Mr. Bowles obeyed without any protestation; Erik did the same. He repeated in as few words as he could what he had told the old woman.
As he listened, the countenance of Mr. Bowles dilated like a full moon, his lips parted in a broad smile, and he looked at his wife, and rubbed his hands. She on her side appeared equally well pleased.
"Must I suppose that you are already acquainted with my story?" asked Erik, with a beating heart.
Mr. Bowles made an affirmative sign, and scratching his ear, made up his mind to speak:
"I know it without your telling me," he said, at length, "and my wife knows it as well as I do. We have often talked about it without understanding it."
Erik, pale and with tightly compressed lips, hung upon his words, expecting some revelation, but this he had to wait for. Mr. Bowles had not the gift of either eloquence or clearness, and perhaps his ideas were still clouded with sleep, and in order to recover his faculties he took two or three glasses of a liquor called "pick me up," which greatly resembled gin.
After his wife had placed the bottle and two glasses before him, and he had sufficiently fortified himself, he began to speak.
His story was so confused, and mingled with so many useless details, that it was impossible to draw any conclusions from it, but Erik listened attentively to all he said, and by questioning and insisting, and aided by Mrs. Bowles, he ended by gathering some facts about himself.
CHAPTER IX.
IN WHICH A REWARD OF FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS STERLING IS OFFERED.