“Let me see ’em and keep my eyes open and ask a question ’ere and there, most innocent, and I’ll find out the truth quick enough,” boasted Mr. Dobb. “It won’t be too late to call on ’em to-night, will it? Just about right, I should think; with luck, we ought to catch ’em just at supper-time. You wait ’ere, and I’ll run back and tidy myself a bit.”

“All right. I should think that’s the best thing that can be done,” said Captain Gooster, ambiguously.

Mr. Dobb took a swift departure to the “Jane p. 13Gladys,” finding an empty fo’c’sle, and thus being able to garb himself for ceremony without loss of time in answering questions. Returning to the “Jolly Sailors,” his improved appearance won a grunt of approval from Captain Gooster, and then, together, the two men repaired to their objective in Fore Street.

p. 13

They found Mrs. Goffley and her daughter amid the ordered confusion of the little second-hand shop. Captain Gooster made Horace known to the ladies as an old acquaintance unexpectedly encountered in the town. Introductions thus achieved, the gentlemen were hospitably conducted to partake of supper amid the more congenial surroundings of the back parlour.

Mr. Dobb claimed but little prominence in the talk, and, indeed, seemed bent on eliminating himself as far as possible from the interest of his hostesses, and this was rendered the more easy for him by the fact that both ladies appeared to concentrate their attentions on the skipper of the “Alert.” Mr. Dobb, however, was vigilant towards all that was going forward, and when once or twice the ladies bickered, he plainly submitted every word of their spirited utterance to the closest analysis.

And when at length they left the house, Horace had arrived at certain deductions, which he hastened to lay before Captain Gooster.

“It’s the old gal what’s got the money,” he stated. “She done the carving, for one thing. And, for another, it was ’er that put the coal on the fire. Besides, I ask you, ain’t it only reason that ’er late ’usband would ’ave left ’er everything, knowing from the look of ’er that she couldn’t ever really ’ope to get married again? No, I bet that rumour you ’eard was right—’e’s left ’is money to ’is wife, with instructions to look after ’er p. 14daughter. P’r’aps she’s to ’ave it after the old gal’s popped off,” propounded Horace, delicately.

p. 14

“Ah, but that’s just what I’m frightened of,” said 

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