of somewhat uncertain age,
sweet of voice, soft of step, quiet of demeanour, who was either one of
those persons who repress all external evidence of internal fires, and
bear their crosses in silence, or was as cold blooded as a fish and as
heartless as a statue. He found the father the exact antithesis of the
daughter: a nervous, fretful, irritable individual (gout had him by the
heels at the time), who was as full of "yaps" and snarls as any Irish
terrier, and as peevish and fussy as a fault-finding old woman. Added to
this, he had a way of glancing all round the room, and avoiding the eye
of the person to whom he was talking. And if Cleek had been like the
generality of people, and hadn't known that some of the best and
"straightest" men in the world had been afflicted in this manner, and
some of the worst and "crookedest" could look you straight in the eyes
without turning a hair, he might have taken this for a bad sign. Then,
too, he seemed to have a great many more wrappings and swaddlings about
his gouty foot than appeared to be necessary, unless it was done to make
his helpless state very apparent, and to carry out his assertion that he
hadn't been able to walk a foot unassisted for the past week, and could
not, therefore, be in any way connected with young Carboys' mysterious
disappearance. Still, even that had its contra aspect. He _might_ be one
of those individuals who make a mountain of agony out of a molehill of
pain, and insist upon a dozen poultices where one would do.

But Cleek could not forget that, as Narkom had said, there was not the
shadow of doubt that in the event of Carboys having died possessed of
means, the captain would be the heir-at-law by virtue of his kinship;
and it is a great deal more satisfactory to be rich oneself than to be
dependent upon the generosity of a rich son-in-law. So, after adroitly
exercising the "pump" upon other matters:

"I suppose, Miss Morrison," said Cleek in a casual, off-hand sort of
way, "you don't happen to know if Mr. Carboys ever made a will, do you?
I am aware, from what Mr. Narkom has told me of his circumstances, that
he really possessed nothing that would call for the execution of such a
document; but young men have odd fancies sometimes, particularly when
they become engaged, so it is just possible that he might have done such
a thing. There might have been a ring or something of that sort he
wanted to make sure of your getting should anything happen to