Shining Ferry

clambered into

Tom Trevarthen from the quay's edge, as

dfather, and he packed you off after us, Jim Tregay? Well, you needn't look so glum about it. Aunt Hannah gave

lay the young sailor, who slewed his boat round, and brought her alongside again. The pair were whispering together. Myra heard a sha

rward beneath her. She clutched her brother as they swayed past mooring-posts, barrels, coils of rope, and with a wild lur

tell that no horse ought to be put at a hill in this fashion. Faces appeared at cottage doors-faces Myra had n

has ha

he mare settled down to a steady gallop. Jim

and from sudden death-

be kind an

ster! They found 'en in the counting

upon Jim's words. But they seemed to spin past her with the hedgerows and the rushing wind in her ears. A terrible blow had fallen. Why could

you for us

down the news to Mrs. Purchase, and she told him where you was gone. H

dge of the mare's back

she wh

"I am trying to understand

never felt happy of the house. Because he seldom set foot in the garden they had made the garden their playground, their real nursery; the garden, and on wet days the barn, the hay-lofts, the apple-lofts, any Alsatia beyond the rul

e wall from her perch in the spring-cart, Myra spied Mr. Benny on the slipway below, in converse with a tall, black-coated man who held by the hand a black-coated boy. As a child,

the children. His eyes were red, and it was

uncle-dear me, I believe you have never met! Let me present you to your uncle, Mr. Samuel, and your cousin, Master Calvin Rosewarne.

As for the boy, he shook hands as if Under protest, and fell at once to staring hard at Clem. He had a pasty-white face, which looked the unhealthier for being surmounted by a natty velveteen cap

ly as he shook hands, turning a fishy eye

, Mr. Samuel! I could not have forgiven myself. It

ed at his ragged whiskers. "Were they-er-away on a visit? staying with friends?

on Myra, who flushed hotly. What right had thi

Clem and I have never slept away from home in our lives. We have been

, you two, I daresay," he replied, in a tone almost rallyin

him? She gulped down her tears-she was glad he had turned away without perceiving them-clutche

sternsheets Master Calvin fixed his p

he said slowly, with the ai

Myra retorted in a tone

e." He smiled complacently at having beaten her in argument, and M

for half a minute took stock of him silently. "Is

herself and, caressing the back of Clem's hand, answered with grave irony, "He was

almost a minute. "That's rude,"

in the boat had found time to

l to his oars. "I hope I see 'ee well, though 'tis a sad wind tha

wered coldly, and added, with an effort to

said I- for all the parish knew and talked of your differences-'give the old man time, and you'll be coming home for the Christmas holidays as welcome as flowers in May.' 'Not me,' says you; 'my father's is a house o' wrath, and there's no place for me.' A mort o' tide-water have runned up an' down since you spoke they words; but here be I,

lkative in all these years." He turned to Mr. Benny. "Your telegra

her, too, I learned the whereabouts of Miss Myra and Master Clem; for up at the house they could not be found, and this had thrown Miss Susannah into worse hysterics-she could only imagine some new disaster. At first I was minded to send a boat after them, but by this time the rafts were a good two miles beyond the harbour, and Mrs. Purchase said, 'No, they can do

ch a hurry

d 'Private an

r w

d. "You will excus

ident

s letters so I made it a rule never to read the address

keep the addres

our lea

t!" he said curtly, with a glance at Unc

nd put me in mind of the nail in Isaiah: 'As a nail in a sure place I will fasten him, and they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, fr

ed the hill, Mr. Sam spo

r at the inquest. You have tho

, I must an

nothing in it to cause strong

taring at him in mild astonishment;

set herself to reduce the household to order. "'Tisn't in nature to think of death," confesse

on shipboard where cabin was divided from cabin either by a simple curtain or by sliding panels. Be this is it may, she kept the house of mourning re-echoing t

e presented to Mr. Sam a weather-ruddied cheek, receiving his kiss on what, in so round a face as hers, might pass for the point of the jaw. In saluting Master Calvin she had perforce

child was smothered in bear's-grease. Lord knows that, as 'twas, I very nearly slip

the first she divined that her aunt misliked Ma

re at eight-thirty sharp, to take 'em aboard with him. For my part, I reckon to sleep here to-night and look after things till that fool Susannah comes to her senses. And as for you, Peter Benny, you'll stay supper, I hope, for there's supper ready and waiting to

nny, "but I couldn't touch a morsel-indeed

live. Well, if you won't, you won't; but I've been through the gar

ghtfall, and as knights and princesses come in fairy tales, to the palace of enchantment. As they drew close, its walls towered up terribly and overhung them, lightless, forbidding; but far aloft the riding-lamp flamed like a star, and Myra clapped her hands as she reached the deck and peered down into a marvellous doll's-house fitted with couches, muslin blinds, and brass-locked cupboards that twinkled in the lamplight. There was a stateroom, too, with a half-drawn red curtain in place of a doo

esus, mee

n a litt

simpli

raying for dead people was wicked. Susannah had once caught her praying for her mother, and had told her that it was wicked, with a decisiveness that closed all argument. None the less she had prayed for her mother since then-once or twice, perhaps half a dozen times-though slily and in a terror of be

from outside. "Sing out when you're in b

by the lamp in his own cabin. Maybe the proper thing would be to give them a kiss apiece? He could not be sure

lying still for a while, st

s already s

how did they manage it, seeing that so few grownups had anything lovable about them? Clem and she, of course, would go on loving each other always; but that

ross the water, and by a miserable two hours in which they were supposed to entertain their Cousin Calvin, who had

!" he announced in

gn of horror he would only show off the more and te

think we want to,

ou before they screw it d

ople did such monstrous unaccountable things, there was no saying what they might not be up to next. And here,

now if Mr. Tulse preferred the window up or down. Mr. Tulse preferred it down, and took snuff in such profusion that by and by Myra could not distinguish the floating particles from the dust which entered from the roadway, stirred up by the feet of the crowd backing to let the carriages pass. Myra had never seen, never dreamed of, such a crowd. It lined both sides of the road almost to the church gate-and from Hall to the church was a good mile and a half; lines of freemasons with their aprons, lines of foresters in green sashes, lines of coastguards, of fishermen in blue jerseys crossed with the black-and-white mourning ribbons of the local Benevolent Club; here and there groups of staring

ittle attention. The grave had been dug hard by the south-east corner of the churchyard, close by a hedge of thorn, on the farther side of which the ground fell steeply to a narrow coombe. The bright sun, sinking behind the battlements o

She shrank away, fearing for the moment that the trick of which she h

head of the long table with a paper in his hand, and Mr. Samuel in a chair by the empty fireplace with Cousin Calvin beside him. Aunt Hannah disposed herself between the two children with

ly, let her mind wander. The word 'testament' in the first sentence seemed to make this certain, and the sentence or two that followed had a polysyllabic vagueness which by habit she connected with the offices of religion. The strained look on Aunt Hannah's face drew her attention away from Mr. Tulse and his recital. Her ear had been caught, too, by a low whining sound in th

ause, broken by someone's pushing hack a chair. She gazed around inqu

ching face, challenging a look from Mr. Samuel, who

y to him, she controlled herself. But she tu

, stretching out both han

till now. She paid, however, little heed to this, but ran past her aunt's outstretched arms to the door of the counting-house. With

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