On arriving at The Derby Winner, he walked straight into the bar, and found it presided over by a grinning pot-boy. A noise of singing and shouting came from the little parlour at the back, and when the chaplain asked for Mr Mosk, he was informed by the smiling Ganymede that 'th' guv'nor was injiyin' of hisself, and goin' on like one o'clock.'
'Dear! dear!' said the scandalised chaplain, 'am I to understand that your master has taken more than is good for him?'
'Yuss; he's jist drunk up to jollyness, sir.'
'And Miss Mosk?'
'She's a-tryin' to git 'im t' bed, is young missus, an' old missus is cryin' upstairs.'
'I shall certainly speak about this to the authorities,' said Cargrim, in an angry tone. 'You are sober enough to answer my questions, I hope?'
'Yuss, sir; I'm strite,' growled the pot-boy, pulling his forelock.
'Then tell me if that gipsy woman, Mother Jael, is here?'
'No, sir, sh' ain't. I ain't set eyes on 'er for I do'no how long.'
The man spoke earnestly enough, and was evidently telling the truth. Much disappointed to find that the old crone was not in the neighbourhood, the chaplain was about to depart when he heard Mosk begin to sing in a husky voice, and also became aware that Bell, as he judged from the raised tones of her voice, was scolding her father thoroughly. His sense of duty got the better of his anxiety to find Mother Jael, and feeling that his presence was required, he passed swiftly to the back of the house, and threw open the door of the parlour with fine clerical indignation.