He was shy, and he had plainly been walking fast.
These were the two things that Wesley noticed when Hartwell was shaking hands with the man, and the latter had wiped his forehead with a handkerchief as splendid as the western cloud of a sunset in the Tropics—a handkerchief that seemed a floating section of the Empire of the Great Mogul—dazzling in red and yellow and green—a wonder of the silk loom.
“You and Mr. Wesley have already met, Mr. Snowdon,” said Hartwell with a smile, and forthwith quitted the room.
Captain Snowdon looked after him rather wistfully. He seemed to be under the impression that Mr. Hartwell had deserted him. Then he glanced with something of surprise in the direction of Wesley, and was apparently surprised to see his hand stretched out in greeting. He took the hand very gingerly and with nothing of a seaman's bluffness or vigour.
“Seeing you at this time, Captain Snowdon, makes me have a pretty conceit of myself,” said Wesley. “Yes, sir, I feel inclined to boast that I was one of the four who bore you from the high beach to the boat—I would boast of the fact only that I know I should never be believed. You do not seem to have suffered by your mishap.”
“Thank you, sir, I am a man that turns the corner very soon in matters of that sort, and then I race ahead,” replied the master-mariner.
“You have become accustomed to such accidents, sir,” said Wesley.
“Ay, sir, the salt sea and me have ever been friends, and more than once we have had a friendly tussle together, but we bear no malice therefor, neither of us—bless your heart, none whatever,” said Snowdon. “Why, the sea is my partner in trade—the sea and the wind, we work together, but you, Mr. Wesley, I grieve to see you thus, sir, knowing that 'twas on my account. What if you'd been finished off this time—wouldn't the blame fall on me? Shouldn't I be looked on as your murderer?”
“I cannot see on what principle you should, sir,” said Wesley. “In the first place the chill from which I have now, by the blessing of Heaven, fully recovered, was not due to my having been one of the four men who carried you down the beach, though I should have no trouble in getting anyone to believe that I suffered from exhaustion. No, Mr. Snowdon, I had contracted the complaint before I was fortunate enough to come upon you in my early morning's walk.”
“Anyway, sir, you earned my gratitude; though indeed, I feel as shy as a school miss to mention such a word in your presence. If I know aught of you, Mr. Wesley, and I think that I can take the measure of a man whether he be a man or a parson, if I know aught of you, sir, I repeat, you would be as uneasy to hear me talk of gratitude as I should be to make an offer to talk of the same.”