The Lady of the Barge

by W. W. JACOBS

1911

Contents

[THE LADY OF THE BARGE]
[THE MONKEY’S PAW]
[BILL’S PAPER CHASE]
[THE WELL]
[CUPBOARD LOVE]
[IN THE LIBRARY]
[CAPTAIN ROGERS]
[A TIGER’S SKIN]
[A MIXED PROPOSAL]
[AN ADULTERATION ACT]
[A GOLDEN VENTURE]
[THREE AT TABLE]

Illustrations

[He denied it again, hotly.]
[“You villain!” she said, in a choking voice.]
[“What’s that?” cried the old woman.]
[Mrs. Driver fell back before the emerging form of Mr. Bodfish.]
[Burleigh, with a feeling of nausea, drew back toward the door.]
[Gunn placed a hand, which lacked two fingers, on his breast.]
[“Don’t you think Major Brill is somewhat hasty in his conclusions?”]
[He saw another tatterdemalion coming toward him.]
[“You say you’re a doctor?”]
[The second officer leaned forward.]
[“You get younger than ever, Mrs. Pullen.”]
[“We’ll leave you two young things alone.”]

THE LADY OF THE BARGE

The master of the barge Arabella sat in the stern of his craft with his right arm leaning on the tiller. A desultory conversation with the mate of a schooner, who was hanging over the side of his craft a few yards off, had come to a conclusion owing to a difference of opinion on the subject of religion. The skipper had argued so warmly that he almost fancied he must have inherited the tenets of the Seventh-day Baptists from his mother while the mate had surprised himself by the warmth of his advocacy of a form of Wesleyanism which would have made the members of that sect open their eyes with horror. He had, moreover, confirmed the skipper in the error of his ways by calling him a bargee, the ranks of the Baptists receiving a defender if not a recruit from that hour.