
 weighing out of coal. Fancy Tabb was in attendance. 
 
 " Hullo ! " Mr Rogers greeted him. " Well, the show 
 went very well yesterday, and I see your name in the 
 papers this morning." 
 
 Cai confessed that he, too, had seen it. 
 
 " And it won't be the last time either, not by a long 
 way. I was wantin' a word with you. Cap'n Hunken, 
 — eh, but that's the sort of friend to have — a man in a 
 thousand — Cap'n Hunken was tellin' me, a few days 
 back, as he'd a mind to see ye in public life." 
 
 " Thank'ee," said Cai. " 'Bias has been nursin' that 
 notion about me, I know. But I hope I can make up 
 my own mind." 
 
 " He said 'twould be a distraction for ye." 
 
 "Very likely." Cai was nettled without knowing 
 why. " But supposin' I don't need bein' distracted, 
 not at this present ? "
 
 MRS BOSENNA PLAYS A PARLOUR GAME 129 
 
 "Not at this present," Mr Rogers agreed. "Your 
 friend allowed that; but he said as, all human life 
 bein' uncertain, he was worried in mind what was 
 goin' to become o' you in the years to come," ' 
 
 " Meanin' after his death ? " asked Cai, with a touch 
 of asperity. 
 
 " He didn' specify. It might ha' been death he had 
 in mind, or it might ha' been anything you like. What 
 he said was, ' I'd like to see old Cai fixed up wi' sum- 
 mat to while away his latter years.' That's how he 
 said it, in those exact words, an' nothing could have 
 been more kindly put." 
 
 "We're the same age, to a hair. I don't see why 
 'Bias should be in all this hurry, unless between our- 
 selves . . . But you wanted a word with me." 
 
 "Yes, on that very question. I'm on the School 
 Board, as it happens, and I'm thinkin' — between you 
 an' me — to send in my resignation, which will create 
 a vacancy." 
 
 " Oh ? " said Cai, alert ; " I didn' know you took an 
 interest in education." 
 
 "I don't," Mr Rogers responded frankly. "I hate 
 the damned thing. If it rested with me, I'd have no 
 such freaks in the land. But there's always the rates 
 to be kept down. And likewise there's the coal con- 
 tract to be considered. Added to which," he wound 
 up, "it gives you a pull in several little ways." 
 
 " I see," said Cai after a pause. " But, if that's so, 
 why resign?" 
 
 " Because I'm broken in health, an' can't attend the 
 meetings. I'd have resigned six months ago if it 
 hadn't been for Philp." 
 
 " Did Mr Philp persuade you to hold on ? " 
 
 I
 
 130 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " You bet he didn't ! " Mr Rogers grinned. " Pliilp 
 wants the vacancy, and — well, I don't like Philp. I 
 don't know how he strikes you ? " 
 
 " To tell the truth," confessed Cai, " I can't say that 
 I like him. He's too — inquisitive, shall we put it ? — 
 though I daresay he means it for the best." 
 
 " He's suspicious," said Mr Rogers. " You'd scarcely 
 believe it now, but he came down to this very store, 
 one day, and hinted that I gave sliort weight in coal. 
 ' That's all right,' said I ; ' are you come to lay an infor- 
 mation ? ' ' No,' says he ; 'I know the cost o' the law, 
 an' I'm here as a friend, to give a fresh order. But,' 
 says he, ' as between friends I'm goin' to see it weighed 
 out.' ' Right again ! ' says I — ' how much ? ' ' Twelve 
 sacks will meet my requirements for the present,' says 
 he; 'but I'd like 'em full this time, if you don't mind.' 
 I'm givin' you the exact words as they occurred. 
 ' Very well,' says I, * you shall see 'em weighed an' put 
 into the cart for ye, here an' now.' So I ordered Bill 
 round wi' the cart ; an' George, here, I told to pick out 
 twelve o' the best sacks, lay 'em in a row 'long-side o' 
 me, an' start weighin' very careful. When the scales 
 turned the hundred- weight, I said, 'Now put in two 
 great lumps for overplush and sack it up.' So he did, 
 an' Bill took the bag out to the cart. ' Now for the 
 next,' says I. Philp's a greedy fellow : he stuck there 
 lookin' so hard at the weighin'-scoop, wonderin' how 
 much overplush he'd get this go, he didn' see me twitch 
 the tailmost sack out o' the line wi' th' end o' my 
 crutch, nor Bill pick it up casual as he came along 
 an' toss it away into the corner. When George had 
 weighed out the eleven, I says to Philp, ' Well, now, 
 I hope you're satisfied this time ? ' says I. He turns
 
 MRS BOSENNA PLAYS A PARLOUR GAME 131 
 
 about, sees that all the sacks have gone, an' says he, 
 ' That's the end, is it ? ' ' You're a treat, an' no mis- 
 take,' says I jokin'. ' We don't sell by the baker's 
 dozen at this store : ' for I could see he hadn' counted. 
 ' Well,' says he, ' I must say there's no cause o' com- 
 plaint this time,' and off drives Bill wi' the load, ' No 
 cause o' complaint ' ! " Mr Rogers chuckled till the 
 tears gathered in his eyes. He controlled his mirth 
 and resumed, " I believe, though, the poor fool sus- 
 pected something; for he was back at home before 
 Bill had time to deliver more'n four sacks. But Bill, 
 you see, always carries an empty sack or two to sit 
 upon ; so there was no countin' to be done at that end, 
 d'ye see ? " 
 
 " I see," said Cai gravely. It crossed his mind that 
 he had been over-hasty in rebuking Mrs Bowldler. 
 
 " I wonder," put in the child Fancy, " how you can 
 sit there an' tell such a story ! That's just the sort o' 
 thing people get put in hell for, as I've warned you 
 again and again. It fairly gives me the creeps to hear 
 you boastin' about it." 
 
 "Nothin' o' the sort," said her master cheerfully. 
 He could not resent her free speaking, for she was 
 necessary to him. Besides, it amused him. "You 
 leave old Satan and Johnny Rogers to settle scores 
 between themselves. If he takes me as he finds me 
 I'll do the same by him — an he knows I'll count the 
 sacks. Cap'n Cai here '11 tell you I'd never have put 
 such a trick on Philp if he hadn' shown himself so sus- 
 picious. I hate a suspicious man. . . . An' that's one 
 reason, Cap'n, why I want you to decide on takin' my 
 place on the School Board. You see, I can choose my 
 own time for resignin'; the Board itself fills up any
 
 132 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 vacancy that occurs between Elections : an' I can work 
 the Board for you before Philp or any one else gets 
 wind of it. That is, if I have your consent ? " 
 
 "It's uncommonly good of you," said Cai. "I'll 
 think it over, an' take advice, maybe." 
 
 "You know what adv^ice your friend '11 give you, 
 anyway. For, I don't mind tellin' you, when he talked 
 about your enterin' public life I dropped a hint to him." 
 
 "'Bias Hunken isn' the only friend I have in the 
 world," answered Cai, with a sudden flush. 
 
 "I hope not," said Mr Rogers. "There's me, f'r 
 instance : an' you've heard my opinion. That ought 
 to be good enough for him — eh, child ? " he turned to 
 Fancy, who had been watching Cai's face with interest. 
 
 " If the Captain wants feminine advice," said Fancy, 
 in a mocking grown-up tone, " we all love public men. 
 It's our well-known weakness." 
 
 Cai wished them good-day, and took his leave in 
 some confusion. 
 
 That mischievous child had divined his intent, almost 
 as soon as he himself had divined it. Nay, now — or, to 
 be accurate, three minutes later — it is odds that she 
 knew it more surely than he : for he walked towards 
 the Railway Station — that is, in the direction of Rilla 
 Farm — telling himself at first that a stroll was, any- 
 how, a good recipe for clearing the brain ; that Rogers's 
 offer called on him to make, at short notice, an impor- 
 tant decision. 
 
 He paused twice or thrice on his way, to commune 
 with himself : the first time by the Passage Slip, where 
 'Bias and he had halted to view the trafiic by the jetties. 
 He conned it now again, but with unreceptive eyes. . . .
 
 MRS BOSENNA PLAYS A PARLOUR GAME 138 
 
 " Rogers talks to me about takin' advice," soliloquised 
 Cai. " It seems to me this is just one of those steps on 
 which a man must make up his own mind. . . ." 
 
 He paused again beneath the shadow of the gaso- 
 meter, possibly through association of ideas, because 
 it suggested thoughts of 'Bias who had so much 
 admired it — " 'Bias means well, o* course. But I 
 don't go about, for my part, schemin' how 'Bias is 
 to amuse his latter days. Besides, 'Bias may be 
 mistaken in more ways than one." 
 
 He had passed the Railway Station without being 
 aware of it, and arrived in sight of Rilla gate, when he 
 halted the third time. " A man must decide for him- 
 self, o' course, when it comes to the point. Still, in 
 certain cases there's others to be considered. ... If I 
 knew how far she meant it ! . . . She must ha' meant 
 something." Yes, he felt the clutch on his biceps again 
 and the small hand trembling under his large enfolding 
 one. "She onust ha' meant something. Not, to be 
 sure, that it would seriously influence his decisions ! 
 But it seemed hardly fair not to consult her. , . . He 
 would get her opinion, for what it was worth, not 
 betraying himself. In advising him she might go — 
 well, either a little further or a little backward. . . . 
 Yet, once again, she 'must have meant something ; and 
 it wasn't fair, if she meant anything at all, to let old 
 'Bias go on dwelling in a fool's Paradise. Yes, cer- 
 tainly — for 'Bias's sake — there ought to be some clear 
 understanding, and the sooner the better. . . ." 
 
 By the time Cai pressed the hasp of the gate, he had 
 arrived at viewing himself as a man launched by his 
 own strong will on a necessary errand, and carrying it 
 through against inclination, for the sake of a friend.
 
 134 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " I hope it won't be a blow to him, whichever way it 
 turns out," was the thought in Cai's mind as he knocked 
 on the front door. 
 
 Dinah answered his knock : and, as she opened, 
 Dinah could not repi'ess a small start, which she 
 hid, almost on the instant, under a demure smile of 
 welcome. 
 
 " Captain Hocken ? . . . Oh, yes ! the mistress was 
 within at this moment and entertaining a visitor. . , . 
 Oh, indeed, no ! there was no reason at all " — she 
 turned, quick about, and he found himself following 
 her and found himself, before he could protest, at the 
 parlour door, which she flung open, announcing — 
 
 " Captain Hocken to see you, ma'am ! " 
 
 Mrs Bosenna, seated at the head of her polished 
 mahogany table and engaged upon a game of " spilli- 
 kins" — which is a solitary trial of skill, and consists 
 in lifting, one by one, with a delicate ivory hook a 
 mass of small ivory pieces tangled as intricately as 
 the bones in a kingfisher's nest — showed no more 
 than a pretty surprise at the intrusion. She had, in 
 fact, seen Captain Hocken pass the window some 
 moments before ; and it had not caused her to joggle 
 the tiny ivory hook for a moment or to miss a 
 moment's precision. What native quickness did for 
 her, native stolidity did almost as well for Captain 
 Hunken, who sat in an arm-chair by the fireplace 
 smoking and watching her — and had been sitting and 
 watching her for a good half an hour admiringly, 
 without converse. "Spillikins" is a game during 
 which, though it enjoins silence on the looker-on, a 
 real expert can playfully challenge a remark or toler-
 
 MRS BOSENNA PLAYS A PARLOUR GAME 135 
 
 ate one, now and again. Also, you can make astonish- 
 ing play with it if you happen to possess a pretty wrist 
 and hand. 
 
 I throw in this explanation of "spillikins" to fill 
 up a somewhat long and painful pause during which 
 Cai and 'Bias without speech slowly questioned one 
 another. Neither heeded the pretty tactful clatter 
 with which Mrs Bosenna, after sweeping her ivory 
 toys in a heap and starting up with a little cr}'- of 
 pleasure, held out her hand to the intruder. Cai took 
 it as one in a dream. His eyes were fixed on 'Bias, 
 as 'Bias, who had withdrawn the pipe from his mouth 
 and replaced it, withdrew it again, and asked — 
 
 " Well, an' what brings you here ? " 
 
 For a moment Cai seemed to be chewing down a 
 cud in his throat. He ought to have been quicker, 
 he felt. It is always a mistake to let your adversary 
 (Good Lord ! had it come to this ?) set up an inter- 
 rogaiovy. 
 
 " I might ask you the same question," he re- 
 sponded. 
 
 " But you didn'," said 'Bias solidly, crossing his legs 
 and reaching for a box of matches from the shelf to 
 relight his pipe. " Well ? " 
 
 " Well, if you must know, I've called to consult Mrs 
 Bosenna on a private matter of business." 
 
 This was a neat enough hint ; yet strange to say it 
 missed fire. 'Bias sucked at his pipe without budging, 
 and answered — 
 
 " Same here." 
 
 "Please be seated. Captain Hocken," said Mrs 
 Bosenna, covering inward merriment with the demurest
 
 136 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 of smiles. " You shall tell me your business later on — 
 that's to say, if there's no pressing hurry about it ? " 
 
 "There's no pressin hurry," admitted Cai. "It's 
 important, though, in a way — important to me; and 
 any ways more important than amok in' a pipe an' 
 watchin' you play parlour games." 
 
 "That," said 'Bias sententiously, withdrawing his 
 pipe from his lips, "isn' business, but pleasure." 
 
 "You may not believe it, Captain Hocken," pro- 
 tested Mrs Bosenna, " but ' spillikins ' helps me to fix 
 my thoughts. And you ought to feel flattered, really 
 you ought — " 
 
 She laughed now, and archly — " Because, as a fact, I 
 was fixing them on you at the very moment Dinah 
 showed you in ! " She threw him a look which might 
 mean little or much. Cai took it to mean much. 
 
 " Ma'am, " he began, but she had turned and was 
 
 appealing to 'Bias. 
 
 " Captain Hunken and I were at that moment agree- 
 ing that a man of your abilities — a native of Troy, 
 too — and, so to speak, at the height of his powers — 
 ought not to be rusting or allowed to rust in a little 
 place where so much wants to be done. For my part," 
 — her eyes still interrogated 'Bias, — "I could never 
 live with a man, and look up to him, unless he put 
 his heart into some work, be it farming, or public 
 affairs, or what else you like. I put that as an 
 illustration, of course : just to show you how it appeals 
 to us women ; and we do make up half the world, 
 however much you bachelor gentlemen may pretend 
 to despise us." 
 
 " That settles poor old 'Bias, anyhow," thought Cai, 
 and at the same moment was conscious of a returning
 
 MKS BOSENNA PLAYS A PARLOUR GAME 137 
 
 gush of affection for his old friend, and of some self- 
 reproach mingling in the warm flow. 
 
 "Why, as for that, ma'am," said he, "though you 
 put it a deal too kindly — 'twas about something o' that 
 natur' I came to consult you." 
 
 " School Board ? " suggested 'Bias. 
 
 " That's right. I knew Rogers had dropped a hint 
 to you about it : but o' course, seein' you here, I never 
 guessed " 
 
 Mrs Bosenna clapped her hands together. " And on 
 that hint away comes Captain Hunken to ask my 
 advice : knowing that I should be interested too. Ah, 
 if only we women understood friendship as men do ! 
 . . . But you come and consult us, you see. . . . And 
 now you must both stop for dinner and talk it over."
 
 138 
 
 CHAPTEK XII. 
 
 AMANTIUM IR^. 
 
 " What I feel about it," said Cai modestly at dinner, 
 " is that I mightn't be equal to the position, not havin' 
 studied education." 
 
 " Education ! " echoed Mrs Bosenna in a high tone 
 of contempt and with a half vicious dig of her carving- 
 fork into the breast of a goose that Dinah had browned 
 to a turn. (Both Cai and 'Bias had offered to carve 
 for her, but she had declined their services, being 
 anxious to provoke no further jealousy. Also be it 
 said that the operation lends itself, even better than 
 does the game of spillikins, to a pretty display of 
 hands and wrists). " Education ! You know enough, 
 I hope, to tell the Board to get rid of their latest 
 craze. You'll hardly believe it," she went on, turn- 
 ing to 'Bias, " but I happened to pass the Girls' School 
 the other day, and if there wasn't a piano going ! — 
 yes, actually a piano ! When you come to think that 
 the parents of some of those children don't earn sixteen 
 shillings a- week ! " 
 
 " Mons'rous," 'Bias agreed. 
 
 "But I don't understand, ma'am," said Cai, "that 
 the children themselves play the piano. I made
 
 AMANTIUM IR^ 139 
 
 inquiries about that, it being a new thing since my 
 day : and I'm told it's for the teachers to use in singin' 
 lesson, an' to help the children to keep time at drill an' 
 what-not." 
 
 " The teachers ? And who are the teachers, I'd like 
 to know ? — Nasty stuck-up things, if they want the 
 children to keep time, what's to prevent their calling 
 out ' One, two — right, left ' like ordinary people ? But 
 — oh, dear me, no ! We're quite above that ! So it's 
 tinkle-tum, tinkle-tum, and all out of the rates." 
 
 " But ' one, two — right, left ' wouldn' carry ye far in 
 a singin' lesson," urged Cai. 
 
 " And who wants all this singin' ? There's William 
 Skin, my waggoner, for instance — five children, and a 
 three - roomed cottage — all the children attending 
 school, and regular, too. Pleasant life it would be 
 for William, with all five coming home with ' The Sea, 
 the Open Sea ' in their mouths and all about the house 
 when he gets home from work ! Leastways it would 
 be, if he wasn't providentially deaf." 
 
 " Is the woman deaf, too ? " asked 'Bias. 
 
 " No. She believes in Education," said Mrs Bosenna. 
 "She's bo2ind to believe in anything that takes the 
 children off her hands five days in the week." 
 
 Cai puckered his brow. "But," said he, harking 
 back, "I made inquiries, too, who paid for the piano, 
 and was told the teachers had collected the money by 
 goin' round with a subscription-list an gettin' up little 
 entertainments. So it doesn't come out of the 
 rates." 
 
 "You appear to have had your eye on this opcnin' 
 for some time," retorted Mrs Bosenna, with a faint 
 flush of annoyance. She very much disliked being
 
 UO HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 proved in the wrong. " And it's not very polite of you 
 to contradict me ! " 
 
 Cai was crestfallen at once. " I didn' mean it in 
 that light, ma'am," he stammered ; " and I only made 
 inquiries, d'ye see ? Bein' ignorant of so many things 
 ashore. You'd be astonished how ignorant 'Bias an' 
 me found ourselves, first-goin' off." 
 
 " Speak for yourself," put in 'Bias. 
 
 " You should have come to me," said Mrs Bosenna. 
 " I could have told you all about Education, especially 
 the sort that ought to be given to labourers' children ; 
 and it's astonishin' to me the way some people will 
 talk on matters they know nothing about. My late 
 husband made a study of the question, having been 
 fined five shillin' and costs, the year before he married 
 me, just for withdrawing a dozen children from school 
 to pick his apples for him. As luck would have it, 
 one of them fell off a tree and broke his leg, and that 
 gave the Board an excuse to take the matter up. My 
 husband argued it out with the Bench. * The children 
 like it,' he said, 'for it keeps 'em out of doors, and 
 provides 'em with healthy exercise. If Education sets 
 a boy against climbing for apples, why then,' says 
 he, speaking up boldly, ' with your Worships' leave, 
 Education must be something clean against Nature, as 
 I always thought it was. And the parents like it, for 
 the coppers it brings in. And the farmer gets his 
 apples saved. If that's so,' says he, ' here's a trans- 
 action that benefits everybody concerned, instead of 
 which the Board goes out of its way to harass me for 
 it.' The chairman. Sir Felix, owned he was right, too. 
 ' Bosenna,' says he, ' I can't answer you if I would.
 
 AMANTIUM IRjE 141 
 
 Nothing grieves me more, sitting here, than having to 
 administer the law as I find it. But, as things are, I 
 can't let you off with less.' " 
 
 This anecdote, and the close arguments used by Mr 
 Bosenna, plunged Cai in thought ; and for the remainder 
 of the meal he sat abstracted, joining by fits and starts 
 in the conversation, now and then raising his eyes to 
 a portrait of the deceased farmer, an enlarged and 
 highly-tinted photograph, which gazed down on him 
 from the opposite wall. The gaze was obstinate, 
 brow-beating, as though it challenged Cai to find a 
 flaw in the defence : and Cai, although dimly aware 
 of a fallacy somewhere, could not meet the challenge. 
 He lowered his eyes again to his plate. He found 
 himself wondering if, in any future circumstances, 
 Mrs Bosenna would consent to hang the portrait in 
 another apartment. . . . 
 
 Into so deep an abstraction it cast him, indeed, that 
 when Mrs Bosenna arose to leave them to their wine and 
 tobacco, he scrambled to his feet a good three seconds 
 too late. . . . 'Bias (usually lethargic in his movements) 
 was already at the door, holding it open for her. 
 
 What was worse — 'Bias having closed the door upon 
 her, returned to his seat with a slight but insufferable 
 air of patronage, and — passed the decanter of wine to 
 him! 
 
 "You'll find it pretty good," said 'Bias, dropping 
 into his chair and heavily crossing his legs. 
 
 Cai swallowed down a sudden tide of rage. " After 
 you ! " said he with affected carelessness. " I've tasted 
 it afore."
 
 142 HOCKEN AND IIUNKEN 
 
 " Well — if you wonH — " 'Bias stretched out a slow 
 arm, filled his glass, and set down the decanter beside 
 his own dessert plate. " You'll find those apples pretty 
 good," he went on, sipping the wine, " though not up 
 to the Cox's Orange Pippins or the Blenheim Oranges 
 that come along later." He smacked his lips. " You'd 
 better try this port wine. Maybe 'tis a different 
 quality to what you tasted when here by yourself." 
 " Thank 'ee," answered Cai. " I said ' after you.' " 
 " Oh ? " 'Bias pushed the decanter. " You weren't 
 very tactful just now, were you?" he asked after a 
 pause. " Is it the same wine ? " 
 
 " O' course it is. . . . When wasn't I tactful ? " 
 "Why, when you upped an' contradicted her like 
 that." 'Bias started to fill his pipe. " Women are — 
 what's the word ? — sensitive ; 'specially at their own 
 table." 
 
 " I didn contradict her," maintained Cai. " Least- 
 ways " 
 
 "There's no reason to lose your temper about it, is 
 there ? . . . You gave me that impression, an' if you 
 didn' give her the same, I'm mistaken." 
 
 " I'm not losin' my temper." 
 
 " No ? . . . Well, whatever you did, 'tis done, an' 
 no use to fret. Only I want you and Mrs Bosenna to 
 be friends — she bein' our landlady, so to speak." 
 
 "Thank 'ee," said Cai again, holding a match to his 
 pipe with an agitated hand. "If you remember, I 
 ought to know it, havin' had all the early dealin's 
 with her." 
 
 "She's very well disposed to you, too," said 'Bias. 
 " Nothing could have been kinder than the way she 
 spoke when I mentioned this School-Board business :
 
 AMANTIUM IRJE 143 
 
 nothing. We'd be glad, both of us, to see you fixed up 
 in that job." 
 
 " I wonder you didn't think of takin' it on yourself." 
 
 " I did," confessed 'Bias imperturbably. 
 
 " You ? . . . Well, what next ? " 
 
 " I thought of it. . . . Only for a moment, though. 
 First place, I didn' want to stand in your way; an' 
 next, as you was sayin' just now, 'tis a ticklish matter 
 when a man starts 'pon a business he knows nothing 
 about. But you'll soon pick it up, bein' able to give 
 your whole time to it." 
 
 " That might apply to you." 
 
 To this 'Bias made no rej^ly. He smoked on, pressing 
 down the tobacco in the bowl of his pipe. The two 
 friends sat in a constrained silence, now and again 
 pushing the wine politely. 
 
 " When you are ready ? " suggested 'Bias at length — 
 as Cai helped himself to a final half -glassful, measuring 
 it out with exactitude and leaving as much or may be a 
 trifle more at the bottom of the decanter. " Ladies 
 don't like to be kept waitin' too long." 
 
 Cai swallowed the wine and stood up, swallowing 
 down also an inward mirth to which his anger had 
 given way. During the last minute or two he had 
 been recalling many things, — his first meeting with 
 Mrs Bosenna; his first call at Rilla; her remarks on 
 that occasion, upon the grace of a cultivated manner in 
 men ; some subsequent glances, intimate almost ; above 
 all, the clutch upon his protective arm. . . . He felt 
 sorry for 'Bias. Under the rosy influence of Mrs 
 Bosenna's wine he felt genuinely sorry for 'Bias, while 
 enjoying the humorous aspect of 'Bias's delusion. 'Bias 
 — for whose lack of polish he had from the first made
 
 144 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 excuse — 'Bias laying down the law on what ladies liked 
 and disliked ! 
 
 They arose heavily and strolled forth to view the live- 
 stock. It was wonderful with what ease these two 
 retired seamen, without instruction, dropped into the 
 farm-master's routine. So (if in other words) Dinah 
 remarked, glancing out of the mullioned window of the 
 kitchen as she fetched a fresh faggot for the hearth on 
 which her mistress had already begun to set out the 
 heavy -cake and potato - cake in preparation for 
 tea-time. 
 
 " — the afternoon habits, I mean," explained Dinah. 
 " Just glimpsy out o' window, mistress, an' see the pair 
 o' men down there — along studyin' the pigs. Wouldn' 
 know a pig's starn from his stem, I b'lieve, if th' 
 Almighty hadn' clapped on a twiddling tail, same as 
 they put in books to show where a question ends. 
 When they come to that, they're safe. . . . But from 
 their backs, mistress — do 'ee but take a look now, do — 
 you wouldn' guess they weren't just as knowledgeable 
 as th' old master himself, as used to judge pigs for the 
 Royal Cornwall — the poor old angel ! I can see him 
 now, after the best part of a bottle o' sherry, strollin' 
 out to the styes." 
 
 " Don't, Dinah ! " entreated Mrs Bosenna, stealing a 
 glance nevertheless : which Dinah demurely noted. 
 " It's — it's all so recent ! " 
 
 "Ay," agreed Dinah, and mused, standing boldly 
 before the window, knuckles on hips. "You couldn' 
 say now, takin' 'em separate, what it is that puts 
 me more in mind of th' old master." 
 
 " Go about your work, you foolish woman." 
 
 " I suppose," said Dinah, withdrawing her gaze reluc-
 
 AMANTIUM IR^ 145 
 
 tanfcly and obeying, " there's always a something about 
 a man ! " 
 
 Mrs Bosenna stood by the kitchen -table, patting up 
 another barm-cake. She had a hand even lighter than 
 Dinah's with flour and pastry. . . . The two captains 
 had moved on to the gate of Home Pare, and she could 
 still espy them past the edge of the window. She saw 
 Captain Hunken draw his hand horizontally with a 
 slow explanatory gesture and then drop it abruptly at 
 a right angle. 
 
 'Bias was, in fact, at that moment expounding to Cai, 
 point by point and in a condescending way, the right 
 outline of a prize Devon shorthorn. Mrs Bosenna (who 
 had taught him the little he knew) guessed as she 
 watched the exposition, pursing her lips. 
 
 " A trifle o' bluflness in the entry don't matter, if you 
 understand me," said 'Bias, retrieving his lesson. " Aft 
 o' that, no sheer at all ; a straight line till you come to 
 the rump, — or, as we'll say, for argyment's sake, the 
 counter — an' then a plumb drop, plumb as a quay- 
 punt." 
 
 " Where did you pick up all this ? " asked Cai. 
 
 "I don't make any secret about it," 'Bias owned. 
 " Mrs Bosenna taught me. Though, when you come to 
 think it out, 'tis as straightforward as sizing up a 
 vessel. You begin by askin' yourself what the objec' 
 in question — call it a cow, or call it a brigantine — was 
 designed for. Now what's a cow designed for ? " 
 
 " Milk, I suppose," hazarded Cai. 
 
 " Very well, then, I take you at that : the squarer 
 the cow the more she holds. It stands to reason." 
 
 K
 
 146 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 "I don't know." Cai made some show of obstinacy, 
 but, it is feared, rather to test his friend than to arrive 
 at the truth. "A round cow, — supposing there was 
 such a thing " 
 
 " But there isn't. It's out of the question." 
 
 "I speak under correction," said Cai thoughtfully; 
 " but looking at what cows I've seen, — end on. And 
 anyway, you can't call a cow's udder square ; not in 
 any sense o' the word." 
 
 " What beats me, 1 11 confess," said 'Bias, shifting the 
 argument, "is how these butchers and farmers at 
 market can cast their eye over a bullock an' judge his 
 weight to a pound or two. 'Tis a trick, I suppose; 
 but I'd^like to know how it's worked." 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 " If 'twas a vessel, now, an' tons burden in place o' 
 pounds' weight, you an' me might guess pretty right. 
 But when it comes to a bullock ! " 
 
 "I don't see," objected Cai, "how it consams either 
 of us." 
 
 " You don't ? " asked 'Bias with a look which, for 
 him, was quick and keen. 
 
 " To be sure I don't," answered Cai. " If it happened 
 as I wanted to buy a bullock to eat, all at one time — 
 and if so be as I found myself at market in search o' 
 one, — I should be anxious about the weight. That 
 goes without sayin'. An' the odds are I should ask the 
 honestest-lookin' fellow handy to give a guess for me. 
 But with you an' me 'tis a question o' two pounds o' 
 rump steak. I know by the look if 'tis tender, and I 
 can tell by a look at the scales if 'tis fair weight. I 
 don't ask to be shown the whole ox." 
 
 " I daresay you're right," said 'Bias, apparently much
 
 AMANTIUM IRuE 147 
 
 relieved. "It'll save a lot of trouble, anyhow, if you're 
 goin' in for public life. A man in public life can't 
 afford time for details such as weighin' bullocks. But, 
 for my part, I'm beginnin' to take an interest in 
 agriculture." 
 
 " And why not ? " agreed Cai. " There's no prettier 
 occupation than farmin', so long as a man contents 
 himself with lookin' on an' don't start practising it. 
 Actual farmin' needs capital, o' course." 
 
 To this 'Bias made no response, but continued to 
 stare thoughtfully at Mrs Bosenna's kine. 
 
 " After all," pursued Cai cheerfully, " these little 
 interests are the salt of a leisurable man's life. I dare 
 say, f'r instance, as Philp gets quite an amount o' fun 
 out o' funerals, though to me it seems a queer taste. 
 Every man to his hobby ; and yours, now, I can under- 
 stand. When you've finished potterin' around the 
 garden, weedin' an' plantin', — an', by the way, the 
 season for plantin' isn't far off. It's about time we 
 looked up those autumn catalogues we talked so much 
 about back in the spring." 
 
 " True," said 'Bias. " It has slipped my mind of late. 
 An' you not mentionin' either " 
 
 " Somehow it had slipped mine too. . . . All that 
 Regatta business, I suppose. . . . And now, if I am 
 to take up with this School Board there'll be more 
 calls on my time. But there ! If I turn over both 
 the gardens to you, I reckon you won't object. 'Twill 
 be so much the more occupation, — not o' course," added 
 Cai, "that I want to shirk doin' my share. But, as I 
 was sayin', when you've done your day's job at the 
 garden, an' taken your stroll down to the quay to pick 
 up the evenin' gossip, what healthier wind-up can there
 
 148 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 be than to stretch your legs on a walk to one of the 
 two-three farms in the parish, an' note how the crops 
 are comin' on, an' the beef an' mutton, so to speak, 
 an' how the cows are in milk ; an' maybe drop in for 
 tea an' a chat ? — here at Rilla, f'r instance, where you'll 
 always be sure of a welcome." 
 
 " You're sure o' that ? " asked 'Bias. The words came 
 slowly, heavily charged with meaning. 
 
 " Why, o' course you will ! . . . 'Twas your own 
 suggestion, mind you. ' Takin' an' interest in agricul- 
 ture ' was your words. I don't promise, o' course, that 
 you'll make much of it, first along. Learnin's half 
 the fun " 
 
 But here Mrs Bosenna's voice called to them, and 
 they turned together almost guiltily to see her climb- 
 ing the slope above the mow-hay, with springy gait 
 and cheeks charmingly flushed by recent caresses of 
 the kitchen-fire. 
 
 "If you care for it," she greeted them, "there's just 
 time for a stroll to Higher Pare and back while Dinah 
 lays tea. A breath of fresh air will do me all the 
 good in the world " — little she looked to be in 
 need of it — " and I don't suppose either of you knows 
 what a glorious view you'll get up there ? All 
 the harbour and shipping at your feet, and miles of 
 open Channel beyond ! My poor dear Robert used to 
 to say there wasn't its equal in Cornwall." 
 
 Cai could assure her in all innocence that he had 
 never heard tell of Higher Pare and its famous view ; 
 nor did it occur to him to turn and interrogate his 
 friend, who was flushing guiltily. 
 
 If Mrs Bosenna saw the flush, she ignored it. She 
 led the way to a stile; clambered over it, declining
 
 AMANTIUM IR^ 149 
 
 their help, agile as a maid of seventeen ; and struck 
 a footpath slanting up and across a turnip-field at the 
 back of the farmstead. The climb, though not steep, 
 was continuous, and the chimneys of Rilla lay some 
 twenty or thirty feet below them, when they reached 
 a second stile and, overing it, stood on the edge of a 
 mighty field, the extent of which could not be guessed, 
 for it domed itself against the sky, cutting off* all view 
 of hedge or limit beyond. 
 
 "This is Higher Pare," announced Mrs Bosenna. 
 "Ten acres." 
 
 " Oh ? " exclaimed Cai with a sudden flash of memory. 
 " And stubble ! " 
 
 He glanced at 'Bias. But 'Bias, who, if he heard the 
 innuendo, read nothing in it, was gazing up the slope 
 as though he had never set eyes on Higher Pare before 
 in all his life. 
 
 They made their way up across the stubble, Mrs 
 Bosenna picking her steps daintily among the sharp 
 stalks that shone like a carpet stiff" with gold against 
 the level sunset. The shadows of the three walked 
 ahead of them, stretching longer and longer, vanishing 
 at length over the ridge. . . . And the view from the 
 ridge was magnificent, as Mrs Bosenna had promised. 
 The slope at their feet hid the jetties — or all save the 
 tops of the loading-cranes : but out in midstream lay 
 the sailing vessels and steamships moored to the great 
 buoys, in two separate tiers, awaiting their cargoes. 
 Of the sailing vessels there were Russians, with no 
 yards to their masts, British coasters of varying rig, 
 Norwegians, and one solitary Dutch galliot. But the 
 majority flew the Danish flag — your Dane is fond of 
 flying his flag, and small blame to him ! — and these
 
 150 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 exhibited round bluff bows and square-cut counters 
 with white or varnished top-strakes and stern-davits 
 of timber. To the right and seaward, the eye travelled 
 past yet another tier, where a stumpy Swedish tramp 
 lay cheek-by-jowl with two stately Italian barques — 
 now Italian-owned, but originally built in Glasgow for 
 traffic around the Horn — and so followed the curve of 
 the harbour out to the Channel, where sea and sky 
 met in a yellow flood of potable gold. To the left the 
 river-gorge wound inland, hiding its waters, around 
 overlapping bluffs studded with farmsteads and (as the 
 eye threaded its way into details) peopled here and 
 there with small colonies of farm-folk working hard, 
 like so many groups of ants, — some cutting, others 
 saving, the yellow corn, all busy forestalling night, 
 when no man can work. 
 
 Uplands, where the harvesters 
 Pause in the swathe, shading their eyes, to watch 
 Or barge or schooner stealing up from sea : 
 Themselves in twilight, she a twilit ghost 
 Parting the twilit woods. 
 
 . . . While Cai and 'Bias stood at gaze, drinking it 
 all in, Mrs Bosenna — whose senses were always quick 
 — turned, looked behind her, and uttered a little 
 scream. 
 
 " Steers ! . . . That Middlecoat's steers — they've 
 broken fence again ! Oh — oh ! and whatever shall 
 I do?" 
 
 Cai and 'Bias, wheeling about simultaneously, were 
 aware of a small troop of horned cattle advancing 
 tow^ards them leisurably, breasting the golden rays on 
 the stubble-field, and spreading as they advanced. 
 
 "Do, ma'am? ' echoed 'Bias, taking in the situation
 
 AMANTIUM IRuE 151 
 
 at a glance. " Why, turn 'em back, to be sure ! " He 
 started off to meet the herd. 
 
 " — While you run for the stile," added Cai, preparing 
 to follow as bravely. But Mrs Bosenna caught his 
 arm. 
 
 "I'm — I'm so silly," she confessed in a tremulous 
 whisper, " about horned beasts — when they don't belong 
 to me." 
 
 " Dangerous, are they ? " asked Cai. He lingered, 
 although 'Bias had advanced some twenty paces to meet 
 the herd, three or four of which had already come to a 
 halt, astonished at being thus interrupted in an innocent 
 ramble. " We'll head 'em off while you run." 
 
 " No, no ! " pleaded Mrs Bosenna ; and Cai hung 
 irresolute, for the pressure on his arm was delicious. 
 It crossed his mind for a moment that a lady so timid 
 with cattle had no business to be dwelling alone at 
 Rilla Farm. 
 
 "It's different — with my own cows," gasped Mrs 
 Bosenna, as if interpreting and answering this thought 
 in one breath. " I'm used to them — but Mr Middlecoat 
 will insist on keeping these wild beasts ! — though he 
 knows I'm a lone woman and they're not to be held by 
 any fences " 
 
 "I'd like to give that Middlecoat a piece of my 
 mind," growled Cai, and swore. His arm by this time 
 was about Mrs Bosenna's waist, and she was yielding 
 to it. But he saw 'Bias still steadily confronting the 
 herd — saw him lift an arm, a hand grasping a hat, and 
 wave it violently — saw thereupon the steers swing 
 about and head back for the gate, heads down, sterns 
 heaving and plunging. Cai swore again and reluctantly 
 loosened his embrace.
 
 152 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " Run, dear ! " The word drummed in his ears as he 
 pelted to 'Bias's rescue. 'Bias, as a matter of fact, 
 needed neither rescue nor support. The steers after 
 spreading and scattering before his first onset, were 
 converging again in a rush back upon the open gate- 
 way. They charged through it in a panic, jostling, 
 crushing through the narrow way : and 'Bias, still 
 frantically waving his hat, had charged through it 
 after them before Cai, assured now that his friend had 
 the mastery, halted and drew breath, holding a hand to 
 his side. 
 
 'Bias had disappeared. Cai heard his voice, at some 
 little distance, still chivvying the steers down the lane 
 beyond the gate. . . . Then, as it seemed, another voice 
 challenged 'Bias's, and the two were meeting in angry 
 altercation. 
 
 " Mr Middlecoat ! " gasped a voice close behind him. 
 Cai swung about, and to his amazement confronted 
 Mrs Bosenna. Instead of retreating she had followed 
 up the pursuit. 
 
 " But I told you " he began, in a tone of indig- 
 nant command. 
 
 "You don't know Mr Middlecoat's temper. I'm 
 
 afraid — if they meet " She hurried by him, 
 
 towards the gate. 
 
 Cai took fresh breath and dashed after her. They 
 passed the gateway neck and neck. At a turning 
 some fifty yards down the lane — Cai leading now by a 
 stride or two — they pulled up, panting, 
 
 'Bias, his back blocking the way, stood there con- 
 fronting a young farmer : and the young farmer's face 
 was red with a bull-fury. 
 
 " You damned trespasser ! "
 
 AMANTIUM IRjE 153 
 
 Trespasser ? " echoed 'Bias, squaring up. " What 
 about your damned trespassing cattle ? " 
 
 Mrs Bosenna stepped past Cai and flung herself 
 between the combatants. Strange to say she ignored 
 'Bias, and faced the enemy, to plead with him. 
 
 " Mr Middlecoat, how can you be so foolish ? He's 
 as good as a prize-fighter ! " 
 
 The young farmer stared and lowered his guard 
 slowly. 
 
 " Your servant, ma'am ! . . . A prize-fighter ? Why 
 couldn't he have told me so, at first ? "
 
 154 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 FAIR CHALLENGE. 
 
 Again the two friends traversed back the valley road 
 in silence: but this time they made no attempt to 
 deceive themselves or to deceive one another by charg- 
 ing their constraint upon the atmosphere or the scenery. 
 Each was aware that their friendship had a crisis to 
 be overcome ; each sincerely pitied the other, with some 
 twinge of compunction for his own good fortune ; each 
 longed to make a clean breast — " a straight quarrel is 
 soonest mended," says the proverb, — and each, as they 
 kept step on the macadam, came separately to the same 
 decision, that the occasion must be taken that very 
 evening, when pipes were lit after supper. The reader 
 will note that even yet, on the very verge of the crisis, 
 Cai and 'Bias owned 
 
 "Two souls with but a single thought, 
 Two hearts that beat as one.'"' 
 
 Now, in accordance with routine, supper sliould have 
 been served that evening at 'Bias's table. But Cai — 
 on his way upstairs to titivate — perceived that the 
 lamp was lit and the cloth spread in his own parlour ; 
 and, as he noted this with a vague surprise, encountered 
 Mrs Bowldler.
 
 FAIR CHALLENGE 155 
 
 " Which, if it is agreeable, we are at home to Captain 
 Huuken this evening," Mrs Bowldler began, in a pant- 
 ing hurry, and continued with a catch of the breath, 
 " Which if you see it in a different light, I must request 
 of you, sir, to allow Palmerston to carry down my box, 
 and you may search it if you wish." 
 
 " Oh ! conf " began Cai in his turn, and checked 
 
 himself. " I beg your pardon, ma'am ; but it really 
 does seem as if I never reach home nowadays without 
 you meet me at the foot of the stairs, givin' notice. 
 What's wrong this time ? " 
 
 " If you drive me to it, sir," said Mrs Bowldler in an 
 aggrieved tone, " it's Captain Hunken's parrot." 
 
 " Captain Hunken's parrot ? " echoed Cai, genuinely 
 surprised ; for, in his experience, this bird was remark- 
 able, if at all, for an obese lethargy. It could talk, to 
 be sure. Now and again it would ejaculate " Scratch 
 Polly," or " Polly wants a kiss," in a perfunctory way ; 
 but on the whole he had never known a more com- 
 fortable or a less loquacious bird. 
 
 " He — he made a communication to me this after- 
 noon," said Mrs Bowldler delicately ; " or, as you might 
 prefer to put it, he passed a remark." 
 
 " What was it ? " 
 
 Mrs Bowldler cast a glance behind her at the gas jet. 
 " I really couldn't, sir ! Not even if you were to put 
 out the light ; and as a gentleman you won't press it." 
 
 " Certainly not," Cai assured her. He mused. " It's 
 odd now ; but I've always regarded that parrot as 
 rather a dull bird : though of course I've never hinted 
 that to 'Bias — to Captain Hunken." 
 
 " He wasn't dull this afternoon," asseverated Mrs 
 Bowldler. " Oh, not by any manner of means ! "
 
 156 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " Has he ever — er — annoyed you in this way 
 before ? " 
 
 " Never, sir." 
 
 " Has the boy ever heard him use — er — this kind o' 
 language ? " 
 
 " Which if you understand me, sir," explained Mrs 
 Bowldler still more delicately, " the remark in question 
 would not apply to a male party : not by any stretch. 
 You may answer me, sir, that — the feathered tribes not 
 being Christians — they don't calculate who's listening, 
 but behave as the spirit moves them, like Quakers. 
 To which I answer you, sir, that makes it all the 
 worse. As it transpired, Palmerston was at the 
 moment brushing down these very stairs, here, in the 
 adjoining : which some might call it luck and others 
 again Providence. But put it we'd happened to be 
 cleaning out the room together, I must have sunk 
 through the floor, and what would have happened to 
 the boy's morals I leave you to guess." 
 
 Cai bad to allow the cogency of this. 
 
 " As a matter of fact, sir," Mrs Bowldler continued, 
 " I sounded Palmerston later. He declares to me he has 
 never heard the creature use any bad language ; and I 
 believe him, for he went on to say that if he had, he'd 
 have mentioned it to me. But you see my position, 
 sir ? It might even have happened with you two single 
 gentlemen in the room. . . . Stay another twenty-four 
 hours in the house I will not, with the chance of it 
 staring me in the face." 
 
 Cai rubbed his chin. " I see," said he after a moment. 
 " Well, it's awkward, but I'll speak to Captain Hunken." 
 
 He did so, almost as soon as he and 'Bias had
 
 FAIR CHALLENGE 157 
 
 gloomily finished their supper — a repast which largely- 
 consisted of odds-and-ends (the clehree, in Mrs Bowldler's 
 language) of yester-night's banquet. Each, as he ate, 
 unconsciously compared it — such is our frail humanity 
 — less with the good cheer of which it should have 
 been a reminder than with the fresh abundance of Mrs 
 Bosenna's larder. A bachelor table and bachelor habits 
 are all very well — until you have tasted the other 
 thing. 
 
 To talk of the parrot, for which 'Bias had an in- 
 explicable affection, might be awkward, as Cai had 
 promised. But it was less ticklish anyhow than to 
 broach the subject uppermost in the minds of both; 
 and Cai opened on it with a sense of respite, if not 
 of relief, 
 
 "By the way," said he, lighting his pipe and cross- 
 ing his legs, " I had a chat with Mrs Bowldler before 
 supper. She came to me complainin' about " — (pufF) — 
 " about your parrot. It seems she has taken a dislike 
 to the bird." 
 
 " Finds his talk monotonous ? " suggested 'Bias after 
 a pause, during which he, too, puffed. Strange to say, 
 he showed no vexation. His tone was complacent 
 even. 
 
 " I wouldn' say that azackly. . . ." 
 
 " I'll admit 'tis monotonous," 'Bias went on, between 
 puffs. " Call it nothing at all if you like : I don't take 
 no truck in birds'-talk, for my part — don't mind how 
 same it is. If that's the woman's complaint, she was 
 free to teach it new words any time." 
 
 " But it isn't." 
 
 "Then I don't see what grievance she can have," 
 said 'Bias with entire composure. " The bird's shapely
 
 158 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 and well-grown beyond the usual. . . . Perhaps her 
 objection is to parrots in general — eh?" 'Bias with- 
 drew the pipe-stem from his lips and stared hardily 
 along it. "There's no need to trouble, anyway," he 
 added, " for, as it happens, I'm givin' the bird awa3^" 
 
 " Eh ? " The interrogation sounded like a faint 
 echo. 
 
 " To-morrow. To Mrs Bosenna. Why shouldn't I ? " 
 
 Cai felt his body stiffen as he sat. For the moment 
 he made no answer : then — 
 
 " Well, 'tis your affair — in a sense," he said ; " but I 
 shouldn't, if I was you." 
 
 "I promised it to her this very day. She was 
 confidin' to me that she finds it lonely up at Rilla, 
 and I don't wonder." 
 
 " She've confided the same thing to me several times, 
 off and on," said Cai. 
 
 " Ah ? " . . . 'Bias was unmoved. " Then maybe 
 it'll help ye to guess how the land lies." 
 
 " It do, more or less," Cai agreed : and then, as a 
 bright thought struck him. " Why shouldn't we lend 
 her the musical box ? It's — it's more reliable, any 
 way." 
 
 " 'Twouldn't be much account as a pet, would it ? " 
 retorted 'Bias. " Now look here, Cai ! " he sAvung 
 about in his chair, and for the first time since the 
 conversation started the pair looked one another 
 straight in the eyes. " You an' me'd best come to 
 an understandin', and get it over. I don't mind tellin' 
 you, as man to man, that I've been thinkin' things out ; 
 and the upshot is — I don't say 'tis certain, but 'tis 
 probable — that in the near futur' I shall be spendin' 
 a heap o' my time at Rilla."
 
 FAIR CHALLENGE 159 
 
 "You'll be welcome. I can almost answer for it," 
 Cai assured him heartily. 
 
 " You've noticed it, eh ? . . . Well, that saves a lot 
 o' trouble." With a grunt of relief 'Bias turned his 
 gaze again upon the empty grate and sat smoking for 
 a while. " I'd a sort o' fear it might come on ye 
 sudden ... eh ? What's the matter ? " He turned 
 about again, for Cai had emitted an audible groan. 
 
 " I'm sorry for ye, 'Bias — you can't think " 
 
 " Oil, you can stow that bachelor chaff," interrupted 
 'Bias with entire cheerfulness. "I used to feel that 
 way myself, or pretend to. It's different when a 
 man knows." 
 
 " I can't let ye go on like this ! " Cai groaned again. 
 "Stopit, 'Bias— do!" 
 
 " Stop it ? " 'Bias stared. He was plainly amazed. 
 
 " I mean, stop talkin' about it ! I do, indeed." 
 
 Still 'Bias stared. Of a sudden a partial light broke 
 in upon him. " Good Lord ! " he muttered. He arose, 
 knocked the ashes from his pipe, laid it carefully on 
 the chimney-shelf, slid his hands under his coat-tails, 
 and very solemnly faced about. 
 
 "I'd an inklin' o' this, once or twice, and I don't 
 mind confessin' it," said he, looking down with a com- 
 passionate air which Cai found insupportable. "Tho' 
 'twas no more than an inklin', and I put it aside, seein' 
 as how no man with eyes could mistake the one she 
 favoured." 
 
 "Meanin' me, o' course," interjected Cai, jabbing the 
 tobacco down in his pipe. 
 
 " You ? " 'Bias opened his eyes wide : then he 
 smiled an indulgent smile. " Ho — you must excuse 
 me — but if that isn' too rich ! "
 
 160 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 "You needn't start grinnin' like that, or you may 
 end by grinnin' on the wrong side of your face." Cai, 
 instead of pitying his friend's infatuation, was fast 
 losing his temper. " What'd you say if I told you I 
 had proofs ? " 
 
 " I'd say you was a plumb liar," answered 'Bias with 
 equal promptness, candour, and aplomb. " Proofs ? 
 What proofs ? " 
 
 Cai hesitated a moment. . . . After all, what proof 
 had he to cite ? A gentle pressure of the arm, for 
 example, is not producible evidence. " Xever you 
 mind," said he sullenly. " You'll have proof enough 
 when the time comes." 
 
 'Bias received this with a dry smile. "I thought 
 as mucL You haven't any, my sonny — not so much 
 as would cover a threepenny-bit." 
 
 " You have, I suppose ? " sneered Cai. 
 
 " Heaps." 
 
 " Very well ; let's have a sample. . . . You won't 
 find it on the mantelpiece," for 'Bias had turned 
 about and was picking up his pipe again with great 
 deliberation. 
 
 ^ "I'v^e no wish to hurt your feelin's undooly," said 
 he, eyeing the bowl for a moment and tapping out 
 the ashes into his palm. 
 
 " Don't mind me ! " 
 
 "But I do mind ye. . . . See here now, Cai," he 
 resumed after a short pause, "we've known one an- 
 other — let me see — how long ? " 
 
 " Seventeen years, come the twenty-first of Novem- 
 ber next," quickly responded Cai, fumbling at the 
 tobacco-jar. " In Rotterdam, if you'll remember — our 
 vessels lyin' alongside. ' Hullo ! ' says you."
 
 FAIR CHALLENGE 161 
 
 " Far as I remember, you asked me aboard," 
 
 " Yes. ' Hullo ! ' says you ; ' that's a pretty-lookin' 
 craft o' your'n.' 'She'll work in' an' out o' most 
 places,' says I. ' Speedy too, I reckon,' says you, ' for 
 a hard- wood ship ; though a bit fine forra'd. A wet 
 boat, I doubt ? ' ' Not a bit,' says I ; ' that's a mistake 
 strangers are apt to make about the Hannah Hoo. 
 Like to step aboard an' cast a look over her fittin's ? 
 I can show ye something in the way of teak panels,' 
 says I : and you came. That's how it began," wound 
 up Cai, staring hard at the tobacco -jar, for — to tell 
 the truth — a faint mist obscured his vision. 
 
 'Bias, too, was staring hard, down upon the hearth- 
 rug between his feet, 
 
 "Ay; an' from that day to this never a question 
 atween us we couldn' settle by the toss of a coin." 
 He continued to stare down gloomily. " Tossin' won't 
 help us, not in this case," he added. 
 
 " It wouldn't be respectful." 
 
 "It wouldn't be fair, neither. . . . You may talk 
 as you please, Cai, but the widow favours me." 
 
 "I asked ye for proofs just now, if you re- 
 member." 
 
 " So you did. And if you remember I asked you 
 for the same, not two minutes afore. We can't give 
 'em, neither of us : and, if we could, why — as you said 
 a moment since — 'twouldn't be respectful. Let's play 
 fair then, damn it ! " 
 
 "Certainly," agreed Cai, striking a match and hold- 
 ing it to his pipe. (But his hand sliook.) "That's 
 if you'll suggest how." 
 
 'Bias mused for a space. "Very well," said he at 
 length ; " then I'll suggest that we both ait down and 
 
 I4
 
 162 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 write her a letter ; post the letters together, and let 
 the best man win." 
 
 "Couldn't be fairer," agreed Cai, after a moment's 
 reflection. 
 
 " When I said the best man," 'Bias corrected himself, 
 "I meant no more than to say the man she fancies. 
 No reflection intended on you." 
 
 '•■ Nor on yourself, maybe ? " hinted Cai, with a last 
 faint touch of exasperation. It faded, and — on an 
 impulse of generosity following on a bright inspiration 
 which had on the instant occurred to him — he sug- 
 gested, " If you like, we'll show one another the letters 
 before we post 'em ? " 
 
 " That's as you choose," answered 'Bias. " Or after- 
 wards, if you like — I shall keep a rough copy." 
 
 Now this was said with suspicious alacrity : for Cai 
 was admittedly the better scholar and, as a rule, re- 
 vised 'Bias's infrequent business letters and corrected 
 their faults of spelling. But — dazzled as he was by 
 his own sudden and brilliant idea — no suspicion 
 occurred to him. 
 
 " It's a bargain, then ? " 
 
 " It's a bargain." 
 
 They did not shake hands upon it. Their friend- 
 ship had always been sincere enough to dispense with 
 all formalities of friendship; they would not have 
 shaken hands on meeting (say) after a twenty years' 
 separation. They looked one another in the eyes, just 
 for an instant, and they both nodded. 
 
 " Cribbage to-night ? " asked 'Bias. 
 
 " If 'tisn't too late," answered Cai. 
 
 He pulled out his watch, whilst 'Bias turned about to 
 the mantel-shelf and the clock his bulk had been hiding.
 
 FAIR CHALLENGE 163 
 
 " Nine-thirty," announced Cai. 
 
 " Almost to a tick," agreed 'Bias. " 'Stonishing what 
 good time we've kept ever since we set this clock." 
 " 'Stonishing," Cai assented. 
 
 They played two games of cribbage and retired to 
 bed. As he undressed Cai remembered his omission 
 to warn 'Bias explicitly of what — according to Mrs 
 Bowldler — the parrot was capable. The warning had 
 been once or twice on the tip of his tongue during 
 the early part of the conversation : but always (as 
 he remembered) he had been interrupted, 
 
 "I'll warn him after breakfast to-morrow," said 
 Cai to himself magnanimously, as he arose from his 
 prayers. " Poor old 'Bias — what a good fellow it is, 
 after all!" 
 
 He slept soundly, and was awakened next morning 
 by Palmerston with the information, " Breakfast in the 
 adjoining to - day, sir ! " — this and " We are at home 
 for breakfast " being the alternative formulas invented 
 by Mrs Bowldler. 
 
 " And Captain Hunken requests of you not to wait," 
 added Palmerston, again repeating what Mrs Bowldler 
 had imparted. 
 
 " Is he lying late to-day ? " asked Cai. 
 
 " He have a-gone out for an early ramble," answered 
 Palmerston stolidly. 
 
 "Ah! to clear his brain — poor old 'Bias!" said Cai 
 to himself, and thought no more about it. Nor did 
 it occur to his mind that, overnight, Mrs Bowldler had 
 point-blank refused to lay another meal in the room 
 inhabited by the parrot, until, descending to 'Bias's
 
 164 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 parlour and becoming aware, as he lifted the teapot, 
 that the room was brighter and sunnier than usual, 
 he cast a glance toward the window. The parrot-cage 
 no longer darkened it. Parrot and cage, in fact, were 
 gone. 
 
 He turned sternly upon Mrs Bowldler. But Mrs 
 Bowldler, setting down a dish of poached eggs, had 
 noted his glance and anticipated his question. 
 
 " Which," said she, " I am obliged to you, sir, and 
 prompter Captain Hunken could not have behaved. 
 A nod, as they say, is as good as a wink to a blind 
 horse ; but Captain Hunken, being neither blind nor 
 a horse, and anything so vulgar as winking out of 
 the question, it may not altogether apply, though the 
 result is the same."
 
 1G5 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE LETTERS. 
 
 Having breakfasted, read his newspaper, and smoked 
 his pipe (and still no sign of the missing 'Bias), Cai 
 brushed his hat and set forth to pay a call on Mr Peter 
 Benny. 
 
 This Mr Peter Benny — father of Mr Shake Benny, 
 whose acquaintance we have already made — was a 
 white-haired little man who had known many cares 
 in life, but had preserved through them all a passionate 
 devotion to literature and an entirely simple heart: 
 and these two had made life romantic for him, albeit 
 his cares had been the very ordinary ones of a poor 
 clerk with a long family of boys and girls, all of whom 
 — his wife aiding — he had brought up to fear the Lord 
 and seen fairly started in life. Towards the close of 
 the struggle Fortune had chosen to smile, rewarding 
 him with the stewardship of Damelioc, an estate lying 
 beside the river some miles above Troy. This was a 
 fine exchange against a beggarly clerkship, even for a 
 man so honest as Peter Benny. But he did not hold it 
 long. On the death of his wife, which happened in the 
 fifth year of their prosperity, he had chosen to retire 
 on a small pension, to inhabit again (but alone) the
 
 166 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 waterside cottage which in old days the children had 
 filled to overflowing, and to potter at literary composi- 
 tion in the wooden outhouse where he had been used, 
 after office hours, to eke out his £52 salary by com- 
 posing letters for seamen. 
 
 He retained his methodical habits, and Cai found 
 him already at work in the outhouse, and thoroughly 
 enjoying a task which might have daunted one of less 
 boyish confidence. He was, in fact, recasting the 
 ' Fasti ' of Ovid into English verse, using for that pur- 
 pose a spirited, if literal, prose translation (published 
 by Mr Bohn) in default of the original, from which 
 his ignorance of the Latin language precluded him. 
 For a taste : — 
 
 " What sea, what land, knows not Arion's fame ? 
 The rivers by his song were turned as stiff as glass : 
 The hungry wolf stood still, the lamb did much the same — 
 Pursuing and pursued, producing an impasse — " 
 
 But while delighting in this labour, Mr Benny was 
 at any time ready, nay eager, for a chat. At Cai's 
 entrance he pushed up his spectacles and beamed. 
 
 " Ah, good morning. Captain Hocken ! — Good mor- 
 ning ! I take this as really friendly. . . . You find 
 me wooing the Muses as usual ; up and early. Some 
 authors, sir, — not that I dare claim that title, — have 
 found their best inspirations by the midnight oil, even 
 in the small hours. Edgar Allan Poe — an irregular 
 genius — you are acquainted with his ' Raven,' sir ? — " 
 
 "His what?" 
 
 " His ' Raven ' ; a poem about a bird that perched 
 itself upon a bust and kept saying ' Nevermore,' like a 
 parrot."
 
 THE LETTERS 167 
 
 Cai winced. " On a bust, did you say ? Whose bust ? " 
 
 "A bust of Pallas, sir, in the alleged possession of 
 Mr Poe himself : Pallas being otherwise Minerva, the 
 goddess of Wisdom, usually represented with an Owl." 
 
 " I don't know much about birds," confessed Cai, 
 reduced to helplessness by this erudition. " And I 
 don't know anything about poetry, more's the pity — 
 having been caught young and apprenticed to the sea." 
 
 " And nothing to be ashamed of in that, Captain 
 
 Hocken ! 
 
 ' The sea, the sea, the open sea — 
 The blue, the fi-esh, the ever free.' 
 
 I daresay you've often felt like that about it, as did 
 the late Barry Cornwall, otherwise Bryan Waller 
 Procter, whose daughter, the gifted Adelaide Anne 
 Procter, prior to her premature decease, composed ' The 
 Lost Chord,' everywhere so popular as a cornet solo. 
 It is one of the curiosities of literature," went on Mr 
 Benny confidentially, "that the author of that breezy 
 (not to say briny) outburst could not even cross from 
 Dover to Calais without being prostrated by Tnal de 
 mer; insomuch that his good lady (who happened, 
 by the way, to survive him for a number of years, 
 and, in fact, died quite recently), being of a satirical 
 humour, and herself immune from that distressing 
 complaint, used — as I once read in a magazine article 
 — to walk up and down the deck before him on these 
 occasions, mischievously quoting his own verses, — 
 
 * I'm on the sea, I'm on the sea ! 
 I am where I would ever be : 
 I love (0, how I love !) to ride 
 On the fierce, foaming, bursting tide,' 
 
 et ccetera. You'll excuse my rattling on in this fashion.
 
 1G8 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 So few people in Troy take an interest in literature : 
 and it has so many by-ways ! " 
 
 "I'm afraid," confessed Cai, more and more bewil- 
 dered, " that my education was pretty badly neglected, 
 'specially in literature, though for some reason or 
 another I'm not bad at spellin'. But, puttin' spellin' 
 aside, that's just why I've come to you. I want you to 
 help me with a letter, if you will." 
 
 " Why, of course I will," instantly responded Mr 
 Benny, pushing his translations of the ' Fasti ' aside 
 and producing from a drawer some sheets of fresh 
 paper. 
 
 " As a matter of business, you understand ? " 
 
 " If you insist ; though it will be a pleasure, Captain 
 Hocken, I assure you." 
 
 " It's — it's a bit diiEcult," stammered Cai gratefully. 
 "In fact, it's not an ordinary sort of letter at all." 
 
 Mr Benny, patting his paper into a neat pad, smiled 
 professionally. The letter might not be an ordinary 
 sort of letter; but he had in old days listened some 
 hundreds of times to this exordium. 
 
 " It's — well, it's a proposal of marriage," said Cai 
 desperately ; and in despite of himself he started as he 
 uttered the word. 
 
 Mr Benny, having patted up the pad to his satisfac- 
 tion, answered with a nod only, and dipped his pen in 
 the inkpot. 
 
 " I don't think you heard me," ventured Cai. " It's 
 a proposal of marriage." 
 
 " Fire away ! " said Mr Benny. * Just dictate, or 
 give me the main bearings, and I'll fix it up." 
 
 "But look here — it's a proposal of marriage, I tell 
 you!"
 
 THE LETTERS 169 
 
 " I've written scores and scores. . . . For yourself, 
 is it ? " 
 
 This simple and indeed apparently necessary question 
 hit Cai between wind and water. 
 
 " I want it written in the first person, of course — if 
 that's what you mean ? " 
 
 Again Mr Benny nodded, " I see," said he. " You're 
 here on behalf of a friend, who is too bashful to come 
 on his own account." 
 
 " You may put it at that," agreed Cai, greatly 
 relieved. " I told you the case was a bit out o' the 
 common ! " 
 
 Mr Benny's smile was still strictly professional. 
 " It's not outside of my experience, sir ; so far, at any 
 rate. May I take your friend to be of your own age, 
 more or less ? " 
 
 Cai nodded. " You're pretty quick at guessin', I 
 must say." 
 
 "A trifle rusty, I fear, for want of practice. . . . 
 But it will come back. . . . Now for the lady. Spinster 
 or widow ? " 
 
 " Does that matter ? " 
 
 " It helps, in a letter." 
 
 " We'll put it, then, as she's a widow." 
 
 " Age ? . . . There, there ! I'm not asking you to be 
 definite, of course : but to give me a little general 
 guidance. For instance, would she be about your 
 friend's age ? Or younger, shall we say ? " 
 
 " Younger." 
 
 " Considerably ? " 
 
 " I don't see as you need lay stress on that." 
 
 " You may be sure I shall not," said Mr Benny, 
 jotting down " Younger, considerably " on his writing
 
 170 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 pad. " Moreover we can tone down or remove any- 
 thing that strikes you as unhappily worded in our first 
 draft. Trade, profession, or occupation, if any ? " 
 Seeing that Cai hesitated, " The more candid your 
 friend is, between these four walls," added Mr Benny, 
 extracting a hair from his j)en, " the more persuasive 
 we are likely to be." 
 
 " You may set down that she keeps a farm." 
 
 " Independent means ? " 
 
 " Well, yes, as it happens. Not that " 
 
 " To be sure — to be sure ! When the affections are 
 engaged, that doesn't weigh. Not, at any rate, with 
 your friend. Still it may influence what I will call. 
 Captain Hocken, the style of the approach. Style, sir, 
 has been defined by my brother, Mr Joshua Benny — 
 You may have heard of him, by the way, as being 
 prominently connected with the London press. . . . 
 No ? A man of remarkable talent, though I say it. 
 They tell me that for lightness of touch in a Descrip- 
 tive Middle, it would be hard to find his match in 
 Fleet Street. ... As I was saying, sir, my brother 
 Joshua has defined style as the art of speaking or 
 writing with propriety, whatever the subject. By 
 propriety, sir, he means what is ordinarily termed 
 appropriateness. Impropriety, in the sense of indeli- 
 cacy, is out of the question in — a — a communication of 
 this kind. Strict appropriateness, on the other hand, 
 is not always easy to capture. May I take it that 
 your friend has — er — enjoyed a seafaring past ? " 
 
 Cai gazed blankly at him for a short while, and 
 broke into a simple hearty laugh. 
 
 " Why, of course," said he, " you're thinking of my 
 friend 'Bias Hunken ! I almost took ye for a conjuror^
 
 THE LETTERS 171 
 
 first-along — upon my word I did ! But once I get the 
 drift o' your cunning, 'tis easy as easy." He gazed at 
 Mr Benny and winked knowingly. 
 
 " You may tell me, if you please," replied Mr Benny, 
 himself somewhat mystified, but playing for safety. 
 " You may tell me, of course, that 'tis not Captain 
 Hunken but another man altogether : as different from 
 Captain Hunken as you might be, for instance." 
 
 Cai started. He was not good at duplicity, but 
 managed to parry the suggestion. " We'll suppose it 
 is my friend, 'Bias," said he ; " though 'Bias would be 
 amused if he heard it." 
 
 " Very well — very well indeed ! " Mr Benny laid 
 down his pen, rubbed his hands softly, and picked up 
 the pen again. " Now we can get to work. . . . 
 ' Honoured Madain ' — Shall we begin with ' Hon- 
 oured Madam ' ? Or would you prefer something a 
 trifle more — er — impassioned ? Perhaps we had better 
 open — er — warily — if I may advise, and (so to speak) 
 warm to our subject. . . . There is an art, Captain 
 Hocken, even in composing and inditing a proposal 
 of marriage. . . . ' Honoured Madam — Toil will 
 doubtless he surprised by the 2)wy'port of this letter — ' 
 Will she be surprised, by the way ? " 
 
 " Cert'nly," Cai answered. " We agreed this is from 
 'Bias, remember." 
 
 " Yes, yes. . , . She will like it to be supposed that 
 she's surprised, any way. All ladies do. * — as by the 
 coramunication I find myself inpelled to Tnake to you.' 
 I word it thus to suggest that you — that Captain 
 Hunken, ratlier — cannot help himself : that the lady 
 has made, in the most literal sense, a conquest. A 
 feeling of triumph, sir, is in the female breast, whether
 
 172 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 of maiden or widow, inseparably connected with the 
 receipt of such a communication. Without asking 
 Captain Hunken's leave — eh ? — we will flatter that 
 feeling a little — and portray him as the victim of this 
 particular lady's bow and spear. A figurative ex- 
 pression." 
 
 " Oh ! " said Cai, who had begun to stare. " Well, 
 go on." 
 
 " ' Surprised, I say ; yet not (I hope) affronted ; in 
 any event not unwilling to pardon, recognising that 
 these words floio from the dictates of an emotion which, 
 while in itself honourable, is in another sense notori- 
 ously no respecter of persons. Love, Honoured 
 Madam, has its votaries as well as its victims. I have 
 never accounted Tnyself nor have I heen accounted, in 
 the former category — ' " 
 
 " What's a category ? " asked Cai. 
 
 Mr Benny scratched out the word. " We will substi- 
 stitute ' case,' " said he, " and save Captain Hunken the 
 trouble of an explanation. ' / am no longer — you will 
 have detected it, so why should I pretend ? — in the first 
 flush of youth : no ptassionate hoy ' — We are talking of 
 Captain Hunken, remember," 
 
 Cai nodded. " It's true as gospel, Mr Benny. But 
 you have a wonderful way o' putting things." 
 
 In this way — Mr Benny scribbling, erasing, purring 
 over a phrase and anon declaiming it — Cai venturing a 
 question here and there, but always apologetically^ 
 with a sense of being carried off his feet and swept into 
 deep waters — in half an hour the letter was composed. 
 It was not at all the letter Cai had expected. It threw 
 up his suit into a high romantic light in which he
 
 THE LETTERS 173 
 
 scarcely recognised it or himself. fJut he felt it to 
 be extremely effective. His conscience pricked him a 
 little, as in imagination he saw 'Bias with head aslant 
 and elbows sprawling, inking himself to the wrists in 
 literary effort. Poor 'Bias ! But " all's fair in love and 
 war." 
 
 To his mild astonishment Mr Benny declined a fee. 
 "If, sir, you will be good enough to accept it, as 
 between friends ? " the little man suggested timidly. 
 " You have helped me to pass a very pleasant morning : 
 and it will be — shall I say ? — something of a bond 
 between us if, in the event, our joint composition should 
 prove to have been instrumental in forwarding — er — 
 Captain Hunken's suit." 
 
 Cai hesitated. At that moment he would have pre- 
 ferred conferring a benefit to receiving one. His 
 conscience wanted a small salve. Yet to refuse would 
 hurt Mr Benny's feelings. 
 
 " I'll tell you what ! " he suggested : " We'll throw it 
 in with another favour I meant to ask of you, and for 
 which you shall name your terms. It has been sug- 
 gested — by several, so there's no need to mention 
 names — that I ought to go in for public life, in a small 
 way, of course." 
 
 " Indeed, Captain Hocken ? " Mr Benny smiled to 
 himself ; he began to understand, or thought that he 
 did. " A very laudable ambition, too ! " 
 
 " The mischief is," confessed Cai, " that I have had no 
 practice in speakin'. I couldn't, as they say, make a 
 public speech for nuts." 
 
 "It is an art. Captain Hocken," said Mr Benny 
 reassuringly, "and can be acquired. An ambition to 
 accjuire it sir, — though in your mind you viewed it but
 
 174 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 as a means to an end, — would in my humble view be 
 an ambition even more laudable than that of shining 
 on the administrative side of public life. For it is not 
 only an art, sir, and a great one. It is well-nigh 
 a lost art. Where, nowadays, are your Burkes, 
 your Foxes, your Sheridans — not to mention your 
 Demostheneses ? " 
 
 "You'll understand," hesitated Cai, "that nothing 
 beyond the School Board is in question at present. I 
 mention this strictly between ourselves." 
 
 Mr Benny swung about upon his stool. " Listen to 
 this. Captain Hocken — ' Observe, sir, that, besides the 
 desire which all men have naturally of supporting the 
 honour of their own government, that sense of dignity 
 and that security to property which ever attends free- 
 dom, has ' — or, as I should prefer to say, have — ' a 
 tendency to increase the stock of the free community. 
 Much may be taken where most is accumulated. And 
 what is the soil or climate where experience has not 
 uniformly proved that the voluntary flow of heaped- up 
 plenty, bursting from the weight of heaped-up luxuri- 
 ance, has ever run with a more copious stream of 
 revenue, than could be squeezed from the dry husks 
 of oppressed indigence by the straining of all the 
 machinery in the world ? ' That is Burke, sir — Burke : 
 who, by the fribbles of his own day, was lightly termed 
 the dinner-bell of the House of Commons, yet compelled 
 the attention of all serious political thinkers — 
 
 ' Th' applause of listening Senates to command.' 
 
 I divine your ambition, Captain Hocken, and I honour 
 it." 
 
 " So long as you don't mistake me," urged Cai nerv-
 
 THE LETTERS 175 
 
 ously. " It don't go beyond a seat on the School Board 
 at present. . . . But there was a hint dropped that you 
 used, back-along, to give lessons in — I forget the word." 
 
 " Elocution," Mr Benny supplied it. " A guinea the 
 course of six lessons was my old charge. Shall we say 
 to-morrow, at eleven sharp ? " 
 
 "So be it," Cai agreed, "The sooner the better — 
 I've to catch up the lee- way of three-quarters of a 
 lifetime." 
 
 When Cai had folded the draft of his letter, bestowed 
 it in his breast-pocket, and taken his departure, Mr 
 Benny drew out his watch. It yet wanted a full hour 
 of dinner-time. He rearranged the papers on his desk 
 and resumed work upon the ' Fasti ' : — 
 
 " The hound beside the hare held consort in the shade, 
 The hind, the lioness, upon the self-same rock, 
 The too loquacious crow — " 
 
 Here some one knocked at the door. 
 
 " Come in ! " called Mr Benny. 
 
 The door opened. The visitor was Captain Hunken. 
 
 " Good mornin'." 
 
 " Ah ! Good morning, sir ! " 
 
 "Busy?" 
 
 " Dallying, sir, — dallying with the Muses. That is 
 all my business nowadays." 
 
 " I looked in," said 'Bias, laying down his hat, " to 
 ask if you would do me a small favour." 
 
 " You may be sure of it, Captain Hunken : that is, if 
 it should lie in my power." 
 
 'Bias nodded, somewhat mysteriously. " You bet it 
 does: though, as one might say, it don't lie azackly 
 inside the common. I want a^ letter written."
 
 176 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 "Yes?" 
 
 " It ain't, as you might put it, an ordinary letter either. 
 It's, — well, in fact, it's a proposal of marriage ! " 
 
 Mr Benny rubbed the back of his head gently. " I 
 have written quite a number in my time. Captain 
 Hunken. ... Is it — if I may put it delicately — in 
 the first person, sir ? " 
 
 " She's the first person — " began 'Bias, and came to a 
 halt. "Does that matter," he asked, "so long as I 
 describe the parties pretty accurate ? " 
 
 " Not a bit," Mr Benny assured him. " A friend, shall 
 we say ? " 
 
 " That's right," 'Bias nodded solemnly. 
 
 " And the lady ? — spinster or widow ? " 
 
 " Widow." 
 
 " Oh ! " 
 
 " Eh ? " 
 
 " Nothing. ... I was considering. One has to col- 
 lect a few data, you understand, — in strict confidence, 
 of course. . . . Trade, profession, or occupation ? " 
 
 " Whose ? " 
 
 " Well, your friend's, to start with." 
 
 " Is that necessary ? " 
 
 " It will help us to be persuasive," Seeing that 'Bias 
 still hesitated, Mr Benny went on. " May I take it, for 
 instance, that one may credit him, as a friend of yours, 
 with a seafaring past ? " 
 
 " I do believe," responded 'Bias with a slow smile 
 after regarding Mr Benny for some seconds, " as you're 
 thinkin' of Cai Hocken ? " 
 
 Mr Benny laughed. " And yet it would not be so 
 tremendous a guess, — hey ? — seeing what friends yoijL 
 two are."
 
 THE LETTERS 177 
 
 " It won't do no harm," allowed 'Bias after pondering 
 a while, "if you took it to be Cai Hocken ; though, 
 mind you, I don't say as you're right." 
 
 " That's understood, . . . Now for the lady's occupa- 
 tion?" 
 
 " Well . . , you might make it farmin' — for the sake 
 of argument." 
 
 "Now I wonder," thought Mr Benny to himself, 
 " which of these two is lying." Aloud he began, setting 
 pen to paper and repeating as he wrote, " ' Honoured 
 Madam,' — you don't think that too cold ? " 
 
 " Why, are you able to start already ? " exclaimed 
 'Bias in unfeigned amazement. 
 
 " I like to catch an inspiration as it springs to my 
 brain," Mr Benny assured him. " We'll correct as we 
 go on." 
 
 M.
 
 178 
 
 CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 PALMERSTONS GENIUS. 
 
 "You're welcome as blossom, my dear," said Mrs 
 Bowldler to Fancy Tabb, who had dropped in, as she 
 put it, for a look around. The child was allowed a 
 couple of hours off duty in the afternoon to take a walk 
 and blow away the cobwebs of the Chandler's gloomy 
 house : her poor shop-drudge of a father having found 
 courage to wring this concession from Mr Rogers for 
 her health's sake. "You're welcome as blossom, but 
 you must work for your welcome. Come and help me 
 to cut bread-and-butter. . . . Palmerston ! You bring 
 the kettle and pour a little water into the teapots, just 
 to get 'em heated." 
 
 " Company, is it ? " asked Fancy, laying aside her 
 cloak. 
 
 " Company ? " Mrs Bowldler sniffed. " We've had 
 enough of company to last us this side of the grave. 
 Ho, I trust the name of company will not be breathed 
 in my hearing for some time to come ! " 
 
 " What is it, then ? " 
 
 " Freaks, I hope ; maggots, as my poor dear tender 
 mother used to say ; and all casting double work on the 
 establishment. We must dme separate, all of a sudden ; 
 
 i
 
 PALMERSTON'S GENIUS 179 
 
 and now we must have our tea served separate ; and 
 from dinner to tea-time sitting in writing, the pair of 
 us, till I wonder it haven't brought on a rush of blood 
 to our poor heads." 
 
 " Writing ? " echoed Eancy. She desisted from 
 spreading the butter and eyed Mrs Bowldler doubt- 
 fully, pursing up her lips. " I don't like the look of that. 
 What are they writing, do you suppose ? " 
 
 "It don't become me to guess," answered Mrs 
 Bowldler. "Belike they're making their wills and 
 leaving one another the whole of their property." 
 
 "I hope not. They'd make a dreadful mess of it 
 without a lawyer to help." 
 
 " They're making a dreadful mess on the tablecloth 
 — or, as I should say, on the tablecloths, respectively, 
 as the case may be. Blots. There's one or two you 
 couldn't cover with a threepenny bit. Captain Hunken 
 especially; and it cost four-and-ninepence only last 
 July, which makes the heart bleed." 
 
 " They haven't quarrelled, have they ? " asked Fancy. 
 
 " Quarrelled ? No, of course they haven't quarrelled. 
 What put such a thing into your head, child ? " 
 
 " I don't know. . . . But I don't like this writin' ; it's 
 unnatural. And they're livin' apart, you say ? " 
 
 " They didn't even breakfast together. But that was 
 an accident. Captain Hunken having walked out early 
 and taken the parrot." 
 
 " Funny thing to take for a walk." 
 
 " Which," explained Mrs Bowldler with a glance at 
 Palmerston, " I had to lodge a complaint with Captain 
 Hocken yesterday relative to its conversation, and he 
 must have spoken about it ; for Captain Hunken went 
 out at eight o'clock taking the bird with him, cage
 
 180 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 and all, and when he came back they were 
 minus." 
 
 Fancy pondered. " What did the parrot say ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 " You mustn't ask, my dear. I couldn't tell it to 
 anything less than a married woman." 
 
 " That's a pity ; because I wanted to know, quick. 
 I suppose, now, you haven't a notion what he did with 
 the bird?" 
 
 " Not a notion." 
 
 " I thought not. Well, I have. He's been an' gone 
 an' given it away to Mrs Bosenna, up at Rilla." 
 
 Mrs Bowldler turned pale and gripped the edge of 
 the table. 
 
 " I'll bet you any money," Fancy nodded slowly. 
 
 " Ho ! catch me ere I faint ! " panted Mrs Bowldler. 
 
 " Why, what's the matter ? She's a married woman, 
 or has been." 
 
 " If only you'd heard " 
 
 " Yes, it's a pity," agreed Fancy, and turned about. 
 " Pam ! " 
 
 " Yes, Miss," answered Palmerston. 
 
 " Call me ' Fancy.' " 
 
 " Yes, Miss Fancy." 
 
 She stamped her small foot. "There's no 'Miss' 
 about it. How stupid you are — when you see I'm in 
 a hurry, too ! Call me ' Fancy.' " 
 
 " Y-yes — Fancy," stammered Palmerston, blushing 
 furiously, shutting his e3^es and dropping his voice to 
 a whisper. 
 
 "That's better. . . . What does it feel like? 
 Pleasant ? " 
 
 " V-very pleasant, miss — Fancy, I mean. It — it'll 
 
 I
 
 PALMERSTON'S GENIUS 181 
 
 come in time," pleaded Palmerston, still red to the 
 eyes. 
 
 " That's right, again. Because I want you to marry 
 me, Pammy dear." 
 
 " Well ! the owdacious ! " exclaimed Mrs Bowldler in 
 a kind of hysterical titter, snatching at her bodice 
 somewhere over the region of her heart. Fancy paid 
 no heed to her. 
 
 " Only we must make a runaway match of it," she 
 went on, " for there's no time to lose, it seems." 
 
 For answer Palmerston burst into a flood of tears. 
 
 " There now ! " Mrs Bowldler of a sudden became 
 serious. " You might have known he's too soft to be 
 teased. . . . Oh, be quiet, do, Palmerston ! Think 
 of your namesake ! " 
 
 A bell jangled overhead. 
 
 " Captain Hocken's bell ! — and the child's face all 
 blubbered, which he hates to see, while as for Captain 
 Hunken — there ! if that isn't his bell going too in the 
 adjoining ! Palmerston, pull yourself together and be 
 a man." 
 
 " I c-can't, missus," sobbed Palmerston. " He — he 
 said yesterday as he'd g-give me the sack the next 
 time he saw my eyes red." 
 
 " Well, I must take 'em their tea myself, I suppose," 
 said Mrs Bowldler, who had a kind heart. " No, 
 Palmerston, your eyes are not fit. But you see how 
 I'm situated ? " she appealed to Fancy. 
 
 " Do you usually let them ring for tea ? " Fancy 
 asked. 
 
 " No, child. There must be something wrong with 
 them both, or else with my clock," answered Mrs 
 Bowldler with a glance up at the timepiece. "But
 
 182 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 twenty-five past four, I take you to witness ! and I 
 keep it five minutes fast on principle." 
 
 " There is something wrong," Fancy assured her. 
 "If you'll take my advice, you'll go in and look 
 injured." 
 
 "I couldn't keep 'em waiting, though injured I will 
 look," promised Mrs Bowldler, catching up one of the 
 two tea-trays. " Palmerston had better withdraw into 
 the grounds and control himself. I will igsplain that 
 I have sent him on an errand connected with the 
 establishment." 
 
 She bustled forth. Fancy closed the door after her ; 
 then turned and addressed Palmerston. 
 
 " Dry your eyes, you silly boy," she commanded. 
 
 Palmerston obeyed and stood blinking at her — 
 alternately at her and at his handkerchief which he held 
 tightly crumpled into a pad ; whereupon she demanded, 
 somewhat cruelly : 
 
 " Now, what have you to say for yourself ? " 
 
 He was endeavouring to answer when Mrs Bowldler 
 came running in and caught up the other tea-tray. 
 
 " Which it appears," she panted, " he is in a hurry to 
 catch the post ; and I hope the Lord will forgive me for 
 saying that Palmerston had just this instant returned 
 and would go with it. But he has it done up in an 
 envelope, and says boys are not to be trusted. When I 
 was a girl in my teens," pursued Mrs Bowldler, luckily 
 discovering that the second teapot had no water in it, 
 and hastening to the kettle, " we learnt out of a Child's 
 Compendium about a so-called ancient god of the name 
 of Mercury, whence the stuff they put into barometers 
 to go up for fine weather. He had wings on his boots, 
 or was supposed to : which it would be a convenience 
 
 I
 
 PALMERSTON'S GENIUS 183 
 
 in these days, with Palmerston's unfortunate habits. 
 For goodness' sake, child," she addressed Fancy, "take 
 him out somewhere, that I mayn't perjure myself twice 
 in one day ! " 
 
 She vanished. 
 
 " Now, what have you to say for yourself ? " Fancy 
 turned again upon Palmerston and repeated her 
 question. 
 
 " That's what's the matter with me, Miss — Fancy, I 
 mean," confessed he, after a painful struggle with his 
 emotions " I never had nothing to say for myself, not 
 in this world : and — and — " he plucked up courage — 
 " you got no business to play with me the way you did 
 just now ! " he blurted. 
 
 " Who said I was a-playm' with you ? " Fancy de- 
 manded ; but Palmerston did not heed. 
 
 " And right a-top of your sayin' as writin' was 
 unnatural ! " he continued. 
 
 She stared at him. " What has that to do with it ? 
 . . . Besides, whatever you're drivin' at, I didn' 
 mean as all writin' was unnatural. I got to do enough 
 of it for Mr Rogers, the Lord knows ! But for them 
 two, as have spent the best part of their lives navigatin' 
 ships, it do seem — well, we'll call it unmanly some- 
 how." 
 
 " That makes it all the worse," growled Palmerston, 
 sticking both hands in his pockets and forcing 
 himself to meet her stare, against which he nodded 
 sullenly. " A man has to lift himself somehow — when 
 he wants something, very bad." 
 
 " What is it you want ? " asked Fancy. 
 
 " You know what it is, right enough." He glowered 
 at her hardily, being desperate now and beyond shame.
 
 184 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " Do I ? " But she blenched, meeting his eyes as he 
 continued to nod. 
 
 " Yes, you do," persisted he. " I wants to marry ye, 
 one of these days; and you can't round on me, either, 
 for outin' with it ; for 'twas your own suggestion." 
 
 " Oh, you silly boy ! " Fancy reproved him, while 
 conscious of a highly delicious thrill and an equally 
 delicious fear. (" O, youth, youth ! and the wonder of 
 first love ! ") She cast about for escape, and forced a 
 laugh. " Do you know, you're the very first as has 
 ever proposed to me." 
 
 " I was thinkin' as much," said the unflattering 
 Palmerston. " Come to that, you was the first as ever 
 offered marriage to me." 
 
 " But I didn't ! I mean," urged Fancy, " it was only 
 in joke." 
 
 " Joke or not," said Palmerston, " you can't deny it." 
 Suddenly weakening, he let slip his advantage. " But 
 I wouldn' wish to marry one that despised me," he 
 declared. " I had enough o' bein' despised — in the 
 Workhouse." 
 
 " I never said I despised you, Pammy," Fancy 
 protested. 
 
 " Yes, you did ; or in so many words — ' Unmanly,' 
 you said." 
 
 " But that was about writing." She opened her eyes 
 wide. " You don't mean to tell me that's the trouble ? 
 . . . What have you been writing ? " 
 
 " A book," owned Palmerston with gloom. " A man 
 must try to raise himself somehow." 
 
 " Of course he must. What sort of book ? " 
 
 " It's — it's only a story." 
 
 " Why," she reassured him, " I heard of a man the
 
 PALMERSTON'S GENIUS 185 
 
 other day who wrote a story and made A Thousand 
 Pounds. It was quite unexpected, and surprised even 
 his friends." 
 
 " It must be the same man Mrs Bowldler told me 
 about. His name was Walter Scott, and he called it 
 ' Waverley ' without signing his name to it, because 
 he was a Sheriff; and there was another man that 
 wrote a book called ' Picnic ' by Boss, and made pounds. 
 So I've called mine ' Pickerley,' by way of drawing 
 attention, — but, of course, if you think there's no 
 chance, I suppose there isn't," wound up Palmerston, 
 with a sudden access of despondency. 
 
 " Oh, Palmerston," exclaimed Fancy, clasping her 
 hands, "if it should only turn out that you're a 
 genius ! " 
 
 " It would be a bit of all right," he agreed, his 
 cheerfulness reviving. 
 
 " I have heard somewhere," she mused, " or perhaps 
 I read it on the newspaper, that men of genius make 
 the very worst husbands, and a woman must be out of 
 her senses to marry one." 
 
 Again Palmerston's face fell. " I mayn't be one after 
 all," he protested, but not very hopefully. 
 
 " Oh yes, I am sure you are ! And, what's more, if 
 you make a hit, as they say, I don't know but I might 
 overlook it and take the risk. You see, I'm accustomed 
 to living with Mr Rogers, who is bound to go to hell 
 and that might turn out to be a sort of practice." 
 
 The boy stood silent, rubbing his head. He wanted 
 time to think this out. Such an altered face do our 
 ambitions present to most of us as they draw closer, 
 nearer to our grasp ! 
 
 Suddenly Fancy clapped her hands. " Why, of
 
 186 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 course ! " she cried. " I always had an idea, somewhere 
 inside o' me, that I'd be a lady one of these days — very 
 important and covered all over with di'monds, so that 
 all the other women would envy me. You know that 
 f eelin' ? " 
 
 " No-o," confessed Palmerston. 
 
 " You would if you were a woman. But, contrari- 
 wise, what I like almost better is keepin' shop — postin' 
 up ledgers, makin' out bills, to account rendered, second 
 application, which doubtless has escaped your notice, 
 and all that sort of thing. I saw a shop in Plymouth 
 once with young women by the dozen sittin' at desks, 
 and when they pulled a string little balls came rollin' 
 towards them over on their heads like the stars in 
 heaven, all full of cash ; and they'd open one o' these 
 balls and hand you out your change just as calm and 
 scornful as if they were angels and you the dirt beneath 
 their feet. You can't think how I longed to be one o' 
 them and behave like that. But the two things didn't 
 seem to go together." 
 
 " What two things ? " 
 
 " Why, sittin' at a desk like that and sittin' on a sofa 
 and sayin' ' How d'e do, my dear ? It's so good of you 
 to call in this dreadful weather, especially as you have 
 to hire. . . .' But now," said Fancy, clasping her hands, 
 " I see my way : that is, if you're really a genius. You 
 shall write your books and I'll sell them. * Mr and Mrs 
 Palmerston Burt, Author and — what's the word ? — 
 pub — publicans — no, publisher ; Author and Publisher.' 
 It's quite the highest class of business ; and if any one 
 tried to patronise me I could always explain that I just 
 did it to help, you bein' a child in matters of business. 
 Geniuses are mostly like that."
 
 PALMERSTON'S GENIUS 187 
 
 " Are they ? " 
 
 " Yes, that's another of their drawbacks. And," 
 continued Fancy, " you'd be a celebrity of course, which 
 means that we should be in the magazines, with 
 pictures — A Corner of the Library, and The Rose- 
 garden, looking West, and Mrs Pahnerston Burt is not 
 above playing with the Baby, and you with your 
 favourite dog — for we'd have both, by that time. Oh, 
 Pammy, where is the book ? " 
 
 "Upstairs, mostly, but I got a couple o' chapters 
 upon me — " Palmerston tapped his breast-pocket — " If 
 
 you really mean as you'd like " He hesitated, his 
 
 colour changing from red to white. Here, on the point 
 of proving it, the poor boy feared his fate too 
 much. 
 
 But Fancy insisted. They escaped together to 
 Captain Hunken's garden ; and there, in the summer- 
 house — by this time almost in twilight — he showed 
 her the precious manuscript. It was written (like 
 many another first effort of genius) 'on very various 
 scraps of paper, the most of which had previously 
 enwrapped gi-oceries. 
 
 "And to think," breathed Fancy, recognising some 
 of Mr Rogers's trade wrappers, " that maybe I've seen 
 dad doin' up those very parcels, and never guessed — 
 well, go on ! Read it to me." 
 
 "I — I don't read at all well," faltered Palmerston. 
 
 She tapped her foot. "I don't care how bad you 
 read so long as you don't keep me waitin' a moment 
 longer." 
 
 "This is Chapter Nine. ... If you like, of course, 
 I could start by tellin' you what the other chapters are 
 about "
 
 188 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " Please don't talk any more, but read ! " 
 "Oh, very well. The chapter is called 'Ernest 
 makes Another Attempt.' Ernest is what Mrs 
 Bowldler calls the hero, which means that the book 
 is all about him. It begins — 
 
 ' It was late in the evening following upon the 
 events related in the previous chapter ' 
 
 — I got that out of a paper Mrs Bowldler carries about 
 in her pocket. It is called ' Bow Bells,' and you can 
 depend on it, for it's all about the highest people — 
 
 'when Ernest rang at the bell of Number 20 
 Grovener Square.' 
 
 — I got that address, too, out of Mrs Bowldler. She 
 said you couldn' go higher than that. ' Not humanly 
 speakin' ' was her words, though I don't quite know 
 what she meant." 
 
 "But," objected Fancy, "you might want to start 
 higher, in another book. We can't expect to live all 
 our lives on this one : and there oughtn't to be any 
 come-down." 
 
 Palmerston smiled and waved his manuscript with 
 an air of mastery. He had thought of this. 
 
 "There's Royalty!" 
 
 " 0-oh ! " Fancy caught her breath. She felt sure 
 now of his genius. 
 
 " We must feel our way," said Palmerston ; " I believe 
 in flyin' as high as you like so long as you're on safe 
 ground. Of course," he went on, " there is a danger.
 
 PALMERSTON'S GENIUS 189 
 
 I don't know who really lives in Grovener Square at 
 Number 20 ; but they're almost sure not to be called 
 Delauncy, and so there's no real hurt to their 
 feelin's." 
 
 " Mrs Bowldler might know." 
 
 "You don't understand," explained Palmerston, who 
 seemed, since breaking the ice of his confession, to 
 have grown some inches taller, and altogether more 
 masterful. "She don't know why I put all these 
 questions to her. She sets it down to curiosity : when, 
 all the time, I'm 'puinjpiri her." 
 
 " Oh ! " Fancy collapsed. 
 
 Palmerston resumed : — 
 
 " ' The second footman ushered him to the boudoir, 
 where already he had lit several lamps, casting a 
 subdued shade of rose colour. The Lady Herm 
 Intrude reclined on a console in an attitude which 
 a moment since had been one of despair, but was 
 now languid to the point of carelessness.' " 
 
 " What's a console ? " inquired Fancy. 
 
 "They have one in all the best drawing-rooms," 
 answered Palmerston. "Mrs Bowldler " 
 
 " Oh, go on ! " She was beginning to feel jealous, or 
 almost jealous. 
 
 " ' She was attired in a gown of old Mechlin, with 
 a deep fall and an indication of orange blossoms, 
 and carried a shower bouquet of cluster roses, the 
 
 "No, I've scratched that out. It said 'the gift of
 
 190 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 the bridegroom,' and I got it from a fashionable 
 wedding; but it won't do in this place. 
 
 'Amid these luxurious surroundings Ernest felt 
 his brain in a whirl. He cast himself on his knees 
 before the recumbent figure on the console which 
 gave no sign of life unless a long-drawn and half- 
 stifled sob, which seemed to strangle its owner, 
 might be so interpreted. 
 
 " Lady Herm Intrude," he cried in broken 
 accents, " for the second time, I love you." ' " 
 
 " It's lovely, Palmerston ! Lovely ! " gasped Fancy. 
 " Why was he loving her for the second time ? " 
 
 " He was telling her for the second time. He had 
 loved her from the first—it's all in the early chapters. 
 . . . This is the second time he told her : and he has 
 to do it twice more before the end of the book. 
 
 'As he waited, scarcely daring to breathe, for 
 some answer, he could almost smell the perfume 
 of the orchids which floated from a neighbouring 
 vase and filled the apartment with its high-class 
 articles of furniture, the product of many lands.' " 
 
 " Oh, Palmerston ! And you that never had an 'ome 
 of your own, since you was nine — not even a Scattered 
 one ! However did you manage to think of it all ? " 
 
 She caught the manuscript from him and peered at 
 it, straining her eyes in the dark. 
 
 " If you could fetch a lamp now ? " she suggested. 
 
 But the boy stepped close and stood beside her, 
 dominant.
 
 PALMERSTON'S GENIUS 191 
 
 " You know how I came to do it," he said. " Yes — 
 I'm glad you like it. I'll fetch a lamp. But " 
 
 As she pored over the manuscript, he bent and 
 suddenly planted a great awkward kiss on the side 
 of her cheek. 
 
 Thereupon he fled in quest of the lamp.
 
 192 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 IS IN TWO PARTS. 
 PART I. 
 
 Cai and 'Bias supped together that night, greatly to 
 Mrs Bowldler's relief. But they exchanged a very few 
 words during the meal, being poor hands at dis- 
 simulation. 
 
 The meal, for the third time running, was laid in 
 Cai's parlour, Mrs Bowldler having delicately elected 
 to ignore the upset caused by the parrot and to treat 
 yesterday as a dies non. 'Bias, if he noted this, made 
 no comment. 
 
 The cloth having been removed, they drew their 
 chairs as usual to front the fireplace. Cai arose, found 
 a clean church- warden pipe on the mantelshelf, passed 
 it to 'Bias, and selected one for himself. 
 
 " I sent off that letter to-day," he said carelessly. 
 
 " Right," said 'Bias ; " I sent mine, too." 
 
 " Four-thirty post, mine went by." 
 
 " So did mine." 
 
 "She'll get 'em together, then, first delivery to- 
 morrow." 
 
 "Ay."
 
 IS IN TWO PARTS 193 
 
 "That puts us all square. She'll be amused, I 
 shouldn't wonder." 
 
 " I didn' txy to be amusin' in mine," said 'Bias after 
 a pause, pviffing stolidly. 
 
 "No more did I." Cai filled and lit his pipe in 
 silence. His conscience troubled him a little. " Well," 
 said he, dropping into his arm-chair, "the matter's 
 settled one way or another, so far as we're consarned. 
 The letters are in the post, and there's no gettin' them 
 out unless by Act o' Parliament. I don't mind tellin' 
 you just what I said, if you think 'twould be fairer- 
 like." 
 
 "I'm agreeable." 
 
 "You won't take it amiss that I pitched it pretty 
 strong ? " 
 
 "Not at all," answered 'Bias. "Come to that, I 
 pitched it pretty strong myself." 
 
 Cai smiled tolerantly, and felt for the rough draft 
 in his pocket. He fished it forth, unfolded the paper, 
 and spread it on his knee under the lamplight. Then, 
 having adjusted his glasses, he picked up his pipe again. 
 
 "I just started off," said he, "by hintin' that she 
 might be a bit surprised at hearin' from me." 
 
 " That's true enough," agreed 'Bias. " She'll be 
 more'n surprised, if I'm not mistaken." 
 
 "I don't see why." 
 
 " Don't you ? . . . Well, no offence. It's a very good 
 way to begin. In fact," said 'Bias in a slightly patro- 
 nising tone, " it's pretty much how I began myself. 
 Only I went on quick to hope she wasn't — how d'ye 
 call it?" 
 
 " I don't know what word you used. / should have 
 said ' affronted,' if I take your meanin'." 
 
 N
 
 19-1 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 'Bias gave a start. "As it happens I — er — hit on 
 that very word. I remember, because it looked funny 
 to me, spelt with two f 's. But I went on to say that 
 I meant honourable, and that she mustn't blame me, 
 because this kind o' thing happened without respect 
 o' persons." 
 
 Cai sat up, stiff and wondering. He took off his 
 glasses and wiped them. " You said — that ? " he 
 asked slowly. 
 
 "I said a damned sight more than that," chuckled 
 'Bias. " I said that love had its victims as well as its 
 something else beginning with a v, which I forget the 
 exact expression at this moment, and that I'd never 
 looked on myself as bein' in the former cat — no, case. 
 You can't think how I pitched it," said 'Bias, folding 
 his hands comfortably over his stomach. " The words 
 seemed just to flow from the pen." 
 
 " Oh, can't I ? " Cai, sitting up with rigid backbone, 
 continued to gaze at him. " Oh, they did — did they ? 
 And maybe you didn' go on to explain you weren't 
 precisely in the first flush o' youth — not what j^ou 
 might call a passionate boy " 
 
 It was 'Bias's turn to sit erect. He sat erect, breath- 
 ing hard. " There — there's nothing unusual about the 
 expression, is there ? " he stammered. " Though how 
 you come to guess on it " 
 
 " You've been stealin' my letter, somehow ! " flamed 
 Cai. 
 
 But 'Bias did not seem to hear. He continued to 
 breathe hard, to stare into vacancy. " Did you pay a 
 visit to Peter Benny this mornin' ? " he asked at 
 length, very slowly. 
 
 " Well, yes — if you must know," Cai answered
 
 IS IN TWO PARTS 195 
 
 sullenly, his wrath checked by confusion, much as the 
 onset of a tall wave is smothered as it meets a 
 backwash. 
 
 " That's right," 'Bias nodded. " Somehow or 'nother 
 Benny's sold us a dog : and, what's more, he sold us 
 the same dog. ... I don't think," went on 'Bias after 
 a pause, " that it showed very good f eelin' on your part, 
 your goin' to Benny." 
 
 " Why not ? " demanded Cai, whose thoughts were 
 beginning to work. " Far as I can see you did the very 
 same thing ; so anyway you can't complain." 
 
 " Yes, I can. You know very well I never set up to 
 be a scholar, same as you. By rights you're the scratch 
 boat on this handicap, yet you tried to steal allowance. 
 I thought you'd a-been a better sportsman." 
 
 " My goin' to Benny," urged Cai sophistically, " was 
 a case of one eddicated man consultin' another, as is 
 frequently done." 
 
 " Oh, is it ? Well, you done it pretty thoroughly, I 
 must say." 
 
 " Whereas your goin' was a clean case o' tryin' to 
 pass off goods that weren't your own, or anything 
 like it. . . . Come, I'll put it to you another way. 
 Supposin' your letter had worked the trick, and she'd 
 said ' yes ' on the strength of it — I'm puttin' this for 
 argyment's sake, you understand ? " 
 
 "Go on." 
 
 " And supposin' one day, after you was married, 
 she'd come to you and said, "Bias, I want a letter 
 written. I thought o' writin' it myself, but you're 
 such a famous hand at a letter.' A nice hole you'd 
 a-been in ! " 
 
 "No, I shouldn', I'd say, 'You rate me too high,
 
 19G HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 my dear. Still,' I'd say, 'if you insist upon it, you 
 j.ust scribble down the main points on a sheet o' paper, 
 and I'll take a walk and think it over.' Then I'd 
 carry it off to Benny." 'Bias, who so far had held 
 the better of the argument by keeping his temper, 
 clinched his triumph with a nod and refilled his pipe. 
 
 " Benny's an old man, and might die at any moment," 
 objected Cai. 
 
 " Now you're gettin' too far-fetched altogether, . . . 
 Besides, 'twouldn't be any affair o' yours — would it ? 
 — after I'm married to her." 
 
 " Well, you won't be — now : and no more shall I," 
 said Cai bitterly. " Benny's seen to that ! " 
 
 "'Tis a mess, sure enough," agreed 'Bias, lighting 
 his pipe and puffing. 
 
 " She'll be affronted — oh, cuss the word ! Just fancy 
 it, to-morrow morning, when she opens her post! A 
 nice pair of jokers she'll think us ! " Cai paced the 
 room. " Couldn't we go up to-night and explain ? " 
 
 " Five minutes to ten," said 'Bias with a glance at 
 the clock. " Ask her to get out o' bed and come down 
 to hear we've made fools of ourselves ? I don't see 
 myself. You can do what you like, o' course." 
 
 " I shan't sleep a wink," declared Cai, still pacing. 
 " How on earth Benny — " He halted of a sudden. 
 " You don't suppose Benny himself " 
 
 " Ch't ! a man of his age. . . . No, I'll tell you 
 how it happened, as I allow : and, if so, Benny's not 
 altogether to blame. First you goes to him, and wants 
 a letter written. You give him no names, but he 
 learns enough to guess how the wind sits . . . am I 
 right, so far ? " 
 
 Cai nodded.
 
 IS IN TWO PARTS 197 
 
 " So he writes the letter and off you goes with it. 
 Later on, in / drops with pretty much the same 
 request. I remember, now, the old fellow behaved 
 rather funny : asked me something about bein' the 
 'first person,' and then wanted to know if I didn' 
 wish the letter written for a friend. I wasn't what 
 you might call at my ease with the job, and so — as 
 the time was gettin' on for dinner, too — I let it go 
 at that." 
 
 "You did? . . . But so did I!" 
 
 "Hey?" 
 
 " I let Benny think he was writin' it for a friend o' 
 mine. Far as I remember, he suggested it. . . . 
 Yes, he certainly did," said Cai with an effort of 
 memory. 
 
 "It don't matter," said 'Bias after a few seconds' 
 reflection. "He took it for granted that one of us 
 was tellin' lies : and likely enough he's chucklin' now 
 at the thought of our faces when the thing came to 
 be cleared up. Come to consider, there was no vice 
 about the trick, 'specially as he wouldn' take any 
 money from me." 
 
 " Nor for me," Cai dropped into his chair and reached 
 for the tobacco-jar. " Well," he sighed, " the man's 
 done for both of us, that's all ! " 
 
 " Not a bit," said 'Bias sturdily. " We'll walk up 
 early to-morrow, and explain. Ten to one it'll put 
 her in the best o' tempers, havin' such a laugh 
 against us both."
 
 198 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 PART II. 
 
 " He can't have known ! " said Mrs Bosenna early- 
 next morning, sitting in a high-backed chair beside 
 the kitchen-table. Her face was slightly flushed, and 
 the toe of her right shoe kept an impatient tap-tap 
 on the flagged floor. " He can't possibly have 
 known." 
 
 " We'll hope not," said Dinah. " It's thoughtless, 
 though — put it at the best : and any way it don't 
 speak too well for his past." 
 
 "He may have bought it, you know," urged Mrs 
 Bosenna; "late in life." 
 
 " Well, he's no chicken," allowed Dinah ; " since you 
 put it like that." 
 
 "I wasn't referring to Captain Hunken, you silly 
 woman. I meant it!' 
 
 " Eh ? " said Dinah. " Oh \—hhn ?- " 
 
 " ' Hira ' if you like," Mrs Bosenna mused. " It 
 can't possibly be a female, can it ? " 
 
 "I should trust not, for the sake of a body's sex 
 ... to say things like that. Besides, I've surely 
 been told somewhere — in the ' Child's Guide to Know- 
 ledge,' it may have been — that the females don't talk 
 at all." 
 
 " Are you sure of that ? " 
 
 " Pretty sure. It was something unnatural anyhow, 
 or I shouldn' have remembered it." 
 
 " Well, and if so," said Mrs Bosenna, " one can see 
 what Providence was driving at, which is always a 
 comfort. ... I was wondering now if you mind 
 going and carrying him out to the garden some-
 
 IS IN TWO PARTS 199 
 
 where. He couldn't take harm in this weather, — 
 under the box-hedge, for instance." 
 
 Dinah shook her head. "I couldn', mistress; no 
 really ! " 
 
 " The chances are," said Mrs Bosenna persuasively, 
 " he wouldn't say anything, — anything like that again, 
 not in a blue moon." 
 
 " He said it to me first, and he said it to me again 
 not ten minutes later. But, o' course, if you're so con- 
 fident, there's nothing hinders your goin' and takin' 
 him where you like. If you ask my opinion, though, 
 he don't wait for no blue moons. He turns 'em blue 
 as they come." 
 
 Mrs Bosenna tapped her foot yet more pettishly. 
 " It's perfectly ridiculous," she declared, " to be kept 
 out of one's own parlour by a bird ! Go and call in 
 William Skin, and tell him to take away the nasty 
 thing." 
 
 " And him with a family ? " 
 
 " He's hard of hearin'," said Mrs Bosenna. 
 
 " It's a hardness you can't depend on. I've knowed 
 William hear fast enough, — when he wasn't wanted. 
 He'll be wantin' to know, too, why we can't put the 
 bird out for ourselves : his deafness makes him sus- 
 picious. . . . And what's more," wound up Dinah, " it 
 won't help us, one way or 'nother, whether he hears 
 or not. We shall go about thinkin' he's heard; and 
 I tell ye, mistress, I shan't be able to face that man 
 again without a blush, not in my born life." 
 
 " It's perfectly ridiculous, I tell you ! " repeated Mrs 
 Bosenna, starting to her feet. " Am I to be forced to 
 breakfast in the kitchen because of a bird ? " 
 
 " Then, if so be as you're so proud as all that, why
 
 200 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 not go back to bed again, and I'll bring breakfast up 
 to your room." 
 
 " Nonsense. Where d ye keep the beeswax ? And 
 run you up to the little store-cupboard and fetch me 
 down a fingerful of cotton-wool for my ears. I'll do 
 it myself, since you're such a coward." 
 
 " 'Tisn't that I'm a coward, mistress " 
 
 " You're worse," interrupted her mistress severely. 
 "You never ought to know anything about such 
 words, and it's a revelation to me wherever you 
 managed to pick them up." 
 
 Dinah smoothed her apron. " I can't think neither," 
 she confessed, and added demurely, " It could never 
 have been from the old master, for I'm sure he'd never 
 have used such." 
 
 Mrs Bosenna wheeled about, her face aflame. But 
 before she could turn on Dinah to rend her, the sound 
 of a horn floated up from the valley. 
 
 Dinah's whole body stiflened at once. 
 
 " The post ! " she cried, and ran forth from the kitchen 
 to meet it, without asking leave. Letters at Rilla 
 Farm were rare exceedingly, for Mrs Bosenna made 
 a point of paying ready-money (and exacting the last 
 penny of discount) wherever it was possible ; so that 
 bills, even in the shape of invoices, were few. She 
 had no relatives, or none whom she encouraged as 
 correspondents, for, as the saying is, " she had married 
 above her." For the same reason, perhaps, she had 
 long since stopped the flow of sentimental letters from 
 the girl-friends she had once possessed in Holsworthy, 
 Devon. If Mrs Bosenna now and again found her- 
 self lonely at Rilla Farm in her widowhood, it is to 
 be feared the majority of her old acquaintances would
 
 IS IN TWO PARTS 201 
 
 have agreed in asserting, with a touch of satisfied 
 spite, that she had herself to blame, — and welcome ! 
 
 " There's two ! " announced Dinah, bursting back 
 into the kitchen and waving her capture. " Two ! — 
 and the Troy postmark on both of 'em ! " 
 
 "Put them down on the table, please. And 
 kindly take a look at the oven. You needn't let 
 the bread burn, even if I ainn to take breakfast in 
 the kitchen." 
 
 " But ain't you in a hurry to open them, mistress ? " 
 asked Dinah, pretending to go, still hanging on her 
 heel. 
 
 " Maybe I am ; maybe I ain't." Mrs Bosenna picked 
 up the two envelopes with a carelessness which was 
 slightly overdone. They were sealed, the pair of them. 
 She broke the seal of the first carefully, drew out the 
 letter, and read — 
 
 "Honoured Madam, — You will doubtless be sur- 
 prised " 
 
 She turned to the last page and read the subscription — 
 
 " Yours obediently, 
 
 " Tobias Hunken." 
 
 " Who's it from, mistress ? " asked Dinah, making 
 pretence of a difficulty with the oven door. 
 
 " Nobody that concerns you," snapped Mrs Bosenna, 
 and hastily stowed the letter in the bosom of her 
 bodice. She picked up the other. Of that, in turn, 
 blie broke the seal —
 
 202 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " Honoured Madam, — " 
 
 The handwriting was somewhat superior. 
 
 " Honoured Madam, — You will doubtless be 
 surprised by the purport of this letter: as by 
 the communication I feel myself impelled to make 
 to you " 
 
 Mrs Bosenna, mildly surprised, in truth, turned the 
 epistle over. It was signed — 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 "Caius Hocken." 
 
 She drew the first letter from her bodice. After 
 the perusal of its first few sentences her cheeks put 
 on a rosy glow. 
 
 But of a sudden she started, turned to the first 
 letter again, and spread it on her lap. 
 
 " Well, if I ever ! " breathed she, after a pause. 
 
 " A proposal ! I knew it was ! " cried Dinah, 
 swinging about from the oven door. 
 
 Mrs Bosenna, if she heard, did not seem to hear. 
 She was holding up both letters in turn, staring 
 from the one to the other incredulously. Her roseal 
 colour came and went. 
 
 " Them and their parrots ! I'll teach 'em ! " 
 
 Before Dinah could ask what was the matter, a bell 
 sounded. It was the front door bell, which rang just 
 within the porch. 
 
 Dinah smoothed her apron and bustled forth. It 
 had always been her grievance — and her mistress 
 shared it — against the nameless architect of Rilla
 
 IS IN TWO PARTS 203 
 
 farmstead, that he had made its long kitchen window 
 face upon the strawyard, whereas a sensible man 
 would have designed it to command the front door in 
 flank, with its approaches. This mistake of his cost 
 Dinah a circuit by way of the apple-room every 
 time she answered the porch bell ; for as little as any 
 porter of old in a border fortress would she have 
 dreamed of admitting a visitor without first making 
 reconnaissance. 
 
 A minute later she ran back and thrust her head 
 in at the kitchen-door. 
 
 " Mistress," she whispered excitedly, " it's them ! " 
 
 " Oh ! " exclaimed Mrs Bosenna, as the bell jangled 
 again. " They seem in a hurry, too." She smiled, and 
 the smile, if the curve of her mouth forbade it to be 
 grim, at any rate expressed decision. She picked up 
 the two letters and slipped them into her pocket. 
 " You can show them in." 
 
 " Where, mistress ? " 
 
 " Here. And, Dinah, nothing about the post, mind ! 
 Now, run ! "
 
 204 
 
 CHAPTEE XVII. 
 
 APPARENTLY DIVIDES INTO THREE. 
 
 " You'll pardon us, ma'am, for calling so early," began 
 Cai. He was too far embarrassed to be conscious of 
 any surprise at being ushered into the kitchen. 
 
 " — You do the apologisin', of course," had been 
 'Bias's words in the front porch. " Yours was the 
 first letter written : and, besides, you're a speaker." 
 
 "You are quite welcome, the both of you," Mrs 
 Bosenna assured him as he came to a halt. Her tone 
 was polite, but a faint note of interrogation sounded 
 in it. "You have had your breakfast?" 
 
 " Yes, ma'am." 
 
 " Ah, you are early indeed ! I was just about to sit 
 down to mine." 
 
 " We don't want to interrupt, ma'am, but " Here 
 
 Cai looked helplessly at 'Bias. 
 
 " Go on," growled 'Bias. 
 
 "We — we don't want to seem rude " 
 
 "Never mind rude," growled 'Bias again. "Get it 
 over." 
 
 " The fact is, there's been a mistake : a painful mis- 
 take. At least," said Cai, growing more and more 
 nervous under Mrs Bosenna's gaze of calm inquiry, " it 
 
 I
 
 APPARENTLY DIVIDES INTO THREE 205 
 
 would be painful, if it weren't so absurd." He forced 
 a laugh. 
 
 "Don't make noises like that," commanded 'BiaS' 
 "Get it over." 
 
 " It's about those letters, ma'am." 
 
 " Letters ? " Mrs Bosenna opened her dark eyes wide ; 
 and turned them interrogatively upon Dinah. " Letters ?" 
 
 " Letters ? " repeated Dinah, taking her cue. 
 
 Relief broke like a sun-burst over Cai's face, " But 
 perhaps you don't read your letters, ma'am, until after 
 breakfast ? And, if so, we're in time." 
 
 " What letters ? " asked Mrs Bosenna. 
 
 "They've surely been delivered, ma'am ? In fact we 
 met the postman coming from the house." 
 
 " Dear me — and did he tell you he had been deliverin' 
 letters here ? " 
 
 "No — he was on his round, and we took it for 
 granted. Besides, we know they were posted in time," 
 
 " William Skin takes the letters some days," sug- 
 gested Dinah, " if he happens to overtake the post on 
 his way back with the cart. It saves the man a climb 
 up the hill." 
 
 " I wonder " mused Mrs Bosenna. 
 
 " Where is he ? " Cai's bewildered brain darted at 
 the impossible stratagem of intercepting Skin and get- 
 ting the letters from him, 
 
 "Stabling the pony at this moment, I expect. . . . 
 But I don't understand. What letters are you talkin' 
 about ? What sort of letters ? " 
 
 "There — there was one from me and one from 
 'Bias " 
 
 " Goodness 1 " she broke in, smiling pleasantly, 
 " What, another invitation ? "
 
 206 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 « Well " began Cai. 
 
 " Yes," struck in 'Bias. 
 
 " You might call it an invitation, o' sorts," Cai con- 
 ceded. 
 
 " 'Course you might," said 'Bias positively. 
 
 " You are very mysterious this morning, you two." 
 The widow turned from one to another, her smile still 
 hiding her amusement. " But let me guess. It appears 
 you both wished to send me an invitation, and some- 
 thing has gone amiss with your letters." 
 
 "We both sent the same one," explained Cai, and 
 blushed. "That's the long and short of it, ma'am." 
 
 " It doesn't seem so very dreadful." Mrs Bosenna's 
 smile was sweetly reassuring. " You both wrote, when 
 it was only necessary for one to write ? " 
 
 " That's what I kept tellin' him, ma'am," put in 'Bias 
 stoutly. " But he would put his oar in." 
 
 " Well, well. . . . You both wished to give me pleasure, 
 and each wrote without the other's knowledge " 
 
 " No, we didn't," interrupted 'Bias again. 
 
 "Anyway," she harked back with a patient little 
 sigh, "you had both planned your invitation to give 
 
 me pleasure ; and since it was the same ? " She 
 
 paused on a note of interrogation. 
 
 " You might call it the same, ma'am — after a fashion," 
 assented Cai. 
 
 She laughed. "Do you know," she said, "I forgot 
 for a moment what friends you are ; and it did cross 
 my mind that maybe there were two invitations, and 
 they clashed." 
 
 " But they do, ma'am ! " groaned Cai. 
 
 "Eh? Yet you said just now. ... So there are 
 two, after all ! "
 
 APPARENTLY DIVIDES INTO THREE 207 
 
 " It's — it's this way, ma'am : the letters are the same, 
 
 but the invita^tion as you call it " Here Cai paused 
 
 and cast an irritable glance in the direction of Dinah, 
 who had stepped to the door of the oven to conceal her 
 mirth. If the woman would but go he might be able 
 to explain. " But the invitation don't apply similarly, 
 not in both cases." 
 
 " That's queer, isn't it ? " commented Mrs Bosenna. 
 "And, supposin' I accept, to which of you must I 
 write ? " 
 
 " Me," said 'Bias with great promptitude. 
 
 "Not at all." Cai turned in wrath on his friend. 
 " I do think you might help, instead of standin' there 
 and " 
 
 " Can't I accept both ? " suggested Mrs Bosenna 
 sweetly. 
 
 " No, you certainly can't, ma'am. . . . And since the 
 letters seemin'ly haven't reach you yet, we'd both of 
 us take it as a favour if you'd hand 'em back to us 
 without lookin' inside 'em. We — we want to try again, 
 and send something calkilated to please you better. 
 'Tis a queer request, I'll grant you." 
 
 " It is," she agreed, cutting him short. " But what's 
 the matter with the letters ? Did you put any bad 
 language into them by any chance ? " 
 
 " Ma'am ! " exclaimed Cai. 
 
 "Bad language?" protested 'Bias. "Why, to begin 
 with, ma'am, I never use it. The language is too good, 
 in a way, an' that's our trouble ; only Cai, here, won't 
 out with it, but keeps beatin' about the bush. You 
 see, we went to Mr Benny for it." 
 
 " You went to Mr Benny ? " she echoed as he hesi- 
 tated. "For what, pray?"
 
 208 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 "For the letters, ma'am. Unbeknowns to one an- 
 other we went to Mr Benny — Mr Peter Benny — he 
 
 havin' a gift with his pen " 'Bias hesitated again, 
 
 faltered, and came to a stop, aware that Mrs Bosenna's 
 smile had changed to a frown ; that she was regarding 
 him with disapproval in her eyes, and that a 
 red spot had declared itself suddenly upon either 
 cheek. 
 
 " You don't seem to be makin' very good weather of 
 it either," Cai taunted him ; and with that, glancing at 
 her for confirmation, he too noticed her changed expres- 
 sion and was dumb. 
 
 " Are you tellin' me," — she seated herself stiffly, and 
 they stood like culprits before her. "Are you tellin' 
 me this is a game ? " 
 
 " A — a what, ma'am ? " 
 
 "A game!" She stamped her fot. "You've been 
 makin' the town's mock o' me with Peter Benny's help 
 — is that what j^ou two funny seamen have walked up 
 here to confess ? " 
 
 " There was no names given, ma'am," stammered Cai, 
 " I do assure you " 
 
 " No names given ! " Mrs Bosenna in a temper was 
 terribly handsome. Her indignation so overawed the 
 pair, as to rob them of all presence of mind for the 
 moment. After all, where lay the harm in asking Mr 
 Benny to word a simple invitation ? Since the letters 
 had not reached her, she could suspect no worse ; and 
 why, then, all this fuss ? So they might have reasoned 
 it out, had not conscience held them cowards — con- 
 science and a creeping cold shade of mutual distrust. 
 "No names given!" repeated the lady. "And I'm to 
 believe that, just as I'm to believe, sir," — she addressed
 
 APPARENTLY DIVIDES INTO THREE 209 
 
 herself stiffly to 'Bias — " that you never used bad lan- 
 guage in your life ! " 
 
 " I didn' say that, ma'am — not exactly," urged the 
 bewildered 'Bias. " I dunno what's this about bad 
 language. Who's been usin' bad language ? Not me." 
 
 " Not since your prize-fightin' days, perhaps, Captain 
 Hunken." 
 
 "My prize-fightin' days? My pr — Whoever told 
 you, ma'am, as ever I had any, or behaved so ? " 
 
 " You had better ask your friend here." 
 
 "Hey?" 
 
 " Perhaps," said Mrs Bosenna sarcastically, " that 
 goes back beyond your memory ! Your parrot, if I 
 may say so, has a better one." 
 
 " Missus ! " expostulated Dinah modestly, while " Oh 
 good Lord ! " muttered Cai with a start. His friend's 
 eye was on him, too, fixed and suspicious. 
 
 " The parrot ? " 'Bias, albeit innocent, took alarm. 
 " Why, what has he been doin' ? " 
 
 " It isn't anything he did, sir," protested Dinah, tak- 
 ing courage to face about again from the oven dooi-. 
 "It's what he said." 
 
 " I meant to warn you " began Cai ; but 'Bias 
 
 beat him do'^m thunderously — 
 
 " What did he say ? " he demanded of Dinah. 
 
 " Oh, I couldn't, sir ! I really couldn't ! " 
 
 "I meant to warn you," interposed Cai again. 
 "There's a — a screw loose somewhere in that bird. 
 Didn't I tell you only the night before last that Mrs 
 Bowldler couldn't get along with him ? " 
 
 " You did," admitted 'Bias, his tone ominousl}'' calm. 
 " But you didn' specify : not when I told you I was 
 goin' to bring the bird up here to Rilla." 
 
 O
 
 210 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " No, I didn' : for, in the first place, I couldn', not 
 knowin' what language the bird used." 
 
 He would have said more, but 'Bias turned roughly 
 from him to demand of the women — 
 
 " Well, what did he say ? . . . Did he say it in your 
 hearin', ma'am ? " 
 
 " Ahem ! — er — partially so," owned Mrs Bosenna. 
 
 "It's no use you're askin' what he said," added 
 Dinah; "for no decent woman could tell it. And, 
 what's more, the mistress is takin' her breakfast here 
 in the kitchen because she durstn't go nigh the parlour." 
 
 " And I got that bird off" a missionary ! A decenter- 
 speakin' parrot I've never known, so far as my experi- 
 ence goes — and I've known a good few." 
 
 "Folks have different notions on these matters; 
 different standards, so to speak," suggested Mrs 
 Bosenna icily. 
 
 " It's my opinion," put in Cai, " that missionary did 
 you in the eye." 
 
 " Oh, that's your opinion, is it ? Well, you'd best 
 take care, my joker, or you'll get something in the 
 eye yourself." 
 
 "We don't want any prize-fightin' here, if you 
 please," commanded Mrs Bosenna. 
 
 " There again ! " foamed 'Bias, with difficulty check- 
 ing an oath. " A prize-fighter, am I ? Who put that 
 into your head, ma'am ? Who's been scandalisin' me 
 to you ? " He turned, half -choking, and shook a mina- 
 tory finger at Cai. 
 
 "I — I didn' say I had any objection to fightin'-men, 
 not when they're quiet," Mrs Bosenna made haste to 
 observe in a pacificatory tone. In fact she was growing 
 nervous, and felt that she had driven her revenge far
 
 APPARENTLY DIVIDES INTO THREE 211 
 
 enough. " My late husband was very fond of the — the 
 ring — in his young days." 
 
 It is easier, however, to arouse passions than to allay 
 them, 'Bias continued to shake a finger at Cai, and 
 Cai (be it said in justice) faced the accusation gamely. 
 
 " I never scandalised you," he answered. " In fact I 
 done all in my power to remove the impression." Feel- 
 ing this to be infelicitous — in a sort of despair with his 
 tongue, which had taken a twist and could say nothing 
 aright this morning — he made haste to add in a tone at 
 once easy and awkward, " It's my belief, 'Bias, as your 
 parrot ain't fit to be left alone with females." 
 
 " Well, I'm goin' to wring his neck any waj^," promised 
 'Bias ; " and, if some folks aren't careful, maybe I won't 
 stop with his." 
 
 Cai, though with rising temper, kept his nonchalance. 
 " With you and me the creatur' don't feel the tempta- 
 tion, and consikently there's a side of his character 
 hidden from us. But in female company it comes out. 
 You may depend that's the explanation." 
 
 " Why, of course it is," chimed in Mrs Bosenna with 
 sudden — suspiciously sudden — conviction. " How 
 clever of Captain Hocken to think of it ! " 
 
 " Yes, he's clever," growled 'Bias, unappeased. " Oh, 
 he's monstrous clever, ma'am, is Caius Hocken ! Such 
 a friend, too ! . . . And now, perhaps, he'll explain how 
 it happened — he bein' so clever and such a friend — as 
 he didn't find this out two nights ago and warn me ? " 
 
 " I did warn ye, 'Bias," Cai's face had gone white 
 under the taunt. "But I'll admit to you I might 
 have pitched it stronger. ... If you remeinber, on 
 top of discussin' the parrot we fell to discussin' 
 something — something more important to both
 
 212 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 of us ; and that drove the bird out o' my head. It 
 never crossed my mind again till bedtime, and then I 
 meant to warn ye next day at breakfast." 
 
 " You're good at explanations, this mornin'," sneered 
 'Bias, " Better fit there was no need, and you'd played 
 fair." 
 
 " ' Played fair ' ! " — Cai flamed up at last — " I don't 
 take that from you, 'Bias Hunken, nor yet from any 
 one ! You fell into your own trap — that's what 
 happened to you. . . . ' Played fair ' ? I suppose you 
 was playin' fair when you sneaked off unbeknowns 
 and early to Rilla that mornin', after we'd agreed " 
 
 " Well ? " asked 'Bias, as Cai came to a halt. 
 
 " You know well enough what we agreed," was Cai's 
 tame conclusion, 
 
 " Where's the bird, ma'am ? " asked 'Bias dully. Both 
 men felt that all was over between them now, though 
 neither quite understood how it had happened. "It — 
 it seems I've offended you, and I ask your pardon. As 
 for my doin' this o' purpose — well, you must believe it 
 or not. That's as conscience bids ye. . , , But one 
 warnin' I'll give — A bad friend don't us'ally make a 
 good husband." 
 
 He motioned to Dinah to lead the way to the parlour, 
 and so, with a jerk of the head, took his leave, not 
 without dignity. 
 
 Mrs Bosenna promptly burst into tears. 
 
 Cai, left alone with her and with the despair in his 
 heart, slowly (scarce knowing what he did) drew forth 
 a red spotted handkerchief and eyed it. Maj^be he had, 
 to begin with, some intention of proffering it. But he 
 stood still, a figure of woe, now glancing at Mrs 
 Bosenna, anon staring fixedly at the handkerchief as if
 
 APPARENTLY DIVIDES INTO THREE 213 
 
 in wonder how it came in his hand. He noted, too, for 
 the first time that the tall clock in the corner had an 
 exceptionally loud tick. 
 
 " Go away ! " commanded Mrs Bosenna after a minute 
 or so, looking up with tear-stained eyes. It seemed 
 that she had suddenly became aware of his presence. 
 
 Cai picked up his hat. " I was waitin' your leave, 
 ma'am." 
 
 " Go, please ! " 
 
 He went. He was indeed anxious to be gone. Very 
 likely at the white gate below by the stream, 'Bias was 
 standing in wait to knock his head off. Cai did not 
 care. Nothing mattered now — nothing but a desire to 
 follow 'Bias and have another word with him. It 
 might even be. . . . But no : 'Bias was lost to him, lost 
 irrevocably. Yet he craved to follow, catch up with 
 him, plead for one more word. 
 
 He went quickly down the path to the gate, but of 
 'Bias there was no sign. 
 
 Poor Cai ! He took a step or two down the road, 
 and halted. Since 'Bias was not in sight there would 
 be little chance of overtaking him on this side of the 
 town ; and in the street no explanation would be 
 possible. 
 
 Cai turned heavily, set his face inland, and started 
 to walk at a great pace. As though walking could 
 exorcise what he carried in his heart ! 
 
 Meanwhile 'Bias went striding down the valley with 
 equal vigour and even more determination. His right 
 hand gripped the parrot-cage, swinging it as he strode, 
 and at intervals bumping it violently upon the calf of 
 his right leg, much to his discomfort, very much more 
 to that of the bird — which nevertheless, though be-
 
 214 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 wildered by the rapid nauseating motion, and at times 
 flung asprawl, obstinately forbore to reproduce the 
 form of words so offensive in turn to Mrs Bowldler 
 and the ladies at Rilla. 
 
 Once or twice, as his hand tired, and the rim of the 
 cage impinged painfully on his upper ankle-bone, 'Bias 
 halted and swore — 
 
 "All right, my beauty! You just wait till we get 
 home ! " 
 
 He had never wrung a bird's neck, and had no notion 
 how to start on so fell a deed. He was, moreover, a 
 humane man. Yet resolutely and without compunction 
 he promised the parrot its fate. 
 
 A little beyond the entrance of the town, by the 
 gateway of Mr Rogers's coal store, he came on a group 
 — a trio — he could not well pass without salutation. 
 The}'' were Mr Rogers (in his bath-chair and wicked as 
 ever) and Mr Philp, with Fancy Tabb in attendance 
 as usual. 
 
 " Well, I hope you're satisfied this time ? " Mr 
 Rogers was saying. 
 
 " I sujDpose I must be," Mr Philp was grumbling in 
 answer. " But all I can say is, coals burn faster than 
 they used." 
 
 " It's the way with best Newcastle." Mr Rogers, who 
 had never sold a ton of Newcastle coal in his life (let 
 alone the best), gave his cheerful assurance without 
 winking an eye. 
 
 " So you've told me more'n once," retorted Mr Philp. 
 " I never made a study o' trade rowts, as they're called ; 
 but more'n once, too, it's been in my mind to ask ye 
 how Newcastle folk come to ship their coal to Troy by 
 way o' Runcorn."
 
 APPARENTLY DIVIDES INTO THREE 215 
 
 Mr Rogers blinkea knowledgeably. "It shortens 
 the distance," he replied, "by a lot. But you was 
 sayin' as coals burned faster. Well, they do, and 
 what's the reason ? " 
 
 " Ah ! " said Mr Philp. " That's what I'd like to 
 know." 
 
 " Well, I'll give 'ee the information, and nothin' to 
 pay. Coals burn faster as a man burns slower. You're 
 gettin' on in life ; an' next time you draw your knees 
 nigher the grate you can tell yourself that, William 
 Philp. . . . Hullo ! there's Cap'n Hunken ! . . . 
 Mornin', Cap'n. That's a fine bird you're carryin'." 
 
 " A parrot, by the looks of it," put in Mr Philp. 
 
 " Sherlock 'Omes ! " Mr Rogers congratulated him 
 curtl3^ 
 
 " 'Mornin', Mr Rogers — mornin', Mr Philp ! " 'Bias 
 halted and held out the cage at half-arm's length. 
 " Yes, 'tis a fine bird I'm told." He eyed the parrot 
 vindictively. 
 
 " Talks ? " 
 
 " Damn ! That's just it." 
 
 " What can it say ? " 
 
 " Dunno. Wish I did. Will ye take the bird for a 
 gift, or would ye rather have sixpence to wring its 
 neck ? " 
 
 " Both," suggested Mr Philp with promptitude. 
 
 " What yer wrigglin' for like that, at the back o' my 
 chair, you Tabb's child ? " asked Mr Rogers, whose 
 paralysis prevented his turning his head. 
 
 " Oflfer for 'n, master ! " whispered Fancy. Mr Rogers, 
 if he heard, made no sign. " D'ye mean it ? " he inquired 
 of 'Bias. " I'm rather partial to parrots, as it happens : 
 and it's a fine bird. What's the matter with it ? "
 
 216 IIOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 "I don't know," 'Bias confessed again. "I wish 
 somebody'd find out : but they tell me it can't be 
 trusted with ladies." 
 
 " Is that why you're takin' it for a walk ? . . . Well, 
 I'll risk five bob, if it's goin' cheap." 
 
 Mr Philp's face fell. " I'd ha' gone half-a-crown, 
 myself," he murmured resignedly ; " but I can't bid up 
 against a rich man like Mr Rogers. . . . You don't 
 know what the creetur says ? " 
 
 "No more'n Adam — only that it's too shockin' for 
 human ears. If Mr Rogers cares to take the bird for 
 five shillin', he's welcome, and good riddance. Only 
 he won't never find out what's wrong with him." 
 
 " Honest ? " asked Mr Rogers. 
 
 "Honest. I've lived alongside this bird seven 
 years; he was bought off a missionary; and / don't 
 know." 
 
 " Ah, well ! " sighed Mr Philp. " Money can't buy 
 everything. But I don't mind bettin' I'd ha' found 
 out." 
 
 " Would 3^e now ? " queried Mr Rogers with a wicked 
 chuckle. " I'll put up a match, then. The bird's mine 
 for five shillin' : but Philp shall have him for a month, 
 and I'll bet Philp half-a-crown he don't discover what 
 you've missed. Done, is it ? " 
 
 " Done ! " echoed Mr Philp, appealing to 'Bias and 
 reaching out a hand for the cage. 
 
 " Done ! " echoed 'Bias. " Five shillin' suits me at 
 any time, and I'm glad to be rid o' the brute." 
 
 " There's one stippylation," put in Mr Rogers. " Philp 
 must tell me honest what he discovers. . . . You, Tabb's 
 child, you're jogglin' my chair again ! " 
 
 So 'Bias, the five shillings handed over, went his
 
 APPARENTLY DIVIDES INTO THREE 217 
 
 way ; relieved of one burden, but not of the main 
 
 one. 
 
 " Well, if I ever ! " echoed Dinah, returning to the 
 kitchen at Rilla. " If that wasn't a masterpiece, and 
 no mistake ! " 
 
 " Is the bird gone ? " asked her mistress. " Then you 
 might fry me a couple of sausages and lay breakfast in 
 the parlour." 
 
 Dinah sighed. " 'Tis lovely," she said, " to be able to 
 play the fool with men . . . 'tis lovely, and 'tis what 
 women were made for. But 'tis wasteful o' chances all 
 the same. There goes two that'll never come back." 
 
 " You leave that to me," said Mrs Bosenna, who had 
 dried her eyes. " Joke or no, you'll admit I paid them 
 out for it. Now don't you fall into sentiments, but 
 attend to prickin' the sausages. You know I hate a 
 burst sausage."
 
 BOOK III.
 
 221 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE PLOUGHING. 
 
 It is possible — though not, perhaps, likely — that had 
 Cai obeyed his first impulse and pursued 'Bias down 
 the valley, to overtake him, the two friends might 
 after a few hot words have found reconciliation, or at 
 least have patched up an honourable truce. As it was, 
 'Bias carried home a bitter sense of betrayal, supposing 
 that he had left Cai master of the field. He informed 
 Mrs Bowldler that he would dine and sup alone. 
 
 " Which the joint to-day is a goose," protested that 
 lady ; " and one more difficult to halve at short notice 
 I don't know, for my part." 
 
 " You must do the best you can." He vouchsafed 
 no other reply. 
 
 Mrs Bowldler considered this problem all the rest of 
 the morning. " Palmerston," she asked, as she opened 
 the oven door to baste the bird, " supposin' you were 
 asked to halve a roast goose, how would you begin ? " 
 
 "I'd say I wouldn't," answered Palmerston on brief 
 reflection. 
 
 " But supposin' you liad to ? " 
 
 Palmerston reflected for many seconds. " I'd start by 
 gettin' my knee on it," he decided.
 
 222 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 Mrs Bowldler, albeit much vexed in mind, deferred 
 solving the problem, and was rewarded with good luck 
 as procrastinators too often are in this wor]d. 
 
 Dinner-time arrived, but Captain Hock en did not. 
 She served the goose whole and carried it in to Captain 
 Hunken, 
 
 " Eh ? " said 'Bias, as she removed the cover. " What 
 about — about Cap'n Hocken ? " 
 
 " He have not arrove." 
 
 'Bias ground his teeth. " Havin' dinner with her ! " 
 he told himself, and fell to work savagely to carve his 
 solitary portion. 
 
 Having satisfied his appetite, he lit a pipe and 
 smoked. But tobacco brought no solace, no charitable 
 thoughts. While, as a matter of fact, Cai tramped the 
 highroads, mile after mile, striving to deaden the pain 
 at his heart, 'Bias sat puffing and let his wrath harden 
 down into a fixed mould of resentment. 
 
 Dusk was falling when Cai returned. Mrs Bowldler, 
 aware that something was amiss, heard his footsteps in 
 the passage and presented herself. 
 
 " Which, having been detained, we might make an 
 'igh tea of it," she suggested, " and venture on the wing 
 of a goose. Stuffing at this hour I would 'ardly 'int at, 
 being onion and apt to recur." But Captain Hocken 
 desired no more than tea and toast. 
 
 Mrs Bowldler was intelligently sympathetic, be- 
 cause Fancy had called early in the afternoon and 
 brought some enlightenment. 
 
 " There's a row," said Fancy, and told about the sale 
 of the parrot. " That Mrs Bosenna's at the bottom of 
 it, as I've said all along," she concluded. 
 
 ' Do you reelly think the bird has been talking ? "
 
 THE PLOUGHING 223 
 
 " I don't think : I know." 
 
 Mrs Bowldler pondered a moment. " Ho ! well — 
 she's a widow." 
 
 " I reckon/' said Fancy, " if these two sillies are goin' 
 to fall out over her and live apart, you'll be wantin' 
 extra help. Two meals for every one — I hope they 
 counted that before they started to quarrel." 
 
 " I'll not have another woman in the house," declared 
 Mrs Bowldler, and repeated it for emphasis after the 
 style of the great Hebrew writers. " Another woman 
 in the house have I will not ! What do you say, 
 Palmerston ? " 
 
 Palmerston, who had been on the edge of tears for 
 some time, broke down and fairly blubbered. 
 
 " There's a boy ! " exclaimed the elder woman. 
 "Mention a little hard work and he begins to cry." 
 
 " I don't believe he's cryin' for that at all," spoke up 
 Fancy. " Are you, Pammy dear ? " 
 
 " Nun-nun-No-o ! " sobbed Palmerston. 
 
 " He can't abide quarrellin' — that's what's the matter, 
 . . . Ah, well!" -sighed Fancy, and fell back on her 
 favourite formula of resignation. " It'll be all the same 
 a hundred years hence ; when we mee-eet," she chanted, 
 " when we mee-eet, when we mee-eet on that Eeyew- 
 tiful Shore ! And in the meantime we three have got 
 to sit tight an' watch for an openin' to teach 'em that 
 their ]ittle hands were never made. No talkin' outside, 
 mind ! " 
 
 " As if I should ! " protested Mrs Bowldler, and 
 added thoughtfully, " I often wonder what happens 
 to widows." 
 
 " They marry again, mostly." 
 
 "I mean up there — on the Beautiful Shore, so to
 
 224 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 speak. They don't marry again, because the Bible 
 says so : but how some eontrytomps is to be avoided 
 I don't see." 
 
 Chiefly through the loyalty of these three, some 
 weeks elapsed before the breach of friendship between 
 Captain Caius Hocken and Captain Tobias Hunken 
 became a matter of common talk. Mr Rogers must 
 have had an inkling ; for the pair consulted him on all 
 their business affairs and investments, and in two or 
 three ships their money had meant a joint influence on 
 the shareholders' policy. Now, as they came to him 
 separately, and with suggestions that bore no sign of 
 concerted thought, so astute an adviser could hardly 
 miss a guess that something was wrong. Nor did it 
 greatly mend matters that each, on learning the other's 
 wish upon this or that point where it conflicted witli 
 his own, at once made haste to yield. " If that's how 
 'Bias looks at it," Cai would say, " why o' course we'll 
 make it so. I must have misunderstood him : " and 
 'Bias on his part would as promptly take back a pro- 
 posal — " Cai thinks otherwise, eh ? Oh, well that 
 settles it ! We haven't, as you might say, threshed it 
 out together, but I leave details to him." " If you call 
 
 this a detail " "Yes, yes: leave it to Cai." Mr 
 
 Rogers blinked, but asked no questions and kept his 
 own counsel. 
 
 Mr Philp was more dangerous. (Who in Troy could 
 keep Mr Philp for long off" the scent of a secret ?) 
 But, as luck would have it, Cai in pure innocence 
 routed Mr Philp at the first encounter. 
 
 It happened in this way. Towards the end of the 
 first week of estrangement Cai, who bore up pretty
 
 THE PLOUGHING 225 
 
 well in the day time with the help of Mr Rogers, 
 Barber Toy, and other gossips, began to find his even- 
 ings intolerably slow. He reasoned that autumn was 
 drawing in, that the hours of darkness were lengthen- 
 ing, and that anyway, albeit the weather had not 
 turned chilly as yet, a fire would be companionable. 
 He ordered a fire therefore (more work for Mrs 
 Bowldler). But somehow, after a brief defeat, his 
 ennui returned. Then of a sudden, one night at bed- 
 time, he bethought him of the musical box, and that 
 John Peter Nanjulian needed hurrying-up. 
 
 Accordingly the next morning, as the church clock 
 struck ten, found him climbing the narrow ascent to 
 On the Wall : where, at the garden gate, he encountered 
 Mr Philp in the act of leaving the house with a bulging 
 carpet-bag. 
 
 " Eh ? Good mornin', Mr Philp." 
 
 "Good mornin' to you, Cap'n Hock en." Mr Philp 
 was hurrying by, but his besetting temptation held 
 him to a halt. " How's Cap'n Hunken in these days ? " 
 he inquired. 
 
 " Nicely, thank you," answered Cai, using the formula 
 of Troy. 
 
 " I lia'n't see you two together o' late." 
 
 " No ? " Cai, casting about to change the subject, let 
 fall a casual remark on the weather, and asked, " What's 
 that you're carryin', if one may make so bold ? " 
 
 "It's — it's a little commission for John Peter," stam- 
 mered Mr Philp. " Nothin' to mention." 
 
 He beat a hasty retreat down the hill. 
 
 "'Tis curious now," said Cai to John Peter ten 
 minutes later, "how your inc^uisitive man hates a 
 
 P
 
 226 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 question, just as your joker can't never face a joke 
 that goes against him. I met Philp, just outside, with 
 a carpet bag: and I no sooner asked what he was 
 carryin' than he bolted like a hare." 
 
 " There's no secret about it, either," said John Peter. 
 "He tells me that, for occupation, he has opened an 
 agency for the Plymouth Dye and Cleanin' Works." 
 
 " And you've given him some clothes to be cleaned ? 
 Well, I don't see why he need be ashamed o' that." 
 
 "Well, I haven't, to tell you the truth. For my 
 part, I like my clothes the better the more I'm used 
 to 'em. But my sister's laid up with bronchitis." 
 
 " Miss Susan ? . . . Nothin' serious, I hope ? " 
 
 "She always gets it, in the fall o' the year. No, 
 nothing serious. But the doctor says she must keep 
 her bed for a week — and now she's got to. . . . There'll 
 be a rumpus when she finds out," said John Peter 
 resignedly : " for she don't like clean clothes any better 
 than I do. But one likes to oblige a neighbour; and 
 if he'd taken my trowsers 'twould ha' meant the whole 
 household bein' in bed, which," concluded John Peter 
 with entire simplicity, "would not only be awkward 
 in itself, but dangerous when only two are left of an 
 old family." 
 
 Cai agreed, if he did not understand. He reclaimed 
 his musical box — needless to say, John Peter had not 
 yet engraved the plate — and carried it home, promising 
 to restore it when that adornment was ready. For the 
 next night or two it soothed him somewhat while he 
 smoked and meditated on public duties soon to engage 
 his leisure. For he had been co-opted a member of 
 the School Board in room of Mr Rogers, resigned: 
 and in Barber Toy's shop it was understood that he
 
 THE PLOUGHING 227 
 
 would be a candidate not only for the Parish Council 
 to be elected before Christmas, but for a Harbour 
 Commissionership to fall vacant in the summer of 
 next year. 
 
 The notification of his appointment on the School 
 Board reached him by post on the last Tuesday in 
 September. Now, as it happened, the Technical 
 Instruction Committee of the County Council had 
 arranged to hold at Troy, some four days later, an 
 Agricultural Demonstration, with competitions in 
 ploughing, hedging, dry-walling, turfing, the splitting 
 and binding of spars, &c. 
 
 Behold, now, on the morning of the Demonstration, 
 Captain Caius Hocken, School Manager and therefore 
 ex officio a steward, taking the field in his Sunday 
 best with a scarlet badge in his buttonhole, " quite," 
 declared Mrs Bowldler, "like a gentleman of the 
 French Embassy as used frequent to take luncheon 
 with us in the Square." 
 
 The morning was bright and clear : the sky a pale 
 blue and almost cloudless, the season 
 
 Not yet on summer's death, nor on the birth 
 Of ti-embling winter, 
 
 and Cai walked with a lightness of spirit to which 
 since the quarrel he had been a stranger. The Demon- 
 stration was to be held at the Four Turnings, where 
 the two roads that lead out of Troy and form a triangle 
 with the sea for base, converge to an apex and branch 
 off again into two County highways. The field lay 
 scarcely a stone's throw from this apex — that is to say 
 from the spot where the late Farmer Bosenna had 
 ended his mortal career. It belonged in fact to Mrs
 
 228 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 Bosenna, and had been hired from her by the Technical 
 Instruction Committee for a small sum ; but Cai did 
 not happen to know this, for the arrangement had 
 been made some weeks ago, before his elevation to the 
 School Board. 
 
 It was with a shock of surprise, therefore, that on 
 passing the gate he found Mrs Bosenna close within, 
 engaged in talk with two rosy-faced farmers; and, 
 moreover, it brought a rush of blood to his face, for 
 he had neither seen her nor heard from her since the 
 fatal morning. There was, however, no way of retreat, 
 and he stepped wide to avoid the group, lifting his 
 hat awkwardly as he passed, not daring to meet the 
 lady's eyes. 
 
 " Captain Hocken ! " she called cheerfully. 
 
 " Ma'am ? " Cai halted in confusion. 
 
 " Come here for a moment — that is, if it doesn't 
 interrupt your duties — and be introduced to our two 
 ploughing judges. Mr Widger of Callington, Mr Sam 
 Nicholls of St Neot — Captain Hocken." Cai's cheeks 
 in rosiness emulated those of the two men with whom 
 he shook hands. " Captain Hocken," she explained to 
 them, " takes a great interest in education," 
 
 For a moment it struck Cai that the pair, on 
 hearing this, eyed him suspiciously; but his brain 
 was in a whirl, and he might easily have been 
 mistaken. 
 
 " Not at all," he stammered ; " that is, I mean — I am 
 new to this business, you see." 
 
 " You are a practical man, I hope, sir ? ' asked Mr 
 Nicholls. 
 
 "I — I've spent the most part of my life at sea, if 
 you'd count that bein' practical," said Cai modestly.
 
 THE PLOUGHING 229 
 
 " To be sure I do," Mr Nicholls assented. " It's as 
 practical as farmiu', almost." 
 
 "In a manner o' speakin' it is," agreed Mr Widger 
 grudgingly. "Men haven't all the same gifts. Now 
 you'll hardly believe what happened to me the only 
 time I ever took a sea trip," 
 
 " No ? " politely queried Cai. 
 
 "I was sick," said Mr Widger, in a tone of vast 
 reminiscent surprise. 
 
 " It does happen sometimes." 
 
 "Yes," repeated Mr Widger, "sick I was. It took 
 place in Plymouth Sound : and you don't catch me 
 tryin' the sea again." 
 
 " Now what," inquired Mr Nicholls, " might be your 
 opinion about Labour Exemption Certificates, Captain 
 Hocken ? " 
 
 Cai was gravelled. His alleged interest in education 
 had not as yet extended to a study of the subject. 
 
 Mrs Bosenna came to the rescue. Talk about educa- 
 tion (she protested) was the last thing she could abide. 
 Before the ploughing began she wanted to show 
 Captain Hocken some work the hedgers had been 
 doing at the lower end of the field. 
 
 At that moment, too, the local secretary came run- 
 ning with word tha,t the first teams were already har- 
 nessed, and awaited the judges' preliminary inspection. 
 Mr Widger and Mr Nicholls made their excuses, there- 
 fore, and hurried ofi" to their duties. 
 
 " I have a bone to pick with you," said Mrs Bosenna, 
 as she and Cai took their way leisurably across the 
 field. 
 
 Cai groaned at thought of those unhappy letters. 
 
 But Mrs Bosenna made no allusion to the letters.
 
 230 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " You have not been near Rilla for weeks," she went 
 on, reproachfully. 
 
 Cai glanced at her. "I thought — I was afraid 
 you were offended," he said, his heart quickening its 
 beat. 
 
 " Well, and so I was. To begin brawling as you did 
 in a lady's presence — and two such friends as I'd 
 always supposed you to be ! It was shocking. Now, 
 wasn't it ? ' 
 
 " It has made me miserable enough," pleaded Cai. 
 
 " And so it ought. ... I don't know that I should 
 be forgiving you now," added Mrs Bosenna demurely, 
 " if it didn't happen that I wanted advice." 
 
 " My advice ? " asks Cai incredulous. 
 
 " It's a business matter. Women, you know, are so 
 helpless where business is concerned." (Oh, Mrs 
 Bosenna !) 
 
 " If I can be of any help " murmured Cai, some- 
 what astonished but prodigiously flattered. 
 
 " Hush ! " she interrupted, lifting a quick eye towards 
 the knap of the hill they had descended. " Isn't that 
 Captain Hunken, up above ? . . . Yes, to be sure it is, 
 and he's turned to walk away just as I was going to 
 call him ! " She glanced at Cai, and there was mischief 
 in the glance. "I expect the ploughing has begun, 
 and I won't detain either of you. . . . The business ? 
 We won't discuss it now. I have to wait here for 
 Dinah, who is coming for company as soon as she's 
 finished her housework. . . . To-morrow, then, if you 
 have nothing better to do. Good-bye ! " 
 
 He left her and climbed the hill again. He seemed 
 to tread on air; and no doubt, when he reached the 
 plateau where the ploughmen were driving their teams
 
 THE PLOUGHING 231 
 
 to and fro before the judges, with corrugated brows, 
 compressed lips, eyes anxiously bent on the imaginary 
 line of the furrow to be drawn, this elation gave his 
 bearing a confidence which to the malignant or un- 
 charitable might have presented itself as bumptious- 
 ness. He mingled with the small group of cognoscenti, 
 listened to their criticisms, and by-and-by, cocking his 
 head knowledgeably on one side, hazarded the 
 remark that "the fellow coming on with the roan 
 and grey seemed to be missing depth in his effort to 
 keep straight." 
 
 It was an innocent observation, uttered, may be, a 
 thought too dogmatically, but truly with no deeper 
 intent than to elicit fresh criticism from an expert who 
 stood close beside his elbow. But a voice behind him 
 said, and carried its sneer — 
 
 " Maybe he ain't the only one hereabouts as misses 
 depth." 
 
 Cai, with a grey face, swung about. He had recog- 
 nised the voice. Some demon in him prompted the 
 retort — 
 
 " Eh, 'Bias ? Is that you ? — and still takin' an in- 
 terest in agriculture ? " 
 
 The shaft went home. 'Bias's voice shook as he 
 replied — 
 
 " I mayn't know much about education, at two 
 minutes' notice ; and I mayn't pretend to know much 
 about ploughin' and wear a button in my coat to 
 excuse it. But I reckon that for a pound a side I 
 could plough you silly, Cai Hocken." 
 
 It was uttered in full hearing of some ten or twelve 
 spectators, mostly townsmen of Troy ; and these, turn- 
 ing their heads, for a moment not believing their ears,
 
 282 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 stared speechlessly at the two men whose friendship 
 had in six months passed into a local byword. Cap'n 
 Hocken and Cap'n Hunken — what, quarrelling ? No, 
 no — nonsense : it must be their fun ! 
 
 But the faces of the pair told a different tale. 
 
 It was a stranger — a young farmer from two parishes 
 away — who let off the first guffaw. 
 
 " A bet, naybours ! — did 'ee hear that ? Take him 
 up, little man — he won't eat 'ee." 
 
 " I'll go ten shillin' myself, rather than miss it," 
 announced another voice. " Ten shillin' on the ban- 
 tam ! " 
 
 " Get out with 'ee both," spoke up a citizen of Troy. 
 " You don't know the men. 'Tisn't serious now — is it, 
 Cap'n Hocken ? — well as you're actin' " 
 
 " Why not? " Cai stood, breathing hard, eyeing his 
 adversary. " If he means it ? " 
 
 " That's right ! Cover his money ? " cried an encour- 
 aging voice behind him. 
 
 The young farmer slapped his thigh, and ran off to 
 the next group. " Hi, you fellows ! A match ! " 
 
 He shouted it. They turned about. " What is it, 
 Bill Crago ? " — for they read in his excited gestures 
 that he had real news. 
 
 ' The fun o' the fair, boys ! Two ships'-cap'ns offer- 
 ing to plough for a pound a side — if you ever ! " 
 
 " Drunk ! " suggested somebody. 
 
 " What's the odds if they be ? 'Twill be all the 
 better fun," answered Mr Crago. " No — far's one can 
 
 tell they're dead sober. Come along and listen " 
 
 He hurried back and they after him. 
 
 " If he chooses to back out ? " Cai was taunting
 
 THE PLOUGHING 233 
 
 'Bias as the crowd pressed around. So true is it 
 
 that 
 
 *' To be wroth with one we love 
 Doth work like madness in the brain." 
 
 " Who wants to back out ? " answered 'Bias sullenly. 
 
 " If a man insults me, I hold him to his word : either 
 that or he takes it back." 
 
 " Quite right, Cap'n ! " prompted a voice. " And he 
 can't tell us he didn't say it, for I heard him ! " 
 
 " I ain't takin' nothin' back." 'Bias faced about 
 doggedly. 
 
 By this time, as their wits cleared a little, each was 
 aware of his folly, and each would gladly have re- 
 treated from this public exhibition of it. But as the 
 crowd increased, neither would be the first to yield 
 and invite its certain jeers. Moreover, each was furi- 
 ously incensed : anything seemed better than to be 
 shamed by hivi, to give him a cheap triumph. 
 
 News of the altercation had spread. Soon two- 
 thirds of the spectators were trooping to join the 
 throng in the upper field, pressing in on the antagonists, 
 jostling in their eagerness to catch a word of the dis- 
 pute. The competitors in Class D were left to plough 
 lonely furrows and finish them unapplauded. Young 
 Mr Crago had run ofi" meantime to secure the services 
 of the two judges. 
 
 Now Mrs Bosenna, after waiting some ten minutes 
 by the lower gate for Dinah (whose capital fault was 
 unpunctuality), had lost patience and walked back 
 towards Rilla to meet and reproach her. She had 
 almost reached the small gate when she spied Dinah
 
 234 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 hurrying down the steep path to the highroad, and 
 halted. Dinah, coming up, excused herself between 
 catches of breath. She had been detained by the 
 plucking of a fowl, and a feather — or, as you might 
 call it a fluff — had found its way into her throat. 
 " Which," said she, " the way I heaved, mistress, is 
 beyond belief." 
 
 Mrs Bosenna having admonished her to be more 
 careful in future, turned to retrace her steps to the 
 field. 
 
 They reached it and climbed the slope crosswise. 
 They had scarcely gained the edge of the upper plateau 
 when Mrs Bosenna stopped short and gave a gasp. 
 For at that moment there broke on their view, against 
 the near sky-line, the figure of a man awkwardly 
 turning a plough, behind a team of horses. 
 
 " Save us, mistress ! " cried keen-eyed Dinah. " If it 
 isnt 
 
 " It can't be ! " cried Mrs Bosenna, as if in the same 
 breath. 
 
 " It's Cap'n Hunken," said Dinah positively. 
 
 •' But why ? Dinah— why ? " 
 
 " It's Cap'n Hunken," repeated Dinah. " The Lord 
 knows why. If he's doin' it for fun, I never saw worse 
 entry to a furrow in my life." 
 
 " Nor I. But what can it mean ? " Mrs Bosenna, 
 panting, paused at the sound of derisive cheers, not 
 very distant. 
 
 The two w^omen ran forward a pace or two, until 
 their gaze commanded the whole stretch of the upper 
 slope. 'Bias, stolidly impelling his team — a roan and 
 a rusty-black — had, in the difficult process of steering 
 the turn, been too closely occupied to let his gaze travel
 
 THE PLOUGHING 235 
 
 aside. He was off again : his stalwart back, stripped 
 to braces and shirt, bent as he trudged in wake of the 
 horses, clinging to the plough-tail, helplessly striving to 
 guide them by the wavy parallel his last furrow had set. 
 
 Down the field, nearer and nearer, approached Cai, 
 steering a team as helplessly. Ribald cheers followed 
 him. 
 
 Mrs Bosenna, though quite at a loss to explain it, 
 grasped the situation in less than a moment. She 
 followed up 'Bias, keeping wide and running — yet not 
 seeming to hasten — over the unbroken ground to the 
 left. 
 
 " Captain Hunken ! " 
 
 'Bias, throwing all his weight back on the plough- 
 tail, brought his team to a halt and looked around. He 
 was bewildered, yet he recognised the voice. 
 
 While he paused thus, Cai steadily advanced to meet 
 and pass him. He was plainly at the mercy of his 
 team — a grey and a brown, both of conspicuous height 
 — and they were drawing the furrow at their own 
 sweet will. But he, too, clung to the plough-tail, and 
 his lips were compressed, his eyes rigid, as he drew 
 nearer, to meet and pass his adversary. He, likewise, 
 had cast coat and waistcoat aside : his hat he had 
 entrusted to an unknown backer. He saw nothing, 
 as he came, but the line of the furrow he prayed to 
 achieve. 
 
 " Captain Hocken ! " She stepped forward hardily, 
 holding up a hand, and Cai's team, too, came to a halt 
 as if ashamed. " What — what is the meaning of this 
 foolishness ? " 
 
 "I've had enough, if he has," said Cai sheepishly, 
 glancing past her and at 'Bias.
 
 236 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " I ain't doin' this for fun, ma'am," owned 'Bias. 
 " Fact is, I'd 'most as lief steer a monkey by the tail." 
 
 " Then drop it this instant, the pair of you ! " 
 
 'Bias scratched his head. 
 
 " As for that, ma'am, I don't see how we can oblige. 
 There's money on it — bets." 
 
 " There won't be money's worth left in my field, at 
 the rate you're spoilin' it." She turned upon the two 
 judges, who were advancing timidly to placate her, 
 while the crowd hung back. " And now, Mr Nicholls — 
 now, Mr Widger — I'd like to hear what you have to 
 say to this ! " 
 
 " 'Tis a pretty old cauch, sure 'nough," allowed Mr 
 Sam Nicholls, pushing up the brim of his hat on one 
 side and scratching his head while his eye travelled 
 along the furrows. " Cruel ! " 
 
 " And you permitted it ! You, that might be sup- 
 posed to have some knowledge o' f armin' ! " 
 
 " Why, to be sure, ma'am," interposed Mr Widger, 
 " we never reckoned as 'twould be so bad as all this. . . . 
 Young Bill Crago came to us with word as how these 
 — these two gentlemen — had made a match, and he 
 asked us to do the judgin' same as for the classes 'pon 
 the bills " 
 
 " And so you started them ? And then, I suppose, 
 you couldn't stop for laughin' ? " 
 
 " Something like that, ma'am, as you say," Mr W^idger 
 confessed. 
 
 " And wliat sort o' speech will you make, down to 
 County Council, when I send in my bill for damages ? 
 — you that complained to me, only this mornin', how 
 the rates were goin' up by leaps and bounds ! ... As 
 for these gentlemen," said Mrs Bosenna, turning on Cai
 
 THE PLOUGHING 237 
 
 and 'Bias with just a twinkle of mischief in her eyes, 
 " I sliall be at home to-morrow morning if they choose 
 to call and make me an offer — unless, o' course, they 
 prefer to do so by letter." 
 
 At this, Dinah put up her hand suddenly to cover 
 her mouth. But Cai and 'Bias were in no state of 
 mind to catch the double innuendo. 
 
 Having thus reduced the judges to contrition, and 
 having proceeded to call forward the local secretary 
 and to extort from him a long and painful apology, 
 Mrs Bosenna wound up with a threat to bundle the 
 whole Demonstration out of her field if she heard of 
 any further nonsense, and, taking Dinah's arm, sailed 
 off (so to speak) v/ith all the trophies of war. 
 
 Cai and 'Bias walked away shamefacedly to seek out 
 their bottleholders and collect each his hat, coat, and 
 waistcoat. 
 
 " But which of ee's won ? " demanded their backers. 
 
 " Damn who's won ! " was 'Bias's answer ; and he 
 looked too dangerous to be pressed further. 
 
 A wager is a wager, however; and the judges' 
 decision was clamoured for, with threats that, until it 
 was given, the Agricultural Demonstration would not 
 be suffered to proceed. Mr Sam Nicholls consulted 
 hastily with Mr Widger, and announced the award as 
 follows : — 
 
 " We consider Captain Hunken's ploughin' to be the 
 very worst ploughin' we've ever seen. But we award 
 him the prize all the same, because we don't consider 
 Captain Hocken's ploughin' to be any ploughin' at all." 
 
 Solvuntur risu talulcb — They can laugh, too, at 
 Troy 1
 
 233 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 ROSES AND THREE-PER-CENTS. 
 
 Although in her rose-garden — the rose-garden proper 
 — Mrs Bosenna grew all varieties of " Hybrid Per- 
 petuals " (these ranked first with her, as best suited to 
 the Cornish soil and climate), with such " Teas " and 
 " Hybrid Teas " as took her fancy, and while she 
 pruned these plants hard in spring, to produce exhibi- 
 tion blooms, sentiment or good taste had forbidden her 
 to disturb the old border favourites that lined the 
 pathway in front of the house, or covered its walls and 
 even pushed past the eaves to its chimneys. Some of 
 these had beautified Rilla year by year for genera- 
 tions : the Provence cabbage-roses, for instance, in the 
 border, the Crimson Damask and striped Commandant 
 Beaurepaire ; the moss-roses, pink and white, the China 
 rose that bloomed on into January by the porch. 
 These, with the Marechal Niel by her bedroom window, 
 the scented white Banksian that smothered the southern 
 wall, and the climbing Devoniensis that nothing would 
 stop or stay until its flag was planted on the very 
 roof -ridge, had greeted her, an old man's bride, on her 
 first home-coming. They had, in the mysterious way 
 of flowers, soothed some rebellion of young blood and
 
 ROSES AND THREE-PER-CENTS 239 
 
 helped to reconcile her to a lot which, for a shrewd 
 and practical damsel, was, after all, not unenviable. 
 She had no romance in her, and was quite unaware 
 that the roses had helped ; but she took a sensuous 
 delight in them, and this had started her upon her 
 hobby. A success or two in local flower-shows had 
 done the rest. 
 
 Now with a rampant climber such as Rosa Devoni- 
 ensis it is advisable to cut out each autumn, and clean 
 remove some of the old wood ; and this is no easy 
 job when early neglect has allowed the plant to riot 
 up and over the roof -thatch. Mrs Bosenna had a par- 
 ticular fondness for this rose, and for the gipsy flush 
 which separates it from other white roses as an unmis- 
 takable brunette. Yet she was sometimes minded to 
 cut it down and uproot it, for the perverse thing 
 would persist on flowering at its summit, and William 
 Skin, sent aloft on ladders — whether in autumn or 
 spring to prune this riot, or in summer to reap blooms 
 by the armful — invariably did damage to the thatch. 
 
 Mrs Bosenna, then, gloved and armed with a pair 
 of secateurs, stood next morning by the base of the 
 Devoniensis holding debate with herself. 
 
 The issue — that she would decide to spare the of- 
 fender for yet another year — was in truth determined ; 
 for already William Skin had planted one ladder 
 against the house - wall and had shufiled off to the 
 barn for another, to be hoisted on to the slope of 
 the thatch, and there belayed with a rope around 
 the chimney - stack. But she yet played with the 
 resolve, taken last year, to be stern and order execu- 
 tion. She was still toying with it when the garden- 
 gate clicked, and looking up, she perceiyed Captain Cai.
 
 240 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " All ! , . . Good morning, Captain Hocken ! " 
 
 Cai advanced along the pathway and gravely doffed 
 his hat. " Good morning, ma'am — if I don't intrude ? " 
 
 " Not at all. In fact I was expecting you." 
 
 " Er — on which errand, ma'am ? " 
 
 " — Which ? " echoed Mrs Bosenna, as if she did 
 not underst-and. 
 
 " Shall we take the more painful business first ? " 
 suggested Cai humbly. "If indeed it has not — er — 
 wiped out the other. The damage done yesterday to 
 your field, ma'am " 
 
 "Have you brought Captain Hunken along with 
 you ? " asked Mrs Bosenna, interrupting him. 
 
 "No, ma'am. He will be here in half an hour, 
 sharp." Cai consulted his watch. 
 
 " You have stolen a march on him then ? " she 
 smiled. 
 
 Cai flushed. "No, again, ma'am. Er — in point of 
 fact we tossed up which should call first." 
 
 "Then," said she calmly, "we'll leave that part of 
 the business until he arrives; though, since it con- 
 cerns you both, I can't see why you did not bring 
 him along with you. Do you know," she added with 
 admirable simplicity, "it has struck me once or twice 
 of late that you and Captain Hunken are not the 
 friends you were ? " 
 
 Still Cai stared, his face mantling with confusion. 
 This woman was an enigma to him. Surely she must 
 understand ? Surely she must have received that 
 brace of letters to which she evaded all allusion ? 
 And here was she just as blithely postponing all 
 allusion to j'esterday's offence ! 
 
 But no ; not quite, it seemed ; for she continued —
 
 ROSES AND THREE-PER-CENTS 241 
 
 "^I cannot think why you two should challenge one 
 another as you did yesterday, and make sillies of your- 
 selves before a lot of farmers. It — it humiliates you." 
 
 " We were a pair of fools," conceded Cai. 
 
 " What men cannot see somehow," she went on 
 angrily, "is that it doesn't end there. That kind of 
 thing humiliates a woman ; especially when — when 
 she happens to be cast on her own resources and it is 
 everything to her to find a man she can trust." 
 
 Mrs Bosenna threw into these words so much feel- 
 ing that Cai in a moment forgot self. His awkward- 
 ness fell from him as a garment. 
 
 " You may trust me, ma'am. Truly you may. Tell 
 me only what I can do." 
 
 At this moment William Skin — a crab- apple of a 
 man, whose infirmity of deafness had long since re- 
 duced all the world for him to a vain tolerable show, 
 in which so much went unexplained that nothing 
 caused surprise — came stumbling around the corner 
 of the house with a waggon-rope and a second ladder, 
 which he proceeded to rest alongside the first one; 
 showing the while no recognition of Cai's presence, 
 even by a nod. 
 
 "I want you," said Mrs Bosenna, "to invest a 
 hundred pounds for me. Oh ! " — as Cai gave a start 
 and glanced at Skin — " we may talk before him : he's 
 as deaf as a haddock." 
 
 " A hundred pounds ? " queried Cai, still in astonish- 
 ment. 
 
 "Yes; it's a sum I happen to have lyin' idle. At 
 this moment it's in the Bank, on deposit, where they 
 give you something like two-and-a-half only: and 
 in the ordinary way I should put it into Egyptian 
 
 Q
 
 242 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 three per cents, or perhaps railways. My poor dear 
 Samuel always had a great opinion of Egypt, for 
 some reason. He used to say how pleasant it was 
 in church to hear the parson readin' about Moses and 
 the bulrushes, and the plague of frogs and suchlike, 
 and think he had money invested in that very place, 
 and how different it was in these days. Almost in 
 his last breath he was beggin' me to promise to stick 
 to Egyptians, or at any rate to something at three 
 per cent and gilt-edged : because, you see, he'd always 
 managed all the business and couldn't believe that 
 women had any real sense in money affairs. ... I 
 didn't make any promise, really ; though in a sort of 
 respect to his memory I've kept on puttin' loose sums 
 into that sort of thing. Three per cent is a silly rate 
 of interest, when all is said and done: but of course 
 the poor dear thought he was leavin' me all alone in 
 the world, with no friend to advise. . . ." 
 
 "I see," said Cai, his heart beginning to beat fast. 
 " And it's different now ? " 
 
 "I — I was hopin' so," said Mrs Bosenna softly. 
 
 Cai glanced at the back of William Skin, who had 
 started to hum — or rather to croon — a tuneless song 
 while knotting a rope to the second ladder. No: it 
 was impossible to say what he wished to say in the 
 presence of William Skin, confound him ! Skin's deaf- 
 ness, Skin's imperturbability, might have limits. . . . 
 
 " You wish me to advise you ? " he controlled himself 
 to ask. 
 
 "No, I don't. I wish you — if you'll do me the 
 favour — just to take the money and invest it without 
 consultin' me. It's — well, it's like the master in the 
 Bible — the man who gave out the talents. . . .
 
 ROSES AND THREE-PER-CENTS 243 
 
 Only don't wrap it in a napkin ! " She laughed. 
 "I don't even want to be told what you do with 
 the money. I'd rather not be told, in fact. I want 
 to trust you." 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 She laughed again, this time more shyly. " ' Trust 
 is proof/ " she answered, quoting the rustic adage. 
 " You have given me some right to make that proof, 
 I think?" 
 
 Ah — to be sure — the letters ! She must, of course, 
 have received his letter, along with 'Bias's, though 
 this was her first allusion to it. . . . Cai's brain 
 worked in a whirl for some moments. She was 
 offering him a test; she was yielding upon honest 
 and prudent conditions ; she was as good as inviting 
 him to win her. ... To do him justice, he had never 
 — never, at any rate, consciously — based his wooing on 
 her wealth. For aught he cared, she might continue 
 to administer all she possessed. The comforts of Rilla 
 Farm may have helped to attract him, but herself had 
 been from the first the true spell. 
 
 He did not profess any knowledge of finance. A 
 return of four per cent on his own modest investments 
 contented him, and he left these to Mr Rogers. 
 
 "Ah!" 
 
 His mind had caught, of a sudden, at a really 
 brilliant idea. 
 
 "I accept," said he firmly, looking Mrs Bosenna 
 hard in the eyes, and her eyes sank under his gaze. 
 
 "Hi! Heads!" sang out a voice, and simultaneously 
 the ladder which William Skin had been hauling aloft, 
 came crashing down and struck the flagged path 
 scarcely two yards away.
 
 244 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 A second later Cai had Mrs Bosenna in his arms. 
 " You are not hurt ? " he gasped. 
 
 She disengaged herself with a half -hysterical laugh. 
 " Hurt ? Am I ? . . . No, of course I am not." 
 
 " The damned rope slipped," growled William Skin 
 in explanation, from his perch on the ladder under the 
 eaves. 
 
 " Slipped ? " Cai ran to the rope and examined it. 
 " Of course it slipped, you lubber ! " He stepped back 
 on the pathway and spoke up to Skin as he would 
 have talked on shipboard to a blundering seaman in 
 the cross-trees. "Ain't a slip-knot made to slip ? And 
 when a man's fool enough to tie one in place of a 
 hitch " 
 
 He cast off the rope, bent it around the rung with, 
 as it seemed, one turn of the hand, and with a jerk had 
 it firm and true. 
 
 " Make way, up there ! " he called. 
 
 " You're never going to — to risk yourself," protested 
 Mrs Bosenna. 
 
 " Risk myself ? Lord, ma'am, for what age d'ye 
 take me?" Cai caught up the slack of the rope 
 and hitched it taut over his shoulder. He was re- 
 juvenated. He made a spring for the ladder, and 
 went up it much as twenty years ago he would have 
 swarmed up the ratlines. " Make yourself small," he 
 commanded, as Skin, at imminent risk of falling, 
 drew to one side before his onset. Cai was past him 
 in a jiffy, over the eaves, balancing himself with mir- 
 aculous ease on the slippery thatch. "Now ease up 
 the ladder!" 
 
 He had anchored himself by pure trick of balance, 
 and was pulling with a steady hand almost as soon
 
 ROSES AND THREE-PER-CENTS 245 
 
 as Skin, collecting his wits, could reach out to fend 
 the ladder oiF from crushing the edge of the eaves. 
 Ten seconds later, by seaman's sleight of foot, he had 
 gained a second anchorage half-way up the slope, had 
 gathered up all the slack of the rope into a seaman's 
 coil, and with a circular sweep of the arm had flung 
 it deftly around the chimney. The end, instead of 
 sliding down to his hand, hitched itself among the 
 thorns of the rampant Devoniensis. Did this daunt 
 him ? It checked him for an instant only. The next, 
 he had balanced himself for a fresii leap, gained the 
 roof-ridges, and, seated astride of it, was hauling up 
 the ladder, hand over fist, close to the chimney-base. 
 
 The marvel was, the close thatch showed no trace 
 of having been trampled or disturbed. 
 
 "Darn the feller, he's as ajjile as a cat!" swore 
 William Skin. 
 
 " Pass up the clippers, you below ! " Cai commanded, 
 forgetting that the man was deaf. " If your mistress '11 
 stand back in the path a bit, I'll pick out the shoots 
 one by one and hold 'em up for her to see, so's she 
 can tell me which to cut away." 
 
 " You'll scratch your hands to ribbons," Mrs Bosenna 
 warned him. 
 
 " 'Tisn't worth while comin' down for a pair of 
 hedgin' gloves. ... I say, though — I've a better 
 notion ! 'Stead of lettin' this fellow run riot here 
 around the chimney-stack, why not have him down 
 and peg him horizontal, more or less, across and along 
 the thatch, where he can be seen ? " 
 
 " Capital ! " she agreed. " He'd put out more than 
 twice the number of blooms too. They do always best 
 when laid lateral."
 
 246 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " He'll come down bodily witli a little coaxin'. The 
 question is how to peg him when he's down ? " 
 
 " Rick - spars," answered Mrs Bosenna promptly. 
 "The small kind. There's dozens in the waggon- 
 house loft." She signalled to William Skin to come 
 down, bawled an order in his ear, and despatched 
 him to fetch a score or so. 
 
 " Hullo ! " cried Cai, who, being unemployed for the 
 moment, had leisure to look around and enjoy the 
 view from the roof - ridge. " If it isn't 'Bias comin' 
 up the path ! . . . Hi ! 'Bias ! " he hailed boyishly, in 
 the old friendly tone. 
 
 'Bias, stooping to unlatch the gate, heard the call 
 which descended, as it were, straight from heaven, 
 and gazed about him stupidly. He was aware of 
 Mrs Bosenna in the pathway, advancing a step or 
 two to make him welcome. She halted and laughed, 
 with a glance up towards the roof. 'Bias's eyes slowly 
 followed hers. 
 
 "Lord!" he muttered, "what made ye masthead 
 him up there ? . . . Been misbehavin', has he ? 'Tis 
 the way I've served 'prentices afore now." 
 
 "On the contrary, he has been behaving beauti- 
 fully " 
 
 "Here, 'Bias !" called down Cai again. "Heft along 
 the tall ladder half a dozen yards to the s'yth'ard, and 
 stand by to help. I'm bringin' down this plaguy rose- 
 bush, and I'll take some catchin' if I slip with it." 
 
 " ' Who ran and caught him when he fell ? ' ' His 
 Bias,* " quoted Mrs Bosenna. " He has been doin' 
 wonders up there, Captain Hunken. But if I were 
 you — a man of your weight " 
 
 ' I reckon," said 'Bias, stepping forward and seizing
 
 ROSES AND THREE-PER-CENTS 247 
 
 the ladder, which he lifted as though it had been 
 constructed of bamboo, "I han't forgot all I learnt 
 o' reefin' off the Horn." He planted the ladder and 
 had mounted it in a jiffy. "Now, then, what's the 
 programme ? " he demanded. 
 
 " You see this rose ? Well, I got to collect it — I've 
 tried the main stem, and it'll bend all right, — and then 
 I got to slide down to you. After that we've to peg 
 it out somewheres above the eaves, as Madam gives 
 orders. See ? " 
 
 "I see. When you're ready, slide away." 
 
 Just then William Skin came hurrying back with 
 an armful of rick-spars : and within ten minutes the 
 two rivals were hotly at work — yet cheerfully, intel- 
 ligently, as though misunderstanding had never been, 
 — clipping out dead wood from the rose-bush, layering 
 it, pegging it, driving in the spars, — while Mrs Bosenna 
 called directions, and William Skin gazed, with open 
 mouth. 
 
 " This is better than ploughin', ma'am ? " challenged 
 Cai in his glee. 
 
 "So much better," agreed the widow, smiling up, 
 "that I've almost a mind to forgive the pair of you." 
 
 " But I won't ask you to stay for dinner to-day," 
 she said later, when the tangled mass of the Devon- 
 iensis had been separated, shoot from shoot, and 
 pegged out to the last healthy - looking twig, and 
 the two men stood, flushed but safe, on the pathway 
 beside her. She stole a confidential little glance at 
 Cai. "For I understand from Captain Hocken that 
 you prefer to make your excuses separately. I have 
 already forgiven hiTn: and it's only fair to give 
 Captain Hunkcn his turn."
 
 248 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 Who less suspicious than Cai ? Had he been sus- 
 picious at all, what better reassurance than the sly- 
 pressure of her hand as he bade her good-day ? . . . 
 Poor 'Bias ! 
 
 Once past the gate, and out of sight, Cai felt a 
 strange desire to skip ! 
 
 " Well, mistress, you are a bold one, I must say ! " 
 commented Dinah that night by the kitchen fire, where 
 Mrs Bosenna enjoyed a chat and, at this season of the 
 year, a small glass of hot brandy-and-water, with a 
 slice of lemon in it, before going to bed, 
 
 "I don't see where the boldness comes in," said 
 the widow. She was studying the fire, and spoke 
 inattentively. 
 
 " Two hundred pounds ! " 
 
 " Eh ? . . . There's no risk in that. You may say 
 what you like of Captain Hocken or of Captain 
 Hunken : but they're honest as children. The money's 
 as safe with them as in the bank," 
 
 "Well, it do seem to me a dashin' and yet a very 
 cold-blooded way of choosin' a man. Now, if I was 
 taken with one " 
 
 " W^ell ? " prompted Mrs Bosenna, as Dinah paused, 
 
 "Call me weak, but I couldn't help it, I should 
 throw myself straight at his head, an' ask him to 
 trample me under his boots ! " 
 
 " A nice kind of husband you'd make of him then ! " 
 said her mistress scornfully, 
 
 " I know, I know," agreed Dinah, " I've no power 
 o' resistance at all, an' I daresay the Almighty has 
 saved me a lifetime o' trouble. 'Twould ha' been 
 desperet pleasant at the time though," She sighed.
 
 ROSES AND THREE-PER-CENTS 249 
 
 "But to give two men a hundred pound each, an' 
 choose the one that manages it best " 
 
 " Worst," corrected Mrs Bosenna. " You ninny ! " 
 she went on with sovereign contempt. " Do you really 
 suppose I'd marry a man that could handle my money, 
 or was vain enough to suppose he could ? " 
 
 " — oh ! " gasped Dinah as she took enlightenment. 
 . . . "But two hundred pounds is a terrible sum to 
 spend in findin' out which o' two men is the bigger 
 fool. Why not begin wi' the one you like best, and 
 find out first if he's foolish enough to suit ? " 
 
 "Because," answered Mrs Bosenna, turning medi- 
 tative eyes again upon the fire, "I don't happen to 
 know which I like best." 
 
 "Then you can't be in love," declared foolish 
 Dinah. 
 
 "Sensible women ain't; not until afterwards. . . . 
 Now, which would you advise me to marry?" 
 
 "Captain Hunken." Dinah's answer was prompt. 
 " He's that curt. I like a man to be curt ; he makes 
 it so hard for 'ee to say no. Besides which, as you 
 might sa}^, that parrot of his did break the ice in a 
 manner of speakin'." 
 
 " Dinah, I'm ashamed of you." 
 
 " Well, mistress, natur' is natur' : and we knows 
 what we can't help knowin'." 
 
 " That's true," Mrs Bosenna agreed. It was her turn 
 to sigh. 
 
 "Cap'n Hunken's the man," repeated Dinah. She 
 nodded her head on it and paused. " Though, if you 
 ask my opinion, Cap'n Hocken 'd make the better 
 husband." 
 
 "It's difficult."
 
 250 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " Ay. . . . For my part I don't know what you 
 want with a husband at all." 
 
 " Nor I," said Mrs Bosenna, still gazing into the fire. 
 
 " At the best 'tis a risk." 
 
 Mrs Bosenna sighed again. "If it weren't, where'd 
 be the fun ? "
 
 251 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 A NEWSPAPER PARAGRAPH. 
 
 Mr Rogers enjoyed his newspaper. To speak more 
 accurately, he enjoyed several : and one of Fancy's 
 duties — by no means the least pleasant or the least 
 onerous — was to read to him daily the main contents 
 of ' The Western Morning News/ * The Western Daily 
 Mercury,' and * The Shipping Gazette ' : and on Thurs- 
 days from cover to cover — at a special afternoon 
 seance — 'The Troy Herald/ with its weekly bulletin 
 of more local news. 
 
 " What's the items this week ? " asked Mr Rogers, 
 puffing at a freshly lit pipe and settling himself down 
 to listen. 
 
 Fancy opened the paper at its middle sheet, folded 
 it back and scanned it. 
 
 " Here we are. * If you want corsets, go to ' no, 
 
 that's an advertisement. 'Troy Christian Endeavour. 
 Under the auspices of the above-named flourishing 
 society ' " 
 
 " Skip the Christian Endeavour." 
 
 " Very well. The next is ' Wesley Guild. A goodly 
 company met this week to hear the Rev. J. Bates 
 Handcock on " Gambling : its Cause and Cure/'
 
 252 HOCKEN AND HUN KEN 
 
 The reverend gentleman is always a favourite at 
 Troy '" 
 
 " He's none of mine, anyway. Skip the Wesley 
 Guild." 
 
 " Rjorht-o ! ' On Wednesday last, in spite of counter 
 attractions, much interest was testified by those who 
 assembled in the Institute Hall to hear Mr Trudgeon, 
 lately returned from the United States, on the Great 
 Canyon of Colorado, illustrated with lantern slides. 
 The lecturer in a genial manner, after personally con- 
 ducting his audience across the Great Continent ' " 
 
 " Damn," said Mr Rogers. " Get on to the drunks. 
 Ain't there any ? " 
 
 " Seems not. How will this do ? " 
 
 ' Report says that Monday's Agricultural Demon- 
 stration — a full report of which will be found in 
 another column — was not without its comic relief, 
 beloved of dramatists. On dit that ' " 
 
 "On what?" 
 
 " Dit. Misprint, perhaps." 
 
 ' On dit that two highly respected sons of the 
 brine, recently settled in our midst, and one of 
 whom has recently been elected to teach our young 
 ideas how to shoot, were so fired with emulation 
 by the ploughing in Class C as to challenge one 
 another then and there to a trial of prowess, much 
 to the entertainment of our agricultural friends. 
 The stakes were for a considerable amount, and 
 the two heroes who had elected to plough some- 
 thing more solid than the waves, quickly found 
 themselves the observed of all observers. Rumour,
 
 A NEWSPAPER PARAGRAPH 253 
 
 that lying jade, hints at a lady in the case. 
 Certain it is that the pair, whose names have of 
 late been syn — been sy — nonymous — with,' — 
 
 " — O Lor' ! here's a heap of it, master ! " 
 " Skip the long syllables an' get on," 
 " H'm — m — 
 
 ' — acquitted themselves to the astonishment of the 
 judges, and of everybody else in the field. Search 
 out the lady, as our Gallic neighbours say.' " 
 
 — " Where's Gallic ? " 
 
 " Don't know. Ask Shake Benny. He supplies the 
 Troy Notes to the 'Herald.'" 
 
 " Oh, does he ? " 
 
 " Yes : he gets his gossip off Philp ; and dresses it up. 
 That's how it's done. Philp has a nose like a ferret's : 
 but he was unfort'nit in his education. You may trust 
 Philp to get at the facts — leastways you can trust him 
 for gossip : but he can't dress anything up. . , . Why, 
 what's the matter with the child ? " 
 
 Fancy Tabb never laughed : and this was the queerer 
 because she had a sense of humour beyond her years. 
 Though by no means a gleeful child she could express 
 glee naturally enough : but a joke merely affected her 
 with silent convulsive twitchings, as though the risible 
 faculties struggled somewhere within her but could not 
 bring the laugh to birth. 
 
 These spasms of mirth, whatever had provoked 
 them, were cut short — and her explanation too — by a 
 heavy footstep on the stairs. 
 
 " Cap'n Hunken ! " she announced, and went to open
 
 254 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 the door. " Most like he wants to talk business with 
 you same as Cap'n Hocken did this morning, and I'd 
 better make myself scarce. That's the silly way 
 they've taken to behave, 'stead of callin' together." 
 
 " Ay, you're sharp, missy," said her master. " But 
 'twon't be the same arrand this time, as it happens : so 
 you're wrong for once." 
 
 Fancy, if she heard, did not answer, for 'Bias by this 
 time had reached the landing without. She opened to 
 him. " Good afternoon, sir." 
 
 "Afternoon, missy. I saw your father in the shop, 
 and he told me to walk up. Mr Rogers disengaged ? " 
 
 " Ay, Cap'n — walk in, walk in ! " said Mr Rogers 
 from his chair. What is it to-day ? Business ? or just 
 a pipe and a chat ? " 
 
 " Well, it's business," allowed 'Bias with a glance at 
 the girl. " But I'll light a pipe over it, if you don't 
 mind." 
 
 " And I'll fit and make tea for you both," said Fancy. 
 " It's near about time." 
 
 She vanished and closed the door behind her. 'Bias 
 found a chair, seated himself, and filled his pipe very 
 slowly and thoughtfully. Mr Rogers waited. 
 
 " The business that brings me — " 'Bias paused, struck 
 a match and lit up — " ain't quite the ordinary business." 
 
 " No ? " 
 
 " No." For a few seconds 'Bias appeared to be 
 musing. " In fact you might call it a — a sort o' flutter. 
 That's the word — ain't it ? — when you take a bit o' 
 money and play venturesome with it, against your 
 usual habits." 
 
 " Ay ? " Mr Rogers looked at him sharply. 
 
 " When I say venturesome," continued 'Bias, " you'll
 
 A NEWSPAPER PARAGRAPH 255 
 
 understand I don't mean foolhardy. . . . Nothin' o' the 
 sort. I want to hear o' something tolerably safe, into 
 which a man might put a small sum he happened to 
 have lyin' about." 
 
 " What sort of investment ? " 
 
 " Ay, that's just what I want you to tell me. Ten 
 per cent, we'll say, an' no more'n a moderate risk. . . . 
 I reckoned as a man like you might know, maybe, o' 
 half a dozen things o' the sort." 
 
 " What's the amount ? " Mr Rogers's eyes, that had 
 opened wide for a moment, narrowed themselves upon 
 him in a curiosity that hid some humour. 
 
 " Put it at a hundred pound." 
 
 " Oh !— er— I mean, is that all ? " 
 
 " You see," exclaimed 'Bias. " You mustn' run away 
 wi' the notion that I ain't satisfied as things are. Four 
 and five per cent — and that's what you get for me — 
 does best in the main. I can live within the income 
 and sleep o' nights. But once in a way " 
 
 " Ay," interrupted Mr Rogers, " and more especially 
 when it's to oblige a friend." 
 
 'Bias withdrew the pipe from his mouth and stared. 
 " You're a clever one, too ! . . . Well, and I don't mind 
 you're knowin'. 'Tis a relief, in a way : for now you 
 know I'm pleased enough with your dealins' on my 
 own account," 
 
 " Thank 'ee. I'm not askin' no names." 
 
 "As to that, I'd rather not mention the name, 
 either. But I'd be very glad o' your advice : for 'tis 
 important to me, in a way o' speakin' ! " 
 
 Mr Rogers nodded. " If that's so," said he, " you 
 must give me a little time to think. There's mort- 
 gages, o' course : and there's deals to be done in ship-
 
 256 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 ping : and there's money-lendin, — though you'd object 
 to that, maybe. . . . Anyway, you come to me to- 
 morrow, and I may have something to propose." 
 
 " Thank 'ee. I take that as friendly." 
 
 " Right," Mr Rogers let drop a trembling half- 
 paralysed hand towards the newspaper which lay on 
 the floor beside his chair. " Would ye mind " 
 
 'Bias stepped forward and picked it up for him. 
 
 " Thank 'ee. No : I want you to keep it. . . . I'm 
 goin' to do a thing that's friendlier yet : though it be a 
 risk. Open the paper at the middle sheet — right-hand 
 side, an' look out a column headed ' Troy News.' . . . 
 Got it?" 
 
 " Half a moment — Yes, ' Troy News ' — Here we are ! " 
 
 " Now cast your eye down the column till you come 
 'pon a par about last Monday's Agricultural Demon- 
 stration." 
 
 " The devil ! " swore 'Bias. " You don't mean to 
 say " 
 
 "'Course I do. Everything gets into the papers 
 nowadays. . . . You'll find it spicy." 
 
 'Bias found the paragraph and started to read, with 
 knitted brows. Its journalistic style held him puzzled 
 for fully half a minute. Then he ejaculated " Ha ! " 
 and snorted. After another ten seconds he snorted 
 again and exploded some bad words — some very bad 
 words indeed. 
 
 "Thought I'd warn you to be careful," said Mr 
 Rogers. " You don't take it amiss, I hope ? In a little 
 place like this there s eyes about all the time — an' 
 tongues." 
 
 " I'd like to find the joker who wrote it ? " breathed 
 'Bias, the paper trembling between his hands.
 
 A NEWSPAPER PARAGRAPH 257 
 
 " I can't tell you who wrote it," said the ship- 
 chandler ; " but I can give a pretty close guess who's 
 responsible for it : and that's Philp." 
 
 " Philp ? " 
 
 " Mind ye, I say 'tis but a guess." 
 
 " I'll Philp him ! " 
 
 " Well, he's no fav'rite o' mine," said Mr Rogers 
 grinning. " He's too suspicious for me, and I hate 
 a man to be suspicious. . . . But he's the man I 
 suspect." 
 
 " Where does he live ? " 
 
 " Union Place — two flights o' steps below John Peter 
 Nanjulian's — left-hand side as you go up. But you 
 can't have it out with him on suspicion only." 
 
 " Can't I ? " said 'Bias grimly. " I'll ask him plain 
 ' yes ' or ' no.' If he says ' yes,' I'll know what to do, 
 and you may lay I'll do it." 
 
 " But if he says ' no ' ? " 
 
 " Then I'll call him a liar," promised 'Bias without a 
 moment's indecision. " That'll touch him up, I should 
 hope. . . . Where did you say he lives ? " 
 
 At this moment there came a knock at the door and 
 Fancy entered with the tea-tray. 
 
 " If you'd really like a talk with him," said Mr Rogers, 
 blinking, " maybe you'd best let the child here take 
 you to his house. ... Eh, missy ? Cap'n Hunken tells 
 me as how he'd like to pay a call 'pon Mr Philp, up in 
 Union Place." 
 
 " Now ? " asked Fancy. 
 
 " The sooner the better," answered 'Bias, crushing 
 ' The Troy Herald ' between his hands. 
 
 Fancy's hands, disencumbered of the tea-tray, began 
 to twitch violently. " Very well, master," was all she 
 
 B
 
 258 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 said, however ; and with that she left the room to fetch 
 her hat and small cloak. 
 
 " I'd advise you to tackle Philp gently," was Mr 
 Rogers's warning as soon as the pair were alone. " Not 
 that I've any likin' for the man : but the point is, you've 
 no evidence. He'll tell j^ou — and, likely enough, with 
 truth — as he never act'ally wrote what's printed." 
 
 " You leave him to me," answered 'Bias grimly, gulp- 
 ing his tea and preparing to sally forth. 
 
 " An' you might remember to leave the child outside. 
 If a lady's name is to be handled in the discussion, you 
 understand. . . . Besides which, witnesses are apt to 
 be awk'ard. Two's the safe number when there's a 
 delicate point to be cleared up." 
 
 Fancy reappeared and announced herself ready. 'Bias 
 caught up his hat. . . . Left to himself, Mr Rogers lay 
 back in his chair and chuckled. He did not care two 
 straws for Mr Philp, or for what might happen to him. 
 His mind was off on quite another train of thought. 
 
 " I wonder what the woman's game is ? 'A hundred 
 pound lyin' idle ' — and Hocken around with the same 
 tale this forenoon. . . . Ten per cent, and at a moderate 
 risk. . . . She's shrewd, too, by all accounts. . . . 
 Damme, if this isn't a queer cross-runnin' world ! A 
 woman like that, if I'd had the luck to meet her a 
 three-four year ago — before this happened ! " . . . He 
 eyed his palsied hand as it reached out, shaking, for 
 the tea-cup. 
 
 " When we get to the door," said 'Bias heavily, as he 
 and Fancy turned out of the street into the narrow 
 entry of Union Place, " you're to step back and run 
 away home."
 
 A NEWSPAPER PARAGRAPH 259 
 
 " No fear," she assured him. " I'm doin' you a favour, 
 an' don't you forget it." 
 
 " But you can't come inside with me." 
 
 " That's all right. Nobody said as I wanted to, in 
 my hearin'. I can see all I want to see. There's a 
 flight o' steps runnin' up close outside the window." 
 
 She pointed it out and quite candidly indicated the 
 point at which she proposed to perch herself. "And 
 there's another window at the back," she added: "so's 
 you can see all that's happenin' inside." 
 
 " Better fit you ran away home," he repeated. 
 
 " You can't make me," retorted Fancy. " Unless, o' 
 course, you choose to use force, here in broad daylight. 
 As a friend of mine said, only the other day," she went 
 on, snatching at a purple patch from ' Pickerley,' " the 
 man as would lift his hand against a woman deserves 
 whatever can be said of him. Public opinion will 
 condemn him in this life, and, in the next, worms are 
 his portion. So there ! " 
 
 "I dunno what you're talkin' about," said 'Bias, 
 preoccupied with the thought of coming vengeance. 
 " Who's meanin' to lift his hand against a woman ? " 
 
 " Well, mind you don't, that's all ! " 
 
 She left him standing on the doorstep, and skipped 
 away up the steps. Having reached a point which 
 commanded a view over the blinds of Mr Philp's front 
 window, she gave a glance into the room, and at once 
 her arms and legs started to twitch as though in the 
 opening movement of some barbaric war-dance. 
 
 'Bias, still inattentive, took no heed of these contor- 
 tions. After a moment's pause he rapped sharply on 
 the door with the knob of his walking-stick, then boldly 
 lifted the latch and strode into the passage.
 
 260 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 On his right the door of the front parlour stood ajar. 
 He thrust it wide open and entered. And, as he entered, 
 a female figure arose from a chair on the far side of 
 the room. 
 
 " I — I beg your pardon, ma'am ! " stammered 'Bias, 
 falling back a pace. 
 
 " Polly wants a kiss ! " screamed a voice. It did not 
 seem to proceed from the lady. . . . Somehow, too, it 
 was strangely familiar. . . . 'Bias stared wildly about 
 him. 
 
 At the same moment, and just as his eyes fell on the 
 parrot-cage on the table, the lady — But was it a lady ? 
 Heavens ! what did it resemble — this figure in female 
 attire ? 
 
 " Drat your bird ! He won't say no worse ! 
 And this is the third mornin' I've sat temptin' 
 him ! " 
 
 Mr Philp — yes, it was Mr Philp — in black merino 
 frock, Paisley shawl and ribboned cap on which a 
 few puce-coloured poppies nodded — Mr Philp, with a 
 handful of knitting, and a ball of worsted trailing at 
 his feet — But it is impossible to construct a sentence 
 which would do justice to Mr Philp as he loomed up 
 and swam into ken through 'Bias's awed surmise ; and 
 the effort shall be abandoned. 
 
 Mr Philp slowly unwound the woollen wrap that 
 had swathed his beard out of sight. 
 
 " Clever things, birds," said Mr Philp, and his voice 
 seemed to regain its identity as the folds of the band- 
 age dropped from him. "I wonder whether shavin' 
 would help ! . . . I don't like to be beat." 
 
 'Bias, who had come with that very intent, lifted a 
 hand — but let it fall again. No, he could not !
 
 A NEWSPAPER PARAGRAPH 261 
 
 " Good Lord ! " he ejaculated, and fled from the 
 house. 
 
 Outside, Fancy — who had seen all — was executing 
 a fandango on the step. 
 
 " Help ! " she called, taunting him. " Who talked o' 
 liftin' a hand ag^ainst a woman ? "
 
 262 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE AUCTION. 
 
 One result of the paragraph in 'The Troy Herald' 
 was to harden the two friends' estrangement just at 
 the moment when it promised to melt. Troy with its 
 many amenities has a deplorable appetite for gossip; 
 and to this appetite the contention of Captain Hocken 
 and Captain Hunken for Mrs Bosenna's hand gave 
 meat and drink, (There was, of course, no difficulty in 
 guessing what Mr Shake Benny would have called " the 
 inamorata's identity.") Malicious folk, after their 
 nature, assumed the pair to be in quest of her money. 
 The sporting ones laid bets. Every one discussed the 
 item with that frankness which is so characteristic of 
 the little town, and so engaging when you arrive at 
 knowing us, though it not infrequently disconcerts the 
 newcomer. Barber Toy — having Cai at his mercy next 
 morning, with a razor close to his throat — heartily 
 wished him success. 
 
 "Not," added Mr Toy, "that I bear any ill-will to 
 Cap'n Hunken. But I back a shaved chin on principle, 
 for the credit of the trade." 
 
 A sardonic and travelled seaman, waiting his turn in
 
 THE AUCTION 263 
 
 the corner, hereupon asked how he managed when it 
 came to the Oxford and Cambridge boat-race. 
 
 " I'll tell you," answered Mr Toy. " I wasn't at 
 Oxford myself — nor at Cambridge ; and for years I'd 
 back one or 'nother, 'cordin' to the newspapers. But 
 that isn't a satisfactory way. When you're dealin' with 
 an honest event — honest, mind you — as goes on year 
 after year between two parties both ekally set on 
 winnin', the only way to get real satisfaction is to 
 pick your fancy an' go on backin' it. That gives ye 
 a different interest altogether, like with Liberal or 
 Conservative at a General Election. If you don't win 
 this time, you look forward to next. . . . Well, one day 
 Mr Philp here came into the shop wearin' a dark blue 
 tie, and says I, ' You're Oxford.' ' Am I ? ' says he — 
 ' It's the first I've heard tell of it.' ' You're Oxford,' 
 says I : ' and I'm Cambridge, for half-a-crown.' Odd 
 enough, Cambridge won that year by eight lengths." 
 
 " I wonder you have the face to tell this story," put 
 in Mr Philp. 
 
 The barber grinned. " Well, I thought as we'd both 
 settled 'pon our fancy, in a neighbourly way. But be 
 dashed if, soon after the followin' Christmas, Mr Philp 
 didn't send his tie to the wash, and it came back any 
 blue you pleased. 'Make it one or t'other — / don't 
 care,' said I : and he weighed the choice so long, bein' 
 a cautious man, that we missed to make up any bet at 
 all. If you'll believe me, that year they rowed a dead 
 heat." 
 
 " Very curious," commented Cai. 
 
 " But that isn' the end," continued the barber. " Next 
 year he'd washed his necktie again, and that 'twas 
 Cambridge he couldn' dispute. So we put on another
 
 264 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 half-crovm, and Oxford won by two lengths, . . . 'Twas 
 a pity I could never induce him to bet again, for his tie 
 went on getting Cambridger and Cambridger, while 
 Oxford won four years out o' five." 
 
 " If you believe there was any honesty in it ! " said 
 Mr Pliilp. " 'Twas only my suspicious natur' as saved 
 me." 
 
 The whole town, indeed, was watching the rivals, 
 and with an open interest very difficult to resent. Nay, 
 since it was impossible to tell every second man in the 
 street to mind his own business, Cai and 'Bias accepted 
 the publicity perforce and turned their resentment upon 
 one another. 
 
 They continued, of course, to live apart, and Mrs 
 Bowldler soon learned to avoid playing the interme- 
 diary, even to the extent of suggesting (say) some 
 concerted action over the coal supplies. After the first 
 fortnight no messages passed between them — 
 
 " They stood aloof, the scars remaining, 
 Like cliffs that had been rent asunder." 
 
 If they met, in shop or roadway, they nodded, but 
 exchanged no other greeting. They never met at Rilla 
 Farm. How it was agreed I know not, though Mrs 
 Bosenna must have contrived it somehow; but they 
 now prosecuted their wooing openly on alternate days. 
 Sunday she reserved for what Sunday ought to be — a 
 day of rest. 
 
 "The artfulness!" exclaimed Mrs Bowldler on mak- 
 ing discovery of this arrangement. " But the men are 
 no match for us, my dear" — this to Fancy — "an' the 
 oftener they marry us the cleverer they leave us."
 
 THE AUCTION 265 
 
 "Then 'tis a good job Henry the Eighth wasn' a 
 woman," commented Fancy. 
 
 " There was some such case in the Scriptures, if you'll 
 remember ; and it says that last of all the woman died 
 also. If she did, you may be sure as 'twasn't till she 
 chose." 
 
 " I heard Mr Rogers say t'other day, ' Never marry a 
 widow unless her first husband was hanged.' " 
 
 " Pray let us change the subjeck," said Mrs Bowldler 
 hastily. 
 
 "Why? . . . What did Mr Bowldler die of? I've 
 often meant to ask," said Fancy, "and then again 
 I've wondered sometimes if there ever was any such 
 person." 
 
 "There was such a person." Mrs Bowldler half- 
 closed her eyes in dreamy reminiscence. "Further 
 than that I would not like to commit myself." 
 
 " He's dead, then ? " 
 
 " He was a fitter in a ladies' tailorin', and naturally 
 gay by temperament. It led to misunderstandin's. . . . 
 Dead ? No, not that I am aware of. For all I know 
 he's still starrin' it somewhere in the provinces." 
 
 She protested that for the moment she must drop the 
 subject, which invariably affected her with palpitations ; 
 but promised to return to it in confidence when she felt 
 stronger. 
 
 Throughout these days, however, and for many days 
 to come, she discoursed at large on the diplomacy of 
 widows; warning Palmerston to shape his course in 
 avoidance of them. And that budding author — who 
 had already learnt to take his good things where he 
 found them — boldly transferred her warnings to the
 
 266 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 pages of ' Pickerley,' which thereby arrived at resem- 
 bUng ' Pickwick ' in one respect if in no other. 
 
 From these generalities she would hark back, at 
 shortest notice, to the practical present. 
 
 " It behoves us — seein' as how a tempory cloud has 
 descended between these two establishments — it be- 
 hoves us, I say, to watch out for its silver lining in one 
 form or another. Which talking of silver reminds me 
 of electro, and I'll ask you, Palmerston, if that's the 
 way to leave a mustard-pot and call yourself an indoor 
 male ? " 
 
 Their estrangement had endured some three months 
 before the rivals came again into public collision. 
 
 The beginning of it happened through a very excus- 
 able misunderstanding. 
 
 Is Christmas Day to be reckoned as an ordinary day 
 of the week, or as a Sunday, or as a dies non ? The 
 reader must decide. 
 
 Christmas Day that year fell on a Friday — one of 
 the three week-days tacitly allotted to Cai, who may 
 therefore be forgiven that he chose to reckon it as 
 coming within the ordinary routine. He did so, and 
 at about three o'clock in the afternoon (which was 
 bright and sunny) he reached the small gate of Rilla, 
 to be aware of 'Bias striding up the pathway ahead of 
 him. 
 
 He gave chase in no small choler. 
 
 "Look here," he protested, panting; "haven't you 
 made some mistake ? This is Friday." 
 
 " Christmas Day," answered 'Bias, wheeling about. 
 
 " I can't help that. 'Tis Friday." 
 
 "An next year 'twill be Saturday," retorted 'Bias
 
 THE AUCTION 267 
 
 with a sour grin; "if that'll content you, when it 
 comes. None of us can't help it. Th' almanack says 
 'tis Christmas Day, and ord'nary days o' the week 
 don't count. Besides, 'tis quarter-day, and I've brought 
 my rent." 
 
 " I've brought mine, too," replied Cai. " Well, we'll 
 leave it to Mrs Bosenna to settle." 
 
 They walked up to the house in silence. Dinah, 
 who answered the bell, appeared to be somewhat upset 
 at sight of the two on the doorstep together. (Yet we 
 know that Dinah never opened the front door without 
 a precautionary survey.) She admitted them to the 
 front parlour, and opining that her mistress was some- 
 where's about the premises, departed in search of her. 
 
 'Bias took up a position with his back to the fire and 
 his legs a-straddle. Cai stuck his hands in his pockets 
 and stared gloomily out of window. For some three 
 minutes neither spoke, then Cai, of a sudden, gave a 
 start. 
 
 " There's that Middlecoat ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 " Hey ? " 'Bias hurried to the window, but the 
 young farmer had already passed out of sight. 
 
 "Look here," suggested Cai, "it's just as well we 
 turned up, one or both. That man's a perfect bully, 
 so she tells me." 
 
 " She've told me the same, more than once." 
 
 " Always pickin' some excuse for a quarrel. It ain't 
 right for a woman to live alongside such a neighbour 
 unprotected." 
 
 " So I've told her." 
 
 " Well, he's in the devil of a rage just now, — to judge 
 by the look of him, an' the way he was smackin' his leg 
 with an ash-plant as he went by."
 
 268 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " Was he now ? " 'Bias considered for a moment. 
 " You may depend he took advantage, not expectin' 
 either of us to turn up to-day. ... I shouldn't wonder 
 if the maid properly scared him with news we were 
 here." 
 
 Sure enough Dinah returned in a moment to report 
 that her mistress was in her rose-garden ; and following 
 her thither, they found Mrs Bosenna, flushed of face 
 and evidently mastering an extreme discomposure. 
 
 " I, — I hardly expected you," she began. 
 
 "It's Friday," said Cai. 
 
 " It's Christmas Day," said 'Bias. " I reckon he 
 counted on that, — that Middlecoat, I mean." 
 
 " Eh ? . . . Mr Middlecoat " 
 
 " Saw him takin' his leave, not above three minutes 
 ago." 
 
 "You, — 3'ou saw him taking his leave ?" 
 
 " Stridin' down the hill, angry as a bull," Cai assured 
 her. 
 
 " He's a dreadful man to have for a neighbour," con- 
 fessed Mrs Bosenna, recovering grip on her composure. 
 " The way he threatens and bullies ! " 
 
 "I'll Middlecoat him, if he gives me but half a 
 chance ! " swore 'Bias. 
 
 " If I'd known either of you was in hail. . . . But I 
 reckoned you'd both be countin' this for a Sunday." 
 
 "Christmas Day isn't Sunday, not more'n once in 
 seven years," objected 'Bias. 
 
 "It's Friday this year," said Cai, with simple con- 
 viction. 
 
 " Fiddlestick ! " retorted 'Bias. " You can't make it 
 out to be like an ordinary Friday — I defy you. There's 
 a — a feelin about the day."
 
 THE AUCTION 269 
 
 " It feels like Friday to me," maintained Cai, 
 But here Mrs Bosenna interposed. " 'Twon't feel like 
 Christmas to me then if you two start arguin'. ' Peace 
 and goodwill ' was the motto, as I thought ; but I don't 
 see much of either abroad this afternoon." 
 
 The pair started guiltily and avoided each other's 
 eyes. Many a time in distant ports they had talked 
 together of Christmas in England and of Christmas 
 fare — the goose, the plum -pudding. They had pro- 
 mised themselves a rare dinner to celebrate their hrst 
 Christmas in England, and it had come to — what ? To 
 a dull meal eaten apart, served by a Mrs Bowldler on 
 the verge of tears, and by a Palmerston frankly ravaged 
 by woe. It had happened — happened past recall, and 
 as Mrs Bowldler had more than once observed in the 
 course of the morning, the worst was not over yet. 
 "For," as she said, "out of two cold geese and two 
 cold puddings I'll trouble you this next week for your 
 entrays and what-not." 
 
 " What was Middlecoat's business, ma'am ? — makin' 
 so bold," inquired 'Bias. 
 
 " Oh ! " she answered quickly, " he's a terrible young 
 man ! Wants his own way in everything, like most 
 farmers, and turns violent when he can't get it. 
 . . . He came about next week's sale, among other 
 things." 
 
 " What sale, ma'am ? " 
 
 " Why, surely you must have seen ? The bills have 
 been out for days. Squire Willyams is gettin' rid of 
 his land this side of the stream, right down from here 
 to the railway station. Fifty acres you may call it; 
 the' most of it waste or else coppice, — and coppice don't
 
 270 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 pay for cuttin'. You've almost to go down on your 
 knees before anybody will cart it away," 
 
 "I did hear some word of it down in Toy's shop, 
 now I come to think," said Cai. "But if the land's 
 worthless " 
 
 " It's worth little enough to any one but me and Mr 
 Middlecoat. You see, it marches right alongside our 
 two farms, between them and the Railway Company's 
 strip along the waterside, and — well, Rilla's freehold 
 and Middlecoat's is freehold, and it's nature, I suppose, 
 to be jealous of any third party interlopin'. But I 
 don't want the land, and so I've told him ; nor I won't 
 bid against him and run up the price, — though that's 
 what they're aimin' at by an auction." 
 
 " Then what in thunder does the fellow want ? " 
 demanded 'Bias. 
 
 " If you'll climb 'pon the hedge yonder — that's my 
 boundary — you'll see a little strip of a field, not fifty 
 yards wide, runnin' down this side of the plantation. 
 It widens a bit, higher up the hill, but 'tis scarcely more 
 than a couple acres, even so. Barton's Orchard, they 
 call it." 
 
 " But what about it ? " asked Cai, craning his neck 
 over to examine the plot. 
 
 " Why, to be sure I want to take it in for my roses. 
 It lies rather too near the trees, to be sure ; but one 
 could trench along the far side and fill the trench with 
 concrete, to check their roots from spreadin' this way ; 
 and all the soil is good along this side of the 
 valley." 
 
 " Then why not buy it, ma'am, since 'tis for sale ? 
 Though for my part," added Cai, looking round upon 
 the beds which, just now, were unsightly enough, with
 
 THE AUCTION 271 
 
 stiff leafless shoots protruding above their winter mulch, 
 " I can't think what you want with more roses than you 
 have already." 
 
 " One can never have too many roses," declared Mrs 
 Bosenna. " Let be that there's new ones comin' out 
 every year, faster than you can keep count with them. 
 Folks '11 never persuade me that the old H.P.'s don't do 
 best for Cornwall ; but when you go in for exhibition 
 there's the judges and their fads to be considered, and 
 the rage nowadays is all for Teas and high centres. 
 . . . When first I heard as that parcel of ground was 
 likely to come in the market, I sat down and planned 
 how I'd lay it out with three long beds for the very 
 best Teas, and fence off the top with a rose hedge — 
 Wichurianas or Penzance sweet briars — and call it my 
 Jubilee Garden ; next year bein' the Diamond Jubilee, 
 you know. All the plants could be in before the end of 
 February, and I'll promise myself that by June, when 
 the Queen's day came round, there shouldn't be a 
 loyaller-bloomin' garden in the land." 
 
 " Well," allowed Cai, " that's sensibler anyway than 
 puttin' up arches and mottoes. But what's to prevent 
 
 ye 
 
 ?" 
 
 "'Tis that nasty disagreeable Mr Middlecoat," 
 answered Mrs Bosenna pettishly. " He come and tells 
 me now as that strip has always been the apple of his 
 eye. . . . It's my belief he wants to grow roses against 
 me ; and what's more, it's my belief he'd swallow up all 
 Rilla if he could ; which is better land than his own, 
 acre for acre. It angers him to live alongside a woman 
 and be beaten by her at every point o' farmin'." 
 
 " But you've the longer purse, ma'am, as I under- 
 stand," suggested 'Bias. "Talkin' o' which " He
 
 272 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 fumbled in his breast-pocket and produced an enve- 
 lope. 
 
 " My rent, ma'am." 
 
 " Ay, to be sure : and mine, ma'am," Cai likewise 
 produced his rent. 
 
 " You are the most punctual of tenants ! " laughed 
 Mrs Bosenna, taking the two envelopes. "But after 
 all, they say, short reckonin's make long friends." 
 
 She divided a glance between them, to be shared as 
 they would. 
 
 " But as I was suggesting ma'am — why not attend 
 the sale and outbid the fellow ? " 
 
 " So I can, of course : and so I will, perhaps. Still 
 it's not pleasant to live by a neighbour who thinks he 
 can walk in and hector you, just because you're a 
 woman." 
 
 " You want protection : that's what you want," 
 observed 'Bias fatuously. 
 
 " In your place," said Cai with more tact, " I should 
 forbid him the premises." 
 
 For some reason Mrs Bosenna omitted to invite them 
 to stay and drink tea : and after a while they took 
 their leave together. At the foot of the descent, as 
 they gained the highroad, Cai faced about and asked, 
 " Which way ? " 
 
 " I was thinkin' to stretch my legs around Four 
 Turnin's," answered 'Bias, although as a matter of fact 
 the intention had that instant occurred to him. 
 
 " Well, so long ! " Cai nodded and turned towards 
 the town. " Compliments of the season," he added. 
 
 " Same to you." 
 
 They walked ofi' in opposite directions.
 
 THE AUCTION 273 
 
 On his way home through the town Cai took 
 occasion to study the Bill of Auction on one of the 
 hoardings. It advertised the property in separate 
 small lots, of which Barton's Orchard figured as No. 9. 
 The bill gave its measurement as 1 acre, 1 rood, 15 
 perches. The sale would take place at the Ship Hotel, 
 Troy, on Monday, January 4, 1897, at 2.30 p.m. Messrs 
 Dewy and Moss, Auctioneers. 
 
 In the course of the next week he made one or two 
 attempts to sound Mrs Bosenna and assure himself that 
 she meant to attend the sale and secure Lot 9 ; but she 
 spoke of it with an irritating carelessness. Almost it 
 might have persuaded him — had he been less practised 
 in her wayward moods — that she had dismissed the 
 affair from her mind. But on Friday (New Year's 
 Day) as he took leave of her, she recurred to it. 
 
 " Dear me," said she meditatively, " I shall not be 
 seeing you for several days, shall I ? " 
 
 " Eh ? Why not ? " 
 
 " To-morrow's Saturday ; then Sunday's our day of 
 rest, as Dinah calls it. On Monday's the auction " 
 
 " Ah, to be sure ! " Cai had forgotten this consequence 
 of it, and was dashed in spirits for the moment. " But 
 I shall see you there ? " 
 
 " Perhaps," she answered negligently. " Shall you 
 be attendin' ? Really, now ! " 
 
 With an accent of reproach he asked how she could 
 imagine that a business so nearly concerning her could 
 find him other than watchful. On leaving he repeated 
 his good wishes for the twelvemonth to come, and with 
 a warmth of intention which she perversely chose to 
 ignore, 
 
 8
 
 274 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 To be sure he meant to attend the sale. Nor was he 
 surprised on entering the Ship Inn next Monday, some 
 ten minutes ahead of the advertised time, to find 'Bias 
 in the bar with a glass of hot brandy and water at his 
 elbow. Cai ordered a rum hot. 
 
 " Where's the auction to be held ? " he inquired of Mr 
 Oke, the landlord. 
 
 " Long Room as usual." Mr Oke jerked a thumb 
 towards the stairs ; and Cai, having drained his glass, 
 went up. 
 
 In the Long Room, w^hich is a handsome apartment 
 with waggon roof and curious Jacobean mouldings 
 dating from the time when The Ship was built to serve 
 as " town house " for one of Troy's great local families, 
 Cai found a sparse company waiting for the sale to open, 
 and noted with momentary dismay that Mrs Bosenna 
 had not yet arrived. But after all, he reflected, there 
 was no need for extreme punctuality, it would take the 
 auctioneer some time to reach Lot 9. 
 
 The company included young Mr Middlecoat, of 
 course ; and, equally of course, Mr Philp, who had no 
 interest in the sale beyond that of curiosity ; some 
 three or four farmers from the back-country, who had 
 apparently come for no purpose but to lend Mr Middle- 
 coat their moral support, since, as it turned out, not one 
 of them made a serious bid ; Squire Willyams' steward, 
 Mr Baker, — a tall, clean-shaven man with a watchful 
 non-committal face ; one or two frequenters of The 
 Ship's bar-parlour ; and the Quaymaster, by whom (as 
 Barber Toy remarked) any new way of neglecting his 
 duties was hailed as a godsend. 
 
 Mr Dewy, the auctioneer, sat with his clerk at the 
 end of the table, arranging his papers and unrolling his
 
 THE AUCTION 275 
 
 map of the property. He was a fussy little man, and 
 made a great pother because the map as soon as 
 unrolled started to roll itself up again. He weighted 
 one corner with the inkpot, and for a second weight 
 reached out a hand for one of three hyacinth vases 
 which decorated the centre of the table. The bulb 
 toppled over and, sousing into the inkpot, sent up a 
 ^et d'encre, splashes of which distributed themselves 
 over the map, over the clerk, over Mr Baker's neat 
 pepper-and-salt suit, and over Mr. Dewy's own fancy 
 waistcoat. Much blotting-paper was called into use, 
 and many apologies were hastily offered to Mr Baker ; 
 in the midst of which commotion 'Bias strolled into the 
 room, and took a seat near the door. 
 
 Having mopped the worst of the damage on the 
 map and offered his handkerchief to Mr Baker (who 
 declined it), Mr Dewy picked up a small ivory hammer, 
 stained his fingers with an unnoticed splash of ink on 
 its handle, licked them, wiped them carefully with his 
 handkerchief, picked up the hammer again, and 
 announced that the sale had begun. 
 
 " Lot I. — All that Oak Coppice known as Higher 
 Penpyll. Eighteen acres, one rood, eleven perches. 
 Aspect south and south-west. . . . But there, gentle- 
 men, you are all acquainted with the property, I make 
 no doubt. . . . Any one present not possessed of the 
 sale catalogue ? Yes, I see a gentleman over there 
 without one. Mr Chi vers, would you oblige ? " 
 
 The clerk, still attempting to remove some traces of 
 ink from his person, distributed half a dozen copies of 
 the printed catalogue. He gave one to Cai. 'Bias, too, 
 held out a hand and received one. 
 
 "Lot I.," resumed Mr Dewy. "All that desirable
 
 276 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 woodland (oak coppice) known as Higher Penpj'll. 
 Eighteen acres and a trifle over. Now, what shall we 
 say, gentlemen ? " 
 
 " Fifty pounds," said Mr Middlecoat promptly. 
 
 The auctioneer glanced at Mr Baker, who frowned. 
 
 " Now, Mr Middlecoat ! Now really, sir ! . . . This 
 is serious business, and you offer me less than three 
 pounds an acre ! The coppice is good coppice, too." 
 
 " 'Twill hardly pay to clear," answered Mr Middlecoat. 
 " But why can't ye lump this lot in with the two next ? 
 . . . That's my suggestion. If Mr Baker is agreeable ? 
 They all run in one stretch, so to speak ; and, in biddin' 
 for the whole, a man would know where he's to." 
 
 Mr Dewy, speaking in whispers behind his palm, 
 held consultation with Mr Baker. 
 
 " Very well," he announced at length. " Mr Baker, 
 actin' on behalf of Squire Willyams, consents to the 
 three lots bein' put up together — ong block, as the 
 French would say. No objection ? Very well, then. 
 Lot 1, Higher Penpyll, eighteen acres, one rood, eleven 
 perches : Lot 2, Lower Penpyll, forty-two acres, three 
 perches — forty-two almost exact : Lot 3, Wooda Wood, 
 forty acres, one rood, one perch ; all in oak coppice, two 
 to five years' growth. What offers, gentlemen, for this 
 very desirable timbered estate ? " 
 
 " Three-fifty ! " 
 
 " Come, Mr Middlecoat ! " protested the auctioneer, 
 after another glance at Mr Baker. " Indeed, sir, you 
 will not drive me to believe as you're jokin'?" 
 
 Mr Middlecoat, whose gaze had rested on Mr Baker, 
 faced about, and, looking down the table, caught the 
 eye of one of his supporters, who nodded. 
 
 " Three-seven-five 1 " called out the supporter.
 
 THE AUCTION 277 
 
 " Four hundred ! " Mr Middlecoat promptly capped 
 the bid. 
 
 "That's a little better, gentlemen," Mr Dewy en- 
 couraged them. 
 
 Apparently, too, it was the best. For some three 
 minutes he exhorted and rebuked them, but could evoke 
 no further bid. There was a prolonged pause. The 
 auctioneer glanced again at Mr Baker, who, while 
 seemingly unaware of the appeal, slightly inclined his 
 head. Mr Middlecoat's eyes had rested on Mr Baker 
 all the while. 
 
 " One hundred acres, as you may say, at less than 
 four pounds the acre ! Well, if any man had prophesied 
 
 this to me on the day when I entered business " 
 
 Mr Dewy checked himself, and let fall the hammer. 
 "Mr Middlecoat, sir, you're a lucky man." He an- 
 nounced, " Lot 4 — Two arable fields, known as Willapare 
 Veor and Willapark Vear respectively : the one of six 
 acres, one rood, and six perches ; the other of three 
 and a half acres." 
 
 As the auction proceeded, even the guileless Cai 
 could not help detecting an air of unreality about it. 
 Mr Middlecoat bid for everything. Now and again, 
 if Mr Middlecoat miscalculated, a friend helped and 
 raised the price by a very few pounds for Mr Middle- 
 coat to try again : which Mr Middlecoat duly did. It 
 became obvious that Mr Middlecoat had somehow 
 possessed himself of a pretty close guess at what price 
 Squire Willyams would part with each lot instead of 
 " buying in " ; that Mr Baker knew it ; that the auc- 
 tioneer knew it ; that everyone in the room knew they 
 knew ; and that nobody in the room was disposed to 
 prevent Mr Middlecoat's acquiring whatever was oftered.
 
 278 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 Under these conditions the sale proceeded swiftly, 
 pleasantly, and without a hitch. Cai cast frequent 
 glances back at the door. But the minutes sped on, 
 and still Mrs Bosenna did not appear. 
 
 " Lot 9 — A field known as Barton's Orchard. Two 
 perches only short of two acres " 
 
 " Say twenty-five," said Mr Middlecoat carelessly. 
 
 Again Cai glanced back. The farm land had been 
 fetching on an average some twenty to twenty-five 
 pounds an acre. . . . Why was Mrs Bosenna not 
 here ? 
 
 On an impulse — annoyed, perhaps, by the young 
 farmer's take - it - for - granted tone — lie called out 
 " Thirty ! " 
 
 The auctioneer and Mr Baker — who had just signi- 
 fied, by a slight frown, that he could not accept the 
 young farmer's bid — glanced up incuriously. Mr 
 Middlecoat, too, turned about, not recognising the 
 voice of his new "bonnet," — to use a term not un- 
 familiar in auctioneering. 
 
 But Cai did catch their glances : for at the same 
 moment he, too, wheeled about at the sound of a deep 
 voice by the door. 
 
 " Forty ! " 
 
 " Eh ? " murmured Mr Dewy and Mr Baker, together 
 taken by surprise. And " Hullo, what the dev — " 
 began Mr Middlecoat, when Cai promptly chimed 
 " Fifty ! " 
 
 For the new bidder was 'Bias, of course : and well, 
 in a flash, Cai guessed his game. Since Mrs Bosenna 
 chose to tarry, 'Bias was bidding against him. It was 
 a duel. Should 'Bias win and present her with these 
 coveted two acres ? Never 1
 
 THE AUCTION 270 
 
 "Sixty!" 
 
 " Here, I say ! " Mr Middlecoat was heard to gasp in 
 protest. But he too began to suspect a game. " Sixty- 
 five ! " The duel had become triangular. 
 
 " Seventy ! " 
 
 " Eighty ! " intoned 'Bias. 
 
 "A hundred ! " Cai's jaw was set. 
 
 By this time all heads were turned to the new com- 
 petitors. Two or three of the farmers were whispering, 
 asking if by any chance there was mineral in dispute. 
 One had heard — or so he alleged — that " manganese '' 
 had been discovered somewhere up the valley — before 
 his time — but he could remember his father telling 
 of it. 
 
 Mr Middlecoat stepped to the window and glanced 
 out in to the square for a moment. He returned, and 
 nervously bid " Ten more ! " 
 
 " Excuse me," the auctioneer corrected him blandly ; 
 "the gentleman at the far end of the room — I didn't 
 catch his name " 
 
 " Hunken," said 'Bias. 
 
 " CajAain Hunken," prompted Mr Philp. 
 
 " Er — excuse me, Mr Middlecoat, but Captain Hunken 
 has just offered a hundred-and-twenty." 
 
 " And thirty ! " chimed Cai. 
 
 " Fifty ! " intoned back the voice by the door. 
 
 Mr Middlecoat passed a hand over Iiis brow. " An- 
 other ten," he murmured to the auctioneer. " Is there 
 a boy handy ? I — I want to send out a message ? " 
 
 " Certainly, Mr Middlecoat," agreed the accommodat- 
 ing but bewildered auctioneer, and turned to his clerk. 
 " Mr Chivers, would you oblige ? " 
 
 The young farmer scribbled a word or two on a piece
 
 280 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 of paper, which he folded and gave to Mr Chivers with 
 some hurried instruction ; and Mr Chivers steered his 
 way out with agility. But meanwhile the bidding for 
 Barton's Orchard had risen to two hundred. 
 
 " Say another ten, to keep it going," proposed Mr 
 Middlecoat, wiping his brow although the weather was 
 chilly. To gain time, he suggested that maybe there 
 was some mistake ; that the gentlemen, maybe, had not 
 examined the map of the property and might be bidding 
 for some other lot under a misapprehension. 
 
 Mr Baker objected to this. The description of the 
 lots on the catalogue was precise and definite. The 
 two gentlemen obviously knew what they were about. 
 The field was a small field, but the soil was undeniably 
 of the best, and in the interests of the vendor — 
 
 " Two hundred and thirty ! " interrupted 'Bias. 
 
 " — and fifty ! " bid Cai. 
 
 There was a pause. Mr Dewy looked at Mr Middle- 
 coat, who under his gaze admitted himself willing to 
 stake two hundred and sixty. " Though 'tis the price 
 of building land ! " 
 
 " Apparently you are willing to give it rather than 
 let the purchase go," observed Mr Baker drily. " For 
 aught you know both these gentlemen may be desiring 
 it for a building site. Did I hear one of them say two- 
 seventy-five ? Captain — er — Hunken, if I caught the 
 name ? " 
 
 " Two-eighty," persisted Cai. 
 
 " Two-ninety ! " 
 
 " Well, make it three hundred, and I've done ! " 
 groaned Mr Middlecoat collapsing. 
 
 " Three "
 
 THE AUCTION 281 
 
 " What's all this ? " interrupted a voice, very sweet 
 and cool in the doorway. 
 
 " Mrs Bosenna ? — Your servant, ma'am ! " Mr Dewy 
 rose halfway in his seat and made obeisance. " We are 
 dealing with a lot which may concern you, ma'am ; for 
 it runs " — he consulted his map — " Yes — I thought so — • 
 right alongside your property at Rilla. A trifle over 
 two acres, ma'am, and Mr Middlecoat has just bid three 
 hundred for it." 
 
 " And " — began Cai : but Mrs Bosenna (taken though 
 she must have been by surprise) was quick and frowned 
 him to silence. 
 
 " And a deal more than its value, as Captain Hocken 
 was about to say. Will any fool bid more for such a 
 patch ? " 
 
 Cai and 'Bias stared together, interrogating her. 
 But there was no further bid, and Mr Dewy knocked 
 down the lot at £300. 
 
 "Which," said Mrs Bosenna meditatively to Dinah 
 that night, " you may call two hundred and fifty clean 
 thrown into the sea. And the worst is that though 
 Captain Hocken and Captain Hunken are a pair of 
 fools and Mr Middlecoat a bigger fool than either — as 
 it turns out, I'm the biggest fool of all." 
 
 " How, mistress ? " 
 
 " Why, you ninny ! They wei'e buying, one against 
 the other, to make me a present, and I stepped in and 
 saved young Middlecoat 's face. Yet," she mused, " I 
 don't see what else he could have done. . . . Well, 
 thank the Lord ! he'll be humble now, which the others 
 were and he wasn't."
 
 282 " HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " He's young, anyway," urged Dinah. 
 
 "That's something," her mistress conceded. "It 
 gives the more time to rub in his foolishness, and he'll 
 never hear the last of it." 
 
 " Three hundred pounds, too ! " ejaculated Dinah. 
 " The very sound of it frightens me. A terrible sum 
 to throw to waste ! " 
 
 " I wouldn't say that altogether. . . . Yes, you may 
 unlace me. What fools men are I"
 
 283 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE LAST CHALLENGE. 
 
 Next Lady-day, which fell on a Thursday, 'Bias called 
 upon Mrs Bosenna with his rent and with the pleasing 
 announcement that in a week or so he proposed to 
 pay her a further sum of seven pounds eight shillings 
 and fourpence; this being the ascertained half-year's 
 dividend earned by the hundred pounds she had 
 entrusted to his stewardship, 
 
 She warmly commended him. " Close upon fifteen 
 per cent ! I wonder — But there ! I suppose you 
 won't tell me how it's done, not if I ask ever so ? " 
 
 'Bias looked knowing and reminded her that to ask 
 no questions was a part of her bargain. As a matter 
 of fact it was also a part of his bargain with Mr 
 Rogers, and he could not have told had he wished 
 to tell. 
 
 " I suppose you've heard the latest news ? " said he. 
 "They've chosen me on the Harbour Board — Ship- 
 owners' representative." 
 
 " I didn't even know there had been an election." 
 
 " No more there hasn't. Rogers made the vacancy, 
 and managed it for me ; retired in my favour, as you 
 might say."
 
 284 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " Seems ix) me Mr Rogers must be weakenin' in his 
 head." 
 
 " Oh no, he's not ! " 'Bias assured her with a 
 chuckle. " But he's pretty frail in the body. At his 
 time o' life and with his infirmity a man may be 
 excused, surely ? " 
 
 "I reckon," said Mrs Bosenna, "there's few would 
 have wept if Mr Rogers had superannuated himself 
 years ago. Now if you'd told me he was turned 
 out " 
 
 " You're hard on Rogers ! " he protested, tasting the 
 joke of it. 
 
 " Well, I don't think he took on these jobs for his 
 health, as they say ; and so it comes hard to believe 
 as he goes out o' them for that reason. But there ' he 
 may be an honester man than I take him for. . . . 
 Well, and so you're becomin' a public man too ! I 
 congratulate you." 
 
 "I wouldn' call myself that" said 'Bias modestly. 
 " But one or two have suggested that a fellow like me, 
 with plenty of time on his hands, might look after a 
 few small things and the way public money's spent on 
 'em." He might have claimed that at any rate he 
 knew more of harbour affairs than Cai could possibly 
 know of education : but he did not. To their honour, 
 neither he nor Cai — though they ruffled when face to 
 face before folks — ever spoke an ill word behind the 
 other's back. "There's the dredgin', for one thing; 
 and, for another, the way they're allowed to lade 
 down foreign-goin' ships is a scandal." 
 
 " Is it the Harbour's business to stop that ? " 
 
 " It ought to be somebody's business." 
 
 "You'll get nicely thanked," she promised, "if you
 
 THE LAST CHALLENGE 285 
 
 interfere — and as a ship - owners' representative 
 too ! " 
 
 "There's another matter," confessed 'Bias. "They've 
 asked me to put up for the Parish Council next month. 
 There's a notion that, with this here Diamond Jubilee 
 comin' on, the town ought to rise to the occasion." 
 
 " And you're the man to give it the lift ! " said Mrs 
 Bosenna gaily. " Is Captain Hocken standin' too ? " 
 
 " They say so." 
 
 " Then I'll plump for both of you. Wait, though — 
 I won't promise : or when the canvass starts you'll 
 both be neglectin' me." 
 
 The next day Cai called in turn with his rent. 
 " And there's another little matter," said he after 
 handing it to her. " You remember that hundred 
 pounds ? Well there's a half-year's dividend declared 
 and due on it, and the cheque's to arrive some time 
 next week. What's the amount, d'ye guess ? " 
 
 " Satisfactory ? " 
 
 "Seven pounds eight shillings and fourpence. . . . 
 Eh ? I thought it might astonish you." 
 
 " It's — it's such an odd amount," she murmured. 
 
 " It's close upon fifteen per cent." 
 
 " Yes. You took my breath away for the moment. 
 I wonder at the way you men — I mean, I wonder how 
 you do it — turnin' money to such good account ? 'Tis 
 a gift I suppose; and you couldn' teach me, even if 
 you would." 
 
 Cai received the compliment with a somewhat guilty 
 smile. 
 
 "They tell me too," she continued, "that you are 
 standin' for the Parish Council next month."
 
 286 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 "Who told you?" 
 
 " Oh ... a little bird ! " 
 
 Cai did not guess at 'Bias under this description. 
 " Well, you see, with this here Diamond Jubilee in the 
 o&ng, there's a feelin' abroad that the town ought to 
 sit up, as the sayin' is " 
 
 " And you're the man to make it sit up ! " said Mrs 
 Bosenna gaily. 
 
 " Well now, I want you to help me." 
 
 Mrs Bosenna started, alert at once and on her guard ; 
 for the game of fence she had chosen to play with 
 these two demanded a constant wariness. 
 
 But it seemed that for the moment Cai had no 
 design to press his suit — or no direct design. 
 
 " It's this way," he explained. " You know the 
 stevedores, down at the jetties, are givin' their usual 
 Whit-Monday regatta — Passage Regatta, as some call 
 it ? Well, they've made me President this year." 
 
 " More honours ? " 
 
 " And I've offered a Cup ; which seemed the proper 
 thing to do, under the circumstances. ' A silver cup, 
 value £5, presented by the President, Caius Hocken, 
 Esquire ' : it'll look fine 'pon the bills, and it's to go 
 with the first prize of two guineas for sailin' boats 
 not exceedin' fourteen feet over- all. There's what 
 they call a one-design Class o' these in the harbour : 
 which is good sport and worth encouragin'. There's 
 no handicap in it either : the first past the line takes 
 the prize — always the prettiest kind o' race to watch. 
 Now the favour I ask is that, when the time comes, 
 you'll hand the Cup to the winner." 
 
 " It — it'll look rather marked, won't it ? " hesitated 
 Mrs Bosenna. She had as small a disinclination as
 
 THE LAST CHALLENGE 287 
 
 any woman to find herself the central figure in a show, 
 and Cai (had he known it) was attacking one of the 
 weakest points in her siege-defences. But to accept 
 this offer — or (if you prefer it) to grant the favour — 
 meant a move on the board which might too easily 
 lead to a trap. "Besides," she objected, "you can't 
 do that sort o' thing without a few words, and I've 
 never made a public speech in my life." 
 
 " You leave the speechifyin' to me," said Cai re- 
 assuringly : but it did not reassure her at all. (" Good 
 gracious ! " she thought. " He's not the sort to take 
 advantage of it — but if he did ! . . . You can never 
 trust men.") 
 
 Cai, misinterpreting the frown on her brow, went 
 on to assure her further that he could manage a speech 
 all right ; at any rate, he would be able by Whit- 
 Monday. He had — he would tell her in confidence — 
 been taking some lessons in elocution of (or, as he 
 put it, "off"") Mr Peter Benny. 
 
 " Did you ever hear tell of a man called Burke ? " 
 he asked. 
 
 " 'Course I did," answered Mrs Bosenna, albeit the 
 question startled her. " My old nurse told me about 
 him often. He used to go about snatchin' bodies." 
 
 Cai considered a moment, and shook his head. " I 
 don't think mine can be the same, or Benny wouldn't 
 have recommended him so highly. There was another 
 fellow that learned to be a speaker by practisin' with 
 his mouth full of pebbles, which struck me as too 
 thoroughgoin' altogether, and 'specially when you're 
 aimin' no higher than a Parish Council. To be sure," 
 he confessed, " I did make a start with a brace of 
 peppermint bull's-eyes, and pretty nigh choked myself.
 
 288 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 But Benny says that, for English public speakin', 
 there's no such master as this Burke, and so I've sent 
 for him." 
 
 " Gracious ! " exclaimed Mrs Bosenna. " Won't he 
 charge a terrible lot ? — with travellin' expenses too ! " 
 
 " His works, I mean. The man's dead, and they're 
 in six volumes." 
 
 " You'll never get through 'em then, between this 
 and Whitsuntide. If I was you, I'd keep on at the 
 peppermints." 
 
 Although the six volumes of Edmund Burke duly 
 ai-rived, and Cai made a bold attempt upon their 
 opening tractate, " A Vindication of Natural Society," — 
 thereby hopelessly bemusing himself, since he accepted 
 its ironical arguments with entire seriousness — in the 
 end he took a shorter way and procured Mr Benny 
 to write his speeches for him. 
 
 These he got by heart in the course of long morning 
 rambles ; these he rehearsed with their accomplished 
 author ; these he declaimed in the solitude of his bed- 
 chamber — until, one day, Mrs Bowldler (whom terror 
 arresting, had held spellbound for some minutes on the 
 landing) knocked in to know if Palmerston should run 
 for the doctor. 
 
 By dint (or in spite) of them at the election of 
 Parish Councillors Cai headed the poll w^ith a total 
 of 411 votes. 'Bias, who received 366, came fourth 
 on the list of elected: but this was no disgrace — a 
 triumph rather — for one who had omitted to be born 
 in the town. By general consent the honours stood 
 easy; though, on the strength of his poll, the new 
 Council began by choosing Cai for its chairman. On
 
 THE LAST CHALLENGE 289 
 
 him Troy laid thereby the chief responsibility for the 
 Jubilee festivities now but two months ahead. 
 
 At this first Council meeting, and at the meetings of 
 many committees subsequently called to make prepara- 
 tion for the great day, 'Bias said very little. Those — 
 and they were many — who had looked for " ructions " 
 between the two rivals, and had taken glee of the 
 prospect, suffered complete disappointment, 
 
 " You see," he explained to Mr Rogers, " I don't hold 
 by several things Cai Hocken and the Committee are 
 doin'. But they be doin' 'em in the Queen's honour, 
 after their lights : and 'tisn't fitty to use the occasion 
 for quarrellin'. There's only one way o' forcin' a 
 quarrel on me where Queen Victoria's consarned, and 
 that is by speakin' ill of her." 
 
 " That's right," agreed Mr Rogers, " You've com- 
 mon ground in the Widow- woman," 
 
 "The ?" 
 
 " The Widow at Windsor, as they call her." 
 
 " Oh ! I thought for a moment " 
 
 " There's widows and widows," Mr Rogers blinked 
 mischievously. " But look here — what's this I'm told 
 about your interferin' down at the Harbour Board, 
 tryin' to get the Commissioners to regylate the ladin' 
 o' vessels ? " 
 
 " Well, and why not ? " asked 'Bias. 
 
 " Why not ? For one thing you bet it isn' the 
 Commissioners' business." 
 
 "It ought to be somebody's business to stop what's 
 goin' on. Say 'tis mine, if you like." 
 
 " Look 'ee here, Cap'n Hunken," said Mr Rogers, 
 showing his teeth, "If that's your game, better fit 
 you was kickin' up a rumpus on the Parish Council 
 
 T
 
 290 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 than puttin' a spoke into honest trade. I didn' make 
 room 'pon the Board for you to behave in that style." 
 
 " I don't care whether you did or you didn'," re- 
 torted 'Bias sturdily. " And ' honest trade ' d'ye call 
 it ? robbin' the underwriters and puttin' seamen's 
 lives in danger." 
 
 " Eh ? . . . You're a nice man to talk, I must say ! 
 Come to me, you do, and want me to get you any- 
 thing up to twenty per cent without risk. How 
 d'ee think that's done in these da3^s, with every one 
 cuttin' freights ? I gave you credit for havin' more 
 sense." 
 
 'Bias stared. "See here," he said slowly, "if I'd 
 known that hundred pound was to be put into any 
 such wickedness, I'd have seen you further before 
 trustin' you with it. As 'tis, I'll trouble you " 
 
 "Hold hard, there ! " Mr Rogers interrupted. "You're 
 in a tarnation hurry every way, 'twould seem. Who 
 told you as I'd put that hundred into any vessel below 
 Plimsoll mark ? " 
 
 " I thought you hinted as much." 
 
 "Then you thought a long sight too fast. If you 
 must know, your money's in the old Saltypool, and old 
 as she is, that steamship might be my child, the way I 
 watch over her." 
 
 " The Saltypool ! Why, she's the most scand'lous 
 case as has gone out of harbour these three 
 months ! " 
 
 " Eh ? " 
 
 "I saw her with my own eyes alongside No. 3 jetty, 
 the evenin' before she sailed. A calm night it was 
 too ; and she with her Plimsoll well under and a whole 
 line o' trucks waitin' to be shot into her. She went
 
 THE LAST CHALLENGE 291 
 
 out before daybreak, if you remember, and God knows 
 
 how low she was by that time." 
 
 Mr Rogers's jaw dropped. 
 
 " The idiots ! " he muttered. " When I told 'em " 
 
 He broke off. " I say, you're not pullin' my leg ? " 
 
 "Saw her with my own eyes, I tell you," 'Bias 
 assured him, wondering a little ; for the old sinner's 
 dismay was clearly honest. 
 
 " Then all I say is, you can call Fancy and tell her 
 to fetch me a Bible, if there's one in the house, an' I'll 
 swear to you I never knew it, an' I never seen it. 
 What's more, I'll sack the captain, an' I'll sack the 
 mate. What's more, I'll cable dismissal out to 
 Philadelphy. What's more " 
 
 " There, there ! " interposed 'Bias. " You didu' 
 know, and enough said ! I don't want any man 
 thrown out of employ. 'Tis the system I'm out to 
 spoil." 
 
 " Skippers are a trouble-without-end in these days," 
 Mr Rogers muttered on, staring gloomily at the fire in 
 the grate ; " specially to a man crippled like me. . . . 
 You spend years sarchin' for a fool, an' you no sooner 
 get the treasure, as you think — one you can trust for a 
 plain ord'nary fool in all weathers — than he turns out 
 a dam fool ! " 
 
 On his way from the ship - chandler's 'Bias ran 
 against Mr Philp, who paused in the roadway and 
 eyed him, chewing a piece of news and chuckling. 
 
 " That friend o' yours is a wonner ! " preluded Mr 
 Philp. 
 
 "Meanin' Caius Hocken?" 
 
 " Who else ? . . . He's goin' a great pace in these 
 days ; but you won't tell me he has flown out o' tliat
 
 292 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 range ? Yes, 'tis Cap'n Hocken I mean ; our Mayor, as 
 you may call him ; and there's some as looks to see a 
 silver cradle yet in his mayoralty." 
 
 " What's the latest ? " 'Bias could not help putting 
 the question, yet despised himself for it. 
 
 "He's President of the Stevedores' Regatta this 
 year." 
 
 "Get along with your news — I heard it ten days 
 
 " So you did, for I told you myself. But he's giving 
 a silver cup for the fourteen-foot race." 
 
 " And I heard that, too." 
 
 " Ay : but what you don't know, maybe, is that he's 
 been up to Rilla Farm tryin' to persuade Mrs Bosenna 
 to attend on the Committee-ship an' hand the cup — his 
 cup — to the winner." 
 
 " She's never consented ? " 
 
 "Now I call that a master-stroke. That's the bold 
 way to win a woman. ' Come along o' me, my dear, 
 an' find yourself the lady patroness, life-size. . . . 
 Madam, you'll excuse the liberty, — but may I have 
 the igstreme honour to request you to take my arm in 
 the full view of all this here assembled rabble ? ' So 
 arm-in-arm it is, up the deck, and ' Ladies an' Gentle- 
 men ' — meanin' ' Attention, pray, all you scum o' the 
 earth ' — ' I'll trouble you to observe strick silence while 
 this lady, with whom you are all familiar 
 
 "Steady on!" 
 
 "Well, 'familiar' is too strong a word, as you say. 
 'While this lady, with whom you're all acquainted, 
 presents the gallant winner with a cup, value Five 
 Pounds, which you may have reckoned as an 
 igstravagance when you heard I was the donor,
 
 THE LAST CHALLENGE 293 
 
 but will now reckernise as a sprat to catch a whale 
 — that is, unless you're even bigger fools than I take 
 ye for. 'Twas with the greatest difficulty I indooced 
 Mrs Bosenna '" 
 
 " She never would ! " swore 'Bias. 
 
 "Well, as a matter o' fact, she hasn't. But you'll 
 allow the trick was clever, and nothin' more left for 
 the woman, if she'd yielded, but to be carried straight 
 off to the altar. 'Twould have been expected of her, 
 and no less." 
 
 " What has she done ? " 
 
 " Taken a wise an' womanly course, as I hear. * No,' 
 says she, ' I'll go to bottomless brimstone before lendin' 
 myself to such a dodge ' — or words to that effect. 'But 
 I'll tell 'ee what I will do,' says she, 'I'll offer this 
 here silver cup on my own account, an' give it with 
 my own hands to the winner. And you can stand by,' 
 says she, ' an' look as pompous as you please.' Either 
 that, or that in so many words. I'm givin' you the 
 gist of it, as it reached me." 
 
 "Thank 'ee," said 'Bias, perpending and digging 
 up the roadway with the point of his stick. "'Tis 
 to be her own prize, you say ? " 
 
 " Yes, an' presented with her own hands. If I was 
 you — bein' a trifle late as you are on the handicap 
 — I'd sail in an' collar that prize. 'Twould be a facer 
 for him." 
 
 " No time." 
 
 " Whit-Monday's not till the seventh o' June. Four 
 clear weeks : an' Boatbuilder Wyatt could knock you 
 up a shell in half that time. He gets cleverer with 
 every boat of the class ; and with a boat built to race 
 once only he could make pretty well sure."
 
 294 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 Later that afternoon Mr Philp, who never lost an 
 occasion to advertise himself, j)aid a call on Mr Wyatt, 
 boatbuilder. 
 
 " I found a new customer for you this afternoon," he 
 announced, winking mysteriously. " If Cap'n Hunken 
 should call along you'll know what I mean." 
 
 On his homeward road the industrious man had a 
 stroke of good luck. He espied Captain Hocken, and 
 made haste to overtake him. 
 
 " Good evenin', Cap'n Cai ! " 
 
 " Ah— Mr Philp ? Good evenin' to 'ee." 
 
 " It's like a providence my meetin' you ; for as it 
 chances you was the last man in my mind. I happened 
 down to Wyatt's yard just now, and — if you'll believe 
 me — there's reason to believe he'll get an order to- 
 morrow for another 14-footer." 
 
 "Ay? . . . What for?" 
 
 " Why, to enter for the cup you're givin' on Whit- 
 Monday." 
 
 " You're mistaken," said Cai. " 'Tis Mrs Bosenna 
 that's givin' the cup, not I." 
 
 " What ? With her own hands ? " 
 
 " To be sure. Why not ? " 
 
 " Then that accounts for it," said Mr Philp gleefully, 
 rubbing his hands. " He's a deep one, is your friend 
 Hunken ! It did strike me as odd, too — his givin' 
 an order to Wyatt in all this hurry : but now I 
 understand." 
 
 " Drat the man ! what is it you understand ? " 
 
 " Why, as you know, Wyatt can knock him a shell 
 together that'll wdn the race under everybody's nose. 
 'Tis a child's play, if you don't mind castin' the boat
 
 THE LAST CHALLENGE 295 
 
 next day an' content yourself with scantlin' like a 
 packin' case. At least, 'twould be child's play to any 
 one but Wyatt, who can't help buildiii' solid, to save his 
 life. If the man had consulted me, I'd have recom- 
 mended Mitchell. Mitchell never had a length o' 
 seasoned wood in his store : he can't aftbrd the 
 capital. But to my mind he can — take him as a 
 workman — shape a boat better than Wyatt ever 
 did yet." 
 
 " And to mine," Cai agreed. 
 
 " The cunning of it, too ! He to take the prize from 
 her under your nose and you standin' by and lookin' 
 foolish. For, let alone the craft, they say Cap'n 
 Hunken can handle a small boat to beat any man in 
 this harbour. He cleared a whole prize-list out in 
 Barbadoes, I've heard." 
 
 " What, 'Bias ? Don't you be afraid. He can't steer 
 a small boat for nuts." 
 
 " Dear me ! Then I must have been misinformed, 
 indeed." 
 
 "You have been," Cai assured him. "I reckon 
 Mitchell can knock up a boat to give tits to anything 
 of Wyatt's ; and if 'Bias — if Cap'n Hunken is countin' 
 on Wyatt to help him put the fool on me, it may happen 
 he'll learn better."
 
 296 
 
 CHAPTER XXTII. 
 
 PASSAGE REGATTA. 
 
 "'Tis good to wear a bit of colour again," said Mrs 
 Bosenna on Regatta morning, as she stood before her 
 glass pinning to her bodice a huge bow of red, white, 
 and blue ribbons. " Black never did become me." 
 
 " It becomes ye well enough, mistress, and ye know 
 it," contradicted Dinah. 
 
 '"Tis monotonous, anyway. I can't see why we 
 poor widow-women should be condemned to wear it 
 for life." 
 
 " Yoiv bain't," Dinah contradicted again, and added 
 slily, " d'ye wish me to fetch witnesses ? " 
 
 Her mistress, tittivating the ribbons, ignored the 
 question. " I do think we might be allowed to wear 
 colours now and again — say on Sundays. As it is, I 
 dare say many will be pickin' holes in my character, 
 even for this little outbreak." 
 
 " There's a notion, now ! Why, 'tis Queen Victory's 
 Year — and a pretty business if one widow mayn't pay 
 her respects to another ! " 
 
 " It do always seem strange to me," Mrs Bosenna 
 mused. 
 
 "What?"
 
 PASSAGE REGATTA 297 
 
 " Why, that the Queen should be a widow, same as 
 any one else." 
 
 " Low fever," said Dinah, " And I've always heard 
 as the Prince Consort had a delicate constitution." 
 
 " It happened before I was born," said Mrs Bosenna 
 vaguely. " Think o' that, now ! . . . And yet 'twasn't 
 the widowin' I meant so much as the marryin'. I 
 can't manage to connect it in my mind with folks so 
 high up in the world as Kings and Queens. 'Tis so 
 intimate." 
 
 " You may bet Providence tempers it to 'em some- 
 how," opined Dinah. "If they didn' have families, 
 what'd become o' English history ? " 
 
 If any tongues wagged against Mrs Bosenna for wear- 
 ing the patriotic colours that day, they were not heard 
 in the holiday crowd at the Passage Slip when, with 
 nicely calculated unpunctuality, she arrived, at 11.32 
 (the time appointed having been 11.15), to be conveyed 
 on board the Committee vessel. (It should be ex- 
 plained here that the aquatic half of Troy's Passage 
 Regatta is compressed within the forenoon : at midday 
 Troy dines, and even on holidays observes Greenwich 
 time for that event. Moreover, the afternoon sports of 
 bicycle racing, steeplechasing, polo-bending, &;c., were 
 preluded in those days — before an electric-power station 
 worked the haulage on the jetties — by a procession of 
 huge horses, highly groomed and bedecked with 
 ribbons : and this procession, starting at 1 P.M., allowed 
 the avid holiday- keeper small margin for dallying over 
 his meal.) 
 
 Mrs Bosenna reached the slip to find Cai waiting 
 below in a four-oared boat which he had borrowed
 
 298 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 from the Clerk of the Course. A large red ensign 
 drooped from a staff and trailed in the water astern : 
 the crew wore scarlet stocking-caps : bright cushions 
 disposed in the stern-sheet added a touch of luxury to 
 this pomp and circumstance. It might not rival the 
 barge of Cleopatra upon Cydnus ; but the shore-crowd, 
 under whose eyes it had been waiting for close upon 
 twenty minutes, voted it to be a very creditable turn- 
 out ; and Cai, watch in hand, was at least as impatient 
 as Mark Antony. Off the Committee Ship, a cable's 
 length up the river, the penultimate race (ran-dan 
 pulling- boats) was finishing amid banging of guns and 
 bursts of music from the " Troy Town Band," saluting 
 the winner with " See the Conquering Hero Comes," 
 the second boat with strains consecrated to first and 
 second prize-winners in Troy harbour since days 
 beyond the span of living memory, even as all races 
 start to the less classical but none the less immemorial 
 air of " Off She goes to Wallop the Cat." 
 
 The crowd parted and made passage for Mrs Bosenna 
 to descend the slip-way: for Troy is always polite. 
 Its politeness, however, seldom takes the form of 
 reticence ; and as she descended she drew a double 
 broadside of neighbourly good -days and congratula- 
 tions, with audible comments from the back rows on 
 her personal appearance. 
 
 " Mornin', Mrs Bosenna — an' a brave breast knot 
 you're wearin' ! " 
 
 " Han'some, id'n-a ? " 
 
 " Handsome, sure 'nough ! " 
 
 " Fresh coloured as the day she was wed. . . . Good 
 mornin' ma'am ! Good mornin', Mrs Bosenna — an' a 
 proper Queen o' Sheba you be, all glorious within."
 
 PASSAGE REGATTA 299 
 
 " What a thing 'tis to have money ! " remarked a 
 meditative voice deep in the throng. 
 
 " Eh, Billy, my son, it cures half the ills o' life," 
 responded another. 
 
 " 'Tis a mysterious thing," hazarded a woman — " a 
 dispensation you may call it, how black suits some 
 complexions while others can't look at it," 
 
 " An' 'tis your sex's perversity," spoke up a male, 
 " that them it don't suit be apt to wear it longest " — 
 whereat several laughed, for where everybody is good- 
 humoured the feeblest witticism will pass. 
 
 Mrs Bosenna heard these comments, but acknow- 
 ledged them only by a scarcely perceptible heightening 
 of colour. She went down the slip-way royally, with 
 Dinah in close attendance : and Cai, catching sight of 
 her and pocketing his watch, snatched up a boat-hook 
 to draw the boat's quarter alongside the slip, while 
 with his disengaged hand he lifted the brim of a new 
 and glossy top-hat. 
 
 " Am I disgracefully late ? " Without waiting for 
 his answer, as he handed her aboard she exclaimed : 
 " Oh ! and what a crowd of boats ! . . . I never felt so 
 nervous in all my life." 
 
 " There's no need," said Cai — who himself, two 
 minutes before, had been desperately nervous. He 
 seated himself beside her and took the tiller. " Push 
 her out, port -oars! Ready? — Give way, all ! . . . 
 There's no need," he assured her, sinking his voice ; 
 " I never saw ye look a properer sight. Maybe 'tis the 
 bunch o' ribbon sets 'ee off — 'Tis the first time ye've 
 worn colour to my recollection." 
 
 " Dead black never suited me." 
 
 " I wouldn' say that. . . . But," added Cai upon a
 
 300 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 happy thought, " if that's so, you know where to find 
 excuse to leave off wearin' it." 
 
 " Hush ! " slie commanded. " How can you talk so 
 with all these hundreds of eyes upon us ? " 
 " I don't care." Cai's voice rose recklessly. 
 " Oh, hush ! or the crew'll hear us ? " 
 " I don't care, I tell you." 
 
 " But I do — I care very much. . . . You don't pay 
 me compliments when we're alone," she protested, 
 changing the subject slightly. 
 " I mean 'em all the time." 
 
 "Well, since compliments are flyin' to-day, that's a 
 fine new hat you're wearin'. And I like the badge in 
 your buttonhole : red with gold letters — it gives ye 
 quite a smart appearance. What's the writin' on it ? " 
 " ' President.' 'Tis the only red-and-gold badge in 
 the show. Smart ? I tell 'ee I'm feelin' smart." 
 
 It was indeed Cai's day — his hour, rather — of 
 triumph. He had played a winning stroke, boldly, 
 under the public eye : and a hundred comments of the 
 sightseers, as he steered through the press of boats to 
 the Committee Ship, testified to his success. Though 
 he could not hear, he felt them. 
 — " Well ! " 
 
 — " Proper cuttin'-out expedition, as you might 
 call it." 
 
 — "And she with a great bunch o' ribbons 
 pinned on her, that no-one shan't miss the meanin' 
 of it." 
 
 — " Well, I always favoured Cap'n Hocken's 
 chance, for my part. An', come to think, 'tis more 
 fitty 't should happen so. When all's said an' 
 done, t'other's a foreigner, as you might say, from
 
 PASSAGE REGATTA 301 
 
 the far side o' the Duchy : an' if old Bosenna's 
 money is to go anywhere, why then, bein' Troy- 
 earned, let it go to a Troy man." 
 
 — " But 'tis a facer for Cap'n Hunken, all the 
 same. Poor chap, look at 'en." 
 
 — " Where ? . . . I don't see 'en." 
 
 — "Why, forward there, on the Committee Ship: 
 leanin' up against the bulwarks an' lookin' as if 
 he'd swallowed a dog." 
 
 — " There, there ! . . . And some plucky of the 
 man to stand up to it, 'stead of walk in' off an' 
 drownin' hisself. I like a man as can take a 
 knock-down blow standing up. 'Tis a rare occur- 
 rence in these days." 
 
 Mrs Bosenna, too, whose wealth (pleasant enough 
 for the comforts it procured, pleasanter, perhaps, for 
 an attendant sense of security, pleasantest of all, it 
 may be, for a further sense of power and importance, 
 secretly enjoyed) had, as yet, of public acknowledg- 
 ment taken little toll beyond the deference of trades- 
 men when she went shopping, felt herself of a sudden 
 caught up to an eminence the very giddiness of which 
 was ecstacy. It is possible that, had Cai claimed her 
 there and then, before the crowd, she would have 
 yielded with but a faint protest. You must not think 
 that she lost her head for a moment. On the contrary' 
 during her triumphal convoy she saw everything with 
 remarkable distinctness. She knew well enough that 
 some scores of women, all around, were envying her, 
 yet admiring in spite of their envy. Without hearing 
 them, she could almost tell what comments were 
 uttered in boat after boat as she passed. But what
 
 302 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 mattered their envy, so long as they admired ? Nay, 
 what mattered their envy, so long as they envied ? 
 The tonic north wind, the sunsliine, the sparkle of the 
 water, the gay lines of bunting flickering from stem 
 to stern of the Committee Ship, the invigorating blare 
 of the Troy Town Band, now throwing its soul into 
 " Champagne Charlie," the propulsion of the oars that 
 seemed to snatch her and sweep her forward past 
 wondering faces to high destiny — all these were wings, 
 and lifted her spirit with them. She began to under- 
 stand what it must feel like to be a Queen, or (at least) 
 a Prime Minister's wife. 
 
 " Ea-sy all ! In oars ! . . . Bow, stand by to check 
 her ! " 
 
 Cai called his orders clearly, sharply, in the tone of 
 a master of men, A score of boats hampered approach 
 to the accommodation ladder ; but those that had occu- 
 pants were obediently thrust wide to make way, and 
 easily as in a barge of state Mrs Bosenna was brought 
 alongside. A dozen hands checked the way of the 
 boat, now abruptly. Other hands were stretched to 
 help her up the ladder, which she ascended with smiling 
 and graceful agility. On the deck, at the head of it, 
 stood the Hon. Secretary, with the silver cup ready, 
 nursed in the crook of his arm. It was a handsome 
 cup, and it flashed in the sunlight. The Hon. Secretary 
 doffed his yachting cap. A dozen men close behind 
 him doffed their caps at the signal. They were the 
 successful competitors of the dinghy race, mixed up 
 with committee-men : they had come to receive their 
 prizes. The competing boats, their sails lowered, had 
 been brought alongside, and lay tethered, trailing off 
 from the ship's quarter, rubbing shoulders in a huddle.
 
 PASSAGE REGATTA 303 
 
 Cai, mounting to the deck close behind Dinah, who 
 had followed her mistress, was met by the Hon. Secre- 
 tary with the announcement that everything had been 
 ready these ten minutes. 
 
 Almost before she could catch her breath, Mrs 
 Bosenna found the cup thrust into her hands; the band 
 in the fore part of the vessel ceased — or, to speak more 
 accurately, smothered — " Champagne Charlie " ; the 
 group before her fell back to form a semicircle and 
 urged forward the abashed first-prize winner, who stood 
 rubbing one ankle against another and awkwardly 
 touching his forelock, while a silence fell, broken only 
 by voices from the boats around calling " Order ! Or-der 
 for the speech ! " 
 
 Mrs Bosenna, recognising the champion in spite of 
 his blushes, collected her courage, smiled, and said — 
 
 " Why, 'tis Walter Sobey ! " 
 
 " Servant, ma'am ! " Mr Sobey touched his forelock 
 again and grinned, as who should add, " You and me, 
 ma'am, meets in strange places." 
 
 " Well, I never ! . . . How things do turn out ! " It 
 crossed Mrs Bosenna's mind that on the last occasion of 
 her addressing a word to Walter Sobey he had been 
 employed by her to cart manure for her roses : and 
 across this recollection floated a sense of money wasted 
 — for to what service could Walter Sobey, inhabitant 
 of a three-roomed cottage, put a two-handled loving- 
 cup embossed in silver ? 
 
 There was no time, however, for hesitation. . . . With 
 the most gracious of smiles she took the cup in both 
 hands, and presented it to the champion. 
 
 " 'Tis good, anyhow, to feel it goes to a neighbour : 
 and — and if the worst comes to the worst, Walter, you
 
 304 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 can always take it back to the shop and change it for 
 something useful." 
 
 " Thank 'ee, ma'am," said Mr Sobey, taking the cup 
 respectfull}'. He backed a pace or two, gazed around, 
 and caught the eye of the Hon, Secretary. " There's 
 a money prize, too, attached to it — ain't there ? " he 
 was heard to ask. " Leastways, 'twas so said 'pon the 
 bills." Mr Sobey was proud of his victory; the 
 prouder because he had built the winning boat with 
 his own hands. (Very luckily for him, at the last 
 moment Captain Hocken had judged it beneath the 
 dignity of a Regatta President to compete ; and 
 Captain Hunken, missing his rival at the starting- 
 line, had likewise withdrawn from the contest.) 
 
 "Certainly," agreed the Hon. Secretary. "Two 
 guineas. Hi, there, aft ! Where's Mr Willett ? " 
 
 Other voices carried back the call, and presently 
 the Treasurer, Mr Willett — a pursey little man with 
 enormous side - whiskers, — came hurr^dng forward 
 from the after-companion, where he had been engaged 
 in hearing a protest from an excited disputant — a 
 competitor in the 16 -foot class — who had in fact 
 come in last, even on his handicap, but with a 
 clear notion in his own mind, and an array of argu- 
 ments to convince others, that he was entitled to 
 the prize. Such misunderstandings were frequent 
 enough at Passage Regatta, and mainly because Mr 
 Willett, whom nobody cared to cashier — he had been 
 Treasurer for so many years, — had as a rule imbibed 
 80 much beer in the course of the forenoon that 
 any one argument appeared to him as cogent as any 
 other. He seemed, in fact, to delight in hearing a 
 case from every point of view ; and by consequenge it
 
 PASSAGE REGATTA 305 
 
 could be securely predicted of any given race in Passage 
 Regatta that " You had never lost till you'd won." 
 
 Now, on Cai's secret recommendation the Committee 
 had engaged the boy Palmerston — who was quick at 
 sums— to stand by Mr Willett during the forenoon and 
 count out the cash for him. The Treasurer (it was 
 argued) would be suspicious of help from a grown 
 man ; whereas he could order a boy about, and even 
 cufF his head on emergency. So Palmerston, seated by 
 the after - companion, had spent a great part of the 
 morning in listening to disputes, and counting out 
 money as soon as the disputes were settled. Nor was 
 objection taken — as it might have been at more genteel 
 fixtures — to a part of the prize being produced from 
 Palmerston's mouth, in which he had a knack of storing 
 petty cash, for convenience of access — and for safety 
 too, to-day, since he had discovered a hole in one of 
 his pockets. 
 
 Mr Willett then, rising and cutting short an alter- 
 cation between two late competitors in the 16-foot 
 race, came hurrying forward with Palmerston, ever 
 loyal, in his wake. For the boy, without blaming 
 anyone, anxious only to fulfil a responsibility that 
 weighed on him, was aware that Mr Willett — whether 
 considered as a man or as a treasurer — had taken in 
 overmuch beer, and might need support in either 
 capacity or in both. 
 
 But while Mr Willett advanced, in a series of hasty 
 plunges, — as though the Committee vessel were 
 ploughing the deep with all sail set, — voices around 
 Mrs Bosenna had already begun to call for a speech ; 
 and the cry was quickly taken up from the many 
 boats overside, now gathered in a close throng. 
 
 U
 
 306 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " A speech ! a speech ! " 
 
 Mrs Bosenna laughed, and turned about prettily. 
 
 "I did not bargain for any speech," she protested. 
 " I — in fact I never made a speech in my life. If — if 
 Captain Hocken would say a few words " 
 
 "Ay, Cap'n," exhorted a voice, "speak up for her, 
 like a man now ! Seems to us she've given you the 
 right." 
 
 There was a general laugh, and it brought a 
 heightened flush to Mrs Bosenna's cheek. Cai, not 
 noting it, cleared his throat and doffed his tall hat. 
 " Here, hold this," said he, catching sight of Palmerston, 
 and cleared his throat again. 
 
 "Friends and naybours," said he, and this opening 
 evoked loud applause. As it died down, he continued, 
 "Friends and naybours, this here has been a most 
 successful regatta. Of which, as a fitting conclusion, 
 the Brave has received his reward at the hands of the 
 Fair." 
 
 " Lord ! he means hisself ! " interrupted a giggling 
 voice from one of the boats. 
 
 This interruption called forth a storm of applause. 
 Oars were rattled on rowlocks and feet began stamping 
 on bottom boards. 
 
 "By the Brave," continued Cai, pitching his voice 
 higher, "I mean, of course, our respected fellow- 
 citizen, Mr Walter Sobey, whose handling of his frail 
 craft " 
 
 ("Hear! Hear!") 
 
 " — Whose handling of his frail craft to-day was of a 
 natur' to surprise and delight all beholders." 
 
 At this point Mr Willett, the Treasurer, who had for 
 some seconds been staring at the speaker with a
 
 PASSAGE REGATTA 307 
 
 glazed uncertain eye, interrupted in a voice thick with 
 liquor — 
 
 " The question is, Who wants me ? " 
 
 " Nobody, you d — d old fool ! " snapped the Hon. 
 Secretary. " Can't you see Cap'n Hocken is makin' a 
 speech ? " 
 
 " / see," answered Mr Willett with drunken delibera- 
 tion, " and, what's more, I don't think much of it. . . . 
 Gentlemen over there 'pears t' agree with me," he 
 added : for from the rear of the group a scornful laugh 
 had endorsed his criticism. 
 
 " Any one can tell what hasn't agreed with you this 
 niornin'," retorted the Hon. Secretary, still more 
 angrily. "Go home, and " 
 
 But Cai had lifted a hand. "No quarrelling, 
 please ! " he commanded, and resumed, " As I was 
 sayin', ladies and gentlemen — or as I was about to say 
 — the handlin' of a small boat demands certain gifts 
 or, er, qualities ; and these gifts and, er, qualities bein' 
 the gifts and h'm qualities what made England such 
 as we see her to-day, — a sea-farin' nation an' foremost 
 at that, — it follows that we cannot despise them if we 
 wish her to occupy the same position in the futur' — 
 which to my mind is education in a nutshell." 
 
 Again the scornful laugh echoed from the back of 
 the crowd, and this time Cai knew the voice. It stung 
 him the more sharply, as in a flash he recollected that 
 the phrase " education in a nutshell " belonged properly 
 to a later paragraph, and in his flurry he had dragged 
 it in prematurely. His audience applauded, but Cai 
 swung about in wrath. 
 
 "My remarks," said he, "don't seem to commend 
 themselves to one o' my hearers. But I'm talkin' now
 
 308 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 on a subjec' about which I know som'at, — not about 
 ploughin." 
 
 The tlirust was admirably delivered, — the more 
 adroitly in that, on the edge of delivering it, he had 
 paused with a self-depreciatory smile. Its point was 
 taken up on the instant. The audience on deck sent 
 up a roar of laughter : and the roar spread and 
 travelled away from the ship in a widening circle 
 as from boat to boat the shrewd hit was reported. 
 Distant explosions of mirth were still greeting it, when 
 Cai, finding voice again, and wisely cutting out his 
 prepared peroration, concluded as follows : — 
 
 "Any way, friends and naybours, I can wind up 
 with something as'll commend itself to everybody : 
 and that is by wishin' success to Passage Regatta, and 
 askin' ye to give three cheers for Mrs Bosenna. 
 Hip — hip " 
 
 " Hoo-ray ! hoo-ray ! hoo-ray ! " The cheers were 
 given with a will and passed down the river in rolling 
 echoes. But before the last echo died away — while 
 Mrs Bosenna smiled her acknowledgment — as the band 
 formed up for " God Save the Queen " — as they lifted 
 their instruments and the bandmaster tapped the 
 music-stand with his baton, — at the top of his voice 
 'Bias delivered his counter-stroke. 
 
 " And one more for Peter Benny ! " 
 
 There was a momentary hush, and then — for Troy's 
 sense of humour is impartial, and everyone knew from 
 what source Captain Hocken derived his public elo- 
 quence — the air was rent with shout upon shout of 
 merriment. Even the band caught the contagion. 
 The drummer drew a long applausive rattle from 
 his side -drum; the trombone player sawing the air
 
 PASSAGE REGATTA 309 
 
 with his instrument, as with a fret-saw, evoked noises 
 not to be described. 
 
 In the midst of this general mirth — while Cai stood 
 his ground, red to the ears, and Mrs Bosenna plucked 
 nervously at the tassel of her sunshade — 'Bias came 
 thrusting forward, shouldering his way through the 
 press. But 'Bias's face reflected none of the mirth 
 he had awakened. 
 
 "I mayn't know much about ploughin', Cai 
 Hocken " he began. 
 
 " Ah ? Good day, Captain Hunken ! " interposed 
 Mrs Bosenna. 
 
 " Good-day to you, ma'am." He raised his hat with- 
 out answering her smile. Then, with a gesture that 
 dismissed the tactful interruption, " I mayn't know 
 much about ploughin', though it sticks in my mind 
 that as between us the judges handed me the stakes, 
 even at that. But at handlin' a boat — one o' these 
 here dingheys if you will, an' if you care to make good 
 your words " 
 
 " What was my words ? " 
 
 "Oh, I beg pardon." 'Bias corrected himself with 
 a snort of contempt. " ' Peter Benny's words,' maybe 
 I should have said : but ' education in a nutshell ' was 
 the expression." 
 
 " I'll take you up — when and where you please, and 
 for any money," Cai challenged, white to the lips 
 and shaking with rage. 
 
 " A five-pound note, if you will." 
 
 "As you please. ... I haven't five pound here, 
 upon me." 
 
 "Nor I, as it happens. But here's a sovereign for 
 earnest."
 
 310 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " Here's another to cover it, anyway. Who'll hold 
 the stakes ? . . . Will you, ma'am ? " Cai appealed to 
 Mrs Bosenna. 
 
 "Certainly not," she answered, tapping the deck 
 angrily with the ferrule of her sunshade. "And I 
 wonder how you two can behave so foolish, before 
 folks." 
 
 But for the moment they were past her control. 
 
 " Here . . . Pam ! Pam will do, eh ? " 
 
 " Well as another." 
 
 "Right. Here Pam, take hold o' this sovereign and 
 keep it careful ! " 
 
 " Mine too. . . . That makes the wager, eh ? " 
 
 " For five pounds ? " 
 
 " Five pounds. Right." 
 
 " Boats ? " 
 
 "I don't care. Our own two, or draw lots for any 
 two here, as you please." 
 
 " But — gentlemen ! " interposed the Hon. Secretary. 
 
 " Now, don't you start interferin' " — 'Bias turned on 
 him sullenly. " Else you might chance to get what 
 you don't like." 
 
 " Oh, they're mad ! " wailed Mrs Bosenna, and Dinah 
 was heard to murmur, " You've pushed 'em too far, 
 mistress : an' don't say as I didn' w'arn you ! " 
 
 " I — I was only goin' to suggest, gentlemen," urged 
 the Hon. Secretary, " it bein' already ten minutes past 
 noon, and everybody waitin' for ' God Save the Queen.' " 
 
 " Hullo ! " hailed a voice alongside, at the foot of 
 the accommodation table ; and Mr Philp's top hat, Mr 
 Philp's deceptively jovial face, Mr Philp's body clad 
 in mourning weeds, climbed successively into view. 
 " There, naybours ! " he announced. " I'm in the nick
 
 PASSAGE REGATTA 311 
 
 of time, after all, it seems, — though when I heard the 
 church clock strike twelve it sent my heart into my 
 mouth." He stood and panted. 
 
 " Ah ! good-day, Mr Philp ! " Mrs Bosenna turned, 
 hailing his intervention, and advanced to shake hands. 
 
 "Good-day to you, ma'am. Been enjoy in' yourself, 
 I hope ? " said Mr Philp, somewhat taken aback by 
 the warmth of her greeting. 
 
 " A most successful Regatta . . . don't you agree ? " 
 
 " I might, ma'am," answered Mr Philp solemnly. " I 
 don't doubt it, ma'am. But as a matter of fact I have 
 just come from a funeral." 
 
 " Oh ! . , . I — I beg your pardon — I didn't 
 know " 
 
 " There's no call to apologise, ma'am. . . . The de- 
 ceased was not a relative. A farm-servant, ma'am — 
 female — at the far end of the parish : Tuckworthy's 
 farm, to be precise: and the woman, Sarah Jane 
 Collins by name. Probably you didn't know her. No 
 more did I except by sight : but a very respectable 
 woman — a case of Bright's disease. In the midst of 
 life we are in death, and, much as I enjoy Passage 
 Regatta " 
 
 " You have missed it then ? " 
 
 " The woman had saved money, ma'am. There was 
 a walled grave, by request." Mr Philp sighed over 
 this remembered consolation. " She could not help 
 it clashin', poor soul." 
 
 " No, indeed ! " 
 
 " And you may or may not have noticed it, ma'am, 
 but when a man sets duty before pleasure, often as 
 not he gets rewarded. Comin' back along the town 
 before the streets filled, I picked up a piece o' news,
 
 312 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 and hurried along with it. I reckoned it might be of 
 interest it" I could reach here ahead of ' God Save the 
 Queen.' " 
 
 " Gracious ! What has happened ? " Mrs Bosenna 
 clasped her hands. Indeed Mr Philp, big with his 
 news and important, had somehow contrived to over- 
 awe everyone on deck. 
 
 "The news is," he announced slowly, "that the 
 Saltypool has gone down, within fifty miles of Phil- 
 adelphia. Crew saved in the boats. Cable reached 
 Mr Rogers at eleven o'clock, and" — he paused im- 
 pressively, "there and then Rogers had a second 
 stroke. Point o' death, they say." 
 
 Above the sympathetic murmur of Mr Philp's audi- 
 ence there broke, on the instant, a gasping cry — fol- 
 lowed by a yet more terrible sound, as of one in the 
 last agony of strangulation. 
 
 All turned, as Palmerston — dashing forward between 
 the music-stands of the band and scattering them to 
 right and left — flung himself between Cai and 'Bias 
 at their very feet. 
 
 'Masters — masters! I've a-swallowed the stakes!"
 
 313 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 FANCY BRINGS NEWS. 
 
 " Which," Mrs Bowldler reported to Fancy, who had 
 left her master's sick-bed to pay a fleeting visit to 
 Palmerston's, " the treatment was drastic for a growin' 
 child. First of all Mrs Bosenna, that never had a 
 child of her own, sent down to the cabin for the 
 mustard that had been left over from the Sailin' Com- 
 mittee's sangwidges, and mixed up a drink with it 
 and a little cold water. Which the results was nil; 
 that is to say, pecuniarily speakin'. Then somebody 
 fetched along Mr Clogg the vet. from Tregarrick, that 
 had come over for the day to judge the horses, and 
 he said as plain salt -and -water was worth all the 
 mustard in the world, so they made the poor boy 
 swallow the best part of a pint, and he brought up 
 eighteenpence." 
 
 " Saints alive ! But I thought you told me " 
 
 " So I did : two solid golden sufierins. And that," 
 said Mrs Bowldler, " was for some time the most 
 astonishin' part of the business. Two solid golden 
 sufferins : and low ! — as the sayin' is — low and behold, 
 eighteen pence in small silver ! " 
 
 " Little enough too, for a miracle ! " mused Fancy.
 
 314 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " It encouraged 'em to go on. Captain Hocken — 
 he's a humane gentleman, too, and never graspin' — no, 
 never in his life ! — but I suppose he'd begun to get 
 interested, — Captain Hocken ups and suggests as they 
 were wastin' time, mixin' table- salt and water when 
 there was the wide ocean itself overside, to be had 
 for the dippin'. So they tried sea-water." 
 
 " My poor Pammy ! " 
 
 "Don't you start a-pityin' me," gasped a voice, faint 
 but defiant, from the bed. " If I die, I die. But I got 
 the account to balance." 
 
 " I disremember what sum — er — resulted that time," 
 confessed Mrs Bowldler ; " my memory not bein' what 
 it was." 
 
 " Ninepence ; an' two threepennies with the soap — 
 total two-and-nine, which was correct. If I die, I 
 die," moaned Palmerston. 
 
 " 'Ero ! " murmured Fancy, stepping to the bedside 
 and arranging his pillow. 
 
 " You take my advice and lie quiet," counselled Mrs 
 Bowldler. " You're not a-goin' to die this time. But 
 there's been a shock to the system, you may make up 
 your mind," she went on, turning to Fancy. "I'd 
 most forgotten about the soap. That was Philp's sug- 
 gestion, as I heard. They found a cake of Monkey 
 Brand in the ship's fo'c'sle, and by the time Doctor 
 Higgs arrived with his stomach-pump " 
 
 " They'd sent for hi'm ? What, for two pounds ? " 
 
 " Less two-an'-nine, by this — as they thought. But, 
 of course, there was the child's health to be considered. 
 ... I ought to mention that before Dr Higgs came 
 Captain Hunken remembered how he'd treated a sea- 
 man once, that had swallowed carbolic by mistake.
 
 FANCY BRINGS NEWS 315 
 
 He recommended tar : but there wasn't any tar to be 
 found — which seems strange, aboard a ship." 
 
 " It was lucky, anyhow." 
 
 " There was a plenty of hard pitch about, and one 
 or two reckoned the marine glue in the deck-seams 
 might be a passable substitute. They were diggin' 
 some out with their penknives when Doctor Higgs 
 arrived with his pump." 
 
 " And did he use it ? " 
 
 " He did not. He asked what First Aid they had 
 been applyin', an' when they told him, his language 
 was not to be repeated. ' D'ye think,' said he, ' as I'd 
 
 finish the child for ' well, he named the balance, 
 
 whatever 'twas." 
 
 " One - seventeen - three," said the voice from the 
 bed. 
 
 " That's so. And ' Monkey Brand ? ' says he. ' Why, 
 you've scoured his little stummick so, you might put 
 it on the chimbly-piece and see your face in it ! Fit 
 an' wrap what's left of him in a blanket,' says Doctor 
 Higgs ; ' an' take him home an' put him to bed,' says 
 he — which they done so," concluded Mrs Bowldler, 
 "an' if you'll believe it, when I come to put him to 
 bed an' fold his trowsers across the chair, out trickles 
 the two sufFerins ! " 
 
 " You don't say ! " 
 
 "He's been absent-minded of late. If they'd only 
 turned his pockets out instead of — well, we won't go 
 into details : but the two pounds was there all the 
 time. 'Twas the petty cash he'd swallowed, in the 
 shock at hearin' about Mr Rogers, . . . And how's 
 he, by the way ? " 
 
 "Bad," answered Fancy, "dreadful bad. I don't
 
 316 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 think he's goin' to die, not just yet-awhile: but he 
 can't speak, and his mind's troubled." 
 
 " Reason enough why, if all's truth that they tell 
 of him." 
 
 " But it isn't." 
 
 " He brought your own father to beggary." 
 
 " Well, 3^ou may put it that way if you choose. It's 
 the way they all put it that felt for Dad without 
 allowin' their feelin's to take 'em further. Not that 
 he'd any claim to more'n their pity. He speckilated 
 with Mr Rogers, and Mr Rogers did him in the eye, 
 that's all. And I'm very fond of Dad," continued the 
 wise child; "but the longer I live the more I don't 
 see as one man can bring another to beggary un- 
 less the other man helps. The point is, Mr Rogers 
 didn' leave him there. . , . We've enough to 
 eat." 
 
 " Ho ! If that contents you " Mrs Bowldler 
 
 shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 " Who said it did ? We don't ezackly make Gawds 
 of our bellies, Dad and I ; but there's a difference 
 between that and goin' empty. Ask Pammy ! " she 
 added, with a twitch and a grin. 
 
 " I've heard you say, anyway, that you was afraid 
 Mr Rogers'd go to the naughty place. A dozen times 
 I've heard you say it." 
 
 " Rats ! — you never did. What you heard me say 
 was that he'd go to hell, and I was sure of it. . . . And 
 you may call it weak, but I can't bear it," the child 
 broke out with a cry of distress, intertwisting her 
 fingers and wringing them. " It's dreadful — dreadful ! 
 — to sit by and watch him lyin' there, with his mind 
 workin' and no power to speak. All the time he's
 
 FANCY BRINGS NEWS 317 
 
 wantin' to say something to me, and — and — Where's 
 Cap'n Hock en ? " 
 
 "In his parlour. I heard his step in the passage, 
 ten minutes ago, an' the door close." 
 
 "I'm goin' down to him, if you'll excuse me," said 
 Fancy, rising from the bedroom chair into which she 
 had dropped in her sudden access of grief. 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 "I dunno. . . . He's a good man, for one thing. 
 You haven't noticed any difference in him ? " 
 
 " Since when ? " The question obviously took Mrs 
 Bowldler by surprise. 
 
 " Since he heard — yesterday " 
 
 "Me bein' single-handed, with Palraerston on his 
 back, so to speak, I hev' not taken particular observa- 
 tion," said Mrs Bowldler. " Last night, as I removed 
 the cloth after supper, he passed the remark that it 
 had been a very tirin' day, that this was sad news 
 about Mr Rogers, but we'd hope for the best, and when 
 I mentioned scrambled eggs for breakfast, he left it 
 to me. Captain Hunken on the other hand chose 
 haddock : he did mention — come to think of it and 
 when I happened to say that a second stroke was 
 mostly fatal — he did go so far as to say that all flesh 
 was grass and that Palmerston would require feedin* 
 up after what he'd gone through." 
 
 "He — Cap'n Hunken — didn' seem worried in mind, 
 either ? " 
 
 " Nothing to notice. Of course," added Mrs Bowldler, 
 " you understand that our appetites are not what they 
 were : that there has been a distink droppin' off since 
 — you know what. They both eats, in a fashion, but 
 where's the pleasure in pleasin' 'em ? Heart-renderin',
 
 318 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 I call it, when a devilled kidney mio^ht be a plain 
 boiled cabbage for all the heed taken, and you knowin' 
 all the while that a woman's at the bottom of it," 
 
 Fancy moved to the door. " Well," said she, " I'm 
 sorry for the cause of it : but duty's duty, and I 
 reckon I've news to make 'em sit up." 
 
 She went downstairs resolutely and knocked at Cai's 
 parlour door. 
 
 " Come in ! . . . Eh, so it's you, missy ? No worse 
 news of the invalid, I hope ? " 
 
 " He isn' goin' to die to-day, nor yet to-morrow, if 
 that's what you mean. May I take a chair ? " 
 
 " Why, to be sure." 
 
 "Thank you." Fancy seated herself. "If you 
 please, Cap'n Hocken, I got a very funny question 
 to ask." 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 " You mustn't think I'm inquisitive " 
 
 " Go on." 
 
 "If you please, Cap'n Hocken, are you very fond 
 indeed of Mrs Bosenna ? " 
 
 Cai turned about to the hearth and stooped for the 
 tongs, as if to place a lump of coal on the fire. Then 
 he seemed to realise that, the season being early sum- 
 mer, there was no fire and the tongs and coal-scuttle 
 had been removed. He straightened himself up slowly 
 and faced about again, very red and confused (but the 
 flush may have come from his stooping). 
 
 " So we're not inquisitive, aren't we ? Well, missy, 
 appearances are deceptive sometimes — that's all I say." 
 
 " But I'm not askin' out o' curiosity — really an' 
 truly. And please don't turn me out an' warn me to 
 mind my own business; for it is my business, in a
 
 FANCY BRINGS NEWS 319 
 
 way. . . . I'll explain it all, later on, if only you'll 
 tell." 
 
 " I admire Mrs Bosenna very much indeed," said Cai 
 slowly. " There now, — will that satisfy you ? " 
 
 Fancy shook her head. " Not quite," she confessed, 
 "I want to know. Are you so fond of her that you 
 wouldn' give her up, not on any account ?" 
 
 Cai flushed again. " Well, missy, since you put it 
 that way, we'll make it so." 
 
 Still the answer did not appear to satisfy the child. 
 She fidgetted in her chair a little, but without offering 
 to go. 
 
 " Not for no one in the wide world ? " she asked at 
 length. 
 
 " Why, see here," — Cai met her gaze shyly — " isn't 
 that the right way to feel when you want to make a 
 woman your wife ? " 
 
 " Ye - es — I suppose so," admitted Fancy with a 
 
 sigh. " But it makes things so awkward " She 
 
 paused and knit her brows, as one considering a hard 
 problem. 
 
 " What's awkward ? " 
 
 Her response to this, delayed for a few seconds, was 
 evasive when it came. 
 
 " I used to think you an' Cap'n Hunken was such 
 friends there was nothin' in the world you wouldn' do 
 for him." 
 
 " Ah ! " Cai glanced at her with sharp suspicion. 
 " So that's the latest game, is it ? He's been gettin' at 
 you — a mere child like you ! — and sends you off' here to 
 work on my feelin's ! . . . I thought better of 'Bias : 
 upon my soul, I did." 
 
 " An' you'd better go on thinkin' better," retorted
 
 320 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 Fancy with spirit. " Cap'n Hunken sent me ? What 
 next ? . . . Why, he never spoke a word to me ! " 
 
 " Then I don't see " 
 
 " Why I'm here ? No, you don't ; but you needn't 
 take up with guesses o' that sort." 
 
 " I'm sorry if I mistook ye, missy." 
 
 " You ought to be. Mistook me ? — 0' course you 
 did. And as for Cap'n Hunken's sendin' me, he don't 
 even know yet that he's lost his money : and if he did 
 he'd be too proud, as you ought to know." 
 
 " Lost his money ? " echoed Cai. " What money ? " 
 
 " Well, to start with, you don't suppose Mr Rogers 
 got his stroke for nothin' ? 'Twas the news about the 
 Salty pool that bowled him out : an' between you an' 
 me, in a few days there's goin' to be a dreadful mess. 
 He always was a speckilator. The more money he 
 made — and he made a lot, back-along — the more he'd 
 risk it : and the last year or two his luck has been 
 cruel. In the end, as he had to tell me — for I did all 
 his writin', except when he employed Peter Benny, — he 
 rode to one anchor, and that was the Saltypool. He 
 ran her uninsured.'" 
 
 " Uninsured ? " Cai gave a low whistle. " But all 
 the same," said he, " an' sorry as I am for Rogers, I 
 don't see how that affects " 
 
 " I'm a-breakin' it gently," said Fancy, not without 
 a smaU air of importance. " Cap'n Hunken had a small 
 sum in the Saltypool — a hundred pounds only." 
 
 " I wonder he had a penny. 'Tisn't like 'Bias to put 
 anything into an uninsured ship." 
 
 " Mr Rogers did it without consultin' him. Cap'n 
 Hunken didn' know, and / didn' know, for the money 
 didn' pass by cheque. Some time back in last autumn
 
 FANCY BRINGS NEWS 321 
 
 — I've forgot the date, but the books'll tell it — the old 
 man handed me two hundred pound in notes, not 
 tellin' me where they came from, with orders to pay 
 it into his account : which I took it straight across to 
 the bank " 
 
 "Belay there a moment," interrupted Cai. "A 
 moment since you mentioned one hundred." 
 
 " So I did, because we're talkin' of Cap'n Hunken. 
 Two hundred there were, and all in bank notes : but 
 only one hundred belonged to Iiityi — and I only found 
 that out the other day, when he heard that Mr Rogers 
 had put it into the Saltypool, and there was a row. 
 As for the other — Lawks, you don't tell me 'twas 
 yours ! " exclaimed Fancy, catching at the sudden sur- 
 mise written on Cai's face. 
 
 " Why not ? ... If he treated 'Bias that way ? 
 Sure enough," said Cai. " I took him a hundred 
 pounds to invest for me, about that time." 
 
 " Did he pay you a dividend this last half-year ? " 
 
 " To be sure — seven pound, eight-an'-four." 
 
 " That was on the Saltypool," Fancy nodded, " And 
 oh ! Cap'n Hocken, I am so sorry ! but that hundred 
 pound o' yours is at the bottom of the sea." 
 
 " Well, my dear," said Cai after a pause, pulling a 
 wry face, "to do your master justice, he warned me 
 'twas a risk. There's naught to do but pay up an' look 
 pleasant, I reckon. 'T won't break me." 
 
 " Cut the loss, you mean. The shares was paid up 
 in full, and there can't be no call." 
 
 " You're knowledgeable, missy : and yet you're wrong 
 this time, as it happens. For (I may tell you privately) 
 the money didn' belong to me, but to Mrs Boscnna, 
 who asked me to invest it for her." 
 
 X
 
 322 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " Oil ! — and Cap'n Hunken's hundred too ? " 
 
 Cai reached a hand to the mantelpiece for the 
 tobacco-jar, filled a pipe very deliberately, lit it, and 
 drawing a chair up to the table, seated himself in face 
 of her. 
 
 •' I shouldn't wonder," said he, resting both arms on 
 the table and eyeing her across a cloud of tobacco- 
 smoke. " Though I don't understand what she — I 
 mean, I don't understand what the game was." 
 
 " Me either," agreed the child, musing. " No hurry, 
 though : I'll be a wndow some day, please God — which 
 is mor'n you can hope. But now we get to the point : 
 an' the point is, you can pay the woman up. Cap'n 
 Hunken can't." 
 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 " He don't know it yet, but he can't." 
 
 " So you said : an' Why not ? I ask. Within a 
 thousand pound 'Bias owns as much as I do." 
 
 The child stood up, pulled her chair across to the 
 table, and reseating herself, gazed steadily across at 
 him through the tobacco- smoke. 
 
 " Where d'ye keep your bonds an' such like ? " she 
 asked. 
 
 " In my strong box, for the most part : two or three 
 in the skivet of my sea-chest." 
 
 " You got 'em all ? " 
 
 " All. That's to say all except the paper for this hun- 
 dred pounds, which 'twas agreed Kogers should keep." 
 
 " You're a lucky man. . . . Where did Cap'n Hunken 
 keep his ? " 
 
 " Darn'd if I know. Somewheres about. He was 
 always a bit careless over his securities — and so I've 
 told him a dozen times."
 
 FANCY BRINGS NEWS 323 
 
 " When did you tell him last ? " 
 
 This was a facer, and it made Cai blink, "We 
 haven't discussed these things much — not of late," he 
 answered lamely. 
 
 " I reckoned not. He don't keep 'em in his strong- 
 box ? " 
 
 " He hasn't one." 
 
 "In his chest?" 
 
 " Maybe." 
 
 "But he don't. Hels left 'em with Mr Rogers from 
 the first, or I'm mistaken. I used to see the two 
 bundles, his and yours, lyin' side by side on the upper 
 shelf o' the safe when the old man sent me to unlock 
 it an' fetch something he wanted — which wasn't often. 
 Then, about six months back, I noticed as one was 
 gone. I mentioned it to him, and he said as 'twas all 
 his scrip — that was his word— made up in a parcel an' 
 docketed by you, and that some time afterwards you'd 
 taken it away." 
 
 " Quite correct, missy. And t'other one is 'Bias's, as 
 I know. I had 'em in my hands together when I 
 opened the safe as Mr Rogers told me to do, givin' me 
 the key. I took out the two, not knowing t'other from 
 which, made sure, docketed mine careful — to take away 
 — and put 'Bias's back in the safe afore lockin' it. 
 That would be back sometime in October last." 
 
 Fancy nodded. " That's what he told me : and up to 
 this mornin' I reckoned Cap'n Hunken's bonds was 
 still there, though it must be a month since I opened 
 the safe. This mornin' I had a talk with Dad — he 
 doesn't know the half about the master's affairs, nor 
 how they've been these two years, and I didn' let on : 
 but I allowed as we ought to look into thinfjs and call
 
 324 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 in Peter Benny — knowin' that Peter Benny was made 
 execlator, if anything happened. So we agreed, and 
 called him in : and I told Peter Benny enough to let 
 him see that things were serious. In tlie end I fetched 
 the keys, and he unlocked the safe. There was a good 
 few papers in it, which he overhauled. But there 
 wasn' no parcel 'pon the top shelf where I'd seen it 
 last." 
 
 " Then you may depend he'd given it to 'Bias unbe- 
 known to you, same as he handed mine over to me. 
 Wasn' that Benny's opinion ? " 
 
 " Oh, you make me tired ! " exclaimed the wise child 
 frankly. " As if I'd no more sense than to go there an' 
 then an' frighten him — an' him with all those paj^era 
 to look over ! " 
 
 " Then if you're so shy about worriting Benny — 
 and I don't blame you — why be in such a hurry to 
 worrit yourself ? 'Bias has the papers — that you may 
 lay to." 
 
 Fancy tapped her small foot on the floor, which it 
 just reached. " As if I should be wastin' time, botherin' 
 you ! On my way here I ran against Cap'n Hunken, 
 and of course he wanted to hear the latest of master — 
 said he was on his way to inquire. So I told him that 
 matters was bad enough but while there was life there 
 was hope — the sort o' thing you have to say : and I 
 went on that the business would be all in a mess for 
 some time to come, and I hoped he'd got all his papers 
 at home, which would save trouble. ' Papers ? ' said he. 
 ' Not I ! ' — and I wonder I didn' drop : you might have 
 knocked me down with a feather. ' Papers ? ' said he. 
 ' I haven't seen 'em for months. I don't trouble about 
 papers ! But you'll find 'em in the safe all right, though
 
 FANCY BRINGS NEWS 325 
 
 I haven't seen 'em for months.' Those were the very 
 words he used : and nothin' would interest him but to 
 hear how the invalid was doin'. He went off, cheerful 
 as a chaffinch. It's plain to me," Fancy wound up, 
 " that he hasn't the papers. He trusted you, to start 
 with, and he's gone on trustin' you and the master. 
 Didn' you intejuce him ? " 
 
 " Sure enough I did," Cai allowed. " But — confound 
 it, you know ! — 'Bias Hunken isn't a child." 
 
 " Oh ! if that contents you " But well she knew 
 
 it did not. 
 
 " Mr Rogers never would " 
 
 " I've told you," said Fancy, " more'n ever I ought to 
 have told. There's no knowin', they say, what a 
 man'll do when he's in Queer Street : and the papers 
 have gone : and Cap'n Hunken thinks they're in the 
 safe, where they ain't : and I come to you first, as used 
 to be his friend." 
 
 " Good Lord ! " Cai stood erect. " If —if " 
 
 "That's so," assented Fancy, seated and nodding. 
 "If " 
 
 " But it can't be ! " 
 
 " But if it is ? " She slipped from her chair and 
 stood, still facing him. 
 
 He stared at her blankly. " Poor old 'Bias ! " he 
 murmured. " But it can't be." 
 
 " Right ! if you will have it so. But, you see, I 
 didn' put the question out o' curiosity altogether." 
 
 " The question ? What question ? " 
 
 " Why, about Mrs Bosenna." 
 
 " What has Mrs Bosenna to do with — Oh, ay, to be 
 sure ! You're meanin' that hundred pounds." His wits 
 were not very clear for the moment.
 
 326 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " No, I'm not," said Fancy, moving to the door. In 
 the act of opening it she paused. " 'Twas through 
 you, I reckon, he first trusted master with his 
 money." 
 
 " I — I never suggested it," stammered Cai. 
 
 "I'm not sayin' you did," the girl answered back 
 coldly. "But he went to master for your sake, be- 
 cause you was his friend and he had such a belief in 
 you. Just you think that out." 
 
 With a nod of the head she was gone. 
 
 Before leaving the house she visited the kitchen, to 
 bid good-night to Mrs Bowldler. But Mrs Bowldler 
 was not in the kitchen. 
 
 She mounted the stairs and tapped at the door of 
 Palmerston's attic chamber. 
 
 " Hullo ! " said she looking in, " what's become of 
 Geraldine ? " (Mrs Bowldler's Christian name was Sarah, 
 but the two children vied in inventing others more 
 suitable to her gentility). 
 
 "If by Geraldine you mean Herm-Intrude," said 
 Palmerston, sitting up in bed and grinning, " she's 
 out in the grounds, picking " 
 
 " Culling," corrected Fancy. " Her own word." 
 
 "Well then — culling lamb mint." 
 
 " I should ha' thought sage-an' -onions was the stuffin' 
 relied on by this establishment." 
 
 " Seasonin'," corrected Palmerston. " But what have 
 you been doin' all this time ? " 
 
 " My dear, don't ask ! " Fancy seated herself at the 
 foot of the bed. " If you must know, I've been play in* 
 Meddlesome Matty life-size. . . . These grown-ups are 
 all so helpless — the men especially ! . . . Feelin' better ? " 
 
 "Heaps. 'Tis foolishness, keepin' me in bed like
 
 FANCY BRINGS NEWS 827 
 
 this, and I wish you'd tell her so. Tin all right — 
 'xcept in my mind." 
 
 " What's wrong with your mind ? " 
 
 " 'Shamed o' myself : that's all — but it's bad enough." 
 
 "There's no call to be ashamed. You did it in 
 absence o' mind, and all the best authors have suffered 
 from that. It's well known." 
 
 " To go through what I did," said Palmerston 
 bitterly, "just to bring up two-an'-nine ! 'Tis such a 
 waste of material ! " 
 
 " That's one way of puttin' it, to be sure." 
 
 " I mean, for a book — for ' Pickerley.' I s'pose there's 
 not one man in a thousand — not one liter'y man, any- 
 how — has suffered anything like it. And I can't put 
 it into the book ! " 
 
 " No," agreed Fancy meditatively. " I don't suppose 
 you could : not in ' Pickerley ' anyhow. You couldn' 
 make your 'ero swallow anything under a di'mond 
 tiyara, and that's not easy." 
 
 "I'll have to write the next one about low life," 
 said Palmerston. " If only I knew a bit more about it ! 
 Mrs Bowldler says it can be rendered quite amusin', 
 and I wouldn' mind makin' myself the 'ero." 
 
 " Wouldn't you ? Well, / should, and don't you let 
 me catch you at it ! The man as I marry '11 have to 
 keep his head up and show a proper respect for his- 
 self." 
 
 Poor Palmerston stared. The best women in the 
 world will never understand an artist.
 
 328 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 CAI RENOUNCES. 
 
 If this thing had happened ? 
 
 After Fancy left him Cai dropped into his arm- 
 chair, and sat for a long while staring at the paper 
 ornament with which Mrs Bowldler had decorated 
 his summer hearth. It consisted of a cascade of paper 
 shavings with a frontage of paper roses and tinsel 
 foliage, and was remarkable not only for its own sake 
 but because Mrs Bowldler had chosen to display the 
 roses upside down. But though Cai stared at it hard, 
 he observed it not. 
 
 For .some minutes his mind refused to work beyond 
 the catastrophe, "If it had happened — if 'Bias had 
 indeed lost all his money, . . ." 
 
 He arose, lit a pipe, and dropped back into his chair. 
 
 It may be that the tobacco clarified his brain. , . . 
 Of a sudden the child's words recurred and wrote 
 themselves upon it, and stood out, as if traced in fire — 
 
 " He went to master for your sake, because you was 
 his friend and he had such a belief in you.'^ 
 
 Ay, that was true, and in a flash it lit up a new 
 pathway, down which he followed the thought in the 
 child's mind only to lose it and stand aghast at his 
 own reflections.
 
 CAI RENOUNCES 329 
 
 * 'Bias went to Rogers through his belief in me.' 
 
 — ' I did not encourage him. On the other hand, I 
 said nothing to hinder him.' 
 
 — ' Yet, afterwards and in practice, I did encourage 
 him, going to Rogers with him and discussing our 
 investments together.' 
 
 — ' In a dozen investments we acted as partners.' 
 
 — ' He was my friend, and in those days entirely 
 open with me. He let me read all his character. I 
 knew him to be strict in paying his debts, uneasy 
 if he owed a sixpence, yet careless in details of 
 business, and trustful as a child.' 
 
 — 'Then this quarrel sprang up between us, and 
 I let him go his way. I had no right to do that, 
 having led him so far. In a sense, he has gone on 
 trusting me; that is, he has gone on trusting Rogers 
 for my sake. To be quit of responsibility, I should 
 have given him fair warning. 
 
 — ' I ought to have gone to him and said, " Look 
 here ; Rogers is a friend of mine, and known to me 
 from childhood. There's honesty in him, but 'tis like 
 streaks in bacon ; and for some reason or another he 
 chooses that all his dealin's with me shall keep to the 
 honest streak. If you ask me how I know this, 
 'twouldn't be easy to answer: I do know it, and I 
 trust him as I'd trust myself, a'most. But Rogers isn't 
 a man for everyone's money, and there's many as don't 
 scruple to call him a knave. He hasn't known you 
 from a child, and you haven't known him. You'll 
 be safe in putting it that what he's done honest for 
 you he's done as my friend "' 
 
 Here Cai was seized by a new apprehension. 
 
 — 'Ay, and — the devil take it! — I've let Rogers
 
 880 IIOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 see, lately, that 'Bias and I had dissolved partnership 
 and burnt the papers ! 'Twouldn't take more than 
 that to persuade Rogers he was quit of the old obli- 
 gation towards 'Bias — himself in difficulties too, and 
 'Bias's money under his hand.' 
 
 — ' Good Lord ! . . . Suppose the fellow even 
 allowed to himself that he was helping me ! If 
 Mrs Bosenna ? ' 
 
 At this point Cai came to a full stop, appalled. Be 
 it repeated that neither he nor 'Bias had wooed Mrs 
 Bosenna for her wealth ; nor until now had her wealth 
 presented itself to either save in comfortable after- 
 thought, 
 
 Cai sat very still for a while. Then drawing 
 quickly at his pipe, he found that it was smoked 
 out. He arose to tap the bowl upon the bars of the 
 grate. But they were masked and muffled by Mrs 
 Bowldler's screen of shavings, and he wandered to 
 the open window to knock out the ashes upon the 
 slate ledge. Returning to the fireplace, he reached 
 out a hand for the tobacco -jar, but arrested it, and 
 laying his pipe down on the table, did something 
 clean contrary to habit. 
 
 He went to the cupboard, fetched out decanter, water- 
 jug, and glass, and mixed himself a stiff brandy-and- 
 water, 
 
 " Hullo ! " said a voice outside the window. " I 
 didn' know as you indulged between meals," 
 
 It was Mr Philp, staring in, 
 
 "I heard you tappin' on the window-ledge, and I 
 thought maybe you had caught sight o' me," suggested 
 Mr Philp. 
 
 " But I hadn't," said Cai, somewhat confused.
 
 CAI RENOUNCES 331 
 
 " I said to myself, ' He's beckonin' me in for a chat ' : 
 and no wonder if 'tis true what they're tellin' down 
 in the town." 
 
 " Well, I wasn't," said Cai, gulping his brandy-and- 
 water hardily " But what are they tellin' ? " 
 
 " There's some," mused Mr Philp, " as don't approve 
 of solitary drinkin'. Narrow-minded bodies / call 
 'em. When a man is in luck's way, who's to blame 
 his fillin' a glass to it — though some o' course pre- 
 fers to call in their nay hours ; an' that's a good old 
 custom too." 
 
 Cai ignored the hint. " What are they tellin' down 
 in the town ? " 
 
 " All sorts o' things, from mirth to mournin'. They 
 say, for instance, as you and the Widow have fixed it 
 all up to be married this side o' Jubilee." 
 
 " That's a lie, anyway." 
 
 "And others will have it as the engagement's 
 broken off by reason of your losin' all your money in 
 Johnny Rogers's smash ? " 
 
 " And that," said Cai, " is just as true as the other. 
 But who says that Rogers has gone smash ? " 
 
 "Everyone. I tackled Tabb upon the subject this 
 mornin', and he couldn' deny it. The man's clean scat. 
 He's been speckilatin' for years : I always looked for 
 this to be the end, and when they told me the Salty- 
 2Jool wasn't insured, why, I drew my conclusions. As 
 I was sayin' to Cap'n Hunken just now " 
 
 "Eh? . . . Where is he?" 
 
 « Who ? " 
 
 "'Bias Hunken. You said as you been speakin* 
 with him " 
 
 "Ay, to be sure, over his garden wall. I looked
 
 332 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 over and saw him weedin' among the rose-bushes, an' 
 pulled up to give him the time o' day." 
 
 "You didn* tell him about the Saltypool?" 
 
 "As it happens, that's just what I did. He'd heard 
 she was lost, but he'd no notion Rogers hadn't taken 
 out an insurance on her, and he seemed quite fetched 
 aback over it." 
 
 "The devil!" 
 
 "I'm sorry you feel like that about him. As I 
 was tellin' him, when I heard your tap here at the 
 window " 
 
 " But I don't — and I w^asn' tappin' for you, 
 either." 
 
 " Appears not," said Mr Philp, with a glance at the 
 empty glass in Cai's hand. 
 
 " Where is he ? Still in the garden, d'ye say ? " 
 
 "Ay : somewheres down by the summer-house. Says 
 /, when I heard you tappin', ' That's Cap'n Hocken,' 
 says I, 'signallin' me to come an wish him joy, an' 
 maybe to join him in a drink over his luck. And 
 why not ? ' says I. ' Stranger things have happened.' " 
 
 "You'll excuse me. ... If he's in his garden, I 
 want a chat with him." Cai hurried out to the 
 front door. 
 
 "Maybe you'd like me to go with you," suggested 
 Mr Philp, ready for him. 
 
 "Maybe I'd like nothin' of the sort," snapped Cai. 
 " Why should I ? " 
 
 " Well, if you ask me, he didn' seem in the best 
 o' tempers, and it might come handy to take along 
 a witness." 
 
 " No, thank'ee," said Cai with some asperity. "You 
 just run along and annoy somebody else."
 
 CAI RENOUNCES 333 
 
 He descended the garden, to find 'Bias at the door 
 of his summer-house, seated, and pufiing great clouds 
 of tobacco-smoke. 
 
 " Good evenin' ! " 
 
 "Good evenin'," responded 'Bias in a tone none too 
 hospitable. 
 
 " You don't mind my havin' a word with you ? " 
 
 "Not if you'll make it short." 
 
 "I've just come from Philp. He's been tellin' you 
 about the Saltypool, it seems." 
 
 " Well ? " 
 
 "She was uninsured." 
 
 "And on top o' that, the fools overloaded her." 
 
 "And 'tis a serious thing for Rogers." 
 
 "Ruination, Philp tells me — that's if you choose to 
 believe Pliilp." 
 
 "I've better information than Philp's, I'm sorry 
 to say." 
 
 "Whose?" 
 
 "Fancy Tabb's." 
 
 "She didn' tell me so when I saw her to-day." — 
 (And good reason for why, thought Cai.) — " Still, if 
 she told you, you may lay there's some truth in it. 
 That child don't speak at random. I don't see, 
 though, as it makes much difference, up or down ? " 
 
 " No difference ? " 
 
 "I didn' say 'no difference.' I said 'not much.' 
 Ruination's not much to a man already down with 
 a stroke." 
 
 "Oh, . . . him?" said Cai. "To tell the truth, I 
 wasn't thinkin' about Rogers, not at this moment." 
 
 " No ? " queried 'Bias sourly. " Then maybe I'm 
 doin' you an injustice. I thought you might be
 
 334 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 pushin' your way in here to suggest our doin' 
 something for the poor chap" Before Cai had well 
 recovered from this, 'Bias went on, "And if so, I'd 
 have answered you that I didn' intend to be any such 
 fool." 
 
 "I — I'm afraid," owned Cai, "my thought wasn* 
 anything like so unselfish. It concerned you and me, 
 rather." 
 
 " Thinkin* of me, was you ? " 'Bias stuffed down 
 the tobacco in his pipe with his forefinger " I reckon 
 that's no game, Caius Hocken, to be takin' up again 
 after all these months ; and I warn you to drop it, 
 for 'tis dangerous," 
 
 Whatever his faults, Cai did not lack courage. 
 "I don't care a cuss for threats, as you might know 
 by this time. What I owe I pay, — and there's my 
 trouble. I introduced you to Rogers, didn't I ? " 
 
 " That's true," agreed 'Bias slowly. " What of it ? " 
 
 " Why, that I'm in a way responsible that you took 
 your affairs to him." 
 
 "Not a bit." 
 
 " But it follows. Surely you must see " 
 
 " No, I don't. I ain't a child, and I'll trouble you not 
 to hang about here suggestin' it. I didn' trust Rogers 
 till I saw for myself he was a good man o business and 
 the very sort I wanted. He sarved me, well enough ; 
 and, well or ill, I don't complain to you." 
 
 " See here, 'Bias," said Cai desperately. " You may 
 take this tone with me if you choose. But you don't 
 choke me off by it, and you'll have to drop it sooner or 
 later. I was your friend, back along — let's start with 
 that." 
 
 " And a nice friend you proved 1 "
 
 CAI RENOUNCES 335 
 
 " Let's start with iliat, then," pursued Cai easterly — 
 so eagerly that 'Bias stared willy-nilly, lifting his eye- 
 brows. " Put it, if you please, that I was your friend 
 and misled you to trust in Rogers, that you lost money 
 by it " 
 
 " Who said so ? " 
 
 " I say so. Put it at the lowest — that you sunk a 
 hundred pound' in the Saltypool " 
 
 " Eh ? " 
 
 " In the Saltypool " Cai met his stare and 
 
 nodded. "And not your own money, neither. Mrs 
 Bosenna " 
 
 'Bias started and laid down his pipe. " Drop that ! " 
 he interjected with a growl. 
 
 "Nay, you don't frighten me," answered Cai 
 valiantly. " We're goin' to talk a lot of Mrs Bosenna, 
 afore we've done. Present point is, she gave you 
 a hundred pound, to invest for her. She gave me the 
 like." 
 
 " What ! " 'Bias clutched both arms of his chair in 
 the act of rising. But Cai held up a hand. 
 
 " Steady ! She gave me the like. . . . You handed 
 the money over to Rogers, and close on fifteen per cent 
 he was makin' on it — in the Saltypool." 
 
 " Who — who told you ? " 
 
 " Wait ! I did the like. . . . Seven pounds eight- 
 and-four was my dividend, whatever yours may have 
 been — eh ? You may call it a — a coincidence, 'Bias 
 Hunken : but some would say as our minds worked on 
 
 tlie same lines even when — even when " Cai seemed 
 
 to swallow something in his throat. " Anyhow, the 
 money's gone, and we'll have to make it good." 
 
 " Well, I should hope so ! "
 
 336 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " I'll see to that, 'Bias — whatever happens." 
 
 "So will I, o' course." 'Bias turned to refill his 
 pipe. 
 
 Cai was watching him narrowly. " Happen that 
 mightn't be none too easy," he suggested. 
 
 " Why so ? " 
 
 " Heark'n to me now : I got something more serious 
 to tell. The Lord send we may be mistaken, but — 
 supposin' as Rogers has played the rogue ? " 
 
 'Bias, not at all discomposed, went on filling his 
 pipe. "I see what you're drivin' at," said he. "'Tis 
 the same tale Philp was chantin' just now, over the 
 wall; how that Rogers had lost his own money and 
 ours as well, and 'twas in everybody's mouth. Which 
 I say to you what I said to him ; ' 'Tis the old story,' I 
 says, ' let a man be down on his back, and every cur'll 
 fly at him.' " 
 
 " But suppose 'twas true ? . . . Did Rogers ever 
 show the bonds and papers for your money ? " 
 
 "'Course he did. Showed me every one as they 
 came in, and seemed to make a point of it. 'Made me 
 count 'em over, some time back. 'Wouldn' let me off 
 'till I'd checked 'em, tied 'em up in a parcel, docketed 
 'em, sealed 'em, and the Lord knows what beside. Very 
 dry work. I claimed a glass o' grog after it." 
 
 " And then you took 'em away ? " asked Cai with a 
 sudden hope. 
 
 " Not I. For one thing, they're vallyble, and I don't 
 keep a safe. I put 'em back in the old man's — top shelf 
 — alongside o' yours." 
 
 Cai groaned. " They're missin' then ! " 
 
 " Who told you ? " 
 
 " The child— Fancy Tabb."
 
 CAI RENOUNCES 337 
 
 'Bias looked serious. " Why didn' she come to me, 
 I wonder ? " 
 
 " I reckon — knowing what friends we'd been — she 
 left it to me to break the news." 
 
 " I won't believe it," declared 'Bias slowly. But he 
 sat staring straight at the horizon, and after each 
 puff at the pipe Cai could hear him breathing 
 hard. 
 
 " The child's not given to lyin'. And yet I don't 
 see — Rogers bein' helpless to open the safe on his 
 own account. At the worst 'tis a bad job for ye, 
 'Bias." 
 
 " Eh ? . . . 'Means sellin' up an' startin' afresh : that's 
 all — always supposin' there's jobs to be found, at our 
 age. I don't know as there wouldn't be consolations. 
 This here life ashore isn't all I fancied it." 
 
 Now Cai had in mind a great renunciation : but un- 
 fortunately he could not for the moment discover any 
 way to broach it. He played to gain time, therefore, 
 awaiting opportunity. 
 
 " As for getting a job," he suggested, " there's no need 
 to be downcast ; no need at all. If the worst came to 
 the worst, there's the Hannah Hoo, f'r instance, and a 
 providence she never found a buyer." 
 
 " Ay, to be sure — I'd forgot the bark'nteen." 
 
 " Come ! " said Cai with a quick smile, playing up 
 towards his grand cowp. " What would you say to 
 shippin' aboard the Hannah Hoo ? " 
 
 " What ? — as mate under you ? . . . I'd say," 
 answered 'Bias slowly, " as I'd see you damned first." 
 
 " But " — Cai stared at him in bewilderment — " who 
 was proposin' any such thing? As skipper I thought 
 
 o' you — what elst ? Leastways " 
 
 y
 
 338 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " And you ? " 
 
 " Me ? . . . But why ? There's no call for one goin' 
 to sea again." 
 
 " Ah, to be sure," said 'Bias bitterly, " I was for- 
 gettin'. You'll stay ashore and make up your losses 
 by marryin' ! " 
 
 " But I haven't had any losses ! " stammered Cai. 
 " Not beyond the hundred pound in the Saltypool. . . . 
 Didn't I make that plain ? " 
 
 " No, you didn't." 'Bias laid down his pipe. " Are 
 you standin' there and tellin' me that your papers are 
 all right and safe ? " 
 
 " To be sure they are. Rogers handed 'em over to 
 me, and I took 'em home and locked 'em in my strong- 
 box — it may be four months ago." 
 
 " Ay, that would be about the time. . . . Well, I con- 
 gratulate you," said 'Bias, with deepening bitterness of 
 accent. " The luck's yours, every way, and that there's 
 no denyin'." 
 
 " Wait a bit, though. You haven't heard me finish." 
 
 « Well ? " 
 
 " Since this news came I've been thinkin' pretty 
 hard over one or two things . . . over our difference, 
 f r instance, an' the cause of it. To be plain, I want a 
 word with you about — well, about Mrs Bosenna." 
 
 " Stow that," growled 'Bias. " If you've come here 
 to crow " 
 
 " The Lord knows I've not come here to crow. . . . 
 I've come to tell you, as man to man, that I don't hold 
 'twas a pretty trick she played us over them two 
 hundreds. You may see it different, and I hope you 
 do. I don't bear her no grudge, you understand ? . . . 
 But if you've still a mind to her, and she've a mind to
 
 CAI RENOUNCES 339 
 
 you, I stand out from this moment, and wish 'ee 
 luck ! " 
 
 'Bias stood up, stiff with wrath. 
 
 "And the Lord knows, Cai Hocken, how at this 
 moment I keep my hands off you ! . . . Wasn't it bad 
 enough before, but you must stand patronisin' there, 
 offerin' me what you don't want ? First I'm to ship in 
 your sarvice, eh ? When that won't do, I'm to marry 
 the woman you've no use for ? And there was a time 
 I called 'ee friend ! Hell ! if you must poison this 
 garden, poison it by yourself ! Let me get out o' this. 
 Stand aside, please, ere I say worse to 'ee ! " 
 
 He strode by, and up the garden path in the gather- 
 ing twilight. 
 
 Poor 'Bias ! 
 
 Poor Cai, too ! His renunciation had cost him no 
 small struggle, and he had meant it nobly ; but for 
 certain he had bungled it woefully. 
 
 His heart was sore for his friend : the sorer because 
 there was now no way left to help. The one door to 
 help — reconcilement — was closed and bolted : closed 
 through his own clumsiness. 
 
 It had cost him much, a while ago — an hour or 
 two ago, no more — to resign his pretensions to Mrs 
 Bosenna's hand. The queer thing was how little — the 
 resolutions once taken — Mrs Bosenna counted. It was 
 'Bias he had lost. 
 
 As he sat and smoked, that night, in face of Mrs 
 Bowldler's fire-screen, staring at its absurd decorations, 
 it was after 'Bias that his thoughts harked — always 
 back, and after 'Bias — retracing old friendship faith- 
 fully as a hound seeking back to his master.
 
 340 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 'Bias would never think well of him ac^ain. As a 
 friend, 'Bias was lost, had gone out of his life. ... So 
 be it ! Yet there remained a 'Bias in need of help, 
 though stubborn to reject it: a 'Bias to be saved some- 
 how, in spite of himself, an unforgiving 'Bias, yet still 
 to be rescued. 
 
 Cai smoked six pipes that night, pondering the 
 problem. He was aroused by the sound of the clock 
 in the hall striking eleven. Before retirinor to bed he 
 had a mind to run through his parcel of bonds and 
 securities on the chance — since he and 'Bias had made 
 many small investments by consent and in common — 
 of finding some hint of possible salvage. 
 
 His strong-box stood in a recess by the chimney- 
 breast. A stuffed gannet in a glass case surmounted 
 it — a present from 'Bias, who had shot the bird. The 
 bird's life-like eye (of yellow glass) seemed to watch 
 him as he thrust the key into the lock. 
 
 He took out the parcel, laid it on the table under 
 the lamp, and — with scarcely a glance at the docket as 
 he untied the tape — spread out the papers with his 
 palm much as a card-player spreads wide a pack of 
 cards before cutting. . . . He picked up a bond, opened 
 it, ran his eye over the superscription and tossed it aside. 
 
 So he did with a second — a third — a fourth. 
 
 On a sudden, as he took up the fifth and, before 
 opening it, glanced at the writing on the outside, his 
 gaze stiffened. He sat upright. 
 
 After a moment or two he unfolded the paper. His 
 eyes sought and found two words — the name " Tobias 
 Hunken." 
 
 He turned the papers over again. Still the name 
 not his — "Tobias Hunken!"
 
 CAI RENOUNCES 341 
 
 He pushed the paper from him, and timorously, as a 
 man possessed by superstitious awe, put out his fingers 
 and drew forward under the lamplight the four docu- 
 ments already cast aside. 
 
 The name on each was the same. The bonds belonged 
 to 'Bias. By mistake, those months ago, he had carried 
 them off and locked tliem up for his own. 
 
 Should he arouse 'Bias to-night and tell him of the 
 good news ? He gathered up the bonds in his hand, 
 went to the front door, unbarred it, and stepped out 
 into the roadway. Not a light showed anywhere in 
 the next house. 
 
 Cai stepped back, barred the door, and sought his 
 chamber, after putting out the lamp. He slept as 
 soundly as a child.
 
 342 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVI. 
 
 BIAS RENOUNCES. 
 
 " Is Cap'n Hunken upstairs ? " 
 
 "Ay, ay, sir," answered Mr Tabb from behind his 
 pile of biscuit tins and soapboxes. The pile had grown 
 — or so it seemed to Cai — and blocked out more of the 
 daylight than ever. " Won't you step up ? You'll be 
 kindly welcome." 
 
 "I was told I should find him here." Cai, on re- 
 questing Mrs Bowldler that morning to inform him 
 how soon Captain Hunken would be finishing break- 
 fast, had been met with the information that Captain 
 Hunken had breakfasted an hour before, and gone out. 
 (" Which," said Mrs Bowldler, " it becomes not one in 
 my position to carry tales between one establishment 
 and another : but he bent his steps in the direction 
 of the town. I beg, sir, however, that you will consider 
 this to be strickly between you and me and the gate- 
 post, as the saying is.") Cai at once surmised the 
 reason of this early sallying forth, and, following in 
 chase, ran against the Quaymaster, from whom he 
 learnt that 'Bias had entered the ship-chandler's shop 
 half an hour ago. " He has not since emerged," added 
 the Quaymaster Bussa darkly, as doubtful that in the
 
 'BIAS RENOUNCES 843 
 
 interim Captain Hunken might have suffered forcible 
 conversion into one of the obscurer "lines" of ship- 
 chandlery, wherein so much purports to be what it 
 is not. 
 
 — " I was told I should find him here," said Cai. " But 
 would ye mind f etchin' him down to me ? The fact is, 
 I want him on a matter of private business." 
 
 Mr Tabb considered for a moment. " If I may 
 advise, sir," he suggested meekly, "you'll find it as 
 private up there as anywhere. The master's past 
 hearin' what you say — or, if he hears, he's past takin' 
 notice : whereas down here, you're liable to be in- 
 terrupted by customers — let alone that I mustn't leave 
 the shop. And," concluded Mr Tabb, " I would hardly 
 recommend the Quay. Mr Philp's just arrived there." 
 
 On recovering from his previous stroke, Mr Rogers 
 had given orders that, if another befell him, his bed 
 was to be fetched downstairs and laid in the great bow- 
 window of the parlour. There Cai found him with 
 Fancy in attendance, and 'Bias seated on a chair by 
 the bedside. 
 
 " Good-mornin'," Cai nodded, hushing his voice, and 
 advanced towards the bed almost on tiptoe. "He 
 won't reckernise me, I suppose ? " 
 
 The invalid reclined in a posture between lying and 
 sitting, his back propped with pillows, his eyes turned 
 with an expressionless stare towards the harboui-. 
 Save for its rigidity and a slight drawing down of 
 the muscles on the left side of the mouth, there was 
 nothing to shock or terrify in the aspect of the 
 face, which kept, moreover, its customary high 
 colour.
 
 344 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " He can't show it, if that's what you mean," 
 answered Fancy. " But he knows us, somewhere at 
 the back of his eyes — of that I'm sure. I got to be 
 very clever watchin' his eyes, the last stroke he had, 
 and there was quite a different look in 'em when he 
 was pleased, or when he was troubled or wanted some- 
 thing. If you go over quiet and stand by the window, 
 right where he must see you if he sees at all, maybe 
 you'll notice what I mean." 
 
 But Cai, though he obeyed, and stood for a moment 
 in the direct line of their vision, could detect no change 
 in the unwinking eyes. 
 
 "Cap'n Hunken will even have it that he hears 
 what's said, or scraps of it. But that I don't believe. 
 ... I believe 'tis but a buzzin' in his ears, with no 
 sense to it, an' 'twould be jus' the same if we was the 
 band of the R'yal Lifeguards." 
 
 " Well, whether he hears or not, I've a piece o' news 
 for 'Bias Hunken, here. . . , P'raps he'd like to step 
 outside an' discuss it ? " suggested Cai awkwardly, 
 remembering how he and 'Bias had parted overnight. 
 
 " I don't want to hear anything you can say," growled 
 'Bias. 
 
 " Oh, yes, you do ! . . . I reckoned as you'd be down 
 here, first thing after breakfast, sarchin' for them 
 papers we talked about." 
 
 " Did you, now ? " 
 
 "And I tried to catch you afore you started; but 
 you'd breakfasted early. . . . Well, the long and short is, 
 they're not lost after all ! " Cai produced the bundle 
 triumphantly. 
 
 " Eh ! Where did you find 'em ? " asked Fancy, while 
 'Bias took the parcel without a word of thanks, glanced
 
 'BIAS RENOUNCES 345 
 
 at it carelessly, and set it down on the little round 
 table beside the bed. 
 
 "In my strong-box. . . . There was two parcels, 
 pretty much alike, on the top shelf of the safe yonder, 
 and I must have taken 'Bias's by mistake. I'm glad, 
 anyway," he went on, turning with moist eyes upon 
 'Bias, who appeared to have lost interest in the con- 
 versation. " I'm glad, anyway, t' have eased your mind 
 so soon, let alone to have cut short your sarchin' which 
 must ha' been painful enough — in a house o' sickness." 
 
 " Who was sarchin' ? " asked 'Bias curtly. " Not me." 
 
 "And that's true enough," corroborated Fancy. 
 " Why, Cap'n Hunken has never mentioned the 
 papers ! I guessed as you hadn' told him they was 
 missin'." 
 
 " Eh ? ... I thought — I made sure, by his startin' 
 down here so early " 
 
 "Not a word of any papers did he mention," said 
 Fancy. "He just come early to sit an' keep master 
 company, havin' a notion that his poor old mind takes 
 comfort from it somehow. Seven hours he sat here 
 yesterday, an' never so much as a pipe of tobacco the 
 whole time. Doctor said as a bit o' tobacco-smoke 
 wouldn' do any harm in the room : but Cap'n Hunken 
 allows as he'll be on the safe side." 
 
 Cai started. . . . For aught 'Bias knew then — as 
 indeed 'Bias had reason to suspect — this husk of a 
 man, helpless on the bed, had robbed him of his all, 
 ruined him, left him no prospect but to begin life over 
 again when late middle-age had sapped his vigour, at- 
 tenuated the springs of action, left sad experience in 
 the room of hope. And 'Bias's thouglit, ignoring it 
 all, had been to sit beside this man's calamity, on
 
 346 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 tlie merest chance of piercing it with one ray of 
 comfort ! 
 
 Whereupon, as goodness takes inspiration from good- 
 ness, in Cai's heart, too, a miracle happened. He 
 forgot himself, forgot his loss which was 'Bias's gain : 
 forgot that, keeping his surly attitude, 'Bias had 
 uttered neither a "thank you" nor a word of pity. 
 Old affection, old admiration, old faith, and regard 
 came pouring back in a warm tide, thrilling, suffusing 
 his consciousness, drowning all but one thought — one 
 proud thought that stood like a sea-mark above the 
 flood, justifying all — " Even such a man I made my 
 friend ! " 
 
 For a long time Cai stared. Then, as 'Bias made 
 no sign of lifting his sullen gaze from the strip of 
 carpet by the bed, he turned half-about towards the 
 door. 
 
 " 'Bias Hunken," said he gently, " you're a good man, 
 an' deserved this luck better'n me. ... If you can't 
 put away hard thoughts just yet, maybe you'll re- 
 remember, some day, that I wished 'ee long life to 
 enjoy it." 
 
 His hand was on the door. " Here, though — hold 
 hard ! " put in Fancy, who had picked up the bundle 
 of papers. " I don't think Cap'n Hunken understands ; 
 nor I don't clearly understand myself. Was it both 
 packets you carried home, sir ? or only this one ? " 
 
 " I thought as I'd made it clear enough," answered 
 Cai. His eyes were still on his friend, and there was 
 weariness as well as pain in his voice. " There's only 
 one packet — 'Bias's — what you have in your hand. I 
 must have carried it home by mistake." 
 
 " Then your's is missin' ? "
 
 'BIAS RENOUNCES 847 
 
 " That's so," said the broken man quietly. 
 
 The child turned and walked to the window. On 
 her way she halted a moment and peered earnestly 
 into the invalid's eyes, as if the riddle might possibly 
 be read there. But they were vacant and answered 
 her nothing. Then for some twenty seconds, almost 
 pressing her forehead to the window-pane, she stood 
 and gazed out upon the glancing waters of the 
 harbour. 
 
 " There's only one thing to be done " She 
 
 wheeled about sharply. " Why, wherever is the man ? 
 . . . You don't mean to tell me," she demanded of 
 'Bias indignantly, " that you sat there an' let him 
 
 go!" 
 
 " I couldn' help his goin', could I ? " muttered 'Bias, 
 but his eyes were uneasy under the wrath in hers. 
 
 " You couldn' help it ? " she echoed in scorn, and 
 pointed to the figure on the bed. "Here you come 
 playin' the Early Christian over a man that, for aught 
 you knew, had robbed you to a stair: and when 'tis 
 your tried friend fetchin' back riches to you — fairly 
 bringin' you back to life at the cost o' bein' a beggar 
 hisself — you let him go without so much as a 
 thank'ee ! " 
 
 " Cai Hocken don't want my thanks." 
 
 " Didn't even want politeness, I suppose — after 
 runnin' here hot foot with the news that made you 
 rich an' him a poor man ! Oh, you're past all patience ! 
 . . . Who should know what he wanted an' didn't get 
 — I, that had my eyes on his face, or you, that sat 
 like a stuck pig, glowerin' at the carpet ? " 
 
 " Gently, missy ! . . . There — there didn' seem any- 
 thing to say."
 
 348 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 "There was one thing to say," answered the girl 
 sternly, . " and there's one thing to be done." 
 
 "What's that?" 
 
 " It mayn't be an easy thing, altogether. But you'll 
 be glad of it afterwards, and you may as well make up 
 your mind to it." 
 
 " Out with it ! " 
 
 " Mrs Bosenna — Why, what's the matter ? " — for 
 'Bias had interrupted with a short laugh. 
 
 " I'd forgot Mrs Bosenna for the moment." 
 
 " Right. Then go on forgettin' her, an' give her up. 
 W^hen you come to think it over," urged Fancy with 
 the air of a nurse who administers medicine to a child, 
 " you'll find 'tis the only fit an' proper thing to do." 
 
 Again 'Bias laughed, and this time his laugh was 
 even shorter and grimmer than before. . 
 
 " Well and good — but wait one moment, missy ! 
 D'ye know what Cai Hocken said to me, last night in 
 the garden, when he reckoned as I'd lost my monej'- ? 
 No, you don't. ' Look here,' he said, ' if you've still a 
 mind to that woman and she've a mind to you, I'll 
 stand aside.' That's what he said: and d'ye know 
 what I answered ? I told him to go to hell." 
 
 " I see." Fancy stood musing. 
 
 "Makes it a bit awkward, eh? — Cai bein' a man of 
 spirit, with all his faults." 
 
 " Well," she decided, " unless we can find his money 
 for him, he'll have to marry her, whether or no. 
 ' Faults,' indeed ? I believe," went on the wise child, 
 "you two be more to one another than that woman 
 ever was to either, or ever will be." 
 
 " We won't discuss that," said 'Bias, " now that Cai's 
 got to marry her."
 
 'BIAS RENOUNCES 349 
 
 Cai retired to bed early that night, wearied in all his 
 limbs with much and aimless walking. If, as he 
 trudged highroad or lane in the early summer heat, 
 any thought of Mrs Bosenna arose for a moment and 
 conquered the anodyne of bodily exercise, it was not 
 a thought of grudging her to 'Bias. By the turn of 
 Fortune's wheel 'Bias would win her now. To him, 
 at all events, she was lost. Cai had never courted her 
 for her money: but he had courted without distrust, 
 on the strength of his own security in a competence. 
 At the back of his mind there may have lurked a 
 suspicion that Mrs Bosenna, as a business woman, was 
 not in the least likely to bestow her hand on a penni- 
 less sailor; but there was no reason why he should 
 allow this suspicion to obtrude itself, since self-respect 
 would have forbidden him, being penniless, to pursue 
 the courtship. 
 
 No ; if he thought of Mrs Bosenna at all, it was in 
 a sort of dull rage against her sex : not specially 
 against her, who happened to be her sex's delegate to 
 work this particular piece of mischief, but generally 
 against womankind, that with a word or two, a look 
 or two, it could rob a man of a friend — and of such 
 a friend as 'Bias ! 
 
 'Bias was undemonstrative. Cai had always prided 
 himself on recognising a worth in him which did not 
 leap to the eyes of other men — which hid itself rather, 
 and shunned the light. It had added to his sense of 
 possession that he constantly detected what others 
 overlooked. In this matter of his behaviour to Rogers, 
 'Bias had eclipsed all previous records. It was (view 
 it how you would) magnificent in 'Bias — a high Christ-
 
 350 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 ian action — to tend, as lie had tended, upon a man who 
 presumably had robbed him of his all. 
 
 And at the same moment 'Bias could behave so 
 callously to a once-dear friend — to a friend bringing 
 glad tidings — to a friend, moreover, rejoicing to bring 
 them, though they meant his own undoing ! It was 
 almost inconceivable. It was quite unintelligible 
 unless you supposed the man's nature to be perverted, 
 and by this woman. 
 
 Cai's heart was bruised. It ached with a dull in- 
 sistent pain that must be deadened at all costs, even 
 though his own wrecked prospects called out to be 
 faced prompth^ resolutely, and with a practical mind. 
 He would face them to-morrow. To-day he would tire 
 himself out : to-night he would sleep. 
 
 And he slept, almost as soon as his head touched the 
 pillow. His sleep was dreamless too. 
 
 "Dame, get out and bake your pies — bake your pies 
 — bake your pies " 
 
 " Whoo-oo-sh ! " 
 
 He sat up in bed with a jerk. . . . ^\^hat on earth 
 was it ? A squall of hail on the window ? Or a 
 rocket ? — a ship in distress, perhaps, outside the 
 harbour ? . . . 
 
 "Dame, get out and bake your pies " piped a 
 
 high childish voice. Some one was unbarring a door 
 below. A voice — 'Bias's voice — spoke out gruffly, 
 demanding what was the matter ? 
 
 Was the house on fire ? . . . No : outside the half- 
 open window lay spread the moonlight, pale and tran- 
 quil. The night wind entering, scarcely stirred the 
 thin dimity curtains. This was no weather for sudden
 
 'BIAS RENOUNCES 351 
 
 hail - storms or for shipwreck. Cai flung back the 
 bedclothes, jumped out — and uttered a sharp cry of 
 pain. His naked foot had trodden on a gritty pebble, 
 small but sharp. 
 
 Someone had flung a handful of gravel at the 
 window. 
 
 He picked his way cautiously across the floor, and 
 looked out. ... In the moonlit roadway, right be- 
 neath, a girl — Fancy Tabb — was dancing a fandango, 
 the while in her lifted hand she waved a white parcel. 
 
 " Ah, there you be ! " she hailed, catching sight of 
 him. "I've found 'em!" 
 
 " Found what ? " 
 
 " Your papers ! . . . I couldn' sleep till I told you : 
 and I had to fetch Mr Benny along — here he is ! " 
 
 " Good evening. Captain," spoke up Mr Peter Benny, 
 stepping out into the roadway from the doorway 
 where he had been explaining to 'Bias. " It's all right, 
 sir. Your papers are found." 
 
 " Good evening, Benny ! 'Tis kind of you, surely," 
 — Cai's voice trembled a little. " What's the hour ? " 
 he asked. 
 
 "Scarce midnight yet. I reckoned maybe you 
 might be sittin' up, frettin' over this — 'Twas the 
 child here, though, that found it out and insisted 
 on bringing me." 
 
 "After we'd locked up," broke in Fancy, "and just 
 as I was packin' Dad off to bed, it came into my 
 head to ask him — ' I suppose you don't know,' said I, 
 ' of anyone's havin' been to master's safe without my 
 bein' told ? ' He thought a bit, and ' No,' says he ; 
 ' nobody 'cept myself, an' that but once.' ' You ? ' says 
 I, ' and whoever sent you there ? ' ' Why, the master
 
 352 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 hisself; says Dad.— Who else?' 'But what for?' I 
 asks, feeliu' as you might have knocked me down with 
 a feather. ' I meant to ha' told you,' says Dad, ' but 
 it slipped my mind. 'Twas one afternoon, when you 
 was out on your walk. I heard Master's stick tap 
 on the plankin' overhead so I went up, thinkin' as 
 he might be wantin' his tea in a hurry. He told me 
 to open the safe an' take out a packet o' papers from 
 the top shelf ; which I did.' ' What papers ? ' said I. 
 ' How should I know ? ' says Dad : ' I don't meddle 
 with his business — I've seen too much of it in my 
 life. I didn' even glance at 'em, but locked the safe 
 again, an' put 'em where he told me — which was in 
 the japanned box by his chair ! ' ' Why,' says I, ' that's 
 his Insurance Box as he called it — the same as I 
 handed to Mr Benny only yesterday, to take away 
 and sort through ! ' . . . After that, as you may 
 guess, I was like a mad person till we'd taken down 
 the bolts again and I'd run to Mr Benny's." 
 
 " Ay," chimed in Mr Benny, " I was upstairs and 
 half - undressed : but she had me dressed again an' 
 down as if 'twas a matter of life and death. . . . And 
 when we got out the box, there the papers were, sure 
 enough. After that — for I saw their value to you — 
 no one with a human heart could help running along 
 with her, to bear the news. ... So here we are." 
 
 "'Bias!" called Cai softly. "Didn' I hear 'Bias's 
 voice below there, a while since ? " 
 
 "Ay, here I be." — It was 'Bias's turn to step out 
 from the shadow of his doorway into the broad moon- 
 light. " And glad enough to hear this news." 
 
 " Would ye do me a favour ? . . . Dressed, are you ? " 
 
 •' Ay — been sittin' up latish to-night."
 
 'BIAS RENOUNCES 353 
 
 " Well, I'm not azackly in a condition to step down 
 — not for a minute or two ; and I doubt Mrs Bowldler, 
 if I called her, wouldn' be in no condition either. . . . 
 'Twould be friendly of you to ask Mr Benny in and 
 offer him a drink; and as for missy " 
 
 "No thank 'ee, Cap'n," interposed Mr Benny. 
 " Bringin' you this peace o' mind has been cordial 
 enough for me — and for the ehild too, I reckon. 
 Good-night, gentlemen ! " 
 
 " Cap'n Hunken," said Fancy, " will you take the 
 papers up to him ? Then we'll go." 
 
 " May I bring the papers to 'ee ? " asked 'Bias, lifting 
 his face to the window. 
 
 "Ay, do — if they won't come in. , , , I'll step 
 down and unbar the door." 
 
 He lit a candle and hurried downstairs, his heart 
 in his mouth. By the time he had unbarred and 
 opened, Mr Benny and Fancy had taken their de- 
 parture; but their "good-nights" rang back to him, 
 up the moonlit road, and his friend stood on the 
 threshold.
 
 354 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 MRS BOSENNA GIVES THE ROSE. 
 
 "It's a delicate thing to say to a woman," suggested 
 Cai J " 'specially when she happens to be your land- 
 lady." 
 
 " You do the talkin', of course," said 'Bias hurriedly. 
 
 " Must I ? Why ? " 
 
 " Well, to begin with, you knew her first." 
 
 " I don't see as that signifies." 
 
 " No ? Well, you used to make quite a point of it, 
 as I remember. But anyway you're a speaker, and 
 it'll need some gift, as you say." 
 
 They had reached the small gate at the foot of the 
 path. The day was hot, the highroad dusty. Cai 
 halted and removed his hat ; drew out a handkerchief 
 and wiped his brow; wiped the lining of the hat; 
 wiped his neck inside the collar. 
 
 " There's another way of lookin' at it," he ventured. 
 "Some might say as 'twas more tactful to let your 
 feelin's cool ofi" by degrees." 
 
 "That's no way for me," said 'Bias positively. 
 "Short and sharp's our motto." 
 
 " 'Tis the best, no doubt," Cai agreed. " But there's 
 the trouble of puttin' it into words. ... I wish, now,
 
 MRS BOSENNA GIVES THE ROSE 855 
 
 I'd thought of consultin' Peter Benny. There'd be no 
 harm, after all, in steppin' back and askin' his advice." 
 
 " No, you don't," said 'Bias shortly. " In my belief, 
 if we hadn't made so free wi' consultin' Peter Benny 
 in the past, we shouldn't be where we be at this 
 moment." 
 
 If Cai's thought might be read in his face, he would 
 not have greatly minded that, just now. 
 
 " In the matter of these letters for instance " 
 
 " I wonder if she ever got 'em ? " 
 
 "You bet she did. She's been playin' us off, one 
 against t'other, ever since." 
 
 " We let our f eelin's carry us away." 
 
 " We let Peter Benny's f eelin's carry us away," 'Bias 
 corrected him. "That's the worst of these writin' 
 chaps. Before you know where you are they'll harrow 
 you up with feelin's you wasn't aware you entertained. 
 Now I don't mind confessin' that, afore Benny had 
 started to make out a fair copy I found myself over 
 head an' ears in love with the woman." 
 
 " Me too," agreed Cai, musing. 
 
 " You're sure you're not any longer ? " 
 
 " Eh ? ... Of course I am sure. I was only 
 thinkin' how queer it was he should have pumped 
 it out of us, so to say, with the same letters — almost 
 to a syllable." 
 
 " There's two ways o' lookin' at that," said 'Bias 
 thoughtfully. " You may put it that marryin's as 
 common as dirt. Nine out o' ten indulges in it : and, 
 that bein' so, the same form o' words '11 do for every- 
 body, more or less, in proposin' it; just as (when you 
 come to think) the same Marriage Service does for 
 all when they come to the scratch. If all men meant
 
 356 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 different to all women, there wouldn't be enough 
 dictionary to go round." 
 
 Cai shook his head. " I'm the better of it now," he 
 confessed ; " but I got to own that, at the moment, 
 though Benny did well enough, there didn't seem 
 enough dictionary to go round." 
 
 "I felt something of a rarity myself at the time," 
 owned 'Bias. " But there's another explanation I like 
 better, though you'll think it far - fetched. . . . You 
 and me — until this happened, there was never a cross 
 word atween us, nor a cross thought ? " 
 
 " That's so, 'Bias." 
 
 " Well, and that bein' so, if Benny hit the note for 
 one, how could it help bein' the note for both ? . . . 
 I've had pretty rash thoughts about Benny : but — put 
 it in that way — who's to blame the man ? Or the 
 woman, for that matter ? " 
 
 " I like that explanation better," said Cai. 
 
 " — Or the woman ? She can't help not bein' a two- 
 headed nightingale." 
 
 " To be sure she can't. . . . We might leave it at 
 that and say no more about it. She'd be sure to under- 
 stand in time." 
 
 " The agreement was, last night," insisted 'Bias with 
 great firmness, " to put it to her straight and get it 
 over." 
 
 They resumed their walk and mounted the pathway 
 over which — from the first angle of the outbuildings to 
 the gardun-gate — Banksian roses hung from the wall 
 in heavy honey- coloured clusters of bloom. These 
 were scentless and already past their prime ; but by 
 the gate at the south-east end of the house the white 
 Banksian, throwing far wider shoots, saluted them
 
 MRS BOSENNA GIVES THE ROSE 357 
 
 with a scent as of violets belated. And within the gate 
 the old roses were coming on with a rush — Provence 
 and climbing China ; Moschata alba, pouring over an 
 arch in a cascade of bloom that hid all its green as 
 with shell-pink foam ; crimson and striped Damask 
 along the border; with Paul Neyron eclipsing all in 
 size, moss-roses bursting their gummy shells, Gloire de 
 Dijon climbing and asserting itself above the falsely 
 named " pink Gloire " ; Reine Marie Henriette — which, 
 grown by everybody, is perhaps the worst rose in the 
 world. Gloire de Dijon rampant smothered the pre- 
 tender and covered the most of its mildewing buds 
 from sight; to be conquered in its turn by the sheer 
 beauty of Mareclial Niel, whose every yellow star, bold 
 on its stalk as greenhouses can grow it, shamed all 
 feebler yellows. Devoniensis flung its sprays down 
 from the thatch. La France and Ulrich Brunuer com- 
 peted — silver rose against cherry rose — on either side 
 of the porch. Yet the fragrance of all these roses 
 had to yield to that of the Cottage flowers, mignon- 
 ette, Sweet- William, lemon verbena, Brompton stocks — 
 annuals, biennials, perennials, intermixed — that lined 
 the border, with blue delphiniums and white Madonna 
 lilies breaking into flower above them. 
 
 Dinah, answering their ring at the bell after the 
 usual delay for reconnaissance, opined that her mistress 
 would probably be found in the new rose-garden. She 
 said it, as they both observed, with a demure, half- 
 mischievous smile. 
 
 " Amused to see us in company again, I reckon," 
 said Cai to 'Bias as they went up through the old 
 rose-garden, where the June-flowering H.P.'s ran riot in 
 masses of colour from palest pink to deepest crimson.
 
 358 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 " Ay," assented 'Bias, " we'll have to get used to 
 folks smilin', these next few days. . . . Between our- 
 selves, I never fancied that woman, though I couldn' 
 give you any particular reason for it." 
 
 " Sly," suggested Cai. 
 
 " 'Tis more than that. Slyness, you may say, belongs 
 to the whole sex, and I've known men say as they 
 found it agreeable, in moderation." 
 
 " I never noticed that in her mistress, to do her 
 justice." 
 
 'Bias halted. " Look here. . . . You're sure you ain't 
 weakenin' ? " 
 
 " Sure." 
 
 " Because, as I told 'ee last night — and I'll say it 
 again, here, at the last moment — she's yours, and 
 welcome, if so be " 
 
 " — ' If so be as I didn' speak my true mind last 
 night, when I said the same to you ' — is that what you 
 mean ? Here, let's on and get it over ! " said Cai, 
 mopping his brow anew. 
 
 " 'Tis a delicate business to broach, as you mentioned 
 just now," said 'Bias dallying. " We'll have to be very 
 careful how we put it." 
 
 " Very. As I told 'ee before, if you like to take it 
 over " 
 
 " Not at all. You're spokesman — only we don't want 
 to put it so's she can round on us with * nobody axed 
 you.' And you gave me a turn, just then, by sayin' as 
 you never noticed she was sly ; because as I reckon, 
 that's the very point we've come to make." 
 
 "As how?" 
 
 'Bias stared at him in some perturbation. "Why, 
 didn't she put that trick on us over the investment ?
 
 MRS BOSENNA GIVES THE ROSE 359 
 
 And ain't we here to give her back her money ? And 
 wasn't it agreed as we'd open on her reproachful- 
 like ? an' then, one thing leadin' to another " 
 
 " Ay, to be sure — I got all that in my mind really." 
 Cai wiped the back of his neck and pocketed his hand- 
 kerchief with an air of decision — or of desperation. 
 " What you don't seem to know — though with any 
 experience o' speakin' you'd understand well enough — 
 is that close upon the last moment all your thoughts 
 fly, and specially if folks will keep chatterin' : but 
 when you stand up and open your mouth — provided 
 as nobody interrupts you . . ." 
 
 " I declare ! If it isn't Captain Hocken — and Captain 
 Hunken with him ! " 
 
 At the creaking of the small gate, as Cai opened it, 
 Mrs Bosenna had looked up and espied them. She 
 dropped the bundle of rafiia, with the help of which 
 she had been staking such of her young shoots as were 
 overlong or weighted down by their heavy blooms, and 
 came forward with a smile of welcome. 
 
 " Come in — come in, the both of you ! What lovely 
 weather ! You'll excuse my not taking off" my gloves ? 
 We are busy, you see, and some of my new beauties 
 have the most dreadful thorns ! . . . By the way " — 
 she glanced over her shoulder, following Cai's incred- 
 ulous stare. " I believe you know Mr Middlecoat ? 
 Yes, yes, of course — I remember ! " She laughed and 
 beckoned forward the young farmer, who dropped hia 
 occupation among the rosebuds and shuffled forward 
 obediently enough, yet wearing an expression none too 
 gracious. 
 
 " 'Afternoon, gentlemen," mumbled Farmer Middle- 
 coat, and his sulky tone seemed to show that he had
 
 360 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 not forgotten previous encounters. " Won't offer to 
 shake hands. 'Cos why ? " He showed the backs of 
 his own, which were lacerated and bleeding. " Cater- 
 pillars," added Mr Middlecoat in explanation. 
 
 " There now ! " cried Mrs Bosenna in accents of 
 genuine dismay. " I'd no idea you were tearin' your- 
 self like that — and so easy to ask Dinah to fetch out 
 a pair o' gloves ! " 
 
 " Do you mean to say, sir," asked Cai in his sim- 
 plicity, " that caterpillars bite ? " 
 
 " No, I don't," answered Mr Middlecoat. " But you 
 can't get at 'em and avoid these pesky thorns." 
 
 Said Mrs Bosenna gaily, — " Mr Middlecoat called on 
 me half an hour ago wi' the purpose to make himself 
 disagreeable as usual — though I forget what his excuse 
 was, this time — and I set him to hunt caterpillars." 
 
 " Dang it, look at my hands ! " growled the young 
 farmer, holding them out. 
 
 " And last month, wi' that spell of east wind, 'twas 
 the green-fly. But I reckon we've mastered the pests 
 by this time. Didn't find many caterpillars, eh ? " 
 
 " No, I didn'," answered Mr Middlecoat, still sulkily. 
 " But them as I did you bet I scrunched." 
 
 " Well, they deserved it, for the last few be the dan- 
 gerousest. They give over the leaves to eat the buds. 
 But 'tis labour well spent on 'em, and we'll have baskets 
 on baskets now, by Jubilee Day." 
 
 " 'Tis the Queen's flower — the royal flower — sure 
 enough," said Cai, looking about him in admiration. 
 He had not visited the new garden for some weeks, 
 and on the last visit it had been but an unpromising 
 patch stuck about with stiff", thorny twigs, all leafless, 
 the most of them projecting but a few inches above the
 
 MRS BOSENNA GIVES THE ROSE 361 
 
 soil. The plants were short yet, and the garden itself 
 far from beautiful ; but the twigs had thrown up shoots, 
 and on the shoots had opened, or were opening, roses 
 that drew even his inexperienced eye to admire them. 
 
 " I'm afraid there's no doubt of it," said Mrs Bosenna. 
 "I love the old H.P.'s: but you must grow the Teas 
 and Hybrid Teas nowadays, if you want to exhibit. 
 Yet I love the old H.P.'s, and I've planted a few, to 
 hold their own and just show as they won't be shamed. 
 See this one now — there's a proper Jubilee rose, and 
 named Her Majesty ! Brought out, they tell me, iu 
 'eighty-five : but the Yankees bought up all the stock, 
 and it didn't get back into this country until 'eighty- 
 seven, the last Jubilee year. See the thorns on her, 
 and the stiff pride o' stem, and the pride o' colour — fit 
 for any queen ! She's not the best, though. . . . She'll 
 do for last Jubilee — not for this. Wait till you've seen 
 the best of all ! " 
 
 She led them to a plant — stunted by the secateurs, 
 yet vigorous — which showed, with three or four buds 
 as yet closed and green, one solitary bloom, pure 
 white and of incomparable shape. 
 
 " There ! " said she proudly. " That's a tea, and the 
 finest yet grown, to TYiy mind. That's the rose for 
 this Diamond Jubilee, and white as a diamond. A 
 proper royal Widow's rose ! " 
 
 " Is that its name ? " asked Cai. 
 
 Mrs Bosenna laughed and plucked the bloom. 
 
 "On the contrary," said she with a mischievous 
 twitch of the mouth, " 'tis called Tlce Bride ! There's 
 only one bloom, you see, and I can't offer to part it. 
 Now which of you two 'd like it for a buttonhole ? " 
 
 She held out the rose, challenging them.
 
 362 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 "I — I — " stammered Cai, backing against 'Bias's 
 knuckles which dug him in the back — "I grant ye, 
 ma'am, 'tis a fine rose — a lovely rose — but for my 
 part, a trace o' colour " 
 
 " Bright red," prompted 'Bias. 
 
 " Bright red— for both of us " 
 
 "And now I've plucked it," sighed Mrs Bosenna. 
 " Well, if you won't, perhaps Mr Middlecoat will, 
 rather than waste it." 
 
 Mr Middlecoat stepped forward and allowed the 
 enormous bloom to be inserted in his buttonhole, 
 where its pure white threw up a fine contrast to his 
 crimsoning face. 
 
 " You won't think me forward, I hope ? " said Mrs 
 Bosenna, turning about. " The fact is — though I 
 don't want it generally known yet — that yesterday 
 Mr Middlecoat, in his disagreeable way, made me 
 promise to marry him ? " 
 
 Before the pair could recover, she had moved to 
 another bush. 
 
 " Red roses, you prefer ? Red is rare amongst the 
 Teas — there's but one, as yet, that can be called red — 
 if this suits you ? And, by luck, there are two perfect 
 buttonholes." 
 
 She plucked the buds and held them out. 
 
 " It's name," said she, " is Liberty."
 
 363 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 JUBILEE. 
 
 For the best part of a week before the great Day of 
 Jubilee Cai and 'Bias toiled together and toiled with 
 a will, erecting the framework of a triumphal arch to 
 span the roadway. Within-doors, in the intervals of 
 household duty, Mrs Bowldler measured, drew, and 
 cut out a number of capital letters in white linen, to 
 be formed into a motto and sewn upon red Turkey 
 twill, while Palmerston industriously constructed and 
 wired gross upon gross of paper roses — an art in which 
 he had been instructed by Fancy, who had read all 
 about it in a weekly newspaper, ' The Cosy Hearth.' 
 The two friends talked little to one another during 
 those busy June days. Strollers-by — and it had be- 
 come an evening recreation in Troy to stroll from one 
 end of the town to the other and mark how things 
 were getting along for the 22nd — found Captain 
 Hocken and Captain Hunken ever at work but little 
 disposed to chat; and as everyone knew of the old 
 quarrel, so everyone noted the reconciliation and mar- 
 velled how it had come to pass. Even Mr Philp was 
 baffled. Mr Philp, passing and repassing many times
 
 364 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 a day, never missed to halt and attempt conversation ; 
 with small result, however, 
 
 " It's a wonder to me," he grumbled at last, " how 
 men of your age can risk scramblin' about on ladders 
 with your mouths constantly full o' nails." 
 
 In the evenings they supped together. Mrs Bowldler 
 had made free to suggest this. 
 
 "Which," said Mrs Bowldler in magnificent ana- 
 coluthon, "if we see it as we ought, this bein' no 
 ordinary occasion, but in a manner of speakin' one of 
 Potentates and Powers and of our feelin's in connection 
 therewith; by which I allude to our beloved Queen, 
 whom Gawd preserve ! — Gawd bless her ! I say, and 
 He will, too, from what I know of 'im — and therefore 
 deservin' of our yunited efforts; and, that bein' the 
 case, it would distinkly 'elp, from the point of view 
 of the establishment (meanin' Palmerston and me) if 
 we (meanin' you, sir, and Captain Hunken) could 
 make it convenient to have our meals in common. . . . 
 The early Christians were not above it," she added. 
 " Not they ! Ho, not, — if I may use the expression — 
 by a long chalk ! " 
 
 She contrived it so delicately that afterwards neither 
 Cai nor 'Bias could remember precisely at what date — 
 whether on the Wednesday or on the Thursday — they 
 slipped back into the old comfortable groove. 
 
 The arch occupied their thoughts. After supper, 
 as they sat and smoked, their talk ran on it : on details 
 of its construction; on the chances (exiguous indeed !) 
 of its being eclipsed by rivals in the town, some in 
 course of construction, a few as yet existent only in 
 the promises of rumour.
 
 JUBILEE 365 
 
 Cai would say, " I hear the Dunstans are makin' 
 great preparations in their back-yard. They mean to 
 bring their show out at the last moment, and step it 
 in barrels." 
 
 "I don't believe in barrels," 'Bias would respond. 
 " Come a breeze o' wind, where are you ? Come a 
 strong breeze, and over you go, endangerin' life. It 
 ought to be forbidden." 
 
 "No chance of a breeze, though." Cai had been 
 studying the glass closely all the week. 
 
 " Fog, more like. 'Tis the time o' the year for 
 fogs." 
 
 Other matters they discussed more desultorily: 
 meetings of the Procession Committee, of the Luncheon 
 Committee (all the parish was to feast together), of the 
 Tree-planting Committee, of the Tea Committee; the 
 cost of the mugs and the medals for the children ; the 
 latest returns handed in by Mr Benny, who had under- 
 taken the task of calling on every householder, poor 
 or rich, and collecting donations. But to the arch 
 their talk recurred 
 
 — And rightly : for in the arch they were building 
 better than they knew. In it, though unaware (being 
 simple men), they were rebuilding friendship. 
 
 By Saturday evening the scaffolding was complete, 
 firmly planted, firmly nailed, firmly clasped together 
 by rope — in sailors' hitches such as do not slip. They 
 viewed it, approved it, and soberly, having gathered 
 up tools, went in to supper. On Sunday they attended 
 morning service in church, and oh ! the glow in their 
 hearts when, in place of the usual voluntary, the organ 
 rolled out the first bars of " God Save the Queen " and 
 all the worshippers sprang to their feet together !
 
 366 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 On Monday the town awoke to the rumbling of 
 waggons. They came in from the plantations where 
 since the early June daybreak Squire Willyams's 
 foresters and gardeners had been cutting young larches, 
 firs, laurels, aucubas. The waggons halted at every 
 door and each householder took as much as he re- 
 quired. So, all that day, Cai and 'Bias packed their 
 arch Avith evergreens ; until at five o'clock Mr Philp, 
 happening along, could find no chink anywhere in its 
 solid verdure. He called his congratulations up to 
 them as, high on ladders, they affixed flags to the 
 corner poles and looped the whole with festoons of roses. 
 
 And now for the motto to crown the work ! Fancy 
 Tabb coming up the roadway and pausing while she 
 conned the structure, shading her eyes against the 
 sun-rays that slanted over it, beheld Mrs Bowldler 
 and Palmerston issue from the doorway in solemn 
 procession, bearing between them a length of Turkey 
 twill. Mrs Bowldler passed one end up to Captain 
 Hocken, high on his ladder : Captain Hunken reached 
 down and took the other end from Palmerston. Be- 
 tween them, as they lifted the broad fillet above the 
 archway, its folds fell apart, and she read : — 
 
 MANY DAUGHTERS HAVE DONE VIRTUOUSLY 
 BUT THOU EXCELLEST THEM ALL. 
 
 "My! I'd like to be a Queen!" 
 
 " If I had my way, you would," whispered Pal- 
 merston, who, edging close to her, had overheard. 
 
 "Eh? Is that Fancy Tabb?" interrupted Cai. 
 He had happened to glance over his shoulder and 
 spied her from the ladder. " Well, and what d'ee 
 think of it ? " he asked, as one sure of the answer.
 
 JUBILEE 367 
 
 "I was sayin' as I'd like to be a Queen," said 
 Fancy, " Queen of England, I mean : none of your 
 second-bests." 
 
 "Well, my dear," Cai assured her, bustling down 
 the ladder and staring up at the motto to make sure 
 that it hung straight, " that you won't never be : but 
 you're among the many as have done virtuously, and 
 God bless 'ee for it ! Which is pretty good for your 
 age." 
 
 " Fott're not," retorted the uncompromising child. 
 
 "Eh?" 
 
 " 'Tis three days now since you've been near the 
 old man, either one of 'ee. How would you like 
 that, if you was goin' to hell ? " 
 
 " Hush 'ee now ! . . . 'Bias and me had clean forgot 
 — there's so much to do in all these rejoicin's ! Run 
 back and tell 'n we'll be down in half-an-hour, soon as 
 we've tidied up here." 
 
 On their way down to visit the sick man, Cai and 
 'Bias had to pause half-a-score of times at least to 
 admire an arch or a decorated house-front. For by 
 this time even the laggards were out and working for 
 the credit of Troy. 
 
 But no decorations could compare with their own. 
 
 " That's a handsome bunch, missus," called Cai to a 
 very old woman, who, perched on a borrowed step- 
 ladder, was nailing a sheaf of pink valerian (local 
 name, " Pride of Troy ") over her door-lintel. " Let me 
 give 'ee a hand wi' that hammer," he offered , for her 
 hand shook pitiably. 
 
 "Ne'er a hand shall help me — thank 'ee all the 
 same," the old lady answered. " There, Cap'n ! . . .
 
 368 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 there's for Queen Victoria ! an' it's done, if I die to- 
 morrow." She tottered down to firm earth and gazed 
 up at the doorway, her head nodding. 
 
 " She've got to be in London to-morrow, of course. 
 . , . But what a pity she can't take a walk through 
 Troy too ! Main glad she'd be. . . . Oh, I know ! She 
 an' me was bom the same year." 
 
 Of the doings of next day — the great day ; of the 
 feasting, the cheering, the salvo-firing, the marching, 
 the counter - marching, the speechifying, the tea- 
 drinking, the dancing, the illuminations, the bon- 
 fires ; the tale may not be told here. Were they 
 not chronicled, by this hand, in a book apart ? And 
 does not the chronicle repose in the Troy Parish 
 Chest ? And may not a photograph of the famous 
 arch constructed by Captains Hocken and Hunken 
 be discovered therein some day by the curious ? 
 
 To be sure, Queen Victoria herself did not pass 
 beneath that arch. But there passed beneath that 
 arch many daughters who since have grown into 
 women and done virtuously, I hope. If not, I am 
 certain there was no lack of encouragement that day 
 in the honest, smiling faces of Captain Hocken and 
 Captain Hunken as they stood with proprietary mien, 
 one on either side of the roadway, and each with an 
 enormous red rose aglow in his button-hole. 
 
 Pulvis et unihra sumus — "The tumult and the 
 shouting dies." — A little before ten o'clock that night 
 Mr Middlecoat and Mrs Bosenna walked up through 
 the dark to Hioher Pare to see the bonfires. The
 
 JUBILEE 369 
 
 summit commanded a view of the coast from Dodman 
 to Rame, and inland to the high moors which form 
 the backbone of the county. Mrs Bosenna counted 
 eighteen fires : her lover could descry sixteen 
 only. 
 
 " But what does it matter ? " said he. They had 
 started the climb arm-in-arm : but by this time his 
 arm was about her waist. 
 
 "My eyes are sharper than yours, then," she 
 challenged. 
 
 "Very likely," he allowed. "Sure, they must be: 
 for come to think I reckoned 'em both in my list." 
 
 She laughed cosily. 
 
 " Shall we go over the ridge ? " he suggested. " We 
 may pick up one or two inland from my place." 
 
 " No," she answered, and mused for a while. " It's 
 strange to think our two farms are goin' to be one 
 henceforth. . . . The ridge has always seemed to 
 me such a barrier. But I'll not cross it to-night. 
 Good-bye ! " 
 
 " Nay, but you don't go back alone. I'll see you to 
 the door." 
 
 " Why ? I'm not afraid of ghosts." 
 
 But he insisted : and so, arm linked in arm, they 
 descended to Rilla, where the roses breathed their 
 scent on the night air. 
 
 Cai and 'Bias — the long day over — sat in Cai's 
 summer-house, overlooking the placid harbour. Loyal 
 candles yet burned in every window on the far shore 
 and scintillated their little time on the ripple of the 
 tide. Above shone and wheeled in their courses the 
 steady stars, to whom our royalties are less than a 
 
 2 a
 
 370 HOCKEN AND HUNKEN 
 
 pinch of dust in the meanest unseen planet that spins 
 within their range. 
 
 The door of the summer-house stood wide to the 
 night. Yet so breathless was the air that the candles 
 within (set by Mrs Bowldler on the table beside the 
 glasses and decanters) carried a flame as unwavering 
 as any star of the firmament. So the two friends sat 
 and smoked, and between their puffed tobacco-smoke 
 penetrated the dewy scents of the garden. Both 
 were out -tired with the day's labours; for both 
 were growing old. 
 
 "'Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou 
 excellest them all,' " murmured Cai. " 'Twas a noble 
 text we chose." 
 
 "Ay," responded 'Bias, drawing the pipe from his 
 lips. " She've kept a widow just thirty -six years. 
 An unusual time, I should say." 
 
 "Very," agreed Cai. 
 
 They gazed out into the quiet night, as though it 
 held all their future and they found it good. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS.
 
 " The name of BLACKWOOD on a novel is a guarantee of 
 good literature."- .SafurtfajK Review. 
 
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 Also Published in Oversea Editions, in paper 2S. 6d., 
 and cloth 3s. 6d. 
 
 Third Impression. 
 With Cover Design and Coloured Frontispiece by A. Pearse. 
 
 One Crowded Hour. 
 
 By SYDNEY C. GRIER, 
 
 Author of ' In Furthest Ind,' 'The Power of the Keys,' &c. 
 
 "Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife ! 
 To all the sensual world proclaim, 
 One crowded hour of glorious life 
 Is worth an age without a name." 
 
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 The Career of Kembole— 
 Nonconformist. 
 
 More Nonconform in the End than in the Beginning. 
 
 By ARTHUR FETTERLESS.
 
 A ROMANCE OF THE BALKANS. 
 
 Monsieur Carnifex. 
 
 By ALEXANDER CRAWFORD, 
 
 Author of ' Kapak.' 
 
 "Mr Crawford has succeeded in stirring us." — The Times. 
 
 " A stirring novel." — The Athenceum. 
 
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 Centene. 
 
 By H. GRAHAME RICHARDS, 
 
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 The 5econd City. 
 
 By W. J. ECCOTT, 
 
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 Illustrated Edition by A. Pearse. 
 1812— BADAJOZ, SALAMANCA, VITORIA— 1813. 
 
 A Youngf Man Married. 
 
 By SYDNEY C GRIER. 
 
 Pike and Carronade. 
 
 By Major G. F. MacMUNN, D.S.O, R.F.A. 
 
 Yarns from a Captain's Log. 
 
 By J. BOWLINE, Skipper, 
 
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 R. R. C. GREGORY, 
 
 Author of ' The Story of Royal Eltham.' 
 
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 Third Impression. 
 A ROMANCE OF THE MUTINY. 
 
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 A MAN'S MAN. 
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 CAPTAIN DESMOND, V.C. 
 
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 CANDLES IN THE WIND. 
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 SARACINESCA. 
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 JOHN CHILCOTE, M.P. 
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