human
Of course I am only expressing an opinion, he said.
gpt
I admit it is not worth much. A little while ago I was speaking to Larraidou, the fisherman whom people here call Peridot, you know, and had I known then of your project I should have asked him what he thought of it.
human
The sea is one big mystery, an' that's a fact, said Popple, refilling his pipe, and nodding his head to emphasize a bit of sententious philosophy born of experience.
gpt
It'll gobble up a ship, an' you'll never find a scrap of timber or a life belt to tell you what's become of her, an' in the next breath it'll show a thing as plain as though it was writ in a book. A friend of mine, skipper of a Hull trawler, missed a deckhand one day, and no one knew what had become of him. That night they shot the trawl in sixty fathom o' water, an' brought up the man's body. That's w'at the sea can do, Sir. Talk of women bein' fickle--they ain't in it with the most changeable thing on this earth.
human
At any rate, you'll not recover a dead body from the Stella's wreckage,
gpt
You never can tell,
human
But surely, Captain, you don't pretend that the finding of a drowned sailor in a trawl net was other than an accident?
gpt
That's as may be. S'pose some poor wastrel had been charged with knockin' a matey on the head an' chuckin' him overboard. The doctor's evidence would clear him. Then it 'ud ha been providential.
human
I shall refuse to believe that you will retrieve any of the Stella's contents until I see them. Of course I know why Mrs. Carmac is so anxious that the effort should be made. There were thousands of pounds' worth of pearls and diamonds in her jewelcase. One pearl necklace alone cost ten thousand pounds many years ago, and would fetch far more today.
gpt
Queer you should mention that, Sir,
human
Why?
gpt
Because that's the one thing I shouldn't expect to come across.
human
You are speaking in riddles, Man. What have you in your mind?
gpt
That drop o' spirit has gone the wrong way, my friend. But what he said was,
human
I was thinkin' of the sea's whims. It'll hide a six-decked liner an' give up a corpse. If Mrs. Carmac was keen set on pickin' up a pair o' scissors, I'd back them to turn up as ag'in' your ten-thousand-pound necklace. Mebbe that's a silly thing to say in this case. Her jew'ls are in a locked box, an' a strong one at that, because I twigged her baggage when it kem aboard, an' the lot was built for hard wear. But there you are! I'll take care she has a look at the stuff we find, an' that ends my job.
gpt
You can count on me, Captain, for all the assistance I can render,
human
By the way, he went on, adopting the most nonchalant tone he could command,
gpt
Me, Sir? No. Didn't know there was any such young woman.
human
You have not been told, then, that Mrs. Carmac found a long-lost niece in Miss Yvonne Ingersoll?
gpt
Sink me! but that explains it!
human
Explains what?
gpt
I wondered where I had seen the girl in bib an' tucker afore.
human
What do you mean?
gpt
Well, these here caps an' streamers an' tickle-me aprons do make a heap of difference! Now what in the world will she think of me? I've passed her a dozen times without ever a 'Thank you, Miss,' or a touch of me hat. Dash my buttons! I thought my eyes were sharper'n that! Of course she was wrapped in a sou'wester an' oilskin the other day, an' so was Mrs. Carmac; so I piped the likeness then, an' even spoke of it to Mr. Ingersoll. But I must ha been rattled when I was in Mrs. Carmac's room a bit since. Of course I remember now. That was her, right enough.
human
Would you mind telling me what you are rambling about, Captain Popple?
gpt
There's a pair of us, Mr. Raymond, he cried.
human
You don't seem to know much about the lady, either. You met her on the stairs when you went to see Mrs. Carmac, because I happened to notice that she kem down as you went up.
gpt
A girl in Breton costume?
human
That's it. She's lived here since she was a baby, an' I s'pose she took to the village ways.
gpt
You have heard something of her history, then?
human
Oh, ay. She an' her father are well thought of in Pont Aven. A lady who's stayin' in there, and he jerked a thumb over his shoulder toward the hotel,
gpt
Mr. Ingersoll lost his wife here. That probably accounts for his wish to remain.
human
That isn't w'at the lady said, he explained.
gpt
Her story was that Mrs. Ingersoll died in Paris, probably when the baby was born. Anyhow, no one in Pont Aven had ever seen her, as she axed particular. Not that it could ha been any business of hers, but a woman likes to ferret out every atom of gossip, an' there's bound to be a lot of talk about any girl as good lookin' as Miss Ingersoll.
human
Dear me! Dear me! How very curious!