“I’ve had a purser’s name (see note 1) for some time past, but I don’t mind telling you I’m Dick Bracewell, who sailed along with Captain Mudge in the Amity once upon a time,” answered her visitor. “And as to how I escaped, why I’d left the ship after we took the Frenchman and put into Rio, and I didn’t know but what Ralph was still aboard her, and a lieutenant by that time, till I heard when I came ashore last that she was lost with all hands.”
Jessie did not quite like Dick’s way of speaking, still it was a melancholy satisfaction to her to talk of Ralph; and as her visitor appeared to mean kindly, she did not express any wish that he would take his departure. He sat and sat on telling her many particulars about Ralph while on board the Falcon; how well he had behaved in the action, and how he had been made an officer, and been placed in command of the Eagle, Dick did not, however, tell her everything that had occurred regarding himself; but though he was not aware of it his tone betrayed the feeling of jealousy which he had entertained, and which her quick perception detecting, did not raise him in her estimation. At last she had to tell him that it was getting late, and to beg that he would go away.
“Well, I hope that I may call again and spin another yarn about old times,” he answered, as he took up his hat.
She did not like to say no, and yet his conversation had not left a pleasant impression on her mind. When she had closed the door behind him, she sat down and cried bitterly. It seemed to her more certain than ever that Ralph was lost. Her evening reading of the Bible and her prayers, that solace of the afflicted, restored calmness to her mind.
Day after day Dick Bracewell came to pay her a visit, and, believing him to have been Ralph’s particular friend, she did not like to decline seeing him. He told her that after he had left the Falcon he had joined a privateer, which had been wonderfully successful; that they had taken a rich Spanish galleon and many other valuable vessels, and that he, having become one of the mates of the ship, had had a large share of prize-money; enough, he declared, to set him up as an independent gentleman for life. To wind up his good luck he had come home in charge of the last prize they had made, which was fully as rich as any of the rest.
“My old shipmate, he that’s gone, told me that I should be ruined if I left the frigate, but he was wrong, you see,” added Dick. “He thought, too, that I hadn’t the sense to take care of my money, if I got any; but I had had a sharp lesson or two, and I made up my mind not to touch liquor, whether afloat or ashore, and I’ve kept to it for better than two years.”
Jessie had heard Ralph mention Dick Bracewell once or twice, but knowing nothing about his character, did not doubt the truth of his statements. Still Dick had not, as he supposed, gained her confidence. His frequent visits were, as might have been expected, noticed by Jessie’s neighbours, and Dame Judson looked in one morning on purpose to tell her of the remarks she had heard, and to give her advice on the subject. She concluded by saying, “If you think that he is worthy of you, my dear, which I don’t, why, there is nothing to say. You are your own mistress, and can marry him when—”
“I marry him!” interrupted Jessie. “Oh, Mrs Judson, how can you think of such a thing? I did not suppose that he or any one else dreamed for a moment that I fancied he was making up to me, or I would not have received him after his first visit. Do, Mrs Judson, stay with me to-day, and if he comes tell him that I cannot see him, and beg that he will not come again.”
Mrs Judson very readily consented to do as Jessie wished. She had made inquiries about Dick Bracewell, and did not altogether believe in the capture of the Spanish galleon, though she heard that he had come ashore from a prize brought into Plymouth to be sold. The dame had brought her work, and took Jessie’s usual place by the window to watch for Dick. She had not been there long before she saw a young sailor approach the house, and, without stopping, walk straight up to the door. “That isn’t Dick Bracewell. I wonder who he can be,” she exclaimed, as a knock was heard.
“Can it be Ralph?” gasped out Jessie, rising from her seat.