The Pilot and his Wife: Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Skipper Garvloit, into whose family Elizabeth had come, occupied one of
the many-storeyed houses, with green window-shutters, narrow
entrance-doors, and polished brass knockers, after the usual Dutch
fashion, in the lively street leading down to the dock in Amsterdam,
with the canal on the other side, with its various bridges, and vessels
and barges of all kinds unlading, running up from it into the heart of
the town.

Madam Garvloit had four young children, and was not very strong, so that
Elizabeth's robust, healthy nature had been a perfect godsend to her in
the house, and she was content to overlook her occasional shortcomings
of manner or temper in consideration of the assistance which she
rendered in every department of the housekeeping.

Elizabeth had always had a pretty strong will of her own; and here,
where she virtually had the control of everything, her tendency to
self-assertion had been considerably developed. The force and decision
with which she gave her opinion about everything seemed to Madam
Garvloit sometimes (although she said nothing) rather like a reversing
of their relative positions; and on days when she was in a captious
humour--and those were her days of most feverish activity--she would
even go so far as to set aside her mistress's orders altogether. In a
general way her moods were very uncertain: one day she would be in
tearing spirits, racing up and down the stairs with the children, as if
she had been inhaling the wild air of Torungen again; and another she
would be so pensive and taciturn that they thought she must be pining
after home.

She had many admirers, both among young and old, her gay moods
attracting the former, and her serious ones the latter. Among the former
were two young gentlemen acquaintances of the house, relatives of
Garvloit--one a smart young clerk from one of the larger counting-houses
in the town, who rather affected the gentleman; and the other a
light-haired, pink-complexioned, skipper's son from Vlieland. They both
came regularly every Sunday, were frantically jealous of one another,
tried to outbid each other whenever an opportunity offered, and were
both fully convinced that they sighed in vain. She was so different,
they felt, from the other specimens of femininity of their acquaintance
to whom their weak attentions had sometimes proved acceptable. There was
something almost imperious in Elizabeth's manner at times that made them
feel quite small beside her; and however careless she might be of the
_convenances_ in her way of speaking to them, they had very soon found
that wherever she chose to draw the line, so far could they go and no
farther.

Madame Garvloit would take her to task sometimes for the scant courtesy
with which she treated the young clerk. Elizabeth would answer that he
bored her; and Madame Garvloit would insist that a young girl ought to
have tact enough not to make this evident. Elizabeth, however, was not
deficient in tact, but disliked putting a restraint upon her feelings;
and it seemed to her on the whole unreasonable that a person should
pretend that a thing was pleasant when in reality it was wearisome.

During the second autumn of her service with the Garvloits, the skipper,
on his return from a trip to Norway, brought the intelligence that
Lieutenant Beck was engaged to Postmaster Forstberg's daughter in
Arendal, and he had many messages for Elizabeth from the latter. They
were to be married in the spring.

Elizabeth was overjoyed to hear it, for the thought had often weighed
heavily on her mind that Carl Beck might be making himself miserable on
her account. She judged so from her own feeling for Salv�: and as she
sat alone by her window at bedtime that night, gazing out over the canal
and the shipping in the calm moonlight, the quiet afterglow of a holiday
evening seemed to have shed itself over her thoughts. She knew from her
friend's message that she was ignorant of what had passed between
herself and Carl Beck; and although it was a relief to think that he had
not taken his disappointment more to heart, the smile that played about
her lips for a moment showed at the same time that his love had been
duly appraised. As the shadow, then, of the window-frame in the
moonlight, crept slowly over the wall above her bed, her thoughts glided
off in the direction they loved best to take--over the world and far
away to Salv�.

She sat with her heavy hair falling loose over her well-shaped
shoulders, and her face grew more and more sorrowful in its absent
expression, and would twitch occasionally with pain. The bitter thought
would recur that it was she who was the cause of Salv�'s going out into
the world and becoming a desperate man. The thought haunted her; and
yet, much as she wished to free herself from it, she found a pleasure in
dwelling on it. She saw him, in fancy, miserable and proud, with his
pale face and keen, clever eyes fixed upon her in hatred, as the cause
of his unhappiness, and then the idea occurred to her to put on sailor's
clothes and go and seek him out in the world. But if she were to find
him, she knew, on the other hand, that for very shame she dared not show
herself before him, having as good as belonged to another; and she would
not for all the world read her hard dismissal in his eye. She laid her
head upon her arms on the window-sill and sobbed convulsively, until at
length she dropped off to sleep where she sat.

She had been three years in the Garvloits' house when Garvloit had the
misfortune to run his vessel aground out near Amland, where she became a
wreck. He lost with her nearly all he had in the world, and what was
worse, all prospect of livelihood for the future as skipper.

An uncomfortable feeling prevailed now in the house, and Elizabeth saw
with regret that she would have to leave. Garvloit, who in figure
resembled some thick, short-legged animal of the sea, a seal or walrus
come on land, had become perceptibly reduced in flesh, and went about
all day long in his shirtsleeves, fanning himself with a large silk
pocket-handkerchief. On one particular afternoon it was observed that he
indulged in this exercise with more than his usual vigour and
restlessness; and it was not without cause. He had had an inspiration.
If he could no longer follow his old trade, he would try a new one; he
would set up a house of entertainment for sailors. His house being so
close to the dock, could not be more favourably situated for the
purpose, and they had ample accommodation. On the ground floor they
could have a room for common sailors, and on the floor above they had
one where captains and mates could be served.

He said nothing about it, however, to any one until the scheme had been
fully matured; and then all of a sudden one day he came into the room
where his wife was, with a bundle of printed placards and a large board
in his hand.

"Good gracious, Garvloit, what is that?" she cried.

He turned the board round with an important air, and without saying a
word. Upon it there stood in large gilt letters, "The Star."

"This is our new means of earning our bread, wife," he said. "Next month
this sign hangs over our door, and these bills are to post on the walls,
and distribute among the ships down in the harbour. Garvloit is not on
his beam-ends yet," he concluded, with self-conscious satisfaction; and
proceeded then to explain how he intended to be landlord himself, and
how Elizabeth was to help him in the management of the whole.

Madam Garvloit only made one slight objection--

"You know that you can't drink ale, my friend."

Another objection, namely, what they would say at home in Norway when
they heard that her husband had sunk into a mere tavern-keeper, she very
wisely kept to herself. The important point was that they should find a
way of living, and they had at all events the great consolation that now
they would be able to keep Elizabeth. What feeling of pride still
remained she got rid of in telling Elizabeth that at home they knew
nothing of millionaires in wooden shoes such as were to be found in
Holland; and her husband found her much more keen for his project than
he had expected. Being accustomed to place great reliance upon her
stronger understanding, he would not have been happy if she had been
against the plan.

Thus it came about, then, that in the crowded street by the canal one
Monday morning there appeared over one of the entrance-doors a
sign-board with "The Star," in letters of gold on a blue ground. It was
set up at a fortunate time and in a fortunate place, and almost as soon
as the house was opened, customers from the vessels in the harbour began
to gather in, both into the down-stairs and up-stairs rooms, so that
there was a prospect of a steadily increasing traffic. Garvloit
generally presided himself in the bar behind the counter, at the lower
end of which there stood an array of stone mugs with tin lids; while in
a recess of the wall there stuck out from beside canisters of tobacco,
long and short Dutch clay pipes, a new one filled being handed to every
customer, with whatever drink he ordered. Out of sight under the counter
where the stone mugs stood was the ale-barrel, with its bright tap over
a vessel that caught the drip; and after the same cleanly Dutch fashion,
spittoons filled with sand stood in every corner of the room. The
shelves above were filled in rows with a regular apothecary's shop of
bottles and jars of spirits, and among them a goodly array of
securely-fastened, dark-green flasks of Dutch hollands.

Elizabeth had as housekeeper quite as much as she could do, and did not
directly busy herself with waiting, unless there was something
particular required to be done for the up-stairs customers.
Occasionally, however, she would come into the bar also, on some errand
or another, or to make sure that nothing was wanted; and the fame of
handsome Elizabeth of "The Star" contributed not a little to bring
custom to the house.

Such Norwegians as came to Amsterdam with timber--the majority unloaded
their cargoes up at P�rmurende or Alkmar--invariably patronised "The
Star." Elizabeth used to talk to them as countrymen of her own; and if
she heard that any of them had been across the Atlantic, she would
quietly, and as if quite casually, ask if perchance they had come across
or had heard anything of a sailor of her acquaintance called Salv�
Kristiansen who hailed from Arendal. No one had ever heard of him, and
she had begun to fear that he might be lost to her for ever.

One forenoon, however, when she had a great deal to do in the house, she
was passing quickly through the room up-stairs, and there sat at one of
the small tables, with an untouched mug of ale before him, a bearded man
in a blue pea-jacket. In her hurry she had set him down as some mate or
captain; but there must have been something about him that attracted her
attention, for she turned again at the door for an instant, and looked
at him before she went out. He was so pale--and he had sent her one
look.

As she stood outside the door she knew it was Salv�, although she had
always pictured him to herself as a common sailor. She stood there
trembling all over, and fumbling with the latch of the door in the
greatest agitation, evidently debating with herself whether she should
dare go in again. She pressed upon the latch, in the certainty that it
would go up before she had actually decided that she would go in; and it
did so. The door opened again of itself, and Elizabeth entered with
downcast eyes, and scarlet in the face, and passed through the room,
making a slight inclination of her head, as if for greeting, as she
passed him. She had reached the opposite door when she heard a quiet
bitter laugh behind her.

At once she turned, with pride in every feature of her face, and looked
at him.

"How do you do, Salv� Kristiansen?" she said, firmly and quietly.

"How do you do, Elizabeth?" he replied, rather huskily, getting up and
looking confused.

"Are you lying here in Amsterdam with some vessel?"

He sat down again, for there was something in her manner that denied
approach.

"No; in P�rmurende," he replied. "I only came in here to--"

"You are in the timber line, then, now?"

"Yes--Elizabeth," he ventured to add, in another tone, which had a whole
volume of meaning in it. But she took her leave of him now in the same
proud manner, and left the room.

Salv� sat for a while with compressed lips, looking down upon the table
before him. When she turned round the first time at the door, something
told him that she would come in again; but he had expected quite a
different kind of scene. A good deal of the tyrant had been developed in
him since they had last met; and when she had come in so quietly and so
humbly, with the acknowledgment of the great wrong she had done him
written upon her face, he felt himself at once, with a certain bitter
and devouring pleasure, upon the judgment-seat. He must first see her
crushed before him; then he would have forgiven her, and loved her with
all the passion of his soul.

But as she stood there by the door, looking so grand in her pride, and
so pale with repressed mortification, and spoke so calmly, he had felt
that in that moment he had been separated farther from her than ever he
had been in all his wanderings at the other side of the globe.

He sat there with his mind in a chaotic state of desperation and sorrow,
and of anger with himself. What a grand creature she was! and he--how
pitiful and petty! He set down the mug, which he had been absently
toying with, hard on the table, and went out.

For a long while he wandered about the quays in a state of gloomy
indecision, stopping every now and then to run his eye over the
shipping, and his expression becoming darker still every time he did so.
From long practice he could tell by the appearance of every vessel what
trade it was engaged in. One was a coffee ship from Java; the next
carried general cargo to all parts of the world; there was another that
brought sugar and rum from the West Indies; and a fourth, that from its
square build and breadth of beam must be a whaler returned from
Spitzbergen. He thought of their long voyages, and of the life without
root or tie that was passed on board them--was he to go back to that
life again? It depended on Elizabeth; and he had not much hope.

To his impatient nature delay was intolerable; and he had half made up
his mind to have his fate decided at once. In spite of his agitation,
however, he could still think with coolness; and he knew that if he was
to have any chance at all, he must wait until the first unfortunate
impression had had time to pass off.

It had been a grey, foggy autumn day, but was now clearing, and blue
patches of sky were coming out; and as he crossed the bridge the
afternoon sun shone out, and sent a ray of glittering light against the
window-panes of the street along the canal. Up in Garvloit's house
Elizabeth was standing at the open window--she, too, that day had needed
to be alone with her thoughts. Salv� saw her, and stood still for a
moment contemplating her as she leant out over the window ledge.

"That dear head shall be mine," he burst out then passionately, and
without knowing it, aloud; and the next moment he was at Garvloit's
door.

Elizabeth heard the door of the room open behind her; and when she saw
Salv� unexpectedly standing before her, she sank down for a moment on to
a chair, but got up the next with a scared look, almost as if he was
some hostile apparition.

"Elizabeth!" he said, gently, "are you going to send me out again into
the world? God only knows how I shall come back if you do."

She did not answer, but stood looking at him with a rigid expression,
and pale as death; she seemed to have forgotten to breathe, and to be
only waiting for him to say more.

"Be my wife, Elizabeth," he asked, "and I shall grow up into a good man
again. What a pitiful creature I have been without you, you have already
seen sufficiently this morning."

"God be my witness, Salv�," she answered, the tears bursting into her
eyes with emotion which she tried to control, "you alone have always had
my heart--but I must first know in perfect truth what you think of me."

"The same as I think of God's angels, Elizabeth," he said from his
heart, and tried to take her hand.

"Do you know that I--was once very nearly engaged to young Beck?" she
asked, reddening, but with a steady look. "I didn't know my real self
then, but was thinking only of folly and nonsense, until I was obliged
to fly from it all."

"Your aunt has told me all about it, Elizabeth. Don't let us mention the
subject again."

"And you haven't a doubt about me in your heart? For that I never will
bear, Salv�, like to-day,--I can't bear it, do you understand?" she
said, with a shake in her voice, and looking as it were down into his
very soul.

"Doubt!" he said; and for that moment, at all events, he was evidently
convinced that she had never given her real heart to any one but
himself.

A look of inexpressible happiness came into her face; he caught her into
his arms, and they stood as if they never would let go of each other
again, cheek to cheek, not speaking, not thinking even. There was
something convulsive in their embrace, as if they could not believe in
the reality of their happiness, and as if they felt an instinctive dread
that they should lose it again.

Unobserved by either of them the door had opened, and in the doorway
stood pursy Garvloit, gazing in helpless bewilderment at the scene
before him. At last Elizabeth caught sight of him, and--not with any
confusion, but only eager to communicate her happiness--exclaimed--

"It is my lover--"

"Your lover!" and he fell back a step, as if he did not know what he was
doing.

"My name is Salv� Kristiansen, master of the Apollo," added Salv�,
without letting her go, and feeling everything around him infinitely
small at that moment.

Garvloit turned round and shouted several times from the top of the
stairs, raising his voice at each repetition, "Andrea! Andrea!" to his
wife; and as she did not come immediately, he stumbled as fast as his
corpulence would allow him down the stairs, pausing, however, with a
vacant look upon the last step.

Madam Garvloit came out with her work in her hand, and asked what the
matter was.

"The matter is," replied her husband, dismally, "that I am ruined. There
is Elizabeth up there sitting with some skipper, God knows whom, who she
says is her lover."

"Is it possible?"

"Go and see for yourself;" and as his wife hurried past him up the
stairs, he added in the same dismal tone--"Who shall we get to look
after the house now? we shall never have another like her;" and he
sighed profoundly.

When Madam Garvloit appeared at the door, Elizabeth finished her
interrupted explanation.

"I have known him ever since I was a little girl," she said.

It was at once evident to her mistress that there must be a romantic
story here; but though brimming over with curiosity, she deferred her
questions until a more convenient season. In the meantime she manifested
the most lively sympathy; and after winning Salv�'s heart by telling him
what a treasure Elizabeth had been to her, she begged that as long as he
remained in Amsterdam he would come in and out of the house as he
pleased.

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