"Didn"t go down with her?" repeated his wife scornfully. "What became of him, then? Where"s he been this thirty years?"
"In hiding!" said Pepper spitefully, and pa.s.sed hastily upstairs.
The room above was charged with memories of the late lamented. His portrait in oils hung above the mantel-piece, smaller portraits-specimens of the photographer"s want of art-were scattered about the room, while various personal effects, including a mammoth pair of sea-boots, stood in a corner. On all these articles the eye of Jackson Pepper dwelt with an air of chastened regret.
"It "ud be a rum go if he did turn up after all," he said to himself softly, as he sat on the edge of the bed. "I"ve heard of such things in books. I dessay she"d be disappointed if she did see him now. Thirty years makes a bit of difference in a man."
"Jackson!" cried his wife from below, "I"m going out. If you want any dinner you can get it; if not, you can go without it!"
The front door slammed violently, and Jackson, advancing cautiously to the window, saw the form of his wife sailing majestically up the pa.s.sage. Then he sat down again and resumed his meditations.
"If it wasn"t for leaving all my property I"d go," he said gloomily.
"There"s not a bit of comfort in the place! Nag, nag, nag, from morn till night! Ah, Cap"n Budd, you let me in for a nice thing when you went down with that boat of yours. Come back and fill them boots again; they"re too big for me."
He rose suddenly and stood gaping in the centre of the room, as a mad, hazy idea began to form in his brain. His eyes blinked and his face grew white with excitement. He pushed open the little lattice window, and sat looking abstractedly up the pa.s.sage on to the bay beyond. Then he put on his hat, and, deep in thought, went out.
He was still thinking deeply as he boarded the train for London next morning, and watched Sunset Bay from the window until it disappeared round the curve. So many and various were the changes that flitted over his face that an old lady, whose seat he had taken, gave up her intention of apprising him of the fact, and indulged instead in a bitter conversation with her daughter, of which the erring Pepper was the unconscious object.
In the same preoccupied fashion he got on a Bayswater omnibus, and waited patiently for it to reach Poplar. Strange changes in the landscape, not to be accounted for by the mere lapse of time, led to explanations, and the conductor-a humane man, who said he had got an idiot boy at home-personally laid down the lines of his tour. Two hours later he stood in front of a small house painted in many colours, and, ringing the bell, inquired for Cap"n Crippen.
In response to his inquiry, a big man, with light blue eyes and a long grey beard, appeared, and, recognising his visitor with a grunt of surprise, drew him heartily into the pa.s.sage and thrust him into the parlour. He then shook hands with him, and, clapping him on the back, bawled l.u.s.tily for the small boy who had opened the door.
"Pot o" stout, bottle o" gin, and two long pipes," said he, as the boy came to the door and eyed the ex-pilot curiously.
At all these honest preparations for his welcome the heart of Jackson grew faint within him.
"Well, I call it good of you to come all this way to see me," said the captain, after the boy had disappeared; "but you always was warm-hearted, Pepper. And how"s the missis?"
"Shocking!" said Pepper, with a groan.
"Ill?" inquired the captain.
"Ill-tempered," said Pepper. "In fact, cap"n, I don"t mind telling you, she"s killing me-slowly killing me!"
"Pooh!" said Crippen. "Nonsense! You don"t know how to manage her!"
"I thought perhaps you could advise me," said the artful Pepper. "I said to myself yesterday, "Pepper, go and see Cap"n Crippen. What he don"t know about wimmen and their management ain"t worth knowing! If there"s anybody can get you out of a hole, it"s him. He"s got the power, and, what"s more, he"s got the will!""
"What causes the temper?" inquired the captain, with his most judicial air, as he took the liquor from his messenger and carefully filled a couple of gla.s.ses.
"It"s natural!" said his friend ruefully. "She calls it having a high spirit herself. And she"s so generous. She"s got a married niece living in the place, and when that gal comes round and admires the things-my things-she gives "em to her! She gave her a sofa the other day, and, what"s more, she made me help the gal to carry it home!"
"Have you tried being sarcastic?" inquired the captain thoughtfully.
"I have," said Pepper, with a shiver. "The other day I said, very nasty, "Is there anything else you"d like, my dear?" but she didn"t understand it."
"No?" said the captain.
"No," said Pepper. "She said I was very kind, and she"d like the clock; and, what"s more, she had it too! Red-"aired hussy!"
The captain poured out some gin and drank it slowly. It was evident he was thinking deeply, and that he was much affected by his friend"s troubles.
"There is only one way for me to get clear," said Pepper, as he finished a thrilling recital of his wrongs, "and that is, to find Cap"n Budd, her first."
"Why, he"s dead!" said Crippen, staring hard. "Don"t you waste your time looking for him!"
"I"m not going to," said Pepper; "but here"s his portrait. He was a big man like you; he had blue eyes and a straight handsome nose, like you.
If he"d lived to now he"d be almost your age, and very likely more like you than ever. He was a sailor; you"ve been a sailor."
The captain stared at him in bewilderment.
"He had a wonderful way with wimmen," pursued Jackson hastily; "you"ve got a wonderful way with wimmen. More than that, you"ve got the most wonderful gift for acting I"ve ever seen. Ever since the time when you acted in that barn at Bristol I"ve never seen any actor I can honestly say I"ve liked-never! Look how you can imitate cats-better than Henry Irving himself!"
"I never had much chance, being at sea all my life," said Crippen modestly.
"You"ve got the gift," said Pepper impressively. "It was born in you, and you"ll never leave off acting till the day of your death. You couldn"t if you tried-you know you couldn"t!"
The captain smiled deprecatingly.
"Now, I want you to do a performance for my benefit," continued Pepper.
"I want you to act Cap"n Budd, what was lost in the Dolphin thirty years ago. There"s only one man in England I"d trust with the part, and that"s you."
"Act Cap"n Budd!" gasped the astonished Crippen, putting down his gla.s.s and staring at his friend.
"The part is written here," said the ex-pilot, producing a note-book from his breast pocket and holding it out to his friend. "I"ve been keeping a log day by day of all the things she said about him, in the hopes of catching her tripping, but I never did. There"s notes of his family, his ships, and a lot of silly things he used to say, which she thinks funny."
"I couldn"t do it!" said the captain seriously, as he took the book.
"You could do it if you liked," said Pepper. "Besides, think what a spree it"ll be for you. Learn it by heart, then come down and claim her.
Her name"s Martha."
"What good "ud it do you if I did?" inquired the captain. "She"d soon find out!"
"You come down to Sunset Bay," said Pepper, emphasising his remarks with his forefinger; "you claim your wife; you allude carefully to the things set down in this book; I give Martha back to you and bless you both.
Then"-
"Then what?" inquired Crippen anxiously.
"You disappear!" concluded Pepper triumphantly; "and, of course, believing her first husband is alive, she has to leave me. She"s a very particular woman; and, besides that, I"d take care to let the neighbours know. I"m happy, you"re happy, and, if she"s not happy, why, she don"t deserve to be."
"I"ll think it over," said Crippen, "and write and let you know."
"Make up your mind now," urged Pepper, reaching over and patting him encouragingly upon the shoulder. "If you promise to do it, the thing"s as good as done. Lord! I think I see you now, coming in at that door and surprising her. Talk about acting!"
"Is she what you"d call a good-looking woman?" inquired Crippen.
"Very handsome!" said Pepper, looking out of the window.