Hartley nodded, and they sat eying each other uneasily and waiting for the industrious Rosa to go. The captain got tired first, and throwing open the French windows slipped out into the garden and motioned to Hartley to follow.
"Joan wrote to you," he said, abruptly, as soon as they were out of earshot.
"Yes," said the other, stiffly.
"Understand, it wasn"t my fault," said the captain, warmly. "I wash my hands of it. I told her not to."
"Indeed!" said Hartley, with a faint attempt at sarcasm. "It was no concern of mine, of course."
The captain turned on him sharply, and for a moment scathing words hung trembling on his lips. He controlled himself by an effort.
"She wrote to you," he said, slowly, "and instead of waiting to see me, or communicating with me, you spread the news all over the place."
"Nothing of the kind," said Hartley. "As a matter of fact, it"s not a thing I am anxious to talk about. Up to the present I have only told Rosa."
"Only!" repeated the choking captain. "Only! Only told Rosa! Where was the town-crier? What in the name of common-sense did you want to tell her for?"
"She would have to be told sooner or later," said Hartley, staring at him, "and it seemed to me better to tell her before Joan came home. I thought Joan would prefer it; and if you had heard Rosa"s comments I think that you"d agree I was right."
The captain scarcely listened. "Well, it"s all over Salthaven by now,"
he said, resignedly.
He seated himself on the bench with his hands hanging loosely between his knees, and tried to think. In any case he saw himself held up to ridicule, and he had a strong feeling that to tell the truth now would precipitate a crisis between Vyner and his chief clerk. The former would probably make a fairly accurate guess at the circ.u.mstances responsible for the rumour, and act accordingly. He glanced at Hartley standing awkwardly before him, and, not without a sense of self-sacrifice, resolved to accept the situation.
"Yes; Rosa had to be told," he said, philosophically. "Fate again; you can"t avoid it."
Hartley took a turn or two up and down the path.
"The news came on me like a-like a thunderbolt," he said, pausing in front of the captain. "I hadn"t the slightest idea of such a thing, and if I say what I think-"
"Don"t!" interrupted the captain, warmly. "What"s the good?"
"When were you married?" inquired the other. "Where were you married?"
"Joan made all the arrangements," said the captain, rising hastily. "Ask her."
"But-" said the astonished Hartley.
"Ask her," repeated the captain, walking toward the house and flinging the words over his shoulder. "I"m sick of it."
He led the way into the dining-room and, at the other"s invitation, took a seat at the breakfast-table, and sat wondering darkly how he was to get through the two days before he sailed. Hartley, ill at ease, poured him out a cup of coffee and called his attention to the bacon-dish.
"I can"t help thinking," he said, as the captain helped himself and then pushed the dish toward him-"I can"t help thinking that there is something behind all this; that there is some reason for it that I don"t quite understand."
The captain started. "Never mind," he said, with gruff kindness.
"But I do mind," persisted the other. "I have got an idea that it has been done for the benefit-if you can call it that-of a third person."
The captain eyed him with benevolent concern. "Nonsense," he said, uneasily. "Nothing of the kind. We never thought of you."
"I wasn"t thinking of myself," said Hartley, staring; "but I know that Joan was uneasy about you, although she pretended to laugh at it. I feel sure in my own mind that she has done this to save you from Mrs.
Chinnery. If it hadn"t-"
He stopped suddenly as the captain, uttering a strange gasping noise, rose and stood over him. For a second or two the captain stood struggling for speech, then, stepping back with a suddenness that overturned his chair, he grabbed his cap from the sideboard and dashed out of the house. The amazed Mr. Hartley ran to the window and, with some uneasiness, saw his old friend pelting along at the rate of a good five miles an hour.
Breathing somewhat rapidly from his exertions, the captain moderated his pace after the first hundred yards, and went on his way in a state of mind pretty evenly divided between wrath and self-pity. He walked in thought with his eyes fixed on the ground, and glancing up, too late to avoid him, saw the harbour-master approaching.
Captain Trimblett, composing his features to something as near his normal expression as the time at his disposal would allow, gave a brief nod and would have pa.s.sed on. He found his way, however, blocked by sixteen stone of harbour-master, while a big, red, clean-shaven face smiled at him reproachfully.
"How are you?" said Trimblett, jerkily.
The harbour-master, who was a man of few words, made no reply. He drew back a little and, regarding the captain with smiling interest, rolled his head slowly from side to side.
"Well! Well! Well!" he said at last.
Captain Trimblett drew himself up and regarded him with a glance the austerity of which would have made most men quail. It affected the harbourmaster otherwise.
"C-ck!" he said, waggishly, and drove a forefinger like a petrified sausage into the other"s ribs.
The a.s.sault was almost painful, and, before the captain could recover, the harbour-master, having exhausted his stock of witticisms, both verbal and physical, pa.s.sed on highly pleased with himself.
It was only a sample of what the day held in store for the captain, and before it was half over he was reduced to a condition of raging impotence. The staff of Vyner and Son turned on their stools as one man as he entered the room, and regarded him open-eyed for the short time that he remained there. Mr. Vyner, senior, greeted him almost with cordiality, and, for the second time in his experience, extended a big white hand for him to shake.
"I have heard the news, captain," he said, in extenuation.
Captain Trimblett bowed, and in response to an expression of good wishes for his future welfare managed to thank him. He made his escape as soon as possible, and, meeting Robert Vyner on the stairs, got a fleeting glance and a nod which just admitted the fact of his existence.
The most popular man in Salthaven for the time being, he spent the best part of the day on board his ship, heedless of the fact that numerous acquaintances were scouring the town in quest of him. One or two hardy spirits even ventured on board, and, leaving with some haste, bemoaned, as they went, the change wrought by matrimony in a hitherto amiable and civil-spoken mariner.
The one drop of sweetness in his cup was the news that Mrs. Chinnery was away from home for a few days, and after carefully reconnoitring from the bridge of the Indian Chief that evening he set off to visit his lodgings. He reached Tranquil Vale unmolested, and, entering the house with a rather exaggerated air of unconcern, nodded to Mr. Truefitt, who was standing on the hearthrug smoking, and hung up his cap. Mr.
Truefitt, after a short pause, shook hands with him.
"She"s away," he said, in a deep voice.
"She? Who?" faltered the captain.
"Susanna," replied Mr. Truefitt, in a deeper voice still.
The captain coughed and, selecting a chair with great care, slowly seated himself.
"She left you her best wishes," continued Mr. Truefitt, still standing, and still regarding him with an air of severe disapproval.
"Much obliged," murmured the captain.
"She would do it," added Mr. Truefitt, crossing to the window and staring out at the road with his back to the captain. "And she said something about a silver-plated b.u.t.ter-dish; but in the circ.u.mstances I said "No." Miss Willett thought so too."
"How is Miss Willett?" inquired the captain, anxious to change the subject.
"All things considered, she"s better than might be expected," replied Mr. Truefitt, darkly.