Sylvia's Lovers

'What ails yo' at me?' said he, beseechingly. 'Yo' might ha'

forgotten me; and yet I thought we made a bargain against forgetting

each other.' No answer. He went on: 'Yo've never been out o' my

thoughts, Sylvia Robson; and I'm come back to Monkshaven for nought

but to see you once and again afore I go away to the northern seas.

It's not two hour sin' I landed at Monkshaven, and I've been near

neither kith nor kin as yet; and now I'm here you won't speak to

me.' 'I don't know what to say,' said she, in a low, almost inaudible

tone. Then hardening herself, and resolving to speak as if she did

not understand his only half-expressed meaning, she lifted up her

head, and all but looking at him--while she wrenched her hand out of

his--she said: 'Mother's gone to Middleham for a visit, and

feyther's out i' t' plough-field wi' Kester; but he'll be in afore

long.' Charley did not speak for a minute or so. Then he said-'Yo're not so dull as to think I'm come all this way for t' see

either your father or your mother. I've a great respect for 'em

both; but I'd hardly ha' come all this way for to see 'em, and me

bound to be back i' Shields, if I walk every step of the way, by

Wednesday night. It's that yo' won't understand my meaning, Sylvia;

it's not that yo' don't, or that yo' can't.' He made no effort to

repossess himself of her hand. She was quite silent, but in spite of

herself she drew long hard breaths. 'I may go back to where I came

from,' he went on. 'I thought to go to sea wi' a blessed hope to

cheer me up, and a knowledge o' some one as loved me as I'd left

behind; some one as loved me half as much as I did her; for th'

measure o' my love toward her is so great and mighty, I'd be content

wi' half as much from her, till I'd taught her to love me more. But

if she's a cold heart and cannot care for a honest sailor, why,

then, I'd best go back at once.' He made for the door. He must have been pretty sure from some sign

or other, or he would never have left it to her womanly pride to

give way, and for her to make the next advance. He had not taken two

steps when she turned quickly towards him, and said something--the

echo of which, rather than the words themselves, reached him.

'I didn't know yo' cared for me; yo' niver said so.' In an instant

he was back at her side, his arm round her in spite of her short

struggle, and his eager passionate voice saying, 'Yo' never knowed I

loved you, Sylvia? say it again, and look i' my face while yo' say

it, if yo' can. Why, last winter I thought yo'd be such a woman when

yo'd come to be one as my een had never looked upon, and this year,

ever sin' I saw yo' i' the kitchen corner sitting crouching behind

my uncle, I as good as swore I'd have yo' for wife, or never wed at

all. And it was not long ere yo' knowed it, for all yo' were so coy,

and now yo' have the face--no, yo' have not the face--come, my

darling, what is it?' for she was crying; and on his turning her wet

blushing face towards him the better to look at it, she suddenly hid

it in his breast. He lulled and soothed her in his arms, as if she

had been a weeping child and he her mother; and then they sat down

on the settle together, and when she was more composed they began to

talk. He asked her about her mother; not sorry in his heart at Bell

Robson's absence. He had intended if necessary to acknowledge his

wishes and desires with regard to Sylvia to her parents; but for

various reasons he was not sorry that circumstances had given him

the chance of seeing her alone, and obtaining her promise to marry

him without being obliged to tell either her father or her mother at

present. 'I ha' spent my money pretty free,' he said, 'and I've

ne'er a penny to the fore, and yo'r parents may look for something

better for yo', my pretty: but when I come back fro' this voyage I

shall stand a chance of having a share i' th' Urania, and may-be I

shall be mate as well as specksioneer; and I can get a matter of

from seventy to ninety pound a voyage, let alone th' half-guineas

for every whale I strike, and six shilling a gallon on th' oil; and

if I keep steady wi' Forbes and Company, they'll make me master i'

time, for I've had good schooling, and can work a ship as well as

any man; an' I leave yo' wi' yo'r parents, or take a cottage for yo'

nigh at hand; but I would like to have something to the fore, and

that I shall have, please God, when we come back i' th' autumn. I

shall go to sea happy, now, thinking I've yo'r word. Yo're not one

to go back from it, I'm sure, else it's a long time to leave such a

pretty girl as yo', and ne'er a chance of a letter reaching yo' just

to tell yo' once again how I love yo', and to bid yo' not forget

yo'r true love.' 'There'll be no need o' that,' murmured Sylvia.