Kit Musgrave's Luck

Kit, coming out of his dark office, looked about him with half-shut eyes. When he joined the correillo he had not expected to find the Spanish crew kept her clean, but she was

with the roar at the bows, but the beat was slow. Kit

um," said t

my business at Santa Cruz before we start for Orotava. Have your mule

a bonny lass. They're no' all satisfied to be looked at. Man, when I was young-- But ye needna tell me ye

ing to do with the b

e me a bit hint, but that's anither tale. The trouble is, when ye're short o' fuel ye cannot keep steam. I allood I kenned a' the tricks o' the coaling trade, but a lad with

mit, Mack," Kit rem

er, who stated in a postscript that Betty did not look well. The girl felt the cold of an unusually bleak spring and

d himself to let her go. In fact, he had begun to think he had not really loved her mu

sitting to lee of the deck-house, and leaned against the rail opposite. Beneath him, in the moving shadow of the ship, the water was a wonderful blue; farther back, the long undulations,

she was the daughter of a merchant who began his business career by selling sailors cheap tobacc

ted; one could not altogether get it by cultivation. She had quiet eyes, her sympathetic voice moved him. Now and then he wa

she wondered whether she was rash to meddle with Kit. For one thing, he was rather handsome; he carried himself well, and his figure was good. He was honest, and his frank look had some charm. Then he had begun to choose his clothes properly; Mrs. Austin admitted sh

about the th

whole, she was conscious of some satisfaction, because sh

's relations are ill," she re

livia's sister and he had not meant to talk about Be

ist and shining Atlantic. "I feel shabby, as if the thing's not just. You see, I've got so much and Betty, who

. Jefferson. "When my husband found I could not stand the cold, he b

to an office at nine o'clock, knowing that if you're ill for a week or two you may lose your job. Y

paid nothing ext

t in the middle of a crowd; the fight for the tram-cars when it rains, and the long walk through muddy streets when you can't get on board. I expect a girl hates to sit all day in wet clothes.

resumed: "Betty bore it cheerfully. She has plu

o marry you?" Mr

got my post I wanted her to promise she woul

ou sailed?" Mrs. Austin

iver. On the Cheshire side you can get away from the streets. There's a wood one can reach from a station, and primroses and hyacinths grow in the dead leaves. Betty was happy among the flowers; she loves things like that. S

aid Mrs. Jefferson, a

re a girl whose life was dreary using all her charm to get a lover; but Betty obviously had not. She had refused Kit, although noth

pay on board the correill

better jobs, and perhaps one is not forced to be poor always. Anyhow, Betty didn't bother about the pay; she can go without things, but when I tried to

nd resumed: "I have bored you and must

rs. Austin looked

?" sh

"I think I'd like the girl. One fee

s not he

thinks about her being ill he's strongly moved. To know she might

it's impossible," M

cinta was generous and often helped people, but

er and I expect s

se a good post, and a post where the work is

were cheap and the company had engaged to load a barque for Cuba. Kit sent off a quantity on board the cargo launches and then went to the agent's office to pay for the goods. In Spanish countries, business is not

f; it's rather grand to-night," Olivia re

pers, and she could not sail until he arrived.

began to break. I reckon you'l

. Mist floated about the shoulders of the giant Peak, but the mist was still, and lights high up on the shadowy slopes did not twinkle. The illumination about the big hotel on the cliff was stea

escent foam, and a white turmoil marked the gap between. Now and then most part of a wall vanished and a yeas

t off?" Mrs. Austi

pot is where the rollers break on the shallows a

Kit returned and Jef

es some weight and old Miguel is a useful man at the steering oar. Anyhow, I've got t

argo's pay covers the

ght to get paid for an extra awkward job, but in a sense, the pay has nothing to do

ecause he had remembered the others and thought he was talk

and they went with him along the wall. A quarter of a

te turmoil, she looked small. Sometime when a thundering roller broke across the mole she vanished. To get on b

or!" somebo

ackwash that rolled down the harbour like an angry flood. There was no moon, but one could see her dark hull against the phosphorescent foam. The men were pulling hard; their

" said Olivia. "It

tin remarked, rather coolly. "You are weari

ng yet," Oli

he thing was unlucky. After a minute or two, Jefferson jumped on a lava block and Olivia cried out. Just outside the har

mole," said Jefferson, and he a

ck extraordinarily fast. She was upside down, but two or three white objects clung to her, and swimmers' heads dotted the frothing surge that carried her along. Jefferson and Olivi

ll got back

said the other, "We held o

oke in. "Do you mean sw

ita. He shouted he

nd there's nothing to bother him after he gets through. If he'd come back, he might have washed pa

th you," said

pierced the roar of the surf. Her lights began to move and

tried to get on board because he thought he must; he had not, consciously, wanted to persuade Olivia he had pluck. All the same, he had done a bold thing, w