Owen, however, found it difficult to get away before he had answered the numerous questions which Mr Tarwig put to him. None of his letters had been received, and it was therefore supposed that he had been lost in the “Druid,” which ship had never been heard of since she had sailed.
“You may depend upon having your old berth here as soon as you like,” said Mr Tarwig; “but I am afraid, Mr Owen, seeing you have become an officer in the navy, that you will not be so willing as formerly to take it, though your hand, I’ll warrant, has not lost its cunning.”
“I intend to act as Mr Fluke wishes, and therefore cannot say what I may do,” answered Owen, feeling, however, that he should be very unwilling to go back to his old occupation.
For once in a way all the clerks in the office were idle, as Owen went round to shake hands with them. He then hurried off, and walked at a quick pace through the well-known streets. As he passed the spot where he had first met Reginald Ashurst the whole scene came vividly before his mind, he could even picture the countenance of the elder brother, whom he now knew to have been Lord Arlingford.
On reaching Mr Fluke’s house he hesitated for a moment to consider whether his unexpected appearance might not injuriously agitate his old friend. “I must leave it to Kezia to tell him. I can safely do that,” he thought. “She is a strong-minded woman, and glad as she will be to see me, she, at all events, will not go into hysterics.”
He rapped at the door, hoping that Kezia would answer the summons herself. He was not mistaken. She opened it and stood gazing at him, looking exactly as she had done when he last saw her.
“Speak, speak, who are you?” she at length exclaimed.
Scarcely had Owen opened his lips to pronounce his name, than she threw her arms around his neck.
“I knew, I knew it!” she cried out, and burst forth into an uncontrollable fit of crying, followed by one of laughter, as she hugged him again and again to her bosom. Strong-minded as Mrs Kezia was, she possessed a woman’s affectionate heart, and if she had never been in hysterics before, she was undoubtedly on this occasion. She very soon gained the mastery over herself, however.
“What a fool I am; but you will not tell him of it, Owen,” she said, “or he will be putting his back up at me.”