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Title: The Unknown
Night Watches, Part 7.

Author: W.W. Jacobs

Release Date: April 26, 2004 [EBook #12157]

Language: English

Character set encoding: US-ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNKNOWN ***

Produced by David Widger

NIGHT WATCHES

by W.W. Jacobs

THE UNKNOWN

"Handsome is as 'andsome does," said the night-watchman. It's an old
saying, but it's true. Give a chap good looks, and it's precious little
else that is given to 'im. He's lucky when 'is good looks 'ave gorn--or
partly gorn--to get a berth as night-watchman or some other hard and
bad-paid job.

One drawback to a good-looking man is that he generally marries young;
not because 'e wants to, but because somebody else wants 'im to. And
that ain't the worst of it: the handsomest chap I ever knew married five
times, and got seven years for it. It wasn't his fault, pore chap; he
simply couldn't say No.

One o' the best-looking men I ever knew was Cap'n Bill Smithers, wot
used to come up here once a week with a schooner called the Wild Rose.
Funny thing about 'im was he didn't seem to know about 'is good looks,
and he was one o' the quietest, best-behaved men that ever came up the
London river. Considering that he was mistook for me more than once, it
was just as well.

He didn't marry until 'e was close on forty; and then 'e made the
mistake of marrying a widder-woman. She was like all the rest of 'em--
only worse. Afore she was married butter wouldn't melt in 'er mouth,
but as soon as she 'ad got her "lines" safe she began to make up for it.

For the fust month or two 'e didn't mind it, 'e rather liked being
fussed arter, but when he found that he couldn't go out for arf an hour
without having 'er with 'im he began to get tired of it. Her idea was
that 'e was too handsome to be trusted out alone; and every trip he made
'e had to write up in a book, day by day, wot 'e did with himself. Even
then she wasn't satisfied, and, arter saying that a wife's place was by
the side of 'er husband, she took to sailing with 'im every v'y'ge.

Wot he could ha' seen in 'er I don't know. I