The Capsina: An Historical NovelBenson, E. F. (Edward Frederic)
History
The Capsina: An Historical Novel
Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic)
Greece -- History -- War of Independence, 1821-1829 -- Fiction
Surely this was the one from the sun and the sea, of whom she had not
dreamed, but of whom she could imagine she had dreamed, he who had gone
at night and burned that great ship from Kalamata, returning, perhaps,
as he had returned this evening, laughing with a jest for a friend and
a ready aim, of whose deed the people sang. She had wondered a hundred
times what Mitsos was like, but never had she connected him with the
one of whom she spoke to Michael.
She rose from her seat and went to lean over the quay wall. She was
convinced not in thought--for just now she did not think, but only
feel beyond the shadow of doubt--that Mitsos was ... was, not he whom
she looked for, her feeling lacked that definiteness, but he for whom
she would wait all her life. He was satisfying, wholly, utterly; the
stir and rapture of glorious adventure had seized him as it had seized
her; the aims of their lives were one, and was not that already a bond
between them? He was a man of his arm, and his arm was strong; a man of
his people, and a man not of houses but of the out-of-doors. She had
taken him in at one glance, and knew him from head to heel: black
hair, black eyes, a face one smile, but which could surely be stern and
fiery; for any face so wholly frank as that would mirror the soul as
still water mirrors the sky, the long line of arm bare to the shoulder,
trousers all stained, as was meet, with salt and sailing gear, the
long, swelling line of calf down to feet which were firm and fit to
run--surely this was he for whom she had been designed and built, and
she was one, she knew, at whom men looked more than once. And her heart
broke into song, soaring....
[Illustration: "UP THE STEPS CAME THE SINGER, FROM THE SEA AND THE SUN"]
She stood up, a tall, stately figure, yet girlish, still looking out to
sea. He had left his boat below the wall; he had said he would be back
soon, and she meant to wait his coming. The wind was strong, and a coil
of her glorious hair came unfastened, and she raised her hands to pin
it up again; her skirt was blown tight and clinging against the long,
slim lines of her figure, her jacket doubled back against itself by the
wind, and like Mitsos, perhaps with thinking of him, her face was one
smile.
The sun had quite set, but over the sky eastward came the afterglow
of the day, turning the thin skeins of cloud to fiery fleeces, and
flooding the infinite depth of the sky with luminous red. Behind her
the town flushed and glowed, and the white houses were turned to a
living gold. After a while she faced round again, for she heard steps
coming, and seemed to know that it was Mitsos back again.
"Oh, Anastasi!" cried a voice, "but is there not a fool waiting behind
that corner with a good fish to throw and waste? Take it home to your
supper, man, and thank God for a dinner you have not earned except in
that you have a large face easy to hit. Eh, do you think I cannot see
you? You'll be thought a fine hand at hiding, will you?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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