COWARDS BOTH.
If human nature could be as thoroughly ashamed of its misdeeds as it
sometimes is of doings entirely to its credit, the world would be much
the better for it.
Kate Trewman was very sure, after her interview with Trif, Fenie and
Trixy, that she had never done or said anything the night before that
was not entirely womanly and honest, but the mere thought of meeting
Jermyn face to face in broad daylight made her tremble as abjectly as
if she were a criminal and Jermyn an officer of the law. She determined
to keep her room all day; when dusk came she would go down to the
piazza with Trif and Fenie, and then if Jermyn joined them, as she
ardently hoped he would, he could not see in her face all that she felt
her heart was putting there.
By a coincidence, not entirely odd, Jermyn was feeling very like Kate.
He felt that he had acted hastily, although he could not see what
else there was for a gentleman to do in the circumstances into which
that dreadful Trixy had forced him. Fortunately the duties of the
section-room would absorb him for some hours, but afterwards--what? It
had been his custom for two years to spend an hour or two each day at
the hotel, chatting with old acquaintances and forming new ones, but he
could not trust himself to-day.
He recalled some romantic affairs of his earlier days, and the
embarrassment of some meetings, and he persuaded himself that it
was entirely for Kate's sake that he did not wish to encounter her
suddenly that morning. But what could he do? Ha! He had it. He would
run up to Norfolk and be measured for the new uniform which he had
long been promising himself. The general commanding the department
was soon to make his annual official visit to the fort; there would
be an inspection and parade which should, if possible, exceed any of
the weekly affairs, and if the Trewmans remained until that time, as
he hoped they might, he would like to appear to the best possible
advantage before the one woman in the world.
The Norfolk boat chanced to be very slow that morning, and as the
weather was quite warm Jermyn made his way as far forward as possible
to get the air. Most of the other passengers had done likewise, but
Jermyn found a vacant chair near some brother officers and made haste
to take it. Two or three minutes later he saw, seated very near him,
and reading as industriously as if her book were the most interesting
in the world, Kate Trewman. Kate well knew who was seated near her, but
she could not help looking shyly toward him.
"What a delightful surprise!" said Jermyn, bravely, as he moved his
chair toward Kate's.
"Very kind of you," Kate murmured. "I had some shopping to do, and as
my brother has already made me acquainted with some of the business
streets, and as I could not persuade him to accompany me, I ventured
alone. The truth is, I promised Trixy Highwood some dolls before I
left New York, and she reminded me of them yesterday, and I think 'tis
dreadfully cruel to disappoint a child--don't you?"
"Indeed I do, when the child chances to be so interesting as Trixy."
Jermyn cudgelled his wits a moment before continuing: "May I ask
whether you know the ways of Norfolk shops? Some of the dealers regard
Northern people as specially desirable prey, but there are others who
make special concessions to us people of the fort. Won't you let me
make you acquainted with some of them? After that, you may banish me
when you will."
"You are very kind. Oh, Mr. Jermyn, weren't these waters the scene of
that wonderful fight between the Merrimac and the Monitor?"
Jermyn immediately began the story of the historic naval engagement,
and that Kate might see the localities more clearly he borrowed a glass
from the pilot, and he begged permission to steady Kate's arm while she
used the glass--the old boat trembled so provokingly, he said, and Kate
herself admitted that she never had been on a boat whose deck was more
unsteady, so Jermyn continued to assist her until nothing remained to
be seen but the docks of Norfolk. Then he escorted her to two or three
shops, making every possible excuse to remain with her. Finally, he
said:
"Would you mind my remaining with you while you select those dolls? I
used to have to buy such things, when my sisters were younger, and it
would give me great pleasure to recall the sensation."
Kate could not refuse a request made in such terms, so the couple were
soon having much amusement in discussing the utterly inhuman features
which manufacturers succeed in imposing upon dolls. The selection
consumed much time; meanwhile there came into the shop an officer's
wife, newly arrived at the fort, who asked Jermyn if he might be going
to the navy-yard, across the river, for she had come from an interior
town where naval vessels never had been seen, and she did long to look
at some, if only for a moment or two, and Jermyn said he would be
delighted to escort her to and through the yard, where he knew every
one, and he asked Kate whether she would not accompany them?
Kate did not say "No"; she was by that time in a frame of mind which
would have made her equal to tramping through mud for the sake of
having Jermyn beside her. While at the yard, she noted with delight
the heartiness with which all the naval officers greeted Jermyn. Trif
had whispered to her, only a few hours before, that she herself had
once been almost in love with Jermyn, and that she still believed no
other bachelor alive was his equal, but Kate had been a woman long
enough to attach more importance to men's opinions of men than to
women's. Luncheon was served for the party on one of the war vessels,
and each lady was toasted, and Kate noted that when her own name was
given, Jermyn drained his glass with a look at her which made her feel
uncomfortable yet happy.
The party returned to Old Point by a boat which did not reach the pier
until after dark, and as the officer's wife had never before been in
Norfolk alone her husband was at the pier, in much anxiety, to look for
her, and escort her home, and the pier was so covered with freight that
Jermyn thought it his duty to insist that Kate should take his arm,
which he held very closely to his side without any remonstrance from
the owner, and then he insisted upon finding her brother or Trif before
he left her.
"'Tis all right," whispered Trif to Fenie, as she saw them approaching.
"About the dolls?" asked Trixy, anxiously. "Do you think them's in the
bundle that he's carryin'?"
"No, you silly child!" said Fenie. "Your mother means----"
Fenie received a warning pinch, but it was too late, for the child
exclaimed: "Oh, I know!" and made a sudden dash in the direction of
the approaching couple. Trif snatched at Trixy's dress; there was a
ripping, tearing sound, and away went the child, while behind her
floated something like a train.
"Oh, I'm so glad!" she exclaimed, stopping before Jermyn and Kate so
suddenly as to separate them.
"Yes," said Kate. "Here are the dolls, dear."
"I'm awful glad to get 'em; my, what a big bundle! But that wasn't what
I meant."
"What else?" asked Kate, in entire innocence.
"Why, that you're bein' nice to Mr. Jermyn. Mamma and Aunt Fee
have been talkin' about you all day, and hopin' you wouldn't be a
fool--that's what they said; I never say such things about a lady--no
indeed! Say, you're engaged, aren't you? 'Cause----"
"Take the package to your mother, Trixy, and let her open it for you,"
said Jermyn quickly. "Miss Trewman, please don't hurry away; do take my
arm again, just for a moment; thank you. I merely wished to say--shall
we walk a moment?--to say that our friends seem to take unusual
interest in us; interest of a kind which I'm sure neither of us has
said a word to justify."
"Not a word, I'm sure," assented Kate.
"But I can't endure," continued Jermyn rapidly, "to risk, merely
through the prattle of a child, the most delightful friendship I ever
made. Last night I said to you--but why repeat it? I've no right to
expect you to endure any annoyance, for my sake, but if you chance to
like me as much as last night you let me think you do, can't we afford
to make light of such chatter as that provoking child may inflict upon
us? Good men are plentiful--better men than I; but to me there is only
one woman in all the world, and I can't bear the thought of giving
up hope of her until she herself commands me. I assure you that I am
entirely in earnest."
"I couldn't suspect you of flirting," said Kate, softly.
"Thank you," said Jermyn, pressing closely to his side the little hand
which was trembling on his arm. "I won't ask you for any promises,
except that you will allow yourself to become well acquainted with me.
You are with friends who love you dearly, and one of them knows me of
old. There can be nothing to cause embarrassment between us, except----"
"Except Trixy?" interrupted Kate, with a silvery laugh.
"Bless you for laughing about it!" said Jermyn, earnestly. "If you can
continue to do so, then----"
"One can get accustomed to almost anything," said Kate, with another
laugh, although why she laughed she was sure she did not know.
"If 'can' could mean 'will,' and if I could be 'anything'--" said
Jermyn. He did not complete the sentence, so Kate looked shyly up at
him. They had walked so far that they were beyond the lights of the
hotel, but the girl could see that her companion's face, always strong
and earnest, seemed intently fixed upon something far ahead. They had
walked all the way to the little lighthouse, and just beyond it, and
there are few darker places than the base of a lighthouse. The darkness
gave Kate courage, so she whispered:
"It shall mean 'will,' if you wish it so."
"Heaven bless you!" Then--what strange influences there are in
darkness!--Jermyn threw his arms about Kate and kissed her.
Some student of love has said that kisses gain force by delay. Jermyn's
was the first kiss Kate Trewman had ever received from a man who
professed to love her, so between astonishment and many other things
which she did not understand and could not have called up and thought
about at the time had her life depended upon it, she did not resist the
kiss nor the several that followed it.
"My angel!" said Jermyn. "You will be my wife?"
"How can I help it?" asked Kate, softly, "after--after what has
happened?"
"Hurrah!" sounded a child's voice behind them.
"Trixy!"
"I didn't mean to do nothin'," the child explained. "I was just walkin'
along behind you, 'cause you both looked so splendid, and walked so
nice together, but when you kissed each other----"
"Trixy!" exclaimed Kate, "I did nothing of the sort!"
"Didn't you? Then I don't think you was very polite."