Part 5 (2/2)
”Of course not,” a.s.sented the captain, ”it could not be `funny' nohow, because `funny' don't rhyme with `despair;' besides, lots o' women ain't funny a bit, an' if they was, that's no reason why a man should die for 'em; what _is_ the word, la.s.s?”
”What am _I_?” asked Minnie, with an arch smile, as she pa.s.sed her fingers through the cl.u.s.tering ma.s.ses of her beautiful hair.
”An angel, beyond all doubt,” said the gallant captain, with a burst of sincerity which caused Minnie to blush and then to laugh.
”You're incorrigible, captain, and you are so stupid that it's of no use trying to teach you.”
Mrs Brand--who listened to this conversation with an expression of deep anxiety on her meek face, for she could not get rid of her first idea that her brother was going to marry--here broke in with the question--
”When is it to be, brother?”
”When is what to be, sister?”
”The--the marriage.”
”I tell you I _ain't_ a-goin' to marry,” repeated the captain; ”though why a stout young feller like me, just turned sixty-four, _shouldn't_ marry, is more than I can see. You know the old proverbs, la.s.s--`It's never too late to marry;' `Never ventur', never give in;' `John Anderson my jo John, when we was first--first--'”
”Married,” suggested Minnie.
”Just so,” responded the captain, ”and everybody knows that _he_ was an old man. But no, I'm not goin' to marry; I'm only goin' to give up my house, sell off the furniture, and come and live with _you_.”
”Live with me!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Mrs Brand.
”Ay, an' why not? What's the use o' goin' to the expense of two houses when one'll do, an' when we're both raither scrimp o' the ready? You'll just let me have the parlour. It never was a comf'rable room to sit in, so it don't matter much your givin' it up; it's a good enough sleepin'
and smokin' cabin, an' we'll all live together in the kitchen. I'll throw the whole of my treemendous income into the general purse, always exceptin' a few odd coppers, which I'll retain to keep me a-goin' in baccy. We'll sail under the same flag, an' sit round the same fire, an'
sup at the same table, and sleep in the same--no, not exactly that, but under the same roof-tree, which'll be a more hoconomical way o' doin'
business, you know; an' so, old girl, as the song says--
”`Come an' let us be happy together, For where there's a will there's a way, An' we won't care a rap for the weather So long as there's nothin' to pay.'”
”Would it not be better to say, `so long as there's _something_ to pay?'” suggested Minnie.
”No, la.s.s, it _wouldn't_,” retorted the captain. ”You're too fond of improvin' things. I'm a stanch old Tory, I am. I'll stick to the old flag till all's blue. None o' your changes or improvements for me.”
This was a rather bold statement for a man to make who improved upon almost every line he ever quoted; but the reader is no doubt acquainted with parallel instances of inconsistency in good men even in the present day.
”Now, sister,” continued Captain Ogilvy, ”what d'ye think of my plan?”
”I like it well, brother,” replied Mrs Brand with a gentle smile.
”Will you come soon?”
”To-morrow, about eight bells,” answered the captain promptly.
This was all that was said on the subject. The thing was, as the captain said, settled off-hand, and accordingly next morning he conveyed such of his worldly goods as he meant to retain possession of to his sister's cottage--”the new s.h.i.+p”, as he styled it. He carried his traps on his own broad shoulders, and the conveyance of them cost him three distinct trips.
They consisted of a huge sea-chest, an old telescope more than a yard long, and cased in leather; a quadrant, a hammock, with the bedding rolled up in it, a tobacco-box, the enormous old Family Bible in which the names of his father, mother, brothers, and sisters were recorded; and a brown teapot with half a lid. This latter had belonged to the captain's mother, and, being fond of it, as it reminded him of the ”old ooman”, he was wont to mix his grog in it, and drink the same out of a teacup, the handle of which was gone, and the saucer of which was among the things of the past.
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