Married Part 19

Tattoo went on the ship, but he took no notice of it, for he did not intend to leave her before one o'clock.

"What? He was going?"

"Yes; he must get back aboard, but it would do if he was there for the morning watch."

"When did the morning watch begin?"

"At five o'clock."

"Oh!... As early as that!"

"But where was she going to stay the night?"

"That was her business!"

He guessed it and wanted to have a look at her room; but she planted herself firmly on the threshold. He covered her face with kisses, took her in his arms as if she were a baby and opened the door.

"What an enormous bed! It was like the long boat. Where did the people get it from?"

She blushed crimson.

"Of course, she had understood from his letter that they would stay at the hotel together."

"Well, and so they would, in spite of his having to be back aboard for the morning watch. What did he care for the stupid morning prayers!"

"How could he say such a thing!"

"Hadn't they better have some coffee and a fire? The sheets felt damp!

What a sensible little rogue she was to provide for his staying, too!

Who would have thought that she had so much sense? Where did she get it from?"

"She didn't get it from anywhere!"

"No? Well, he might have known! He might have known everything!"

"Oh! But he was so stupid!"

"Indeed, he was stupid, was he?"

And he slipped his arm round her waist.

"But he ought to behave himself!"

"Behave himself? It was easy to talk!"

"The girl was coming with the wood!"

When it struck two, and sea and Skerries were flaming in the east, they were sitting at the open window.

"They were lovers still, weren't they? And now he must go. But he would be back at ten, for breakfast, and after that they would go for a sail."

He made some coffee on her spirit lamp, and they drank it while the sun was rising and the seagulls screamed. The gunboat was lying far out at sea and every now and then he saw the cutla.s.ses of the watch glinting in the sunlight. It was hard to part, but the certainty of meeting again in a few hours' time helped them to bear it. He kissed her for the last time, buckled on his sword and left her.

When he arrived at the bridge and shouted: "boat ahoy!" she hid herself behind the window curtains as if she were ashamed to be seen.

He blew kisses to her until the sailors came with the gig. Then a last: "Sleep well and dream of me" and the gig put off. He watched her through his gla.s.ses, and for a long time he could distinguish a little figure with black hair. The sunbeams fell on her nightdress and bare throat and made her look like a mermaid.

The reveille went. The longdrawn bugle notes rolled out between the green islands over the shining water and returned from behind the pine woods. The whole crew a.s.sembled on deck and the Lord's Prayer and "Jesus, at the day's beginning" were read. The little church tower of Dalaro answered with a faint ringing of bells, for it was Sunday.

Cutters came up in the morning breeze: flags were flying, shots resounded, light summer dresses gleamed on the bridge, the steamer, leaving a crimson track behind her, steamed up, the fishers hauled in their nets, and the sun shone on the blue, billowy water and the green islands.

At ten o'clock six pairs rowed the gig ash.o.r.e from the gunboat. They were together again. And as they sat at breakfast in the large dining-room, the hotel guests watched and whispered: "Is she his wife?" He talked to her in an undertone like a lover, and she cast down her eyes and smiled; or hit his fingers with her dinner napkin.

The boat lay alongside the bridge; she sat at the helm, he looked after the foresail. But he could not take his eyes off her finely shaped figure in the light summer dress, her determined little face and proud eyes, as she sat looking to windward, while her little hand in its strong leather glove held the mainsheet. He wanted to talk to her and was purposely clumsy in tacking; then she scolded him as if he were a cabin boy, which amused him immensely.

"Why didn't you bring the baby with you?" he asked her teasingly.

"Where should I have put it to sleep?"

"In the long boat, of course?"

She smiled at him in a way which filled his heart with happiness.

"Well, and what did the proprietress say this morning?"

"What should she say?"

"Did she sleep well last night?"

"Why shouldn't she sleep well?"

"I don't know; she might have been kept awake by rats, or perhaps by the rattling of a window; who can tell what might not disturb the gentle sleep of an old maid!"

"If you don't stop talking nonsense, I shall make the sheet fast and sail you to the bottom of the sea."

They landed at a small island and ate their luncheon which they had brought with them in a little basket. After lunch they shot at a target with a revolver. Then they pretended to fish with rods, but they caught nothing and sailed out again into the open sea where the eidergeese were, through a strait where they watched the carp playing about the rushes. He never tired of looking at her, talking to her, kissing her.

In this manner they met for six summers, and always they were just as young, just as mad and just as happy as before. They spent the winter in Stockholm in their little cabins. He amused himself by rigging boats for his little boys or telling them stories of his adventures in China and the South Sea Islands, while his wife sat by him, listening and laughing at his funny tales. It was a charming room, that could not be equalled in the whole world. It was crammed full of j.a.panese sunshades and armour, miniature paG.o.das from India, bows and lances from Australia, n.i.g.g.e.r drums and dried flying fish, sugar cane and opium pipes. Papa, whose hair was growing thin at the top, did not feel very happy outside his own four walls. Occasionally he played at draughts with his friend, the auditor, and sometimes they had a game at Boston and drank a gla.s.s of grog. At first his wife had joined in the game, but now that she had four children, she was too busy; nevertheless, she liked to sit with the players for a little and look at their cards, and whenever she pa.s.sed Papa's chair he caught her round the waist and asked her whether she thought he ought to be pleased with his hand.

This time the corvette was to be away for six months. The captain did not feel easy about it, for the children were growing up and the responsibility of the big establishment was too much for Mama. The captain himself was not quite so young and vigorous as he had been, but--it could not be helped and so he left.

Directly he arrived at Kronborg he posted a letter to her.

"My darling Topmast," it began.

"Wind moderate, S.S.E. by E. + 10 C. 6 bells, watch below. I cannot express in words what I feel on this voyage during which I shall not see you. When we kedged out (at 6 p.m. while a strong gale blew from N.E. by N.) I felt as if a belaying pin were suddenly being driven into my chest and I actually had a sensation as if a chain had been drawn through the hawsepipes of my ears. They say that sailors can feel the approach of misfortune. I don't know whether this is true, but I shall not feel easy until I have had a letter from you. Nothing has happened on board, simply because nothing must happen. How are you all at home? Has Bob had his new boots, and do they fit? I am a wretched correspondent as you know, so 111 stop now. With a big kiss right on this x.

"Your old Pal.

"P.S. You ought to find a friend (female, of course) and don't forget to ask the proprietress at Dalaro to take care of the long boat until my return. The wind is getting up; it will blow from the North to-night."