Volume 1, Chapter I.
"IN THE WEST COUNTREE."
"Take care, Mr Luke Vine, sir. There's a big one coming."
The thin, little, sharp-featured, grey-haired man on a rock looked
sharply round, saw the big one coming, stooped, picked up a large
basket, and, fishing-rod in hand, stepped back and climbed up a few
feet, just as a heavy swell, which seemed to glide along rapidly over
the otherwise calm sea, heaved, flooded the rock on which he had been
standing, ran right up so high as to bathe his feet, then sank back in a
series of glittering falls which sparkled in the glorious sunshine:
there was a hissing and sighing and sucking noise among the rocks, and
the wave passed on along the rugged coast, leaving the sea calm and
bright once more.
"Many a poor lad's been took like that, Mr Luke, sir," said the
speaker, "and never heard of again. Why, if I hadn't called out, it
would have took you off your legs, and the current's so strong here
you'd have been swept away."
"And there'd been an end of me, Polly, and nobody a bit the worse, eh?"
The last speaker seemed to fill his sharp, pale face full of tiny
wrinkles, and reduced his eyes to mere slits, as he looked keenly at the
big robust woman at his side. She was about fifty, but with her black
hair as free from grey as that of a girl, her dark eyes bright, and her
sun-tanned face ruddy with health, as she bent forward with a great
fish-basket supported on her back by means of a broad leather strap
passed over her print sun-bonnet and across her forehead.
"Nobody the worse, Mr Luke, sir?" cried the woman. "What a shame to
talk like that! You arn't no wife, nor no child, but there's Miss
Louise."
"Louisa, woman, Louisa," said the fisher sharply.
"Well, Louisa, sir. I only want to be right; but it was only yes'day as
old Miss Vine, as stood by when I was selling her some hake, shook her
finger at me and said I was to say Miss Louise."
"Humph! Never mind what my sister says. Christened Louisa.--That ought
to fetch 'em."
"Yes, sir; that ought to fetch 'em," said the woman in a sing-song way,
as the elderly man gave the glistening bait at the end of his running
line a deft swing and sent it far out into the bright sea. "I've seen
the water boiling sometimes out there with the bass leaping and playing.
What, haven't you caught none, sir?"
"No, Polly, not one; so just be off about your business, and don't worry
me with your chatter."
"Oh, I'm a-going, sir," said the woman good-humouredly; "only I see you
a-fishing, and said to myself, `Maybe Mr Luke Vine's ketched more than
he wants, and he'd like to sell me some of 'em for my customers.'"
"And I haven't seen a bass this morning, so be off."
"Toe be sure, Mr Luke Vine, sir; and when are you going to let me come
up and give your place a good clean? I says to my 'Liza up at your
brother's, sir, only yes'day--"
"Look here, Polly Perrow," cried the fisher viciously, "will you go, or
must I?"
"Don't be criss-cross, sir, I'm going," said the woman, giving her
basket a hitch. "Here's Miss Louise--isa--coming down the rocks with
Miss Madlin."
"Hang her confounded chatter!" snarled the fisher, as he drew out his
bait, unwound some more line, and made another throw, "bad as those
wretched stamps."
He cast an angry glance up at the mining works high on the cliff-side,
whose chimney-shaft ran along the sloping ground till it reared itself
in air on the very top of the hill, where in constant repetition the
iron-shod piles rose and fell, crushing the broken ore to powder. "A
man might have thought he'd be free here from a woman's tongue."
He gave another glance behind him, along the rocky point which jutted
out several hundred yards, and formed a natural breakwater to the
estuary, which ran, rock-sheltered, right up into the land, and on
either side of which were built rugged flights of natural steps, from
the bright water's edge to where, five hundred feet above, the grey
wind-swept masses of granite looked jagged against the sky.
Then he watched his great painted float, as it ran here and there in the
eddies of the tremendous Atlantic currents which swept along by the
point. The sea sparkled, the sun shone, and the grey gulls floated
above the deep blue transparent water, uttering a querulous cry from
time to time, and then dipping down at the small shoals of fry which
played upon the surface.
Far away seaward a huge vessel was going west, leaving behind a trail of
smoke; on his right a white-sailed yacht or two glistened in the sun.
In another direction, scattered here and there, brown-sailed luggers
were passing slowly along; while behind the fisher lay the picturesque
straggling old town known as East and West Hakemouth, with the estuary
of the little river pretty well filled with craft, from the fishing
luggers and trawlers up to the good-sized schooners and brigs which
traded round the coast or adventured across the Bay of Storms, by Spain
and through the Straits, laden with cargoes of pilchards for the Italian
ports.
"Missed him," grumbled the fisher, withdrawing his line to re-bait with
a pearly strip of mackerel. "Humph! now I'm to be worried by those
chattering girls."
The worry was very close at hand, for directly after, balancing
themselves on the rough rocks, and leaping from mass to mass, came two
bright-looking girls of about twenty, their faces flushed by exercise,
and more than slightly tanned by the strong air that blows health-laden
from the Atlantic.
As so often happens in real life as well as in fiction, the companions
were dark and fair; and as they came laughing and talking, full of
animation, looking a couple of as bonny-looking English maidens as the
West Country could produce, their aspect warranted, in reply to the
greetings of "Ah, Uncle Luke!"
"Ah, Mr Vine!" something a little more courteous than--
"Well, Nuisance?" addressed with a short nod to the dark girl in white
serge, and "Do, Madelaine?" to the fair girl in blue.
The gruffness of the greeting seemed to be taken as a matter of course,
for the girls seated themselves directly on convenient masses of rock,
and busied themselves in the governance of sundry errant strands of hair
which were playing in the breeze.
The elderly fisher watched them furtively, and his sour face seemed a
little less grim, and as if there was something after all pleasant to
look upon in the bright youthful countenances before him.
"Well, uncle, how many fish?" said the dark girl.
"Bah! and don't chatter, or I shall get none at all. How's dad?"
"Quite well. He's out here somewhere."
"Dabbling?"
"Yes."
The girl took off her soft yachting cap, and fanned her face; then
ceased, and half closing her eyes and throwing back her head, let her
red lips part slightly as she breathed in full draughts of the soft
western breeze.
"If he ever gives her a moment's pain," said the old man to himself, as
he jerked a look up at the mining works, "I'll kill him." Then, turning
sharply to the fair girl, he said aloud--"Well, Madelaine, how's the
_bon pere_?"
"Quite well, and very busy seeing to the lading of the _Corunna_" said
the girl with animation.
"Humph! Old stupid. Worrying himself to death money-grubbing. Here,
Louie, when's that boy going back to his place?"
"To-morrow, uncle."
"Good job too. What did he want with a holiday? Never did a day's work
in his life. Here! Hold her, Louie. She's going to peck," he added in
mock alarm, and with a cynical sneering laugh, as he saw his niece's
companion colour slightly, and compress her lips.
"Well, it's too bad of you, uncle. You are always finding fault about
Harry."
"Say Henri, pray, my child, and with a good strong French accent," cried
the old man, with mock remonstrance. "What would Aunt Marguerite say?"
"Aunt Margaret isn't here, uncle," cried the girl merrily; "and it's of
no use for you to grumble and say sour things, because we know you by
heart, and we don't believe in you a bit."
"No," said the fisherman grimly, "only hate me like poison, for a sour
old crab. Never gave me a kiss when you came."
"How could I, without getting wet?" said the girl, with a glance at the
tiny rock island on which the fisher stood.
"Humph! Going back to-morrow, eh? Good job too. Why, he has been a
whole half-year in his post."
"Yes, uncle, a whole half-year!"
"And never stayed two months before at any of the excellent situations
your father and I worried ourselves and our friends to death to get for
him."
"Now, uncle--"
"A lazy, thoughtless, good-for-nothing young vag--There, hold her again,
Louie. She's going to peck."
"And you deserve it, uncle," cried the girl, with a smile at her
companion, in whose eyes the indignant tears were rising.
"What! for speaking the truth, and trying to let that foolish girl see
my lord in his right colours?"
"Harry's a good affectionate brother, and I love him very dearly," said
Louise, firmly; "and he's your brother's son, uncle, and in your heart
you love him too, and you're proud of him as proud can be."
"You're a silly young goose, and as feather-brained as he is. Proud of
him? Bah! I wish he'd enlist for a soldier, and get shot."
"For shame, uncle!" cried Louise indignantly; and her face flushed too
as she caught and held her companion's hand.
"Yes. For shame! It's all your aunt's doing, stuffing the boy's head
full of fantastic foolery about his descent, and the disgrace of trade.
And now I am speaking, look here," he cried, turning sharply on the fair
girl, and holding his rod over her as if it were a huge stick which he
was about to use. "Do you hear, Madelaine?"
"I'm listening, Mr Vine," said the girl, coldly.
"I've known you ever since you were two months old, and your silly
mother must insist upon my taking hold of you--you miserable little bit
of pink putty, as you were then, and fooled me into being godfather.
How I could be such an ass, I don't know--but I am, and I gave you that
silver cup, and I've wanted it back ever since."
"Oh, uncle, what a wicked story!" cried Louise, laughing.
"It's quite true, miss. Dead waste of money. It has never been used,
I'll swear."
"No, Mr Vine, never," said Madelaine, smiling now.
"Ah, you need not show your teeth at me because you're so proud they're
white. Lots of the fisher-girls have got better. That's right, shut
your lips up, and listen. What I've got to say is this: if I see any
more of that nonsense there'll be an explosion."
"I don't know what you mean," said Madelaine, colouring more deeply.
"Yes you do, miss. I saw Harry put his arm round your waist, and I
won't have it. What's your father thinking about? Why, that boy's no
more fit to be your husband than that great, ugly, long, brown-bearded
Scotchman who poisons the air with his copper-mine, is to be Louie's."
"Uncle, you are beyond bearing to-day."
"Am I? Well then, be off. But you mind, Miss Maddy, I won't have it.
You'll be silly enough to marry some day, but when you do, you shall
marry a man, not a feather-headed young ass, with no more brains than
that bass. Ah, I've got you this time, have I?"
He had thrown in again, and this time struck and hooked a large fish,
whose struggles he watched with grim satisfaction, till he drew it
gasping and quivering on to the rock--a fine bass, whose silver sides
glistened like those of a salmon, and whose sharp back fin stood up
ready to cut the unwitting hand.
"Bad for him, Louie," said the old man with a laugh; "but one must have
dinners, eh? What a countenance!" he continued, holding up his fish;
"puts me in mind of that fellow you have up at the house--what's his
name, Priddle, Fiddle?"
"Pradelle, uncle."
"Ah, Pradelle. Of course he's going back too."
"Yes, uncle."
"Don't like him," continued Uncle Luke, re-baiting quickly and throwing
out; "that fellow has got scoundrel written in his face."
"For shame! Mr Vine," said Madelaine, laughing. "Mr Pradelle is very
gentlemanly and pleasant."
"Good-looking scoundrels always are, my dear. But he don't want you. I
watched him. Going to throw over the Scotchman and take to Miss Louie?"
"Uncle, you've got a bite," said the girl coolly.
"Eh? So I have. Got him, too," said the old man, striking and playing
his fish just as if he were angling in fresh water. "Thumper."
"What pleasure can it give you to say such unpleasant things, uncle?"
continued the girl.
"Truths always are unpleasant," said the old man, laughing. "Don't
bother me, there's a shoal off the point now, and I shall get some
fish."
"Why, you have all you want now, uncle."
"Rubbish! Shall get a few shillings' worth to sell Mother Perrow."
"Poor Uncle Luke!" said the girl with mock solemnity; "obliged to fish
for his living."
"Better than idling and doing nothing. I like to do it, and--There he
is again. Don't talk."
He hooked and landed another fine bass from the shoal which had come up
with the tide that ran like a millstream off the point, when as he
placed the fish in the basket he raised his eyes.
"Yah! Go back and look after your men. I thought that would be it.
Maddy, look at her cheeks."
"Oh, uncle, if I did not know you to be the best and dearest of--"
"Tchah! Carney!" he cried, screwing up his face. "Look here, I want to
catch a few fish and make a little money, so if that long Scot is coming
courting, take him somewhere else. Be off!"
"If Mr Duncan Leslie is coming to say good-day, uncle, I see no reason
why he should not say it here," said Louise, calmly enough now, and with
the slight flush which had suffused her cheeks fading out.
"Good-day! A great tall sheepish noodle who don't know when he's well
off," grumbled the fisher, throwing out once more as a tall
gentlemanly-looking young fellow of about eight-and-twenty stepped
actively from rock to rock till he had joined the group, raising his
soft tweed hat to the ladies and shaking hands.
"What a lovely morning!" he said eagerly. "I saw you come down. Much
sport, Mr Vine?" he added, as he held out his hand.
"No," said Uncle Luke, nodding and holding tightly on to his rod.
"Hands full. Can't you see?"
"Oh, yes, I see. One at you now."
"Thankye. Think I couldn't see?" said the old man, striking and missing
his fish. "Very kind of you to come and see how I was getting on."
"But I didn't," said the new-comer, smiling. "I knew you didn't want
me."
"Here, Louie, make a note of that," said Uncle Luke, sharply. "The
Scotch are not so dense as they pretend they are."
"Uncle!"
"Oh, pray don't interpose, Miss Vine. Your uncle and I often have a
passage of arms together."
"Well, say what you've got to say, and then go back to your men. Has
the vein failed?"
"No, sir; it grows richer every day."
"Sorry for it. I suppose you'll be burrowing under my cottage and
burying me one of these days before my time?"
"Don't be alarmed, sir."
"I'm not," growled Uncle Luke.
"Uncle is cross, because he is catching more fish than he wants this
morning," said Louise quietly.
"Hear that, Maddy, my dear?" said the old man, sharply. "Here's a
problem for you:--If my niece's tongue is as keen-edged as that before
she is twenty, what will it be at forty?"
The girl addressed laughed and shook her head.
"Any one would think it would be a warning to any sensible man to keep
his distance."
"Uncle! Pray!" whispered the niece, looking troubled; but the old man
only chuckled and hooked another fish.
"Going to make a fortune out of the old mine, Leslie!" he said.
"Fortune? No, sir. A fair income, I hope."
"Which with prudence and economy--Scottish prudence and economy"--he
added, meaningly, "would keep you when you got to be an old man like me.
Bah!"
He snatched out his line and gave an impatient stamp with his foot.
"What is the matter, uncle?"
"What's the matter? It was bad enough before. Look there!"
Volume 1, Chapter II.