remy walked out with Miss Jones and his
sisters that he did not appear. It was not very difficult to snatch
a conversation with him. Because the beauty of the spring weather
continued, the children went every day for a walk in the Meads, and on
at least three separate occasions Jeremy and the Captain enjoyed quite
long conversations together. These were, none of them, so good as that
first one had been. The Captain was not so genial, nor so light-hearted;
it seemed that he had something on his mind. Sometimes he put his hand
on Jeremy's shoulder, and the heavy pressure of his great fingers made
Jeremy tremble, partly with terror, partly with pleasure. His face,
also, was scarcely so agreeable as it had seemed at first sight. His
tremendous nose seemed to burn down upon Jeremy like a malignant fire.
His eyes were so small that sometimes they disappeared under his fat
cheeks altogether, or only gleamed like little sharp points of light
from under his heavy, shaggy eyebrows. Then, although he tried to make
his voice pleasant, Jeremy felt that that complaisant friendliness was
not his natural tone. Sometimes there would be a sharp, barking note
that made Jeremy jump and his cheek pale. The Captain told him no more
fascinating stories, and when Jeremy wanted to know about the ship with
the diamonds and rubies and the little sea village where she lay hid and
the Caribbees natives, and the chances of becoming a cabin boy, and
the further exploitation of the tatooes--all these things the Captain
brushed aside as though they no longer interested him in the least. He,
on the other hand, wanted now to know exactly where Jeremy lived, what
the house was like, where the back doors were, how the windows opened,
where Jeremy slept, and so on. Jeremy, pleased at this interest in
his daily life, told him as many things as he could, hoping to pass
on afterwards to more exciting topics; how, for instance, the kitchen
windows were fastened always last thing at night, but you could undo
them from the garden if you liked with your knife, and Jeremy knew this
because Uncle Samuel had done it once on a Sunday afternoon when the
maids were all out and he'd forgotten his door key. He would have told
the Captain all about the schoolroom and the toy village and the
Jampot and the fun they had had teasing Miss Jones had not, the Captain
fiercely told him that these things did not interest him, and that he
had better just answer the questions that wer