The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-03-25
A HAPPY

40cy NAOOio VI 49, ~
their cargoes lie. All day long I can see
them faring up and down past the mouth
| of my creek, and all the year round / listen
to the sounds of them-the dropping or
lifting of anchors, the whining of a siren
whistle cutting the air like a twanged
bow, the concertina that plays at night,
the rush of the clay cargo shot from the
jetty into the lading ship. But all this is
| too far remote to vex me-. Only one YES
sci lies beneath my terrace, and she has
lain there for a dozen years. After many
voyages she was purchased by the board
of guardians in our district, dismasted
! and anchored up here to serve as a hosp1-
tai ship in case the cholera visited us. She
! has never had a sick man on board from
that day to the present. But once upon a
time three people spent a very happy night
! on her deck, as you shall hear. She is
called the Cleaner.
I think / was never SO much annoyed
in my life as on the day when Annie, my
only servant, gave me a month warn
ing" That was four years ago, and she
! gave up cooking for me to marry a young
matchmaker down at the town-a youth
of no mark save for a curious distortion of
the left eyebrow (due to much gazing
through a circular glass into the bowels
of watches), a frantic assortment of reli-
gious convictions, a habit of playing the
fiddle in hours of ease and an absurd
nalne-Tubal Cain Bonaday. / noticed
that Annie softened it to "Tubey."
OF course I tried to dissuade her, but my
were those of a wifeless man
and very weak. She listened to them with
! much patience and went off to buy her
, wedding frock. She was a plain girl,
without a s~clntilla of humor, and had just
that sense of an omelet that is vouchsafed
! to one woman in a generation.
So she and Tubal Cain were married at
the end of the month and disappeared on
their honeymoon, III one quite knew
! whittier. They went on the last day of
April.
At half past 5 in the evening of May 6
I had JUST finished my seventh miserable
dinner My windows were open to the
] evening, and the scent of the gorse bushes
below the terrace hung heavily underneath
the veranda and stole into the room where
l sat before the white cloth in the lamp
light. / had taken a cigarette and was
reaching for the matchbox when CHANGED
to look up and paused to marvel at a sin
gular beauty in the atmosphere outside.
1t seemed q final atonement Of sky n
earth in one sheet of vivid blue. OF form
l could see n~othing-the heavens, the wa
tiers of the creek below, the woods on the
opposite shore, were simply i-ndistinguish-
able, blotted out in this enc color. If you
can recall certain advertisements of Mr..
Reckitt and can imagine one of these
transparent, with a soft light glowing be-
hind it, you will be as near as | can help
you to guessing the exact color. And but
for a solitary star and the red lamp of a
steamer lying off the creeks mouth this
blue covered the whole armament and face
of the earth.
I lit my cigarette and stepped out upon
the veranda. In a minute or 50 g. sound
made me return, fetch u cap from the hall
and descend the terrace softly.
My feet trod on bluebells and red robins
and now and then crushed the fragrance
out of a low lying spike of gorse. | knew
the flowers were there, though in this
curious light I could only see them by
peering closely. At the foot of the terrace
/ pulled up and leaned over the oak fence
that guarded the abrupt drop into the
creek.
There was a light just underneath. 1t
came from the deck of the hospital ship
and showed me two figures standing there
Ia woman leaning against the bulwarks
and a man beside her. The mar had a
fiddle under his chin and was playing
"Annie Laurie" rather slowly and with a
deal of sweetness.
When the melody ceased, / craned still
farther over the oak fence and called down:
.sTubal Cain!"
The pair gave a start, and there was
some whispering before the answer came
up to me.
lis that you, sir?"
ITO be sure said I. "What are you
two about on board the Gleaner?'
Some more whispering followed, and
then Tubal Cain spoke again:
at doesn't matter now, sir. We've
lived aboard her for a week, and tonight's
the end of our honeymooning. If tbs no
liberty, sir, Annie's wishful that you
should join u.s."
Somehow the invitation, coming
through this mysterious atmosphere,
seemed at once natural and happy. The
fiddle began again as I stepped away from
the fence and went down to get my boat
out. In three minutes l was afloat, and a
stroke or two brought me to the ships
ladder. Annie and Tuhnl Cain stood at
the top to welcome me.
But if / had felt no incongruity in pay
ing this respectful visit to my ex-cook and
her lover I own chat her appearance made
me stare, for, if you please, h was
dressed out like a lady in a gown OF pale
blue satin trimmed with swans down-a
low necked gown, too, though she had flung
a white shawl over her shoulders. Im-
agine this and the flood Of blue light
around us, and you will hardly wonder
that, half way up the ladder, ! paused to
take breath. Tubal Cain was dressed as
usual, and, tucking his fiddle under his
nrm, led me up to shake hands with his
bride as If she were a queen. I CANNOT
say if she blushed. Certainly she received
me with dignity, and then, inverting q
bucket that lay on the dock, seated herself,
while Tubal Cain and / sat down on the
deck facing her, with our backs against
The bulwarks.
TITS just this, sir, I explained the BRIDE