Morley Roberts

“ There was that in his face which answered, for no man looks like Drury who believes in the death of her he has loved, nor does he go with so light a step to his boat upon the beach.
John called to Simon, who stood a little apart, and said, “Simon, ’tis not true—she’s not dead. That lying Deborah has spoken to Drury, and he’s gone away with a bright face. Look!—look!”
And as they looked, Drury thrust off, and hoisted the sail, and waved to them joyfully as he sent his boat out into the weather tide which came in powerfully through St. Helen’s Pool and set down to the south-east. ”

“ Aye, and this week, my maid, you'll be a wife.”
“Let it be so,” said Judith. “We shall see. You’re a strong man, but there are stronger; and still a young man, but there are younger.”
And Simon laughed uneasily, and went away. But thus he had courted her, even before she had known the man she loved.
Nevertheless, that she did not hear from Tom Drury troubled her greatly, and when Deborah went over to St. Mary’s that morning, she bade her ask about him and find out whether there was any truth in what Simon said. That night, when Deborah came back, she brought the tale. ”

“ And with it she put food, for there was water on the island. In her secret place she made a bed, and covered it, making all things secret. The tide was strong against her as she rowed home, but it seemed a sign to her that she was strong and overcame it.
She said when she came back, “Now it is done, whether Tom comes now or later. I’ll never be home again after to-morrow till I have my own home; and if old Simon comes in the morning, I’ll be sweet to him.” ”

“ Nevertheless, as soon as she was away from him, his fears returned. “If Drury comes,” said Simon, “I’ll kill him.”
As the day drew to its close he still walked the beach in sight of the farm, and Judith saw him, sometimes with pity and sometimes with anger; for he did not trust her, and she knew it. When the time came for him to go back to St. Mary’s he did not return, but sent away the man who had brought him. And he took his gun out of the boat and put it in John Trenear’s boat, which lay handy. ”

“ She was a good woman, and a good mother.”
“I could be all that,” said Judith.
That afternoon Simon came across from St. Mary’s in another man’s boat, purposing to return in the late evening. He came up to Trenear’s farm and spoke to him. “How’s the maid, John?” he asked.
“As they all are,” said her father, “a bit wild and strange. A man must take the women so, Simon. Some are hard to win, and the hardest to win often make the best wives.”
“Has she spoken to you again of this Drury?” asked Simon. ”

“ Presently he saw him lower his sail and drive the boat ashore in a little sandy cove on the south-west of Tean, and still Drury was minutes behind him. He saw him jump ashore, carrying his gun in his hand, and then he saw Judith rise from the grass of the little topmost hill in the island and run towards Simon with her hands outstretched, and he wondered. He saw her go up to the man almost as if she loved him, and take him by the arm as it were to plead with him ”

“ She swam half-way to the opening between the western point of Tean and the northern part of the little Old Man, and then landed and ran back, white and naked, along the shore, and dried herself and clad herself again. ”