The Opened Shutters: A Novel

by Clara Louise Burnham

  CHAPTER XXII

  BLUEBERRYING

  Benny was still unfurling his sail when his party came down to thefloating dock the next morning.

  Dunham was laden with lunch boxes, pails, and sweaters, and Bennylooked somewhat darkly upon him as his laugh rang out in reply to aspeech of his companions.

  "I was givin' ye half an hour more," said the boy, as they greeted him."Ye usually"--

  "Don't betray me that way, Benny," interrupted Edna. "I'll have toconfess, though, that this promptness is all owing to Mr. Dunham. Hehas pursued and hurried us since eight o'clock."

  "I've traveled on my virtuous early rising up to the present moment,"remarked Dunham; "but now I'll confess that I wasn't so crazy over thesunrise as I was at it. It was a very unwelcome pageant in my room at 3A.M."

  "Oh, surely!" exclaimed Edna sympathetically. "Those cruelly lightwindows."

  "Did you ever try a black stocking?" asked Sylvia earnestly.

  "Well--occasionally," replied Dunham, regarding his feet.

  "I mean on your eyes."

  "No. Is that the latest? I'm from the country."

  "People talk about sunshine in a shady place," said Sylvia. "I thinkshade in a sunny place is quite as important. Always put a blackstocking under your pillow when you go to sleep in a blindless room.The light wakes you, you draw the stocking across your eyes,--and offyou go again."

  "Yes, but supposing the stocking does the same?" objected Dunham.

  The girls laughed, much to Benny's disapproval.

  "You shouldn't toss around so, then," said Edna.

  "That isn't kind," remarked John. "Benny, I trust there is somethingblack on board to draw across these lunch boxes. It is one hundred inthe refrigerator on this dock."

  Benny took the lunch stolidly, and stowed it under cover.

  He considered Mr. Dunham an entirely superfluous member of this party.

  "He's the freshest lobster ever I see," was his mental comment. "Iwonder which of 'em he's sweet on?"

  The passengers jumped aboard.

  "Guess I'll save you the trouble of sailing her, eh, Benny?" askedJohn.

  "You better guess again," drawled the boy, returning to his place andtaking possession of the ropes. "I've got to take care of Miss Edna."

  "Oh, Benny," said the girl gently, "you know this is Mr. Dunham'svacation."

  "Hadn't ought to work in his vacation," returned Benny doggedly.

  John was standing undecidedly looking down at him. There was an evidentand large thunder cloud across Benny's brow.

  "Why the grouch?" asked John _sotto voce_, looking down at Edna. "Is itchronic?"

  "There are monsters in this deep, John, with green eyes," she repliedmysteriously, smiling. "They're tamable when young, though. Sit down awhile."

  "He don't know nawthin' 'bout these ledges, does he?" asked Bennydefensively.

  "No," replied Edna. "That's right. You get us by the ledgy places andout into the middle of the Sound, and then Mr. Dunham will take her."

  "Oh, I don't know," remarked John, dropping down in the boat with asigh of content as the sail filled and they glided forward. "I don'tknow that I want anything better than this." He leaned against thegunwale and regarded Sylvia, who was sitting beside the mast. Themorning stars shone in her eyes. "Miss Sylvia looks as if she agreedwith me," he added.

  She smiled and glanced away. Neither of these two suspected that shewas a spell-bound maiden skimming over the blue waves in an enchantedshallop to some blest island, where waited a magical berry that wouldset her free. How should they understand that this holiday picnic wasin reality a pilgrimage.

  John continued to look at her. He wondered if Nat knew what he hadlost.

  "A penny for your thoughts, Miss Sylvia," he said after a minute.

  She shook her head at him. "This isn't bargain day," she returned.

  "Are they that precious?"

  "They're priceless," she answered.

  "Really no use bidding?"

  "Not the slightest." Sylvia looked off again.

  "Well, one thing about them I know without paying. You've given itaway."

  "What's that?"

  "They're happy."

  "Oh, yes." The girl smiled. How impossible it would be for either ofher companions to conceive the cause of her happiness. They need notlack one day that which she had craved for weeks.

  As they sailed on, Benny Merritt's stolid eyes glanced from time totime toward Edna. He was guiltily aware that they had passed thevicinity of dangerous ledges. The most uncomfortable feature of thesituation was that he knew Miss Derwent to be equally aware of it.

  "If he was to sail, I don't know what they brought me fer," hereflected gloomily.

  He did know that it was necessary for some one to watch the boat andkeep her off the rocks while the others were ashore, but Benny's eldershave been known thus to fence with facts.

  Edna caught his roving glance at last and raised her browsquestioningly.

  "Well," said the boy reluctantly, "I s'pose Mr. Dunham can sail now ifhe wants to."

  The manner in which John received the sullen permission reminded Ednaof many a past occasion when her friend had not contented himself withgetting what he wanted, but managed to transform reluctance into grace.

  "Dangerous coast around the island, is it, Benny?" asked John withoutmoving.

  "How do ye mean?"

  "Treacherous. Hidden rocks to look out for and all that?"

  "Not now. Ye could set a church, steeple an' all, where we are now."

  "Do you carry a chart?"

  "Yes, fer Miss Edna. I never look at it."

  "Is it much trouble to get at it?" John rose as he spoke, and came overto the sailor, taking a place beside him.

  "Dunno as it is," vouchsafed Benny. "It's in the locker." With somefurther hesitation he allowed John to take the sail, and proceeded torummage for the chart, which he shortly produced.

  "Now let's have a look at this," said Dunham, giving back the boat intoBenny's hands, but remaining beside him as he spread the chart out onhis knees.

  Edna could see that he was making comments and asking questions whichBenny answered with increasing detail, and she turned to Sylvia with asmile.

  "That is so characteristic."

  "What?"

  "Why, John wants to sail this boat; but he won't do it till he's madeBenny fall in love with him. So few men would care, or even notice,whether Benny liked it or not; but John was never content with merelygetting his own way."

  Sylvia looked at the speaker wistfully. "Do you admire it in him?" sheasked.

  Edna smiled. "Well, I like it at all events. The result is soagreeable. You'll see him sail this boat home while Benny chaperons himwith all the pride of a doting guardian."

  "It makes him very fascinating to people, I suppose," said Sylvia.

  "Oh, yes. John has all sorts of equipment for that purpose."

  "And does he--does he think right?" asked Sylvia timidly.

  "I believe he doesn't look at things from our standpoint exactly, buthis nature is fine. I used to consider that it was his vanity thatdemanded approval of everybody he had dealings with, but it seems to menow more like an instinctive desire to create a right atmosphere. Whyshould he care to win Benny Merritt?"

  "Perhaps he wants to borrow his boat," replied Sylvia naively.

  Edna's clear laugh rang out.

  "I see you won't let me make a hero of him," she said.

  "Oh, I will, I will!" exclaimed Sylvia earnestly, coloring. "Only youwere speaking of his having his own way, and I wondered if--if he wasjust as charming to people when he wasn't trying to get it."

  "Ah, that would put him on a pedestal, wouldn't it?" replied Ednamischievously. "Let's watch him, and see."