The Firm of Girdlestone | Page 9

a timid way upon the extreme edge of a chair. She was weary
and footsore, for she had carried the baby up from Stepney that
morning.
"Hudson--Hudson--can't remember the name," said Girdlestone,
shaking his head reflectively.
"Jim Hudson as was, sir, he was my husband, the bo'sun for many a
year o' your ship the Black Eagle. He went out to try and earn a bit for
me and the child, sir, but he's dead o' fever, poor dear, and lying in
Bonny river, wi' a cannon ball at his feet, as the carpenter himself told
me who sewed him up, and I wish I was dead and with him, so I do."
She began sobbing in her shawl and moaning, while the child, suddenly
awakened by the sound, rubbed its eyes with its wrinkled mottled hands,
and then proceeded to take stock of Mr. Girdlestone and his office with
the critical philosophy of infancy.
"Calm yourself, my good woman, calm yourself," said the senior

partner. He perceived that the evil prophesied by his son had come
upon him, and he made a mental note of this fresh instance of Ezra's
powers of foresight.
"It was hard, so it was," said Mrs. Hudson, drying her eyes, but still
giving vent to an occasional tempestuous sob. "I heard as the Black
Eagle was comin' up the river, so I spent all I had in my pocket in
makin' Jim a nice little supper--ham an' eggs, which was always his
favourite, an' a pint o' bitter, an' a quartern o' whiskey that he could take
hot after, bein' naturally o' a cold turn, and him comin' from a warm
country, too. Then out I goes, and down the river, until I sees the Black
Eagle a-comin' up wi' a tug in front of her. Well I knowed the two
streaks o' white paint, let alone the screechin' o' the parrots which I
could hear from the bank. I could see the heads o' some of the men
peepin' over the side, so I waves my handkercher, and one o' them he
waves back. 'Trust Jim for knowin' his little wife,' says I, proud like to
myself, and I runs round to where I knew as they'd dock her. What with
me being that excited that I couldn't rightly see where I was going, and
what with the crowd, for the men was comin' from work, I didn't get
there till the ship was alongside. Then I jumps aboard, and the first man
I seed was Sandy McPherson, who I knowed when we lived in
Binnacle Lane. 'Where's Jim?' I cried, running forward, eager like, to
the forecastle, but he caught me by the arm as I passed him. 'Steady,
lass, steady!' Then I looked up at him, and his face was very grave, and
my knees got kind o' weak. 'Where's Jim?' says I. 'Don't ask,' says he.
'Where is he, Sandy?' I screeches; and then, 'Don't say the word, Sandy,
don't you say it.' But, Lor' bless ye, sir, it didn't much matter what he
said nor what he didn't, for I knowed all, an' down I flops on the deck in
a dead faint. The mate, he took me home in a cab, and when I come to
there was the supper lying, sir, and the beer, and the things a-shinin',
and all so cosy, an' the child askin' where her father was, for I told her
he'd bring her some things from Africa. Then, to think of him a-lyin'
dead in Bonny river, why, sir, it nigh broke my heart."
"A sore affliction," the merchant said, shaking his grizzled head. "A sad
visitation. But these things are sent to try us, Mrs. Hudson. They are
warnings to us not to fix our thoughts too much upon the dross of this

world, but to have higher aims and more durable aspirations. We are
poor short-sighted creatures, the best of us, and often mistake evil for
good. What seems so sad to-day may, if taken in a proper spirit, be
looked back upon as a starting-point from which all the good of your
life has come."
"Bless you, sir!" said the widow, still furtively rubbing her eyes with
the corner of her little shawl. "You're a real kind gentleman. It does me
good to hear you talk."
"We have all our burdens and misfortunes," continued the senior
partner. "Some have more, some have less. To-day is your turn,
to-morrow it may be mine. But let us struggle on to the great goal, and
the weight of our burden need never cause us to sink by the wayside.
And now I must wish you a very good morning, Mrs. Hudson. Believe
me, you have my hearty sympathy."
The woman rose and then stood irresolute