The Island School — page 66: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

7 4.9 Be ae > ais WE LAS weds ONY ORY | s r fu or i A¢ i F , . . ae #38 ns ape EVELINE de boy who hab been buried alibe and come out ob | He looked upon her asa peerless sort of girl. He am a sort ob circumventicle to dem, | it am free. and derefore, if he put de sticks, de sperrits am so fer cone for.” “You do dat, sure,” said Macbeth, tearfully, “for you poor ole orandeather who was alwus kind hoy rou.” “And you fader, too,” urged Hamlet; “ him dat nuss you when you was a lilly kid.” “T do my bes’ fo’ you,” said Romeo, “ but dere am sumfin’ to be ’spected in return. You do my work to- day, for all de blessed night me not get a wink, and den see what me do for you. Now, sure dat am a fair reposal ?” They admitted it was, and for that day Romeo laboured not. He ate and drank his fill also, taking short snatches of sleep between, and altogether had a rosy time of it. How he worked his share of the contract by laying the spirits must be left to a future chapter. CHAPTER XXILI. EVELINE AND JIM.—LUCIA DE VALO AGAIN. wage, HE usual routine of the school AN JB was resumed, and in the afternoon all the workshops were busy. From that of Martin came the ring of the hammer upon the anvil, and strong young arms, under the direction ofthe sturdy QELS blacksmith, lustily beat the Petit: iron atte react shapes. By the door, however, there was one who stood idle. It was Jim Gordon. He, with Morse, in return for the good work they had done in the might, were exempt from labour. Morse utilised his holiday by completing the re- moval of the more dangerous compounds from the laboratory to the castle. Jim would have had a go at the anvil but for a strip of paper which Evelme an hour before had slipped into his hand as they met near the dining-room. On it were written a few words only, but they sufficed to keep Jim idle: ‘‘T shall come out alone some time after dinner, as soon as mamma is asleep. Please wait somewhere near the house for me. It is something very important I have to tell you.—K.” That was all, but enough for Jim, who naturally w:._.ed for the coming of Eveline. It was the first letter he had ever received from her, and, although the contents were nothing very striking, it was a very precious communication. Jim liked Eveline, in an honest, boyish way, very much. gS SP AND JIM, ol She, as the Yankees say, entirely filled the bill, being possessed of a charming disposition, in addition to her beauty. Jim admired her very much indeed, and that she was inclined to like Jim may be put down as sncontrovertible. Ting-a-ring, ting-a-ring, ting, ting! rang the hammers on the air, until, at a signal from Mariin, the work stopped. “Well done, my lads!” he said to the boys as they wiped the perspiration frem their foreheads. “So you are idle this afternoon, Mr. Gordon ?” “Yes,” replied Jim. “Goes against the grain, doesn’t it ?” “A little; but I am expecting somebody from the house—— Ah! there she is. Good-bye for the Dee J will look in on my way back.” He darted off, and Martin, walking to the door, saw him greet Eveline as she emerged from the house. They walked away in the opposite direction. “A pretty sight,’ muttered Martin. “T eall to mind the time when I had a sweetheart—‘ My Sweet- heart when a Boy. There’s a song about that sort of thing. Ah! what would I give to feel as young and happy as I did then? Blow up the bellows there. We'll get on with our work, my lads.” And Martin proceeded to beat out some of the feeling aroused by memories of the past. Anyway, he tried to, but it was not an easy task. - Jim and Eveline walked on until they were out of the sight of the house, just beyond the ground where the men sometimes played quoits, and then sat down upon a sandy slope close to the sea. “Jim,” said Eveline, “I daresay you think me a forward creature writing to you like that, but if you do, I can’t help it.” Jim earnestly assured her he was far from thinking such a thing. On the contrary, he was quite sure she would not have written unless she had urgent need to do so. “That’s just it,’ said Eveline; “I want a friend, and I don’t know where to turn to one who can help me. Papa is soon worried, and mamma goes off ata tangent, and there is nobody else in the house I can look to. Jim, there is a horrid Spaniard who wants to marry me. What do you think of that? As if I should think of marrying at all for years to come, and never to a Spaniard !” “T should think not!” indignantly exclaimed Jim. ‘¢ Who is the ragamuffin P” ‘Read that letter,” said Eveline; and she gave him the epistle she had taken from the drawer in her father’s room. Jim read it through, not with so much surprise 4s Eveline expected to see. Indeed, it was evidently, in a degree, satisfactory to him. ): eVe) ( GX @) m (Gg CS €oO