Part 28 (1/2)
”Now what, my child?” asked the sailor.
She shook her head. Her aversion was inexplicable.
”Come, my dear; can't you see that it is your father?” Braine turned to the captain. ”She has been like this for a year. Heaven knows if she'll ever be in her right mind again,” sadly. ”I was giving her an ocean voyage, with the kindest nurses possible, and yet she jumped overboard. Come, Florence.”
The girl wrapped her arms all the tighter around Barnes' neck.
An idea came into the old sailor's head. ”Of course, sir, ye've got proof thet she's your daughter?”
”Proof?” Braine was taken aback.
”Yes; somethin' t' prove that you're her father. I got skinned out of a sloop once because I took a man's word at its face value. Black an'
white, an' on paper, says I, hereafter.”
”But I never thought of such a thing,” protested Braine, beginning to lose his patience. ”I can't risk sending to New York for doc.u.ments.
She is my daughter, and you will find it will not pay to take this peculiar stand.”
”In black an' white, 'r y' can't have her.”
Braine thereupon rushed forward to seize Florence. Barnes swung Florence behind him.
”I guess she'll stay here a leetle longer, sir.”
Time was vital, and this obstinacy made Braine furious.
He reached again for Florence.
”Clear out o' here, 'r show your authority,” growled Barnes.
”She goes with me, or you'll regret it.”
”All right. But I guess th' law won't hurt me none. I'm in my rights.
There's the door, mister.”
”I refuse to go without her!”
Barnes sighed. He was on land a man of peace, but there was a limit to his patience. He seized Braine by the shoulders and hustled him out of the house.
”Bring your proofs, mister, an' nothin' more'll be said; but till y'
bring 'em, keep away from this cottage.”
And, simple-minded sailor that he was, he thought this settled the matter.
That night he kept his ears open for unusual sounds, but he merely wasted his night's rest. Quite naturally, he reckoned that the stranger would make his attempt at night. Indeed, he made it in broad daylight, with Barnes not a hundred yards away, calking a dory whose seams had sprung a leak. Braine had Florence upon the chartered yacht before the old man realized what had happened. He never saw Florence again; but one day, months later, he read all about her in a newspaper.
Florence fought; but she was weak, and so the conquest was easy.
Braine was kind enough, now that he had her safe. He talked to her, but she merely stared at the receding coast.