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And Tumm picked at the knot with his clasp-knife; and we sat watching, silent, all.... And I felt bad, too, because of the maid at Whooping Harbor a rolling waste of rock, with the moonlight lying on it, stretching from the whispering mystery of the sea to the greater desolation beyond; and an uncomely maid, wishing, without hope, for that which the hearts of women must ever desire....
"We was reachin' up t' Whoopin' Harbor," said Tumm, "t' give the White Lily a night's lodgin', it bein' a wonderful windish night; clear enough, the moon sailin' a cloudy sky, but with a bank o' fog sneakin' round Cape Muggy like a fish-thief.
"'Oh no, you won't, Tumm, says she. 'You thtay right here. Whath the cook wantin' o' me? "'Well, says the cook, 'I 'low I wants t' get married. "'T' get married! says she. "'That's right, says he. 'Damme! Tumm, says he, 'she got it right. T' get married, says he, 'an' I 'low you'll do. "'Me? says she. "'You, Liz, says he.
'I wanth t' get t' the Thouthern outporth, where there'th life. They ithn't no life here. An' I'm tho wonderful tired o' all thith! Tumm, says she, 'no man ever afore athked me t' marry un, an' I 'low I better take thith one. He'th on'y a fool, says she, 'but not even a fool ever come courtin' me, an' I 'low nobody but a fool would. On'y a fool, Tumm! says she.
"'I got mother's ring, says the cook, 't' prove it. "'Tumm, says Liz t' me, 'you ithn't wantin' t' get married, ith you? "'No, Liz, says I. 'Not, says I, 't' you. "'No, says she. 'Not t' me' She took me round the turn in the road. 'Tumm, says she, 'I 'low I'll wed that man. I wanth t' get away from here, says she, lookin' over the hills.
"Ay," Tumm drawled, "it made me feel bad t' think o' what she'd been wantin' all them years; an' then I wished I'd been kinder t' Liz.... An', 'Tumm, thinks I, 'you went an' come ashore t' stop this here thing; but you better let the skipper have his little joke, for t'will on'y s'prise him, an' it won't do nobody else no hurt.
Making the sign of the cross, he began the Lord's prayer in Latin: "Pater noster, qui es in coelis, sanctificetur nomen tumm " The silence included all, even to the joyful little ones downstairs, and every voice was repeating in an undertone the same eternal words. "This is for Yves and Jean Gaos, my two brothers, who were lost in the Sea of Iceland.
An', Lord! her poor face was shinin'...." In the forecastle of the Good Samaritan we listened to the wind as it scampered over the deck; and we watched Tumm pick at the knot in the table. "Was she happy?" I asked, at last. "Well," he answered, with a laugh, "she sort o' got what she was wantin'. More'n she was lookin' for, I 'low. Seven o' them. An' all straight an' hearty.
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