“Come in here,” said Dick, seeing how bad the man looked, and he led him into a tavern which, oddly enough, it being a garrison town, stood near.
The next minute they were seated alone in the parlour, and Jerry guardedly stretched out his hand to touch Dick’s knee.
“Well!” said the young man, “does it feel real?”
“Yes; but I see you drownd yourself before my very eyes, S’Rich—”
“Silence, man!”
“But I did,” said Jerry, plaintively; “and we sat upon you at the inquest.”
“What!”
“Didn’t I see you, my poor, dear lad, all stripped and torn by beating about in the river-bed with stones and old trees; and didn’t I go and drop a tear or two on your coffin?”
“Jerry!”
“I did the day as you was buried, though things was that bad I had to sell my watch to pay my fare.”