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CHAPTER XXX. By the Sea
When Lieutenant Asher and his bride arrived at his brother's toll-gate
they were surprised as well as delighted by the cordiality of their
greeting. Each of them had expected a little stiffness during the first
interview, but there was nothing of the kind, although young Mrs. Asher
was bound to admit, when she took time to think upon the subject, that
Olive treated her exactly as if she had been a dear old schoolmate, and
not at all as her father's wife. This made things very pleasant and easy
at that time, she thought, although it might have to be corrected a
little after a while.
Things were all very pleasant, and there never had been so much talk at
the tollhouse since the first stone of its foundation had been laid. The
day after the arrival of the newly married couple Mrs. Easterfield
called upon them, and invited the whole family to dinner.
"I have never realized how much she must have thought of my parents!"
said Olive to herself, as she gazed upon her father and Mrs.
Easterfield. "They are so very glad to see each other!"
She did not know that Lieutenant Asher had been to the present Mrs.
Easterfield almost as much of a divinity as Mr. Hemphill had been to
her girlish fancy; the difference being that the young cadet was well
aware of the adoration of this child, not yet in long dresses, and
greatly enjoyed and encouraged it. When, a few years later, the child
heard of his marriage, she had outgrown the love with the lengthening of
the skirts. But she had a tender recollection of it which she cherished.
The dinner the next day was a great success, and after it the lieutenant
and Mrs. Easterfield earnestly discussed Olive when they had the
opportunity for a _tete-a-tete_. She was so much to each of them, and he
was grateful that his daughter had fallen under the influence of this
old friend, now a charming woman.
"She is so beautiful," said the lady, "that she ought to be married as
soon as possible to the most suitable bachelor in the United States."
"Not so fast! Not so fast" said the lieutenant. "Edith and I are going
to housekeeping very soon, and then we shall want Olive."
Mrs. Easterfield smiled, but made no reply.
When the lieutenant and his wife, with Olive, came a few days afterward
to make their proper dinner call, he found an occasion to speak to their
hostess.
"Do you know," said he, "that this is a strange girl of mine?" She
positively refuses to come and live with us. We had counted upon having
her, and had made all our arrangements for it. She is as good and nice
as she can be, but we can not move her."
"You ought not to try," said Mrs. Easterfield; "it would be a shame for
her to go away and leave her uncle. You have one young lady, and you
should not ask for both. Olive must marry, and the captain must go and
live with her."
"Have you arranged all that?" said he. "I remember you were a great
schemer when quite a little girl."
"I am as great as ever," said she. "And I have selected the gentleman."
"Oh, ho!" cried the lieutenant. "And is that all settled? Olive should
have told me that."
"She could not do it," said Mrs. Easterfield; "for it is not all
settled. There are some obstacles in the way; and the greatest of them
is that she does not love him."
The lieutenant laughed. "Then that is settled. I know Olive."
Mrs. Easterfield flushed, and then laughed. "I doubt that knowledge. It
is certain you do not know me! The young man loves her with all his
heart; there is no objection to him; and I am most earnestly in favor of
the match."
"Ah" said the lieutenant, with a bow; "if that is the case, I must get a
pencil and paper and calculate what I can give her for her trousseau. I
hope the wedding will not come off very soon, for I am decidedly short
at present, on account of recent matrimonial expenses. Would you mind
telling me his name? Is he naval?"
"Oh, no," said she; "he is pedagogy."
"What!" he cried, his eyes wide open.
Then she laughed and told him all about Dick Lancaster.
"Of course," concluded Mrs. Easterfield, "I can not ask you not to
speak to _anybody_ about what I have told you, but I do hope you will
prevent its getting to Olive's ears. I am afraid it would make a breach
between us if she knew that I was trying to make a match for her. And,
you see, that is exactly what I am doing."
"And you are right," said the lieutenant; "and what is more, I am with
you! You don't know," he added in a softer tone, "how grateful I am to
you for your care of Olive now that my dear wife is gone!"
For the moment he totally forgot that his dear wife had merely gone to
the edge of the bluff with the captain and Olive to look at the river.
That evening, as they sat together, Lieutenant Asher told his brother
all that Mrs. Easterfield had confided to him about Dick Lancaster. The
captain was delighted.
"That is what I have wanted," he said, "almost from the beginning, and I
want it more than ever now. I am getting to be an old fellow, and I want
to see her settled before I sail."
"You know, John," said the lieutenant, "that I find Olive is a little
more of a girl of her own mind than she used to be. I don't believe she
would rest quietly under the housekeeping of a girl so nearly her own
age."
The captain gave some vigorous puffs. "I should think not!" he said to
himself. "Olive would have that young woman swabbing the decks before
they had been out three days! You are right," said he aloud, "but we
must all look out that Olive does not hear anything about this."
It was not until they were continuing their bridal trip that Lieutenant
Asher considered the subject of mentioning Dick Lancaster to his wife.
Then, after considering it, he concluded not to do it. In the first
place, he knew that he was getting to be a little bit elderly, and he
did not care about discussing the perfections of the young man who had
been selected as a suitable partner for his wife's school friend. This
was all very foolish, of course, but people often are very foolish.
Thus it was that Olive Asher never heard of the tripartite alliance
between her father, her uncle, and her good friend at Broadstone.
When Captain Asher learned, a few days after his brother had left, that
the Broadstone family had gone to the seashore, he sat reflectively and
asked himself if he were doing the right thing by Olive. The season was
well advanced; it was getting very hot at the toll-gate, and at many
other gates in that region; and this navy girl ought to have a breath of
fresh air. It is wonderful that he had not thought of it before!
At breakfast the next morning Olive stopped pouring coffee when he told
her his plans to go to the sea.
"With you, Uncle John!" she cried. "That would be better than anything
in the world! You sail a boat?" she asked inquiringly.
"Sail a boat!" roared the captain. "I have a great mind to kick over
this table! My dear, I can sail a boat, keel uppermost, if the water's
deep enough! Sail a boat!" he repeated. "I sailed a catboat from Boston
to Egg Harbor before your mother was born. By the way, you seem very
anxious about boat sailing. Are you afraid of the water?"
She laughed gaily. "I deserve that," she said, "and I accept it. But
perhaps I have done something that you never did. I have sailed a
felucca."
"Very good," said the captain; "if there's a felucca where we're going
you can sail me in one."
They went to a Virginia seaside resort, these two, and left old Jane in
charge of the toll-gate.
Early in the day after they arrived they went out to engage a boat. When
they found one which suited the captain's critical eye, he said to the
owner thereof: "I will take her for the morning, but I don't want
anybody to sail me. I will do that myself."
"I don't know about that," said the man; "when my boat goes out--"
He stopped speaking suddenly and looked the captain over and over, up
and down. "All right, sir," said he. "And you don't want nobody to
manage the sheet?"
"No," interpolated Olive, "I'll manage the sheet."
So they went out on the bounding sea. And as the wind whistled the hat
off her head so that she had to fling it into the bottom of the boat,
Olive wished that her uncle kept a toll-gate on the sea. Then she could
go out with him and stop the little boats and the great steamers, and
make them drop seven cents or thirteen cents into her hands as she stood
braced in the stern; and she was just beginning to wonder how she could
toss up the change to them if they dropped her a quarter, when the
captain began to sing Tom Bowline. He was just as gay-hearted as she
was.
It was about noon when they returned, for the captain was a very
particular man and he had hired the boat only for the morning. Olive had
scarcely taken ten steps up the beach before she found herself shaking
hands with a young man.
"How on earth!" she exclaimed.
"It was not on earth at all," he said; "I came by water. I wanted to
find out if what I had heard of the horrors of a coastwise voyage were
true; and I found that it was absolutely correct."
"But here!" she exclaimed. "Why here? You could not have known!"
"Of course not," he answered; "if I had known I am sure I would have
felt that I ought not to come. But I didn't know, and so you see I am as
innocent as a butterfly. More innocent, in fact, for that little
wagwings knows where he ought not to go, and he goes there all the
same."
Captain Asher was still at the boat, making some practical suggestions
to her owner; who, being not yet forty, had many things to learn about
the sails and rigging of a catboat.
"Mr. Locker," said Olive, looking at him very intently, "did you come
here to renew any of your previous performances?"
"As a serenader?" said he. "Oh, no! But perhaps you mean as a
love-maker?"
"That is it," said Olive.
Mr. Locker took off his hat, and rubbed his head. "No," said he, "I
didn't; but I wish I could say I did. But that's impossible. I presume
I am right in assuming this impossibility?"
"Entirely," said Olive.
"And, furthermore, I truly didn't know you were here. I think you may
rest satisfied that that flame is out, although--By the way, I believe I
could make some verses on that subject containing these lines:
"'I do not want the flame,
I better like the coal--'
meaning, of course, that I hope our friendship may continue."
She smiled. "There are no objections to that," she said.
"Perhaps not, perhaps not," he said, clutching his chin with his hand;
"but some other lines come into my head. Of course, he didn't want the
coal to go out.
"'He blew too hard,
The flame revived.'"
"That will do! That will do!" cried Olive. "I don't want any more of
that poem."
"And the result of it all," said he, "is only a burnt match."
"Nothing but a bit of charcoal," added Olive.
At this moment up came the captain. Olive had told him all about Mr.
Locker, and he was not glad to see him. Olive noticed this, and she
spoke quickly. "Here's Mr. Locker, uncle; he has dropped down quite
accidentally at this place."
"Oh" said the captain incredulously.
"You know he used to like me too much. But he knows me better now."
"Charming frankness of friendship!" said Locker.
"And as I like him very much, I am glad he is here," continued Olive.
The young man bowed in gratitude, but Olive's words embarrassed him
somewhat, and he did not know exactly what would be suitable for him to
say. So he took refuge in a change of subject. "Captain," said he, "can
you fish?"
A look of scornful amazement showed itself upon the old mariner's face.
"I have tried it," said he.
"And so have I," cried Locker, "but I never had any luck in fishing
and--some other things. I am vilely unlucky. I expect that's because I
don't know how to fish."
"It is very likely," said Olive, "that your bad luck comes from not
knowing where to fish."
The young man took off his hat and held it for a little while, although
the sun was very hot.
During the course of that afternoon and evening Captain Asher grew to
like Claude Locker. The young man told such gravely comical stories,
especially about his experiences in boats and on the water, that the
captain was very glad he had happened to drop down upon that especial
watering-place. He wanted Olive to have some society besides his own,
and a discarded lover was better than any other young man they might
meet. He knew that Olive was a girl who would not go back on her word.
Read next: Chapter 31. As Good As A Man
Read previous: Chapter 29. Two Pieces Of News
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