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Mr Widger of Callington, Mr Sam Nicholls of St Neot Captain Hocken." Cai's cheeks in rosiness emulated those of the two men with whom he shook hands. "Captain Hocken," she explained to them, "takes a great interest in education." For a moment it struck Cai that the pair, on hearing this, eyed him suspiciously; but his brain was in a whirl, and he might easily have been mistaken.
But Cap'n Hunken it was: for to make certain I called and had a drink o' cider with Farmer Middlecoat, t'other side of the hill, an' he'd seen your friend frequent these last few weeks. . . . There now, you don't seem pleased about it! an' yet 'twould be a very good match for him, if it came off." Cai's head was whirling.
And 'Bias's thought, ignoring it all, had been to sit beside this man's calamity, on the merest chance of piercing it with one ray of comfort! Whereupon, as goodness takes inspiration from goodness, in Cai's heart, too, a miracle happened, He forgot himself, forgot his loss which was 'Bias's gain: forgot that, keeping his surly attitude, 'Bias had uttered neither a "thank you" nor a word of pity.
Captain Cai hailed, and made across at once for the invalid chair: for Mr Rogers was his man of business. "Lost no time in reportin' myself, you see." Mr Rogers managed to lift his hand a little way to meet Captain Cai's grasp. "Eh? Eh? I've been moored here since breakfast on the look-out for 'ee." He spoke indistinctly by reason of his paralysis.
But while delighting in this labour, Mr Benny was at any time ready, nay eager, for a chat. At Cai's entrance he pushed up his spectacles and beamed. "Ah, good morning, Captain Hocken! Good morning! I take this as really friendly. . . . You find me wooing the Muses as usual; up and early.
For, I don't mind tellin' you, when he talked about your enterin' public life I dropped a hint to him." "'Bias Hunken isn' the only friend I have in the world," answered Cai, with a sudden flush. "I hope not," said Mr Rogers. "There's me, f'r instance: an' you've heard my opinion. That ought to be good enough for him eh, child?" he turned to Fancy, who had been watching Cai's face with interest.
Mrs Bosenna opened her dark eyes wide; and turned them interrogatively upon Dinah. "Letters?" "Letters?" repeated Dinah, taking her cue. Relief broke like a sun-burst over Cai's face. "But perhaps you don't read your letters, ma'am, until after breakfast? And, if so, we're in time." "What letters?" asked Mrs Bosenna. "They've surely been delivered, ma'am?
Captain Cai's first impulse was to search around for a rack whereon to stow a telescope: his next, to run to the party-wall and hoist himself high enough to scan his friend's garden. Yes! 'Bias, too, had a summer-house; not precisely similar in shape, however. Its roof was a lean-to, and its frontage narrower; but of this Captain Cai could not be sure.
"And now, Peter Bussa, what d'ye say to running off and annoying somebody else?" The Quaymaster fawned, and was backing away. But at this point up came Barber Toy, who for some minutes had been fretting to attract Captain Cai's notice, and could wait no longer. "Hulloa, there! "Well, home you be, it seems, an' welcome as flowers in May!" "Thank 'ee, Toy." Captain Cai shook hands.
Cai and 'Bias the long day over sat in Cai's summer-house, overlooking the placid harbour. Loyal candles yet burned in every window on the far shore and scintillated their little time on the ripple of the tide. Above shone and wheeled in their courses the steady stars, to whom our royalties are less than a pinch of dust in the meanest unseen planet that spins within their range.
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