Part 17 (1/2)

Joseph drew Annie closer to him, burying his face in her hair. 'Sweetheart, I love you - I love you, come away now, now at once. I can't wait for you no longer.'

'No - Joe, I mustn't. Oh! I can't.'

'Yes.'

'No - don't ask me.'

'Yes - I say.'

'Oh! Joe, how can we? Where would we go? We mustn't.'

'Yes - come away, now, over the water, to my s.h.i.+p. Darling, I can't go on without you - come.'

'Joe, please . . .'

'Annie, my beautiful Annie, I love you, quick, down into the boat waitin' at the steps, and over to the s.h.i.+p.'

Protesting, half afraid, half excited, Annie allowed herself to be pulled away by Joseph from the thick pressing crowd, and handed into the little boat. The water was dark and rough, and the careless wind tossed at her hair and her skirts.

'Joe, let's go back.'

'No, I say. Annie, it's so wonderful, so wonderful.'

The boat shot away into the darkness, over the tumbled harbour water, towards the black s.h.i.+p anch.o.r.ed at the far buoy. Joseph pulled like a madman, his face wet with the spray, his heart thumping, his eyes s.h.i.+ning.

The loose clouds blew away from the sky, showing a misty star. In the middle of the harbour the wind and the tide caught them, carrying them towards the s.h.i.+p as powerfully as a mill stream leads to a waiting weir.

Annie crouched in the stern, her hands and her eyes burning, her knees trembling. What was going to happen, why did she feel so weak and helpless, and yet seized with a queer excitement? Joseph did not care.

The lights of the quay faded away, the music sounded but faintly in the distance.

Oh! you girls, you naughty young girls,

Why don't you try to be good, be good?

From his window Philip Coombe watched the crowd contemptuously. Once he had seen Joseph and Annie hand in hand, and then they had disappeared in the direction of the fair. He drew the curtains close and then went and sat alone by the empty fireplace, with only his thoughts for company.

The little boat in the harbour swung against the side of the s.h.i.+p, and two figures crept up the ladder that was hanging over the side.

'Joe, what have I done - what have I done?' whispered Annie.

Joseph took her face in his hands. The Janet Coombe was deserted save for them. High above his head swayed the riding light. Plyn lay away across the harbour.This was one of Joseph's moments, splendid, triumphant.

He carried her away below to the silent cabin.

Some five days later they were married by licence at Sudmin.

The sudden marriage caused a great upheaval in the Captain's home circle. Joseph moved into his old home, Ivy House, which had stood empty since Thomas's death, for Mary had not wished to remain there alone, and she was now living with Samuel and his family. The services of his twin nieces were of course no longer required.

Christopher was deeply shocked at his father's marriage. He took an instant dislike to Annie, he suspected that she was shallow and foolish for all her prettiness, and was convinced that she would never bring any permanent happiness to his father.

These ridiculous lovers at Ivy House made him feel hot and embarra.s.sed. He spent all the time he could down at the yard pretending he liked his work, and privately determining that sooner or later he would leave Plyn, and seek his fortune elsewhere.

Albert, sick of waiting for the Janet Coombe to sail, s.h.i.+pped in another vessel, and left his father to his fate.

Charles wrote from Africa sending his respects to his stepmother - and Katherine was delighted to have a companion who was something nearer her own age.

Joseph was like one who walks with his head in the sun above the clouds; and his feet on the edge of a precipice.

For six weeks he lived, careless of time and money and everybody but himself and Annie. s.h.i.+ps left harbour and returned again, the full bloom of summer was upon Plyn, but still the Janet Coombe remained at her buoy, forlorn and deserted.

One day towards the beginning of July, d.i.c.k Coombe, now first mate of the family vessel, went up to supper at Ivy House, determined to speak tactfully to his uncle the skipper. He was unmarried himself, and slightly contemptuous of the way his uncle had fallen a victim, allowing himself to be ruled by a petticoat instead of acting Master of his s.h.i.+p.

It was a warm lovely evening, and he found Joseph and Annie seated in their garden.

'Well, nephew, glad to see you,' said Joseph, without looking up. 'Nice sort o' weather, isn't it? Annie an' I have been sittin' here all day, that idle we're almost ashamed of ourselves, ain't we lovie?'

'Oh! Joe, it's been delicious, I'm sure I couldn't have moved a step if I tried,' said Annie, gazing at her husband with swollen eyes of devotion.

Joseph yawned and stretched himself. 'Well, I've got indigestion, I know that. It's a good twenty-mile walk I need, only I can't make the effort. Sit down, d.i.c.k lad, an' smoke, Annie doesn't mind tobacco.'

His nephew obeyed, watching his uncle as he lit his pipe.

He decided at once that Joseph had put on weight; there was a certain loose flabbiness round his neck that had never been there before, and there were pouches under his eyes. His right eye, that d.i.c.k had sometimes suspected worried him on board s.h.i.+p, was bloodshot, and the pupil dilated.

'The Mary Hawkins left this morning at 9 o'clock,' he said quietly, 'bound for the Mediterranean. Freights are firm at the moment, and the stuff's waitin' down there, rotting, for s.h.i.+ps to take it away. Did you see her go? There was a fine breeze, I reckon she'll make a quick pa.s.sage.'

Joseph moved a little uneasily in his chair. 'No,' he said carelessly, 'no, I wasn't up. Matter of fact, I haven't been down the harbour lately. Are the jetties filled?'

'Aye, packed, every one.There's vessels moored down opposite the town, waitin' their turn. I saw Captain Salt s'mornin'. The Hannah Lee all but beat your record pa.s.sage to Bristol, just over a week ago. They're all talkin' of it down in Plyn.'

He was a clever fellow, was d.i.c.k. Joseph roused himself at this bit of news, and looked at his nephew with interest.

'The Hannah Lee?' he said. 'Well, I reckon she must have smartened up a deal since last we raced in company. D'you mind that time we left Plyn together? Why, we beat them five miles from the Deadman to the Lizard. Only a few weeks back, too.'

'Gettin' on for three months, sir,' said d.i.c.k, calmly puffing at his pipe.

'Three months,' exclaimed Joseph, something bewildered. 'Have I been married then over nine weeks? The devil indeed! How the time does fly. Why it seems only yesterday, Annie heart, don't it?' He reached out his hand to take hers.

'Yes, my love,' she replied.

'Captain Salt sails again early i' the week,' went on d.i.c.k unperturbed. 'His schooner is up at No. 2 now, taking in ball clay. She's goin' to Newcastle, an' then out to St Michaels in ballast, to catch the trade. They all say she'll be first home again.'