Part 19 (1/2)
”Dere, dat Saint David's.”
Somehow or other they had expected to see only a Mr and Mrs Bradshaw.
Their surprise was considerable when they met with a reception not unlike that at Trinidad, from a matronly dame and a number of young damsels; except that they did not claim Adair as a relation.
”We were expecting Mr Murray, and regret not seeing him, but his brother officers are most welcome,” said Mrs Bradshaw, when she had glanced at Alick's letter.
She then introduced the two lieutenants by name to her eldest daughter f.a.n.n.y, and to her three little girls, as she called them, but though the youngest was barely thirteen, they all looked like grown women. Adair was quickly at home with them, answering the questions they showered on him. Jack remained talking to Mrs Bradshaw and f.a.n.n.y. He mentioned Murray's anxiety about the O'Regans.
”I fear that he has good reason to be anxious,” answered Mrs Bradshaw.
”The colonel promised to bring his daughter here long ago, and we were expecting to see her, when we heard that he had carried her off on another of his wild expeditions. He wrote word from Antigua that he intended to be but a short time away, so that they may possibly arrive in a day or two. We long to have her safe with us, for though f.a.n.n.y is the only one who knows her, as they were at a finis.h.i.+ng school together in England, from the account she gives we are all prepared to love her.”
”Yes, indeed,” exclaimed f.a.n.n.y. ”She was a delightful creature, the pet and darling of the school, one of the youngest among us; and I should never have supposed that she would have been able to go through what she has done since.”
While they were speaking Mr Bradshaw arrived--a stout, bald-headed, middle-aged gentleman, with ruddy countenance, dressed in nankin trousers, white jacket, and broad-brimmed straw hat, which he doffed as he approached the strangers, glancing from one to the other; and then, having settled in his mind that Jack Rogers was Alick Murray, shook his hand, which he grasped with the greatest warmth.
”Happy to welcome you to Saint David's, my dear sir; only wish that our expected friends were here also. A great disappointment to us, and to you likewise, I feel sure, eh!” and he gave a facetious look at Jack, as much as to say. ”I know all about it.”
”My dear, this gentleman is Lieutenant Rogers. Mr Murray has been unable to come up,” said Mrs Bradshaw; and she explained how matters stood.
Jack thought that he ought to speak of going back. Mr Bradshaw laughed at the notion.
”Utterly out of the question. Stay a week, or as long as you have leave. Send your shanredan back to-morrow morning, and I'll drive you down in my buggy when you have to go.”
Thus pressed, Jack confessed that he and Adair had brought their carpet-bags, not knowing where they might have to put up, and accepted the invitation for the night; but said that, on Murray's account, they must return the next day to see him before he sailed, and to tell him what they had heard respecting Colonel and Miss O'Regan.
”You may a.s.sure your friend that he will ever be welcome here, and I hope that we shall have the young lady with us when he returns,”
answered Mr Bradshaw. ”I will not say the same with regard to her impracticable father, for, between you and I, the farther he is away from her the better. I am no admirer of his wild, harum-scarum schemes, though he is individually a brave and honourable man; and had he not foolishly quarrelled with the authorities at home, he would never have lacked employment under the flag of England, instead of knocking his head against stone walls in quarrels not his own.”
These remarks of the worthy planter explained Colonel O'Regan's character to Jack more clearly than anything he had before heard. He had before entertained some unpleasant suspicions on the subject. They were confirmed, and he now only hoped that Murray would not, should he marry Stella, be induced to join any of her father's schemes. Of that, however, if cautioned, he did not think there was much risk. Had Terence been the favoured lover the case would have been different, for, enthusiastic himself, he might easily have been won over by the colonel's persuasive powers. Dinner was soon announced. Jack and Terence, who were very hungry, did ample justice to the solids as well as to the numerous West Indian delicacies and rich fruits pressed on them by their fair hostesses--the shaddocks, the mangos, and, above all, the granadillos, which were p.r.o.nounced like strawberries and cream, but superior to any such mixture ever tasted in Europe. They enjoyed, too, a most pleasant evening, several friends having come in, among them Mr and Mrs Raven, nice young people, full of life and spirits. Mrs Raven was glad, she said, to make the acquaintance of Lieutenant Murray's brother officers, of whom she had heard from her mother, Mrs Houghton, and only regretted that he himself was unable to come.
”However,” she added, ”we may hope to see him frequently by-and-by, on his return from his cruise.”
They had dancing, of course, as young people never think of meeting in the West Indies without it; and some delightful music, for the younger girls had been taught by f.a.n.n.y, who was highly accomplished. Mr Bradshaw observed that they did pretty well considering that they had not the advantages of their elder sister. Times were changed in Jamaica, and he could not afford to pay three hundred a year for the education of each of them, as he had done for her.
”No; but they are better housekeepers, and understand far more about preserving and pickling than she does, and there is not a bird or a flower on the estate, or, indeed, in any part of the island, with which they are not acquainted,” remarked Mrs Bradshaw, with motherly pride.
”Thanks to f.a.n.n.y, too, they are really, considering their ages, not so very much behind her in book knowledge. We need not regret having kept them with us.”
”I agree in all you say, Mrs B,” rejoined her husband, rubbing his hands and laughing; ”and as I am eighteen hundred pounds the richer, or, let me see, in three years, with the addition of their voyages and dress, the cost of sending them home would have amounted to three thousand or more. I do not complain, I a.s.sure you.”
The young officers listened with surprise, and not a little amus.e.m.e.nt, at this eulogium on the young ladies, and the accompanying remarks-- uttered they believed correctly without any ulterior object. It gave them some idea of the expense to which West Indian parents were put for the education of their girls, of which they before had no conception.
”Faith! more than double a lieutenant's pay,” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Terence, as he was turning in at night. ”If he would make that allowance to f.a.n.n.y, the eldest of the three, I'd do my best to win her before the s.h.i.+p sails. I can't stand it, Jack. I must either stay aboard and do duty for Cherry, or never set eyes on these houris again, or knock under to one or the other.”
”'There's luck in odd numbers, says Rory O'More,'” answered Jack, from his side of the room. ”You divided your attention very fairly among the young ladies, and depend on it they will as easily forget us as we shall get them out of our heads, by the time we have been a few days at sea; so don't bother yourself about the matter, Paddy, but go to sleep.”
Whether or not Terence followed his advice Jack could not tell, for he himself very soon went off into a sound slumber. The house was astir at daybreak, and not long after the white dresses and broad-brimmed straw hats of the young ladies were seen in the garden amid the fragrant flowers, with glittering humming-birds and gorgeous b.u.t.terflies, flitting about in all directions. The lieutenants speedily joined them.
Jack's wise resolutions were almost overcome. He had made up his mind to take leave after breakfast. They looked so bright and happy; the air was so fresh, the flowers so sweet. He and Terence could not fail to spend a pleasant day, but then he remembered Murray, who would be anxiously looking for their return.