Major Vigoureux

t a hand to open a glass-fronted cupboard in which he kept his bo

is, when her maid, last night, handed me the letter telling me she had gone ashore, I sa

, "but I have breakfasted. If you don't mind-it occurs to me that, if I delay, some of your pass

r, "though I expect the luggage is all in your boat befor

his house-the Barracks-stoo

he least I can do is to send a couple of my men along with you to help

answered stiffly, "is on the active lis

ain, with a glance a

but where i

ness with the steward," ex

ipal tradesman in Garland Town. He has a design, I believe, to

is boat will bring the others back. Here-Hoskings! Arnott!" Captain Whitake

besides the Milo's steward, and confronting a tall pile of luggage. The

the ship's side. "And tell her that I charge myself to see the rest of her lug

to the oars. The Commandant took the tiller. As the boat pointe

not attire herself until her boxes arrived-at any rate, would not appear. And yet, with such a strong-willed person, he could not be certain. A lady capable of landing on a foggy

that breakfast had to b

regaskis back in his own boat. He might (he told

, but was a person slightly above his station, and clipped his words. This gave him a patronising tone, which the Commandant, in his impa

beside him, exposed pitilessly the threadbare woof of the Commandant's uniform coat. There had been nothing amiss with the coat, yesterday; n

re Mr. Tregaskis and the two seamen had landed and stood waiting, the C

Trega

ir

a word w

s,

ommandant, stepping ashore and

ent. Mr. Tregaskis (conscious, perhaps, of some close dealings in the not remote past) turned obediently and led the way to his shop door at the corner of the hi

, if you please,"

," Mr. Tregaski

best tea, half a dozen new laid eggs, an amount of

e, sir. Anyth

on cr

askis, still a trifle flurried, fell to rubbing his hands together, thus producing an a

ommandant to himself. "Am

and tying while Mr. Tregaskis stood over him and exhorted him to look sharp, or he'd never make a grocer. The steward watched from the doorway, puffing a cigarette, and expressed a hope that he was not excluding the light. The Commandant wished him a

, sir?" asked Mr. Tregaskis, nod

he went on hastily. "I had meant to ask you for th

ated. "You are welcome to a basket

be seen carrying a ba

steep-and a little exercise would do

ank you." (Was everybody in a conspiracy

urried out of the shop with such impetuosity that the steward, still lounging

of feast, up to Barracks," said the

regaskis, looking

inutes ago, and the way she spent her money was a caution. There'

did sh

-and bacon-a

shop door, and stared up t

btfully. "It can't be a merry-makin' either; for, when you come to

y agreed the steward, who had been

setting down his load and resting when, as he turned the corner, he came full upon Mrs. Banfield, the good wife of the present occupier, in conversation with Mrs. Medlin, her neighbour across the road. The two women were star

orning,

nfield, with a curtsey, and gazed hard at his ba

now, ma'am, no

e a person anxious. And when you put a civil question, as I did to Sergeant Archelaus, and he tur

d you make the result?" ask

ke my heart bleed to remember old days and see what the garrison is reduced to in vittles and small-clothes. But,' says I, 'the luggage comes from the great steamship, and the great steamship

Granted, ma'am,' I said, 'but, food or no food, I'd soone

sked the Commandant, t

Lord Proprietor to be

edlin-hush, i

, if you don't

any talk against Sir C?sar. It

protested stoutly. "And I wonder, sir, at your think

uldn't understand your drift-he's that innocent-minded. But what she meant, sir, was that the Lord Proprietor had

military command here, either to appoint or to dismiss. I cannot forbid your gossipping; but it

long way off, seemin' to me," she objected; "and contrariwise I do know that when the Lord Proprietor wants his way on th

Mrs. Ba

an gentleman'-everyone grants it of you, and-saving your presence-everyone is sorry enough for it. You wouldn't hurt a fly, for your part. Man, woman, or child, you'd have every soul in the Islands to live neighbourly and go their ways in peace. No doubt '

as a strong will of his own; but I cer

rd, sir, what's happe

aron,

tell you, sir, the text that old Seth Hicks preached from, over to St. Ann's, at the last service before the Lord Proprietor closed the Meeting House? 'I will lift up mine eyes,' said he, 'to the hills, from whence cometh my help,'

. Banfield," said he, "won't you at least put it down to my credit that, h

ou mind; but when for years you shared our little tribylations and taught us, forrigner, tho' you were, to be open with 'ee a

suddenly. "Is that how the Islan

is,

-"I can begin at once to make amends. The luggage that went up the hill, just now, belongs to-to a friend of mine-a visitor who will be my guest for a short while at

d Proprietor has given

Mrs. Banfield, who answered by nodding her head briskly, as

ommandant recited this much in the fashion of a child repeating "The House that Jack

d Mrs. Banfield; "but it do matter to my mind that a Tregarthen has

t w

. Because he wants to shoot rabbits. Because rabbits be of more account to him than men-and I don't blame him for it, seein' that all the men on the I

ear Mrs. B

now there's too much Christianity in you.... And no more will I answer unt

t the two seamen from the Milo issued forth from the gateway up the road; and, descending a few paces, turned to call back farewell

Mrs. Treacher. "You understand w

ma'am," said one of

rs, as between us and Mad

expect a small monetary acknowledgment for their trouble; and hastily nodding good-mo

own his burden, "I-er-it so happens t

er, idiomatically, and bent o

kely expected a sixpence or so for their trouble. If you wouldn't mind lending me

said Mrs. Treacher,

! Alr

e you was away, sir, I took the liberty to slip down to Tregaskisses and lay out three shillings. Which, finding no one in charge but that ha

ed to ask where he had found the money for all this extravagance. The Commandant, evading

rs. Treacher, reassuringly. "It's li

the Barrack door. "There's a saying," said Mrs. Treacher, eagerly, halting there, "that sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. I've found it comforting before now. But it don't seem to allow f

. "There's half a pound of cheese-the very

d sniffed the basket. "Tregaskis never sold bet

America," the Co

dubiously; "but we'll hope for the best; and with beer in the p

ssage when she touched his

sailors had brought up her boxes, she outs with thi

a golden sovereign. The

it back?"

of ignorant seamen-that

it t

bly overtake 'em," said Mrs. Treacher

ping the sovereign, and the other lifted to his distraught brow, the Commandant strode to