The Call of the Cumberlands

"It's a terrible thing to make me happy, isn't it?" she inquired,

sweetly.

"Unspeakably so, when you derive happiness from the torture of your

fellow-man."

"My brother-man," she amiably corrected him.

"Good Lord!" he groaned in desperation. "I ought to turn cave man, and

seize you by the hair--and drag you to the nearest minister--or

prophet, or whoever could marry us. Then, after the ceremony, I ought

to drag you to my own grotto, and beat you."

"Would I have to wear my wedding ring in my nose?" She put the

question with the manner of one much interested in acquiring useful

information.

"Drennie, for the nine-hundred-thousandth time; simply, in the

interests of harmony and to break the deadlock, will you marry me?"

"Not this afternoon," she smiled. "Watch for the boom! I'm going to

bring her round."

The young man promptly ducked his head, and played out the line, as

the boat dipped her masthead waterward, and came about on the other

tack. When the sails were again drumming under the fingers of the wind,

she added: "Besides, I'm not sure that harmony is what I want."

"You know you'll have to marry me in the end. Why not now?" he

persisted, doggedly. "We are simply wasting our youth, dear."

His tone had become so calamitous that the girl could not restrain a

peal of very musical laughter.

"Am I so very funny?" he inquired, with dignity.

"You are, when you are so very tragic," she assured him.

He realized that his temper was merely a challenge to her teasing, and

he wisely fell back into his customary attitude of unruffled insouciance.

"Drennie, you have held me off since we were children. I believe I

first announced my intention of marrying you when you were twelve. That

intention remains unaltered. More: it is unalterable and inevitable. My

reasons for wanting to needn't be rehearsed. It would take too long. I

regard you as possessed of an alert and remarkable mind--one worthy of

companionship with my own." Despite the frivolous badinage of his words

and the humorous smile of his lips, his eyes hinted at an underlying

intensity. "With no desire to flatter or spoil you, I find your

personal aspect pleasing enough to satisfy me. And then, while a man

should avoid emotionalism, I am in love with you." He moved over to a

place in the sternsheets, and his face became intensely earnest. He

dropped his hand over hers as it lay on the tiller shaft. "God knows,

dear," he exclaimed, "how much I love you!"