19000 Pound Part 47

"The captain rea.s.sured me by laughing at me. It seemed a cruel thing to do, but I have since thought it saved me from going mad. I have always feared blindness so--I have always had weak eyes."

"I notice that you are never without colored gla.s.ses."

"That is so. I cannot see a yard away without them.

"Well, on this occasion of which I am speaking, there was no ship's doctor aboard. The captain gave me an ointment to use which he told me would restore my sight in five or six days."

"Did it?"

"In that time my sight became as good as ever it was. As to the ointment--well, the captain afterwards told me that was a mere trick.

That nothing but time cured moon blindness, and that he had given me the fat as an ointment merely to keep me busy."

"Smart."

"Yes. There was another effect it had on a fellow-pa.s.senger--who slept as I had slept. He got up from the deck, felt his way to his berth, and lay there unconscious for nearly a day and a half.

"When he recovered, he had not the faintest recollection of even lying down on the deck, and was amazed to find himself in his clothes in his bunk."

"Curious."

"So I thought. Don't light your pipe--try one of these cigars. They are from a box I have just opened. I want your opinion of them."

"Thanks--want the light?"

"No, I won't smoke any more to-night. I think"--a yawn--"I'll be getting to bed. Good-night."

"Good-night. I shan't turn in just yet; as I've lighted this cigar, I'll smoke it out."

"Give me your opinion of it in the morning. Good-night."

"Good-night."

Gerald sat on in the moonlight smoking, and when in the morning he found himself in his berth with his clothes on, he thought of the story of the moon struck man, thought he had been affected in the same way, and was thankful that he had awakened at his regular hour with nothing worse than a headache.

He determined never to go to sleep on deck again while the moon was shining.

CHAPTER x.x.xII

THE LOVERS MEET

New York. Gerald bade farewell to his companion, who pressed him, if ever he returned to England again, to pay him a visit, and they parted.

Gerald's first act, after fixing on a train at the railway station, was to send a wire to Depew.

Have succeeded in every way. Coming by train, arriving Oakville at six. Let Tessie meet me with trap.

GERALD DANVERS.

And Tessie was there to meet him--Tessie, bright, bonnie, and expectant.

Their eyes spoke, but they just shook hands quietly and then drove away.

When they reached the country road, away from people, Gerald took hold of the reins, and pulled the horses up.

"What's that for?"

"Comfort, Tessie. You have just got to give me the biggest kisses you're capable of giving, and I don't like them in a jolting cart."

"Gerald!"

"That's it. Now another. I can do with another. Greedy, eh? Why, I haven't had a kiss all the time I have been away."

"I should hope not!"

"Little woman, I've come back so full of joy--and I may say of money--that I wonder my feelings aren't too much for me. I wonder I don't burst."

"Is it true, Gerald--all of it? Dad told us when he got your wire."

"What did he say?"

"Well, when he opened it and read it, he said, 'Hallelujah!'"

"That's the old man right enough."

"Then he told us that you had been over for nineteen thousand pounds, and that you said you were bringing them with you."

"That was so."

"And is it true, Gerald? True that you have nineteen thousand pounds about you now?"

"Feel right here, la.s.sie."

"Your heart?"

"No, you can't feel that--you've had it for weeks past."

"Don't be foolish, Gerald."

"Feel there--my vest."

"Paper."

"That's it--wrapped up in more paper--there's nineteen of them, each for a thousand pounds."

"My!"