"Captain of a slaver!" exclaimed Adelaide.
"Don't be frightened, miss," said Bill; "your brother was one of my best customers. I've done many a bit of business in the nigger trade with him."
The young girl shuddered as she turned away from the speaker.
"I know my dress ain't quite the thing for a lady's drawing-room," he said, looking down at his ragged shirt-sleeves and clay-stained clothes, "but we'll soon set all that to rights. My friend Craig will recommend me to his tailor and lend me the money to pay his bill, if it comes to that, won't you, Craig?"
"Oh, certainly, as far as that goes, in consideration for past services."
"Yes, 'in consideration for past services,'" repeated Bill Bowen, rather significantly. "I tell you what, Mr. Craig, as you seem doing the civil to these ladies here, and as you don't seem over much to relish my company, I'll slope now, and drop in and take a bit of dinner with you at your own house by-and-by. What's your hour?"
"Six o'clock," muttered Craig, with ill-concealed vexation.
"Six o'clock. I shall be sure to be punctual," said Bill Bowen, "for I've got a pretty, sharp appetite. Good morning, ma'am. Good morning, miss," he added, nodding familiarly to the two ladies, as he strode out of the room.
"What a horrible creature!" exclaimed Mrs. Montresor. "How can you tolerate him, Mr. Craig?"
"Why, the truth is," replied Silas, "the man has been of use to me in some trifling matters of business. He has served me for a long time one way or another, and I've got used to his queer ways. He's an eccentric sort of animal, and he works all the better for being humored, so I look over his uncultivated manner."