"Quite right, old fellow!" said Sir George, as if he were addressing a comrade. "I may as well stop and have a glass of beer, for I am as hot as you are, and I dare say twice as thirsty."
Emerald acquiesced with a snort and a prolonged shake the moment his rider's foot touched the ground, and Sir George, filling the whole of the narrow passage to the bar, bounced against Florian de St. Croix returning from an interview with the Abbé on the first floor. Each must have been thinking of the other, for both exclaimed mentally, "The very man!" while at the same instant Slap-Jack, looking rather sheepish, and not in his usual spirits, slunk out of another room and tried to leave unobserved.
"Foretop, there!" hallooed Sir George, good-humouredly, "as you are aloft, look smart and make yourself useful. See that lubber gives Emerald a go-down of chilled water, and tows him about at a walk till I come out."
"Ay, ay, sir," replied Slap-Jack, his whole face brightening up. He loved to be so addressed by his old commander; and although he was to-day not without his own troubles, or he would scarce have been here so early, he set to work to obey instructions with a will.
Florian accompanied the new arrival into the bar, where Mrs. Dodge, all smiles and ribbons, drew for this honoured guest a measure of the best with her own fat hands; while Alice, who looked as if she had been crying, hovered about admiringly, watching Sir George quench his thirst as if he had been some rare and beautiful animal she had paid her penny to see.
"Good stuff!" said the baronet, setting down his jug with a sigh. "Better than vin ordinaire, or even three-*water grog. Eh, Florian?"
But Florian's mind was bent on other matters. "You are always so occupied," said he, "that I can never catch you for half an hour alone. Will you have your horse led home, and walk back the short way with me? We had more leisure on board 'The Bashful Maid,' after all; especially in the 'Trades.'"
Sir George assented cheerily. For the moment his gloomy thoughts fled at the sound of the other's voice.
