favour to me, since you declare yourself indebted—I beg of you, wait for one hour!”
There was a silence. Mr Colley saw me and bowed gravely. He turned back to Mr Summers.
“Very well, sir. I accept your advice.”
The gentlemen bowed once again, Mr Colley came towards me so we bowed to each other! Versailles couldhave done no better! Then the gentleman descended the ladder. It was too much! A new curiosity mingled with my Shakespearean purposes for him. Good God, thought I, the whole southern hemisphere has got itself an archbishop ! I hurried after him and caught him as he was about to enter our lobby.
“Mr Colley!”
“Sir?”
“I have long wished to be better acquainted with you but owing to an unfortunate indisposition the occasion has not presented itself—”
His mug split with a grin. He swept off his hat, clasped it to his stomach and bowed, or sinuously reverenced over it. The archbishop diminished to a country curate—no, to a hedge priest. My contempt returned and quenched my curiosity. But I remembered how much Zenobia might stand in need of his services and that I should keep him in reserve —or as the Navy would say— in ordinary !
“Mr Colley. We have been too long unacquainted. Will you not take a turn with me on deck?”
It was extraordinary. His face, burned and blistered as it was by exposure to the tropic sun, reddened even more, then as suddenly paled. I swear that tears stood in his eyes! His Adam’s apple positively danced up and down beneath and above his bands!
“Mr Talbot, sir—words cannot—I have long desired—but at such a moment—this is worthy of you and your noble patron—this is generous—this is Christian charity in its truest meaning—God bless you, Mr Talbot!”
Once more he performed his sinuous and ducking bow, retired a yard or two backwards, ducked again as if leaving the presence, then disappeared into his hutch.
I heard a contemptuous exclamation above me, glanced up and saw Mr Prettiman gazing down at us over the forrard rail of the quarterdeck. He bounced away again outof sight. But for the moment I spared him no attention. I was still confounded by the remarkable effect of my words on Colley. My appearance is that of a gentleman and I am suitably dressed. I have some height and perhaps—I say no more than perhaps—consciousness of my future employment may have added more dignity to my bearing than is customary in one of my years! In which case, sir, you are obliquely to be blamed for—but I wrote earlier did I not that I would not continue to trouble you with my gratitude? To resume then, there was nothing about me to warrant this foolish fellow treating me as a Royal! I paced between the break of the quarterdeck and the mainmast for half an hour, perhaps to rid myself of that same stricture of the brows, and pondered this ridiculous circumstance. Something had happened and I did not know what it was—something, I saw, during the ship’s entertainment while I was so closely engaged with the Delicious Enemy! What it was, I could not tell, nor why it should make my recognition of Mr Colley more than ordinarily delightful to him. And Lieutenant Summers had discharged Mr Prettiman’s blunderbuss without injuring anyone! That seemed like an extraordinary failure on the part of a fighting seaman ! It was a great mystery and puzzle; yet the man’s evident gratitude for my attentions—it was annoying that I could not demand a solution to the mystery from the gentlemen or officers, for it would not be politic to reveal an ignorance based on a pleasant preoccupation with a member of the Sex. I could not at once think how to go on. I returned to our lobby, proposing to go into the saloon and discover if I could by attending to casual conversations the source of Mr Colley ’s extreme gratitude and dignity. But as I entered the lobby Miss Brocklebank hurried out of her hutch and detained me with a hand on my arm.
“Mr
There was a silence. Mr Colley saw me and bowed gravely. He turned back to Mr Summers.
“Very well, sir. I accept your advice.”
The gentlemen bowed once again, Mr Colley came towards me so we bowed to each other! Versailles couldhave done no better! Then the gentleman descended the ladder. It was too much! A new curiosity mingled with my Shakespearean purposes for him. Good God, thought I, the whole southern hemisphere has got itself an archbishop ! I hurried after him and caught him as he was about to enter our lobby.
“Mr Colley!”
“Sir?”
“I have long wished to be better acquainted with you but owing to an unfortunate indisposition the occasion has not presented itself—”
His mug split with a grin. He swept off his hat, clasped it to his stomach and bowed, or sinuously reverenced over it. The archbishop diminished to a country curate—no, to a hedge priest. My contempt returned and quenched my curiosity. But I remembered how much Zenobia might stand in need of his services and that I should keep him in reserve —or as the Navy would say— in ordinary !
“Mr Colley. We have been too long unacquainted. Will you not take a turn with me on deck?”
It was extraordinary. His face, burned and blistered as it was by exposure to the tropic sun, reddened even more, then as suddenly paled. I swear that tears stood in his eyes! His Adam’s apple positively danced up and down beneath and above his bands!
“Mr Talbot, sir—words cannot—I have long desired—but at such a moment—this is worthy of you and your noble patron—this is generous—this is Christian charity in its truest meaning—God bless you, Mr Talbot!”
Once more he performed his sinuous and ducking bow, retired a yard or two backwards, ducked again as if leaving the presence, then disappeared into his hutch.
I heard a contemptuous exclamation above me, glanced up and saw Mr Prettiman gazing down at us over the forrard rail of the quarterdeck. He bounced away again outof sight. But for the moment I spared him no attention. I was still confounded by the remarkable effect of my words on Colley. My appearance is that of a gentleman and I am suitably dressed. I have some height and perhaps—I say no more than perhaps—consciousness of my future employment may have added more dignity to my bearing than is customary in one of my years! In which case, sir, you are obliquely to be blamed for—but I wrote earlier did I not that I would not continue to trouble you with my gratitude? To resume then, there was nothing about me to warrant this foolish fellow treating me as a Royal! I paced between the break of the quarterdeck and the mainmast for half an hour, perhaps to rid myself of that same stricture of the brows, and pondered this ridiculous circumstance. Something had happened and I did not know what it was—something, I saw, during the ship’s entertainment while I was so closely engaged with the Delicious Enemy! What it was, I could not tell, nor why it should make my recognition of Mr Colley more than ordinarily delightful to him. And Lieutenant Summers had discharged Mr Prettiman’s blunderbuss without injuring anyone! That seemed like an extraordinary failure on the part of a fighting seaman ! It was a great mystery and puzzle; yet the man’s evident gratitude for my attentions—it was annoying that I could not demand a solution to the mystery from the gentlemen or officers, for it would not be politic to reveal an ignorance based on a pleasant preoccupation with a member of the Sex. I could not at once think how to go on. I returned to our lobby, proposing to go into the saloon and discover if I could by attending to casual conversations the source of Mr Colley ’s extreme gratitude and dignity. But as I entered the lobby Miss Brocklebank hurried out of her hutch and detained me with a hand on my arm.
“Mr
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