Bram Stoker

“ At such times he was full of passion—desperate and remorseless—and he ground his teeth and clenched his hands in a wild way as though some taint of the Berserker fury of his ancestors still lingered in his blood. On the Thursday of that week he looked in on Sarah and found her, amid a flood of sunshine, putting finishing touches to her white wedding gown. ”

“ All were silent till Sarah, taking her hands from her face, laughed hysterically and said:
"As you two can't make up your minds, I'm going home!" and she turned to go.
"Stop!" said Abel, in an authoritative voice. "Eric, you hold the coin, and I'll cry. Now, before we settle it, let us clearly understand: the man who wins takes all the money that we both have got, brings it to Bristol and ships on a voyage and trades with it. Then he comes back and marries Sarah, and they two keep all, whatever there may be, as the result of the trading. Is this what we understand?" ”

“ Eric was there amongst his fellows. His old Icelandic origin was never more apparent than in that wild hour. He took a rope, and shouted in the ear of the harbor-master:
"I shall go down on the rock over the seal cave. The tide is running up, and some one may drift in there."
"Keep back, man!" came the answer. "Are you mad? One slip on that rock and you are lost: and no man could keep his feet in the dark on such a place in such a tempest!"
"Not a bit," came the reply. "You remember how Abel Behenna saved me there on a night like this when my boat went on the Gull Rock. ”

“ Be back to have your bans up in time to be married on the 11th of April. If you're not, I tell you I shall have my bans up, and you may get back too late."
"What do you mean, Eric? You are mad!"
"No more mad than you are, Abel Behenna. You go, that's your chance! I stay, that's mine! I don't mean to let the grass grow under my feet. Sarah cared no more for you than for me five minutes ago, and she may come back to that five minutes after you're gone! You won by a point only—the game may change."
"The game won't change!" said Abel shortly. "Sarah, you'll be true to me? ”

“ As the year wore on, Sarah became more and more disturbed in her mind. Eric was always at hand to make love to her in his own persistent, masterful manner, and to this she did not object. Only one letter came from Abel, to say that his venture had proved successful, and that he had sent some two hundred pounds to the bank at Bristol, and was trading with fifty pounds still remaining in goods for China, whither the Star of the Sea was bound and whence she would return to Bristol. He suggested that Eric's share of the venture should be returned to him with his share of the profits. ”

“ He perpetually assailed Sarah with an "if!" If Abel did not return, would she then marry him? If the 11th of April went by without Abel being in the port, would she give him over? If Abel had taken his fortune, and married another girl on the head of it, would she marry him, Eric, as soon as the truth were known? And so on in an endless variety of possibilities.
The power of the strong will and the determined purpose over the woman's weaker nature became in time manifest. ”

“ First put your money together—ye've each got a bit put by, I know. Let the lucky man take the lot and trade with it a bit, and then come home and marry her. Neither of ye's afraid, I suppose. And neither of ye'll say that he won't do that much for the girl that ye both say ye love."
Abel broke the silence:
"It don't seem the square thing to toss for the girl. She wouldn't like it herself, and it doesn't seem respectful-like to her——"
Eric interrupted. He was conscious that his chance was not so good as Abel's, in case Sarah should wish to choose between them:
"Are ye afraid of the hazard?" ”

“ Sarah Trefusis was certainly the prettiest girl in Pencastle, and there was many a young man who would gladly have tried his fortune with her, but that there were two to contend against, and each of these the strongest and most resolute man in the port—except the other. ”

“ He told Michael so himself—and that he had taken a passage on the Lovely Alice to Pencastle. Bear up, man," for Eric had with a groan dropped his head on his knees, with his face between his hands. "He was your old comrade, I know, but you couldn't help him. He must have gone down with the rest that awful night. I thought I'd better tell you, lest it might come some other way, and you might keep Sarah Trefusis from being frightened. They were good friends once, and women take these things to heart. It would not do to let her be pained with such a thing on her wedding day." ”

“ Then he rose and went away, leaving Eric still sitting disconsolately with his head on his knees.
"Poor fellow!" murmured the chief boatman to himself; "he takes it to heart. Well, well! right enough! They were true comrades once, and Abel saved him!"
The afternoon of that day, when the children had left school, they strayed as usual on half -holidays along the quay and the paths by the cliffs. Presently some of them came running in a state of great excitement to the harbor, where a few men were unloading a coal ketch, and a great many were superintending the operation. ”

“ The average young man thought that this was very hard, and on account of it bore no good will to either of the three principals: whilst the average young woman who had, lest worse should befall, to put up with the grumbling of her sweetheart, and the sense of being only second best which it implied, did not either, be sure, regard Sarah with friendly eye. ”

“ Always the man whom she had presumably lost became endowed afresh with a newer and more bountiful crop of advantages than had ever arisen from the possibility of his acceptance. She promised each man that on her birthday she would give him his answer, and that day had now arrived. ”

“ They were all satisfied, so it did not matter, and Sarah, who was vain and somewhat frivolous, took care to have her revenge on both men and women in a quiet way. When a young woman in her "walking out" can only boast one not-quite-satisfied young man, it is no particular pleasure to her to see her escort cast sheep's eyes at a better-looking girl supported by two devoted swains. ”