The Merry Anne 7
"No--it's easier for me to do that. I 'll bring something. And now
go--please."
He rose, and slipped around the table toward her. .
"Don't--you _must_ go."
And so he went, leaving her to gaze after him with a high color.
CHAPTER III--AT THE HOUSE ON STILTS
[Illustration: 0076]
DICK and Henry did not go directly back, and it was mid-afternoon when
they reached the pier. As they walked down the incline from the road,
Dick's eyes strayed toward the house on stilts. The _Captain_ lay with
nose in the sand, and beside her, evidently just back from a sail, stood
Annie with two of the students who came on bright days to rent Captain
Fargo's boats. They were having a jolly time,--he could hear Annie
laughing at some sally from the taller student,--and they had no eye for
the two sailors on the pier. Once, as they walked out, Dick's hand went
up to his hat; but he was mistaken, she had not seen him. And so he
watched her until the lumber piles, on the broad outer end of the pier,
shut off the view; and Henry watched him.
Dick hardly heard what his cousin said when they parted. He leaped down
to the deck of the _Merry Anne_, and plunged moodily into the box of
an after cabin. His men, excepting Pink Harper, who was somewhere up
forward devouring a novel, were on shore; so that there was no one
to observe him standing there by the little window gazing shoreward.
Finally, after much chatting and lingering, the two students sauntered
away. Annie turned back to make her boat fast; and Dick, in no cheerful
frame of mind, came hurrying shoreward.
She saw him leap down from pier to sand, and gave him a wave of the
hand; then, seeing that he was heading toward her, she turned and
awaited him.
"Come, Dick, I want you to pull the _Captain_ higher up."
Dick did as he was bid, without a word. And then, with a look and tone
that told her plainly what was to come next, he asked, "What are you
going to do now?"
"I guess I 'll have to see if mother wants me. I've been sailing ever
since dinner."
"You haven't any time for me, then?"
"Why, of course I have,--lots of it. But I can't see you all the while."
"No, I suppose you can't--not if you go sailing with those boys."
Annie's mischievous nature leaped at the chance this speech gave
her. "They aren't boys, Dick; Mr. Beveridge is older than most of the
students. He told me all about himself the other day."
"Oh, he did."
"Yes. He was brought up on a farm, and he has had to work his way
through school. When he first came here, he got off the train with only
just three dollars and a half in his pocket, and he didn't have any idea
where he was going to get his next dollar. I think it's pretty brave of
a man to work as hard as that for an education."
Dick could say nothing. Most of _his_ education had come in through his
pores.
"I like Mr. Wilson, too."
"He is the other one, I suppose?"
Dick, his eyes fixed on the sand, did not catch the mirthful glance
that was shot at him after these words. And her voice, friendly and
unconscious, told him nothing.
"Yes, he is Mr. Beveridge's friend. They room together."
"Well, I hope they enjoy it."
"Now, Dick, what makes you so cross? When you are such a bear, it
wouldn't be any wonder if I didn't want to see you."
He gazed for a minute at the rippling blue lake, then broke out: "Can
you blame me for being cross? Is it my fault?"
She looked at him with wondering eyes.
"Why--you don't mean it is _my_ fault, Dick?"
"Do you think it is just right to treat me this way, Annie?"
"What way do you mean, Dick?"
He bit his lip, then looked straight into her eyes and came out with
characteristic directness:--
"I don't like to think I've been making a mistake all this while, Annie.
Maybe I have never asked you right out if you would marry me. I'm not
a college fellow, and it isn't always easy for me to say things, but
I thought you knew what I meant. And I thought that you didn't mind my
meaning it."
She was beginning to look serious and troubled.
"But if there is any doubt about it, I say it right now. Will you marry
me? It is what I have been working for--what I have been buying the
schooner for--and if I had thought for a minute that you weren't going
to say yes sooner or later, I should have gone plumb to the devil before
this. It isn't a laughing matter. It has been the thought of you that
has kept me straight, and--and--can't you see how it is, Annie? Haven't
you anything to say to me?"
She looked at him. He was so big and brown; his eyes were so clear and
blue.
"Don't let's talk about it now. You're so--impatient."
"Do you really think I've been impatient?"
She could not answer this.
"Now listen, Annie: I'm going to sail in the morning, away around to a
place called Spencer, on Lake Huron; and I could hardly get back inside
of ten or twelve days. And if I should go away without a word from
you--well, I couldn't, that's all."
"You don't mean--you don't want me to say before to-morrow?"
"Yes, that's just what I mean. You haven't anything to do to-night, have
you?"
She shook, her head without looking at him. "Well, I 'll be around after
supper, and we 'll take a walk, and you can tell me."
But her courage was coming back. "No, Dick, I can't."
"But, Annie, you don't mean--"
"Yes, I do. Why can't you stop bothering me, and just wait. Maybe
then--some day--"
"It's no use--I can't. If you won't tell me to-night, surely ten--or,
say, eleven--days ought to be enough. If I went off tomorrow without
even being able to look forward to it--Oh, Annie, you've got to tell
me, that's all. Let me see you to-night, and I 'll try not to bother you.
I 'll get back in eleven days, if I have to put the schooner on my back
and carry her clean across the Southern Peninsula,"--she was smiling
now; she liked his extravagant moods,--"and then you 'll tell me." He
had her hand; he was gazing so eagerly, so breathlessly, that she could
hardly resist. "You 'll tell me then, Annie, and you 'll make me the
luckiest fellow that ever sailed out of _this_ town. Eleven days from
to-night--and I 'll come--and I 'll ask you if it is to be yes or no--and
you 'll tell me for keeps. You can promise me that much, can't you?"
And Annie, holding out as long as she could, finally, with the slightest
possible inclination of her head, promised.
"Where will you be this evening?" he asked, as they parted.
"I 'll wait on the porch--about eight."
For the rest of the afternoon Dick sat brooding in his cabin. When, a
little after six, he saw Henry coming down the companionway, his heart
warmed.
"Thought I'd come over and eat with you," said his cousin. "What's the
matter here--why don't you light up?"
Dick, by way of reply, mumbled a few words and struck a light. Henry looked at him curiously.
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