Olivette

“ Flemming was positively downhearted.
"Look here," suggested the Acacis' Old Man, when he learnt of the unwelcome attentions of the Cherbourg gamins, "why not lie alongside of us? You'll get a tidy bit of coal-dust, but that's a jolly sight better than cabbage-stalks and dead cats dumped on your deck."
The offer was gladly accepted. The Olivette's bow-warp was passed on board the tramp and the boat hauled alongside the Acacis' starboard side. Sheltered by the latter vessel's towering hull, the Olivette was no longer a target for the ragamuffins of the port. ”

“ Following the English version of the opera, at the opening of the first act the villagers of Perpignan are greatly excited over the approaching marriage of Olivette, the Seneschal’s daughter, and De Mérimac, an old sea-captain. Olivette, however, just out of a convent, is in love with Valentine, a young officer and the Captain’s nephew. [27] In the mean time the Countess of Rousillon is also in love with Valentine and has come to Perpignan to see him. She is at the house of the Seneschal, and is surprised there by Valentine, who has climbed her balcony expecting to find Olivette. ”

“ Roche, from below, added:
"We're keeping the leak under and no more, sir. If we knock off for even a minute the water rises over the floor boards."
"Then it's about time we came," rejoined Mr. Armitage. "We're nearly on the top of high water. Directly it's slack tide, we'll cast off and warp into that shipbuilder's yard at the head of the quay. Until the Olivette is high and dry we cannot see the full extent of the damage."
An hour later the Olivette was safely placed upon the slipway. ”

“ With the last of the ebb the Olivette made short work of the distance between Poole Quay and the Bar Buoy; then starboarding helm, shaped a course to pass a mile to the south'ard of Christchurch Ledge.
Exactly two hours after leaving Poole, the staunch little craft arrived at her moorings in Keyhaven Lake.
"Now, lads," said Mr. Armitage, "the sooner we make a proper start the better. It will take us the rest of to-day and the whole of to-morrow to get ready for our cross-Channel trip. You know your respective duties, so 'get on with it', as the Service saying goes. ”

“ The Acacis, having discharged a portion of her cargo, was also due to leave Cherbourg for Le Havre. Directly the gates of the Bassin-à-Flot were opened, the Olivette motored through into the Avant-Port. Here she tied up, for it was inadvisable to make a start for the east'ard before half-ebb. By so doing the Olivette would "carry her tide" for eight or nine hours, and as the tides run strongly off the French coast, the question of "working them" was an important one. ”

“ So directly the dry meal was over the crew set to work to take the Olivette into the harbour. Here they found no vacant berth alongside the quay, but under the harbourmaster's directions they brought up against a three-masted schooner flying the Italian ensign.
"The Giuseppe Emilio," said Roche, reading the name on her stern. "She's a whacking big craft. Wonder what she's for?"
"Loading clay," replied Mr. Armitage. "There's a great quantity of clay shipped away from Poole. Stand by: here comes the hose." ”

“ Going abroad widens one's outlook," he added sapiently.
Two days were spent at Caudebec. There was much to be done to prepare the Olivette for her homeward voyage. Her fuel-tanks had to be replenished, her oil-supply renewed, provisions and fresh water to be shipped on board, and various formalities to be carried out with the port authorities at Havre.
"We start to-morrow, lads," announced Mr. Armitage. "The fine weather is holding, but there are indications of a break-up in the course of the next forty-eight hours. We can't afford to be held up here."
"At what hour, sir?" asked Peter. ”

“ By the time you're back at the wheel we'll have drifted astern and clear of the buoy. You're skipper now, Phil. Keep your head, and shout your orders clearly, and you'll do all right."
Making his way for'ard, the Tenderfoot managed to unfasten the heavy mooring-chain. The buoy disappeared overboard with a mighty splash, and the Olivette, with her engine running free, dropped astern, her head paying off to leeward as she did so. ”

“ Now, then I'm going ashore to interview the harbourmaster and find out the owner of the motor-yacht who supplied the thieves with petrol in exchange for our compass. One hand will have to remain on board. The others can have leave till eleven o'clock."
Mr. Armitage's task was accomplished quicker than he had anticipated. Inquiries resulted in the information that the holder of the Olivette's compass was a well-known yachtsman, who, upon hearing the circumstances under which he had befriended the two thieves, handed back the gear without hesitation. ”

“ You'll find a chart of Cherbourg in the wheel-house. Provided you make due allowance for the set of the tide, there is nothing of a difficult nature to contend against. You can just distinguish the central breakwater—the Digue. The eastern entrance is the one for us."
Mr. Armitage went below, while Stratton entered the wheel-house and "took over" from Flemming.
The next hour passed slowly. Although the young helmsman kept the Olivette well against the tide, her progress seemed painfully slow. It was not until the tide slackened and changed that the boat made any appreciable headway. ”

“ That is to avoid hitting him with the propeller, since men who have fallen overboard almost invariably try to swim towards the boat. Then, keeping 'easy ahead', make a complete circle and come up bows on to the man, keeping just enough way for the boat to answer her helm, and still get there quicker and with far more chance of success than by any other way."
"I'll remember that, sir," said Peter. "But I hope I'll never have to try it."
"And I, too," added Mr. Armitage fervently. "But one never knows."
CHAPTER XIII The Bore
The Olivette saved her tide into the outer basin of Le Havre. ”

“ Mr Armitage was correct in his surmise, for, standing on a narrow strip of beach were two men and two girls. The men were barefooted, as if they had vainly attempted to wade past the foot of the cliffs. Already the tide was rising rapidly, and in less than an hour their refuge would be invaded by the sea.
"Away dinghy's crew!" exclaimed the Scoutmaster. "Be careful how you land. There's a ground swell running."
The Olivette lost way. The dinghy was hauled alongside, and into her jumped Stratton and Flemming, each manning an oar. ”

“ Armitage.
"I'm not taking it," declared Mr. Murgatroyd vehemently. "When I'm hard up I'll use the Olivette for profits—not before. The money's yours, Armitage; yours and the lads'. It'll help towards buying a vessel of your own."
Naturally the Sea Scouts were surprised and delighted when Mr. Armitage told them of the owner's generosity.
"We've been wondering why the skipper of the barge was so anxious to get a tow and pay for it. He might have had it for the asking," remarked Flemming.
"We're not assisting other criminals on their weary way, I hope," added Hepburn. ”

“ It was early in the afternoon when the Olivette passed through the great lock at Teddington, and entered the tidal waters of the Thames. It was now just after high water, and the mud-banks on the northern shore were covered.
"Can't we increase speed, sir?" asked Stratton, noticing several fussy, high-powered steam-tugs making quite a swell.
"Connect up all four cylinders, and see how she takes it," assented the Scoutmaster. "Don't give her full throttle. Many a good motor has been spoiled by opening out before the bearings have been properly run in." ”

“ The owner of the hydro-glisseur was greatly interested in the Sea Scouts and their craft. He plied the lads with innumerable questions, and complimented them upon their sound knowledge of seamanship.
Very little escaped the notice of the mercurial Frenchman, and when he caught sight of the scars upon the Olivette's bows he asked how the damage had been caused.
"And this happened last night, then? It is just possible that I know who is the owner of the barge that caused the mischief."
"He is a careless blighter, sir, whoever he is, to let a barge break adrift," declared Hepburn. ”

“ Oliveta—recognizably the same girl that he had known in Sicily—entered with her black brows lifted in anxious inquiry, her dark eyes wide with apprehension.
"Some evil has befallen; tell me!" she said, wasting no time in greeting.
"No. Nothing evil," Blake assured her.
"Our friend has made a terrible discovery," said Vittoria, in a faint voice. "I cannot believe—I—want you to hear, carina." She motioned to Norvin.
"I have been seeking our enemy, Belisario Cardi, and—I have found him."
Oliveta cried out in fierce triumph: "God be praised! He lives; that is enough. ”

“ I have grown to hate everything about me—the people, the life, the country."
"Sicily is calling you, perhaps?"
Oliveta answered eagerly, "Yes! You, too, are unhappy, my dearest. Let us go home. Home!" She let her hands fall idle and stared ahead of her, seeing the purple hills behind Terranova, the dusty gray-green groves of olive-trees, the brilliant fields of sumach, the arbors bent beneath their weight of blushing fruit. "I want to see the village people again, my father's relatives, old Aliandro, and the Notary's little boy—"
"He must be a well-grown lad, by now," murmured Vittoria. ”

“ It is quite possible that in many instances the action of the muscles is purely involuntary, and is attributable to the imagination, so that the operator deceives himself as well as others.
This is probably the explanation of the story of Mdlle. Olivet, a young lady of tender conscience, who was a skilful performer with the divining rod, but shrank from putting her powers in operation, lest she should be indulging in unlawful acts. ”

“ One day when Olive was just able to sit up, and looked, in her white drapery and close cap, so like her lost mother,—Mrs. Gwynne entered with letters. Olive grew pale. To her fancy every letter that came to Harbury could only be from Rome.
“Good tidings, my dear; tidings from Harold. But you are trembling.”
“Everything sudden startles me now. I am very weak, I fear,” murmured Olive. “But you look so pleased!—All is well with him?” ”

“ Ay, so as to find in life not merely peace, but sweetness. Olive's own path looked less gloomy to the view. From the depths of her forlorn heart uprose a feeble-winged hope; it came and fluttered about her pale lips, bringing to them
The smile of one, God-satisfied; and earth-undone.
Marion turned round and saw it. “Cousin Olive, how very mild, and calm, and beautiful you look! Before you came, Aunt Flora told us she had heard you were 'like a dove.' I can understand that now. I think, if I were a man, I should fall in love with you.” ”

“ Yet human feelings could not utterly be suppressed; and there were many times, when at night-time she buried her face on the now lonely pillow, and stretched out her arms into the empty darkness, crying, “My mother, oh my mother!” But then strong love came between Olive and her agony, whispering, that wherever her spirit abided, the mother could not forget her child.
Olive looked very calm now, as she sat with Mrs. Gwynne in the bay-window of the little drawing-room at the Parsonage, engaged in some light work, with Ailie reading a lesson at her knee. ”

“ Harold Gwynne wrote frequently from Rome, but only to his mother. However, he always mentioned Miss Rothesay, and kindly. Once, when Mrs. Gwynne was unable to write herself, she asked Olive to take her place, and indulge Harold with a letter.
“He will be so glad, you know. I think of all his friends there is none whom my son regards more warmly than you,” said the mother. And Olive could not refuse. Why, indeed, should she feel reluctance? He had never been her lover; she had no right to feel wounded, or angry at his silence. ”

“ While Evelyn was thinking this, a letter was put into her hand, in which her husband bade her do exactly as she pleased about the Chester Street house. “If you like to stay there for a little, my dear, and see your old friends, I shall like that best; and if you prefer to come home with me at once, and take possession of Rosmore, that is what I shall like best. It is for you to choose: and in the meantime I am coming back to town, to do whatever you like to-morrow night.” ”

“ That is why I say that, most likely, Normandy will be my home after all.”
“You cannot mean this,” said Everard, troubled. “You never could be happy there; why should you change now? Herbert and you have been together all your lives; and if he marries—” Here Everard drew a long breath and made a pause. “You could not be happy with Monsieur, your stepfather, and all the little Mirfleurs,” he said.{346}
“One can live, one can get on, without being happy,” cried Reine. Then she laughed. “What is the use of talking? One has to do what one must. ”

“ She liked the strong current of the air, and the sense of progress, and even the half-terror of that dark world in which this little floating world held its own between sky and sea. Everard tossed his cigar over the ship’s side when he saw her, and came eagerly forward and drew her hand through his arm. It was the first time he had been able to say a word to her since they met. But even then Reine’s first question was not encouraging.
“How do you think Bertie is looking?” she said.
Every man, however, be his temper ever so touchy, can be patient when the inducement is strong enough. ”

“ And this is the lesson about the servants that comes to us from Olivet.
The lesson about—THE TALENTS—is the third lesson that comes to us from Olivet.
This parable tells us that before the Master went away, he "called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. Unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to every man according to his several ability." verses 14, 15, In St. Luke's account of the parable, what the master gave to his servants is spoken of as pounds, and each servant is said to have received one pound. These talents or pounds both mean the same thing. ”