“You promised long ago you would tell us a story about him—a true one. We should both like that.”
“Perhaps I will this evening,” replied Aunt Hannah; “but you must amuse Sophia Jane quietly until then, and be careful not to tire her.”
This Susan readily promised, and looked forward with great pleasure to the evening, not only because she was extremely fond of hearing a story, but because she had gradually come to take a good deal of interest in Captain Enticknapp. He was her mother’s aunt’s father, and therefore Susan’s great-grandfather, and it was wonderful to think how long ago he lived, and what strange things he must have seen and done. The sitting-room, and indeed the whole house, was full of objects he had brought home from his different voyages: oddly shaped-cups and bowls and dishes of blue china, ivory carvings, and curious inlaid snuff-boxes. There was one idol Susan specially liked. He was made of sandalwood, and sat cross-legged in the middle of the mantelpiece just under the portrait. His forehead was high and shining, and his expression benevolent; here and there, he had been chipped and notched, so that one might smell the fragrance of the wood. In her own mind Susan had given him the name of Robin Grey, which she thought seemed to suit his face. He was the nicest of all the idols, and there were a great many of all kinds.
Captain Enticknapp’s blue eyes looked quietly down from the picture upon all these things, and also upon sundry of his personal possessions which had gone on many and many a voyage with him, and seen rough weather in his company. There stood the square camphor-wood chest which had fitted into his cabin, and since its last journey had remained here in the calm retreat of Aunt Hannah’s sitting-room. There was his great watch, double cased, with a hole through it; made, Susan had heard, by a bullet which might have killed Captain Enticknapp if it had not struck against the watch first. There, too, was the snuff-box he had always carried. It was a flat silver one, with portraits of Queen Anne and Dr Sacheverel engraved upon it; but they were so faint now with age, and the constant pressure of the captain’s thumb that they could hardly be traced.
These things served to keep her great-grandfather and his voyages and adventures constantly before Susan’s mind, and she thought of him very often. At night, when the wind was high, and she heard the great waves tossing and tumbling on the shore, she liked to fancy him far out at sea in his ship, and to wonder if he ever felt afraid. When Aunt Hannah read prayers she came to a verse in the Psalms sometimes, which seemed quite to belong to him:
“Such as go down to the sea in ships, and occupy their business in great waters; these men see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.”
That was just what Captain Enticknapp had done, and Susan had now made up so many stories about him in her head, that she was very glad to think she was really to hear a true one at last.
Aunt Hannah did not forget her promise, and that evening, Margaretta and Nanna being away, and the children comfortably settled near the fire, she took up her knitting and began as follows:
“You both know that the old watch I have shown you sometimes, with holes through the case, belonged to my father, Captain John Enticknapp. I am going to tell you the story of how those holes were made, and how that watch and the gratitude of a man were once the means of saving his life. It happened long ago, when I was a little girl of Susan’s age, and lived with my father and mother in a house on the river at Wapping.”
The children gazed at Aunt Hannah. She wore a front and a cap; her face was wrinkled. What did she look like when she was a little girl of Susan’s age?