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"I shall be sorry not to see you again, Eban, for we have been friends from our earliest days, and I hoped that we should always remain so," answered Nelly, mustering all the courage she possessed to speak calmly. "That is what drives me to desperation," he exclaimed. "Nelly, is it true that you are going to marry Michael Penguyne?"
How she might have acted without the sage Dame Lanreath to advise her, or had she not felt that she could not consent to desert her and Michael, it is impossible to say. Michael had become a fine and active young man. As a sailor he was not inferior to Eban. He had been able to support Nelly and her grandmother in comfort, and to save money besides.
"Thank you, Eban," answered Michael, for it was Eban Cowan who spoke to him. "But poor father will grieve when he hears the boat is lost after all." "Thy father won't grieve for that or anything else, Michael," said Eban, thoughtlessly; "he is dead."
Still Eban persisted in his offers; she as constantly refusing, till they reached the top of the pathway. "There," she said, "I have only to go down hill now, so you need not be afraid the load will break my back. Good-bye, Eban, you will be wanted at home I dare say."
The men needed no encouragement: they knew as well as he did that every moment was precious, and yet that after all they might arrive too late. Eban pulled as hard as the rest; he would do his utmost to save the crew of the "Sea-Gull," yet he darkly hoped that their efforts might be vain.
I do not inquire after his movements, and so I suppose it is all right." Michael then told the old man of the service his son had rendered him. "Glad he saved thy life, lad; he is a brave fellow, no doubt of that; but it is strange that he should not have come in to have his clothes dried and get some rest." None of the household could give any further account of Eban.
And honest David and the other lads in whom he was interested were gone; but his young boys were saved, and he felt thankful for the mercies granted him. Michael, carefully watched over by Nelly, and doctored by the dame, soon recovered his strength. As soon as he was strong enough, he told Nelly that he must go and tell Eban how thankful he was to him for saving his life.
People little know, when they give way to their unbridled passions, into what crimes they may be led. Day after day Eban Cowan pondered over his rejection by Nelly, and chose to consider himself especially ill-treated. "She should have let me know years ago that she intended to marry that fellow.
You have long called him your friend; let him be your friend still, but give up all thoughts of me." "I now know how to act," muttered Eban, gloomily. "I had no idea that you cared for him; and if you choose to become a poor fisherman's wife, you must follow your own course; only, do not suppose that I can cease to love you."
The thought, too, that she might meet Eban in his angry mood restrained her. "Oh, what is going to happen?" she exclaimed, feeling more anxiety and alarm than she had ever before experienced. "O my dear, dear Michael, why don't you come back to me? O merciful God, protect him!" She fell on her knees, hiding her face in her hands, and prayed for the safety of him who was on the foaming waters.
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