The Argosy — page 255: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A Country Heart. 197 Imm. He has the Ha/cyon this year, Westerton’s old boat. You know him, of course ?” “Captain Anstey? Oh yes. Well, I must be going, and wish you a very pleasant cruise, and good luck in the racing to-morrow. Are you going to race the Halcyon, did you say? Tell Captain Anstey, if you think of it, that you met me here, and that I am not a bit dull : he had better come round and see.” Miss Verey signed a little imperiously to Harry that she was ready to turn homewards, and sailed down the street, without another glance in the direction of Mrs. Briscoe’s shepherd’s plaid waterproof. “Til-mannered, fast chit,” muttered that lady to herself, hastily quitting the Misses Peach. ‘If she hadn’t flounced off, at a tangent, about nothing at all, she might have introduced those men to me, and I dare say they would have contributed something handsome for the infants’ treat, if I had sent Mark Rowe on board with the col- lecting book.” Meanwhile Kate had declared that her other purchases‘and errands were of no account, and that she would rather finish the afternoon by a good walk than by poking in the town any longer ; to which Harry gladly assented : his disconsolate face clearing rapidly as they left the Streets, with their hideous possibilities of old friends and London men behind, and got into the open country, where he always felt- himself to be at so much greater advantage. Then with the sea breeze in his face, and the young blood leaping pleasantly in his veins, as he and Kate kept pace together along the fresh sandy road, he made bold to proffer a request which had been in his head for some time, and had how taken shape as a plan which only wanted the seal of Miss Verey’s approval. “Next week I want you to come out for a whole day’s boating. You said you would like to see the Giant Stones, and you have scarcely given the Mermaid a fair trial yet. Don’t refuse me, for it’s my birth- day—my twenty-first; and you know other fellows have no end of a fuss made over them when they come of age ; while I am tied on to Madam’s apron-strings for another four years. 171] tell you what, we'll take your mother round to Shepstone, where some tenants of ours have a farm close by the shore, and we can leave her safely there with her books, and order dinner ; and then I can take you for a good sail, and we can come back and make a regular feast of it! Don’t deny me the treat I have set my heart upon! I’ve been planning it for ever so long, and ”—pathetically—“ just think what a lonely life I lead and how few pleasures I have !” Kate laughed and turned to look at the eager young face beside her. Her own thoughts had been far away as he talked, but she was aware that he was proposing some expedition, which would lose all its charm unless she countenanced it. “Oh yes! we'll come, of course,” she assented. ‘ Any day you like to settle.” @ COIN LOO S COIN |