Into the Storm Read Online Free PDF Page B

I’ll do meself,” agreed Mr. Grout. “Right now I’m feelin’ sick with the way the ship heaves. It’s all I can think of.”
    â€œSurely your friend can provide some relief.”
    Mr. Grout snorted. “My friend — if yer want to call ’im that — ain’t concerned with much but ’imself. Wot I need is to strike out on me own.”
    â€œGoing alone,” Mr. Drabble agreed, “is the fate of mankind.”
    â€œI still want yer to be teachin’ me some readin’. It might ’elp.”
    â€œMr. Grout,” Mr. Drabble exclaimed with weariness, “you must not place me too high in your esteem. I am nothing — no more than the lowest of low.” He bowed to demonstrate the fact.
    â€œTo tell the truth,” Mr. Grout said, “I’m glad to ’ear it.”
    â€œWhy is that? asked Mr. Drabble, who, though eager for sympathy, was grieved to be taken as deserving of his own doleful estimation.
    â€œâ€™Tween yer and me, Mr. Drabble, I’m not so ’igh as yer might think. Someday I might tell yer all I’ve got to answer for. Avoid the dead and take wot yer can of the livin’. That’s me way. So if yer thinks yerself low, why, I’m low too, which is reason enough we could be comrades.”
    Mr. Drabble extended his hand warmly. “Nothing would give me more pleasure, sir.”
    â€œJust don’t forget I still wants those readin’ lessons. I can pay for ’em too. And I’d rather give the money to yer than some other people I know.”

 
    M atthew Clemspool stood before his stateroom desk and removed a sheet of paper from the pile in the drawer. How much, he asked himself, should he reveal to Sir Albert about what had happened to his brother? After some deliberation, he decided indeed to claim that he had Sir Laurence with him. So what if it were a lie? Sir Albert expected the boy to be on his way to America. That had been the assignment from the start, after all.
    After dipping his pen in the blue ink and trying to accommodate his hand to the rolling of the ship, Mr. Clemspool wrote:
    My dear Sir Albert,
    I send you greetings from the sea.
    I wish to inform you that I have the property about which you were concerned safely with me. Indeed, I decided I could best serve your interests if I myself carried it to America and disposed of it there, as you so much desired.
    Now, sir, since I am going to such considerable lengths to do your bidding, I must ask you for some payment as soon as possible. I require a fee of one thousand pounds. Then, in addition, I ask you to pay me the sum of one hundred pounds monthly until such time as I alter the arrangement.
    I entreat you to do this quickly, for the post across the Atlantic is slow and I have incurred considerable expense on your behalf. In return, you have my word as a gentleman that no information regarding your desires shall ever reach the esteemed ears of your lord father.
    But of course, sir, if you do not see fit to pay your bills promptly, I will be forced to inform your father directly about what you paid me to do . I’m sure you can appreciate the complications that might result.
    Mr. Clemspool read and reread what he had written, making only a few minor adjustments. After due consideration he added:
    As to my address in America, I have yet to determine upon a permanent abode or even whether I will remain in the country. But you should write to me in the care of Mr. Ambrose Shagwell, in the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, USA. I am sure word will reach me. Mr. Shagwell is a highly esteemed gentleman and a good friend, a man I trust and, sir, a confidant in all my affairs.
    Trusting you are, sir, continuing in good health, I remain,
    Faithfully yours,
Matthew Clemspool, Esq.
    The letter written, Mr. Clemspool stepped out of the stateroom into a long galley way. On the other side of the galley way was the dining room where the