Mrs. Orman

peered through the curtains as the man in the shiny suit-coat came up the path from the gate.....Fred the dog slunk away from the man....she met him at the door, and asked if she could be of service? He responded that he was a Mr. Sturgis, looking for his old friend Mr. Belton, Captain Belton, he might be called. Was this the correct address? She directed him to the upstairs flat. She didn't much like the look of him. Emily, her American cousin, would probably describe him as "Looking like forty miles of bad road, and the mule has thrown a shoe." At the top of the stair, he knocks at the door. The Captain looks up from his book, and marks his place with a ribbon, and goes to the door. "Sturgis old man! How are you? Haven't seen you in ages! How did you find me here?" "Well, Captain, I inquired at the Palace of the Dragon, of our friend Lee Po, and he gave me this address up river. How are you then?" "Fine, fine, Sturgis....come on in and sit down, what are you doing nowadays? Still in the merchant marine?" "No, Captain, I've been ashore four or five years now, just beating about as it were....." They sit down and the Captain takes a second glass from the sideboard, and pours Sturgis and himself more of the port. "To old times!" They raise their glasses to each other, and Belton takes a good drink, while Sturgis drinks the glass off all at once. Aye, thinks Belton, still the same old Sturgis. I'll bet he's spent all his share on drink, and is here to touch me for a few pounds.