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Four Winds
by
“You have had a terrible experience and a narrow escape,” said Alan lamely. He could think of nothing more to say; his usual readiness of utterance seemed to have failed him.
“You saved my life,” she said, “you and Pat–for doggie must have his share of credit.”
“A much larger share than mine,” said Alan, smiling. “If Pat had not come for me, I would not have known of your danger. What a magnificent fellow he is!”
“Isn’t he?” she agreed proudly. “And so is Laddie, my other dog. He went with Father today. I love my dogs more than people.” She looked at him with a little defiance in her eyes. “I suppose you think that terrible.”
“I think many dogs are much more lovable–and worthy of love–than many people,” said Alan, laughing.
How childlike she was in some ways! That trace of defiance–it was so like a child who expected to be scolded for some wrong attitude of mind. And yet there were moments when she looked the tall proud queen. Sometimes, when the path grew narrow, she walked before him, her hand on the dog’s head. Alan liked this, since it left him free to watch admiringly the swinging grace of her step and the white curves of her neck beneath the thick braid of hair, which today was wound about her head. When she dropped back beside him in the wider spaces, he could only have stolen glances at her profile, delicately, strongly cut, virginal in its soft curves, childlike in its purity. Once she looked around and caught his glance; again she flushed, and something strange and exultant stirred in Alan’s heart. It was as if that maiden blush were the involuntary, unconscious admission of some power he had over her–a power which her hitherto unfettered spirit had never before felt. The cold indifference he had seen in her face at their first meeting was gone, and something told him it was gone forever.
When they came in sight of Four Winds they saw two people walking up the road from the harbour and a few further steps brought them face to face with Captain Anthony Oliver and his old housekeeper.
The Captain’s appearance was a fresh surprise to Alan. He had expected to meet a rough, burly sailor, loud of voice and forbidding of manner. Instead, Captain Anthony was a tall, well-built man of perhaps fifty. His face, beneath its shock of iron-grey hair, was handsome but wore a somewhat forbidding expression, and there was something in it, apart from line or feature, which did not please Alan. He had no time to analyze this impression, for Lynde said hurriedly, “Father, this is Mr. Douglas. He has just done me a great service.”
She briefly explained her accident; when she had finished, the Captain turned to Alan and held out his hand, a frank smile replacing the rather suspicious and contemptuous scowl which had previously overshadowed it.
“I am much obliged to you, Mr. Douglas,” he said cordially. “You must come up to the house and let me thank you at leisure. As a rule I’m not very partial to the cloth, as you may have heard. In this case it is the man, not the minister, I invite.”
The front door of Four Winds opened directly into a wide, low-ceilinged living room, furnished with simplicity and good taste. Leaving the two men there, Lynde and the old cousin vanished, and Alan found himself talking freely with the Captain who could, as it appeared, talk well on many subjects far removed from Four Winds. He was evidently a clever, self-educated man, somewhat opinionated and given to sarcasm; he never made any references to his own past life or experiences, but Alan discovered him to be surprisingly well read in politics and science. Sometimes in the pauses of the conversation Alan found the older man looking at him in a furtive way he did not like, but the Captain was such an improvement on what he had been led to expect that he was not inclined to be over critical. At least, this was what he honestly thought. He did not suspect that it was because this man was Lynde’s father that he wished to think as well as possible of him.