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"Now then! what is it?" he asked, impatiently. "A letter, sir; and the person waits for an answer." Allan looked at the address. It was in a strange handwriting. He opened the letter, and a little note inclosed in it dropped to the ground. The note was directed, still in the strange handwriting, to "Mrs. Mandeville, 18 Kingsdown Crescent, Bayswater. Favored by Mr. Armadale."
I was sure of help, but we were indeed straitened. When I came to Kingsdown, I felt that I needed more exercise, being very cold; wherefore I went not the nearest way home, but round by Clarence Place.
Ball at the Marine. May 6th, went to see Thiers on the last evening. May 7th, dined with Mon, the Spanish ambassador. Home on the 8th. May 11th. Some of the Novar pictures were sold. I bought my Cuyp, small Claude, P. Veronese, Watts, Rubens' drawing, Palma Vecchio, and some small ones. I went there again in July. From Lord Kingsdown Torry Hill, June 26th.
I am sorry I cannot deliver the latter; but the state of our work in Chancery is such that the sittings cannot be well curtailed, even for an hour. Yours faithfully, CAIRNS. From Lord Kingsdown Torry Hill, July 30th.
In those times, and even recently, the Deal boatmen, including in that title the men of Walmer and Kingsdown, were said to number over 1000 men; and as there were no lightships around the Goodwin Sands till the end of the eighteenth century, there were vessels lost on them almost daily, and there were daily salvage jobs or 'hovels' and rescues of despairing crews; and what with the trade with the men-of-war, and the piloting and berthing of ships, there were abundant employment and much salvage for all the boatmen.
Prince of Wales' first levee. March 7th. The Princess of Wales entered London on her marriage. I saw it from the Board of Trade rooms on London Bridge. Took the Dempsters there. 27th. Adam, Lady Molesworth, Lord Kingsdown, and the Heads dined with us.
When I had the pleasure of seeing you at two o'clock to-day, in Kingsdown Crescent, I had another appointment in a distant part of London at three; and, in the hurry of the moment, one or two little matters escaped me which I think I ought to impress on your attention. The rest of the letter is not of the slightest importance, but the lines that I have just copied are well worthy of all the attention you can bestow on them.
Here in days gone by the samphire gatherer plied his 'dreadful trade, and, still from the wooded cliff 'the fishermen that walk upon the beach appear like mice. Like their Deal brethren, the hardy boatmen of Kingsdown live by piloting and fishing, and, like the Deal men, have much to do with the Goodwin Sands.
That Norse and Viking blood is to be found in the E. and S.E. coasts of England is tolerably certain. Tradition, as well as the physical characteristics of the people, go to support the belief that the inhabitants of the little picturesque village of Kingsdown, midway on the coast line between Deal and the South Foreland, are genuine 'Sons of the Vikings.
But at last, with difficulty, half of the living freight of the Sabrina was transferred to the Walmer lifeboat; and then both lifeboats luffing in through Trinity Swatch, by God's mercy, escaped the deadly Goodwins, and landed the rescued crew at Broadstairs. And the gallant deed is still sung by the Kingsdown children in simple village rhymes,
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