The Tides of Barnegat | Page 6

may get over it. Go 'long,
Meg!"
Dr. Cavendish laughed one of his quiet laughs-- a laugh that wrinkled
the lines about his eyes, with only a low gurgle in his throat for
accompaniment, picked up his whip, lifted his hat in mock courtesy to

the old nurse, and calling to Rex, who, bored by Meg's attentions, had
at last retreated under the gig, chirruped to his horse, and drove on.
Martha watched the doctor and Rex until they were out of sight, walked
on to the top of the low hill, and finding a seat by the roadside--her
breath came short these warm spring days--sat down to rest, the dog
stretched out in her lap. The little outcast had come to her the day Lucy
left Warehold for school, and the old nurse had always regarded him
with a certain superstitious feeling, persuading herself that nothing
would happen to her bairn as long as this miserable dog was well cared
for.
"Ye heard what Doctor John said about her bein' a woman, Meg?" she
crooned, when she had caught her breath. "And she with her petticoats
up to her knees! That's all he knows about her. Ye'd know better than
that, Meg, wouldn't ye--if ye'd seen her grow up like he's done? But
grown up or not, Meg" --here she lifted the dog's nose to get a clearer
view of his sleepy eyes--"she's my blessed baby and she's comin' home
this very day, Meg, darlin'; d'ye hear that, ye little ruffian? And she's
not goin' away ag'in, never, never. There'll be nobody drivin' round in a
gig lookin' after her--nor nobody else as long as I kin help it. Now git
up and come along; I'm that restless I can't sit still," and sliding the dog
from her lap, she again resumed her walk toward Warehold.
Soon the village loomed in sight, and later on the open gateway of
"Yardley," the old Cobden Manor, with its two high brick posts topped
with white balls and shaded by two tall hemlocks, through which could
be seen a level path leading to an old colonial house with portico, white
pillars supporting a balcony, and a sloping roof with huge chimneys
and dormer windows.
Martha quickened her steps, and halting at the gate-posts, paused for a
moment with her eyes up the road. It was yet an hour of the time of her
bairn's arrival by the country stage, but her impatience was such that
she could not enter the path without this backward glance. Meg, who
had followed behind his mistress at a snail's pace, also came to a halt
and, as was his custom, picked out a soft spot in the road and sat down
on his haunches.

Suddenly the dog sprang up with a quick yelp and darted inside the
gate. The next instant a young girl in white, with a wide hat shading her
joyous face, jumped from behind one of the big hemlocks and with a
cry pinioned Martha's arms to her side.
"Oh, you dear old thing, you! where have you been? Didn't you know I
was coming by the early stage?" she exclaimed in a half-querulous
tone.
The old nurse disengaged one of her arms from the tight clasp of the
girl, reached up her hand until she found the soft cheek, patted it gently
for an instant as a blind person might have done, and then reassured,
hid her face on Lucy's shoulder and burst into tears. The joy of the
surprise had almost stopped her breath.
"No, baby, no," she murmured. "No, darlin', I didn't. I was on the beach
with Meg. No, no-- Oh, let me cry, darlin'. To think I've got you at last.
I wouldn't have gone away, darlin', but they told me you wouldn't be
here till dinner-time. Oh, darlin', is it you? And it's all true, isn't it? and
ye've come back to me for good? Hug me close. Oh, my baby bairn, my
little one! Oh, you precious!" and she nestled the girl's head on her
bosom, smoothing her cheek as she crooned on, the tears running down
her cheeks.
Before the girl could reply there came a voice calling from the house:
"Isn't she fine, Martha?" A woman above the middle height, young and
of slender figure, dressed in a simple gray gown and without her hat,
was stepping from the front porch to meet them.
"Too fine, Miss Jane, for her old Martha," the nurse called back. "I've
got to love her all over again. Oh, but I'm that happy I could burst
meself with joy! Give me hold of your hand, darlin'-- I'm afraid I'll lose
ye ag'in if ye get out of reach of me."
The two strolled slowly up the path to meet Jane,