PAGE 27
The Virginians
by
So there was not only grief in the Castlewood House, but there was disunion. As a result of the gloom, and of his grief for the loss of his brother, Harry was again and again struck down by the fever, and all the Jesuits’ bark in America could not cure him. They had a tobacco-house and some land about the new town of Richmond, and he went thither and there mended a little, but still did not get quite well, and the physicians strongly counselled a sea-voyage. Madame Esmond at one time had thoughts of going with him, but, as she and Harry did not agree very well, though they loved each other very heartily, ’twas determined that Harry should see the world for himself.
Accordingly he took passage on the “Young Rachel,” Virginian ship, Edward Franks master. She proceeded to Bristol and moored as near as possible to Trail’s wharf, to which she was consigned. Mr. Trail, who could survey his ship from his counting-house windows, straightway took boat and came up her side, and gave the hand of welcome to Captain Franks, congratulating the Captain upon the speedy and fortunate voyage which he had made.
Franks was a pleasant man, who loved a joke. “We have,” says he, “but yonder ugly negro boy, who is fetching the trunks, and a passenger who has the state cabin to himself.”
Mr. Trail looked as if he would have preferred more mercies from Heaven. “Confound you, Franks, and your luck! The ‘Duke William,’ which came in last week, brought fourteen, and she is not half of our tonnage.”
“And this passenger, who has the whole cabin, don’t pay nothin’,” continued the Captain. “Swear now, it will do you good, Mr. Trail, indeed it will. I have tried the medicine.”
“A passenger take the whole cabin and not pay? Gracious mercy, are you a fool, Captain Franks?”
“Ask the passenger himself, for here he comes.” And as the master spoke, a young man of some nineteen years of age came up the hatchway. He had a cloak and a sword under his arm, and was dressed in deep mourning, and called out, “Gumbo, you idiot, why don’t you fetch the baggage out of the cabin? Well, shipmate, our journey is ended. You will see all the little folks to-night whom you have been talking about. Give my love to Polly, and Betty, and little Tommy; not forgetting my duty to Mrs. Franks. I thought, yesterday, the voyage would never be done, and now I am almost sorry it is over. That little berth in my cabin looks very comfortable now I am going to leave it.”
Mr. Trail scowled at the young passenger who had paid no money for his passage. He scarcely nodded his head to the stranger, when Captain Franks said: “This here gentleman is Mr. Trail, sir, whose name you have a-heerd of.”
“It’s pretty well known in Bristol, sir,” says Mr. Trail, majestically.
“And this is Mr. Warrington, Madame Esmond Warrington’s son, of Castlewood,” continued the Captain.
The British merchant’s hat was instantly off his head, and the owner of the beaver was making a prodigious number of bows, as if a crown-prince were before him.
“Gracious powers, Mr. Warrington! This is a delight, indeed! What a crowning mercy that your voyage should have been so prosperous! You have my boat to go on shore. Let me cordially and respectfully welcome you to England! Let me shake your hand as the son of my benefactress and patroness, Mrs. Esmond Warrington, whose name is known and honoured on Bristol ‘Change, I warrant you. Isn’t it, Franks?”
“There’s no sweeter tobacco comes from Virginia,” says Mr. Franks, drawing a great brass tobacco-box from his pocket, and thrusting a quid into his jolly mouth. “You don’t know what a comfort it is, sir; you’ll take to it, bless you, as you grow older. Won’t he, Mr. Trail? I wish you had ten shiploads of it instead of one. You might have ten shiploads; I’ve told Madame Esmond so; I’ve rode over her plantation; she treats me like a lord when I go to the house. She is a real-born lady, she is; and might have a thousand hogsheads as easy as her hundreds, if there were but hands enough.”