The Project Gutenberg EBook of At Sunwich Port, Part 4., by W.W. Jacobs

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Title: At Sunwich Port, Part 4.
Contents: Chapters 16-20

Author: W.W. Jacobs

Release Date: January 30, 2004 [EBook #10874]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AT SUNWICH PORT, PART 4. ***

Produced by David Widger

AT SUNWICH PORT

BY

W. W. JACOBS

Part 4.

ILLUSTRATIONS

From Drawings by Will Owen

CHAPTER XVI

The two ladies received Mr. Hardy's information with something akin to
consternation, the idea of the autocrat of Equator Lodge as a stowaway on
board the ship of his ancient enemy proving too serious for ordinary
comment. Mrs. Kingdom's usual expressions of surprise, "Well, I never
did!" and "Good gracious alive!" died on her lips, and she sat gazing
helpless and round-eyed at her niece.

"I wonder what he said," she gasped, at last.

Miss Nugent, who was trying to imagine her father in his new role aboard
the Conqueror, paid no heed. It was not a pleasant idea, and her eyes
flashed with temper as she thought of it. Sooner or later the whole
affair would be public property.

"I had an idea all along that he wasn't in London," murmured Mrs.
Kingdom. "Fancy that Nathan Smith standing in Sam's room telling us
falsehoods like that! He never even blushed."

"But you said that you kept picturing father walking about the streets of
London, wrestling with his pride and trying to make up his mind to come
home again," said her niece, maliciously.

Mrs. Kingdom fidgeted, but before she could think of a satisfactory reply
Bella came to the door and asked to speak to her for a moment. Profiting
by her absence, Mr. Hardy leaned towards Miss Nugent, and in a low voice
expressed his sorrow at the mishap to her father and his firm conviction
that everything that could be thought of for that unfortunate mariner's
comfort would be done. "Our fathers will probably come back good
friends," he concluded. "There is nothing would give me more pleasure
than that, and I think that we had better begin and set them a good
example."

"It is no good setting an example to people who are hundreds