The Pilot and his Wife

onfused dream. Yet the fact remained that there she was, dressed in black, an inmate of one of t

still be absolute on board the Juno, it had long since ceased to be so in his own house. By her grown-up step-children Madam Beck was in the highest degree respected, though not exactly loved, owing to the various unaccustomed restraints to which they now found themselves subjected; and as to Carl, his easy tact, notwithstanding the indepe

go through during the earlier period of their connection, and she bore them with a quiet gentleness which Madam Beck took for modest docility, but which had its real origin in a fixed determination to succeed. Every now and then, however, she would give it up as hopeless, and would seat herself disconsolately by the window with her cheek upon her hand, and gaze w

ut Elizabeth affected always not to understand it. On one occasion, however, when she was corrected in his presenc

g-dish with the boiling teakettle. It fell as she was carrying it in; but although its hot side and the boiling water burnt and scalded her arm and h

ng happened, forgetting his self-command, had jumped up in great excitement, and had shown such uncommon sympathy that his sister Mina, afterwards, when they were

ome girls as her in Arendal; but you can see as well as I can that she is a girl in a hundred. That business with th

red of the eternal repetition of this stock observation. "She

red them in saving the Juno, he had, one may say, forced his family to take her up, though to them he made it appear that public opinion left them no alternative. On the other hand, he was uncommonly cautious in his attitude towards Elizabeth herself; for he knew he must win her without att

stress of the house. This new aspect of her had put him in doubt for a while, but it was not very long before he satisfied himself that he understood what it meant; and that little affair with the tea-tray, that was set down to awkwardne

the opinion she entertained of him could in a moment be reversed, and that least of all dare he allow her to feel that he was appearing in the character of a lover; and it was for this reason he had scarcely ever talked with her grandfather, and only casually with herself. The fact was, old Jacob had very well understood that the smart young navy-lieutenant did not come out there for his sake; and as he could not very well shut the door

t exactly, grandfather, that time yo

ion occasionally, and went on, "He's a god lad, I tell you; and if he came and made up to you, he should have you

asm had suddenly in his person appeared upon the rock; but whether it was his uniform, or the bravery of the fleet, or himself, that was the object of her admiration, she had never asked herself, until hurt and rendered thoughtful by that warning of her grandfather. Now, it was unmistakably himself, the handsome, brilliant embodiment of it all. But at the same time there sprang up in her nature an unconquerable feeling of

her bottom scraped, her gaping seams caulked, and to undergo a general repair: he was hardly at home to meals. It

k's house the Juno was ready for sea again; and Carl's

e porch who wants to speak to you; he has a p

l that it was Salvé, and for a moment she was almost frightened at his audacity. She had seen him a couple of times before, and had allowed him to fee

r a moment or two w

ss, Elizabeth?" he said

. Such things as you hav

wly and dejectedly. "It is no use sa

is no use sayin

ake it to sea with me, Elizabeth?" went to her heart, and the tears rushed into her eyes. She

as a cold-blooded man, and merely lay at the window and looked out after his

chful look; and she lay tossing about, unable to get the dream out of her head. Presently there came the noise of a riotous mob outside, and she got up and went to the window. The police were taking some one with them down the street. As they passed, she saw

nd that Salvé Kristiansen had been the originator of the whole disturbance-without a shadow of protest, Carl Beck said; and proceeded then to put various interpretations of hi

his manner that struck them both; it was as if he thought he would never see them again. He offered his father his hundred-daler note, and when the latter would not take it, made him promise, at all events,

you have an old father

ing over at Beck's house as long as there was a light in the attic window. And whe