My remembrance going back to the first night I
met him, I inquired if he had renewed his acquaintance with Miss X.
"I heerd that she was in Newport this summer, and I ran down there
fur a week."
"And you talked with her about the baggage-checks?"
"No," he said, seriously; "she gave me a commission to buy some
stocks for her. You see, I guess them fash'nable fellers sorter
got to runnin' her about me, and so she put our acquaintance on a
square business footing. I tell you, she's a right peart gal. Did
ye hear of the accident that happened to her?"
I had not.
"Well, you see, she was out yachting, and I managed through one of
those fellers to get an invite, too. The whole thing was got up by
a man that they say is going to marry her. Well, one afternoon the
boom swings round in a little squall and knocks her overboard.
There was an awful excitement,--you've heard about it, may be?"
"No!" But I saw it all with a romancer's instinct in a flash of
poetry! This poor fellow, debarred through uncouthness from
expressing his affection for her, had at last found his fitting
opportunity.
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