William John Hopkins

“ The great surges thunder down upon the beach with a continuous roar, stirring up the sand and leaving their foam in mounds which stay but an instant, quivering, then are seized by the wind and are scattered and go racing off before it, so that the whole beach is white, It is glorious. I ride home with an exaltation of spirit. I could do great deeds.
Not that I do any. I don't. As I draw near home I get to thinking again of Betty Bethune, and the exaltation of spirit slips from me like an old cloak. ”

“ But I have observed that this year my course across his hay-field has been kept mowed and the ground well softened, so that it is no more than a bridle-path. The feet of my horse might well keep the ground soft from wall to wall, with his going to and fro upon it several times each day, but that would not account for the take-off on either side of the wall nor for the path through the vegetable-garden which makes it unnecessary for me to deviate a hair's-breadth from a straight line. I suppose it is as easy to make a path in one place as another, but—confound the Honorable Mr. Bethune! ”

“ He glanced at me quickly. "No, no, not badly. She has to be very careful and cannot ride for a time. Not seriously hurt, though. She would be glad to see you, I think, Roger, and so should I—at the house."
"Thank you," I said.
I was still in a sweet temper as I came to the place where I generally tie my horse: behind a high dune which has become overgrown with beach-grass and wild peas and some weed the name of which I do not know, but which bears some resemblance to a diminutive spruce. It also bears fine nettles, which you perceive only when you touch them. ”

“ My house overlooks the harbor, which does very well if one cannot do better, and his the ocean, which does very well indeed—always; and he does not appreciate it. I do not believe he can, although Miss Bethune may. Marvel's Beach is his—the Honorable Mr. Bethune's—and he lets them call it Marvel's without so much as raising a finger or his voice to protest, no doubt snickering to himself with every repetition. I believe that Betty, now—but let us put Betty Bethune out of our minds, as I said at the beginning, and talk of something else. ”

“ One cannot give up the dream of years at a word—without a struggle. At last, having definitely abandoned my dream, I thought of Flossie. I found the thoughts pleasant enough, and I turned my horse and rode home somewhat comforted. ”

“ I wanted only to get away and find Betty. What I should say to her I did not know, either. I had to find her first.
Flossie came to the rescue. Flossie always seemed to come to the rescue.
She took Roger's hand. "Come, Roger dear, you may tire your mother. She is not strong yet, you know."
"Not strong yet," Roger repeated after her, "but you will be when your back is mended, won't you, mother?"
I seized the hint with alacrity, and we wandered off together, all three. We were scarcely out of hearing when I stopped short. ”

“ It was after just such a day as that that I rode my rounds and started for the beach. I lay a straight course for the beach always. To be sure, it takes me across the land of the Honorable Mr. Bethune; over his walls and through the middle of a hay-field and through another field which is his truck-garden, with some berry vines near the wall. I do not know what kind of berries they bear. I have never stopped to look, and my horse always clears them nicely, anyway. ”

“ I do not know how long we were at it, but I know that I devoted a lot of time to toting him up and down the beach—with Flossie on the other side of the horse. I did not see why it was necessary for her to be on the other side—always. My horse is perfectly safe, and I was holding Roger on, anyway. She got a good deal of exercise for a person who has just risen from a sick-bed, for we went the whole length of the beach several times—even to the Life Saving Station—and it is a long way from Barnaby's Head to the Long Stone. ”

“ I was under the impression that you were a giant."
"No, I'm the doctor," he said, surprised at my mistake. "People don't lift up doctors," he added, slowly, in a tone of mild reproof.
"Well, Doctor," I said, "aren't there any sick people who may perhaps need your attention?"
"Flossie," he answered, gravely, "is behind that old house. She is sick."
Flossie was behind the old bath-house, was she? No doubt she had been enjoying my interview.
"Don't you think, Doctor, it is time you went to see Flossie again? I will go with you, if you don't object—to hold your horse, you know." ”

“ They call it Marvel's Beach, but it is not my beach, of course. They call it that from a laudable desire to ridicule, I suppose. Five years ago I should have had that laudable desire if I were accustomed to see a man, not turned thirty, shunning the companionship of his fellow-men and trying to turn hermit; and all this effort at hermiting on account of Betty Bethune, who may not have been worth it, anybody would have said, no doubt. ”

“ They were going out to the little schooner, in spite of having but four men, and they would set her on her way into the harbor if they could.
"You have five men," I said.
"Thank you, Mr. Marvel," he shouted, with a brief smile. "I thought you would."
And I turned my horse loose to wander to his post in the shelter of the dune—or home if he would—and we got the boat out and stood hip-deep in the water, and we waited for the right sea to run out with it. ”

“ There are enough of them to overpower even you, Roger Marvel." She had had her hand behind her, and now she opened a door in the wall. I had not noticed the door. "She is in there. Go, and make your peace with her if you can." She gave me a little push. "I hope you can. Come, Roger, sweetheart." And she shut the door behind me.
I stood by the door for a moment, somewhat dazed. It was a little terrace garden that I was in, and from it you could see the whole stretch of Marvel's Beach, from the Long Stone to Barnaby's Head, now hazy in the distance ”

“ May he always be confounded!" This comforted me somewhat; and we were coming to the take-off, my horse and I, and his stride lengthened a little, and he jumped as I lifted him.
It is a pretty stiff jump, that wall; a good four feet high, and two feet wide on top, with cap-stones that might serve as a table. My horse has always cleared it easily enough, but it is a jump that is like to break my neck some day—which will be no great matter—and my horse's legs, which will matter much. He is a good horse. ”

“ His mother might have objected to his being kissed by any stray stranger. He murmured something which I could not hear. I bent my head to hear the better, my ear close to his mouth.
"I'm a giant," he said. Then the temptation was too strong for him. ”