Ethel Morton at Sweetbriar Lodge Part 34

Brave Admiral, speak, what shall I say?'

'Why, say, "Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!"'

"'My men grow mutinous day by day; My men grow ghastly wan and weak.'

The stout mate thought of home; a spray Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek.

'What shall I say, brave Admiral, say, If we sight naught but seas at dawn?'

'Why, you shall say at break of day, "Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!"'

"They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow, Until at last the blanched mate said: 'Why, now not even G.o.d would know Should I and all my men fall dead.

These very winds forget their way, For G.o.d from these dread seas is gone.

Now speak, brave Admiral, speak and say'-- He said: 'Sail on! sail on! and on!'

"They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate: 'This mad sea shows his teeth to-night.

He lifts his lip, he lies in wait, With lifted teeth as if to bite; Brave Admiral, say but one good word: What shall we do when hope is gone?'

The words leapt like a leaping sword: 'Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!'

"Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck, And peered through darkness. Ah, that night Of all dark nights! And then a speck-- A light! a light! a light! a light!

It grew, a starlit flag unfurled!

It grew to be Time's burst of dawn.

He gained a world; he gave that world Its grandest lesson: 'On! sail on!'"

The last picture was Columbus gazing joyfully at the land he had discovered through his perseverance. It was supposed to be the early morning of October 12, 1492, and Roger, surrounded by his sailors, stood with a foot on the rail of his boat, shielding his eyes from the rising sun, while the others crowded behind him, whispering with delight.

When the curtains fell together for the last time the lights flashed out upon the audience and disclosed Captain Morton greeting his sister and sister-in-law and his nieces and nephews.

"Where's my girl?" he inquired in his cordial, hearty voice. "Where's Ethel Blue?"

Some one gave her a friendly push forward so her father did not notice the reluctance with which she had been almost creeping toward him. He threw his arm around her shoulders regardless of possible damage to the elegancies of her court costume, and kissed her heartily. The tears shone in her eyes as she forced herself to meet his searching gaze.

"Not crying!" he whispered in her ear, and she felt her heart give a real pang as the happiness left his face and was replaced by his old look of sorrow and endurance. "Not crying!" he repeated in her ear. "Why, I thought you loved her! You've done nothing but write to me about Miss Daisy all summer!"

"About Miss Daisy? Do you mean--? Is it Miss Daisy?"

"It certainly is Miss Daisy. Here, come behind the curtain," and he swept his daughter and his _fiance_ out of sight of the retiring audience. "It is Daisy Graham who is to be your dear mother, my little Ethel Blue. Are you satisfied now?"

"O, Father! O, Miss Daisy!" cried Ethel Blue, sobbing now from relief and joy and clinging to both of them; "I never guessed it! It's too wonderful to be true!"

CHAPTER XVII THE PARTING BREAKFAST

Ethel Blue's change of mind about stepmothers was so complete that her cousins would have joked her about it except that her Aunt Marion advised them to say nothing to her on a subject that had once been so sore a theme.

"Don't recall those painful thoughts," she advised. "Ethel Blue will be happier and certainly Miss Daisy will be if the present mood continues."

"I thought you couldn't help loving her when you knew her," Captain Morton had said to Ethel Blue. "That's why I was willing to postpone the wedding all summer so that you and she might have a chance to become really well acquainted."

"It was a good way," answered Ethel frankly. "If I had known about it I should have thought everything Miss Daisy did was done for its effect on me. I should have been suspicious of her all the time."

"You have come to know a very dear woman in a natural way and it crowns my happiness that you should care so much for each other."

Since he had waited so patiently for so many months Captain Morton begged that the wedding should take place at once. Mrs. Hanc.o.c.k urged her sister to have it in Glen Point.

"If you go to Washington you'll have many acquaintances there but not any more loving friends than you've made here and in Rosemont," she said cordially. "It will give the Doctor and me the greatest happiness to have you married from our house, and it will be such a delight to all the U.

S. C. if they know that they can all be at the wedding of their dear 'Miss Daisy.'"

"It will be easier for all the Rosemont people--and it would be very sweet to go to Richard from your house," murmured Daisy thoughtfully. "I believe I'll do it."

"It will be easier to bring Aunt Mary on here than for all the New Jersey clans to go to Washington," insisted Mrs. Hanc.o.c.k, referring to the aunt with whom her sister had lived in Washington.

"I'll do it," decided Daisy. "Richard's furlough is almost over so it will have to be very soon," she continued. "I'll have to begin my preparations at once."

So all the plans were made for a quiet wedding for just the two families and their intimate friends. It was to be ten days after the housewarming.

The ceremony was to be in the church at Glen Point, with Ethel Blue as maid of honor, and Margaret and Helen, Ethel Brown and Della as the bridesmaids.

Even this very first decision gave the Ethels a twinge of pain, because it prophesied their coming separation. Never before had they been separated at any such function, yet now Ethel Blue was to be in one position and her twin cousin in another. They both sighed when it was talked over, and they glanced at each other a trifle sadly. They did not need to put the meaning of their glances into words.

Dr. Hanc.o.c.k was to give the bride away. To everybody's regret Lieutenant Morton could not be present to act as his brother's best man.

"I'm more sorry than I can tell you, old fellow," he wrote. "Roger will have to take my place and give you all my good wishes with his own. You may congratulate me, too, for I've just got word that my step has come. I can now sign myself, "Your affectionate brother, "Roger Morton, "Capt. U.S.N."

There was great rejoicing in the Morton family when they learned this news, and telegrams poured in on them all day long after the announcement was publicly made.

"It gives one more touch of happiness," smiled Richard Morton, who went about beaming. He had to content himself with the companionship of his daughter, for his betrothed was too busy to give him much time. Probably this was a good thing, for it made her father's visit much as it always had been to Ethel Blue, and did not impress on her too abruptly the idea of their new relation.

It was at the meeting of the U. S. C. held very soon after the housewarming that the members decided to give a breakfast in celebration of the wedding and of Ethel Blue's departure from Rosemont.

"We'll call it a breakfast, but we'll have it rather late," said Helen.

"Why?" growled Roger hungrily. "I like my morning nourishment early."

"It's going to be out on our terrace, and it's getting to be late in the season and if it's too cold we can't have it there," said Dorothy.

"Put in your gla.s.s windows and have it at a civilized hour," implored Roger.

Dorothy looked at Helen.

"I'll ask Mother if she won't do that," she said. "Then we can have a fire in the open fireplace out there if it should be really frosty. I forgot we had all those comforts!"

"We must give the Glen Point people time to get over, if Roger can restrain his appet.i.te a trifle," urged Ethel Brown.

"We'd better have Della and Tom stay all night so they'll be here on time," urged Ethel Blue. "I can't get over New Haven being near enough for Tom to go back and forth so easily. I always thought it was as far off as Boston."

"I declare I almost weep every time I think of Ethel Blue's leaving the club," sobbed Tom with loud groans.

Ethel Blue tossed a pillow at him.