human
Had you more to tell, Mr. Cory?
gpt
There was one thing,
human
Good morning, Ben--but it's not the good morning, now that's no lie. He turned at once to Mr. Kenny.
gpt
Sir, don't be slow to tell me if I intrude. I heard, sir--the water front is talking of nothing else the day. I wished to say, if there be anything I might do, I owe you some service, Mr. Kenny, if only for your kindness and hospitality the other night, and you may call on me for anything it's in my power to do at all.
human
That's kind,
gpt
Who are you, sir?
human
Daniel Shawn, seaman. And you?
gpt
I am Malachi Derry, and Constable. Your name was mentioned but now, Mr. Shawn. I understand you dined yesterday evening with Mr. Cory here, at the Lion Tavern on Ship Street?
human
Oh, I did that, said Mr. Shawn lightly.
gpt
And later, Mr. Kenny, I feared maybe I had presumed, but sir, the boy and I were both at a loose end, you might say, and most pleasant conversation we had, and no harm in it, I hope?
human
Oh, none, said John Kenny, groping at something in his mind.
gpt
I wish Ben might have let me know, but that's unreasonable of me, for I don't know how he could, seeing I left early for Roxbury. Ben, you had something more to tell?
human
Yes, and I'm glad Mr. Shawn is here, for he'll remember it too. There was a man seated at the back of the tavern when Mr. Shawn and I went in, a total stranger, a one-eyed man I'd know again if I saw him, no matter how far away, and--oh, it can't be important, only a feeling I had----
gpt
Now I will judge of that, said Malachi Derry, and came alive, leaning away from the door with the sudden monstrous tension of a cat who has just sighted a wriggle in the grass.
human
A one-eyed man?
gpt
Ay, a black patch, over the left eye. And the only reason I mention him, sir, is that when Mr. Dyckman and Ball left the place, this man rose at once and followed them out, but until then he had been sitting idle with the flies gathered on his empty trencher, and when I first saw him I had a feeling that he was--oh, waiting for something.
human
The left eye, Mr. Cory? You are certain?
gpt
Yes, Mr. Derry, the left eye. He was--not the common sort. I'd know him again, anywhere. Shabby clothes, black, patched. Tall, thin, a gray diagonal scar across the back of his right hand, and on his face a mad fixed smile such as I never saw on any man before.
human
Oh, come! said Captain Jenks.
gpt
May we not have the precise height of this hobgoblin, in inches and fractions?
human
Mr. Derry, I have sometimes walked with Ben in the woods. Though an old man, I did not know until then how much the human eye can grasp. Ben warmed within; he saw Reuben smile as if the small triumph were his own.
gpt
You may take it, Mr. Derry, it was the left eye, and with this pencil--catch, Ben!--he can draw you an accurate sketch of the diagonal scar.
human
No need, said Mr. Derry softly, examining the ceiling, a little relaxed.
gpt
I happen to know of mine own knowledge, the description is just. His gaze wandered here and there, and settled on Daniel Shawn.
human
Did you also see this man?
gpt
I think I noticed some such person when we entered. I recall I sat facing the front of the tavern. I didn't notice him leaving, but if it's Beneen says he left soon after Mr. Dyckman, then sure he did.
human
But, said Ben--
gpt
Tell me anyway,
human
Why, only that when he passed our table, he looked at me, just one quick look from his one eye, and--I can't explain this, Mr. Derry. He did nothing, you understand, only glanced at me and likely with no thought for me at all, and yet I felt as if he'd spat in my face.
gpt
Ay, that,