Doctor Luke of the Labrador Part 32

Meantime, at our harbour, where the world went very well, the eye of Skipper Tommy Lovejoy chanced in aimless roving to alight upon the letter from Wolf Cove, still securely fastened to the wall, ever visible warning to that happy household against the wiles o' women. I fancy that (the twins being gone to Trader's Cove to enquire for us) the mild blue eye wickedly twinkled--that it found the tender missive for the moment irresistible in fascination--that the old man approached, stepping in awe, and gazed with gnawing curiosity at the pale, sprawling superscription, his very name--that he touched the envelope with his thick forefinger, just to make sure that 'twas tight in its place, beyond all peradventure of catastrophe--that, merely to provide against its defilement by dust, he removed and fondled it--that then he wondered concerning its contents, until, despite his crying qualms of conscience (the twins being gone to Trader's Cove and Davy Roth off to Heart's Delight to help the doctor heal the young son of Agatha Rundle), this fateful dreaming altogether got the better of him. At any rate, off he hied through the wind and snow to Tom Tot's cottage: where, as fortune had it, Tom Tot was mending a caplin seine.

"Tom Tot," said he, quite shamelessly, "I'm fair achin' t' know what's in this letter."

The harbour was cognizant of Skipper Tommy's state and standing temptation: much concerned, as well, as to the outcome.

"Skipper Tommy," Tom Tot asked, and that most properly, "is you got leave o' the boss's son?"

"Davy?"

"Ay, Davy."

"I is not," the skipper admitted, with becoming candour.

"Is you spoke t' the twins?"

"I is not."

"Then," Tom Tot concluded, "shame on you!"

Skipper Tommy tweaked his nose. "Tom Tot," said he, "you got a wonderful power for readin'. Don't you go tellin' _me_ you hasn't! I _knows_ you has."

"Well," Tom Tot admitted, "as you're makin' a p'int of it, I'm fair on print, but poor on writin'."

"Tom Tot," Skipper Tommy went on, with a wave (I fancy) of uttermost admiration, "I'll stand by it that you is as good at writin' as print.

That I will," he added, recklessly, "agin the world."

Tom Tot yielded somewhat to this blandishment. He took the proffered letter. "I isn't denyin', Skipper Tommy," he said, "that I'm able t'

make out your name on this here letter."

"Ecod!" cried Skipper Tommy, throwing up his hands. "I knowed it!"

"I isn't denyin'," Tom Tot repeated, gravely, "that I'm _fair_ on writin'. Fair, mark you! No more."

"Ay," said the skipper, "but I'm wantin' you t' know that this here letter was writ by a woman with a wonderful sight o' l'arnin'. I'll warrant you can read _it_. O' course," in a large, conclusive way, "an you _can't_----"

"Skipper Tommy," Tom interrupted, quickly, "I isn't _sayin'_ I can't."

"Isn't you?" innocently. "Why, Tom Tot, I was thinkin'----"

"No, zur!" Tom answered with heat. "I isn't!"

"Well, you wouldn't----"

"I will!"

"So be," said the skipper, with a sigh of infinite satisfaction. "I'm thinkin', somehow," he added, his sweet faith now beautifully radiant (I am sure), as was his way, "that the Lard is mixed up in this letter.

He's mixed up in 'most all that goes on, an' I'd not be s'prised if He had a finger in this. 'Now,' says the Lard, 'Skipper Tommy,' says He, 'the mail-boat went t' the trouble o' leavin' you a letter,' says He, 'an'----'"

"Leave the Lard out o' this," Tom Tot broke in.

"Sure, an' why?" Skipper Tom mildly asked.

"You've no call t' drag Un in here," was the sour reply. "You leave Un alone. You're gettin' too wonderful free an' easy with the Lard G.o.d A'mighty, Thomas Lovejoy. He'll be strikin' you dead in your tracks an you don't look out."

"Tom Tot," the skipper began, "the Lard an' me is wonderful----"

"Leave the Lard alone," Tom Tot snapped. "Come, now! Is you wantin' this here letter read?"

"I is."

Without more ado, Tom Tot opened the letter from Wolf Cove. I have no doubt that sensitive blood flushed the bronzed, wrinkled cheeks of Skipper Tommy Lovejoy, and that, in a burst of grinning modesty, he tweaked his nose with small regard for that sorely tried and patient member. And I am informed that, while my old friend thus waited in ecstasy, Tom Tot puzzled over the letter, for a time, to make sure that his learning would not be discomfited in the presence of Skipper Tommy Lovejoy, before whom he had boasted. Then----

"Skipper Tommy," he implored, in agony, "how long--oh, how long--is you had this letter?"

Skipper Tommy stared.

"How long, oh, how long?" Tom Tot repeated.

"What's gone amiss?" Skipper Tommy entreated, touching Tom Tot's shaking hand. "It come in the fall o' the year, Tom, lad. But what's gone amiss along o' you?"

"She've been waitin'--since then? Oh, a wretched father, I!"

"Tom, lad, tell me what 'tis all about."

"'Tis from she--Mary! 'Tis from my la.s.s," Tom Tot cried. "'Twas writ by that doctor-woman--an' sent t' you, Skipper Tommy--t' tell me--t'

break it easy--that she'd run off from Wayfarer's Tickle--because o'

the sin she'd found there. I mis...o...b..--oh, I mis...o...b..--that she've been afeared I'd--that I'd mistook her, poor wee thing--an' turn her off. I call the Lard G.o.d A'mighty t' witness," he cried, pa.s.sionately, "that I'd take her home, whatever come t' pa.s.s! I calls G.o.d t' witness that I loves my la.s.s! She've done no wrong," he continued. "She've but run away from the sin t' Wayfarer's Tickle. She've taken shelter t' Wolf Cove--because--she've been afeared that--I'd mistook--an' cast her off!"

"An' she's waitin' there for you?"

"Ay--for me--t' bring her home."

"For her father t' come?"

"Her father."

There was a moment of silence. "Tom Tot," Skipper Tommy declared, fetching his thigh a resounding slap, "that letter's been tacked t' my wall the winter long. Is you hearin' me, Tom Tot? It's been lyin' idle agin my wall. While she've been waitin', Tom! While she've been waitin'!"

"Oh, ay!"

"I'm fair glad you're hearin' me," said the skipper. "For I calls you t'

witness this: that when I cotches them twins o' mine I'll thwack un till they're red, Tom Tot--till they're red and blistered below decks.

An' when I cotches that young Davy Roth--when I cotches un alone, 'ithout the doctor--I'll give un double watches."

"We'll get underway for Wolf Cove, Skipper Tommy," said Tom Tot, "when the weather lightens. An' we'll fetch that la.s.s o' mine," he added, softly, "home."

"That we will, Tom Tot," said Skipper Tommy Lovejoy.