“If you will go outside and wait, I’ll come to you,” interrupted Ben at this, very quickly.
The man turned and swaggered out. Ben gave me the pills with one hand, and took off his apron with the other. Getting his hat, he was hastening out, when Mr. Rymer touched his arm.
“Who is that man, Benjamin?”
“A fellow I used to know in Tewkesbury, father.”
“What’s his name?”
“Cotton. I’ll soon despatch him and be back again,” concluded Ben, as he disappeared.
I put down half-a-crown for the pills, and Mr. Rymer left his place to give me the change. There had been a sort of consciousness between us, understood though not expressed, since the night when I had seen him giving way to his emotion in Crabb Ravine. This man’s visit brought the scene back again. Rymer’s eyes looked into mine, and then fell.
“Ben is all right now, Mr. Rymer.”
“I could not wish him better than he is. It’s just as though he were striving to atone for the past. I thought it would have killed me at the time.”
“I should forget it.”