"To Shallop," he said. "I had a couple of horses sent down."
"But you couldn't ride, with your arm in a sling; and you've a horse
here already."
"Don't suppose it's fit to ride yet," he said, "and I'm not going to
carry a sling forever. Besides, they were eating their heads off--where
they were."
He said nothing about the sidesaddle.
"I see. Well, I'm sorry Dick's gone this morning, for I wanted him to
come out in the boat. It's a good day for mackerel." She looked
wistfully at the sea shining below them. "Of course I could go by
myself, but I promised Mr. Gadsby that I wouldn't."
"Who's Mr. Gadsby?"
"The vicar. I got caught in a squall off the Head one day, and--I really
wasn't in the least danger--but they were all waiting for me at the
jetty, and they made a fuss--and so I had to promise that I wouldn't go
out alone. And old Brownie's out with his nets--he goes with me
sometimes. It's a nuisance."
He stood by the window silently for a moment, then he glanced at her
wistful face, and said: "I should be a poor substitute, in my present condition, for old
Brownie, or old anybody else; but if you'll allow me to go with you, I
shall be very grateful. I can manage the tiller, at any rate."
Nell's face lit up; she wanted to go very badly; it was a "real"
mackerel day, and, like the days of other fishing, not to be missed.
"Will you? That's awfully kind of you! Not that I want any help; it
isn't that, for I can manage the _Annie Laurie_ in half a gale; but
there's a feeling that, because I'm only a girl, I'm not to be trusted
alone."
"I quite understand," he said. "I'll promise not to interfere, if you'll
let me come."
"And it may do you good--it's sure to!" she said eagerly. "There's the
loveliest of breezes--you must have some wind for mackerel--and----Can
you go at once?"
"This very minute. I'm all ready," he said.
"All right," she exclaimed, just as Dick might have done. "I'll be ready
before you can say Jack Robinson!"
She ran out of the room and was down again in a very few minutes. Vernon
glanced at her as they left the cottage and descended the steep road.
She had put on a short skirt of rough serge, with a jersey, which
accentuated every flowing line of her girlish, graceful figure, and the
dark hair rippled under a red tam-o'-shanter. He was familiar enough
with the yachting costumes of fashion, but he thought that he had never
seen anything so workmanlike and becoming as this get-up which Nell had
donned so quickly and carelessly. As they walked down the steps which
led to the jetty, Nell exchanging greetings at every step, an old
fisherman, crippled with rheumatism, limped beside them, and helped to
bring the boat to the jetty steps.