The National tribune., 1881-09-24


the entrance to which, when there is the slightest
wind, is marked by the breakers that reach from
either side, and leave but narrow passage of
comparatively smooth water. To the eastward
of the harbor lies the fishing hamlet of BOddam,
to the westward that of Buchan Haven; when
there is any wind, rough sea, that would soon
swamp any rowing craft save a lifebOat, is always
tumbing outside the harbor mouth You can
see the whales spouting out there; and nearer
the beach, by the mdith of the little river, the
salmon leap faster than you can count their
splashes. But that is later in the year.
The Custances had been there month, and
would leave in day or two to join some friends
in Edinburgh The party was not large one,
consisting only of themselves, their two children,
Mrs. Custance's brother, Jack Colwyn, and her
close friend, Nellie Stewart. That the party
might be made smaller by the conversion of the
two latter into one was the earnest desire of the
pretty little woman, who was herself so happy
in her husband and children and in the little
nest at BrOmptOn, to which they would retire
with less reluctance than the great ma ority Of
LOndOners feel when their holiday is over. Her
brother was only too anxious to fall in with her
wishes: he had dogged the Stewards footsteps
through the earlier part of the season, and now
he was playing attendance at Peterhead, when
his natural impulses would have led him to seek
some spot where the fishing was better and the
society exclusively male. Jack COlwyn was
favOrite with men, but until he met Nellie at his
sisters house he had avoided with some care the
places where the other sex congregate. Jack, in
truth. was better with his fists than with his
I,oI CHI 10
advantage in the presence of his mistress. He
knew the reputation for wit and sarcasm, not to
say i'll nature, which Nellie Stewart had won
among men of more brilliant parts than himself;
but seeing so much of her in the intimacy of his
sisters home though he would writhe under her
barely disguised contempt and her unconcealed
sense of superiority, he dimly discerned the
womanly feelings which underlay these ebulli-
TONS and continued his eager pursuit.
Miss Stewart, it is a long time until dinner,
and my sister has issued an edict against dress
ing for the same. viii you let me row you out
for half an hour? 1t is so cool now"
Il will come with pleasure, am sure" cried
Nellie who had genuine and great love of the
water. Ted" she added to one of the children,
will you fetch me my cloak?"
Now Nellie felt almost sure that Jack intended
to propose to her this evening. She made
shrewd guess that her friend had been sounding
her in his behalf, and had reported not altogether
untavOrably. She had no thought of evading it.
Jack intended going on with them to Edinburgh,
and in that most picturesque of towns, what with
walks to Arthur's Seat, moonlight expeditions to
view the Grass market, and the lights in the old
town, his opportunity must come sooner or later.
Nellie had no intention of taking him. True she
had sneaking kind of liking for Jack in cousiny
way and dim sense of his good qualities; but
il was as she had Said-she was too conscious of
her own superiority to be able to feel for the
good natured shy and ordinary young fellow as
her romantic nature would have her feel for her
future lord and master.
Once out into the middle of the harbor, away
from the Shiny stone steps and the t0ttering cur
ing houses, where the perfume of last years her
rings vet fingered. and which would soon be red
oent with the bouquet of this years catch, Col
wyn rested on his oars, and swinging the boat
brOadside to the town, they looked back at its
huddled stone houses and its streets all leading to
the sea, and the market place with its monument
to Marshal Keith, the stout old Jacobite who
escaped from the 15 to fight the battles of Fred
erick the Great and to add one to the long list of
Scottish soldiers who for half a century lent a
lustre to the military annals of every nation
save our own. But | doubt if either of them
were thinking of any of these things.
viii you pull Us under the Boddam shore,
Mr.. COlwyn? We have never gone up that side
of the bay"
For answer Jack pulled sturdily towards the
eastern shore Of the harbOr The tide was with
him, and they were soon lying few hundred
yards from the sandhills, against which the waves
were gently FLASHING. Then he again lay on his
oars and thinking to himsef-for he was prone,
regret to say, Nellie had limited, to metaphors
of sporting nature" Harden your heart and
stick in your knees, old boy :" he out and spoke
his mind.
Miss Stewart, he added, after an appeal more
manly and to the purpose than the girl, who sat
gazing into the depths of the water, aware that
she must hear him out, had expected, Il have
known more and seen more of you than many
men see or know of the girls they would marry,
and | am certain that you would make me happy;
and, Nellie that my life would not be so empty
with you as it has been | do love you; let me
try to make you as happy as you would make me-"
And Jack Colwyn leant forward to hear his
fate in very downright manner.
" l am sorry" began the girl, in the stereotyped
form, finding it by no means easy to give him
his answer she had expected for the earnest