es--when 'er father wasn't
looking--she'd smile back. Once, when 'e was down below, she laughed
right out. She was afraid of 'im, and by and by I noticed that she
daren't even get off the ship and walk up and down the wharf without
asking 'im. When she went out 'e was with 'er, and, from one or two
nasty little snacks I 'appened to overhear when the skipper thought I
was too far away, I began to see that something was up.

"It all came out one evening, and it only came out because the skipper
wanted my help. I was standing leaning on my broom to get my breath
back arter a bit o' sweeping, when he came up to me, and I knew at once,
by the nice way 'e spoke, that he wanted me to do something for 'im.

"'Come and 'ave a pint, Bill,' he ses.

"I put my broom agin the wall, and we walked round to the Bull's Head
like a couple o' brothers. We 'ad two pints apiece, and then he put his
'and on my shoulder and talked as man to man.

"'I'm in a little bit o' difficulty about that gal o' mine,' he ses,
passing me his baccy-box. 'Six months ago she dropped a letter out of
'er pocket, and I'm blest if it wasn't from a young man. A young man!'

"'You sur-prise me,' I ses, meaning to be sarcastic.

"'I surprised her,' he ses, looking very fierce. 'I went to 'er box and
I found a pile of 'em-a pile of 'em-tied up with a piece o' pink ribbon.
And a photygraph of my lord. And of all the narrer-chested, weak-eyed,
slack-baked, spindly-legged sons of a gun you ever saw in your life, he
is the worst. If I on'y get my 'ands on him I'll choke 'im with his own
feet.'

"He washed 'is mouth out with a drop o' beer and stood scowling at the
floor.

"'Arter I've choked 'im I'll twist his neck,' he ses. 'If he 'ad on'y
put his address on 'is letters, I'd go round and do it now. And my
daughter, my only daughter, won't tell me where he lives.'

"'She ought to know better,' I ses.

"He took hold o' my 'and and shook it. 'You've got more sense than one
'ud think to look at you, Bill,' he ses, not thinking wot he was saying.
'You see wot a mess I'm in.'

"'Yes,' I ses.

"'I'm a nurse, that's wot I am,' he ses, very savage. 'Just a
nursemaid. I can't move 'and or foot without that gal. 'Ow'd you like
it, yourself, Bill?'

"'It must be very orkard for you,' I ses. 'Very orkard indeed.'

"'Orkard !' he ses; 'it's no name for it, Bill. I might as well be a
Sunday-school teacher, and ha' done with it. I never 'ad such a du