Chapter XLII
"What singular emotions fill
Their bosoms, who have been induced to roam,
With flattering doubts, if all be well or ill,
With love for many, and with fears for some!"
BYRON.
The China fleet arrived without encountering any further danger; the commodore and commanders of the several ships composing the fleet received that praise from their countrymen to which their conduct had so fully entitled them. As soon as the Bombay Castle had entered the basin of the East India docks, Newton requested, and easily obtained, permission to leave the ship. He immediately directed his steps to Greenwich, that he might ascertain if his father was in existence; for he had received no letters since his departure, although he had taken several opportunities to write. It is true that he had not expected any; he knew that his father was too absent ever to think about writing to him, and his uncle much too busy to throw away any portion of his time in unnecessary correspondence.
When we approach the dwelling containing, or supposed to contain, an object of solicitude, of whose existence we are uncertain, what a thrill of anxiety pervades the frame! How quickened is the throbbing of the heart! how checked the respiration! Thus it was with Newton Forster as he raised his hand to the latch of the door. He opened it, and the first object which delighted his eyes was his father seated upon a high stool smoking his pipe, in the company of two veterans of the hospital, who had brought their old bones to an anchor upon a large trunk. They were in earnest conversation, and did not perceive the company of Newton, who waited a little while, holding the door ajar, as he contemplated the group.
One of the pensioners was speaking, and continued:—"May be, or may not be, Mr Forster, that's dubersome; but if so be as how he is alive, why you'll see him soon, that's sartain—take my word for it. A good son, as you say he was, as soon as he can get over the side of the ship, always bears up for his parent's house. With the help of your barnacles, I worked my way clean through the whole yarn, and I seed the report of killed and wounded; and I'll take my affidavy that there warn't an officer in the fleet as lost the number of his mess in that action, and a most clipping affair it was; only think of mounseer turning tail to marchant vessels! Damn my old buttons! what will our jolly fellows do next?"
"Next, Bill! why there be nothing to do, 'less they shave off the beard of the grand Turk to make a swab for the cabin of the king's yacht, and sarve out his seven hundred wives amongst the fleet. I say, I wonder how he keeps so many of them craft in good order?"
"I knows," replied the other, "for I axed the very question when I was up the Dardanelles. There be a black fellow, a unique they calls him, with a large sword and a bag of sawdust, as always stands sentry at the door, and if so be a woman kicks up a bobbery, why plump her head goes into the bag."
"Well, that's one way to make a good woman on her; but as I was saying, Mr Forster, you mustn't be down in the mouth; a seaman as knows his duty, never cares for leave till all the work be done. I'd bet a yard of pigtail that Mr Newton—"
"Is here, my good fellow!" interrupted Newton. "My dear father!"
Nicholas sprang off his seat and embraced his son.
"My dear, dear boy! why did you not come to me before? I was afraid that you had been killed. Well, I'm glad to see you, Newton. How did you like the West Indies?"
"The East Hinges, you mean, Mr Forster.—Newton," continued the old pensioner, wiping both sides of his hand upon his blue breeches, and then extending it—"Tip us your daddle, my lad; I like to touch the flipper of one who has helped to shame the enemy; and it will be no disgrace for you to grapple with an old seaman, who did his duty as long as he had a pin to stand upon."
"With pleasure, my friend," replied Newton, taking the old man's hand, while the other veteran seized the one unoccupied, and, surveying Newton from top to toe, observed, "If your ship be manned with all such lads as you—why, she be damned well manned, that's all."
Newton laughed and turned to his father.
"Well, father, how are you?—have you been quite well? And how do you like your berth here?"
"Why, Newton, I get on much better than I did at Bristol."
"It be Liverpool he mean, Mr Newton; but your good father be a little damaged in his upper works; his memory box is like a sieve.—Come, Bill, we be two too many. When father and son meet after a India voyage, there be much to say as wants no listeners.—Good-bye, Mr Forster; may you never want a son, and may he never want a ship!"
Newton smiled his thanks to the considerate old pensioners, as they stumped out of the door, and left him alone with his father. The communications of Nicholas were as concise as usual. He liked his situation, liked his company, had as much work as he wished for, and had enjoyed good health. When Newton entered upon pecuniary matters, which he was the sooner induced to do by observing that his father's coat and smallclothes were in a most ruinous condition, he discovered, that although the old gentleman had provided himself with money from the bankers, during the first year, to purchase a new suit of clothes, latterly he not only had quite forgotten that there were funds at his disposal, but even that he had procured the clothes, which had remained in the chest from the day they had been sent home without having been tried on.
"Dear me! now I recollect, so I did; and I put them upstairs somewhere. I was busy at the time with my improvement on the duplex."
"Have you seen much of my uncle, sir?" inquired Newton.
"Your uncle!—dear me, no! I don't know where he lives; so I waited until you came back. We'll go tomorrow, Newton, or he may think me unkind. I'll see if his watch goes well; I recollect he said it did. But, Newton, tell me all about your voyage, and the action with the French ships."
Newton entered into a detail, during which he perceived by his father's questions that his memory had become more impaired, and that he was more absent than ever. He arranged to call upon his uncle the ensuing day; and then it was his intention, without communicating it to his father, to make every inquiry and advertise to ascertain the fate of his mother. This was a duty which he had long wished to repeat; but his necessities and want of time had hitherto precluded the renewal of the task.
Early the next morning, Newton and his father went up to London by the Greenwich coach; and a walk of a few minutes after they were put down brought them to the chambers of Mr John Forster.
"How do you do, Mr Scratton? Is my uncle at home?" inquired Newton.
Mr Scratton immediately recognised him, and very graciously replied, that his uncle was at home and would be very glad to see him, having talked very often of him lately.
Newton and his father were ushered into the parlour, where he found his uncle precisely in the same position as when he last saw him;—it would almost have appeared that he had not quitted his seat during Newton's tedious voyage.
"Nephew," said Mr John Forster, without rising from his chair, "I am very glad to see you.—Brother Nicholas, I am very glad to see you too.—Chairs, Scratton," continued the old lawyer, taking his watch off the table, and placing it in his fob. "Well, nephew, I am very glad to hear such good accounts of you. I saw Mr Bosanquet yesterday, and he told me that you had for your good conduct been promoted to the rank of second mate."
"It is more than I am aware of," replied Newton, much pleased with the information. "I am much obliged to you for the intelligence, as I am for your many other acts of kindness."
"Well, so you ought to be; it's no bad thing, as I told you before, to find out an uncle. By-the-bye, there has been some alteration in my establishment since we parted, nephew. I have a house in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and a spare bed, if you will accept of it. We dine at six; brother Nicholas, I shall be very happy to see you, if you can stay. It will be too late to go home after dinner, but you can share my nephew's bed."
"I shall be most happy to accept your kind offer for a few days, sir, if it does not incommode you," replied Newton.
"No; you will not incommode me there, but you do very much here, where
I am always busy. So good-bye, my boy; I shall be at home at six. Brother
Nicholas, you did not vouchsafe me an answer."
"About what, brother John?" replied Nicholas, who had been "in the clouds."
"Oh, I'll tell you all about it, father," said Newton, laughing. "Come away now—my uncle is busy." And Nicholas rose up, with the observation—
"Brother John, you appear to me to read a great deal."
"Yes, I do, brother."
"How much do you read a day?"
"I really cannot say; much depends upon whether I am interrupted or not."
"It must be very bad for your eyes, brother John."
"It certainly does not improve them," replied the lawyer, impatiently.
"Come, father, my uncle is very busy," said Newton, touching Nicholas on the arm.
"Well, good-bye, brother John. I had something to say—oh! I hope you are not displeased at my not coming to see you before?"
"Humph! not in the least, I can assure you, brother Nicholas; so good-bye. Newton, you'll bring him with you at six," said Mr John Forster; and he resumed his brief before they had quitted the room.
Newton was much surprised to hear that his uncle had taken a house, and he surmised whether he had not also been induced to take a wife. He felt an inclination to put the question to Mr Scratton, as he passed through the office; but checked the wish, lest it should appear like prying into his uncle's affairs. Being the month of February, it was dark long before six o'clock, and Newton was puzzled what to do with his father until that time. He returned to the Salopian Coffee-house, opposite to which they had been put down by the Greenwich coach; and taking possession of a box, called for some biscuits and a pint of sherry; and requesting his father to stay there until his return, went out to purchase a sextant, and some other nautical luxuries, which his pay enabled him to procure without trespassing upon the funds supplied by the generosity of his uncle. He then returned to his father, who had finished the wine and biscuits, and had his eyes fixed upon the ceiling of the room; and calling a hackney coach, drove to the direction which his uncle had pointed out as his residence.
Mr John Forster had already come home, and they found him in the dining-room, decanting the wine for dinner, with Amber by his side. Newton was surprised at the appearance of a little girl; and, as he took her proffered hand, inquired her name.
"Amber. Papa says it's a very foolish name; don't you, papa?"
"Yes, my dear, I do; but now we are going to dinner, and you must go to Mrs
Smith: so good-night."
Amber kissed the old lawyer, as he stooped to her; and wishing the company good-night, she left the room.
"Brother John," said Nicholas, "I really had no idea that you were a married man."
"Humph! I am not a married man, brother."
"Then pray, brother, how is it possible for that little girl to be your daughter?"
"I did not say she was my daughter: but now we will go upstairs into the drawing-room, while they put the dinner on the table."
The dinner was soon announced; the cookery was plain, but good, the wine excellent. When the dessert was placed on the table, Mr John Forster rose, and taking two bottles of port-wine from the side-board, placed them on the table, and addressed Newton.
"Nephew, I have no time to sip wine, although it is necessary that I drink it. Now, we must drink fast, as I have only ten minutes to spare; not that I wish you to drink more than you like, but I must push the bottle round, whether you fill or no, as I have an appointment, what we call a consultation, at my chambers. Pass the bottle, brother," continued the lawyer, helping himself, and shoving the decanter to Nicholas.
Nicholas, who had been little accustomed to wine, obeyed mechanically, swallowing down each glass à gorge déployée, as he was awoke from his meditations by the return of the bottle, and then filling up his glass again. Newton, who could take his allowance as well as most people, could not, however, venture to drink glass for glass with his uncle, and the bottle was passed several times without his filling. When the ten minutes had elapsed, Mr John Forster took his watch from the table, replaced it in his fob, and rose from his chair. Locking up the remainder of the wine, he quitted the house without apology, leaving his guests to entertain themselves, and order tea when they felt inclined.
"My brother seems to be very busy, Newton," observed Nicholas. "What wine was that we have been drinking? It was very strong; I declare my head turns round;" and in a few moments more Nicholas dropped his head upon the table, and was fast asleep.
Newton, who perceived that his father was affected by the wine which he had been drinking, which was, in the sum total, a pint of sherry at the coffee-house before dinner, and at least a bottle during and after his meal, thought it better that he should be allowed to take his nap. He therefore put out the candles, and went up into the drawing-room, where he amused himself with a book until the clock struck twelve. According to the regulations of the house, the servants had retired to bed, leaving a light in the passage for their master on his return, which sometimes was at a very late hour, or rather, it should be said, at a very early one. Newton lighted a chamber-candlestick, and went down into the parlour to rouse his father; but all his attempts were in vain. The wine had taken such an effect upon him, that he was in a state of lethargy. Newton observed that the servant had cleared the table, and that the fire was out: and, as there was no help for it, he removed the chairs to the end of the room, that his father might not tumble over them if he awoke in the dark, and then retired to his own bed.