<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2>
<h3>DOWN TO BEAVER TAIL.</h3>
<div class='unindent'><br/>SUNDAY morning brought the fresh,
lovely stillness which Sundays in
early summer seem always to possess
in Newport. Later in the season
the roll of wheels and the jingle of plated
harnesses come to mar this peacefulness; but
till the very end of June it endures, and is
one of the sweet things of the place.</div>
<p>The Joys were at breakfast. It was one of
the points in which Mrs. Joy took most pride,
that this meal was served in a special apartment
known as the breakfast-room, and not,
as with most families, in the room where they
dined. The breakfast-room was not large, but
sumptuous in all its appointments. A critical
taste might have objected that the plush
curtains which shaded the windows were too<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</SPAN></span>
heavy for summer; that the begilded wallpaper
"swore" a little at its own dado and
frieze, as well as deadened the effect of the
pictures which hung against it; and that the
drapery of lace and velvet which veiled the
fireplace made a fire inconvenient and almost
impossible, however cold the weather might
be. But a critical taste might have found
the same faults with the whole house. The
general effect was of costliness and magnificence;
but the details were at variance, and
comfort and homelikeness had been sacrificed
in the effort to make everything fine. There
was a library, with almost no books in it; a
ball-room, which was used only for balls, and
looked bare and shut up on ordinary days;
a huge drawing-room, full of costly toys,—tables
loaded with Sèvres cups, other tables
with processions of pug-dogs in precious
china, snuff-boxes, patch-boxes; chimney-piece
crowded with porcelain figures and
bits of old Dresden ware; there was a great
deal of carving and <i>or-moulu</i>,—but it all
had the air of being created and kept for<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</SPAN></span>
company use, and deserted the moment company
went away. Mrs. Joy had only got so
far in her art education as this, that she
bought everything which cost a great deal of
money and which her neighbors bought, and
she never stopped to reason about such minor
points as taste, fitness, convenience, or the
adaptation of an article to her own particular
needs.</p>
<p>Mrs. Joy was the very image of a prosperous
woman, as she sat behind her heavy
silver coffee-pots and cream-jugs, reading the
Sunday paper, to get which her groom had
ridden a couple of miles before breakfast.
Her very black hair was trained into a line
of formal rings across her forehead, which as
yet scarcely showed a wrinkle. Her tightly
laced figure was almost as slender as her
daughter's; and the hand sparkling with diamonds,
which held the paper, was white and
youthful. Handsome she certainly was; and
people called her agreeable, for she talked a
great deal, in a noisy, lively way, and had a
caressing manner for all persons whom she<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</SPAN></span>
thought it worth her while to caress. But
her face was hard; and when the society
smile died out of it, it was neither intelligent
nor kindly. Mrs. Joy had been extremely
pretty in her youth. Berenice was like her;
but Tom Joy the son resembled his father,
who had died three or four years before the
opening of this little story.</p>
<p>Berry and her friend Ethel Curtis were
talking about a sailing party which they had
planned for the next day.</p>
<p>"The Grays and the Halletts, and Julia
Prime, that makes seven; mamma for matron,
eight; then there's Tom and George Rivington,
and the two Fosters. I can't think
where we are to get the other three men."</p>
<p>"It isn't like a dinner party. The numbers
need not be exactly equal," suggested Ethel.</p>
<p>"That's true, but it's a great deal better
fun to have them equal. Men hate to talk
to two girls at once, and the girls who
haven't any men to talk to feel left out.
Carrol Benton is coming up the end of the
week; I wish he were here now."<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>"I guess you'd better look up some other
matron, and let me off," said Mrs. Joy, laying
down her newspaper. "I don't care much
for sailing. I'm so apt to feel a little sick,
and that spoils all the pleasure of it. Ask
Mrs. Freddy Allen; she is young, and likes
to go everywhere, and Freddy will go along
and make another gentleman."</p>
<p>"That will do nicely if you really don't
want to go, mamma. We'll invite them all
as we come out of church, and save the
bother of writing notes. It's easier to explain
when you see people than to write
down everything."</p>
<p>"Yes, that's one of the conveniences of
going to church," remarked Mrs. Joy, calmly.
"I've often had as many as three or four
invitations, coming out of Trinity on a Sunday
morning in the season. These muffins
are horrid. James, tell the cook she ought to
be ashamed of herself to send up such things.
They're as tough as leather, and burned
besides—as black as my shoe, I do declare."</p>
<p>"Yes, 'm."<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>And James departed to incense the cook
with the unsoftened message. The cook declared
that when ladies came down an hour
late for breakfast, they must expect tough
muffins; and for her part she didn't care
whether they were good or not; she didn't
think much of the place anyway, and didn't
mean to stay on. There'd be plenty of
people coming in a week or two, and plenty
of places to pick and choose from. Mrs. Joy
was always having little difficulties with her
servants.</p>
<p>Trinity Church looked cool and shady, as
the party entered it from the dazzle of the
outer sunshine. Berenice Joy was perfectly
well-trained in the outward forms of devotion.
She called herself "High Church;" and nothing
could be more graceful than the manner
in which she glided up the aisle, bowed to
the chancel, and sank on her knees, for what
was supposed to be a short interval of silent
prayer. But her eyes went straight to the
Grays' pew the moment she rose, and from
thence to the Halletts', and she whispered<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</SPAN></span>
to Ethel, "They're all here. That's nice."
Then she indulged in a long stare at Candace,
who had come to church with her
cousins, and who, in her new cream-and-brown
foulard, with the daisy-trimmed hat,
and a pair of the birthday gloves on her slender
hands, looked quite differently from the
ill-dressed little passenger of the "Eolus" the
Monday before.</p>
<p>"Do look! That's the very girl we saw on
the boat," went on Berenice, in the same low
whisper. "Did you ever! Hasn't Mrs. Gray
done her over nicely? I wonder where she
got that hat?"</p>
<p>"I wonder what she has done with the old
one?"</p>
<p>"Given it to the cook, or sold it to the rag-and-bottle
man," retorted Berry. Then came
a suppressed giggle, which ended in sudden,
forced gravity as the opening words of the
service fell on their ears, and they rose with
the rest of the congregation.</p>
<p>Candace was not conscious that she was
being looked at. She had only once or twice<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</SPAN></span>
in her life been in an Episcopal church, and
never before in an old one. Trinity seemed
to her as wonderful and picturesque as some
of the churches she had read about in books.
She looked at the square pews where people
sat sideways, instead of fronting the chancel
as in ordinary churches. She noted the tall
wands with gilded tops, which marked the
places of the junior and senior wardens; the
quaint, swinging chandeliers of old brass;
the tablets on the walls, two or three bearing
inscriptions in honor of dead rectors or other
departed worthies, one to the memory of a
young girl, with a beautiful flying figure in
bas-relief, carved in white marble. She gazed
with amazement at the pulpit,—one of the
ancient "three-decker" pattern, which is rarely
seen now-a-days, with a clerk's desk below, a
reading-desk above, above that a lofty pulpit
for the clergyman, to which a narrow flight of
stairs gave access, and suspended over all an
enormous extinguisher-shaped sounding-board.
It looked large and heavy enough to crush
any clergyman who should be caught by its<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</SPAN></span>
fall while in act of preaching; and Candace
watched its slight oscillations with an apprehensive
fascination, till she recollected that
it must have hung there for a hundred
years at least, so there was no reason to suppose
that it would drop on this particular
Sunday.</p>
<p>By turning her head a very little she could
get a glimpse of the organ-loft, with its quaint
little organ bearing two gilded mitres and a
royal crown on top, and below, the inscription,
"The Gift of George Berkeley, late
Lord Bishop of Cloyne." She wondered
who George Berkeley could have been, and
resolved to ask Cousin Kate as they went
home if there was any story about him.</p>
<p>There was no whispering or giggling in
Mrs. Gray's pew. The girls were too well
trained for such irreverence; and except that
Georgie interchanged one little smile with
Berry Joy as she came in, not one of them
looked away from the clergyman till the sermon
was over and the benediction pronounced.
It had been an impressive service to Candace,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</SPAN></span>
who was used to the barer forms of the Congregational
church; and she was surprised to
perceive how little solemnizing effect it seemed
to have on the congregation in general.</p>
<p>The moment people rose from their knees,
a low buzz of conversation began. Berry
Joy seized on Georgie and Gertrude, and
began to unfold the sailing plan as they
walked down the aisle. Mrs. Joy took possession
of Cousin Kate. Everybody seemed
to have something to say to somebody. Candace
caught scraps of half-a-dozen different conversations
before she reached the door, and
not one of them related in any way to the
sermon or to anything religious. She overheard
one invitation to dinner, another to
drive, an inquiry about a dressmaker, a bit of
gossip about a new engagement, a request for a
recipe for mayonnaise. She supposed it must
be the right thing to chatter thus, since all
these delightful-looking people did it; still it
seemed to her country notions rather queer.</p>
<p>The carriage was waiting in Spring Street,
a little farther up the hill. She did not like<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</SPAN></span>
to get in till the others were ready, so she
stepped aside among the gravestones, and
looked up to where the white, slender spire
of the old church towered against the blue.
She was trying to make out the Episcopal
mitre surmounted by the gilded weather-vane,
when Mrs. Gray saw and beckoned to
her.</p>
<p>She was still talking with Mrs. Joy, and
that lady was saying, "I may possibly not be
able to go myself, but if I am prevented I
will see that the young folks have a proper
matron. And then, my dear, there's Captain
Davis, you know. I never let Berry sail with
any one else. He's so safe and so careful,
and the weather promises to be perfect."</p>
<p>"It certainly is perfect to-day," said Mrs.
Gray. "Candace dear, I want to introduce
you to Mrs. Joy. My cousin, Miss Arden,
Mrs. Joy; or rather my niece, for her mother
was like my own sister. She has come to
spend the summer with me. Cannie, Mrs.
Joy is the mother of the young lady who
came down with you in the 'Eolus.'"<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>"Ah, indeed, the girls did not tell me
about that," said Mrs. Joy. "Well, my dear,"—Mrs.
Joy would have said "my dear" to
Queen Victoria or the Empress of China, if
she had ever had the chance of an interview
with those potentates,—"you've come to a
charming place and to charming relatives,
I'm sure, and you can't fail to enjoy your
summer. You must come with your cousins
to-morrow to this sailing-party which my
young folks are getting up. They'll be delighted,
I'm sure."</p>
<p>"Thank you," said Candace, timidly, glancing
at Mrs. Gray.</p>
<p>"That will be very nice," said her cousin.
"Cannie has not been on the water yet. It
is a new pleasure for her. At four o'clock,
you said, Mrs. Joy?"</p>
<p>"Yes, dear, at four. And don't trouble to
send down for the girls. It's impossible to
tell exactly when they will get in, as it depends
on the wind, and Berry will have the
beach-wagon, and can bring them all up as
well as not. Good-by, dear." And Mrs.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</SPAN></span>
Joy sailed toward her carriage, where the
two girls were already seated.</p>
<p>"I've asked that Miss Arden who's staying
with the Grays to go out sailing with you
to-morrow," she said, as she took her seat.
"You'll want another gentleman, Berry."</p>
<p>"Oh, mamma, what <i>did</i> you do that for?
She's the pokiest little thing. We didn't
want her at all."</p>
<p>"Well, Mrs. Gray introduced her, and said
she was almost her niece, and I thought it
seemed to be expected. Mrs. Gray is always
polite to our visitors, you know, and I don't
like to seem to slight any of hers. What's
the matter with the girl?"</p>
<p>"Oh, nothing's the matter, only she's poky,
and doesn't seem to fit in somehow. You
would understand if you had seen her the
day she came. Mrs. Gray has dressed her up,
as you might be sure she would; but then
she looked like the backwoods, didn't she,
Ethel?"</p>
<p>"She seemed nice-appearing enough to-day.
You'll have to make the best you can<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</SPAN></span>
of it, I guess; for Mrs. Gray accepted for
her."</p>
<p>"It doesn't really signify," said Berry, discontentedly;
"only it throws the party all
out of shape. And she's younger than any
of the rest, only just seventeen, Georgie says.
She'd a great deal better stay at home with
Marian."</p>
<p>It was fortunate that Candace did not guess
how unwelcome her company was to the getters-up
of the party, for the idea of the sail
was most delightful to her. She had never
been out in a boat in her life, not even on the
smallest pond; and she had just discovered
the strong fascination of the sea. She longed
to get nearer to it, to know it better; and in
her innocent little heart she thought, "How
very kind it was in Mrs. Joy to invite me."</p>
<p>Sunday was always a particularly pleasant
day at the Grays'. Mrs. Gray was wont to
declare that though she did not believe in the
Jewish Sabbath, she did with all her heart
believe in the Christian day of rest; and she
took pains to make it a happy one for all<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</SPAN></span>
under her roof. She gave her servants as
much liberty as she could, simplified their
work, and provided a plenty of good reading
for such of them as stayed at home. Her
own time was much more at the service of
her family than it could be on ordinary days.
She always took a walk with the girls in the
cool of the afternoon, if the day were pleasant,
and kept some book of a thoughtful kind to
read aloud in the evenings. This Sunday it
happened to be that wonderful little prose
poem of Mrs. Oliphant's, "A Beleaguered
City." Cannie found it absorbingly interesting,
and even Mr. Gray laid aside his newspaper
and listened to the very end.</p>
<p>The reading done, Candace found a chance
to ask her question about George Berkeley,
Bishop of Cloyne, the donor of the organ.
There was a story about him, as it turned out,
and a very interesting one. Mrs. Gray told
how, when Dean of Derry in Ireland, the
project of establishing a college in Bermuda
for the education of English boys and of Indian
youths to act as missionaries to their own<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</SPAN></span>
people, had taken possession of his mind; and
he had given up his preferment, and crossed
the sea with his family to engage in this
chosen work. She described their landing in
Newport on a Sunday morning when everybody
was at church, and how the clergyman
stopped in the middle of his sermon, and with
all his congregation following him, hurried
down to the water-side to receive the distinguished
guest. She promised to take Candace
out some day to see Whitehall,—the house
which he built on the island, and in which he
lived for some years, till the impossibility of
carrying out his scheme for Bermuda drove
him back again to Ireland; and also the rocky
shelf still called "Bishop Berkeley's Rock,"
where he is said to have composed the lines
which begin</p>
<div class="blockquot"><p>"Westward the course of empire takes its way."</p>
</div>
<p>Then she looked up a photograph from Smibert's
picture of Dean Berkeley and his family
to show them, and by that time the girls had
all grown interested; and when Marian said<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</SPAN></span>
that she, too, wanted to go to see Whitehall,
Georgie and Gertrude begged to be included
also, and Mrs. Gray promised to take them all.</p>
<p>"One of the Dean's little children is buried
in Trinity churchyard, Cannie," she ended;
"you can look up the stone some day. It
has 'Lucia Berkeley' carved upon it."</p>
<p>"I should like to," said Cannie. "It has
been so nice to hear about him. How many
interesting things have happened in Newport!
I shall care a great deal more about
that funny little organ, next Sunday."</p>
<hr style="width: 45%;" />
<p>Newport Harbor shone all blue and silver
in the sun, as the party stepped on board the
cat-boat "Cornelia" at sharp four on Monday
afternoon. Mrs. Fred Allen, a tall, graceful
brunette, seemed as much of a girl as any of
the party which she was nominally to "matronize;"
but "she <i>was</i> married though she
didn't look it," as Berry Joy remarked, and
so was qualified to fill the place. There was
a fair wind, which sent the boat smoothly
along with little or no motion as they glided<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</SPAN></span>
past the long sunken shoal off the end of
Goat Island, and opened the view of Brenton's
Cove, with the wreck of the old slaver lying
in the deep shadow under one bank, opposite
the ribs of the other stranded bark; while
from beyond in the laughing bay, white-winged
boats flitted to and fro, and seemed
to beckon and make tempting signals to the
poor defeated barks who might never sail
or enjoy the sea again. Candace ventured
to ask Gertrude in a whisper, "What are
those?"</p>
<p>"Oh, only some old wrecks," replied Gertrude,
carelessly; and she turned from Candace
to talk to Tom Joy, who sat next to
her.</p>
<p>The "Cornelia" was now running on the
favoring wind between Fort Adams and the
Conanicut shore. On one hand lay Newport,
which looked like a dream city in the soft
shine of the afternoon; on the other was the
long hill line of the island, green with grasses,
except where broken now and then by rocky
cliffs, and indented with innumerable little<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</SPAN></span>
coves and inlets,—some ending in strips of
pebbly beach, others in stony shelves overhung
by sea-weeds. The water was beautiful
in color,—here pale flashing green, there purple
in the shadow, with gleams of golden light
and a low reach of shimmering blue toward
the horizon. On sped the boat till they could
almost touch the ledges. The rounded outline
of the old fortification on the upper hill
towered above their heads. Then suddenly
she curved and wheeled off on the other
tack, with the sharp line of Castle Hill and
the Agassiz Point full in view.</p>
<p>Candace gazed with delighted eyes to left
and right. Her mind was full of questions,
but there seemed no one of whom she could
ask them. Georgie and Berry were perched
on the extreme point of the bow, with a
young man stretched at their feet. Mrs. Fred
was on the cabin roof amidships, with quite a
little court of girls and young men about her.
The couples who sat opposite and beside her
seemed quite absorbed in each other. No
one had spoken to Candace since the first<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</SPAN></span>
introductions, and she was too shy to open
a conversation with anybody.</p>
<p>"How I wish I knew!" she sighed to herself,
half aloud.</p>
<p>Looking up, she met the shrewd, twinkling
eyes of the Captain. Perhaps he had
caught the words, for he asked encouragingly,
"Did you speak, Miss?"</p>
<p>"No," said Candace, "I don't think I spoke.
But I was wondering about that—that—<i>thing</i>
up there," pointing to the Fort.</p>
<p>"That? That's Fort Dumpling, as folks
call it. It is a kind of a queer old place,
ain't it? They don't use it now for no war
purposes, but it makes a pretty p'int in the
landscape, and folks go there for picnics and
such in the summer season."</p>
<p>"When was it built?" asked Candace,
charmed to find somebody able and willing
to satisfy her curiosity.</p>
<p>"Wa'al, I reckon it was about 1812, when
we was a-tackling the British for the last
time. 'Tain't very much of a fort to look at;
but if you was to mount some of them powerful<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</SPAN></span>
guns they make now on the walls, them
and the others over at Fort Adams yonder
would protect the channel pretty well. The
shot'd reach clear across. Why, you hardly
think it perhaps, but not more'n four or five
years ago, there was some folks who had
come on a kind of an excursion, taking their
lunches up there by Fort Dumpling, and
some soldiers was firing at a long-range target
over there to Fort Adams, and one of the
balls came over and hit a young lady."</p>
<p>"How dreadful!" said Candace, her eyes
measuring the long distance between the two
points. "And it seems so far away. I suppose
the young lady felt perfectly safe. I
am sure I should have. Did it kill her?"</p>
<p>"Oh, no! they thought at first it had, but
it didn't turn out so bad as was expected.
The soldiers, they felt mighty mean, I expect.
You see, they didn't intend a mite of harm
to her or anybody; but it just shows how far
them big guns carry now-a-days. A war-ship
now, unless she was some kind of a monitor
or that, would stand a fair chance of being<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</SPAN></span>
stove and sent to the bottom before she could
get in to attack Newport."</p>
<p>"What a fanny little house that is close
down to the water!" remarked Candace, looking
off to the opposite shore.</p>
<p>"That's Professor Agassiz's laboratory.
Do y' see that kind of a cove which sets in
there near by the building, and a little black
thing sticking up out of it? That's the pipe
of his steam-launch. He and the rest go out
in it and dredge for fish and such like, and
then they experiment on them inside."</p>
<p>"What do they do that for?" asked Candace.</p>
<p>"Wa'al, they want to find out about 'em,
I reckon. I was in there once and saw them
at work, but I couldn't make nothing out of
it, and there wasn't anybody I could ask."</p>
<p>"Oh, what is that?" cried Candace, as the
"Cornelia," tacking again, opened one of the
little bays on the south end of Conanicut,
where a small steam vessel was lying. Two
boats, which seemed to belong to her, were
rowing in a parallel line with each other,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</SPAN></span>
and behind them appeared a long line of
bobbing points which she could not at all
understand.</p>
<p>"That's one of the fishing steamers, and
the boats are drawing her nets," explained
the Captain. "Didn't you ever see a seine
drawn before? Wa'al, I declare! I'm mighty
glad we happened just in time, for it's a cur'us
spectacle. I guess we'll kind of hang about
till they get the nets in, and then I'll take the
'Cornelia' up near enough for you to see."</p>
<p>"Captain, there are the seine-boats out,"
called Tom Joy at the same moment. "Let's
sail up and see what they've caught."</p>
<p>The two boats began to near each other
as they reached the limits of the long elliptical
curves which made their course; and
presently a great number of scintillating
specks were seen in the space enclosed between
them. There were the leaping fish,
just conscious that they were crowded into
a confined place, and desirous of escape.
When they were quite close to one another,
the boats turned and began to row for the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</SPAN></span>
steamer. The "Cornelia" followed; and the
Captain with a twist of the tiller threw her
into the wind just beyond the great net, which
by that time was being rapidly hauled in.</p>
<p>It was a wonderful thing to see,—the heavy
mass of floundering fishes pouring over into
the steamer's hold. Thousands and thousands
of quivering silvery shapes of all kinds,
from the fat, oily-bodied menhaden, to weird
horned monsters with gaping mouths, and
strange, half-translucent blocks like jelly, which
seemed to have no mouths at all. Large and
small, pinky white, black, blue,—in they
poured. Now and then some fish more lucky
than his fellows would splash over the side
of the net and escape to liberty and the
deep sea; now and then a fisherman with a
sudden dash of his hand would single out a
specimen choicer than the rest, a blue-fish,
a chicken cod, or a sea-bass.</p>
<p>The little company in the sail-boat shared
all the excitement of the catch. The young
men left their flirtations for the boat's side,
where they could get a better view. A great<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</SPAN></span>
deal of chaff went on between Captain Davis
and the captain of the menhaden steamer.
Tom Joy amused himself by bargaining for
blue-fish, and actually bought three big flapping
specimens for a dollar and a quarter.
They were deposited on the bottom of the
"Cornelia," where they leaped painfully up
and down, while the girls retreated for refuge
to the upper deck, till Captain Davis at last
caught the fish and stowed them away in his
little cabin. It was not till the last loop of
the seine was emptied, the last fish secured,
and the boats were making ready for another
cast, that the "Cornelia" finally glided away;
and by that time a soft crimson glow had gathered
in the west and the sun was nearing the
horizon edge. The wind blew more freshly
now, and with a zest and coolness which it
had not had earlier in the afternoon.</p>
<p>Captain Davis pointed out to Candace the
light-ship anchored in the offing between
Point Judith and Brenton's Reef, and told
her how the men who lived on board of
her did not see a face from land for weeks<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</SPAN></span>
together sometimes, when winds were stormy
and waves rough. Candace listened eagerly.
The rest of the party had gone back to their
old places, but there was not so much chatter
now. The dreamy influences of the hour
were felt by every one. Dick Foster was
quoting Tennyson in a low voice to pretty
Julia Prime. Berry Joy and Georgie still
kept up a fitful conversation with their cavalier;
but Gertrude had grown silent, and Tom
Joy was whistling softly to himself, with his
eyes fixed on the sunset.</p>
<p>The "Cornelia" sped silently seaward.
Suddenly they were in the shadow of a deep
cove at the very end of Conanicut; and close
by them rose out of the sea an immense square
table of rock, over which, still as it was, the
surge was constantly flinging showers of white
spray. The whole top of this rock was black
with large sea-birds. Candace had never imagined
such a sight. The birds seemed crowding
each other on every inch of space. Each
moment some of them would rise, wheel in
air with wild cries and screams, and then<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</SPAN></span>
settle again to dispute for room, while the
seething foam splashed over them; and the
incessant flutter of their wings, the dashing
spray, and the long wash of waves at the base
of the rock gave to their place of refuge the
effect of movement, so that it seemed to sway
and float in the sea.</p>
<p>"Oh, what a wonderful place!" cried Candace.
"Such big birds, and so many of them,—what
do you call them, Captain?"</p>
<p>"Wa'al, they're mostly cormorants and
gulls, I reckon. That's what we call them
down to Newport. They ain't no good for
eating, so they don't get shot; and they
do increase powerfully, though it seems to
me I never did see quite so many on the
Kettle Bottom before as this afternoon."</p>
<p>"Is that the name of the rock?"</p>
<p>"Yes, the Kettle Bottom Rock; that's
what it's called. It's a queer place. There
was a painter here last summer, and he
made a picter of it, with them birds all
flying over it, which folks said was as like
as like."<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>The line of hotels on Narragansett Beach
was now plainly in sight. They were almost
off Beaver Tail, and the sea was rougher.</p>
<p>"Captain, we may as well put about," said
Tom Joy. "The sun's going down, and
there's rather more motion hereabouts than
the ladies like."</p>
<p>So they put about and sped harborward,
helped by the tide which was now running
swiftly in. Frank Rivington began to sing
in a mellow tenor voice little barcarolles and
Venetian boat-songs, which were full of a
measured rhythmic movement like oar-strokes
and the beat of waves. The pink in the west
deepened after the sun went down to a vivid
orange red, and flamed higher and higher till
the zenith caught the glow; and a little crescent
moon, which was climbing up, swung
like a tiny silver boat on a crimson tide. It
was all like a dream, to which the noiseless
speed of the boat offered no interruption.</p>
<p>"Good-night, Captain," said Candace, gently,
as the "Cornelia" touched the wharf, at
the upper end of which the carriages were<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</SPAN></span>
waiting for them. "I'm so much obliged to
you for telling me all about the things."</p>
<p>"You're welcome, I'm sure," replied the
hearty Captain. "It's been nothing but a
pleasure so far as I'm concerned. Hope I
may take you out sailing again, Miss."</p>
<p>"Oh, I hope so. I think sailing is lovely."</p>
<p>"Good-by, Miss Arden. I hope you have
enjoyed it," said Mrs. Allen, as she was borne
off by her husband. It was the sole remark
addressed by the "matron" of the party to
the little stranger under her care during
that afternoon; but Candace had not felt
neglected.</p>
<p>"Oh, yes; very much, thank you," she
replied. Tom Joy, who had waked up to
the sense that "the little girl in the red hat"
had not had much attention paid her on the
sail, tried to get up a conversation as the
beach-wagon climbed the hill; but Candace
had but little small talk at her command, and
they did not get on very fluently.</p>
<p>"I've had a lovely time, Miss Joy," she
said shyly, as they were set down at home.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>"I'm sure I'm glad. Good-night, Miss
Arden." And that was all the notice which
Berenice Joy took of her youngest guest,
beyond the necessary good-afternoon when
they first met on the wharf.</p>
<p>Candace was too unexacting, and too much
accustomed to think of herself as a child to
whom no particular attention was due, to
realize or resent being treated with this scant
courtesy. She told Cousin Kate about the
sail and the seine steamer, and all the Captain's
tales and explanations, with a glow of
enjoyment which surprised Gertrude, and perhaps
pricked her conscience somewhat; for
that night, at hair-brushing time, she surprised
Georgie by the observation, "After all, Cannie
is quite a sweet little thing."</p>
<p>"So she is, sweet enough; but what makes
you think of it just now?"</p>
<p>"Why, we rather left her out this afternoon,
I am afraid. Hardly anybody said a
word to her, except the Captain. It was
rude enough of Berry, for it was her party;
but I think it was worse for us. Any other<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</SPAN></span>
girl would have been hurt and cross, and
showed it; but Cannie never seemed to mind
a bit, and enjoyed everything, and was just
as nice and pleasant as if she had been the
belle of the party."</p>
<p>"Well, it <i>was</i> too bad," said Georgie, penitently.
"I never thought about it, and I
sat ever so far off from her, and Arnold
Foster was so funny—in fact, I forgot Cannie.
I took it for granted that she was being
entertained, somehow."</p>
<p>"I'm afraid both of us find it pretty easy
to forget Cannie," remarked Gertrude. "Well,
I shall try to do better another time."</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</SPAN></span></p>
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