Harold Titus

“ Eldred went on. “Looked in their window at night—three years afterward. She—your mother—was putting their child in bed—their child—his child, by her—his Eve. And she was happy! Ah, happy!” His voice had whined up to a snarl which sent a chill through the girl's limbs. “Happy, with his child—and with him— God Aldmighty, a fool could have told” that! A fool could have seen that happiness—she with him—and his child——”
His eyes blazed a moment, and then he closed them.
“It's a short passage from loving to hating, Eve—little Eve—my Eve! I've been a good hater always; women and men both knew it. ”

“ What had he done to Eve? What was this terrible thing he had brought upon her? For it must be terrible—else that woman would never have looked like that.
He found himself walking slowly down the path to the dock, and when, once aboard his boat and under way again, he reached to drag a stool so he might sit as he wheeled, his movements were those of a man who is very weary, whose heart is gone.
ELDRED had watched David go into the darkness of the night before with anger in his eyes, but after a moment a sort of elation came to replace it. ”

“ She—your mother—said that she knew it; that was the reason—one reason— And I, Edward Lasker, outside, peering in at that happiness. God, if I'd had a conscience, it wouldn't have stood before that—that night!” He swallowed and caressed his lips with his tongue. “So easy,” he went on. “So very easy—and unique. That was why. You'd never suspect that—would you, Dimmock? You'd never suspect a man would steal the child of a woman who'd broken his heart, would you? No—that saved it for me. Unique, by God—different! Killed him? Killed her? ”

“ Things have happened lately to make—to drain a man's patience. It can't go on; you can't play with the fire as MacKinnon has done.
“He hit me hard. I'll admit that to you, Red Jenny, because any of my secrets would be safe with the wife of Ned Borden. I've been hungry for days—hungry as I never knew a man could hunger. There's been nothing in life—not even rest—nothing but haunting shadows and jeering voices and thought of Eve yonder—gone from me. ”

“ On the wall of the boiler-house a clock ticked and a small lever functioned to send the velvety bass voice of the fog-whistle in a five-second bellow down the wind to warn those mariners who could not see the light in this murk; silence for twenty seconds, except for wind and rain and the surf running on the gravel; another blast, then silence for twice the former period.
Nothing was in sight on the lake, though she strained her eyes to see. A light burned in the keeper's dwelling, where Ned lay sleeping. ”

“ In a skiff this morning——”
The man looked at her sharply and would have spoken again, but a murmur from Eldred attracted him. The four looked at the dying man.
“Eve”—a mere breath of the word—“Eve.” The fingers of the outstretched hand moved, a suggestion of a beckoning gesture. “Come close. Ah, Eve, don't hate me—don't hate me!” And in the feeble voice, an echo of the ironical strength it had once possessed, was tragedy—stark, utter tragedy, the cry of a broken heart.
The girl stood above him, shrinking, eyes filled with terror. The sheriff stepped close to her. ”

“ That old man! Eldred—his coming yesterday—her panic at thought of his power—her suffering when she knew that David had been— These, and others—the undefined distress that was on her now. She sat still for a long time, then rowed again and stopped. She did not want to go ashore. The light motion of the boat soothed her. Now and then she dipped the oars to overcome the drift and, when the sun grew hot, she dozed. The wall of mirage in the west gave way to a sharp horizon; the freighters were out of sight, their smoke a faint blur. ”

“ Bah! Anybody could have done that; but to steal their happiness— That hurt!”
He was looking straight at Eve, but if he detected her horror and recoil, he gave no evidence of it.
“It wasn't easy—you squawked.” He laughed grimly. “They had the town out, and it was a blow from the north. I tried the beach and knew I couldn't make it, carrying you. I came on a boat hauled up; I got in and afloat—blowing great guns, and I didn't have a plan and only one oar. But I didn't care—not much. There was nothing in life for me that night but the stealing of their happiness. ”

“ Eldred beat upon it with both fists and cried out, but no response came. He listened and heard heavy feet on the tower stairs. He moved down the steps and looked up ward. The red of the sunset was gone, having endured but that passing moment, but up above another red appeared, as if the crimson of the west had been caught and preserved and focused by the lens in the tower. ”

“ WHEN Eve Eldred fled in the dark night from High Island and—as she supposed—the brutality of David MacKinnon, the whole structure of faith she had reared in a few eventful days crumbled away. The coming of David to Garden Island, one of the Beaver group in Lake Michigan, where he sought shelter for his trading hooker from a storm, meant that the lonely girl had at last found a friend. Years she had lived there with her father, “King Norman” Eldred, surrounded only by rough men—“the scum of the lakes,” who help him in his fishing industry. ”

“ The pause was long enough to indicate to the girl that her coming meant something to those two people of which she was not aware—the pause and the look on the man's face, and that shudder of the woman. But Jen was the first to speak.
“Ned, the Lord's sent this girl to us to escape the devil and a passel of his works.”
The keeper looked at her searchingly for a moment, and Jen caught her breath. Then he smiled gravely and said:
“There's worse places, I guess. Glad you're here”—to Eve. “What's ours belongs to those who need it.” ”

“ He was close in, and a man was standing on the beach, watching him through a glass. For long the glass held on the boat, and then it was lowered. The hand which held it went behind Eldred's back to be clasped lightly by its mate, and he stood, shoulders slightly drooped, head hung forward.
On that gesture, the man at the tiller straightened. It was not a start; he brought himself to an approximately erect position slowly, as a man will into whose understanding dawns some fact too important to cause a start. ”

“ His words penetrated Eve's panic. The earnestness of his face could not be doubted, but for a moment she did not cease rowing. The boat was close beside her. She could have touched it with an oar. She saw the man at the motor peering out at her, and in his eyes was that same consternation which marked the expression of the other. ”

“ They were heading across toward Beaver Island shortly, standing side by side at the wheel of the boat, a new excitement about Jen, a new enthusiasm in Ned's face.
“It's our job, sure enough,” he said. “We're the ones who know; we'll have to get that boy if we follow him to kingdom come. And Eve—Lord, Jenny, it's another part of our job trying to make up to her for what she's been through.” ”

“ Eve lowered her head, and her assent was little more than a whisper.
“Looky here, dearie; the Lord didn't give women a tongue for nothing; he didn't give ears to folks who understand the trouble of others for nothing, either. You ain't got any cause to worry about your father now that you're here—safe with us. Just you forget him—or leave him to me.” She took Eve's hand in hers and the girl turned a slow gaze to her face. “It's him that makes you this way, ain't it?” Jen urged. ”

“ Jen Borden emerged, a keeper's cap askew on her graying hair, a shotgun in her hands. She stood on the platform with one hand on the railing, looking down at the amazed Eldred.
“I've got enough on you now to put you away for a long time, Eldred, and there's something besides cowardice in my heart to-night,” she said grimly. “The government don't fool with men who fool with lights. ”

“ Too late! Yes—I can admit being wrong. That's why I humbled myself—because I'd been wrong. I humbled myself for Eve and to that trader—that spittle! Does that indicate love to you, when I'd go crawling to him—when I could bargain with him so nothing wrong could happen to her?
“Why, I offered to buy her back, offered him the price of his hooker which burned in my harbor if he'd give her back.” He laughed sharply. “He thought Eve had a hand in that little trick, thought she lured him away from his boat, and I let him go on thinking it. ”

“ The one for High Island passed the lighthouse supply-boat as it left the harbor, while the last bore down upon the skiff drifting off Squaw Island, and the man at the wheel saw the girl who had been dozing start and look up and grasp her oars and row frantically for the light. He opened the pilot-house door and hung out and rang for the motor to stop as he drew near. ”

“ Her hand felt for his, and he gripped it and looked down into her face and then out across the harbor.
“Somehow, we'll get her rebuilt,” he said gently, and she knew he spoke of the Annabelle, his hooker that Eldred had burned to the water's edge. “We'll rebuild her and fit her out, and then we'll go, just you and I, wherever the wind takes us—Georgian Bay, the St. Lawrence, Superior and the Pictured Rocks. Wherever the wind or our fancy takes us, Eve—you and I alone, in a hooker that's a lady! ”

“ It's somebody else's right to know first. O God, put some starch into my heart!” She lifted her one hand and struck the back of the chair feebly. “Strength is what I need, and faith, and a little Christian trust.” She shook off Eve's reassuring clasp on her hand and moved across the room. “They'd ought to be back before long,” she said huskily, “and mebbe to-night—and mebbe to-morrow——”
She began to cry silently, and Eve did not move or speak, but stood there until Jen made a light and began to prepare the meal. ”

“ A man can't. I know! I tried all sorts of things—women and work, and crime, even; but a man can't—not things like that—in here. Eve, in your heart. A hurt in your heart makes this I've got in my body to-day seem like balm. No—a man can't.
“I had to go back, you see; I had to see her again. I hoped maybe she'd have tired of Wetherby. ”

“ Over at High Island the lighthouse supply-boat was docked, and Gam Gallagher, who had just brought his Kittiwake in behind her, stood on deck, talking to Borden and his wife.
“He was goin' to Charlevoix on the first tug,” he said thoughtfully. “It's likely he's gone by now.”
Jen turned abruptly to her husband as though she would speak, but she did not for a moment; then her words came in a whisper:
“He's running away. He's running away and he's got a darned big start, Ned. What'll we do?” ”

“ There's only one thing to do when your heart talks. You'll go to him—that's what you'll do. It's all you can do, dearie. Nothing else would be right or fair. He had every reason under the sun to hate you and hurt you, and yet he protected you, and it was a dirty, low trick that made you think he wasn't honest to the core. ”

“ Very little, indeed, was said until the supply-boat chugged to its berth, and then Jen told of Eldred's coming, of driving him off, but she spoke no word of the factors which had so distressed her, and not once did she look at Eve.
THAT night, David MacKinnon sat beside Gam Gallagher's wood-stove in St. James and smoked his pipe and talked in short sentences that seemed to hurt.
“I don't like to leave you flat. You can get Patrick, and he'll do as well as I could; the heavy work's done there, anyhow, and—it's my move.”
His smile was strained. The older man smoked a while in silence. ”

“ Jen watched is a moment, and then turned back to the boiler, closed the door and sat down in a wooden chair.
“Oh dear!” she murmured. “I'm glad it's thick. Sewing's a poor excuse for needful work when a body's head's as full as mine.”
She sighed again and, though she sat still in the chair, her hands fidgeted slowly.
Monday night she had been at her sewing-machine until morning, and Tuesday, following her return from High Island, she had driven it steadily. ”