I
As soon as the sun rose out of the sea its light streamed through a
white-curtained casement window into the whitest and most spotless room
you can imagine. It shone upon two little white beds, separated by the
width of the floor covered with straw-coloured matting; on white
garments neatly folded which lay on white chairs by the side of each
bed; on a white enamelled bedroom suite; on the one picture (over the
mantel-piece) which adorned the white walls, the enlarged photograph of
a white-whiskered, elderly gentleman in naval uniform; and on the
white, placid faces of the sleepers.
It awakened Miss Ursula Widdington, who sat up in bed, greeted it with
a smile, and forthwith aroused her sister.
"Janet, here's the sun."
Miss Widdington awoke and smiled too.
Now to awake at daybreak with a smile and a childlike delight at the
sun when you are over forty-five is a sign of an unruffled conscience
and a sweet disposition.
"The first glimpse of it for a week," said Miss Widdington.
"Isn't it strange," said Miss Ursula, "that when we went to sleep the
storm was still raging?"
"And now--the sea hasn't gone down yet. Listen."
"The tide's coming in. Let us go out and look at it," cried Miss
Ursula, delicately getting out of bed.
"You're so impulsive, Ursula," said Miss Widdington.
She was forty-eight, and three years older than her sister. She could,
therefore, smile indulgently at the impetuosity of youth. But she rose
and dressed, and presently the two ladies stole out of the silent house.
They had lived there for many years, perched away on top of a
projecting cliff on the Cornish coast, midway between sea and sky, like
two fairy princesses in an enchanted bit of the world's end, who had
grown grey with waiting for the prince who never came. Theirs was the
only house on the wind-swept height. Below in the bay on the right of
their small headland nestled the tiny fishing village of Trevannic;
below, sheer down to the left, lay a little sandy cove, accessible
farther on by a narrow gorge that split the majestic stretch of
bastioned cliffs. To that little stone weatherbeaten house their
father, the white-whiskered gentleman of the portrait, had brought them
quite young when he had retired from the navy with a pension and a
grievance--an ungrateful country had not made him an admiral--and
there, after his death, they had continued to lead their remote and
gentle lives, untouched by the happenings of the great world.
The salt-laden wind buffeted them, dashed strands of hair stingingly
across their faces and swirled their skirts around them as they leaned
over the stout stone parapet their father had built along the edge of
the cliff, and drank in the beauty of the morning. The eastern sky was
clear of clouds and the eastern sea tossed a fierce silver under the
sun and gradually deepened into frosted green, which changed in the
west into the deep ocean blue; and the Atlantic heaved and sobbed after
its turmoil of the day before. Miss Ursula pointed to the gilt-edged
clouds in the west and likened them to angels' thrones, which was a
pretty conceit. Miss Widdington derived a suggestion of Pentecostal
flames from the golden flashes of the sea-gulls' wings. Then she
referred to the appetite they would have for breakfast. To this last
observation Miss Ursula did not reply, as she was leaning over the
parapet intent on something in the cove below. Presently she clutched
her sister's arm.
"Janet, look down there--that black thing--what is it?"
Miss Widdington's gaze followed the pointing finger.
At the foot of the rocks that edged the gorge sprawled a thing
checkered black and white.
"I do believe it's a man!"
"A drowned man! Oh, poor fellow! Oh, Janet, how dreadful!"
She turned brown, compassionate eyes on her sister, who continued to
peer keenly at the helpless figure below.
"Do you think he's dead, Janet?"
"The sensible thing would be to go down and see," replied Miss
Widdington.
It was by no means the first dead man cast up by the waves that they
had stumbled upon during their long sojourn on this wild coast, where
wrecks and founderings and loss of men's lives at sea were commonplace
happenings. They were dealing with the sadly familiar; and though
their gentle hearts throbbed hard as they made for the gorge and sped
quickly down the ragged, rocky path, they set about their task as a
matter of course.
Miss Ursula reached the sand first, and walked over to the body which
lay on a low shelf of rock. Then she turned with a glad cry.
"Janet. He's alive. He's moaning. Come quickly." And, as Janet
joined her: "Did you ever see such a beautiful face in your life?"
"We should have brought some brandy," said Miss Widdington.
But, as she bent over the unconscious form, a foolish moisture gathered
in her eyes which had nothing to do with forgetfulness of alcohol. For
indeed there lay sprawling anyhow in catlike grace beneath them the
most romantic figure of a youth that the sight of maiden ladies ever
rested on. He had long black hair, a perfectly chiselled face, a
preposterously feminine mouth which, partly open, showed white young
teeth, and the most delicate, long-fingered hands in the world. Miss
Ursula murmured that he was like a young Greek god. Miss Widdington
sighed. The fellow was ridiculous. He was also dank with sea water,
and moaned as if he were in pain. But as gazing wrapt in wonder and
admiration at young Greek gods is not much good to them when they are
half-drowned, Miss Widdington despatched her sister in search of help.
"The tide is still low enough for you to get round the cliff to the
village. Mrs. Pendered will give you some brandy, and her husband and
Luke will bring a stretcher. You might also send Joe Gullow on his
bicycle for Dr. Mead."
Miss Widdington, as behoved one who has the charge of an orphaned
younger sister, did not allow the sentimental to weaken the practical.
Miss Ursula, though she would have preferred to stay by the side of the
beautiful youth, was docile, and went forthwith on her errand. Miss
Widdington, left alone with him, rolled up her jacket and pillowed his
head on it, brought his limbs into an attitude suggestive of comfort,
and tried by chafing to restore him to animation. Being unsuccessful
in this, she at last desisted, and sat on the rocks near by and
wondered who on earth he was and where in the world he came from. His
garments consisted in a nondescript pair of trousers and a flannel
shirt with a collar, which was fastened at the neck, not by button or
stud, but by a tasselled cord; and he was barefoot. Miss Widdington
glanced modestly at his feet, which were shapely; and the soles were
soft and pink like the palms of his hands. Now, had he been the
coarsest and most callosity-stricken shell-back half-alive, Janet
Widdington would have tended him with the same devotion; but the
lingering though unoffending Eve in her rejoiced that hands and feet
betokened gentler avocations than that of sailor or fisherman. And
why? Heaven knows, save that the stranded creature had a pretty face
and that his long black hair was flung over his forehead in a most
interesting manner. She wished he would open his eyes. But as he kept
them shut and gave no sign of returning consciousness, she sat there
waiting patiently; in front of her the rough, sun-kissed Atlantic, at
her feet the semicircular patch of golden sand, behind her the sheer
white cliffs, and by her side on the slab of rock this good-looking
piece of jetsam.
At length Miss Ursula appeared round the corner of the headland,
followed by Jan Pendered and his son Luke carrying a stretcher. While
Miss Widdington administered brandy without any obvious result, the men
looked at the castaway, scratched their heads, and guessed him to be a
foreigner; but how he managed to be there alone with never a bit of
wreckage to supply a clue surpassed their powers of imagination. In
lifting him the right foot hung down through the trouser-leg, and his
ankle was seen to be horribly black and swollen. Old Jan examined it
carefully.
"Broken," said he.
"Oh, poor boy, that's why he's moaning so," cried the compassionate
Miss Ursula.
The men grasped the handles of the stretcher.
"I'd better take him home to my old woman," said Jan Pendered
thoughtfully.
"He can have my bed, father," said Luke.
Miss Widdington looked at Miss Ursula and Miss Ursula looked at Miss
Widdington, and the eyes of each lady were wistful. Then Miss
Widdington spoke.
"You can carry him up to the house, Pendered. We have a comfortable
spare room, and Dorcas will help us to look after him."
The men obeyed, for in Trevannic Miss Widdington's gentle word was law.