In Strange Company

e point where I became personally interested in it. That time, he tells me, has now arrived, and so it comes to pass that I find myself sitting before a

p which resulted in my being concerned in what I shall always call that "Chilian Mystery." For, had I proved an apt writer, I should in all probability have made a good clerk; and had I turned out a good clerk, I should

it is always best, according to my way of thinking, to begin at the very beginning, I may perhaps b

ire, where my father was a country doctor. He, poor man, had the misfortune to be peculiarly devoted to his pr

the hill-tops, dripping trees, and a still more dismal procession, winding its way along the high-road, unrelieved by any touch of colour. And, incongruously enough, the whole recollection is heightened

customed to get my own way at all times and seasons, this maternal abandonment was a proceeding I could not appreciate. I evinced, I believe, a decided objection to saying farewell to her, and I know I found only inadequate consolation in either the ancient dame who kept the school (wh

drawing-board; a precocity at ten years which was plainly held to foreshadow my certain ultimate arrival at the condemned cell and the gallows. After that, from the age of ten until fifteen, I drifted from school to school,

, if allowed to remain any longer with boys younger than myself, I was taken away and carried to London, in order that my mother mig

next morning went by omnibus into the city to disc

s I crossed the threshold behind my mother, to await an audience with this mysterious Sir Benjamin. It was one thing, I discovered, to be the cock of a

this way." Thereupon my mother gathered up her impedimenta, including a reticule, a small black handbag, an umbrella, a shawl, a paper bag of sponge-cakes

ression of Sir Benjamin. At the date of our visit he was on the hither side of fifty, of medium height, stout and bald, with curly white whiskers

llow,-like his father about the mouth,-too old to be idling about country towns, getting into mischief, and deriving a false idea of his own impo

nt who had ushered us into his presence; whereupon Sir Benjamin bade us farewell, promising to communicate with my mother on the s

e had just undergone, I suppose; and here my mother, in the middle of the Egyptian Department, surrounded by evidences of an extinct civil

s own office, at a salary of ten shillings a week. I must leave you to picture my sensations. Surely no possessor of an autograph letter from the throne itself could have been

the expectations I had formed regarding it. The hours were long, the supervision was constant and irksome, the superiority of the other clerks humiliating, while the personal attention an

mong them I reckoned that of carrying letters and papers to the docks, where the ship

and, I have no doubt now, making myself a complete and insufferable nuisance generally. Perhaps that was why, throughout my sailoring career, I had always a sneaking sympathy with boys who boarded us, and asked permission to look round. At any rate, I am convinced that those journeys we

y own. My mother was prepared in some manner for the blow, for she certainly could not have failed to notice the way my inclinations tended; so when I broached the subject she offered no o

er life, she visited Sir Benjamin, and the fol

d his table. "Now you know your own business best, but remember it's a hard life, more kicks than halfpence; and what is worse, I c

ideration to the matter, and would have gone on to say th

d Line as soon as I can see about it. You'll probably be surprised to hear that I think you're a fool, but I supp

ged that I should desert Sir Benjamin's employment at the end of the month, and after that I was confident my real career would commence. It is, I think, one of the most wonderful things in our poor human nature, that we should always look forward to the future with so much confidence, PROportionately the more when we have perhaps the least justifica

ters. About four o'clock in the afternoon, therefore, the chief clerk sent for me, and giving into my care a small des

or bell, and requested the dignified butler to inform me if I could see his master. Saying he would find out, he ushered

swaddled leg. Beside him was seated a young lady I had never seen bef

not permit. Having received the papers from my hands, he turned to

leman who is forsaking the East India Avenue to distinguish him

apers I had brought, and I was left f

ot mean to infer by this that she was an extraordinarily beautiful girl, for though I have heard people go into ecstasies about that, her charm lay not so much in her face as in her voice and manner.

main quietly in Sir Benjamin's office, where I might have found other opportunities of improving my acquaintance with his charming daughter. It was certainly the iron

did my uniform almost satisfy me, but that on my first day of wearing it (and you may be sure, like most youths, I seized the opportunity as soon as it presented its

emained under our roof I cannot recall, but I remember that when she

ing up of a life's character! Is it not a time of high ambitions, of pure intentions, of great resolves,-when not to succeed is a thing impossible? A perio

East India Docks. My mother came to see me off, and her tears and parting blessing opened my eye

gland to a certain extent tired of Father Ocean, but very proud of my position as third mate. I was then, to all intents and purposes, a man, six feet

out, retaining those I most admired for my mother herself, and setting apart those I did not care very much about for transmission to any relatives and acquaintances she might think worthy of the noti

her, at my mother's desire, a little way upon her homeward road. Now I'm not vain enough to think that she was already in love with me (the sin of conceit cannot at least be laid to my charge), but I'm certain, and even she he

siting China, Australia, and both North and South America in so doing, but had pass

kating is an amusement of which I have always been fond, though naturally in my profession I did not get many opportu

over to where I sat taking off my skates, and added an expression of his gratitude. Somehow his face seemed strangely familiar to me, and it was not long before I recognized in him a nephew of Sir Benjamin Plowden, with whom I had been slightly acquainted in by-go

his invitation. It was altogether a brilliant affair, and as there was dancing, and Captain Plowden (for

yself known to Sir Benjamin (for I had altered so much since my last interview with him that I doubt very much if he would have known me else) was the work of an instant, and before a spectator c

do not know. I was only conscious that I was dancing with Maud, that I held her in my arms, that I was looking into her face and listening to h

r beyond the fact that just before supper I blurted out a question which had be

as considerably past two o'clock when I reached home, what must I do but wake the mother up to tell her my glorious tidings; and I know

or the city. Arriving at the house, I was shown into the morning-room, and I had not been there two minutes before Maud entered. If she had appeared adorable th

ow every one calls me Jack-"how

her a matter for sha

, a rueful face; "and though I know him so well, I feel for all the world

could not help it, Jack; you see I have no mother to advise

hat did he say to it?" I asked this rather anxiously. "I know he wo

ve, correctly termed a lit

t then perhaps it's quite natural; you see, I'm his only child, and-well, he's

whether it would prove of very much interest here. It was accomplished only just in time

ased. I cannot, however, conscientiously say that his greeting was any the less sincere, but his tone was a little more curt, and his d

y, that my daughter has told me of

ified that I wa

was, of course, quite aware that Maud would be likely to marry sooner or later, but somehow I had never brou

rted to try and convince him that my offer had nothing wh

y of a young man, five-and-twenty years of age, mate of a sailing ship, with nothing but his pay to depend upon, who proposed to a rich me

, but I made shi

w much money she had if he really loved

fed sco

arriage, what are your intentions then? Are you going to remain at sea, and leave your wife unprotected ashore, or are you going to aba

for he rose and came over to me. Putting his hand on my shoulde

you're a steady, honest young fellow, and a credit to your calling; what is more, I know you love my gi

stened to say, "how can

ow you behave. If I know that you work hard, and do your best to advance in your profession, it will be something for me to go upon, and I may eventually find s

bbled from the room, leaving me a good deal more relieved t

s convinced me more and more of the wisdom of my choice. But, like the school-boy's Black Monday, the fatal day of parting had to come; and, ac