Mr. Drake

“ Drake?”
“I do,” Mr. Drake returned without embellishment.
“May I ask who you are?”
“My name is already known to you.”
Sir John smiled faintly, ironically.
“I am afraid your name conveys very little to me. May I ask—what are you?”
“A man.”
“Indeed? The description is not very helpful, Mr. Drake. There are many men——”
“Not so many as you would think,” was the bitter and significant answer.
As may be seen, the situation was not improving. The Lady Angela pressed her guardian's arm and frowned restrainingly at her lover.
“Robert is a poet and a painter, guardian,” she explained. ”

“ Drake said. "Saint Annabelle Leigh is dead."
The whispering of the worms crept into the room. Saint Andrew's immaculate blue-gray uniform seemed suddenly several sizes too large for him. "Dead? Please tell me that's not true, Mr. Drake."
"I can't," Drake said. "But I can tell you how it happened." He did so briefly. "So you can see it wasn't my fault," he concluded. "I couldn't put her down on Iago Iago. It would have meant jeopardizing my pilot's license, and piloting a ship is all I know how to do. It isn't fair to ask a men to put his livelihood on the block—it isn't fair at all. ”

“ A large laugh went up from the visitors, and the meal was finished without further diplomacy.
“One matter, Mr. Drake,” stammered Half-past Full, as the party rose. “Our jobs. We're glad to pay for any things what got sort of broke.”
“Sort of broke,” repeated the boy, eyeing him. “So you want to hold your jobs?”
“If—” began the buccaroo, and halted.
“Fact is, you're a set of cowards,” said Drake, briefly. “I notice you've forgot to remove that whiskey jug.” The demijohn still stood by the great fireplace. Drake entered and laid hold of it, the crowd standing back and watching. ”

“ Drake laid down his hat and seated himself opposite to Mr. Le Mesurier.
'My daughter told me this morning, quite spontaneously, of course, that she had asked you to call in order that she might get from you a certain answer to a certain question, and I thought that I had better prepare you for what that question will be.' He hesitated in his speech, searching for the best way to begin his explanation, and he caught sight of a cigar-box on the mantelshelf above his head. ”

“ Having satisfied himself that the names of Jenkins and Alloway appeared upon it, he went downstairs with the undraped vases, thankful his visitor had called at the time of day when Miss Yard and Nellie were shut up together, and Kezia was occupied in the kitchen.
The millionaire stood in the attitude of a clergyman about to receive a child for baptism; and, when George extended one of the vases, he accepted it reverently, then walked to the window, examined it, tapped and stroked it, hugged and adored it, and very nearly kissed it, before turning to exclaim, "These are the goods, Mr. Drake!" ”

“ George in the meantime had nothing much to worry about, although somewhat disgusted at the low figure placed upon the furniture. He and Mr. Hunter wrote to each other every day like a couple of lovers; George always hoping that the lawyer enjoyed a continuance of perfect health; while Mr. Hunter trusted himself to anticipate a complete cure from the backache which had blighted Mr. Drake's existence for so long. Kezia and Bessie were moderately happy while taking stock of the goods which appeared to belong to them under the joint tenancy created by the scraps of paper ”

“ I remember years ago, being in the town of Offenburg in Germany, and seeing at a distance a colossal statue, feeling some surprise when I discovered that the monument was erected to Sir Francis Drake, "in recognition of his having introduced the potato into Europe." Here was where eulogy became almost too specific, and I felt that their Drake was not my Drake.
Mr. Noyes called Drake, published in 1908, an English Epic. It is not really an epic—it is a historical romance in verse, as Aurora Leigh is a novel. It is interesting from beginning to end, more interesting as narrative than as poetry. ”

“ Miss Yard, I understand, does exactly as she is told; she is completely under the control of servants; if an entire stranger entered the house and introduced himself as a relation, she might give him anything he liked to ask for. It would be easy for Mr. Drake, if he is unscrupulous as you suggest, to visit Miss Yard and induce her to sign a will leaving him the furniture she had previously purchased from himself."
"On the other hand," said Percy, "we shall never get George out of Windward House while the furniture belongs to him. He is too much afraid of the servants stealing things." ”

“ George whispered.
"Not they," laughed Sidney. "They ain't got it in 'em, and if a crowd did come down along me and grandfather would settle the lot."
"It's pretty bad to have young women here—from France too—one after the other. You can't blame the people for being a bit upset."
"If that's all you've got to say, Mr. Drake, I'll thank ye kindly, and tell ye I don't want to hear no more of it. Dolly is staying vor a week or two, and when she goes I'll get another," said the young outcast fiercely. ”

“ And when he'd deceived us more than us could bear, he run away."
"What he done to poor and honest volk don't hardly seem possible," said the Gentle Shepherd. "Mrs. Drake left 'en Highfield House, and all the furniture she left to Bessie Mudge what married Robert Mudge who works vor Arthur Dyer. They ses she left part of the furniture to Kezia, but Bessie ses that part o' the will be so mixed up it can't be hardly legal. Mr. Drake kept on going away, and coming back again; and one day he come back, and drove Miss Yard and Kezia out of the place ”

“ The old folk were to be provided with a meat tea; the Mudges were to be given a week at the seaside; the donor was to remain anonymous. Dyer in all his dreariness could not understand why Mr. Drake should desire to benefit his fellow creatures at all; but, more than that, he was actually proposing to do good stealthily. Where then was the advertisement?
"It's a lot of money, sir. You could buy a bit of land vor this," he said at last.
"I do not require any land," George answered.
"You don't get any profit so far as I can see," the baker proceeded. ”

“ Her face grew serious again.
'Does Clarice care for him, you think?'
Fielding was admiring Mrs. Willoughby's eyes at the moment, and answered absently. 'Conway, you mean?'
'No, no! How wilfully irritating you are! This Mr. Drake, of course. By the way, I suppose he will get on?' She spoke in a voice which implied regret for the supposition, and almost appealed for a denial of it.
'I should think there's no doubt of it. They tell me he has just sent a force up country in Matanga to locate concessions. You hit harder than you knew at lunch, for the force carries machine-guns. ”

“ The folks won't stand much more of it. I wish Captain Drake wur back again; he'd have they Brocks out of the country in no time."
Nellie crept back to her room and destroyed the unfinished letter. Then she drew down the blind.
The second incident commenced about an hour later, when another conveyance reached Highfield and proceeded at once to Windward House. A gentleman stepped out and inquired for Mr. Drake. Having learnt from Kezia that George was absent, but expected home at any time, the gentleman said he would take a stroll round the village and await his coming. ”

“ Taverner's purchase of the furniture, namely, to leave Miss Yard in undisturbed possession of the premises bequeathed to Mr. Drake by his late aunt, and better known and described as Windward House. Mr. Hunter had also just been informed, to his soul's amusement, that Mr. Drake had not yet subscribed to this form of agreement, nor had he acknowledged the receipt of a cheque for two hundred pounds forwarded him some days previously. Mr. ”

“ Drake inquired.
"Yes, Aunt," said George, who was busy designing locomotives. "She asked me the way—at least the driver did. They were both strangers to me."
"Quite a young gal, warn't she, Mr. George?" appealed Kezia.
"Not more than eighteen, I should think. But she wore a wedding ring; I saw it distinctly."
"Yes, mum; I saw her drive past, so bold and staring. They say she's an actress, mum."
"How awful! I suppose she's his wife."
"Well, mum, us all hopes she is."
"The wretched young man! How can he be so wicked!"
"Is anybody wicked?" asked Miss Yard vacantly.
"Never mind, Sophy. ”

“ Drake is careful to mention there are a few articles he would wish to retain because of their sentimental value. For sentimental read pecuniary," said Mr. Hunter, in the shocked voice usually adopted by a lawyer when he discovers another person trifling with the truth. "But the goods are his, he is aware of their value, and naturally he wishes to retain them. These vases throw a new light upon the position. The best thing he can do is to sell them at once: then, if they are as valuable as you suppose, he can retire from Windward House, and live upon the interest of his capital." ”

“ I know Captain Drake meant to build it; he talked a lot about it, and he brought gentlemen down to look round the place; they pretended to be fishing, but we knew what they wur up to. Mr. George ain't clever like his uncle. He made a vule of hisself when he said the American gentleman come here to buy a pair of vases—all the way from America to buy a bit o' cloam! Everybody knew he'd come about the railway. Mr. George ain't clever—that's a sure thing. He can't talk so as to deceive a child. 'Twas the American gentleman what put him up to the idea o' turning this house into the terminus. ”

“ Just as he was thinking this, to his intense surprise, the Drake spoke to him as follows:
"I beg of you not to kill me, my good boy," said he, "for you must know I am not in reality a Drake as I appear to be, but I am a fairy King just come from the region of the gods. It is my habit every day to descend to this lake in the form of a white Drake, and to amuse myself by swimming round and round. If you will now consent to let me go I will reward you liberally. You shall have gold and silver and jewels and coral, as much as you wish, and sumptuous food every day for the rest of your life. ”

“ Drake expressed her approval, but required to know more about the family before she could issue a permit to Sidney entitling him to drink coffee.
"They'm the new folk to Black Anchor," explained Bessie. "Mr. Brock used to keep a post office, they ses, but it failed, and now he'm farming wi' Sidney, and they ha' got no woman, and they took Black Anchor because 'twas to be had vor nothing nearly, and 'tis wonderful, Robert ses, what a lot they ha' done already." ”

“ Where shall it be?"
"What ails this 'ere old ship where the old house came to life agin, an' the new babby wuz fust born inter the world?" was Bill's ready suggestion.
"Capital! couldn't be better," exclaimed the merchant. "And now," taking out his notebook, "tell me what I can do for each of [Pg 272] you personally when I get back to the States?"
Walter spoke first. "Please look up my old aunty, and see her made comfortable." Mr. Bright jotted down the address with an approving nod, then looked up at Charley.
"Send out a couple of donkey engines; horses are too slow." ”

“ A mucilage-brush was dipped into an ink-bottle by some one, and a great rude star was hastily daubed on the fat boy’s bared and ample breast, in spite of his struggles and his squeals.
The operation served to put new ideas into the fertile mind of Drake.
“Let’s have a genuine society,” he said, “and have a black star for a badge, and [78] every one that belongs to it wear it under the lapel of his coat, or inside his jacket.” ”

“ He ate next to nothing, though he was often quite vulgarly hungry, and his clothes were artistically disreputable. There was only one other cottage on the bay, a ramshackle building whose notice, “To let furnished,” had a battered, weather-beaten appearance, as if it had stood there a good many years already and expected to stand there for a good many more. Drake regarded it with gloomy satisfaction on his return from his morning's work. When it disappeared, he was thoroughly aggrieved, though also slightly excited. It is a tedious, boring business, dying of a broken heart at the twenty-three. ”

“ But then, just as night was closing in, the weather lifted enough to reveal Drake's astonishing position. Immediately pinnaces went scurrying to Sidonia for orders. But he had none to give. At one in the morning he learnt some more dumbfounding news: that the English had nearly caught him at Corunna, that Drake and Howard had joined forces, and that both were now before him. ”

“ Drake's vis-à-vis in the carriage saw him produce the book with considerable surprise, conscious of an incongruity between the reader and what he read. His surprise changed to amusement as he noticed Drake's face betray his perplexity and observed him turn now and again to the title upon the cover as though doubtful whether he had not misread it. He gave an audible chuckle.
Drake looked up and across the carriage at a man of about fifty years of age with a large red face and a close-cropped pointed beard. The chuckle swelled to a laugh. ”

“ So they entered the town, and stayed there some hours for rest and refreshment, and the Maroons were allowed to carry away some plunder. At sunrise they marched away, for they had been gone from the ship nearly a fortnight, and had left the company weak and sickly. Drake marched cheerfully, and urged on his weary and disappointed men with brave promises, but in the hurried march they had often to go hungry. ”