Page:Moonfleet - John Meade Falkner.pdf/110

 see it. Yet let us not be too cast down, but try to make something even of this worst of throws."

I was glad enough to hear him speak in this firmer strain, for I had seen what a sore thought it had been for these days past that he must leave the Why Not, and how it often made him moody and downcast.

"We will have no more of innkeeping," he said; "I have been sick and tired of it this many a day, and care not now to see men abuse good liquor and addle their silly pates to fill my purse. And I have something, boy, put snug away in Dorchester town that will give us bread to eat and beer to drink, even if the throws run still deuce-ace. But we must seek a roof to shelter us when the Why Not is shut, and 'tis best we leave this Moonfleet of ours for a season, till Maskew finds a rope's end long enough to hang himself withal. So, when our work is done to-morrow night, we will walk out along the cliff to Worth, and take a look at a cottage there that Damen spoke about, with a walled orchard at the back, and fuchsia hedge in front—'tis near the Lobster Inn, and has a fine prospect of the sea; and if we live there, we will leave the vault alone awhile, and use this Pyegrove's Hole for storehouse, till the watch is relaxed."

I did not answer, having my thoughts on other things, and he tossed off his liquor, saying, "Thou'rt tired; so let's to bed, for we shall get little sleep to-morrow night."

It was true that I was tired, and yet I could not get to sleep, but tossed and turned in my bed for thinking of many things, and being vexed that we were to leave Moonfleet. Yet mine was a selfish sorrow; for