CHAPTER THE EIGHTH.

THE SIXTIES OF GUERNSEY.

I was more than half-numb with cold by the time we landed at the quay, opposite the Sark office.  The place was all alive, seeming the more busy and animated to me for the solitary six days I had been spending since last Sunday.  The arrival of our boat, and especially my appearance in it, created quite a stir among the loungers who are always hanging about the pier.  By this time every individual in St. Peter-Port knew that Dr. Martin Dobree had been missing for several days, having gone out in a fisherman’s boat to Sark the Sunday before.  I had seen myself in the glass before leaving my chamber at Vaudin’s, and to some extent I presented the haggard appearance of a shipwrecked man.  A score of voices greeted me; some welcoming, some chaffing.  “Glad to see you again, old fellow!” “What news from Sark?” “Been in quod for a week?” “His hair is not cut short!” “No; he has tarried in Sark till his beard be grown!” There was a circling laugh at this last jest at my appearance, which had been uttered by a good-tempered, jovial clergyman, who was passing by on his way to the town church.  I did my best to laugh and banter in return, but it was like a bear dancing with a sore head.  I felt gloomy and uncomfortable.  A change had come over me since I left home, for my return was by no means an unmixed pleasure.

As I was proceeding along the quay, with a train of sympathizing attendants, a man, who was driving a large cart piled with packages in cases, as if they had come in from England by the steamer, touched his hat to me, and stopped the horse.  It was in order to inform me that he was conveying furniture which we—­that is, Julia and I—­had ordered, up to our new house, the windows of which I could see glistening in the morning sun.  My spirits did not rise, even at this cheerful information.  I looked coldly at the cases, bade the man go on, and shook off my train by taking an abrupt turn up a flight of steps, leading directly into the Haute Rue.

I had chosen instinctively the nearest by-way homeward, but, once in the Haute Rue, I did not pursue it.  I turned again upon a sudden thought toward the Market Square, to see if I could pick up any dainties to tempt the delicate appetite of my Sark patient.  Every step I took brought me into contact with some friend or acquaintance, whom I would have avoided gladly.  The market was sure to be full of them, for the ladies of Guernsey, like Frenchwomen, would be there in shoals, with their maidservants behind them to carry their purchases.  Yet I turned toward it, as I said, braving both congratulations and curiosity, to see what I could buy for Tardif’s “mam’zelle.”

The square had all the peculiar animation of an early market where ladies do their own bargaining.  As I had known beforehand, most of my acquaintances were there; for in Guernsey the feminine element predominates terribly, and most of my acquaintances were ladies.  The peasant-women behind the stalls also knew me.  Most of them nodded to me as I strolled slowly through the crowd, but they were much too busy to suspend their purchases in order to catechise me just then, being sure of me at a future time.  I had not done badly in choosing the busiest street for my way home.