Emma bade him adieu, and they separated, and Joey remained and watched her till she disappeared under the porch of the entrance.
Our hero returned towards Gravesend in rather a melancholy mood; there was something so unusual in his meeting with the little girl—something so uncommon in the sympathy expressed by her—that he felt pain at parting. But it was getting late, and it was time that he kept his appointment with his friend, the sailor boy.
Joey remained at the door of the eating-house for about a quarter of an hour, when he perceived the sailor lad coming up the street. He went forward to meet him.
“Oh, here we are. Well, young fellow, I’ve seen the old woman, and had a long talk with her, and she won’t believe there can be another in the world like her Peter, but I persuaded her to have a look at you, and she has consented; so come along, for I must be on board again in half an hour.”
Joey followed his new friend down the street, until they came to the very door to which he had carried the bundle. The sailor boy mounted the stairs, and turning into the room at the first landing, Joey beheld the woman whom he had assisted in the morning.
“Here he is, Mrs Chopper, and if he won’t suit you, I don’t know who will,” said the boy. “He’s a regular scholar, and can sum up like winkin’.”
This character, given so gratuitously by his new acquaintance, made Joey stare, and the woman looked hard into Joey’s face.
“Well, now,” said she, “where have I seen you before? Dear me! and he is like poor Peter, as you said, Jim; I vow he is.”
“I saw you before to-day,” replied Joey, “for I carried a bundle up for you.”
“And so you did, and would have no money for your trouble. Well, Jim, he is like poor Peter.”