When London Burned : a Story of Restoration Times and the Great Fire, Page 2

  CHAPTER II

  A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER

  "I am glad to see you again, lad," Captain David said, when Cyrilentered his shop. "I have been thinking of the news you gave me lastweek, and the mistress and I have been talking it over. Where are youlodging?"

  "I have been lodging until now in Holborn," Cyril replied; "but I amgoing to move."

  "Yes; that is what we thought you would be doing. It is always betterto make a change after a loss. I don't want to interfere in yourbusiness, lad, but have you any friends you are thinking of goingto?"

  "No, sir; I do not know a soul in London save those I work for."

  "That is bad, lad--very bad. I was talking it over with my wife, andI said that maybe you were lonely. I am sure, lad, you are one of theright sort. I don't mean only in your work, for as for that I wouldback you against any scrivener in London, but I mean about yourself.It don't need half an eye to see that you have not been brought up tothis sort of thing, though you have taken to it so kindly, but thereis not one in a thousand boys of your age who would have settled downto work and made their way without a friend to help them as you havedone; it shows that there is right good stuff in you. There, I am solong getting under weigh that I shall never get into port if I don'tsteer a straight course. Now, my ideas and my wife's come to this: ifyou have got no friends you will have to take a lodging somewhereamong strangers, and then it would be one of two things--you wouldeither stop at home and mope by yourself, or you would go out, andmaybe get into bad company. If I had not come across you I shouldhave had to employ a clerk, and he would either have lived here withus or I should have had to pay him enough to keep house for himself.Now in fact you are a clerk; for though you are only here for sixhours a week--you do all the work there is to do, and no clerk coulddo more. Well, we have got an attic upstairs which is not used, andif you like to come here and live with us, my wife and I will makeyou heartily welcome."

  "Thank you, indeed," Cyril said warmly. "It is of all things what Ishould like; but of course I should wish to pay you for my board. Ican afford to do so if you will employ me for the same hours as atpresent."

  "No, I would not have that, lad; but if you like we can reckon yourboard against what I now pay you. We feed John Wilkes and the twoapprentices, and one mouth extra will make but little difference. Idon't want it to be a matter of obligation, so we will put your boardagainst the work you do for me. I shall consider that we are making agood bargain."

  "It is your pleasure to say so, sir, but I cannot tell you what aload your kind offer takes off my mind. The future has seemed verydark to me."

  "Very well. That matter is settled, then. Come upstairs with me and Iwill present you to my wife and daughter; they have heard me speak ofyou so often that they will be glad to see you. In the first place,though, I must ask you your name. Since you first signed articles andentered the crew I have never thought of asking you."

  "My name is Cyril, sir--Cyril Shenstone."

  His employer nodded and at once led the way upstairs. A motherlylooking woman rose from the seat where she was sitting at work, asthey entered the living-room.

  "This is my Prince of Scriveners, Mary, the lad I have often spokento you about. His name is Cyril; he has accepted the proposal wetalked over last night, and is going to become one of the crew onboard our ship."

  "I am glad to see you," she said to Cyril, holding out her hand tohim. "I have not met you before, but I feel very grateful to you.Till you came, my husband was bothered nearly out of his wits; heused to sit here worrying over his books, and writing from the timethe shop closed till the hour for bed, and Nellie and I dared not tosay as much as a word. Now we see no more of his books, and he isable to go out for a walk in the fields with us as he used to dobefore."

  "It is very kind of you to say so, Mistress," Cyril said earnestly;"but it is I, on the contrary, who am deeply grateful to you for theoffer Captain Dave has been good enough to make me. You cannot tellthe pleasure it has given me, for you cannot understand how lonelyand friendless I have been feeling. Believe me, I will strive to giveyou as little trouble as possible, and to conform myself in all waysto your wishes."

  At this moment Nellie Dowsett came into the room. She was a prettygirl some eighteen years of age.

  "This is Cyril, your father's assistant, Nellie," her mother said.

  "You are welcome, Master Cyril. I have been wanting to see you.Father has been praising you up to the skies so often that I have hadquite a curiosity to see what you could be like."

  "Your father is altogether too good, Mistress Nellie, and makes farmore of my poor ability than it deserves."

  "And is he going to live with us, mother?" Nellie asked.

  "Yes, child; he has accepted your father's offer."

  Nellie clapped her hands.

  "That is good," she said. "I shall expect you to escort me outsometimes, Cyril. Father always wants me to go down to the wharf tolook at the ships or to go into the fields; but I want to gosometimes to see the fashions, and there is no one to take me, forJohn Wilkes always goes off to smoke a pipe with some sailor orother, and the apprentices are stupid and have nothing to say forthemselves; and besides, one can't walk alongside a boy in anapprentice cap."

  "I shall be very happy to, Mistress, when my work is done, though Ifear that I shall make but a poor escort, for indeed I have had nopractice whatever in the esquiring of dames."

  "I am sure you will do very well," Nellie said, nodding approvingly."Is it true that you have been in France? Father said he was toldso."

  "Yes; I have lived almost all my life in France."

  "And do you speak French?"

  "Yes; I speak it as well as English."

  "It must have been very hard to learn?"

  "Not at all. It came to me naturally, just as English did."

  "You must not keep him any longer now, Nellie; he has otherappointments to keep, and when he has done that, to go and pack uphis things and see that they are brought here by a porter. He cananswer some more of your questions when he comes here this evening."

  Cyril returned to Holborn with a lighter heart than he had felt for along time. His preparations for the move took him but a short time,and two hours later he was installed in a little attic in theship-chandler's house. He spent half-an-hour in unpacking his things,and then heard a stentorian shout from below,--

  "Masthead, ahoy! Supper's waiting."

  Supposing that this hail was intended for himself, he at once wentdownstairs. The table was laid. Mistress Dowsett took her seat at thehead; her husband sat on one side of her, and Nellie on the other.John Wilkes sat next to his master, and beyond him the elder of thetwo apprentices. A seat was left between Nellie and the otherapprentice for Cyril.

  "Now our crew is complete, John," Captain Dave said. "We have beenwanting a supercargo badly."

  "Ay, ay, Captain Dave, there is no doubt we have been short-handed inthat respect; but things have been more ship-shape lately."

  "That is so, John. I can make a shift to keep the vessel on hercourse, but when it comes to writing up the log, and keeping thereckoning, I make but a poor hand at it. It was getting to be as badas that voyage of the _Jane_ in the Levant, when the supercargo hadgot himself stabbed at Lemnos."

  "I mind it, Captain--I mind it well. And what a trouble there waswith the owners when we got back again!"

  "Yes, yes," the Captain said; "it was worse work than having a brushwith a Barbary corsair. I shall never forget that day. When I went tothe office to report, the three owners were all in.

  "'Well, Captain Dave, back from your voyage?' said the littlest ofthe three. 'Made a good voyage, I hope?'

  "First-rate, says I, except that the supercargo got killed at Lemnosby one of them rascally Greeks.

  "'Dear, dear,' said another of them--he was a prim, sanctimonioussort--'Has our brother Jenkins left us?'

  "I don't know about his leaving us, says I, but we left him sureenough in a burying-place there.

 
"'And how did you manage without him?'

  "I made as good a shift as I could, I said. I have sold all thecargo, and I have brought back a freight of six tons of Turkey figs,and four hundred boxes of currants. And these two bags hold thedifference.

  "'Have you brought the books with you, Captain?'

  "Never a book, said I. I have had to navigate the ship and to lookafter the crew, and do the best I could at each port. The books areon board, made out up to the day before the supercargo was killed,three months ago; but I have never had time to make an entry since.

  "They looked at each other like owls for a minute or two, and thenthey all began to talk at once. How had I sold the goods? had Icharged the prices mentioned in the invoice? what percentage had Iput on for profit? and a lot of other things. I waited until theywere all out of breath, and then I said I had not bothered aboutinvoices. I knew pretty well the prices such things cost in England.I clapped on so much more for the expenses of the voyage and a fairprofit. I could tell them what I had paid for the figs and thecurrants, and for some bags of Smyrna sponges I had bought, but as tothe prices I had charged, it was too much to expect that I couldcarry them in my head. All I knew was I had paid for the things I hadbought, I had paid all the port dues and other charges, I hadadvanced the men one-fourth of their wages each month, and I hadbrought them back the balance.

  "Such a hubbub you never heard. One would have thought they wouldhave gone raving mad. The sanctimonious partner was the worst of thelot. He threatened me with the Lord Mayor and the Aldermen, and wenton till I thought he would have had a fit.

  "Look here, says I, at last, I'll tell you what I will do. You tellme what the cargo cost you altogether, and put on so much for thehire of the ship. I will pay you for them and settle up with thecrew, and take the cargo and sell it. That is a fair offer. And Iadvise you to keep civil tongues in your heads, or I will knock themoff and take my chance before the Lord Mayor for assault and battery.

  "With that I took off my coat and laid it on a bench. I reckon theysaw that I was in earnest, and they just sat as mum as mice. Then thelittle man said, in a quieter sort of voice,--

  "'You are too hasty, Captain Dowsett. We know you to be an honest manand a good sailor, and had no suspicion that you would wrong us; butno merchant in the City of London could hear that his business hadbeen conducted in such a way as you have carried it through withoutfor a time losing countenance. Let us talk the matter over reasonablyand quietly.'

  "That is just what I am wanting, I said; and if there hasn't beenreason and quiet it is from no fault of mine.

  "'Well, please to put your coat on again, Captain, and let us see howmatters stand!'

  "Then they took their ink-horns and pens, and, on finding out what Ihad paid for the figs and other matters, they reckoned them up; thenthey put down what I said was due to the sailors and the mate andmyself; then they got out some books, and for an hour they were busyreckoning up figures; then they opened the bags and counted up thegold we had brought home. Well, when they had done, you would hardlyhave known them for the same men. First of all, they went through alltheir calculations again to be sure they had made no mistake aboutthem; then they laid down their pens, and the sanctimonious manmopped the perspiration from his face, and the others smiled at eachother. Then the biggest of the three, who had scarcely spoken before,said,--

  "'Well, Captain Dowsett, I must own that my partners were a littlehasty. The result of our calculations is that the voyage has been asatisfactory one, I may almost say very satisfactory, and that youmust have disposed of the goods to much advantage. It has been a newand somewhat extraordinary way of doing business, but I am bound tosay that the result has exceeded our expectations, and we trust thatyou will command the _Jane_ for many more voyages.'

  "Not for me, says I. You can hand me over the wages due to me, andyou will find the _Jane_ moored in the stream just above the Tower.You will find her in order and shipshape; but never again do I set myfoot on board her or on any other vessel belonging to men who havedoubted my honesty.

  "Nor did I. I had a pretty good name among traders, and ten dayslater I started for the Levant again in command of a far smartervessel than the _Jane_ had ever been."

  "And we all went with you, Captain," John Wilkes said, "every manjack of us. And on her very next voyage the _Jane_ was captured bythe Algerines, and I reckon there are some of the poor fellowsworking as slaves there now; for though Blake did blow the placepretty nigh out of water a few years afterwards, it is certain thatthe Christian slaves handed over to him were not half those the Moorshad in their hands."

  "It would seem, Captain Dowsett, from your story, that you can managevery well without a supercargo?" Cyril said quietly.

  "Ay, lad; but you see that was a ready-money business. I handed overthe goods and took the cash; there was no accounts to be kept. It wasall clear and above board. But it is a different thing in this shipaltogether, when, instead of paying down on the nail for what theyget, you have got to keep an account of everything and send in alltheir items jotted down in order. Why, Nellie, your tongue seemsquieter than usual."

  "You have not given me a chance, father. You have been talking eversince we sat down to table."

  Supper was now over. The two apprentices at once retired. Cyril wouldhave done the same, but Mistress Dowsett said,--

  "Sit you still, Cyril. The Captain says that you are to be consideredas one of the officers of the ship, and we shall be always glad tohave you here, though of course you can always go up to your ownroom, or go out, when you feel inclined."

  "I have to go out three times a week to work," Cyril said; "but allthe other evenings I shall be glad indeed to sit here, MistressDowsett. You cannot tell what a pleasure it is to me to be in anEnglish home like this."

  It was not long before John Wilkes went out.

  "He is off to smoke his pipe," the Captain said. "I never light minetill he goes. I can't persuade him to take his with me; he insists itwould not be manners to smoke in the cabin."

  "He is quite right, father," Nellie said. "It is bad enough havingyou smoke here. When mother's friends or mine come in they arewell-nigh choked; they are not accustomed to it as we are, for arespectable London citizen does not think of taking tobacco."

  "I am a London citizen, Nellie, but I don't set up any special claimto respectability. I am a sea-captain, though that rascally Greekcannon-ball and other circumstances have made a trader of me, sorelyagainst my will; and if I could not have my pipe and my glass of groghere I would go and sit with John Wilkes in the tavern at the cornerof the street, and I suppose that would not be even as respectable assmoking here."

  "Nellie doesn't mean, David, that she wants you to give up smoking;only she thinks that John is quite right to go out to take his pipe.And I must say I think so too. You know that when you havesea-captains of your acquaintance here, you always send the maid offto bed and smoke in the kitchen."

  "Ay, ay, my dear, I don't want to turn your room into a fo'castle.There is reason in all things. I suppose you don't smoke, MasterCyril?"

  "No, Captain Dave, I have never so much as thought of such a thing.In France it is the fashion to take snuff, but the habit seemed to mea useless one, and I don't think that I should ever have taken toit."

  "I wonder," Captain Dave said, after they had talked for some time,"that after living in sight of the sea for so long your thoughtsnever turned that way."

  "I cannot say that I have never thought of it," Cyril said. "I havethought that I should greatly like to take foreign voyages, but Ishould not have cared to go as a ship's boy, and to live with men soignorant that they could not even write their own names. My thoughtshave turned rather to the Army; and when I get older I think ofentering some foreign service, either that of Sweden or of one of theProtestant German princes. I could obtain introductions through whichI might enter as a cadet, or gentleman volunteer. I have learntGerman, and though I cannot speak it as I can French or English, Iknow enough to make my way in it.
"

  "Can you use your sword, Cyril?" Nellie Dowsett asked.

  "I have had very good teaching," Cyril replied, "and hope to be ableto hold my own."

  "Then you are not satisfied with this mode of life?" Mistress Dowsettsaid.

  "I am satisfied with it, Mistress, inasmuch as I can earn moneysufficient to keep me. But rather than settle down for life as a cityscrivener, I would go down to the river and ship on board the firstvessel that would take me, no matter where she sailed for."

  "I think you are wrong," Mistress Dowsett said gravely. "My husbandtells me how clever you are at figures, and you might some day get agood post in the house of one of our great merchants."

  "Maybe it would be so," Cyril said; "but such a life would ill suitme. I have truly a great desire to earn money: but it must be in someway to suit my taste."

  "And why do you want to earn a great deal of money, Cyril?" Nellielaughed, while her mother shook her head disapprovingly.

  "I wish to have enough to buy my father's estate back again," hesaid, "and though I know well enough that it is not likely I shallever do it, I shall fight none the worse that I have such a hope inmy mind."

  "Bravo, lad!" Captain Dave said. "I knew not that there was an estatein the case, though I did hear that you were the son of a Royalist.It is a worthy ambition, boy, though if it is a large one 'tis scarcelike that you will get enough to buy it back again."

  "It is not a very large one," Cyril said. "'Tis down in Norfolk, butit was a grand old house--at least, so I have heard my father say,though I have but little remembrance of it, as I was but three yearsold when I left it. My father, who was Sir Aubrey Shenstone, hadhoped to recover it; but he was one of the many who sold theirestates for far less than their value in order to raise money in theKing's service, and, as you are aware, none of those who did so havebeen reinstated, but only those who, having had their land taken fromthem by Parliament, recovered them because their owners had notitle-deeds to show, save the grant of Parliament that was of noeffect in the Courts. Thus the most loyal men--those who sold theirestates to aid the King--have lost all, while those that did not sodispossess themselves in his service are now replaced on their land."

  "It seems very unfair," Nellie said indignantly.

  "It is unfair to them, assuredly, Mistress Nellie. And yet it wouldbe unfair to the men who bought, though often they gave but a tenthof their value, to be turned out again unless they received theirmoney back. It is not easy to see where that money could come from,for assuredly the King's privy purse would not suffice to pay all themoney, and equally certain is it that Parliament would not vote agreat sum for that purpose."

  "It is a hard case, lad--a hard case," Captain Dave said, as hepuffed the smoke from his pipe. "Now I know how you stand, I blame,you in no way that you long more for a life of adventure than tosettle down as a city scrivener. I don't think even my wife, much asshe thinks of the city, could say otherwise."

  "It alters the case much," Mistress Dowsett said. "I did not knowthat Cyril was the son of a Knight, though it was easy enough to seethat his manners accord not with his present position. Still thereare fortunes made in the city, and no honest work is dishonouringeven to a gentleman's son."

  "Not at all, Mistress," Cyril said warmly. "'Tis assuredly not onthat account that I would fain seek more stirring employment; but itwas always my father's wish and intention that, should there be nochance of his ever regaining the estate, I should enter foreignservice, and I have always looked forward to that career."

  "Well, I will wager that you will do credit to it, lad," Captain Davesaid. "You have proved that you are ready to turn your hand to anywork that may come to you. You have shown a manly spirit, my boy, andI honour you for it; and by St. Anthony I believe that some day,unless a musket-ball or a pike-thrust brings you up with a roundturn, you will live to get your own back again."

  Cyril remained talking for another two hours, and then betook himselfto bed. After he had gone, Mistress Dowsett said, after a pause,--

  "Do you not think, David, that, seeing that Cyril is the son of aKnight, it would be more becoming to give him the room downstairsinstead of the attic where he is now lodged?"

  The old sailor laughed.

  "That is woman-kind all over," he said. "It was good enough for himbefore, and now forsooth, because the lad mentioned, and assuredly inno boasting way, that his father had been a Knight, he is to betreated differently. He would not thank you himself for making thechange, dame. In the first place, it would make him uncomfortable,and he might make an excuse to leave us altogether; and in thesecond, you may be sure that he has been used to no better quartersthan those he has got. The Royalists in France were put to soreshifts to live, and I fancy that he has fared no better since he camehome. His father would never have consented to his going out to earnmoney by keeping the accounts of little city traders like myself hadit not been that he was driven to it by want. No, no, wife; let theboy go on as he is, and make no difference in any way. I liked himbefore, and I like him all the better now, for putting hisgentlemanship in his pocket and setting manfully to work instead ofhanging on the skirts of some Royalist who has fared better than hisfather did. He is grateful as it is--that is easy to see--for ourtaking him in here. We did that partly because he proved a goodworker and has taken a lot of care off my shoulders, partly becausehe was fatherless and alone. I would not have him think that we areready to do more because he is a Knight's son. Let the boy be, andsuffer him to steer his ship his own course. If, when the time comes,we can further his objects in any way we will do it with right goodwill. What do you think of him, Nellie?" he asked, changing thesubject.

  "He is a proper young fellow, father, and I shall be well content togo abroad escorted by him instead of having your apprentice, RobertAshford, in attendance on me. He has not a word to say for himself,and truly I like him not in anyway."

  "He is not a bad apprentice, Nellie, and John Wilkes has but seldomcause to find fault with him, though I own that I have no greatliking myself for him; he never seems to look one well in the face,which, I take it, is always a bad sign. I know no harm of him; butwhen his apprenticeship is out, which it will be in another year, Ishall let him go his own way, for I should not care to have him onthe premises."

  "Methinks you are very unjust, David. The lad is quiet and regular inhis ways; he goes twice every Sunday to the Church of St. Alphage,and always tells me the texts of the sermons."

  The Captain grunted.

  "Maybe so, wife; but it is easy to get hold of the text of a sermonwithout having heard it. I have my doubts whether he goes asregularly to St. Alphage's as he says he does. Why could he not gowith us to St. Bennet's?"

  "He says he likes the administrations of Mr. Catlin better, David.And, in truth, our parson is not one of the stirring kind."

  "So much the better," Captain Dave said bluntly. "I like not thesemen that thump the pulpit and make as if they were about to jump outhead foremost. However, I don't suppose there is much harm in thelad, and it may be that his failure to look one in the face is not somuch his fault as that of nature, which endowed him with a villainoussquint. Well, let us turn in; it is past nine o'clock, and high timeto be a-bed."

  Cyril seemed to himself to have entered upon a new life when hestepped across the threshold of David Dowsett's store. All his caresand anxieties had dropped from him. For the past two years he hadlived the life of an automaton, starting early to his work, returningin the middle of the day to his dinner,--to which as often as not hesat down alone,--and spending his evenings in utter loneliness in thebare garret, where he was generally in bed long before his fatherreturned. He blamed himself sometimes during the first fortnight ofhis stay here for the feeling of light-heartedness that at times cameover him. He had loved his father in spite of his faults, and should,he told himself, have felt deeply depressed at his loss; but naturewas too strong for him. The pleasant evenings with Captain Dave andhis family were to him delightful; he was like a traveller who,
aftera cold and cheerless journey, comes in to the warmth of a fire, andfeels a glow of comfort as the blood circulates briskly through hisveins. Sometimes, when he had no other engagements, he went out withNellie Dowsett, whose lively chatter was new and very amusing to him.Sometimes they went up into Cheapside, and into St. Paul's, but moreoften sallied out of the city at Aldgate, and walked into the fields.On these occasions he carried a stout cane that had been hisfather's, for Nellie tried in vain to persuade him to gird on asword.

  "You are a gentleman, Cyril," she would argue, "and have a right tocarry one."

  "I am for the present a sober citizen, Mistress Nellie, and do notwish to assume to be of any other condition. Those one sees withswords are either gentlemen of the Court, or common bullies, or maybehighwaymen. After nightfall it is different; for then many citizenscarry their swords, which indeed are necessary to protect them fromthe ruffians who, in spite of the city watch, oftentimes attack quietpassers-by; and if at any time I escort you to the house of one ofyour friends, I shall be ready to take my sword with me. But in thedaytime there is no occasion for a weapon, and, moreover, I am fullyoung to carry one, and this stout cane would, were it necessary, dome good service, for I learned in France the exercise that they callthe _baton_, which differs little from our English singlestick."

  While Cyril was received almost as a member of the family by CaptainDave and his wife, and found himself on excellent terms with JohnWilkes, he saw that he was viewed with dislike by the twoapprentices. He was scarcely surprised at this. Before his coming,Robert Ashford had been in the habit of escorting his young mistresswhen she went out, and had no doubt liked these expeditions, as achange from the measuring out of ropes and weighing of iron in thestore. Then, again, the apprentices did not join in the conversationat table unless a remark was specially addressed to them; and asCaptain Dave was by no means fond of his elder apprentice, it was butseldom that he spoke to him. Robert Ashford was between eighteen andnineteen. He was no taller than Cyril, but it would have beendifficult to judge his age by his face, which had a wizened look;and, as Nellie said one day, in his absence, he might pass very wellfor sixty.

  It was easy enough for Cyril to see that Robert Ashford heartilydisliked him; the covert scowls that he threw across the table atmeal-time, and the way in which he turned his head and feigned to betoo busy to notice him as he passed through the shop, were sufficientindications of ill-will. The younger apprentice, Tom Frost, was but aboy of fifteen; he gave Cyril the idea of being a timid lad. He didnot appear to share his comrade's hostility to him, but once ortwice, when Cyril came out from the office after making up theaccounts of the day, he fancied that the boy glanced at him with anexpression of anxiety, if not of terror.

  "If it were not," Cyril said to himself, "that Tom is clearly toonervous and timid to venture upon an act of dishonesty, I should saythat he had been pilfering something; but I feel sure that he wouldnot attempt such a thing as that, though I am by no means certainthat Robert Ashford, with his foxy face and cross eyes, would notsteal his master's goods or any one else's did he get the chance.Unless he were caught in the act, he could do it with impunity, foreverything here is carried on in such a free-and-easy fashion thatany amount of goods might be carried off without their being missed."

  After thinking the matter over, he said, one afternoon when hisemployer came in while he was occupied at the accounts,--

  "I have not seen anything of a stock-book, Captain Dave. Everythingelse is now straight, and balanced up to to-day. Here is the book ofgoods sold, the book of goods received, and the ledger with theaccounts; but there is no stock-book such as I find in almost all theother places where I work."

  "What do I want with a stock-book?" Captain Dave asked.

  "You cannot know how you stand without it," Cyril replied. "You knowhow much you have paid, and how much you have received during theyear; but unless you have a stock-book you do not know whether thedifference between the receipts and expenditure represents profit,for the stock may have so fallen in value during the year that youmay really have made a loss while seeming to make a profit."

  "How can that be?" Captain Dave asked. "I get a fair profit on everyarticle."

  "There ought to be a profit, of course," Cyril said; "but sometimesit is found not to be so. Moreover, if there is a stock-book you cantell at any time, without the trouble of opening bins and weighingmetal, how much stock you have of each article you sell, and canorder your goods accordingly."

  "How would you do that?"

  "It is very simple, Captain Dave," Cyril said. "After taking stock ofthe whole of the goods, I should have a ledger in which each articlewould have a page or more to itself, and every day I should enterfrom John Wilkes's sales-book a list of the goods that have gone out,each under its own heading. Thus, at any moment, if you were to askhow much chain you had got in stock I could tell you within a fathom.When did you take stock last?"

  "I should say it was about fifteen months since. It was onlyyesterday John Wilkes was saying we had better have a thoroughoverhauling."

  "Quite time, too, I should think, Captain Dave. I suppose you havegot the account of your last stock-taking, with the date of it?"

  "Oh, yes, I have got that;" and the Captain unlocked his desk andtook out an account-book. "It has been lying there ever since. Ittook a wonderful lot of trouble to do, and I had a clerk and two menin for a fortnight, for of course John and the boys were attending totheir usual duties. I have often wondered since why I should have hadall that trouble over a matter that has never been of the slightestuse to me."

  "Well, I hope you will take it again, sir; it is a trouble, no doubt,but you will find it a great advantage."

  "Are you sure you think it needful, Cyril?"

  "Most needful, Captain Dave. You will see the advantage of itafterwards."

  "Well, if you think so, I suppose it must be done," the Captain said,with a sigh; "but it will be giving you a lot of trouble to keep thisnew book of yours."

  "That is nothing, sir. Now that I have got all the back work up itwill be a simple matter to keep the daily work straight. I shall findample time to do it without any need of lengthening my hours."

  Cyril now set to work in earnest, and telling Mrs. Dowsett he hadsome books that he wanted to make up in his room before going to bed,he asked her to allow him to keep his light burning.

  Mrs. Dowsett consented, but shook her head and said he wouldassuredly injure his health if he worked by candle light.

  Fortunately, John Wilkes had just opened a fresh sales-book, andCyril told him that he wished to refer to some particulars in theback books. He first opened the ledger by inscribing under theirdifferent heads the amount of each description of goods kept in stockat the last stock-taking, and then entered under their respectiveheads all the sales that had been made, while on an opposite page heentered the amount purchased. It took him a month's hard work, and hefinished it on the very day that the new stock-taking concluded.