The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1902-07-05

sWhy can their governess take them?'
tShe is lying down with a headac he.
sir, and nurse has cold, and | can t send
one of the other servants out tonight Be
sides, [ like to go with the children. -
s'Well, just as you like, - said Mr..
North Grossly. He went to his study.
The wind was roaring around the house
and the waves thundered on the shore.
He settled himself to his work He
dipped his pen in the ink and looked at the
ruled paper before him. He wrote a sen
tence, read it over, altered word and f.
nally cancelled the whole with line. Then
he began once more The house shook in
the ferceness of the gale A draft came
from the chimney. Presently he heard
the boys and Elsie starting. He heard
their boots on the hall, and Elsie strong
pair creaked. Arthur ungalantly told
her that they made his head ache. Mr..
North smiled dryly as he heard Else's re-
tort that they had been Arthur's before
they were hers and that they would be
his still only that they had ceased to fit
him.
''And I'm not surprised she added,
''though they are miles too big for me.
The door slammed on the argument.
Then he heard the patterieg of Mabey
and Willie and their excited voices calling
for Sibyl.
Coming, coming, coming = sounded
in her voice from up stairs He heard
her bounding lightly down with jump at
the last four steps Then it struck him
that he had spoken Grossly to her-even
though it had been on her own behalf
and as she passed the study door he called
to her.
"What is it, father?'
Nothing I want to kiss you; that's
ALL.
''Dear old father
II am bear sometimes. y
''Never, father. Never a bear to me.
.'Sibyl?'
eyes, dear.
s'Do the children love me p
eyes, father You are little bit
sharp with them sometimes. .
She laid her face against his.
''Try to be gentle with them. They
are children. They don t understand. y
''How good you are, Sibyl p
After that he moved as if he would go
on with his work The children had
opened the hall door, and they had admitted
the four winds of heaven.
"Now | must be off, - he said.
He never knew what impulse moved
him. but he followed her to the door, and
there he kissed her again. When he went
back to his writing table, there were tears
in his eyes.
Half an hour passed 1t was filled in
the study by the sound of the scratching
of pen. The vicar wrote that night a
sermon that he never preached. The text
was from the thirty4frst chapter Of Prov
erbs and the twenty. ninth verse.
He heard the children come in and he
called to them.
"Where is your sister, dear he asked
of Mabey.
sShe sent us in because it was time for
us to go to bed, and she has stopped be-
cause she wanted to see the sea, and so
IRE to go to nurse.
ssAnd oh, the sea S so rough, said
Willie, ''and there are big enormous waves
as big as-oh, ever so big And Mabey s
hat nearly blew away, and our coats are
quite wet.
s'Go and take them off, my boy Good
night, little man. Good night, Mabey,
Run along.
X X X
Sibyl stood on the beach and watched
the sea. Her clothes were twisted round
her by the gale, and her hair had been
blown loose and was slapping her in the
face and tapping like ribbons. Every
wave seemed to dig into the shore as it
broke with the crashing of thousand guns,
and then rushed up the floating shingle.
1t tore the stones back with grinding
sound on its receding. Spray stood in
drops on Sibyrs face and on the nap of her
roug Oh coat. Foam lay like yellow snow
in long line that was washed higher and
higher.
How the wind roared, and how the sea
thundered Sibyl breathed prayer for
all who were at the mercy of the waters.
What free and superb curve was that OF
the breaking wave There must be for a
moment a hollow, she thought, under each
as the hollow under the Falls of Niagara,
where YOU can stand unwet in the heart of
the cataract
In the wild evening the glamour of the
storm took possession of her. She was
buffeted by the wind and wet by the spray
till it seemed to be that the tempest awoke
kindred spirit within her. She would
like to dash into those angry waves and
help in the havoc of the night. How
rapturous to be mermaid, to dive through
those monstrous breakers, to ride upon the
crests of them, to throw yourself back
ward. thence with outstretched arms to
turn and tumble and dance till you churned
them to further foam
| She stood looking at the sea with a fas-
cnation that made her needless of all but
her fancies. Then her heart stood still.
| A black mountain was advancing towards
her. Had the whole sea heaped into one
stupendous wave?
There was the noise Of the crashing of
a world
!: K X
In his study the vicar looked up from
his sermon.
what was that 2 he said aloud. There
was silence in the house and then a scream
ing. The women rushed from their quar-
tiers.
The water coming up the garden,
The maid who spoke was white to the
lips. Mr. North went to the door and
opened it. There was sound in the gar
den that had never been heard before. 1t
was the rushing back of the water. 1t