He was younger, bolder, and far more handsome than Charley, but he was always a wild, harum-scarum youth; and, since he had run away to sea the old dame fretted much, wept in secret, and would have given the world to have seen her darling boy once more.
But everybody said that, since he had gone out in search of the Skeleton Crew, he would never return alive.
“Don’t believe such idle tales,” said Sir Richard, often. “Young Ned has got as many lives as a cat. Put him where you will, he is sure to fall on his feet.”
But now a stranger made Dame Worthington’s acquaintance.
This was no other than old Sir Andrew!
He had got tired of country life, and determined to start again in the city.
He had heard and knew that old Sir Richard was not only very wealthy and powerful, but that he constantly visited good Dame Worthington.
“She is a silly, soft-hearted woman,” thought Sir Andrew. “By going to live there, I shall fall across Sir Richard, and it may be that by-and-bye we may get better acquainted, and he may assist me in re-establishing myself in business.”
“If any one wants to get favours out of a man, let him flatter the woman that man most respects,” thought Sir Andrew.
He was a “canny Scot,” and, like all his nation, had a long, calculating head.