In the firelight of that evening—when the maids had cleared the cozy room and carried away the lamp and we three sat alone together in my father’s house—was planned our simple partnership in good works and the fish business. ’Tis wonderful what magic is abroad at such times—what dreams, what sure hopes, lie in the flickering blaze, the warm, red glow, the dancing shadows; what fine aspirations unfold in hearts that are brave and hopeful and kind. Presently, we had set a fleet of new schooners afloat, put a score of new traps in the water, proved fair-dealing and prosperity the selfsame thing, visited the sick of five hundred miles, established a hospital—transformed our wretched coast, indeed, into a place no longer ignorant of jollity and thrift and healing. The doctor projected all with lively confidence—his eyes aflash, his lean, white hand eloquent, his tongue amazingly active and persuasive—and with an insight so sagacious and well-informed, a purpose so pure and wise, that he revealed himself (though we did not think of it My sister’s face was aglow—most divinely radiant—with responsive faith and enthusiasm; and as for me—— “Leave me get down,” I gasped, at last, to the doctor, “or I’ll bust with delight, by heaven!” He laughed, but unclasped his hands and let me slip from his knee; and then I began to strut the floor, my chest puffed out to twice its natural extent. “By heaven!” I began. “If that Jagger——” The clock struck ten. “David Roth,” my sister exclaimed, lifting her hands in mock horror, “’tis fair scandalous for a lad o’ your years t’ be up ’t this hour!” “Off to bed with you, you rascal!” roared the doctor. “I’ll not go,” I protested. “Off with you!” “Not I.” “Catch un, doctor!” cried my sister. “An you can, zur!” I taunted. If he could? Ecod! He snatched at me, quick as a cat; but I dodged his hand, laughed in his face “Oh, zur,” I groaned, “I never knowed you was so jolly!” “Not so?” “On my word, zur!” He sighed. “I fancied you was never but sad.” “Ah, well,” said he, “the Labrador, Davy, is evidently working a cure.” “God be thanked for that!” said I, devoutly. He rumpled my hair and went out. And I bade him send my sister with the candle; and while I lay waiting in the dark a glow of content came upon me—because of this: that whereas I had before felt woefully inadequate to my sister’s protection, however boastfully I had undertaken it, I was now sure that in our new partnership her welfare and peace of heart were to be accomplished. Then she came in and sat with me while I got ready for bed. She had me say my prayers at her knee, as a matter of course, but this night hinted that an additional petition for the doctor’s well-doing and happiness might not be out of place. She chided me, after that, for the temper I had shown against Jagger and for the oath I had flung at his head, as I knew she would—but did not chide me heartily, because, as she said, she was for the moment too gratefully happy to remember my short-comings against me. I thanked her, then, for this indulgence, and told her that she might go to bed, for I was safely and comfortably bestowed, as she could see, and ready for sleep; but she would not go, and there sat, with the candle in her hand, her face flushed and her great blue eyes soulfully glowing, while she continued to chatter in “Bessie Roth,” said I, severely, “what’s come upon you?” “I’m not knowin’, Davy,” she answered, softly, looking away. “’Tis somewhat awful, then,” said I, in alarm, “for you’re not lookin’ me in the eye.” She looked then in her lap—and did not raise her eyes, though I waited: which was very strange. “You isn’t sick, is you?” “No-o,” she answered, doubtfully. “Oh, you mustn’t get sick,” I protested. “’Twould never do. I’d fair die—if you got sick!” “’Tisn’t sickness; ’tis—I’m not knowin’ what.” “Ah, come,” I pleaded; “what is it, dear?” “Davy, lad,” she faltered, “I’m just—dreadful—happy.” “Happy?” cried I, scornfully. “’Tis not happiness! Why, sure, your lip is curlin’ with grief!” “But I was happy.” “You isn’t happy now, my girl.” “No,” she sobbed, “I’m wonderful miserable—now.” I kicked off the covers. “You’ve the fever, that’s what!” I exclaimed, jumping out of bed. “’Tis not that, Davy.” “Then—oh, for pity’s sake, Bessie, tell your brother what’s gone wrong along o’ you!” “I’m thinkin’, Davy,” she whispered, despairingly, “that I’m nothin’ but a sinful woman.” “A—what! Why, Bessie——” “Nothin’,” she repeated, positively, “but a sinful, wicked person.” “Who told you that?” said I, dancing about in a rage. “My own heart.” “Your heart!” cried I, blind angry. “’Tis a liar an it says so.” “What words!” she exclaimed, changed in a twinkling. “An’ to your sister! Do you get back in bed this instant, David Roth, an’ tell her that you’re sorry.” I was loath to do it, but did, to pacify her; and when she had carried away the candle I chuckled, for I had cured her of her indisposition for that night, at any rate: as I knew, for when she kissed me ’twas plain that she was more concerned for her wayward brother than for herself. Past midnight I was awakened by the clang of the bell on my father’s wharf. ’Twas an unpleasant sound. Half a gale—no less—could do it. I then I was addressed by a gray old man in ragged oilskins. “We heared tell,” said he, mildly, wiping his dripping beard, “that you got a doctor here.” I said that we had. “Well,” he observed, in a dull, slow voice, “we got a sick man over there t’ Wreck Cove.” “Ay?” said I. “An’ we was sort o’ wonderin’, wasn’t we, Skipper Tom,” another put in, “how much this doctor would be askin’ t’ go over an’ cure un?” “Well, ay,” the skipper admitted, taking off his sou’wester to scratch his head, “we did kind o’ have that idea.” “’Tis a wild night,” said I: in my heart doubting—and that with shame—that the doctor would venture out upon the open sea in a gale of wind. “’Tis not very civil,” said the skipper frankly. “I’m free t’ say,” in a drawl, “that ’tis—well—rather—dirty.” “An’ he isn’t got used t’ sailin’ yet. But——” “No?” in mild wonder. “Isn’t he, now? Well, we got a stout little skiff. Once she gets past the Thirty Devils, she’ll maybe make Wreck Cove, all right—if she’s handled proper. Oh, she’ll maybe make it if——” “Davy!” my sister called from above. “Do you take the men through t’ the kitchen. I’ll rouse the doctor an’ send the maids down t’ make tea.” “Well, now, thank you kindly, miss,” Skipper Tom called up to the landing. “That’s wonderful kind.” It was a familiar story—told while the sleepy maids put the kettle on the fire and the fury of the gale increased. ’Twas the schooner Lucky Fisherman, The doctor entered at that moment. “Who is asking for me?” he demanded, sharply. “Well,” Skipper Tom drawled, rising, “we was thinkin’ we’d sort o’ like t’ see the doctor.” “I am he,” the doctor snapped. “Yes?” inquiringly. “We was wonderin’, doctor,” Skipper Tom answered, abashed, “what you’d charge t’ go t’ Wreck Cove an’—an’—well, use the knife on a man’s hand.” “Charge? Nonsense!” “We’d like wonderful well,” said the skipper, earnestly, “t’ have you——” “But—to-night!” “You see, zur,” said the skipper, gently, “he’ve wonderful pain, an’ he’ve broke everything breakable that we got, an’ we’ve got un locked in the fo’c’s’le, an’——” “Where’s Wreck Cove?” “’Tis t’ the s‘uth’ard, zur,” one of the men put in. “Some twelve miles beyond the Thirty Devils.” The doctor opened the kitchen door and stepped out. There was no doubt about the weather. A dirty gale was blowing. Wind and rain drove in from the black night; and, under all the near and petty noises, sounded the great, deep roar of breakers. “Hear that?” he asked, excitedly, closing the door against the wind. “Ay,” the skipper admitted; “as I was tellin’ the young feller, it isn’t so very civil.” “Civil!” cried the doctor. “No; not so civil that it mightn’t be a bit civiller; but, now——” “And twelve miles of open sea!” “No, zur—no; not accordin’ t’ my judgment. Eleven an’ a half, zur, would cover it.” The doctor laughed. “An’, as I was sayin’, zur,” the skipper concluded, pointedly, “we just come through it.” My sister and I exchanged anxious glances: then turned again to the doctor—who continued to stare at the floor. “Just,” one of the crew repeated, blankly, for the silence was painful, “come through it.” The doctor looked up. “Of course, you know,” he began, quietly, with a formal smile, “I am not—accustomed to this sort of—professional call. It—rather—takes my breath away. When do we start?” Skipper Tom took a look at the weather. “Blowin’ up wonderful,” he observed, quietly, smoothing his long hair, which the wind had put awry. “Gets real dirty long about the Thirty Devils in the dark. Don’t it, Will?” Will said that it did—indeed, it did—no doubt about that, whatever. “I s’pose,” the skipper drawled, in conclusion, “we’d as lief get underway at dawn.” “Very good,” said the doctor. “And—you were asking about my fee—were you not? You’ll have to pay, you know—if you can—for I believe in—that sort of thing. Could you manage three dollars?” “We was ’lowin’,” the skipper answered, “t’ pay about seven when we sold the v‘y’ge in the fall. ’Tis a wonderful bad hand Bill Sparks has got.” “Let it be seven,” said the doctor, quickly. “The balance may go, you know, to help some poor devil who hasn’t a penny. Send it to me in the fall if——” The skipper looked up in mild inquiry. “Well,” said the doctor, with a nervous smile, “if we’re all here, you know.” “Oh,” said the skipper, with a large wave of the hand, “that’s God’s business.” They put out at dawn—into a sea as wild as ever I knew an open boat to brave. The doctor bade us a merry good-bye; and he waved his hand, shouting that which the wind swept away, as the boat darted off towards South Tickle. My sister and I went to the heads of Good Promise to watch the little craft on her way. The clouds were low and black—torn by the wind—driving up from the southwest like mad: threatening still heavier weather. We followed the skiff with my father’s glass—saw her beat bravely on, reeling through the seas, smothered in spray—until she was but a black speck on the vast, angry waste, and, at last, vanished altogether in the spume and thickening fog. Then we went back to my father’s house, prayerfully wishing the doctor safe voyage to On the evening of the third day, when the sea was gone down and the wind was blowing fair and mild from the south, I sat with my sister at the broad window, where was the outlook upon great hills, and upon sombre water, and upon high, glowing sky—she in my mother’s rocker, placidly sewing, as my mother used to do, and I pitifully lost in my father’s armchair, covertly gazing at her, in my father’s way. “Is you better, this even, sister, dear?” I asked. “Oh, ay,” she answered, vehemently, as my mother used to do. “Much better.” “You’re wonderful poorly.” “’Tis true,” she said, putting the thread between her white little teeth. “But,” the strand now broken, “though you’d not believe it, Davy, dear, I’m feeling—almost—nay, quite—well.” I doubted it. “’Tis a strange sickness,” I observed, with a sigh. “Yes, Davy,” she said, her voice falling, her lips pursed, her brows drawn down. “I’m not able t’ make it out, at all. I’m feelin’—so wonderful—queer.” “Is you, dear?” “Davy Roth,” she averred, with a wag of the head so earnest that strands of flaxen hair fell over her eyes, and she had to brush them back again, “I never felt so queer in all my life afore!” “I’m dreadful worried about you, Bessie.” “Hut! as for that,” said she, brightly, “I’m not thinkin’ I’m goin’ t’ die, Davy.” “Sure, you never can tell about sickness,” I sagely observed. “Oh, no!” said she. “I isn’t got that—kind o’—sickness.” “Well,” I insisted, triumphantly, “you’re wonderful shy o’ eatin’ pork.” She shuddered. “I wished I knowed what you had,” I exclaimed impatiently. “I wished you did,” she agreed, frankly, if somewhat faintly. “For, then, Davy, you’d give me a potion t’ cure me.” She drew back the curtain—for the hundredth time, I vow—and peered towards South Tickle. “What you lookin’ for?” I asked. “I was thinkin’, Davy,” she said, still gazing through the window, “that Skipper Zach Tupper might be comin’ in from the Last Chance grounds with a fish for breakfast.” The Last Chance grounds? ’Twas ignorance beyond belief! “Bessie,” I said, with heat, “is you gone mad? Doesn’t you know that no man in his seven senses would fish the Last Chance grounds in a light southerly wind? Why——” “Well,” she interrupted, with a pretty pout, “you knows so well as me that Zach Tupper haven’t got his seven senses.” “Bessie!” She peeked towards South Tickle again; and then—what a wonder-worker the divine malady is!—she leaned eagerly forward, her sewing falling unheeded to the floor; and her soft breast rose and fell to a rush of sweet emotion, and her lips parted in delicious wonderment, and the blood came back to her cheeks, and her dimples were no longer pathetic, but eloquent of sweetness and innocence, and her eyes “Davy!” she whispered. “Ay, dear?” “I’m knowin’—now—what ails me.” I sat gazing at her in love and great awe. “’Tis not a wickedness, Bessie,” I declared. “No, no!” “’Tis not that. No, no! I knows ’tis not a sin.” “’Tis a holy thing,” she said, turning, her eyes wide and solemn. “A holy thing?” “Ay—holy!” I chanced to look out of the window. “Ecod!” I cried. “The Wreck Cove skiff is in with Doctor Luke!” Unfeeling, like all lads—in love with things seen—I ran out. The doctor came ashore at the wharf in a state of “I’m back, safe and sound,” cried he. “Davy, I have been to Wreck Cove and back.” “An’ you’re wonderful happy,” cried I, from the uncertain situation of his shoulder. “Happy? That’s the word, Davy. I’m happy! And why?” “Tell me.” “I’ve done a good deed. I’ve saved a man’s right hand. I’ve done a good deed for once,” he repeated, between his teeth, “by God!” There was something contagious in all this; and (I say it by way of apology) I was ever the lad to catch at a rousing phrase. “A good deed!” I exclaimed. “By God, you’ll do——” He thrashed me soundly on the spot. |