SUNNY BAY.
In all the wide world, there are lovelier bays than any to be found upon
our eastern coast. But people, whose happiness is only comparative, may
hie them away to superlative places, of Italy, or of the Cannibal
Islands.
But for me, there is no place that need be more lovely, than Sunny Bay,
when there is no sun upon it; except what goes out from the shore into
the sea. A bay in the west takes an unfair advantage--it looks at its
best, when the world is looking at it. While nobody gets up to see the
best time of an easterly bay; or even if he does, he has nobody to
admire it with him. And what use to admire a thing, by oneself?
Yet anything, fit to be called a bay, is so rare upon the weary stretch
of coast, that it must not be looked in the mouth too closely, nor
measured by the red tape of Government survey. If only it have a fairly
carven curve, and two definite points not too far apart, a bay it is to
be thankful for; and one to be proud of, and rejoice in, if there are
hills and trees around it.
Sunny Bay had all of these; and as we drove down the Crowton lane
towards it, I thought I had never seen anything so beautiful, the sea
being gentle, and the sky clear and sweet. Lady Twentifold was pleased
with my delight; for many of her visitors made very little of it.
"It is the prettiest place upon the eastern coast; at least in my humble
opinion," she said, "though I do not pretend to be much of a judge. Roly
makes light of it, after all his travels. But to me the familiar places
are the sweetest; when we think of dear friends, who have seen them with
us."
I looked at her eyes, still as beautiful as ever, and full of the warm
home-love, which gives soft beauty to the simplest things.
"Laura is like her!" I said to myself; "Laura is like her. What more can
be wished; except to share so sweet a heart?"
But the first thing to do was to share the dinner, or luncheon perhaps
is the stricter word, if strict words are needful in a matter where none
was. The carriage was sent away to the Inn at Crowton; for no house here
intruded upon the pleasant meeting of land and sea. The rocks were just
of the proper height, for table, chairs, and footstools, with bright
green fringes, here and there, and mossy banks above the tide, and a
crystal rill for the weaker vessels, and white sand for dainty feet to
tap. To me it appeared, that all was perfect; except my clumsy self,
with hands that trembled, and a heart that beat too fast.
"You are not well, my dear!" Lady Twentifold exclaimed, for she often
addressed me kindly thus, when strangers were not present; chiefly
perhaps from my fancied likeness to the dear child she had lost. "That
canvassing has been too much for you. You are not intended for public
life. I wish Roly would not force you into it so. Now, candidly, which
do you enjoy the most; such a day as yesterday, or a day like this?"
With perfect truth, I answered--"Oh, such a day as this, a million
times! But, I am as well as I can be, and wonderfully happy, I assure
you. May I come, and look for shells with you?"
"To be sure you may. But don't forget your promise to my loves of
burrow-ducks. You had better begin, before the tide comes up. Here are
the flat trowel, and the long flag basket. Mind, the least touch brings
them off, if you take them by surprise. But if you let them know that
you want them, they won't come, without being knocked to pieces. My
little dears were taken from their nest near here. And the scenery they
prefer to everything, is limpets. Now, Laura, if you mean to try another
sketch, I think this corner of the rocks, will be the best place for
you, according to the way the light falls now. Tommy will follow me, I
dare say; as soon as he has done his duty to the little ducks."
This arrangement was not quite the one I should have made, if the
ordering had been left to me. Greatly as I admired, and loved "my dear
lady," I certainly should have sent her shell-hunting; while I stayed in
the corner, where the light fell so nicely, to offer to the nascent work
of art the only criticism that ever is judicious--downright,
thick-and-thin, admiration. However, not being the marshal of the
forces, I made off, with tremendous zeal, to get a stock of limpets.
But, whether the tide was coming in too fast; or whether it was going
out, at a pace to make one anxious about the welfare of the sea; or
whether the limpets took to jumping, like sand-hoppers, carrying their
rocks along with them; or whether there was no strange phenomenon at
all, save the one that is strangest yet surest of all--the result,
(which I am not in a position to explain, even if it concerned any
salaried tide-waiter) was to fetch me very suddenly back to that corner;
with the loves of the burrow-ducks left to woo the waves.
My own love was gazing, and, as I hoped, dreaming, about something that
her pencil could not trace. That little reed of so many whispers, with
the secret of Midas inside it, was lying on her block; and the only line
it made, was its one true production--its own shadow. But who, that ever
moved it, and made it far more eloquent than any poet's tongue, could
have granted to it the expression of the face, now leaning over it?
What sympathy have rocks? Ever since they first began, the chief object
of their life has been to knock human beings (generally on the shins,
and knees) and to petrify them in a cave, at every opportunity, and to
keep them from getting away from the sea, when the poor pulse is being
beaten out of them. Typical are they of all that is stubborn, rugged,
and relentless; and now one of them fetched me a knock on the knee
(while my presence of mind was with Laura) that sent me down into a
gulley of sand, with my limpet-trowel running into me. This was a
pointed steel implement, such as bricklayers use; and my escape was
narrow. A heavy man must have had a very heavy wound, and perhaps a
fatal one; for the handle of the trowel struck the ground before me,
while the steel was pointing at my breast. But Nature has allowed me
some compensation for the short weight unfairly served out to
me,--especially quickness of eye, and of body. In a word, what there is
of me is good stuff--though not much to boast of, as you will remind me.
"Oh, what a fearful thing! What a very dreadful thing! Darling Tommy,
are you quite dead again? You are always doing it, for the good of
others. Oh, put your poor head up, and let me look at you."
"That is not at all the right thing," I answered, after a groan or two,
to ensure attention; "the proper thing is, for me to look at you. And
that is how I got into all this trouble."
"How good of you, Tommy! How very good of you! But do let me see, where
your dreadful wound is. I won't be afraid of it, I promise you I won't;
because you got it all for my sake. You are always getting wounds, for
my sake."
"Of course I am. And why?" As I put this question, I continued to lie in
the pit of my fall; the position being very nice, with Laura added to
it. "Because I am all wounds, and all dead, for you."
"Now, don't be so stupid;" she said, with one arm going under my side,
in a spirit of inquiry, and the other coming very softly round my neck;
to coax me to get up, if I could only find the power. "You know, that
you never are stupid, unless you are stunned, or bewildered, through
your dreadful heroism. Oh, do let me try to get this fearful thing from
under you. I won't cut my hands; and if I do, what can it matter? Very
likely, you are bleeding to death, all this time. Why don't you let me
see, where your terrible wound is?"
"Because, I have only got a little scratch," I answered; "and I feel so
very comfortable, as I am. If you could put your face the very least bit
nearer----"
"Do you think, you could lie quiet, while I go and fetch my mother? She
has so much presence of mind, and she is----"
"How far away?" I asked in an earnest whisper.
"Oh, nearly a mile along the sands, I am afraid."
"Then I'll get up at once, if you will kindly try to help me. Only
promise, that you won't be frightened by a little scratch, dear. It is
nothing but the very smallest trifle, I assure you. I know one thing
that would make it well at once. But there's no such luck for me as
that. Both hands, darling--I may call you that now, mayn't I?"
"Just for the moment, while you are so sad, and helpless. Oh, but it is
a very serious wound! Let me tie it up for you; it is bleeding quite
fast. I know what to do for you. I'll put some laver to it."
The point of the steel had just gashed my chin--a narrow shave for me;
as an inch or two lower would have sent it into my throat, no doubt.
"If you could hold the laver to it, while I run and fetch dear
mother----"
"Not for the world. I want you, and you only. I love your dear mother
very warmly, as you know. But oh, Laura, you can never know, how I love
you!"
"You are taking an unfair advantage of me now;" she whispered, as she
dropped her eyes, but not her hands; "I always thought, that you were
so upright, and manly."
"So I am;" I answered, with my usual candour; "but I don't care how I
sneak, or what I do; if I can only get you to be fond of me."
"What right have you to talk, with your chin in that condition? You will
undo all the good my stupid hands can do you."
She raised her sweet eyes, to reproach me, as she spoke. And behold they
were full of large bright tears!
I only said--"Darling, darling, darling!" each time, if possible, with
greater fervour. And she answered, with a smile--"That is what I like to
be."