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But although I had yielded a seeming acquiescence to Miss Onslow's misguided wish to share my captivity should it be continued aboard the brig, it must not be supposed that I had any intention of lending myself to so terribly dangerous and mistaken a proceeding.
It was a whim of Miss Onslow's that our midday meal should be tiffin; dinner being reserved until the work of the day was over, when as the young lady sagely remarked we could both spare time to do due justice to the meal.
A moment later Miss Onslow's cabin-door opened for the space of half an inch, and the young lady thus addressed me through the chink: "Good-morning, Mr Conyers; I am glad to hear you whistling; it shows that your rest has done you good." "Thank you, yes," I answered; "I am feeling quite my old self again this morning. Were you able to get any rest?" "Yes indeed," was the reply.
He shifted his weight, uneasily, from leg to leg, two or three times, glanced uncomfortably from Miss Onslow's face to mine, removed a large quid of tobacco from his cheek and carefully deposited it in his cap, and betrayed many other symptoms of extreme awkwardness and perturbation of mind for a full minute or more without discovering a way of saying what he had to say; and so uncouthly ridiculous an exhibition did he make of himself that presently I detected a tremor of repressed laughter in the pressure of my companion's hand upon my arm, and a second or two later the young lady's risibility so far mastered her that she felt constrained to bury her face in her pocket-handkerchief under pretence of being troubled with a sudden fit of coughing.
And so convincingly did she argue that, despite my reluctance to acknowledge myself conquered, I at length gave in; being influenced chiefly thereto, not by Miss Onslow's arguments, but by the galling conviction that in this way only could I hope to save her from the violence with which the scoundrels had almost openly threatened her in the event of my non-compliance.
The concertinists played an arrangement of a quartet by Onslow. The working men and women of Wandsworth gaped, and those who sat near the door began to slip out. Even Miss McQuinch pitied them. "The idea of expecting them to be grateful for an infliction like that!" she said. "What do people of their class care about Onslow's quartets?"
The idea of devouring raw flesh seemed to me to be exceedingly repulsive and disgusting, but it was either that or nothing, and, realising the full truth of Miss Onslow's remark upon the importance of maintaining my strength, I persevered.
Again did I feel that terrible, overpowering sensation of murderous anger grip at my heart, as it had already done once before in an altercation with this brutal ruffian, the blood again mounted to my head like fire, and, reckless of all consequences, I was in the very act of pulling myself together for a spring at his throat, when I felt a small hand the touch of which thrilled me, even at that moment laid upon my arm, and Miss Onslow's voice pitched in its most seductive tones said: "Will you please come with me at once at once Mr Conyers?
So I went to work and instituted a thoroughly systematic search, beginning in the skipper's cabin having of course first obtained Miss Onslow's permission and there, stowed carefully away in a lock-up desk which, after some hesitation, I decided to break open I found the ship's papers intact, enclosed in a small tin case.
We discussed this topic at some length, with no very definite result, however; and finally, as it appeared to be exercising a distinctly depressing effect upon Miss Onslow's spirits, I changed the subject, and we made our way down to the boat again, and so aboard the brig.
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