THE VICTORY OVER FATE
Early the next morning word was brought by a small boy that Captain Jules
Fontaine wished Miss Madge Morton to come out to "The Anchorage" alone,
as he had some important business that he wished to talk over with her.
It was a wonderful morning, all fresh sea breezes and sparkling sunshine.
Madge had not felt so gay in a long time as when the other houseboat
girls fell to guessing as to why Captain Jules desired her presence at
his house.
"He intends to make you his heiress, Madge," insisted Lillian. "Then,
when you are an old lady, you can come down here to live in the house
with the roof like three sails, and ride around in the captain's rowboat
and sailboat and be as happy as a clam."
Madge shook her head. "No such thing, Lillian. I don't believe the
captain wants me for anything important. He may be going to lecture me,
as he did yesterday afternoon. At any rate, I'll be back before long.
Please save some luncheon for me."
Madge was surprised when her boat landed near "The Anchorage" not to see
Captain Jules in his front yard, with his funny pet monkey on his
shoulder, waiting to receive her. She began to feel afraid that the
captain was ill. She had never been inside his house in all their
acquaintance. But Captain Jules had sent for her, so there was nothing
for her to do but to march up boldly to his front door and knock.
She lifted the heavy brass knocker, which looked like the head of a
dolphin, and gave three brisk blows on the closed door.
At first no one answered. The little captain was beginning to think that
the boy who came to her had made some mistake in his message and that
Captain Jules had gone out in his fishing boat for the day, when she
heard some one coming down the passage to open the door for her.
She gave a little start of surprise. A tall, middle-aged man, with a
single streak of white hair through the brown, was gazing at her
curiously.
"I would like to see Captain Jules," murmured Madge stupidly, unable to
at once recover from the surprise of finding that Captain Jules did not
live alone.
The strange man invited Madge into a tiny parlor which rather surprised
her. The room was filled with bookshelves, reaching almost up to the top
of the wall. The young girl had never dreamed that her captain was much
of a student. The only things that reminded her of Captain Jules were the
fishnets that were hung at the windows for curtains and the great sprays
of coral and sponge which decorated the mantelpiece.
The man sat down with his back to the light, so that he could look
straight into Madge's face.
"Captain Jules will be here after a little, Miss Morton," he said
gravely, "but he wished me to have a talk with you first."
Madge looked curiously at the unknown man. She could not obtain a very
distinct view of his face, but she saw that he was very distinguished
looking, that his eyes seemed quite dark, and that he wore a pointed
beard. He did not look like an American. At least, there was something in
his appearance that Madge did not quite understand. It struck her that
perhaps the man was a lawyer. It could not be that Lillian was right in
her guess. The treasure in the iron safe had not yet been sold, so it
might be that this man wished to make some offer for it. Whoever he might
be the silence was becoming uncomfortable. The little captain decided to
break it.
"I wonder if you wish to talk to me about the treasure that we found?"
she inquired, smiling. "I would rather that Captain Jules should be in
here when we speak of that."
The stranger shook his head. He had a very beautiful voice that in some
way fascinated the girl.
"No, I don't wish to talk about your treasure, but I do wish to speak of
something else that was lost and is found again. I don't know that you
will value it, child, or that it is worth having, but Captain Jules
thinks you might."
Madge's heart began to beat faster. This strange man had something of
great importance to tell her. She wondered if she had ever seen him
anywhere before. There was something in his look that was oddly familiar.
But why did he look at her so strangely and why did not her old friend
come to her to end this foolish suspense?
"I have been down here on a visit to Captain Jules a number of times this
summer and he has always talked of you," went on the fascinating voice.
"I have longed to see you, but----Miss Morton, Captain Jules Fontaine and
I knew your father once, long years ago. The news that you had proof of
his innocence made us very happy last night."
Madge would have liked to bounce up and down in her chair, like an
impatient child. Only her age restrained her. Why didn't this man tell
her the thing he was trying to say? What made him hesitate so long?
"Yes, yes," she returned impatiently, "but do you know whether my father
is alive now? That is the only thing I care about."
Madge gripped both arms of her chair to control herself. She was
trembling so that she felt that she must be having a chill, though it was
a warm summer day, for the stranger had risen and was coming toward her,
his face white and haggard. Then, as he advanced into the brighter light
of the room, Madge saw that his eyes were very blue.
"Your father isn't dead," the man replied quietly. "He is here in this
very house, and he cares for you more than all the world in spite of his
long silence!"
The little captain sprang to her feet, her face flaming. "Captain Jules!
_He_ is my father? He seemed so old that I didn't realize it. Yet he has
said so many things to me that might have made me guess he knew
everything in the world about me. Oh, where is he? My own, own Captain
Jules?"
The stranger, whose arms had been outstretched toward Madge, let them
fall at his sides, but Madge had no eyes for him. Captain Jules had
entered the room and she had flung herself straight into his kindly
arms.
So, after all, it was Captain Jules Fontaine who had to make it clear to
Madge that he was not her father, but her father's lifelong and devoted
friend. The captain told Madge the story while he held both her cold
hands in his big, rough ones, and the man who was her own father sat
watching and waiting for her verdict.
Jules Fontaine had never been captain of anything but a sailing schooner,
but he had been a gunner's mate on Captain Robert Morton's ship. He alone
knew that Captain Morton had been forced into the fault that he had
committed by order of his admiral. When Captain Morton was dismissed from
the United States Naval Service Jules Fontaine, gunner's mate, had
procured his discharge and followed the fortunes of his captain. The two
men drifted south to the tropics. Every American vessel is equipped with
a diving outfit, and some of the men are taught to go down under the
water to examine the bottoms of the boats. Jules Fontaine liked the
business of diving. When the two men found themselves in a strange land,
without any occupations, Captain Jules joined his fortunes with the pearl
divers and for many years followed their perilous trade.
Captain Morton had a harder time to get along, but after a while he
studied foreign languages and began to translate books. Five years before
the two men had come back to the United States. Since that time Captain
Morton had tried to follow every movement of his daughter. Captain Jules
wanted his friend to make himself known to his own people, but Robert
Morton feared that they would never forgive his long silence or his early
disgrace. He believed that Madge would be happier without knowledge of
him. It was her own longing for her father, reported by Captain Jules,
that had impelled Robert Morton at last to reveal himself to her.
Madge could not comprehend all of this at once. She did not even try to
do so. She realized only that, after being without any parents, she had
suddenly come into two fathers at the same time, her own father and
Captain Jules, who was her more than foster father.
With a low, glad cry she went swiftly across the room. She did not try to
think or to ask questions at that moment about the past, she only flung
her young arms about her father's neck in a long embrace, feeling that at
last she had some one in the world who was her very own.
While Madge, her father, and Captain Jules were trying to see how they
could bear the miracle and shock of their great happiness, a small, dark
object darted into the room and planted its claws in Madge's hair. It
pulled and chattered with all its might.
[Illustration: "I am Going to Keep House for You at 'The Anchorage.'"]
The little captain laughed with the tears in her eyes. "It's that
good-for-nothing monkey!" she exclaimed as she disentangled the
creature's tiny hands. Then she kissed her father and afterwards Captain
Jules. "Now I know why this monkey is called Madge, and I am sorry to
have such a jealous, bad-tempered namesake."
The captain scolded the monkey gently. "Don't you fret about this
particular namesake. If you only knew all the others you have had! Every
single pet that two lonely old men could get to stay around the house
with them we have named for you."
Captain Morton did not go back to the houseboat with his daughter. Madge
thought she would rather tell her friends of her great happiness alone.
She wouldn't even let Captain Jules escort her. "You'll both have plenty
of my society after a while," she argued, "for I am going to come to keep
house for you at 'The Anchorage' some day."
Madge rowed slowly back to the "Merry Maid." She was thinking over what
she would say to Miss Jennie Ann and the girls. How should she announce
to them that her quest was ended, her victory over Fate won?
As she neared the houseboat she saw that her companions were gathered on
deck, evidently watching for her. Madge rested on her oars and waved one
hand to them. Four hands waved promptly back to her. A moment more and
she had come alongside the "Merry Maid." As she clambered on deck she
cast a swift upward glance at her friends, who, with one accord, were
looking down on her, their faces full of loving concern.
With a little cry of rapture Madge threw herself into Miss Jenny Ann's
arms. "O, my dear!" she cried, "I've found him! I've found my father!"
And it was with her faithful mates' arms around her that Madge told the
strange story of how her quest had ended in the little sitting room of
"The Anchorage."