Short Cruises | Page 4

regarding Mr. Bell much as a hungry cat regards a
plump sparrow.
"I don't suppose so," she said, slowly.
"I dare say if we wait a little while--" began Mr. Stokes, ignoring a
frantic glance from Mr. Henshaw.
"Come in," said Mrs. Henshaw, suddenly.
Mr. Stokes entered and, finding that his friend hung back, went out
again and half led, half pushed him indoors. Mr. Bell's shyness he
attributed to his having lived so long in Ireland.
"He is quite the ladies' man, though," he said, artfully, as they followed
their hostess into the front room. "You should ha' seen 'im the other
night on the 'bus. We had a couple o' lady friends o' mine with us, and
even the conductor was surprised at his goings on."
Mr. Bell, by no means easy as to the results of the experiment, scowled
at him despairingly.
"Carrying on, was he?" said Mrs. Henshaw, regarding the culprit
steadily.
"Carrying on like one o'clock," said the imaginative Mr. Stokes.
"Called one of 'em 'is little wife, and asked her where 'er wedding-ring
was."
"I didn't," said Mr. Bell, in a suffocating voice. "I didn't."
"There's nothing to be ashamed of," said Mr. Stokes, virtuously. "Only,
as I said to you at the time, 'Alfred,' I says, 'it's all right for you as a
single man, but you might be the twin-brother of a pal o' mine--George

Henshaw by name--and if some people was to see you they might think
it was 'im Didn't I say that?"
"You did," said Mr. Bell, helplessly.
"And he wouldn't believe me," said Mr. Stokes, turning to Mrs.
Henshaw. "That's why I brought him round to see George."
"I should like to see the two of 'em together myself," said Mrs.
Henshaw, quietly. "I should have taken him for my husband
anywhere."
"You wouldn't if you'd seen 'im last night," said Mr. Stokes, shaking his
head and smiling.
"Carrying on again, was he?" inquired Mrs. Henshaw, quickly.
"No!" said Mr. Bell, in a stentorian whisper.
His glance was so fierce that Mr. Stokes almost quailed. "I won't tell
tales out of school," he said, nodding.
"Not if I ask you to?" said Mrs. Henshaw, with a winning smile.
"Ask 'im," said Mr. Stokes.
"Last night," said the whisperer, hastily, "I went for a quiet walk round
Victoria Park all by myself. Then I met Mr. Stokes, and we had one
half-pint together at a public-house. That's all."
Mrs. Henshaw looked at Mr. Stokes. Mr. Stokes winked at her.
"It's as true as my name is--Alfred Bell," said that gentleman, with
slight but natural hesitation.
"Have it your own way," said Mr. Stokes, somewhat perturbed at Mr.
Bell's refusal to live up to the character he had arranged for him.
"I wish my husband spent his evenings in the same quiet way," said

Mrs. Henshaw, shaking her head.
"Don't he?" said Mr. Stokes. "Why, he always seems quiet enough to
me. Too quiet, I should say. Why, I never knew a quieter man. I chaff
'im about it sometimes."
"That's his artfulness," said Mrs. Henshaw.
"Always in a hurry to get 'ome," pursued the benevolent Mr. Stokes.
"He may say so to you to get away from you," said Mrs. Henshaw,
thoughtfully. "He does say you're hard to shake off sometimes."
Mr. Stokes sat stiffly upright and threw a fierce glance in the direction
of Mr. Henshaw.
"Pity he didn't tell me," he said bitterly. "I ain't one to force my
company where it ain't wanted."
"I've said to him sometimes," continued Mrs. Henshaw, "'Why don't
you tell Ted Stokes plain that you don't like his company?' but he won't.
That ain't his way. He'd sooner talk of you behind your back."
"What does he say?" inquired Mr. Stokes, coldly ignoring a frantic
headshake on the part of his friend.
"Promise me you won't tell him if I tell you," said Mrs. Henshaw.
Mr. Stokes promised.
"I don't know that I ought to tell you," said Mrs. Henshaw, reluctantly,
"but I get so sick and tired of him coming home and grumbling about
you."
"Go on," said the waiting Stokes.
Mrs. Henshaw stole a glance at him. "He says you act as if you thought
yourself everybody," she said, softly, "and your everlasting clack, clack,
clack, worries him to death."

"Go on," said the listener, grimly.
"And he says it's so much trouble to get you to pay for your share of the
drinks that he'd sooner pay himself and have done with it."
Mr. Stokes sprang from his chair and, with clenched fists, stood angrily
regarding the horrified Mr. Bell. He composed himself by an effort and
resumed his seat.
"Anything else?" he inquired.
"Heaps and heaps of things," said Mrs. Henshaw; "but I don't want to
make bad blood between