Later he went out
of the house and stood looking at the sea as if for a sign. But the sea
gave him no sign; and on that night at least had no voice.
It was three days before he came up with Cad Sills again. Then he spied
her at nightfall, reclining under the crab-apple tree at Hannan's
Landing.
The little man came close enough to tread on her shadow, cleared his
throat, and almost shouted:
"Did you mean what you said? Did you mean what you said, girl?"
She laughed and threw the core of an apple in his direction.
"I did when I said it, Mr. Happen-so. I did when I said it."
"I'm ready--. I'm ready now. We'll be married tomorrow, if you don't
mind."
"But will I sell my cabbages twice, I wonder? I've had a change of heart
since, if I must tell you."
"Surely not in this short space of time," Rackby gasped, dismayed.
A light throbbed in her eye. "Well, perhaps I haven't."
The storm petrel hovered high, swooped close, her lips parted. Her teeth
shone with a native luster, as if she had lived on roots and tough
things all her life. Again little Rackby felt that glow of health and
hardness in her person, as if one of the cynical and beautiful immortals
of the Greeks confronted him. He was heartily afraid of her mystifying
power of enchantment, which seemed to betray him to greater lengths than
he had dreamed.
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