SUE--[_Appearing in doorway--indignantly._] Nat! Haven’t you gone for the doctor yet? NAT--[_Shame-facedly._] I forgot. SUE--Forgot! NAT--[_Starting off._] I’m going, Sue. [_Then over his shoulder._] You won’t sail before I come back, Pa? [BARTLETT _does not answer_. NAT _stands miserably hesitating_.] SUE--Nat! For heaven’s sake! [NAT _hurries off around the corner of the house, rear. Sue comes to her father who is watching her with a queer, humble, hunted expression._] BARTLETT--Well, Sue? SUE--[_Her voice trembling._] Oh, Pa, how can you do such terrible things. How could you drag Ma out of bed at dawn to christen your old boat--when you knew how sick she’s been! BARTLETT--[_Avoiding her eyes._] It’s only weakness. She’ll get well o’ it soon. SUE--Pa! How can you say things like that--as if you didn’t care! [_Accusingly._] The way you’ve acted ever since you’ve been home almost, anyone would think--you _hated_ her! BARTLETT--[_Wincing._] No! SUE--Oh, Pa, what is it that has come between you? Can’t you tell me? Can’t I help to set things right again? BARTLETT--[_Mumblingly._] Nothin’--nothin’ ye kin help--nor me. Keep clear o’ it, Sue. Danny--ye think o’ him, that’s enough for ye. SUE--But things can’t go on like this. Don’t you see how it’s killing Ma? BARTLETT--She’ll forget her stubborn notions, now I be sailin’ away. SUE--But you’re not--not going for a while now, are you? BARTLETT--Ain’t I been sayin’ I’d sail at dawn today? They’re makin’ her ready to cast off. I’m waitin’ for Horne to hail. SUE--[_Looking at him for a moment with shocked amazement._] But--you can’t mean--right now! BARTLETT--[_Keeping his face averted._] Aye--or we’ll miss this tide. SUE--[_Putting her hands on his shoulders and trying to look into his face._] Pa! You can’t mean that! [_His face is set with his obsessed determination. She lets her hands fall with a shudder._] You can’t be as cruel as that! Why, I thought, of course, you’d put off--[_Wildly._] You have, haven’t you, Pa? You did tell those men you couldn’t sail when you saw how sick Ma was, didn’t you--when she fainted down on the wharf? BARTLETT--[_Implacably._] I said I was sailin’ by this tide--and sail I will, by thunder! SUE--Pa! [_Then pleadingly._] When the doctor comes and you hear what he says-- BARTLETT--[_Roughly._] I ain’t stoppin’ on his word nor any man’s. I know what’s best to do. [_Intensely._] That schooner’s been fit to sail these two weeks past. I been waitin’ on her stubborn will [_he gestures toward the house_], eatin’ my heart out day and night. Then I swore I’d sail today. I tell ye, Sue, I got a feelin’ in my bones if I don’t put out now I never will. Aye, I feel it deep down inside me. [_In a tone of superstitious awe._] And when she christened the schooner--jest to the minute, mind ye!--a fair breeze sprung up and come down out o’ the land to blow her out to sea--like a sign o’ good luck.