Part 28 (1/2)
”And you too, Mr Oldfield?”
”Well, I am at present,” replied the other, colouring; ”and I hope to continue so.”
”Ah, then, I suppose you've never signed the pledge.”
”No; more's the pity.”
”Oh, Mayster Frank,” interposed Jacob, ”you promised me, when you were so ill, as you'd sign when you got better.”
”And so I will; but it's no use signing for the first time now, when I'm going home in a total abstinence s.h.i.+p. I'll join some society at home.
Our good rector's, for instance. Yes; I'll join his, and my name and example will be really of some use then.”
”Excuse me, Mr Oldfield, pressing you on the subject, but I hope you'll allow me the privilege of an old friend,” said the captain. ”I feel so very strongly on the matter. I've seen so very much mischief done from putting off; and if a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing at once; take my advice--'There's no time like the present;' 'Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day;' these are two good proverbs. I've found them of immense value in my line of life.”
”Yes; they're very good proverbs, no doubt,” said Frank, laughing; ”but there are some as good, perhaps, on the other side, though you won't think so; for instance, 'Second thoughts are best,' and 'Better late than never.'”
”True, Mr Oldfield; but 'late' often runs into never.”
Frank made a gay, evasive reply, and turned hastily away, leaving Jacob to arrange some matters in his cabin, while he went himself on sh.o.r.e.
He was loitering about among the warehouses till Jacob should join him, when a figure which seemed familiar to him approached, in earnest conversation with another man, but he could not see the face of either distinctly. After a while they parted, and the man whom he seemed to recognise was left alone, and turned towards him. But could it really be? Dare he believe his eyes? Yes; there could be no mistake, it was indeed Juniper Graves. That rather reckless character was, however, much more spruce in his appearance, and better dressed, than when in Frank Oldfield's service. There was an a.s.sumption of the fine gentleman about him, which made him look ludicrously contemptible, and had Frank not been roused to furious indignation at the sight of him, he could hardly have refrained from a violent outburst of merriment at the absurd airs and graces of his former servant. As it was, breathless with wrath, his eyes flas.h.i.+ng, and his face in a crimson glow, he rushed upon the object of his just resentment, and, seizing him by the collar, exclaimed in a voice of suppressed pa.s.sion,--
”You--you confounded scoundrel! you rascally thief! So I've caught you at last. I'll make very short work with _you_, you ungrateful villain.”
Then he paused for a moment, and shaking him violently, added,--
”What have you to say for yourself, why I shouldn't hand you over at once to the police?”
Nothing could be more whimsically striking than the contrast between Juniper Graves' grand and jaunty bearing a moment before, and his present utter crawling abjectness. He became white with terror, and looked the very picture of impotent cowardice. But this was but for a minute; then his self-possession returned to him. He felt that, if his master gave him over immediately in charge to the police, everything was lost; but if he could only get a hearing for a few minutes, before any further step was taken, he was persuaded that he could manage to stem the torrent that was bearing against him, especially as, fortunately for him, Frank Oldfield and himself were alone. His first object, therefore, was to gain time.
”Oh, Mr Frank, Mr Frank!” he cried beseechingly, ”spare me--spare me-- you don't know all--you're labouring under a great misapplication; if you only knew all, you'd think very indifferently of me.”
”That's just what I do now,” said the other, smiling in spite of himself. Juniper saw the smile. He was satisfied that his case was not hopeless.
”Pray, Mr Frank,” he said humbly and softly, ”pray do take your hand off my coat; there's no need, sir--I shan't try to escape, sir--I'll follow you as impressively as a lamb--only give me time, and I'll explain all.”
”Indeed!” exclaimed Frank; ”do you mean to tell me that you'll explain back my fifty pounds into my pocket again?”
”Yes, sir, and more besides, if you'll only be patient and hear me.
Thank you, sir. If you'll just step in here, sir, I hope to be able to explain all to your satisfaction.”
They entered a little office connected with a weighing-machine, which happened to be vacant at the time.
”Now, mind,” said Frank Oldfield, when they were shut in alone, ”I'll have a straightforward statement, without any prevarication, or I give you over at once into custody. If you can't clear yourself, and I don't see how you possibly can, there's the jail before you, the only place you're fit for.”
”I'm quite aware, sir, that appearances are against me,” said the other meekly; ”but, Mr Frank, you'll not refuse to listen to your old servant, that's devoted himself so faithfully to you and yours in England, and came across the seas just because he couldn't abide to be separated from you any longer.”
”Come, sir,” said Frank Oldfield sternly; ”I'm not to be talked over in this way. You weren't so very anxious to avoid separation when you left me on a sick-bed, and made off with my fifty pounds. Come, sir, give me your explanation, as you call it, at once, and without any nonsense about your faithfulness to me and mine, or I shall put the prison-door between you and me, and that'll be a separation you'll not get over so easily.”
”But you haven't heard me, sir; you haven't heard all. You don't know what I have to say in attenuation of my offence.”
”I mayn't have heard all, Juniper, but I've both heard and seen about you a great deal more than I like; so let me warn you again, I must have a plain, straightforward statement. What have you done with my money, and how can you justify your abandoning me in my illness?”