_ CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. MILES GAFFIN, JUNIOR
Miles Gaffin lay on his bed turning over in his thoughts the information he had obtained, and considering how he could gain the most advantage from it. Returning to the table, he sat down to write. He was a man of decision. With him to propose was to act. "My son Myles," he wrote, for it was not his wont to use terms of endearment, "you are to come here at once. Tell Mr Crotch so from me; you need not say more to him. I want you to make your fortune by a way to which you will not object marrying a young and pretty wife. When you come you shall know more about the matter. Get a good rig out, so as to appear to advantage. Wait at the Texford Arms, where I will meet you, but don't come to the mill. From your father, Miles Gaffin."
The letter was speedily sealed and directed, and sent off the next morning to the post by one of his companions, who, by that time, was sufficiently sober to undertake the errand.
Gaffin's lugger, the _Lively_, lay at anchor off the mill. She had no contraband goods on board, so that a visit from the revenue officers need not be feared. He had previously intended going away in her, but he now was anxious to see his son before he sailed. His difficulty, in the meantime, was to dispose of his guests. They, however, as long as his supply of liquor and provisions lasted, would be content to remain where they were. He had no wish to bring his son among them, for bad as he himself was, he had, since the loss of his youngest boy, kept his other two children ignorant of his mode of life, though it was possible that the eldest might have suspected it from circumstances which he must have remembered in his younger days.
Gaffin waited with more patience than he generally exercised, till he calculated that a sufficient time had elapsed to allow of his son's arrival. He then walked down to the little inn in the village.
Just as he readied it, a post-chaise drove up to the door, out of which stepped a young man, whom he recognised as Miles, though he had not seen him for the last three or four years.
"You are my son, Miles, I conclude," said Gaffin.
"You are my father, I suppose," answered the young man in the same tone.
"You are right," said Gaffin. "Pay the post-boy, and let him bring your portmanteau into the house. I will order a room, and we will talk over the matter in hand."
The landlady having shown Gaffin into a room, young Miles did as he was directed, and followed him.
"Well, I want to know more about this business you sent for me about," said the young man, throwing himself into a chair. "I have done as you told me, and I hope you think I have got a good chance."
Gaffin surveyed his son for a moment.
"Yes, you will do, as far as that goes," he answered. "Now listen to me; I don't want to be asked questions, but do you trust to me and go ahead. There is a young girl whom you remember when you were a boy. She was found on board a wreck by Adam Halliburt, the fisherman, and brought up by him and his wife. Two old ladies here took a fancy to her, and have given her an education which has made her fit to be the wife of any gentleman in the land. She is pretty, too, and everything a young fellow could wish for. I happen to know to a certainty that she is a prize worth winning. When you have seen her, I am much mistaken if you would not give your eyes to have her, without asking any questions, and I am not going to answer them, if you do. I have your interests at heart, and wish to serve you in the matter."
"I have no doubt you have, but I should like to have a look at the girl before I decide," answered young Miles.
"That you can do to-morrow at church where she is sure to be, and when you have seen her don't let there be any shilly shallying; make up to her at once, most girls like to be won in an off-hand manner, and just do you go and tell her how you have seen her and fallen in love with her, and all that sort of thing. I daresay you have had some experience already."
"Pretty well in a sort of way," answered the young man in a conceited tone. "If I have got your word that she is worth winning, you will find I am not backward, and I hope, before long, to give a good report of progress."
Gaffin, satisfied that his son would do all he desired, charged him to keep himself quiet and not get into any scrapes while at Hurlston.
"People here will know you are my son, so just get a good name for yourself, and whatever they may think, they cannot say you are not a fit match for the old fisherman's foster-daughter," and Gaffin gave way to a laugh such as he rarely indulged in. "I will come down here again and have a talk with you after you have seen the girl. Now there is one thing more I have got to say, though I do not know to a cute fellow like you whether the caution is necessary; don't go and be blabbing to others of what you are about."
"I have been too long with Mr Crotch not to know how to keep a secret," answered the young man; "and I fancy I can manage this affair as I have done several others for my employer. I do not mean love affairs though, but matters of business in which I have given him perfect satisfaction, he tells me."
The conference over, Gaffin again charged his son to behave himself, and with no more show of affection than he had exhibited on the young man's arrival, took his departure and returned to the mill.
He kept within doors endeavouring to maintain order among his lawless associates. He wished not to be seen in company with his son, or to let it be supposed that he was instigating him in his siege on Maiden May's heart. From the accounts he had received from Mr Crotch of that young gentleman's talents, he believed that he could allow the matter to rest securely in his hands. If impudence was to carry the day young Miles would come off victorious, as he was known to possess no inconsiderable amount of that quality.
Gaffin had an excuse for remaining at the mill, as a larger quantity of grist than usual had been brought, and, for a wonder, its long arms with the sails stretched out went merrily round and round, giving Dusty Dick ample employment. The smuggler's crew grumbled at not having their dinner cooked in time. Dusty Dick had to take charge of the kitchen in addition to his other duties, and the mill required his attention. Gaffin had accordingly to serve out an additional supply of liquor to keep his guests quiet. He succeeded so effectually that, seasoned as they were, one and all were soon unable to quit the house, leaving him at liberty to attend to his own affairs.
"The beasts," he said, as he looked in upon the drunken ruffians, some sleeping with their heads on the table, others fallen under it, and others stretched their length on the beds, or at the side of the room. "They will stay there quiet enough till I want them, and no one is likely to come prying this way to disturb their slumbers."
Securely bolting the door of the house he passed by a back way into the mill, where, after giving some directions to Dusty Dick, he descended to the beach. A small boat lay there which he was able to launch by himself, and pulling off in her he went on board the lugger. He had left the most trusted part of his crew in her, including his mate, Tom Fidget, on whom he could always rely, not that Tom objected to get drunk "at proper times and seasons," as he observed, but duty first and pleasure afterwards was his maxim. His notions of duty were, to be sure, somewhat lax, according to the strict rules of morality, and his only idea of pleasure was a drunken spree on shore when he could leave the craft without risk of her suffering damage either from wind and weather, or the officers of the law. He was a bullet-headed fellow, with a figure almost as wide as long, small keen eyes, and a turned up nose scarcely perceptible beyond his puffed out copper-coloured cheeks.
Pipe in mouth he was taking his usual fisherman's walk, when the captain stepped on board.
"The craft shall not be kept here longer than can be helped, Tom, and you must be ready to start at a moment's notice," he observed. "I have some business to attend to first, however, so it won't be for a day or two, though that does not matter, as the weather promises to hold fine. Only keep the fellows sober, for I have as many drunken men on shore as I can manage, and it won't do to have all the hands in the same state. The next time it will be your turn to go on shore, and you may then drink as much liquor as you can hold, and enjoy yourself to your heart's content."
Gaffin having given these directions, returned on shore again. Several days passed and Gaffin again went in the evening to the Texford Arms to meet his hopeful son. The young gentleman was in, the landlady answered, in the room upstairs.
"Well, what progress have you made?" asked Gaffin, as he entered and found young Miles lounging lazily alone, a pipe in his mouth and a glass of brandy and water by his side.
"I thought I knew something about girls," was the answer, "and that I could come round her much as I have done with others, who wouldn't think themselves much beneath her, in our town, and I was not going to be stopped by any nonsense."
"I don't want to hear what you thought, but what you did," said his father.
"Well, you shall, if that's your wish," answered Miles. "I went to church on Sunday and had a good look at her, and thought she saw me with my eyes fixed on her from one end of the service to the other, but she hurried home among a lot of people, and I hadn't a chance of getting alongside to put in a word. For three whole days she never showed outside the gates, and I thought at last of going and calling on the old ladies with a story I had got up, but when I came to learn what sort of people they are, I found that would not do. Then I thought of another plan."
"I tell you I don't want your thought's," growled Gaffin. "What were your acts?"
"That's what I was coming to," answered Miles. "As ill-luck would have it I was off watch when she slipped out, and I discovered had gone down to old Halliburt's. You may be sure I kept a look-out for her on her return. I saw her coming along, and thought I had got the game in my own hands, but by--" and he swore a fearful oath, "the girl was altogether different to those I have had to do with. Beautiful, I believe you, she is, but as haughty as if she was a born princess; and just as I was going to show her what sort of a fellow I was, she slipped away and ran off towards a young chap and took his arm, just as if she had been accustomed to keep company with him. I watched them as they went by, and he seemed to be looking for me in no very friendly mood, for I saw him double his fists, and he was not the sort of fellow I wished to come to close quarters with, or I would have gone up to him and asked what he meant by carrying off the girl I was talking to."
"The long and short of it," said Gaffin, as soon as he could master his anger, "is that you frightened the young lady, and got a rebuff which you might have expected. But as for the young fellow, I know who he is, and he won't interfere with you. Just do you go on and persevere, and if you do not succeed we must try other means. Marry the girl I am determined you shall, whether she likes it or not, and I can depend upon you. Remember I am not one to have my plans thwarted, least of all by my own son."
"I will not thwart them, you may trust me for that," answered Miles. "The girl is about as pretty as I ever set eyes on, and I am obliged to you for putting me up to the matter. But, I say, I should like to know more about her. You led me to suppose that there is some secret you had got hold of--what is it?"
"That's nothing to you at present. Your business is to win the girl, whether she is a fisherman's or a lord's daughter. She was brought up as the Halliburt's child, though I suppose she knows that she is not, yet she has no reason to think much of herself, except on account of her good looks, and those, from what I have heard of the old ladies she lives with, they would have taught her not to pride herself on."
Gaffin's last directions to his son were to keep himself quiet for a time, and to wait his opportunity for again meeting May under more favourable circumstances.
"I will write to Crotch and tell him that a matter of importance keeps you from returning just yet, and if good luck attends us you may not see his face again. I will not say that though, eh?" and Gaffin indulged in a chuckle, the nearest approach he ever made to a laugh. _