A Rock in the Baltic - Robert Barr 3 стр.

What sort of a man is Captain Kempt? I shall be on the lookout for him, you know.

I think he is the handsomest man I have ever seen, and I know he is the kindest and most courteous.

Really? A young man, I take it?

There speaks the conceit of youth, said Dorothy, smiling. Captain Kempt, U.S.N., retired. His youngest daughter is just two years older than myself.

Oh, yes, Captain Kempt. II remember him now. He was at the dinner last night, and sat beside our captain. What a splendid story-teller he is! cried the Lieutenant with honest enthusiasm.

I shall tell him that, and ask him how he liked your song. Good-by, and before the young man could collect his thoughts to make any reply, she was gone.

Skimming lightly over the ground at first, she gradually slackened her pace, and slowed down to a very sober walk until she came to a three-storied so-called cottage overlooking the Bay, then with a sigh she opened the gate, and went into the house by the servants entrance.

CHAPTER II IN THE SEWING-ROOM

THREE women occupied the sewing-room with the splendid outlook: a mother and her two daughters. The mother sat in a low rocking-chair, a picture of mournful helplessness, her hands listlessly resting on her lap, while tears had left their traces on her time-worn face. The elder daughter paced up and down the room as striking an example of energy and impatience as was the mother of despondency. Her comely brow was marred by an angry frown. The younger daughter stood by the long window, her forehead resting against the pane, while her fingers drummed idly on the window sill. Her gaze was fixed on the blue Bay, where rested the huge British warship Consternation, surrounded by a section of the United States squadron seated like white swans in the water. Sails of snow glistened here and there on the bosom of the Bay, while motor-boats and what-not darted this way and that impudently among the stately ships of the fleet.

In one corner of the room stood a sewing-machine, and on the long table were piles of mimsy stuff out of which feminine creations are constructed. There was no carpet on the floor, and no ceiling overhead; merely the bare rafters and the boards that bore the pine shingles of the outer roof; yet this attic was notable for the glorious view to be seen from its window. It was an ideal workshop.

The elder girl, as she walked to and fro, spoke with nervous irritation in her voice.

There is absolutely no excuse, mamma, and its weakness in you to pretend that there may be. The woman has been gone for hours. Theres her lunch on the table which has never been tasted, and the servant brought it up at twelve.

She pointed to a tray on which were dishes whose cold contents bore out the truth of her remark.

Perhaps shes gone on strike, said the younger daughter, without removing her eyes from H.M.S. Consternation. I shouldnt wonder if we went downstairs again wed find the house picketed to keep away blacklegs.

Oh, you can always be depended on to talk frivolous nonsense, said her elder sister scornfully. Its the silly sentimental fashion in which both you and father treat work-people that makes them so difficult to deal with. If the working classes were taught their place

Working classes! How you talk! Dorothy is as much a lady as we are, and sometimes I think rather more of a lady than either of us. She is the daughter of a clergyman.

So she says, sniffed the elder girl.

Well, she ought to know, replied the younger indifferently.

Its people like you who spoil dependents in her position, with your Dorothy this and Dorothy that. Her name is Amhurst.

Christened Dorothy, as witness godfather and godmother, murmured the younger without turning her head.

I think, protested their mother meekly, as if to suggest a compromise, and throw oil on the troubled waters, that she is entitled to be called Miss Amhurst, and treated with kindness but with reserve.

Tush! exclaimed the elder indignantly, indicating her rejection of the compromise.

I dont see, murmured the younger, why you should storm, Sabina. You nagged and nagged at her until shed finished your ball-dress. It is mamma and I that have a right to complain. Our dresses are almost untouched, while you can sail grandly along the decks of the Consternation like a fully rigged yacht. There, Im mixing my similes again, as papa always says. A yacht doesnt sail along the deck of a battleship, does it?

Its a cruiser, weakly corrected the mother, who knew something of naval affairs.

Well, cruiser, then. Sabina is afraid that papa wont go unless we all have grand new dresses, but mother can put on her old black silk, and I am going if I have to wear a cotton gown.

To think of that person accepting our money, and absenting herself in this disgraceful way!

Accepting our money! That shows what it is to have an imagination. Why, I dont suppose Dorothy has had a penny for three months, and you know the dress material was bought on credit.

You must remember, chided the mother mildly, that your father is not rich.

Oh, I am only pleading for a little humanity. The girl for some reason has gone out. She hasnt had a bite to eat since breakfast time, and I know theres not a silver piece in her pocket to buy a bun in a milk-shop.

She has no business to be absent without leave, said Sabina.

How you talk! As if she were a sailor on a battleshipI mean a cruiser.

Where can the girl have gone? wailed the mother, almost wringing her hands, partially overcome by the crisis. Did she say anything about going out to you, Katherine? She sometimes makes a confidant of you, doesnt she?

Confidant! exclaimed Sabina wrathfully.

I know where she has gone, said Katherine with an innocent sigh.

Then why didnt you tell us before? exclaimed mother and daughter in almost identical terms.

She has eloped with the captain of the Consternation, explained Katherine calmly, little guessing that her words contained a color of truth. Papa sat next him at the dinner last night, and says he is a jolly old salt and a bachelor. Papa was tremendously taken with him, and they discussed tactics together. Indeed, papa has quite a distinct English accent this morning, and I suspect a little bit of a headache which he tries to conceal with a wavering smile.

You cant conceal a headache, because its invisible, said the mother seriously. I wish you wouldnt talk so carelessly, Katherine, and you mustnt speak like that of your father.

Oh, papa and I understand one another, affirmed Katherine with great confidence, and now for the first time during this conversation the young girl turned her face away from the window, for the door had opened to let in the culprit.

Now, Amhurst, what is the meaning of this? cried Sabina before her foot was fairly across the threshold.

All three women looked at the newcomer. Her beautiful face was aglow, probably through the exertion of coming up the stairs, and her eyes shone like those of the Goddess of Freedom as she returned steadfastly the supercilious stare with which the tall Sabina regarded her.

I was detained, she said quietly.

Why did you go away without permission?

Because I had business to do which could not be transacted in this room.

That doesnt answer my question. Why did you not ask permission?

The girl slowly raised her two hands, and showed her shapely wrists close together, and a bit of the forearm not covered by the sleeve of her black dress.

Because, she said slowly, the shackles have fallen from these wrists.

Im sure I dont know what you mean, said Sabina, apparently impressed in spite of herself, but the younger daughter clapped her hands rapturously.

Splendid, splendid, Dorothy, she cried. I dont know what you mean either, but you look like Maxine Elliott in that play where she

Will you keep quiet! interrupted the elder sister over her shoulder.

I mean that I intend to sew here no longer, proclaimed Dorothy.

Oh, Miss Amhurst, Miss Amhurst, bemoaned the matron. You will heartlessly leave us in this crisis when we are helpless; when there is not a sewing woman to be had in the place for love or money. Every one is working night and day to be ready for the ball on the fourteenth, and youyou whom we have nurtured

I suppose she gets more money, sneered the elder daughter bitterly.

Oh, Dorothy, said Katherine, coming a step forward and clasping her hands, do you mean to say I must attend the ball in a calico dress after all? But Im going, nevertheless, if I dance in a morning wrapper.

Katherine, chided her mother, dont talk like that.

Of course, where more money is in the question, kindness does not count, snapped the elder daughter.

Dorothy Amhurst smiled when Sabina mentioned the word kindness.

With me, of course, its entirely a question of money, she admitted.

Dorothy, I never thought it of you, said Katherine, with an exaggerated sigh. I wish it were a fancy dress ball, then Id borrow my brother Jacks uniform, and go in that.

Katherine, Im shocked at you, complained the mother.

I dont care: Id make a stunning little naval cadet. But, Dorothy, you must be starved to death; youve never touched your lunch.

You seem to have forgotten everything to-day, said Sabina severely. Duty and everything else.

You are quite right, murmured Dorothy.

And did you elope with the captain of the Consternation, and were you married secretly, and was it before a justice of the peace? Do tell us all about it.

What are you saying? asked Dorothy, with a momentary alarm coming into her eyes.

Oh, I was just telling mother and Sab that you had skipped by the light of the noon, with the captain of the Consternation, who was a jolly old bachelor last night, but may be a married man to-day if my suspicions are correct. Oh, Dorothy, must I go to the ball in a dress of print?

The sewing girl bent an affectionate look on the impulsive Katherine.

Kate, dear, she said, you shall wear the grandest ball dress that ever was seen in Bar Harbor.

How dare you call my sister Kate, and talk such nonsense? demanded Sabina.

I shall always call you Miss Kempt, and now, if I have your permission, I will sit down. I am tired.

Yes, and hungry, too, cried Katherine. What shall I get you, Dorothy? This is all cold.

Thank you, I am not in the least hungry.

Wouldnt you like a cup of tea?

Dorothy laughed a little wearily.

Yes, I would, she said, and some bread and butter.

And cake, too, suggested Katherine.

And cake, too, if you please.

Katherine skipped off downstairs.

Well, I declare! ejaculated Sabina with a gasp, drawing herself together, as if the bottom had fallen out of the social fabric.

Mrs. Captain Kempt folded her hands one over the other and put on a look of patient resignation, as one who finds all the old landmarks swept away from before her.

Is there anything else we can get for you? asked Sabina icily.

Yes, replied Dorothy, with serene confidence, I should be very much obliged if Captain Kempt would obtain for me a card of invitation to the ball on the Consternation.

Really! gasped Sabina, and may not my mother supplement my fathers efforts by providing you with a ball dress for the occasion?

I could not think of troubling her, Miss Kempt. Some of my customers have flattered me by saying that my taste in dress is artistic, and that my designs, if better known, might almost set a fashion in a small way, so I shall look after my costume myself; but if Mrs. Captain Kempt were kind enough to allow me to attend the ball under her care, I should be very grateful for it.

How admirable! And is there nothing that I can do to forward your ambitions, Miss Amhurst?

I am going to the ball merely as a looker-on, and perhaps you might smile at me as you pass by with your different partners, so that people would say I was an acquaintance of yours.

After this there was silence in the sewing room until Katherine, followed by a maid, entered with tea and cakes. Some dress materials that rested on a gypsy table were swept aside by the impulsive Katherine, and the table, with the tray upon it, was placed at the right hand of Dorothy Amhurst. When the servant left the room, Katherine sidled to the long sewing table, sprang up lightly upon it, and sat there swinging a dainty little foot. Sabina had seated herself in the third chair of the room, the frown still adding severity to an otherwise beautiful countenance. It was the younger daughter who spoke.

Now, Dorothy, tell us all about the elopement.

What elopement?

I soothed my mothers fears by telling her that you had eloped with the captain of the Consternation. I must have been wrong in that guess, because if the secret marriage I hoped had taken place, you would have said to Sabina that the shackles were on your wrists instead of off. But something important has happened, and I want to know all about it.

Dorothy made no response to this appeal, and after a minutes silence Sabina said practically:

All that has happened is that Miss Amhurst wishes father to present her with a ticket to the ball on the Consternation, and taking that for granted, she requests mother to chaperon her, and further expresses a desire that I shall be exceedingly polite to her while we are on board the cruiser.

Oh, cried Katherine jauntily, the last proviso is past praying for, but the other two are quite feasible. Id be delighted to chaperon Dorothy myself, and as for politeness, good gracious, Ill be polite enough to make up for all the courteous deficiency of the rest of the family.

Now, Dorothy, dont be bashful. Heres your sister and your cousin and your aunt waiting for the horrifying revelation. What has happened?

Ill tell you what is going to happen, Kate, said the girl, smiling at the way the other ran on. Mrs. Captain Kempt will perhaps consent to take you and me to New York or Boston, where we will put up at the best hotel, and trick ourselves out in ball costumes that will be the envy of Bar Harbor. I shall pay the expense of this trip as partial return for your fathers kindness in getting me an invitation and your mothers kindness in allowing me to be one of your party.

Oh, then it isnt an elopement, but a legacy. Has the wicked but wealthy relative died?

Yes, said Dorothy solemnly, her eyes on the floor.

Oh, I am so sorry for what I have just said!

You always speak without thinking, chided her mother.

Yes, dont I? But, you see, I thought somehow that Dorothy had no relatives; but if she had one who was wealthy, and who allowed her to slave at sewing, then I say he was wicked, dead or alive, so there!