"I thought perhaps I could worry Jimmy. But he doesn't worry much." We
were at the head of the steps. "Well, good-bye, hard heart, spurning the
beggar from your door. I hope your conscience will give you no rest."
Eve laughed again, and Tidda piped up a good-bye, and Bobby turned back.
And, by the time we had reached the bottom of the steps, Old Goodwin had
caught us, and had taken Tidda's hand.
"I thought I'd better come, Adam," he said, "and see about the
emplacement for that gun."
So we wandered down to the bank, where the sod breaks off to the sand,
and we lingered there, saying nothing and watching the sun get lower.
And the day, that had been as warm as summer, grew somewhat chill as
the sun sank nearer to the bearded hills, and our daughter was restless
and wanted to go home. So we wended along the shore, and Old Goodwin
left us, and we went up the steep path that leads to my bluff, and there
we found Ogilvie under my pine, standing silent and looking out over the
harbor to the west.
Ogilvie was modest and unassuming and pleasant. He spoke when he was
spoken to, and sometimes when he was not, but he did not volunteer
anything about himself, although he was very ready to answer questions.
Eve succeeded in finding out something about him without seeming to try.
He went down to Newport about the first of April. Naturally enough, he
seemed a little disappointed that the authorities at Newport had not
seemed to be ready for him, and that his preparation had been largely a
waste of time. He had been four days on a watch boat, guarding Newport
harbor, piloting vessels in through the nets, and incidentally, one very
thick night, carrying away the mooring buoys of one of the nets; then he
had been put on police duty in Newport, running in drunken sailors, or
just walking back and forth on his beat, trying to keep awake. Then
there had been more drill, and he had been transferred to the
Rattlesnake.
Then we talked of books, the theatre, and gardening, in which he had had
experience. My heart warmed to him, and we discussed corn and melons and
asparagus and peas and beans and squashes and cucumbers and chard and
okra and such like for more than an hour. From them we progressed to
more intimate things, when suddenly a noise started just outside the
window, and he rose with a smile, saying that it was a noise of Jimmy
and Bobby singing "Poor Butterfly," and he supposed it meant that he
must go. And he thanked us very nicely, and went out into the night. I
went with him and asked them in, but they assured me that I was an
ungrateful wretch, and they would have nothing to do with me and my
invitation.
So they went off down my steep path to the shore, still singing "Poor
Butterfly," I suppose, although I am unfamiliar with modern classics.
And Eve came out and joined me, and we heard them going along the
shore, stumbling over great pebbles, and the poor butterfly fluttering
off into the distance. And when we could hear no more of it we went in,
and I shut the door as softly as I could, but the sound of its shutting
went booming through the house; and I smiled as I blew out the candles,
and I was smiling still as Eve took my hand in hers and we mounted the
stairs together.