“‘He loved his horse,’ said William Hull.
“‘May they meet in Paradise!’ cried Mistress Bings.
“‘What, madam, the soul of the man and—and a horse?’
“‘May they meet in Paradise,’ she repeated. Then she bade William Hull enter her house, and she feasted him well, and when he had finished, she asked him concerning his life and his work, and when she found that though old, and bent and broken, he meant always to follow the sea, a common sailor before the mast—the least of all the signed men because of his bent back—she cried:
“‘Not so, William Hull. You shall not so weary yourself. If you have a mind to stay on land, I will build you a snug house on one of my plantations; but if you prefer the sea, I will buy you a yawl, and you can sail from port to port along our coast here.’
“So at first William Hull spoke for the sea and the yawl, but when he learned that she would no longer live in the house that watched the harbor there being no reason why she should continue to search the faces of returning sailors, looking among them for the one she loved—but would go onto a plantation and live among her trees and flowers, he elected to live near her and to be her servant. To the end, he served her, and she guarded him, he for the sake of a man who, though bereft of his senses, was still an affectionate friend, she for the sake of the bridegroom who had never forgotten his love, and who had been snatched from the sunlight to wither in a dungeon all his days.”
That is the tale my grandmother told.
And all the while, Carin, I let my hand stay in Keefe’s. The fire fell low, the wind grew higher, and the story, you might have thought, would have made us sad. But it did not do so. Grandmother walked up the stairs to her room with her head lifted; I saw Uncle David and Aunt Lorena going down the corridor hand in hand. As for me, I could have danced. I do not know what Keefe thought, but I heard him singing “Annie Laurie” when he reached his room. I saw then that the story had risen above sorrow into joy, and when I went to bed I was very, very happy—happier than ever before in my life. It is wonderful to know there is really such a thing as true love in the world, isn’t it?
Azalea.