Casco Bay (Me.) -- Fiction; Love stories; Young women -- Fiction
"Stay here, and go with me, Sylvia," said Edna cordially. "We'll let
Miss Martha off, and you and I will take Benny and make a day of it."
"Oh, I'd love to!" exclaimed Sylvia. "I'll try to come over soon."
"Not at all. Always make the most of a bird in the hand. You're here
now. I'm going to keep her,--oh, as long as I can, Thinkright."
He smiled at Sylvia, who smiled back, still with the excited shining in
her eyes. "She seems willing, I must say," he remarked, pleased at the
prospect of the two girls thus becoming acquainted.
The hour before he had to start back was spent by them all together, at
first on the rocky ledges below the house where the caldrons of foam
and fountains of spray made the finest show, and then roaming through
the fragrant woods. At each new vista Miss Martha noted the narrowing
of her niece's eyes and the absorption of her gaze.
"I guess you have some of your poor father's artistic taste," she said
to her at one pause.
"I wish my father could have seen this place," was Sylvia's reply.
When the time came for Thinkright to make his adieux she clung to him.
"I declare I believe she's homesick at the parting," said Miss Lacey to
Edna. They two were standing on the piazza and the others a little way
off on the grass; but Sylvia was not homesick, she was whispering to
her cousin: "I'm staying for a reason, Thinkright!" she said. "I've had
an idea. I believe it's a good one."
He patted her shoulder. "That's right, that's right." He gestured
toward the rolling expanse about them. "For every drop of water in that
ocean there are thousands of possibilities of good for every one of
God's children. The shutters are open, little one. Why shouldn't the
blessing flow in?"
And so began for Sylvia the visit which always afterward stood out in
her memory unique in the poignancy of its novel impressions. Despite
the simplicity of life at Anemone Cottage, there was an order and
smoothness in the management of details which constantly attracted and
charmed the guest. The poetry of the wild enchanting surroundings was
ever sounding a new note in sky or sea or flower, and the companionship
of Edna Derwent was an experience which Sylvia seized upon with an
eagerness wholly devoid of worldly considerations.
It was on a Friday that Thinkright had left her at the island. During
that night a northeast wind sprang up, and on Saturday a storm
prevented the expedition after berries. It was a wonderful day to
Sylvia.
Torrents of rain beat upon the windows, the atmosphere was a blur
through which the surf thundered mysteriously.
Logs blazed merrily in the great fireplace. Sylvia found a feast of
many courses in the illustrations of the magazines. Edna was interested
to see her discrimination.
"Oh, I remember," she said. "Miss Lacey told me your father was an
artist."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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