"She's all right," said Peter. "But as for hard work—Lord!"
And he was chuckling over that all the while he was washing up and still smiling at the thought of it when he overhauled a girl in the passageway on his way out. He said good evening politely and was hurrying by when the figure said: "Good evening, captain."
It was something in the voice that held him. He had another look—it wasn't very light in the passageway. Well, if it wasn't the girl who had sold him the lunch-box!
Peter walked to the corner with her; when her car came along, it happened to be his car. She lived not very far from Peter's sister. He walked to her door with her. Her name was Sarah Hern.
After work next day Peter waited at the door of the shipping-room. When she came out of the girls' room he fell into step with her and they rode home together. Sarah invited him in. Peter stepped in for a minute and met Sarah's mother.
He stayed to supper. There must have been eight or nine Hern boys and girls, some grown up, with a widowed mother. And they all but the mother sat down together; and the girls kept bouncing up and down, hopping back and forth between table and kitchen when things didn't come fast enough.
Peter felt as if he had known them for years; and after supper, an older brother passed Peter a cigar and up-stairs in the living-room talked in a casually friendly way on baseball, prize-fighting, the big war, the latest movies. One of Sarah's sisters played the piano and Sarah and another sister sang. Other young men called. Peter was a good listener until a little brother of Sarah's peeked in and finally came over by Peter and shyly said:
"Won't you tell something, captain, about the big ocean?"
Peter told them a little about the big ocean, as he knew it, and stopped. He himself wanted to hear more songs—"Annie Laurie," or "The Robert E. Lee," or something like them—but they asked him to keep on. He told more—he would have told them more, in the first place, but he had no idea shore-going people, especially girls, cared much for rough fishing life. In a little while he was warmed up and going good. When he stopped this time they were all bent over and staring at him. The big brother straightened up first and pulled out his watch and said:
"What d'y'know—I'm chairman o' the house committee down to the club, and we had a meeting scheduled for an hour and a half ago!"