The Project Gutenberg EBook of Short Cruises, by W. W. Jacobs

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Title: Short Cruises

Author: W. W. Jacobs

Release Date: June 25, 2007 [EBook #21927]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHORT CRUISES ***

Produced by David Widger

SHORT CRUISES

W. W. JACOBS

1906

CONTENTS:

THE CHANGELING

MIXED RELATIONS

HIS LORDSHIP

ALF'S DREAM

A DISTANT RELATIVE

THE TEST

IN THE FAMILY

A LOVE-KNOT

THE DREAMER

ANGELS' VISITS

THE CHANGELING

MR. GEORGE HENSHAW let himself in at the front door, and stood for some
time wiping his boots on the mat The little house was ominously still,
and a faint feeling, only partially due to the lapse of time since
breakfast, manifested itself behind his waistcoat. He coughed--a
matter-of-fact cough--and, with an attempt to hum a tune, hung his hat
on the peg and entered the kitchen.

Mrs. Henshaw had just finished dinner. The neatly cleaned bone of a
chop was on a plate by her side; a small dish which had contained a
rice-pudding was empty; and the only food left on the table was a small
rind of cheese and a piece of stale bread. Mr. Henshaw's face fell, but
he drew his chair up to the table and waited.

His wife regarded him with a fixed and offensive stare. Her face was red
and her eyes were blazing. It was hard to ignore her gaze; harder still
to meet it. Mr. Henshaw, steering a middle course, allowed his eyes to
wander round the room and to dwell, for the fraction of a second, on her
angry face.

"You've had dinner early?" he said at last, in a trembling voice.

"Have I?" was the reply.

Mr. Henshaw sought for a comforting explanation. "Clock's fast," he
said, rising and adjusting it.

His wife rose almost at the same moment, and with slow deliberate
movements began to clear the table.

"What--what about dinner?" said Mr. Henshaw, still trying to control his
fears.

"Dinner!" repeated Mrs. Henshaw, in a terrible voice. "You go and tell
that creature you were on the 'bus with to get your dinner."

Mr. Henshaw made a gesture of despair. "I tell you," he said
emphatica