Captain
Duncombe returned exactly as she had prophesied he would return,
without sending either note or message to give warning of his arrival.
He rang the bell one day, and walked into the garden, and from the
garden into the house, with the air of a man who had just come home
from a morning's walk, much to the astonishment of Susan Trott, who
admitted him, and who stared at him with eyes opened to their widest
extent, as he strode hurriedly past her.
He went straight into the parlour he had been accustomed to sit in. A
fire was burning brightly in the polished steel grate, and everything
bore the appearance of extreme comfort.
The merchant-captain looked round the room with an air of satisfaction.
"There's nothing like a trip to the Indies for making a man appreciate
the comforts of his own home," he exclaimed. "How cheery it all looks;
and a man must be a fool who couldn't enjoy himself at home after
tossing about in a hurricane off Gibraltar for a week at a stretch. But
where's your mistress?" cried Joe Duncombe, suddenly, turning to the
astonished Susan. "Where's Mrs. Jernam?--where's my daughter? Doesn't
she hear her old father's gruff voice? Isn't she coming to bid me
welcome after all I've gone through to earn more money for her?"
Before Susan could answer, Mrs. Mugby had heard the voice of her
master, and came hurrying in to greet him.
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