Aunt Deb received me with a frown.
“Now where have you been all this time?” she asked. “I’ve had luncheon an hour or so, or more. I suppose the servant has cleared the things away, and you can’t expect her to bring them up again for your pleasure.”
“Thank you, Aunt Deb,” I answered. “But I’ll just run and see.”
To my infinite satisfaction, on going into the parlour I found the table still covered with roast beef, and pies, tarts, and puddings; for Mr Butterfield liked the good things of this life, and wished his friends to enjoy them also. Didn’t I tuck in. I often afterwards thought of that luncheon; it presented itself to me in my dreams; I recollected it with longing affection during my waking hours. I helped myself to two or three glasses of wine to wash down the food. With a sigh of regret I felt that I could eat no more. I then stowed myself away in a comfortable arm-chair in the corner of the room, and very naturally fell fast asleep. I had a dim recollection of seeing Aunt Deb come into the room to look for me, but as I didn’t speak, she left the room supposing that I had gone out of the house to take another walk. When I awoke Martha was laying the things for dinner.
“Why, Master Cheveley, Miss Deborah has been asking for you for ever so long,” she said. “You had better go and see her, for she’s in a dreadful taking, I can assure you.”
I knew Aunt Deb too well to venture into her presence under the circumstances if I could avoid it, so I ran into my room, washed my hands, and brushed my hair, so as to present myself in a respectable state before Mr Butterfield. I watched for him till he went into the drawing-room, and then followed. Aunt Deb had not yet come down. I was thinking of asking him about my going to sea on board the “Emu.” He didn’t give me the opportunity, but he at once questioned me as to what I had seen in the city.
“You think Liverpool a very fine place?” he remarked.
“Yes, sir, a very fine place indeed,” I answered boldly.
But when he came to inquire where I had been, and what part I admired most, I was nonplussed, and had nothing to say about the matter. My thoughts had been entirely occupied with the docks and the shipping.
“Ah, yes, Liverpool has become an important port; superior to Bristol, or Hull; and some day we shall be equal to London, we flatter ourselves.”