"What other matter?" the young woman flashed.
"Well," Tommy replied, flushed and awkward, "there was another little matter between Elizabeth Luke an"----"
The young woman started.
"Elizabeth Luke!" she cried. "Did you say Elizabeth Luke?"
"I did, ma"am."
"I said nothing about Elizabeth Luke."
"We knows "tis from she."
"Ah-ha!" the young woman exclaimed. "You know far too much. I think you have more interest in this telegram than you ought to have."
"I confess it."
The young woman surveyed Tommy Lark with sparkling curiosity. Her eyes twinkled. She pursed her lips.
"What"s your name?" she inquired.
"Thomas Lark."
The young woman turned to Sandy Rowl.
"What"s your name?" she demanded.
"Alexander Rowl. Is there--is there anything in the telegram about me?
Aw, come now!"
The young woman laughed pleasantly. There was a romance in the wind.
Her interest was coy.
"Would you like to know?" she teased, her face dimpling.
Sandy Rowl responded readily to this dimpling, flashing banter. A conclusion suggested itself with thrilling conviction.
"I would!" he declared.
"And to think that I could tell you!"
"I"m sure you could, ma"am!"
The young woman turned to Tommy Lark.
"Your name"s Lark?"
"Yes, ma"am. There"s nothin"--there"s nothin" in the telegram about a man called Thomas Lark, is there?"
"And yours is Rowl?"
"Yes, ma"am."
"I"m new to these parts," said the young woman, "and I"m trying to learn all the names I can master. Now, as for this telegram, you may take it or leave it, just as you will. What are you going to do? I want to close the office now and go home to tea."
"We"ll take it," said Sandy Rowl. "Eh, Tommy?"
"Ay."
"An" we"ll deliver it as soon as we"re able. It may be the night. It may not be. What say t" that, Tommy?"
"We"ll take it across."
With that the young woman handed the sealed envelope to Tommy Lark and bade them both goodnight.
Tommy Lark thrust the telegram in his waistcoat pocket and b.u.t.toned his jacket. Both men turned to the path to the crest of Black Cliff, whence a lesser foot-path led to the sh.o.r.e of the sea.
"One o" the two of us," said Sandy Rowl, "is named in that telegram.
I"m sure of it."
Tommy Lark nodded.
"I knows it," Sandy proceeded, "because I seed a flicker in the woman"s eye when she learned the two names of us. She"s a sly one, that young woman!"
"Ay."
"You is chosen, Tommy."
"No, "tis not I. "Tis you. You is selected, Sandy. The woman twinkled when she named you. I marked it t" my sorrow."
"The maid would not choose me, Tommy," Sandy replied, his face awry with a triumphant smile, "when she might have you."
"She"ve done it."
In advance, on the path to the crest of Black Cliff, Tommy Lark was downcast and grim. Of a faithful, kindly nature in respect to his dealings with others, and hopeful for them all, and quick with an inspiring praise and encouragement, he could discover no virtue in himself, nor had he any compa.s.sion when he phrased the chapters of his own future; and though he was vigorous and decisive in action, not deterred by the gloom of any prospect, he was of a gray, hopeless mind in a crisis.
Rowl, however, was of a saucy, sanguine temperament; his faith in his own deserving was never diminished by discouragement; nor, whatever his lips might say, was he inclined to foresee in his future any unhappy turn of fortune. The telegraph operator, he was persuaded, had disclosed an understanding of the situation in a twinkle of her blue eyes and an amused twist of her thin lips; and the twinkle and the twist had indicated the presence of his name in Elizabeth Luke"s telegram. Rowl was uplifted--triumphant.
In the wake of Tommy Lark he grinned, his teeth bare with delight and triumph. And as for Tommy Lark, he plodded on, striving grimly up the hill, his mind sure of its gloomy inference, his heart wrenched, his purpose resolved upon a worthy course of feeling and conduct. Let the dear maid have her way! She had chosen her happiness. And with that a good man must be content.
In the courtship of pretty Elizabeth Luke, Tommy Lark had acted directly, bluntly, impetuously, according to his nature. And he had been forehanded with his declaration. It was known to him that Sandy Rowl was pressing the same pursuit to a swift conclusion. Tommy Lark loved the maid. He had told her so with indiscreet precipitation; and into her confusion he had flung the momentous question.
"Maid," said he, "I loves you! Will you wed me?"