“I coughed and backed inside a little bit on to my own ground.  I didn’t want to ’ave that little beast of a office-boy spreading tales about me.

“’I’ve come up to ‘ave a little fling,’ she ses, smiling away harder than ever.  ’My husband don’t know I’m ’ere.  He thinks I’m at ‘ome.’

“I think I went back pretty near three yards.

“‘I come up by train,’ she ses, nodding.

“‘Yes,’ I ses, very severe, ‘and wot about going back by it?’

“‘Oh, I shall go back by ship,’ she ses.  ’Wot time do you expect the Eastern Monarch up?’

“‘Well,’ I ses, ’ardly knowing wot to make of ’er, ’she ought to be up this tide; but there’s no reckoning on wot an old washtub with a engine like a sewing-machine inside ‘er will do.’

“‘Oh, indeed!’ she ses, leaving off smiling very sudden.  ’Oh, indeed!  My husband might ‘ave something to say about that.’

“’Your ‘usband?’ I ses.

“‘Captain Pratt,’ she ses, drawing ’erself up.  ’I’m Mrs. Pratt.  He left yesterday morning, and I’ve come up ’ere by train to give ’im a little surprise.’

“You might ha’ knocked me down with a feather, and I stood there staring at her with my mouth open, trying to think.

“‘Take care,’ I ses at last.  ’Take care as you don’t give ’im too much of a surprise!’

“‘Wot do you mean?’ she ses, firing up.

“‘Nothing,’ I ses.  ’Nothing, only I’ve known ’usbands in my time as didn’t like being surprised—­that’s all.  If you take my advice, you’ll go straight back home agin.’

“’I’ll tell ‘im wot you say,’ she ses, ’as soon as ‘is ship comes in.’

“That’s a woman all over; the moment they get into a temper they want to hurt somebody; and I made up my mind at once that, if anybody was going to be ’urt, it wasn’t me.  And, besides, I thought it might be for the skipper’s good—­in the long run.

“I broke it to her as gentle as I could.  I didn’t tell ’er much, I just gave her a few ’ints.  Just enough to make her ask for more.

“‘And mind,’ I ses, ’I don’t want to be brought into it.  If you should ’appen to take a fancy into your ’ed to wait behind a pile of empties till the ship comes in, and then slip out and foller your ’usband and give ‘im the little surprise you spoke of, it’s nothing to do with me.’

“‘I understand,’ she ses, biting her lip.  ’There’s no need for ’im to know that I’ve been on the wharf at all.’

“I gave ’er a smile—­I thought she deserved it—­but she didn’t smile back.  She was rather a nice-looking woman in the ordinary way, but I could easy see ’ow temper spoils a woman’s looks.  She stood there giving little shivers and looking as if she wanted to bite somebody.

“‘I’ll go and hide now,’ she ses.

“‘Not yet,’ I ses.  ’You’ll ’ave to wait till that little blackbeetle in the office ‘as gorn.’  ‘Blackbeetle?’ she ses, staring.