The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1882-04-20
glri ali the friendship which she had %

were of Coarser mold. They belonged
to the very extensive class of men who,
because they desire a thing vehemently,
think themselves ill-used II they do not
get Il, fly into RACES, accuse Provi-
dence, curse the hour of their birth, and
90 distraught. Sometimes, as in the
case of the young Frenohman whose
story Is treated by Robert Browning,
they throw themselves into the Seine,
and so an end, because the joys of this
world are denied to the poor. At other
times they go about glaring with envi-
Gus and malignant eyes. At all times
they are the enemies of honest Christian
folk.
One of these men was Captain Nico- !
las Borlinder, whose ship sailed to and I
fro from Calais to the port of London, |
carrying casks of sherry for the thirsty |
British aristocracy. 1t is not highly |
paid service, and culture of the best |
kind is not often found among the Cap |
tains in that trade. Yet Nick Borlin- |
der was a happy man, because his |
standard was of a kind easily attain |.
able. Like his friends of the same |
service, he loved beer, rum and tobac-
co; like them he loved these things in
large quantities; like them he delight
ed to sit and tell yarns. He could also
| sing good song in a coarse baritone; he
could dance a hOrnpipe- only among
brother Captains, of eOurse-as well as
any fO' k sic hand; and he had the repu-
/ tation of being a smart sailor. This
reputation, however, belonged to all
1t was an unlucky day for Lal when
this man was allowed a right of entry
to Rydquist's. For he Immediately fell
in love with her and resolved to mako
her his Own-Mrs. Borlinder-which
would have been fine promotion for
her
He was a red-faced iolly-looking
man Of iive-and-thirty, or Whereabouts.
He had bluff and hearty way ashore;
aboard ship he was handy with a mar
linspike, a ropes end. a fist, a kick, or
a round stimulating oath, or anything
else strong and rough and good for
knocking down the mutinOus or quick
ening the indolent. Behind his hearty
manner there lay--one can hardly say
cOncealed-a nature of the most pro-
found selfshness; and it might have
been remarked, had any of the Cap
tains been students of human nature,
which is not possible study, save on a
very limited scale, for sailors, that
among them all Nick Borlinder was
about the only one who had no friends.
He came and went. When he ap-
peared no one rejoiced; while he stayed
he sang and laughed and told yarns;
when he went away nobody cared.
Now, a skipper can 90 on very well
as a bachelor up to the age Of thirty-fve
or even forty. He is supported by the
dignity and authority of his position; he
is sustained by a sense of his RESPONSE
bilities; perhaps, also, he still looks for
ward to another fling in port, for youth
full follies are cherished and linger long
in the breasts of sailors, and are sOn)e-
times dear even to the gravity of the
Captain. When a man reaches some
where about thirty-five years of age,
however, there generally comes to him
: a sense of loneliness. 1t seems hard
that there should be no one glad to see
him when he puts into port; visions
arise of a cottage with green palings
: and scarlet-runners, and, in most cases,
that man is doomed when those visions
arise.
Captain Borlinder was thirty-one or
so when he first saw Lal She was in
! her housekeepers room making up ac-
counts, and he brought her letter from
I a Rydquist's man." introducing him
l and requesting for him admission. She
l read the letter, asked him what his ship
, was, and where she traded, and showed
I him a room in her girlish business-like
! manner. This was in the year eighteen
hundred and seyenty-siX, shortly before
she met Rex Armiger.
D Captain BOrlinder instantly, in her
I own room, at the very first interview,
1 fell in love with her, and, like many
, men Of his class, concluded that she was
equally ready to fall in love with him.
All the next voyage out he thought
! about her. His experience of wOme,'
1 was small, and of such a woman as Lal
= Rydquist, such dainty maiden, he had
$ no experience at all, because he had
1 never known any such, or even distant
D ly resembling her. The talk of such a
: girl, who could be friendly and laugh
1 with a roOmful of Captains, and vet not
I one of them would dare so much as tC
chuck her under the china delicate at
l. tentiOn he had always heretofore al
e lowed himself to consider proper-Was
r @ thing he had never bBfOre experienced
n Then her figure, her face, her quick
T ness, her CleVerness--all these things
4 excited his admiration and his envy
t Should he allow such a treasure to bJ
], won by another man?
+ Then he thought of her business ca
d pacity and that snug and cOmfortabl,
e business at Rydquist's. What a retreat
It what a charming retreat for himself
s after his twenty years of bucketing
1t about the sea! He pictured himself /
r, partner in that sleeping
e partner, smoking partner, drinking
: partner, the partner told off to narratD
= the yarns and shove the bottle round
n What place for a bluff, hearty, gen
II uine old salt! How richly had he de
g served itl
e He resolved, during that voyage
y upon making Lal Rydquist his own a
e soon as he returned. They met witt
x nasty weather in the Bay, and nighto ol
}. two on deck, which he had always pre-
g viOusly regarded as part of his pro
e fession, and all in the day Is work, be
d came a peg for discomfort as he though
% of the snug lying he might have beside
+ not in--the church-Yard in the Sevel
n Houses.
y The more he thought of the thing th
n more clearly he saw, in his own mind
IS its manifest advantages. And then, be
cause the seclusiOn of the cabin ant
d the solitude of the Captains position
sr afford mrvaled opportunities for re
" Election, he began to build up a castlu
of Spain, and pictured to himself hOy
4