To Miss Katherine’s extreme delight Joseph was ready to move to Ocean View without delay. She had drawn from him all the information concerning Captain Shannon that he had obtained from Mr. Skinner. She had immediately jumped to the conclusion that the Captain had been lost at sea. To tell the truth, although she had as tender a heart as woman ever possessed, the owner’s tragic end rather increased her delight in her surroundings. It wasn’t every day one had the opportunity of handling things that had belonged to one for whom fate had destined such a tragic end.
It was towards the books in the library that she felt most reverently. Not for a moment could she forget that these books had been selected, read and loved by Captain Peter Shannon, victim of the cavernous seas. But soon she came to value the books for themselves, for she found them much to her taste. There was nothing in literature that so captivated Miss Katherine as tales of daring on land or sea, and of these the Captain’s library was full.
“Captain Shannon must have been a very interesting man,” she remarked rather sadly to Joseph. “I can tell by his books. His tastes were just like mine,” she added naively.
“Don’t let your mind run on him too much, Katie,” advised Joseph. “It would only lead to disappointment, for he’s most likely drowned or dead, it don’t matter which.”
“I’d try to exercise a little common sense, Joseph Boulby,” returned his sister acidly.
“Why, ain’t I?” asked Joseph. “I don’t see anything unreasonable about warning you not to set your heart upon a dead man. There’s not much chance of a corpse coming to life these days.”
Joseph’s delight in his garden was actually making him facetious.
However strongly Miss Katherine became convinced that, had he lived, there would have been a strong affinity and perhaps something more between Captain Shannon and herself, she did not become depressed. But without doubt there entered into Miss Katherine’s heart a sentiment that she had never experienced before.
In a closet full of rubbish she found a portrait of a seamanly looking, heavily whiskered man. This she rightly conjectured to be a feeble attempt to reproduce on canvas Captain Shannon’s noble countenance. She tastefully framed the portrait and hung it over the books she fancied he had best loved.
Having made an exhaustive examination of the books on the library shelves, Miss Katherine turned her attention to the papers which the table and desk contained. She felt no compunction in doing this, although she rarely meddled with the affairs of others. But to Captain Shannon’s personal papers she felt she had a peculiar right, a sort of spiritual right.