Dead Mens Money | Page 2

places--a sort of
gnarled and stubbly man, with a wealth of seams and wrinkles about
his face and what could be seen of his neck, and much grizzled hair,
and an eye--only one being visible--that looked as if it had been on the
watch ever since he was born. He was a fellow of evident great strength
and stout muscle, and his hands, which he had clasped in front of him
as he sat talking to me, were big enough to go round another man's
throat, or to fell a bullock. And as for the rest of his appearance, he had
gold rings in his ears, and he wore a great, heavy gold chain across his
waistcoat, and was dressed in a new suit of blue serge, somewhat large
for him, that he had evidently purchased at a ready-made-clothing shop,
not so long before.
My mother came quietly in upon us before I could reply to the
stranger's last remark, and I saw at once that he was a man of some
politeness and manners, for he got himself up out of his chair and made

her a sort of bow, in an old-fashioned way. And without waiting for me,
he let his tongue loose on her.
"Servant, ma'am," said he. "You'll be the lady of the house--Mrs.
Moneylaws. I'm seeking lodgings, Mrs. Moneylaws, and seeing your
paper at the door-light, and your son's face at the window, I came in.
Nice, quiet lodgings for a few weeks is what I'm wanting--a bit of plain
cooking--no fal-lals. And as for money--no object! Charge me what
you like, and I'll pay beforehand, any hand, whatever's convenient."
My mother, a shrewd little woman, who had had a good deal to do
since my father died, smiled at the corners of her mouth as she looked
the would-be lodger up and down.
"Why, sir," said she. "I like to know who I'm taking in. You're a
stranger in the place, I'm thinking."
"Fifty years since I last clapped eyes on it, ma'am," he answered. "And
I was then a youngster of no more than twelve years or so. But as to
who and what I am--name of James Gilverthwaite. Late master of as
good a ship as ever a man sailed. A quiet, respectable man. No swearer.
No drinker--saving in reason and sobriety. And as I say--money no
object, and cash down whenever it's wanted. Look here!"
He plunged one of the big hands into a trousers' pocket, and pulled it
out again running over with gold. And opening his fingers he extended
the gold-laden palm towards us. We were poor folk at that time, and it
was a strange sight to us, all that money lying in the man's hand, and he
apparently thinking no more of it than if it had been a heap of
six-penny pieces.
"Help yourself to whatever'll pay you for a month," he exclaimed. "And
don't be afraid--there's a lot more where that came from."
But my mother laughed, and motioned him to put up his money.
"Nay, nay, sir!" said she. "There's no need. And all I'm asking at you is
just to know who it is I'm taking in. You'll be having business in the

town for a while?"
"Not business in the ordinary sense, ma'am," he answered. "But there's
kin of mine lying in more than one graveyard just by, and it's a fancy of
my own to take a look at their resting-places, d'ye see, and to wander
round the old quarters where they lived. And while I'm doing that, it's a
quiet, and respectable, and a comfortable lodging I'm wanting."
I could see that the sentiment in his speech touched my mother, who
was fond of visiting graveyards herself, and she turned to Mr. James
Gilverthwaite with a nod of acquiescence.
"Well, now, what might you be wanting in the way of
accommodation?" she asked, and she began to tell him that he could
have that parlour in which they were talking, and the bedchamber
immediately above it. I left them arranging their affairs, and went into
another room to attend to some of my own, and after a while my
mother came there to me. "I've let him the rooms, Hugh," she said, with
a note of satisfaction in her voice which told me that the big man was
going to pay well for them. "He's a great bear of a man to look at," she
went on, "but he seems quiet and civil-spoken. And here's a ticket for a
chest of his that he's left up at the railway station, and as he's tired,
maybe you'll get somebody yourself to fetch it down for him?"
I went out to a man who lived close by and had a light cart, and sent