After Many Stormy Voyages
Safely Neaped in Christ.
He arrested himself suddenly and whisked her round the tower.
“But we didn’t read it all,” she protested.
“Oh, it only says: ‘And also Emma Boldero, Wife of the Above.’ But don’t tell your grandfather.”
The child wondered why she was to keep Emma’s relationship to the Above a secret—she had already gathered from her grandfather that he knew it—and she was distressed as well as puzzled at the strange quarrel that broke out in the homeward coach.
“It ain’t at all a proper word,” said Daniel Quarles. “You might as well put ‘carted to Christ’ on mine.”
“That’ll be your affair,” persisted the widower, “but this ain’t. And how you came to see it gets over me.”
The Gaffer flushed uneasily. “Oi’ve got two eyes, I suppose,” he jerked.
The naval veteran glared glassily. “Them that pay the piper call the tune,” he retorted defensively. “Besides,” he added more gently, “Emma always said she’d have it somehow on her tombstone.”