“I’ve struck!” announced Mr. Lock. “I ain’t going to humour him no more. I’ve let ’im practise shaving on me till me face looks as if some one had been playing noughts-and-crosses on it in red ink, and I’ve let him shampoo and brilliantine my hair till I can’t hardly read for the smell of it.”
“’Orace told me to put in all the practice I could,” said Mr. Tridge, stoutly. “And I’m going to.”
“But what for?” queried Mr. Clark. “What for? That’s what I wants to know.”
“So do I!” admitted Mr. Tridge. “’Orace ’asn’t told me yet. All ’e’s told me to do is to train meself for ’air-dressing, and that’s what I’m doing. What ’Orace says is good enough for me!”
Mr. Clark nodded approval of such simple loyalty. He mentioned that even when Horace had been cook to the “Jane Gladys” he was always averse from premature revelation of the workings of his mind; and went on to say that now Horace was no longer Horace the cook, but had blossomed out into Mr. Horace Dobb, second-hand dealer, carrying on business in a little shop in Fore Street, Shorehaven, he cultivated an even greater reticence in matters of diplomacy.
“‘Learn a bit of ’air-dressing,’ says ’Orace to me,” narrated Mr. Tridge, “and I’m learning a bit of ’air-dressing according. ’Orace ’as got something in ’is mind, you can depend on that. And I take it a bit uncharitable of you, Sam, not to ’elp me and ’Orace. ’Ow can I practise ’air-dressing if I don’t get no ’air to dress?”
“Practise on the ship’s mop,” put forward Mr. Clark.
“I’ve done that,” said Mr. Tridge, with scorn for so obvious a suggestion. “I’ve propped that up and give it a ’air-cut over and over again, till it’s only a bare stump now. Yes, and I’ve clean-shaved the ship’s scrubbing-brush, too, to see how I’d get on with a really stiff beard. But you must ’ave living models to do any good. ’Ow else can you tell if you’re ’urting?”
“Oh, well,” yielded Mr. Clark, “just to keep your ’and in, I’ll let you shave the back of my neck if you like, only don’t forget that the back of me neck don’t leave off level with the top of my ears.”
He fastened his boat and went aboard his old home. Seating himself resignedly on a packing-case, he submitted to the ministrations of Mr. Tridge. So that Mr. Horace Dobb, appearing presently on the gang-plank, expressed commendation of the assiduity with which Mr. Tridge was seeking to acquire tonsorial skill.