Stories - The Coming of Christobel

 

Joe Cone                                                                                        5000 Words

Saybrook,

          Conn.

 

                                  THE  COMING  OF CHRISTOBEL.

                                       By Joe Cone.

 

                             Chapter I.           

Captain Jonas Strong, retired sailing master of the dismantled “Helen Strong”, sat before his fish-house door filling seine needle. The ball of twine from which he was filling his needle rolled this way and that in the soft sand until it attracted the attention of a half-grown cat which had been basking nearby in the June sunshine. The crouching pussy crawled nearer and nearer, and suddenly sprang upon the tempting object. Captain Jonas was about to pull several feet of twine from the ball when the cat had it fast between her front paws. The sudden impact had yanked the needle from the Captain’s fingers.

“Scat! You young black scullion!” shouted the Captain, seizing a conch shell, which he shied after the fleeing pussy as she disappeared around the corner of the cabin.

The mischievous cat made her escape unharmed, but Captain Jedediah Maynard, Captain Jonas’s bosom friend, who lived a little further up the beach, wasn’t so fortunate. Just as he placed his right foot around the corner of the house the shell met him in the region of the shin bone.

“Damnation pitchforks! I ain’t no cat!” howled Captain Jed.

Captain Jonas couldn’t refrain from laughing, although he felt sorry for his friend.

“You saw the cat a-comin’, didn’t you?” he queried.

“’Course I did,” re[lied Captain Jed, dancing on one foot.

“Well, you orter knowed that a cat a-comin’ with a speed like that was bound to have somethin’ after it,” chuckled Captain Jonas.

“I s’pose ’twould a-been the same if you’d had a shot gun handy; you’d a-shot right round the corner.”

“Well, I never was much of a shot with a shot gun, Cap’n Jed, but when it comes to throwin’ a shell – “

“You never miss,” put in Captain Jed, rubbing his shin bone, ruefully.

“Hereafter when you are goin’ round a sharp curve you wanter blow your horn like them autymobile fellers do,” suggested Captain Jonas, picking up his fallen needle.

"And hereafter you wanter look afore you shoot; you’ll be mistakin’ a man for a deer.”

“Or a cat,” laughed the good natured Captain. “Well, Cap’n Jed, I’m sorry I struck you with that shell. It’s a mighty tender place, the shin bone. I know what it is myself. Many’s the time I’ve got a crack while leadin’ ties or cordwood when I was castin’. What’s on your mind this mornin’? Take a seat and help yourself to my box o’ ‘Sensation’.”

“Thanks,” said Captain Jed, taking the proffered box. “I was all out o’ terbacker, and that was one thing that brought me over. The other thing was this: Read it.”

Captain Jed handed over a letter which his friend unfolded and scrutinized closely for a moment.

“My eyes are in the house, Cap’n Jed, I guess you’ll hafter read it for me.”

Taking the letter in his hands again, Captain Jed read as follows:

River Falls, Wis.,

June 1^st, 19__,

“Dear Brother Jedediah:

The last time I wrote you I said that my husband was dead. He is, and now that the estate is all settled up and I have got my money, having sold out everything, I am coming east in a few days. There is nothing to keep me out here now, and I long for old New England. If your house isn’t big enough for both of us I will buy one and settle down near you. I don’t know when I will reach there, but I will come just as fast as the railroads can transport me. Don’t make any extra preparations for me, because I am a plain woman, independent, perfectly able to take care of myself, and ain’t the least bit fussy. Hoping you are well, I remain,

Your affectionate sister,    

Christobel Higgins.”

 

The two Captains looked at each other in silence for fully a moment.

“Well?” queried Captain Jonas, drawing a long breath.

“I don’t know whether it’s well or not,” sighed Captain Jed. “My house is pretty tolerable small, besides there ain’t been a wummun inside of it sence ’twas built.”

”She’s the only relative you’ve got in the world, ain’t she?” grunted Captain Jonas.

“Yes, but you know I’ve been kind of figgerin’ on –“

 “I know you’ve been a figgerin’ on gittin’ hitched up to somebuddy for somethin’ like forty years, and I reckon you’ll keep right on figgerin’ the same way. A faint gizzard never won a fat cook, Cap’n Jed.”

“Well it ain’t been altogether my fault; you remember Miss Angelina Berry, how she –“

“Yes, I remember Angy Berry; I have as much reason to remember her as you have, and mebie more, but I ain’t been settin’ round mopin’ all these years over a lost cause. That ain’t my style, Cap’n Jed.”

“But she says she’s ‘independent’, and ‘perfectly able to take care of herself’, and all that,” groaned Captain Jed.

“So much the better; you won’t have to take care of her then. I don’t see what you’ve got to worry about.”

“I don’t like the sound of it, somehow; it – it sounds defiant like. Christobel always was awful headstrong, and I ain’t used to bein’ bossed.”

“I’d be almighty glad to have a strong and capable sister come along and take care o’ me,” said Captain Jonas, enviously.

Captain Jed thought he saw the gleam of a light.

“Geewhillikens!” he exclaimed, bringing his fist down upon his knee.

“What do you mean by that?” queried Captain Jonas.

“Oh, nothin’, nothin’, only I just happened to think that if I had someone to do the housework it would give me time to start on that big boat I’ve been a-talkin’ of so long. Yes, I hope Christobel won’t back out, and I don’t care how soon she gits here,” and in his enthusiasm Captain Jed stood on his right foot which brought him a sharp twinge of pain. “Ouch! he yelled, “I don’t believe I’ll forget that little shell game of yours for quite a while.”

The two Captains talked of seines and fishing for several moments, and after Captain Jed had had another helping to Captain Jonas’s box of “Sensation”, he sauntered up the beach. Captain Jonas sat for sometime longer in front of his door, but he lacked industry – he was lost in thought.

“It’s goin’ to make a difference in our habits,’ he muttered.

The next few days were busy ones for Captain Jedediah Maynard. To quote Captain Jonas, he “hoed out every room in the house and harrowed the front yard.” The little place looked as tidy as a catboat, and when Captain Jonas saw his friend rowing from the village with ten gallons of ready mixed paint on the stern of his dory he could hardly contain himself.

“I feel as though I ought to take a bath and put on my village duds afore I step foot in your yard,” he said one day. “Now if you had done all this in the days of Angy Berry you might a-stood a better show.”

But Captain Jed was used to the banter of his friend, and went about his renovation and decoration undisturbed. Captain Jonas’s place was more modern and pretentious, but he decided, secretly, that he would also do a little “fixing up.”

The two Captains had been friends for years. Captain Jed was several years older, and had retired at a much earlier date. Captain Jonas had “laid up” the “Helen Strong” at a discarded wharf, which jutted out from the village proper, and had built his house over on the beach, two miles away, so as to be near his friend. Captain Jonas was a widower of long standing. Captain Jed had never married, on account of obstacles over which he had no control. One of those obstacles was his unusually long, thin frame, and his natural uncomeliness. Captain Jonas was a six-footer, but his frame was well filled out, and he was withal, an attractive man to look upon. Another reason why he had built his home on the beach rather than in the village, was because his second best friend, Captain Caleb Haskins, keeper of the Lynde Point Light, lived but a quarter of a mile from Captain Jed’s, and this brought the three Captains quite closely together. Each man lived alone; each was a retired sailing master and all three had interests in common, and were boon companions.

Two or three other fish houses dotted the beach, while back of them all on higher ground stood several summer cottages peopled in season by well to do New Yorkers. The village, two miles inland, could be reached by wallowing through long stretches of sand and marsh or by going a long way round by road. The easiest and most frequented route was by water. The broad mouth of the Connecticut joined Long Island Sound at Lynde Point. A two mile row up the river brought one to the village, which was a typical New England fishing hamlet. Here were wharves, a railroad station, stores, a summer hotel and a landing where a daily steamboat, plying between New York and Hartford, took on and discharged passengers and freight.

For several years nothing had happened to disturb the calm of the three Captains. They fished, dug clams, raked oysters, tended their nets and lobster pots, and visited and swapped stories unceasingly. Now a new and disturbing element was about to confront them. Christobel Higgins, “independent and perfectly able to take care of herself,”  was soon to be a resident of the little beach coterie. Captain Jed, her brother, was strangely silent upon the subject, but Captain Jonas and Captain Caleb, between themselves, talked a great deal. The foresaw an unpleasant change.

 

                            Chapter II.           

 It was past the middle of June. Some of the city schools had closed and already a few of the cottages along Lynde point beach were open for the summer season. Children ran over the glistening sands or made treacherous castles with their brightly painted shovels. A few early bathers could be seen breasting the surf that rolled in, driven by a brisk southwester.

Over the hot, sandy road that wound toward the beach from the west came a slowly moving vehicle. A cloud of dust swept from the horses’ feet, and the grinding wheels, and went sailing over the pastures losing itself in the woodland beyond. The conveyance was known locally as “the stable team,” and was driven by “Dan” Chipman, noted for his knowledge of horses, his love of gossip and his weakness for something to “lay the dust behind the palate.” Whenever Dan was fortunate enough to pick up a male passenger he could, as a rule, through his natural diplomacy and argumentative powers, interest him to the extent of stopping at any inn they might be passing. And in such a case Dan managed to pass as many inns as possible on his long journeys to and from the station.

Today, however, his passenger was a woman. They had passed three inns on their way from the station, and Dan had driven slowly past each one of them, having an audible sigh as he went.

“There’s a good many gin mills in this town,” the woman passenger had remarked, to which Dan felt duty bound to answer.

“No doubt it seems that way to a stranger, but they ain’t any too many to supply the demands of the public,” he replied.

“Well, there must be an awful lot o’ drinking here,” she snapped.

“Nothin’ unusual,” replied Dan, slyly, “but the water round here is awful poor, and sometimes we have long dry spells.”

“I s’pose the dryer it is on the outside the wetter it is in the taverns,” she said, pointedly.

“I s’pose so,” replied Dan, simply.

“What do they do for water over here on the beach?”

“I guess they don’t use much, ma’m.”

The woman looked at Dan sharply. They were now nearing the settlement.

“Do you know my brother?” she asked.

“Why, yes, no, I dunno; they’s several men folks around here. What’s his name?”

“’Jedediah Maynard,’ if he ain’t changed it for some reason or other.”

“Oh, he ain’t changed it; he’s just the same old cud. Yes, I know him. So you’re his long lost sister?”

“I don’t know I’d ever been lost,” replied Christobel Higgins, with a show of resentment.

“I – well, I didn’t mean that exactly,” stammered Dan. “I mean you’ve been away a long time. I’ve never heard Cap’n Jed speak of you.”

“Well, he needn’t a-been ashamed of me,” she jerked out. “I was wonderin’ if he uses much water’ that is, through the dry season,” and Dan felt a pair of sharp eyes taking him in sideways.

“Oh, I guess he uses all that’s good for him,” replied Dan, trying to steer clear of deep water. “That’s his house now, the third one from the end. The door’s open, so I guess he’s to home.”

In a few moments they had pulled up in front of the house. The trunk and bags were piled on the little porch, and Dan, receiving his fare, but no tip, drove away. Christobel Higgins, forty some years of age, plump and red-cheeked, but weary with the long ride, was happy to be put down anywhere, even on a stretch of glistening sands. The house was not as large as she had expected to find, but it spelled home, and to her that meant a great deal just now.

She heard a noise inside, and stepping into the hall she met the proprietor just emerging from the kitchen, a heavy dish cloth in one hand and a smoky cider in the other. With a glad cry of “brother Jedediah!” she threw her arms around the neck of the tall man and planted a kiss upon his bronzed cheek.

The man disengaged himself and shrunk back.

“Madam,” said he, “you’ve made a mistake, my name is Strong; Captain Jonas Strong, and you were dropped at the wrong house.”

In her excitement and mortification Christobel Higgins backed nearly to the porch. She grew hot and cold by turns, and muttered something that was unintelligible to either of them. Finally Captain Jones came to the rescue.

“No doubt this is Mrs. Higgins, Cap’n Jed’s sister,” he said pleasantly. “He lives a few houses further on. That fool of a driver oughter know better’n to have left you here. Probably he was thinkin’ more about ‘dry weather’ than of his business. There’s Cap’n Jed now, just outside of his door, lookin’ up this way.”

Christobel Higgins mumbled a faint word of thanks. Her face matching the crimson rambler that adorned Captain Jonas’s front yard, she hastened toward her brother’s house. Captain Strong watched her for a moment, then giving vent to an exclamation of “Godfreymoses!” made his way back to the kitchen.

By the time Christobel had reached her brother she had lost some of her stored-up animation in the line of sisterly greeting and approached him, as she later confided to Captain Jonas, “rather business-like and cool.” She did not tell him of the incident in the hall, merely remarking that she and her baggage had been dumped out at the wrong place.

While she was upstairs “removing the stains of travel,” and putting on a more comfortable dress, Captain Jed took his wheelbarrow and went to get her baggage. He called out two or three times to Captain Jonas, but getting no answer, loaded his barrow and started for home. Captain Jonas heard him, and saw him from an upper window, but he wasn’t in the mood for talking just then. The kiss still burned on his cheek, or at least he thought it did, and he desired to be left by himself to enjoy the sensation.

The remainder of the day was used up in unpacking her trunk and bags, and giving Captain Jed an account of her western life. Occasionally he would go to the door and look towards the light, or up the beach in the direction of Captain Jonas’s cottage to see if either of his friends were not coming to see him, but neither of them showed any inclination to visit him that day.

“Who is that giant up yonder where I stopped?” queried Mrs. Higgins, after Captain Jed had made one of his numerous trips to the door.

“That? Why, that’s Cap’n Jonas Strong, the best friend I’ve got in the world. He give up sailin’ a few years ago and settled down here so’s to be near Cap’n Caleb and me. He’s got a schooner, the ‘Helen Strong’, laid up over to the village. Don’t care to go coastin’ any more, he says, although he’s perfectly able to. If all reports are true he’s got a good little pile o’ cash stowed away in his hold somewhere. Cap’n Jonas is all wool and a yard wide, Christobel, and I’d stick up for him till the last gun’s fired. I reckoned he’d be over this afternoon, but I guess you’ve skeered him off.”

“I hope your friends won’t stay away from you on my account,” sniffed Mrs. Higgins, for the first time realizing that her coming might bring about a change in the habits of the three lone men.

“Oh, I guess ’twon’t make no great diffrunce, though both of them are a little shy of women.”

“You say they were both sailors once?”

“Yes, both of them.”

“And shy of women? You go tell that to the marines, Jedediah. It ain’t accordin’ to Hoyle.”

“Well, they’ve both had wives sometime or other, and yit, they’d go out of their way to dodge meetin’ a woman, seems to me,” replied Captain Jed, innocently.

“Becuz they’ve been married may be the reason why they dodge,” suggested Christobel, knowingly.

 

 

                                               Chapter III.

The intuition of Christobel Higgins was one of her strong points. She felt that her coming would make a difference in the lives of the three retired Captains, and her fears proved true. Captain Caleb had been as far as the front piazza, but his call had been of short duration. Being uncommonly busy at the lighthouse was his excuse for keeping aloof from the Maynard homestead. It was nearly time for the summer visit of the inspectors, and so his excuses seemed reasonable.

Captain Jonas had no reasonable excuse to offer except that he wanted brother and sister to have time enough alone to get acquainted with one another. The episode in the front hall was still thrilling him with strange emotions. Following Captain Jed’s example, he went to the village and returned with a boatload of paint and other supplies for dressing up his cottage, outside and in. Not that it needed it particularly, but he wanted an excuse to say he was busy.

Christobel, the innocent cause of the estrangement, was more concerned than any of the others. Captain Jed had told her over and over again how chummy they used to be, and she could see that her brother was much depressed. She dreaded meeting Captain Jonas on account of their first strange coming together, but she felt that she was in the way, and something would have to be done to ease the situation. She mentioned going over to the village to board, but Captain Jed raised strong objections.

“No, Christy, as long as I have a home you’ll stay in it; that is, pervidin’ you want to. Besides, you know what people would say; that either I had driven you out, or that we couldn’t get along together. You’re the only relative I have in the world, and this is a-goin’ to be your home,” and Captain Jed, looking longingly towards  the lighthouse, and then toward Captain Jonas’s, went down to his boat and set out towards the village for supplies.

During his absence Christobel decided on a plan of action. She would go and have a talk with Captain Caleb and mildly upbraid him for staying away. When she thought of what she would say to Captain Jonas on the subject, a scared feeling came over her.

“Anyway,” she decided, “I guess he won’t eat me up. He looks mild-tempered enough, and I never saw the man yet I was afraid of, and yet, I wish I hadn’t –“ and Christobel Higgins bluhed again at the thought of her “sisterly demonstration.”

Captain Jonas was perched upon a ladder when he saw Mrs. Higgins, dressed in her best, emerge from the house and head for the light. Unconsciously he drew the back of his hand across his bronzed cheek.

Well, well,” he mumbled, “I wonder what’s a-goin’ on there? Mrs. Higgins headed for the lighthouse, all dressed up! It must be somethin’ pretty important, or she never’d do that.”

And then he fell to wondering if Captain Caleb had been visiting the Maynards unbeknown to him, and if he hadn’t been a little slow to let Captain Caleb steal the march on him. He watched her till she was out of view, then resumed his painting. But Captain Jonas was more disturbed than he cared to admit, even to himself.

Christobel Higgins found Captain Caleb “doing up” his dishes. He would have shaken hands with her, but his hands were wet, and he made a poor attempt to hide them behind him.

“No excuses, Captain Haskins,” she began, “we all have to work, and washin’ dishes is as honorable as anything else. Only in your case its inexcusable. There’s plenty of good women in the world who’d be glad to do it for you. Why in the name of common sense you two men live here like heathens is more than I can understand. There ought to be two people here in the light, and there ought to be two at Captain Jonas’s. There’s two at our house, so of course we don’t need any more.”

Captain Caleb was embarrassed, to say the least. He mumbled something about not being able to find anybody who would wash dishes in a lighthouse, when she interrupted.

“I come over here today to find out what’s the matter with you and Captain Jonas. You’ve hardly looked at our house since I’ve been here, and my brother is down in the dumps about it. If it’s because I’m in the way I’ll clear out. I don’t see any reason why you three men shouldn’t be as chummy as you were before, but you ain’t, and I must be the reason. I didn’t come here to spoil anybody’s good time; I come here to help make it.”

Captain Caleb hardly knew what to say. He felt that any excuses like he had put before Captain Jed would sound weak and foolish to this matter-of-fact woman.

“Well, Mrs. Higgins,” he said, falteringly, “mebbie I have been a little un-neighborly, but you see – Captain Jonas –“

“I don’t see what Captain Jonas had got to do with you. If he wants to act like an overgrown, sulky boy it’s no reason why you should. Now you are either comin’ over to see my brother as you used to do, or I’m a-goin’ to leave and go to the village to live.”

“Don’t do that, Mrs. Higgins, I – ’tain’t necessary – I wouldn’t want you to do that. Stay where you be. I will – that is, if Captain Jonas will –“

“There you go again, Captain Jonas! Never mind Captain Jonas. You come along; I’ll take care of him,” and rising from her chair, Christobel Higgins bade the disconcerted Captain adieu, and headed towards the westward.

“Whew!” exclaimed Captain Caleb, “I guess she kin take care of herself all right! She’s a mighty good lookin’ woman, too.”

Mrs. Higgins fully intended keeping right on to the home of Captain Jonas, but when she beheld his big form on the ladder, standing boldly against the whiteness of the house, her courage failed her. She had met him boldly once before, and the thought of it chilled her. She entered the house, removed her hat, then went to the west window and stole a look at him. Somehow she felt that she couldn’t talk to Captain Jonas as she had talked to the keeper of the light.  The humorous twinkle in his eyes would disconcert her. She took her sewing and went out on the piazza. But every time she had occasion to go into the house she studied the large form on the ladder.

Toward evening Captain Jed returned. While he was making his dory fast to a log on the beach Captain Jonas went down to meet him. Christobel’s visit to the lighthouse had stirred his curiosity.

“Howdy, Captain Jed,” he sang out, “been cruisin’ over to the village?”

“I sure have,” returned Captain Jed, “and I heerd some news.”

“Is that so? What’s happened over there, have they increased the minister’s salary?”

“Well, not that, exactly, but he’s lost a sum of money, I reckon.”

“How so?”

“Hannah Stowe has broke off her engagement to Jim Hopper, so there won’t be any fees comin’ from that match,” and Captain Jed smiled grimly.

“That ought to interest you, Captain Jed,” said the other, meaningly.

“Well, I called on her,” replied Captain Jed, dropping his eyes.

“Offer her sympathy or congratulations, Jed?”

“More’n that; I offered myself.”

“And what did she say?”

“Said she’d take it under consideration. You know me and her had an affair once.”

“I know,” responded Captain Jonas; “but suppose she considers it favorable?”

“Well, that would suit me all right.”

“Yes, but how about your sister, Jed?”

“Gosh all fish-hooks, I hadn’t thought about her all afternoon,” admitted Captain Jed.

“Two women can’t boss the same house,” suggested Captain Jonas.

“I know that,” replied the other, “but mebbie – that is, it’s kind of funny, but it’s strange the way things work out. You know Jim used to wait on Christobel afore her husband come along and took her out west, and I didn’t know but mebbie –“

Here Captain Jed was interrupted, for no less a person than Christobel herself was almost upon them. Feeling that she would have courage to carry out her plan in the presence of her brother she had come down to the landing.

“This is Christobel, my sister, Captain Jonas,” said Captain Jed, by way of introduction.

“We have met before,” said Captain Jonas, emphasizing the word “met.”

Christobel reddened, and acknowledged the introduction with a curt nod.

“Captain Strong,” she began, determined to push her cause, “I came down here to ask you why you keep away from us so much? It is no easy matter to urge my company upon anybody, but before I come here you three men were inseparable, and now you and Captain Caleb stay away entirely, and it ain’t usin’ my brother right. I have been over and give Captain Caleb a talkin’ to, and now I ask you? It ain’t on my account, but Jedediah’s. I could get along if I never set eyes on a man again, but Jedediah’s different.”

“That’s right, give it to him, “Christy”, and while you two are settlin’ it I will git these goods up to the house,” said Captain Jed, starting off with his hands full.

Christobel Higgins dropped her eyes before the strong gaze of Captain Jonas. She knew she was blushing, and it made her feel like running away.

“Mrs. Higgins,” said Captain Jonas, slowly, “it is true, I have staid away, and it’s been on your account. I received a shock the first time I met you, and I ain’t got over it yet.”

“It’s mean of you to speak of that, Captain Strong,” she said, resentfully, “it wasn’t my fault, I –“

“No, it wasn’t your fault, Mrs. Higgins, I s’pose it was mine, but you don’t s’pose I would dodge an assault of that kind, do you? Wait a moment –“ as Mrs. Higgins was about to speak – “the shock was very pleasant. I ain’t washed that side of my face since, and I ain’t a-goin’ to till you promise to do likewise on the other side.”

“What do you mean, Captain Strong?” and her eyes flashed.

“Gently now, Mrs. Higgins,” said Captain Jonas, placing his great form between her and a view of Captain Jed, “I don’t mean no disrespect, I mean that I’ve been lonesome and miserable ever since you’ve been here just because I have kept away from you, but I was comin’ over tonight to see you; honest I was. I wasn’t a-goin’ to speak so soon, but I’ve just heard somethin’ that has set me a-thinkin’.”

Mrs. Higgins looked at him inquiringly.

“Perhaps Captain Jed hasn’t told you, but he’s got an interest over in the village, and mebbie he’ll want to bring that interest here, and in that case –“

“Well, he can do it just as soon as he sees fit,” she interrupted, “I ain’t beholden to nobody, thank the Lord.”

Captain Jonas, still thinking of Jim Hopper, was determined to make hay before there were any signs of a cloudy sky.

“Mrs. Higgins, I ain’t seen much of you, and you ain’t seen much of me, but I reckon we might become good friends, and more. I don’t want you to go over to the village to live. They don’t have any good air over there, and they ain’t got room to turn around in. I ain’t much to look at, and my place ain’t very big, but I’ve got the means of makin’ it roomy and comf’table. All I need is a mate, and we’ll have a craft that’s worthwhile. What to you think?”

“Captain Jonas,” she replied, melting a few degrees, “I hadn’t thought anything about it.”

“More’s to your credit, Mrs. Higgins, but I have thought about it constantly, ever since our first meeting.”

“Captain Jonas, you are too old to believe in love at first sight.”

“Well,” he said, looking at her kindly, “I don’t know as I believe in love at first sight, but somehow I can’t help believin’ in love at first contact.”

                                                                   b x a