“‘Well,’ says I, ‘Peggy, so the wind’s shifted, is it?’

“‘What do you mean?’ says she.  ’I suppose I may be civil to another person as well as to you.’

“‘Yes, I see no objection,’ says I; ’but why was he to be inside the bar, and I put out?’

“‘Oh,’ replied she, ’one at a time, you know, Mr. Philip.  I haven’t made any promises to you that I know of.’

“‘That’s very true,’ replied I, ‘but—­’

“‘Oh, you mustn’t fret here,’ interrupted she.  ’I’m my own mistress, I suppose.  However, I’ll tell you this much, that I don’t care a bit about him, and that’s the truth of it—­but I did not like your coming inside the bar so quietly, as if you had a right there, for I don’t want people to make remarks.’

“Well, the end of it was that she pacified me, and we were as great friends almost as ever.  I say almost, for I had my eyes upon her and that chap, and did not much like it.  A week after my arrival there was to be a fair over at Ryde, in the Isle of Wight, and I asked Peggy whether she would go with me; but she refused, saying that she was obliged to go to her aunt’s out at Limberhook, who was very old, and had sent for her, so I thought nothing more about the matter.  Well, the day before the fair, as we were busy in the fore noon getting the timber out of the vessel, one of my shipmates, who went to the same house, says to me, ’I say, Tom, when I was at the Chequers last night, I overheard Peggy promise to go to the Ryde Fair with that Frenchified smuggling chap.’

“‘Did you?’ said I.

“‘Yes,’ replied he, ’and they agreed to start at twelve o’clock, just after the dockyard bell rang.  I thought at the time it was just to give you the slip before you left the ship, and that she is turning you over.’

“Well, when I heard this, did not my blood boil? for the hussy had told me a lie in saying that she was going to her aunt’s; and it was evident that she had done so that she might go with this other fellow to the fair.  I thought the matter over and over again, for, to tell you the truth, all I wanted then was revenge.  I felt nothing but scorn for a woman who could act in so base a manner; at the same time I wished to punish both her and him by spoiling their day’s sport; so at last I determined that I would start right away for the fair myself, and not only put her to shame, but give her fancy man a good drubbing, which I was well able to do.  So I walks down to Point and gets into a wherry, keeping a sharp lookout for their coming down from the Hard.  At last I spied them, and then I made the waterman pull away, so as to keep about three cables’ lengths ahead of them, and thus I continued watching their billing and cooing, and grinding my teeth with rage, until we had come over to the other side.  Now, you see, Tom, at that time there was no wooden pier at Ryde as there is now, and when the tide was out there was such a long flat of mud that there was no landing; so the way it was managed was,