“You is but a girl, Bessie,” said I, “an’ not well acquaint with the way o’ the world. Still an’ all,” I mused, “Skipper Tommy says ’tis kind, an’ he’ve growed wonderful used t’ livin’.”
“We’ll not fear the world.”
“No, no! We’ll not fear it. I’ll be a man, sister, for your sake.”
“An’ I a true woman,” said she, “for yours.”
To Tom Tot we gave the handling of the fish and stores, resolving, also, to stand upon his judgment in the matter of dealing supplies to the thriftless and the unfortunate, whether generously or with a sparing hand, for the men of our harbour were known to him, every one, in strength and conscience and will for toil. As for the shop, said we, we would mind it ourselves, for ’twas but play to do it; and thus, indeed, it turned out: so hearty was the sport it provided that my sister and I would hilariously race for the big key (which hung on a high nail in the dining-room) whenever a customer came. I would not have you think us unfeeling. God knows, we were not that! ’Twas this way with us: each hid the pain, and thus thought to deceive the other into a happier mood. We did well enough in the shop; but we could make neither head nor tail of the books in my father’s safe; and when our bewilderment and heartache came to ears of the doctor he said that he would himself manage the letters and keep the books in the intervals of healing the sick: which, with a medicine chest they had brought ashore from the wreck, he had already begun to practice.
It seemed, then, to my sister and me, that the current of our life once more ran smooth.
And Jagger of Wayfarer’s Tickle—the same who sat at cards with the mail-boat doctor and beat his dog with the butt of a whip—having got news of my father’s death, came presently to our harbour, with that in mind which jumped ill with our plans. We had dispiriting weather: a raw wind bowled in from the northeast, whipping the fog apace; and the sea, as though worried out of patience, broke in a short, white-capped lop, running at cross purposes with the ground swell. ’Twas evil sailing for small craft: so whence came this man’s courage for the passage ’tis past me even now to fathom; for he had no liking to be at sea, but, rather, cursed the need of putting out, without fail, and lay prone below at such unhappy times as the sloop chanced to toss in rough waters, praying all the time with amazing ferocity. Howbeit, across the bay he came, his lee rail smothered; and when he had landed, he shook his gigantic fist at the sea and burst into a triumphant bellow of blasphemy, most thrilling (as we were told) to hear: whereafter, with a large air (as of prospective ownership), he inspected the flakes and storehouses, heartily condemned them, wished our gaping crew to perdition, and, out of breath at last, moved up the path to our house, his great dog hanging like a shadow at his heels—having come and gone on the wharves, as Tom Tot said, like a gale o’ wind.
My sister and I sat dreaming in the evening light—wherein, of soft shadows and western glory, fine futures may by any one be fashioned.
“’Tis rich,” said I, “that I’m wantin’ t’ be.”