The Irish standard., 1890-04-19
BY A TURN OF THE KEY.
The Neat Way in Which Madge
Captured the Robbers.


ssWell! Goodbye, Madge, and take
care of yourself; the gig is alongside, 80
suppose / must be off; but I wish to
goodness you had let me chuck the
whole thing over when spoke about it
this morning; hate leaving you all by
yourself. Well, at any rate, shan't be
late" 53
So spoke BERTHE Hepburn, the owner
Of the yacht Cormorant, as smart q
schooner as ever flew the white ensign,
to his wife, who was standing rather
disconsolately at the door of the main
cabin, while her husband struggled into
a huge oilskin-coat, preparatory to go
ing ashore.
1t was wild night, dark as pitch, the
rain was falling in torrents, and an icy
! wind, blowing straight from the
Apennines, did not make matters more
comfortable. The Cormorant had been
weather-bound in the harbor of Port
Ercole, an unimportant town about
eighty miles north of Civita Vecchia,
for nearly week; there was absolutely
nothing to be seen there; but the harbor
was good one, and the weather outside
was decidedly dirty"
They had been cruising for about
three months in the Mediterranean, and
meant to prolong the cruise till spring.
BERTHE Hepburn was man who, happy
and contented everywhere, was never so
happy as on board his own yacht, and
he was more fortunate than many yacht
owners in one respect, inasmuch as his
! wife, pretty, charming Madge Hepburn,
was as devoted to seafaring life as he
was himself:
| She had not even grumbled over their
forced detention at Fort Creole, as so
many women would have done, and it
was she who had insisted on BERTHE
keeping his engagement to dine with
the Vice.Consul on Christmas Eve. That
unfortunate gentleman, whose life,
passed among people with whom he
had nothing in common, was one round
of dull routine, was delighted to well
come the owner Of any stray yacht
driven by stress of weather into the
snug haven Of Port Eroole, and, on the
| arrival of the Cormorant, had come on
board in state to bid them to dinner
at the shabby house dignified by the
name of Her Britannia Majesty's Vice
Consulate. Madge had sent an excuse,
a perfectly true one, that a bad cold
prevented her coming ashore in such
weather, but she would not hear Of her
husband also throwing over his en-
gagement.
81 shall be all right, Bertie," she
said. 81 have no end of letters to write,
and you won't be late" There was an
utter absence of joviality about the
meal, and she got through it as quickly
as possible, much to the secret JOY Of
the steward, who had his own plans for
his evenings amusement on hand.
'sIf you please, ma'am," said he, as he
cleared the things away, 81 should like
to go ashore this evening, if you have
no objection"
'sOh! no, certainly you are welcome to
CO."
s''H you please, ma'am," said her maid
five minutes afterward, ssthe captain
says there are great doings in the ca
thedral tonight. and he will take me
ashore to have look at them if you
don't want me-"
.sNo, you can go by all means, Dunne,"
said her mistress; ''but I'm afraid you'll
get very wet landing"
Their departure in the dinghey five
minutes after seemed to leave the yacht
wonderfully quiet. There was not
sound to be heard but the drip Of the
rain on deck and the moaning OF the
wind in the rigging. The sailors were
all snug in the foc'sle, but no sound Of
voices came from thence, and the good
ship Cormorant might have been dere-
lict as far as any life on board was con-
cerned.
Afadge Hepburn, who was both i'm
questionable and Imaginative, was i'm
pressed by the stiffness in spite Of her
self. 'sWe must keep each other COM
pany, Cheviot,'' said she to the big black
and-tan sheep-dog who lay asleep on the
cabin floor, but he refused absolutely to
enter into conversation; his manner
showed decidedly that he did not wish
to be disturbed, and, as his mistress
would not desist, he got up sulkily,
stretched himself half q dozen times,
and slowly and heavily lurched out Of
the cabin, and up the companion, while
a thump overhead q minute later told
Mrs. Hepburn he preferred the cold and
wet on deck to her society. The still
ness seemed more remarkable now
Cheviot=had left her. and she had not
noticed before how chilly the cabin had
grown; had the steward been on board
She would have had the stove relighted,
but she did not care to disturb the sail