George Marvel made no reply, but, standing by Dan, put his arm affectionately round the neck of his son's friend; then left the room, and comforted his wife by a very simple act. He took the flat bottle out of his pocket, and said, "Maggie, I have done with this; I shall never fill it again." And, happily for him and all of them, he kept his word.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
MR. MARVEL SHAKES THE DUST FROM HIS FEET.
Dan took the Old Sailor in to his confidence, and the impracticable old fellow excitedly proposed that they should leave Stepney and come and live with him in his barge. But as Dan declared that that was impossible, the Old Sailor's hopes fell down to zero.
"We can't live in this neighborhood much longer," said Dan; "it wouldn't so much matter to me, for I'm always indoors, but it does to Jo's father. I know what he must suffer. You see, what we want is a friend."
"Ah!" said the Old Sailor, "what you want is a friend. Well, we'll talk of this again by and by."
"He went down stairs to see Ellen, and found her crying over her baby.
"Come, come, my dear," he said; "this won't do; you'll be making an old woman of yourself in no time." And he dried her eyes with his handkerchief.
"You're the only friend we've got now," said Ellen sadly.
The Old Sailor thought: "Says Dan, 'What we want is a friend.' Says Ellen, 'You're the only friend we've got.'" And he put this and that together, as he had done once before in the memorable conversation he had had with Joshua at Gravesend, when he set all matters straight.