 chapter 1 sisters this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this reading by Lucy Burgoyne sisters by Ada Cambridge chapter 1 Guthrie Kerry begun life young he was not a week over 21 when between two voyages he married Lily Harrison simply because she was a poor pretty homeless little girl who had to earn her living as a nondescript lady help in hard situations and never had a holiday he saw her in a sandwich boarding house slaving beyond her powers and made up his mind that she should rest with sailor's eel and promptitude he got the consent of her father who was glad to be rid of her out of the way of a new wife took the trembling clinging child to the nearest person and made her a pensioner on his small wages in a tiny lodging of her own they honeymooned for a fortnight off and on as his ship could spare him the happiest pair of mortals in the wide world and then parted in tears and anguish unspeakable for the best part of a 12 month he came back to find himself a father wonderful experience for 21 never was such a heavenly mystery of a child never such an angelic young mother 18 and with the bloom of that most beautifying convalescent like a halo about her he was first mate now with a master's certificate and a raised salary it was time to make her home so while she nursed the baby in Sandridge with the aid of a devoted friend the landlady's cousin Guthrie Kerry visited himself across the way at Williamstown fixing up a modest house he also had a devoted friend in the person of a customs officer whose experienced wife took charge of the operations Lily was to see nothing until all was ready for her it was to be a pleasant surprise the last touches had been given tea put in the caddy meat and butter in the safe flowers in the bars is Mrs. Hardaker in her best gown spread a festive supper table and Bill her spouse stood by with a government launch to take the proud young husband to his wife and to bring them back together Lily awaited him trembling tearful while with the joy of going home her stepmother had come to Sandridge to see her off and had brought her a present of a Macintosh on the merits of which she dilated with fervor as she twirled it round and round buttons right down to the feet she urged persuasively and Cape hanging below the waist the second Mrs. Harrison was a big woman you might go through a deluge unit and so stylish my dear you can wear it when you go out in threatening weather of an afternoon and be quite smart well it's pretty threatening now said Guthrie uneasily I don't know that it wouldn't be wiser oh no no Lily implored no trains tonight no way but this Guthrie I can't get wet in this nice waterproof I don't care how it blows the more the better with you with me but baby we can keep him safe he's going to be rolled in your possum rug we can take him inside if it is cold oh we must go by sea Guthrie call this sea he mocked it was see to her who had never been beyond the heads she expected to concentrate in the 15 minutes trip across the bay the interest of years of travel online there was nothing like blue water to this sailor's wife whose heart had been upon it for so many anxious months the extravagance of her partiality was the joke of husband and friends against her alright said Guthrie come along then he was impatient to get her away from these people and under his own roof the second hand Macintosh was again pressed upon her oh thanks thanks but I think I won't put it on just yet as it is not raining my dress is born her dressed was the wedding dress chosen for use as well as beauty a delicate pink stuff with a watered sash to match in which she looked like a skill girl on breaking up day she had a fancy to go to her home in state and also to make an appearance that would do her husband credit before mr. and mrs. hardaker here is your fascinator my dear said the motherly landlady offering the wisely selected substitute for Lily's hat let me tie it on for you there the fascinator of white wool made and adjusted properly accounts for its name and Guthrie was sure that he had never seen a love bigger picture than his darlings face in that soft frame she was ready now as ready as she meant to be until the customs launch had seen her and turned to pick up the large bundle that had the little baby in the middle of it I'll carry him Lily no no mr. Kerry I'm going to carry him said the landlady's cousin a striking young woman whose arms were equal to the task as far as the boat at any rate she did so the elder ladies supporting her on either side Guthrie and Lily led the procession hand-in-hand I how like another world it is coming out upon that breezy platform from the gutters smelling streets and how royal a proceeding it seemed to Lily to be the setting apart at the government vessel solely and entirely to convey her to a new abode as if she were a little queen going to her husband's kingdom she could not help holding herself with dignity if not with a trifle of thing glory in this as between half a dozen eager hands and admiring eyes she stepped down into it now have you got everything the landlady called from the pier oh everything everything in the world Guthrie shouted in reply where's your waterproof Lily screeched the stepmother better put it on my dear and I'd advise you to sit undercover both of you you'll be drenched if you don't in this wind why Mr. Hardaker it's blowing a perfect gaol a bit fresh man Bill admitted just enough to keep us lively all aboard mr. Casey pass the word sir when you're ready ready call Guthrie and then he said something to the men Bill Hardaker and his mate do you go finless and about having everything on board all his life and happiness or something to that effect at which they laughed and choked him as the launch backed from the pier and started off in the tearing hurry characteristic of customs boats Lily was in the cabin with the baby and the landlady's cousin who had got round mr. Hardaker to give her a return passage after seeing the little family safe home husband and wife had frowned at the suggestion of having her with them on the launch but when they had shut her in out of sight and hearing and found themselves free to follow their own devices untrammeled by their child they did not mind so much hadn't you better Guthrie be gone when his wife reappeared clinging to the doorjam but she exclaimed again no no let me be outside with you she wanted to feel at sea with him to bathe herself under the shelter of his protection in the magnificent tempestuous inspiring night to her cooped up all her life in streets and prosaic circumstances there was something in the present situation too poetical for words no bride who had married money and was setting out by P&O upon her luxurious european tour could have been more keenly sensible of the romance of foreign travel than she crossing Hobsons Bay in a borrowed customs launch while squally darkness surrounding and isolating her and her mate immeasurably enhanced the charm I want to see it to feel it she pleaded the air is so clean and fresh the sea is so grand tonight how beautiful it smells Guthrie I must have been born for a sailor's wife I love it so of course you were the sailor is centred heartily no manner of doubt about that well sit here if you prefer it sweetheart on the stern grating only mind you don't catch cold and don't let us get that pretty frock spoiled before the Williamstown folks have seen it he steadied her while she stood to have the big macintosh drawn closely about her the round cape flapping far and wide in the rough wind was like an unmanageable sail he said and when she was again seated he tucked it under her knees and feet buttons being hard to find and fasten he pulled the two fronts at the garment one over the other across her lap and she sat upon the outer one then he readjusted the white fascinator winding the fluffy ends round her neck and finally encircling all with his stalwart arm there she sat resting against him her left hand in his left hand her contented eyes shining like stars in the dark they were practically alone in space they decked companions having thoughtfully turned their backs and made themselves as remote as possible a long sigh fluttered through lilies parted lips from a surcharged heart Guthrie heard it through all the clamour of the gale for it really was a gale and the noise of the screw and fiercely snorting funnel he stopped his face to hers tight pet no she murmured oh no what then only happy perfectly happy same here he said careless how he tempted fate only more so their lips met and we're holding that sweetest kiss of lovers that our man and wife went away driven by the wind flung a shower of spray at them giving each a playful slap at the face as a hint not to be too confident hadn't you better get inside he urged as he wiped her cheek it'll be rougher still directly oh no it's splendid the rougher the better I'm so glad it's rough I can't take any harm so well wrapped up and with you my husband I live the hug he gave her in acknowledgement of the word made a gasp for breath he was so carried away that he had to use both arms whether I a lurch of the boat nearly unseated him never he declared in an intense whisper never shall you come to harm my precious one well you've got me to protect you I can promise you that dear she returned in the same kind of time I know I never shall and she cuddled closer up to him and he took a firmer grip of her there was no rail for either to hold to and drawing out from the shelter of the peer and meeting the force at the southerly swell the launch had begun to dance like a cork on boiling water why there's quite a seon remarked Guthrie with a laugh I hope it won't make you seasick seasick she echoed with fine scorn I am a sailor's wife sir bless your little heart I've been seasick myself many a time and for not much more than this either however it'll soon be over there's home waiting for us Lil where where she interrupted him with a tender eagerness the launch was tossed high in the air and the lights of Williamstown stretched across the darkness in front of them like a band of jewels oh you can't distinguish it said Guthrie but it's there it's one of those lights Mrs. Hardacre said she was going to keep the blind up and the gas flaring so that we might see it as we came over that's what I shall do when you come back next time said the girl with a voice like a dove cooing make a beacon to guide you home no fear that I shall mistake the course little woman he had an irresistible impulse to hug her with both arms again and they happen to be on the verge of the river current Hardacre and Finlison both shouted look out sir that he was not looking out his sailor's eyes were otherwise occupied and so he did not perceive the enemy of love making the spring to seize him just as he was folding his mate to his breast he heard the warning cry forward and it was then too late to avert the catastrophe in the same instant a sudden wave struck the launch and nearly turned her over and the young wife and husband holding to nothing but one another and simply sitting upon an unprotected plank were tipped out as easily as balls from a cap size basket oh this is too absurd that was Guthrie's mental ejaculation in the astonishing first moment a deep sea sailor who had come through what he had come through to let himself be caught unawares by such a paltry mist chance as this then what an unspeakable ass to have been so careless to have shown himself incapable of protecting his wife after all his posts would he ever hear the last of it as long as he lived poor little one how cold the water felt when he thought of her tender skin and her pretty dress that she had set such store by in which she had intended to go to church with him on Sunday utterly destroyed of course well he must make shift to afford her another and smarter one and get it made quickly she should have her pick and choice as the following wave sourced his uprising head slapping in full in the face so as to confuse and blind him for a second or two the fear that she might get a dose of it before they could pull her out made him sharply anxious if she got a bad cold a shock to her nerves perhaps a serious illness he would never forgive himself and what a cell that would be what a waste of this precious holiday this second honeymoon so much sweeter than the first after the weary waiting for it he cleared his eyes and had a momentary view of the surroundings before another wave rushed upon him waves they were by George he could not have believed it possible that such a sea would be running right up here in this little duck pond of a bay it had seen the rough on the boat but viewed from the surface it might have been the middle of Atlantic Wastes they were in the River Channel worst luck and the South Wind was dead onto it bringing up the swell from outside and the swell that had set that way for days was so heavy as to drive him back faster than his powerful limbs could propel him in the other direction at first the launch seemed to want to dance over him but when he rose on a swirl of water to take his bearings after the first bewilderment she was a couple of lengths away cutting the most extraordinary capers in her efforts to put about her own lights and those of the beacons at the River mouth showed him all her stern grating and bright deck fittings as she healed over hanging to the side of one of those ridiculous ocean rollers out of bounds and he thought it no wonder that he even he had been tossed off under the circumstances the crew who were not sitting on a skimming dish as it were had their work cut out to hold on as he looked he measured his drift with serious disquietude although the preposterous idea of anybody being drowned had not as yet occurred to him drowned here a good joke indeed why they were within hail of sand ridge and half a dozen ships or they would have been but for the noise of wind and water which smothered lesser sounds and the lights of Williamstown amongst them that of the little home awaiting him started the shore on the other hand near and clear like the eyes of a host of watching friends and in Hobson's Bay which could hardly cover the body of the sunk yacht and right up by the river which had to be dredged all the time to keep it open but where was Lily it scared him to find himself out of arms reach of her forced back by the swell and not to see her immediately when he was able to look he saw the launch which of course was entirely occupied in a rescue and saw two white boys float him and saw a line thrown but nothing else except the wild water that buffered at him and the moonless night overhead and he remembered that the River Channel indeed Hobson's Bay in any part was just as dangerous as Mid-Atlantic to one who could not swim the thought clutched him like a hand at his throat got her he yelled in a fury of terror got her see her he strained to make himself heard by the men on the launch in a way to burst his heart they shouted something that he could not understand and a line came whizzing past him he caught it as it dropped and soon lessened the distance between them then he perceived a long boat hook stretching out into the darkness it went up and down with the tops of the boat like the fishing rod of an impatient skill boy and a few yards beyond its reach were a touched water there was a dim smudge he knew it for the full cape of Lily's Macintosh outspread upon the waves they alternately rumbled and smoothed it flapping it into all shapes as they tossed and toyed with it but by the mercy of heaven it had held her up in the middle of the mass he could see her dear little head hanging forward and downward just under the surface out of which a larger or smaller speck of her white fascinator rose and gleaned as each roll swung her up into the light of the boats lamp turned upon the spot this told him that she was already helpless and unconscious although ten seconds had not elapsed since she went over God said that she had not struck anything that her heart was not weak that she was not subject to any of the mysterious consequences of shock peculiar to the more than ordinarily complex woman at any rate she had not had time to drown he had seen a man recovered after being under for forty minutes and in less than one they would be taking her full speed to Williamstown signaling for the doctor as they went what would the fellows assure make of the three whistles three times there before they got across they would know the launch the blue them and her present errand and think perhaps that the crew were on the spree but no they would have more sense than that they would look at the wild night and conclude that something had happened so would the doctor who would hear the summons from his bed what would they all say to him Guthrie Kerry with his good Siemens record behind him when he brought his wife home in such a state of delipidation however all's well that ends well let him only have her safely there and he would not mind what anybody said and he'd take precious good care not to run any risks with her again water logged as he was and cramped in his overcoat he made a violent bound towards the floating Cape lunge twice courted at the second try and pulled it eagerly alas too eagerly he felt the tug of Lily's weight only does long enough to be sure that she was there and then the fastenings gave way and she slipped through the empty garment swum up to him on the edge of a new way which clipped it over his face like a gigantic plaster oh this is dreadful she would be rescued eventually of course amongst them they would not let her drown not if skill and courage had any show at all but the fact that she was in danger could no longer be ignored she was a little delicate thing already overcome and precious time was wasting then every second was of the most tremendous consequence with a frenzy gesture Guthrie shook off the cloak spluttered spat and made a dive to intercept her as she went down wondering as he did so where the breath and strength would hold out if he missed her and had to follow her to the bottom the swing of the swell was awful and the darkness of the blind night to cruel for words if only I had this cursed coat off he dumberly solved if only I could get rid of these damn lace boots bad words would have been forgivable even had he not been a sailor he missed her groped desperately to the verge of suffocation and came up to cough and groan and pump breath and up to take him down again it would have cost five minutes to get his clothes off and there was not a single second to spare now see her he shrieked near a sign Bill Hardacre shouted but we'll catch her when she rises take a turn of the line round you sir so we can haul you in but there was not even time for that in the frightful race of these vital moments she was gone and she must be found and there was but her husband to look for her the two other men were few enough for the safety at the launch as she was then situated and besides hard acre could be more useful to Lily above water than below the neighbouring ships lay undisturbed putting off no boats to help in all that band of lights ringing the black welter of the bay like stars out of the infinite shining calmly upon an abandoned world not one was moving Guthrie Kerry gave a last look round identified the window of what was to have been his home where the fire was burning brightly the little supper spread goodness is hard acre watching for them at the door heard the landlady's cousin wailing liel liel and again plunged under arms wide and eyes staring and heart bursting with despair everything in him seen bursting and agonizing sensation as his over strain lungs collapsed and the power of his strong limbs failed him then everything seemed to break away and let in the floods of leaf with a rush confusion and forgetfulness and a whirl of dreams settling to a strange peace and irresistible sleep as if he had swallowed a magic opiate the sea took him as the nurse takes a helpless child and floated him up from the place where he had been savagely groping something met him halfway floating down upon him and his arms went rounded of their own accord but they were powerless to clasp or hold it it passed him sinking gently and lay where it sunk under all the turmoil as still as the rocking tide would let it the launch sounded her steam whistle furiously from both sides of the bay it was heard screeching through the windy night like a thing possessed and men got up hastily to ask what was the matter another launch put out from Williamstown and a police boat from Sandridge and the anchored ships awoke and hailed them soon half a dozen boats were tossing about the spot they tossed for two hours and Bill Hardacre dived seven times with a rope around his waist while the widowed young husband lay on the cabin floor between two doctors the baby and the landlady's cousin keening over him well said do you go bin listen as at last they headed for Williamstown through the now listening storm with a bundle in tarpaulin beside them it do seem as if the powers above take a pleasure in tripping us up when we least expected I said Bill Hardacre sitting crying in his wet clothes he said as we were starting he got all he wanted now I think to myself at the time thinks I that's an unlucky thing to say but who is to judge luck in this world poor little nilly Harrison was a helpless creature and had almost nothing in her except vanity end of chapter one chapter two sisters this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information all to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this reading by Lucy Burgoyne sisters by Ada Cambridge chapter two sincerely he believed when he was on his feet again that his life was wrecked forever he did suffer from insomnia even with his splendid sea season constitution for months which proved the poignant insistency of his grief making thinking a disease instead of a healthy function he performed his duties mechanically rigidly like an engine stoked from the outside he no longer had pleasure or interest in them the flavor was gone from life it had become a necessary burden to be born as best he could at one time he even questioned the right of the moral law to ask him to bear it under the circumstances he used to look at the blue water beneath him and long to be beneath it sharing the fate of his loved and lost he did not want to live without her he wanted to die at 21 at 23 he was a man again physically and mentally sound doing all reverence to the memory of his dead wife a flawless angel in the retrospect while finding natural solace in the company of living women who were also young and fair the living women were much in evidence from the first nothing but the sea could keep them from trying to comfort him a big fellow with a square hard face and a fist to fell an ox that was just a kind of man to call for coddling apart from the fact that he was a widower had been married for as long as five weeks all together with his heart in his wife's grave and with that pathetic adjunct a baby when he would consent to recognize the world of affairs again and the claims of youth and manhood against it he found that of course there is no need to specify all the things he found one was a batch of invitations awaiting each arrival of his ship in court first two then four then half a dozen women's notes begging him to come to as many hospitable houses for change and rest and to bring the baby he could not bring the baby for reasons which he did not honestly present as a rule at which he reluctantly disclosed to Alice Urquhart one night at five creeks Alice had written one of the six notes they were six because it was Christmas time for she was the sister of Jim Urquhart who was the friend of an ex-quater down on his luck through droughts and reduced to balancing ledges in a Melbourne office who was the friend of one of those doctors at Wiggumstown whose skill had brought Guthrie Kerry to life after he had been drowned Jim having made the acquaintance at the latter took his sister to inspect the ship and to have tea in the mate's cabin hence the return visit which the captain who loved his chief officer stretched a point to sanction there were at five Creek station besides Jim and Mrs. Urquhart and several children but Alice the eldest of the family was the general manager of her household ever struggling with her brother who maintained it to lift it and herself out of the ruts in which her father had left it stuck she was close on 30 sad to say and there were three girls below her and nothing happened from year to year and she was weary of the monotony do come and see us she wrote to Guthrie Kerry one of the finest looking men she had ever known not expecting this flamboyant Claude Delzel do come and see us and bring the baby country air will do it good and the house is full of nurses for it he went himself out of friendship for Jim and after dinner sat in the brander with Alice and explained why he had not brought the baby Jim had then gone off to doctor a sick horse and Mrs. Urquhart was putting children to bed I believe Alice rallied him but you thought it infradict he protested earnestly that she was wrong no it was not that not that ignorant of the details of the tragedy of his life she sent it a mystery about the child was it perhaps not right in its head she wondered or afflicted with a hair lit son or daughter she ventured cautiously a boy said Guthrie Kerry still with that unfathomley air of discontent sometimes I wish it was a girl she could look after me by and by I could have her trained to be my housekeeper and so my buttons on that sort of team you know you would have to wait a long time said Alice turning admiring eyes upon his cuddly person noting with regret that he could not be within several years of her own age it is quite a young infant isn't it yes that is let me see 15 months and a little over yes it will be 15 months on Thursday since he lost his mother time had done so much for him that he could now speak of her to a stranger and he was then only a few weeks old poor poor little thing side Alice earth heart it was by the way a particularly sympathetic night soft still solitary with a full moon they both felt it besides he had had an excellent dinner five creeks was poor but it lived well oh laugh the guest without merriment in his life you needn't waste pity on him miss Earthheart he's all right rolls in fact never a thing in his life might take the prize at a baby show so they tell me I have not seen him myself for a good while what why he's in Melbourne isn't he not far out and you haven't been home to see him I haven't got a home I gave it up when you know I knew I should never be there and you can't leave the house and a young child to servants the little time that I did try to carry on by myself I made a dismal mess of it the woman I trusted to he meant Mrs. Hardaker started feeding it with thick arrowroot she'd have killed it to a certainty indeed yes the idea but it is incredible what some fools of women can do in the way of mismanaging a baby the remark implied expert knowledge on the speaker's part a mother of children herself to said Guthrie reflectively and looking at if ever a woman did while a girl who'd never had any took to the job like a duck to water knew just what to do and how to do it I will say that for her instinct miss Earthheart remarked to the man in the moon who seems to survey the couple with his tongue in his cheek I'm sure though I say it that I could give many a mother points myself I've no doubt you could I heard somebody say the other day that mothers are born not made very true to you see it in the little girls nursing their dolls I don't think anything ever she child that doesn't want a doll as soon as it can speak I always love them declared Alice casually he leaned forward to look at a spider's web that the silver light had just touched making a shine out from its background of dark leaves and veranda post and there was danger of rapture to the delicate thread of the topic that was weaving so charming a conversation where for the young lady hasten to inquire what had become of his little son I suppose she said he is with his mother's people slowly resuming his attitude of repose the guest considered the question no not exactly with a friend of his mother's not her family unfortunately she had no family to speak of and mine is in England neither of us had a soul here who really belonged to us that was just the difficulty it must have been a great difficulty murmured Alice in a feeling tone I believe you as centered Guthrie with emphasis in fact had put me into the most ridiculous whole the most confounded fix one that I can't for the life of me see my way out of one that however I mustn't talk about it to you it's not a thing that one ought to talk about to anybody and yet he yearn to talk about it and now and to this particularly sympathetic woman who was not young and giddy but like himself experienced in the troubles of life such as weighed him down there was something about her that irresistibly appealed to him and he did not know what but an author who knows everything knows exactly what it was it was the moonlight night a few words from her backed by the nameless influences of the hour unloosened his tongue you mustn't think me an unnatural parent he said it's not that at all I'm awfully fond of him I've got his photograph in my pocket I'll show it to you when we go in the last one for the time being I get a new one about every other male in all sorts of get-up clothes and no clothes but all as fat as butter and grinning from ear to ear with the joy of life you never saw such a fetching little cuss I'd give anything to get hold of him if I could but surely his own father no it sounds absurd to you naturally but that's because you don't understand the situation I can't conceive of any situation of course not it's a preposterous situation and I just drifted into it I don't know how oh I do know it was for the child's own sake so that you really mustn't call me a heartless parent anymore miss Irvhart nobody would do that who knew what I'd suffered for him Mr. Carey made a gesture and sighed deeply even in the beginning it would have been difficult to get out of it having once got in he continued after a pause but it has been going on so long getting worse and worse every day and every hour till now I'm all tangled up like that moth in that spider's web pointing to a little insect tragedy going on beside them miss Irvhart leaned forward resting her arms on her knees and spreading her hands in the enchanting moonlight which made them look white as pools and made her rather worn face look as if finally carved in ivory it was a graceful thoughtful confidential pose and her eyes uplifted soft and kind gleaned just under his eyes I'm so sorry she murmured but if I don't know what the trouble is oh don't tell me if you'd rather not I can't help you can I and I do wish I could so do I but I'm afraid nobody can help me and yet perhaps a fresh eye a woman's clearer insight he paused irresolute then succumbed to temptation look here miss Irvhart I'll just tell you how it is if you promise not to speak of it again you are no gossip I know how did he know and it will be such a blessed relief to tell somebody and perhaps you could advise me after all let me try she broke in encouraging me for an instant her pearly hand touched his sleeve you may trust me she said I'm sure of it I'm sure of it he responded warmly he drew his chair closer took a moment to collect himself and plunged headlong you see she was related to the people my poor wife lived with when we were first married and she was a lot with her it was lonesome for her with me away at sea and they got to be sort of chums she was with us the night I lost my poor girl I can't talk about that now but someday I'll tell you and I know she was awfully fond of her that was just the difficulty you are speaking queried Alice gently at the person who has the baby exactly I see you begin to understand I think so said Alice with a smile broad enough to be visible in moonlight but what was the difficulty well you know being so really fond of her and all that wishing to do it for the sake of her dear friend what could I say especially as those women were killing the unfortunate brat between them she was not so very young and was evidently clever at managing yes interposed Alice smiling still and peculiarly situated for undertaking the job having a good home and only an old mother who let her do what she liked and awfully set on the baby from the first and wanting an object in life as she said but chiefly it was for Lily's sake to see Lily's child missed about by just anybody and killed with arrowroot and stuff was more than she could stand to tell the truth I couldn't stand it either and she begged me to let her have it to look after as there was no female friend or relative nearer to it than she was what could I do she lived in a nice healthy spot and there was the old mother with her experience and I was obliged to go to see and and well I've just had to say yes and be thankful to say it we've got them the doctor found we engage the sort of nurse that does everything you know a fine strapping young woman in the pink of condition and and well there it was at the first blush the worst of the trouble seemed over instead of just beginning I gave up my house and went off to sea miserable enough as you may suppose but at least with an easy mind about the boy as far as he was concerned as far as my poor Lily was concerned I felt I had acted for the best indeed I don't for the life of me understand how any man could have acted otherwise under the circumstances the listener listening intently here put a quiet question did you pay her which caused the narrator to wince like a gold horse I there you hit the weak spot miss her car right in the bull's eye he declared sign furiously if I could have paid her of course there'd have been no difficulty at all but she wouldn't be paid you ought to have insisted on it said Alice severely I did insist I insisted all I knew but she said it was a labor of love for her friend and seemed so hurt at the idea of money being brought into the question that I was ashamed to press her beyond a certain point she let me pay for the nurses board and that was all the baby didn't eat anything you see and they were comfortably off with lots of spare room in their house and I just looked on it as a sort of temporary visit until I came back until I should be able to turn around a bit but with another sigh he's there yet miss her car noted with an ear of utter wisdom of course you went to see the child three times whenever I was in port and found him always the same so beautifully cared for that upon my soul I never saw a baby in my life so sweet and clean and wholesome looking Jolly as a little sandboy all the time too that means that he had a perfect constitution inherited from you evidently and that you were fortunate in the nurse very fortunate that it appeared that beyond beyond running the commissariat department so to speak she did next to nothing for him miss the lady I spoke of did everything made herself a perfect slave to him bought his clothes oh grown the wretched man I suppose so what did I know about baby's clothes and she wouldn't answer my questions said he was all right and didn't want for anything as I could see with my own eyes I tried making presents used to bring her curious and things found out her birthday and sent her a jewel took every chance I could see to work off the obligation but it was no use she gave me a birthday present after I'd given her one well if moths will go into spiders webs laughed his companion they must take the consequences sometimes they get helped out he replied some beneficent Godlike being puts out an omnipotent finger he looked at her and she looked at him at this moment they seem to have known one another intimately for years the moon again tell me everything she said and I'll help you out so then he told her that he had not this time visited his son he might have added that he had come to five priests partly to avoid being visited by him cowardly and weak he frankly confessed himself but the thing was too confoundly awkward too embarrassing all together but she writes she writes continually tells me what he weighs and when he's got a fresh tooth and how he crawls about the carpet and into her bed of a morning and imitates the cat meowing and drinks I don't know how many pints of new milk a day and all that sort of thing I believe the rascal has the appetite of a young tiger and yet I can't pay for what he eats the nurse was long ago dispensed with so that I've not even her board to send a check for that they might by chance make a trifle of profit out of it seems too late now to simply take the child away and then leave it I haven't the shabby courage to do such a thing and besides he might come to any sort of grief poor little chap in that case there's no doubt in the world that her taking of him and doing for him have been the salvation of his health and perhaps his life and I know by what she tells me that he regularly dotes on her as so he ought and would hail his very head off if I took him from her what could I do with him if I did take him I've no home and nobody to look after it if I had and hired servants are the juice with a lone man at their mercy it would be worse now than it was at first and so with another heavy sigh you see the situation I've just followed up body and bones drowned fathoms the inner sea of debt and obligation that I can never buy any possibility struggle out of except except continued Alice with the candid air of a kind and sensible sister except by marrying her you mean yes I see the situation I appreciate your point of view I should understand it if it were not that she unquestionably laid the trap for you deliberately just as that spider laid his for moths and flies and marriage by capture has gone out oh don't say that the man protested in haste I would not for a moment accuse her of that she was Lily's friend it was for her it was out of pure womanly compassion for the motherless child at any rate in the beginning and even now I have no right whatever to suppose but you know it all the same every word you have said to me tells me that you know it you may as well be frank he squirmed a little in his chair but confessed as required well but it's a catish thing to say I think she does expect it and hasn't she the right to expect it however that's neither here nor there the point is that in common honesty and manliness I should repay her if I can and there's no other way at least I can't see any other way it is my fault and not hers that I don't take to the notion for a better woman never walked nor one that would make a better mother to the boy but somehow you do like to have your free choice don't you he had come as far as this that he could entertain the idea of choice which meant a second choice it would be utterly wrong absolutely immoral downright wicked to forego it Alice declined with energy it would be nothing short of criminal Mr. Carey she argued the point with eloquence even excitedly and when she had brought him to reason very willing to be brought lean back in her chair with a joyous air oh we will arrange it she reassured him there are plenty of ways I'll tell you bending forward again and gazing earnestly into eyes from which something that had been looking out of them seemed to have drawn back hastily you shall introduce me to her and I will bring him away up here for a visit he ought to be in the country in summer and he will come with me I know and won't miss her after a couple of days I can get you a nurse cheap from some of the selectors and one more or less makes not the slightest difference in a house like this and I will take care of him for you until you come back next voyage or for just as long as you will trust him to me so the difficulty will solve itself without any fuss do you see Guthrie Carey felt unable to reply he could only murmur again and again you are awfully good Mr. Hart pond my word you are too good altogether later he declared more firmly that he could not think of troubling her nonsense she returned lightly it is all settled end of chapter 2 chapter 3 sisters this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this reading by Lucy Burgoyne sisters by Ada Cambridge chapter 3 decidedly he was a coward with all his brawn and inches that he did not protest straightforwardly that all was not settled he certainly told himself that he did not know what to do but he also told himself that he would be a fill to do practically the same thing that he had done before he passed a sleepless night poor fellow conditating the matter and in the morning when the moon was gone saw clearly himself where the path of prude and slaying still he lacked courage to make it clear to miss Irkhaar even while he saw her laying out with enthusiasm that road of her own which he's terrified imagination pictured her marching along presently bearing the baby aloft in her arms and dragging him on a dog chain behind her it was not until midday that he suddenly became a brave man about five minutes after the arrival of Deborah Pennyquick she rode over from Redford all by herself as a frequent custom was to see how five creeks was getting on and to talk over plans for Christmas she wore a brown colon habit over the most beautifully molded form and entering the house tossed aside a shady hat from the most beautiful face that ever delighted eyes of man and virile heart of three and twenty it is in such plain terms that one must describe this noble creature words in half tones are unworthy of the theme being introduced by Alice Irkhaar Guthrie Kerry in a sense expanded on the spot into a fresh stage a larger scope of being with his unleaping recognition of her inspiring greatness it seemed to him that he had never looked upon a woman before Lily of course had been an angel I thought I should just strike lunch she said as she came like a sunbeam into the dim low-sealed threadbare comfortable room where the meal was ready I'm as hungry as a hunter Mrs. Irkhaar the homely old woman uttered a cry of joy and spread her arms the visitor incarnate dignity bent to the maternal caress with willing affection yet with the tolerant air of good nature that does not run to gush the children gathered round her and hung upon her undeterred by the fact that she had no kisses or fondlings for them Jim stood motionless glowing at the back of these fixed eyes when the family had done greeting her Guthrie was brought forward this is Mr. Kerry dead who oh yes I know and the Frank hand large strong and beautiful like every bit of her went out to him as if she had really known him it is on Mr. Kerry's account that I have come to tell you that you must bring him over to Redford at once we were going to said Alice for it was the natural thing to take every five creeks visitor to Redford as soon as possible I was writing to you only this morning well we just wanted to make sure my father you will excuse him for not calling on you he is not able to get about as he used poor old man he's that you belong to a family at home which was very intimate with his family when he was young do you come from Norfolk no replied the sailor still in his dream oh dear what a pity he will be so disappointed we have been hearing about the carries of wellward all our lives never were such people apparently and when we heard your name and got the idea that you were of the clan nothing would do but that you must be fetched at once to talk to him about them until even a second cousin or something my grandfather was born at Wellwood ah that's right that's all we want that makes you a carry of Wellwood of course I hope you know the place I have seen it that my grandfather was a younger son and a near do well he was kicked out he quite broke off never mind you needn't go into inconvenient particulars try and remember all you know that's nice about the hall and the family did you ever hear of a merry carry but no she would be before your time of course there was an old merry carry she married a Spencer she was pointed out to me last time I was at home the nutcracker type nose and chin together goodness keep that dark to the mercy sake she is his ideal woman it is for her sake he wants you to talk well wood with if you spoil his pleasure with that hint of nutcrackers I'll never forgive you I hope I know better go through smile coming to himself a little I am sure you do said she and turned from him to take her chair at table then we'll bring him tomorrow Alice said seating herself this afternoon said the visitor commandingly Alice wanted another moonlight talk about the baby and knew the small chance of getting it where Deborah Penny Quick was and she raised obstacles fighting for delay Deborah calmly turned to Jim anything to hinder your coming this afternoon Jim nothing said mr. Urquhart promptly the matter was evidently settled they sat down to lunch and the talk was brisk it was almost confined to the visitor and Alice although the former carefully avoided the shutting out of the hostess from the conversation in which she was incapable of taking a brilliant part Jim in the host's place sat dumb and still except for his alertness in anticipating his guests little wants Guthrie Kerry on her other hand was equally silent neither of the two men heard what she talked about for listening to the mere notes of a charming voice after luncheon she put on her sensible straw hat you must drive mr. Kerry she said to Jim I'll just ride ahead and let them know you are coming let us all go together said Alice I'll drive mr. Kerry and Jim can escort you but there was no going saying Deborah Penny Quick when she had expressed her views you have to get ready she pointed out and you'll do it quicker if I'm not here besides I can't wait they all went out with her to the gate where her superb high-tempered horse pulled the gravel and champed upon his bit Jim sent her springing to the saddle from his horny palm like a bird let out of it and they watched in silence while she crossed two paddocks leap to sets of slip rails and disappeared as a small dot a wide handkerchief from the Sun's suffused landscape what riding Guthrie Kerry ejaculated under his breath she's the best horsewoman in the country she mercant commented slowly after a still pause he was a slow to some people a dull and heavy man who talked little and less of Deborah Penny Quick than of any subject in the world his world and what a howling beauty the sailor added in the same whisper of all again the Bushman spoke muttering deeply in his beard she is as good as she is beautiful Mrs. Urquhart took her leveled hand from her eyes and turned to contribute her testimony there mr. Kerry goes the flower of the Western District you won't find match amongst the best in England I was with her mother when she was born not a soul else and put her into her first clothes that I helped to make and a Bonnie one she was even then with her black eyes that stared at me as much as to say who are you I'd like to know dear it seems like yesterday and it's not 20 years ago all poor Sally and Penny Quick's girls are good girls and the youngest is going to be handsome too rose the third is not at all bad-looking poor Mary I don't know who she takes after the father was the one with the good looks but Sally was a fine woman too poor dear old Sally I wish she was here to see that girl Mrs. Urquhart and Mrs. Penny Quick plain brave working women of the rough old times wives of high-born husbands incapable of compending them as they compared each other had been great friends on them had devolved the drudgery at the pioneer home making without its romance they had had year in year out the task of shepherding too headstrong and unthrifty men who neither own their help nor thank them for it the inglorious life work of so many obscure women and had strengthened each other's hands and hearts that had had so little other support Mrs. Penny Quick she is not living I presume Guthrie and Tice the gorillas lady to proceed dear no she died when Francie was a baby and Mrs. Urquhart gave the details of her friends last illness in full Deb was just a little trot of a thing her father's idol he wouldn't allow her mother to correct her the least bit though she was a willful puss with a temper of her own ruled the house she did just as she does now if she hadn't had such a good heart she had grown up unbearable there never was a child in this world so spoiled but spoiling schooled for her she says it's to be hoped so for spoiling she'll have to the end of the chapter she's born to get the best of everything is Debbie Penny Quick fortunately her father's rich though not so rich as he used to be and when she leaves her beautiful home it'll be to go to another as good or better she's got to marry well that girl she'd never get along as a poor woman with her extravagant ways it had never do Mrs. Urquhart's voice had subtly changed and something in it made the blood rise to the cheeks of the listeners it had never do to put her into an ordinary bush house where often she couldn't get servants for love or money because of the dull life and might have to cook for station hands herself and even do the washing at a pinch Jim wheeled round suddenly and strode back to the house the house as he was quite aware which his mother alluded to she agitated by the movement and without completing her sentence turned and trotted after him Alice was left leaning over the gate at Guthrie Carey's side you will enjoy this visit she remarked calmly ignoring the little scene Redford is a beautiful place quite one of the show places of the district and they do things very well there Mary is ostensibly the housekeeper she really does all the hard work but it is dead who makes the house what it is after she came home from school she got her father to build the new part since then they have had much more company than they used to have Mary who had been out for some years didn't care for gaities she is a dear girl we are all awfully fond of her but she has a most curious complexion quite bright red as if her skin had something the matter with it although it hasn't of course that goes against her miss Deborah's complexion is wonderful yes but oh Deb isn't to be compared with Mary in any except looks she is eaten up with vanity one can't be surprised and is very dictatorial and overbearing you could see that at lunch that Mary is so gentle so unselfish her father's right hand and everybody stand by I don't think miss Deborah seemed because you don't know her I do she simply knows children while Mary would mother all the orphan asylums in the world if she could I always tell her that her mission in life is to run a crush or should be look how she will envy me when I get that boy of yours to look after Guthrie's feet seem to take tight hold of the ground really miss Irkart I can't thank you for your goodness in in asking him up here but I've been thinking I've made up my mind that the best thing I can do is to take him home to my own people the idea was an inspiration at the desperate moment how to put it into practice he knew not and she tried to show him that it was impracticable that he knew not that he stuck to it as to a life boy he would write to his sister all the people he owned apparently and find somebody who was going home and isn't it time to be putting our things together miss Penny Quick told us we were to be there for tea at four o'clock if possible end of chapter three chapter four sisters this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this reading by Lucy Burgoyne sisters by Ada Cambridge chapter four behold him at Redford with his teacup in his hand he was safe now from talk about the baby but he was also cut off from the lovely Deborah now wondering about her extensive grounds with another young man old father Penny Quick had him fast they sat together under a veranda at the Great House there were no pilots then said the old man puffing comfortably at his pipe there were no pilots then and we had to feel our way along with the cast of the lead we got ashore at Williamstown on sailors backs and walked to Melbourne crossed the Yarra on a punt not far from where Princess Bridge now is yes said Guthrie Kerry he seemed to be listening attentively he's strong square face set like a mask but his eyes roamed here and there bred two and six the small loaf mr. Penny Quick dribble into his dreaming ears egg sixpence apiece cheap enough to compared with the gold prices the gold was not thought of for ten years after that I tell you sir those were the times before the gold brought all the riff-raffin the sailor murmured something to the effect that he supposed they were we've got our club and a couple of branch banks and a post office and government Latrobe and Bishop Perry and the nicest lot of fellas that ever came together to make a new country we were as happy as Kings all young men I was barely 23 when I took up Redford named after a place at home you know our place at home of course I have seen it from the road answered the guest arrested in his mental wanderings by the mention of his own age you must have seen it often living so close I never live close myself I am a Londoner it's all the same your people do the penny quicks and the carries have been neighbors for generations I am only distantly related to that family a carry is a carry persisted the old man who had determined to have it so from the first and he would listen to no disclaimers he had already referred darkly to that Mary carry at the hook nose and pointed chin his eldest daughter he said had been named after her this eldest daughter with her two ruddy face had shyly drawn near and taken a chair at her father's elbow where she sat very quietly busily tatting plain no her face was she had beautiful hands her play with red and shuttle just under Guthrie's eyes held them watchful for a time the time during which no sign at Deborah's white gown was to be perceived upon the landscape my brother and I we never hit it off somehow so when my father died I cleared you don't remember his funeral I suppose no no that was before your time they hung the church all over with black broadcloth of the best that was the way in those days and the cloth was the parson's percocyte the funeral hangings used to keep him in coats and trousers and they used to deal out long silk hat scarves to all the mourners silk that would stand alone as they say and the wives made mantles and aprons of them they went down from mother to daughter like the best china and family spoons that's how women took care of their clothes when I was young they didn't want new frocks and fouls every week like some folks I could name and he pinched his daughter's ear talk to Deb father said Mary I have not had a new frock for a great many weeks I Deb's the one that girls got to marry a millionaire or I don't know where she'll be almost Mrs. Urquhart's words and like hers they pricked sharply into the feelings of our young man his eyes went roaming once more to discover the white gown a far off trailing unheeded along a dusty garden path the old man saw it too and his genial countenance clouded over well he continued after a thoughtful pause poor old Billy Dozel and I we immigrated together he had a devil of a stepfather and no home to speak of we were mates at school and we made up our minds to start out for ourselves you remember the Dozel's at the Grange of course I can't say that I do sir well they're gone now Billy's father went the pace and the mortgage is sold him up and if his mother hadn't given him a bit when we started Billy wouldn't have had a penny she pawned all she could lay her hands on for him we found out afterwards Billy was cut up about that and got ill-used by Higgity for it when he found it out she was a fool that woman everybody could see that Higgity was except her old Dozel was a gentleman anyhow with all his faults the white dress drew nearer and its gray tweed companion the host was once more wasting his story on deaf ears so we started off and when we got here we went in together he had enough to buy a mob of cattle and a dry and tea and so had I we loaded up with all the necessaries and hired three good men and travel till we found country took us about five months at last we came here and put our pigs in and I started off to Melbourne for the license ten pounds and leave to renew at the end of the year and here I've stuck ever since Billy he took up other land and got married and died poor chap and that's his boy over there pointing with his pipe and he'll never be the man his father was if he lives to be a hundred the person referred to was he in the grey tweed who sorted with such assurance at white robe Deborah's side he was at all graceful and most distinguished looking young fellow but Guthrie Kerry was prepared to believe partly the statement that Dells Hawk Jr. would never be the man his father was you shall see the identical hut mr. Penny quick kindly promised down by the creek where those big willows are I planted them myself not good enough for a dog kennel my daughters say but the best thing I can wish for them is that they may be as happy in their good houses as I was in that old shanty I in spite of many a hard time I had there with blacks and whatnot we cut the stuff Billy and I and set the whole thing up and all our furniture was our sleeping bunks and a few stools and a table we've washed in a tin bowl on a block outside the door not so particular about tubbing and clean shirts in those days our windows were holes of a handy size for gun barrels and the shutters we put up our nights were squeeze above hung on to nails by strips of green hide many's the time I've worked to see one of them tilt it up and a pair of eyes looking in sometimes friends sometimes foes we were ready for either when Billy went and I thought I'd get married to then I built a better house brick this time and workman from Melbourne to do it that's it over there now the kitchens and storerooms and imported furniture I am not boring you I hope oh dear no I am deeply interested well Billy and I the tail seemed interminable Billy and I we gave 60 pounds a piece for our stock horses and the same for a ton of flour and went right over Ballarat without knowing it camped there sir and didn't see the goal we must actually have crunched under our boot heels and Billy had misfortunes and died poor as a rat it was in the family Mrs. D was all right though she used to send a brother of hers to Melbourne market with a cattle and cash being scarce he would sometimes have to take land deeds for them and she'd be wild with him for it but what was the consequence those bits of paper that she thought so worthless that it's a wonder she took the trouble to save them gave her city lots that turned out as good as gold mines she sold too soon or she'd have made millions and died of a broken heart they say when she found out that mistake still she left a lot more than it's good for a young fellow to start life with that boy has been to Cambridge and now he loaves about the club pretends to be a judge of wine gets every stitch of clothes from London mr. Pennyquick spat neatly with his precision over the random floor into a flower bed but these mothers darlings you know them if Mrs. Delville could see him now I dare say she'd be bursting with pride for there's no denying that he's a smart-looking chap but his father would be ashamed of him daddy dear Mary gently expostulated so he would an idle finishing scamp that'll never do an honest stroke of work as long as he lives and I wish Deb wouldn't waste her time listening to his nonsense isn't it about time to be getting ready for dinner mom Mary looked through a window at a clock indoors and said it was Guthrie hailed the news and rose to his feet but not yet did he escape his host hoisting himself heavily out of his big cane chair hollowed like a basin under his vast weight extended a detaining hand come with me to my office a minute he half whispered I'd like to show you something with the parent alertness but sighing inwardly Guthrie followed his host to the room in the old part of the house which he called his office mr. Pennyquick carefully shut the door opened the desk full of drawers and pigeon holes and brought forth a bit of cardboard with a shy air he had never shown it to his family and doubtless would not have shown it now if he had not been growing old and soft and sentimental it was a print and niggling little watercolour drawing of English Redford a plate for Kate with swallows as big as condors flying over the roofs and dogs that could never have got through any doorway gambling on the lawn in front a tiny Mary Carey in one corner was just and only just visible to the naked eye this was done for me when we were both young by her you're up said mr. Pennyquick floating upon his treasure over Guthrie's shoulder not my aunt explained Guthrie I don't know what relation but long way farther off than that I am only a very small Carey you know sir mr. Pennyquick testily intimated as before that to be a Carey at all was enough for him it was his excuse for these confidences of which he was half ashamed while Guthrie studied the poor picture trying to look as interested as he was expected to be his host turned and stared down into the door that had held it for so many years other things were there the usual dead flowers still holding together still fusty to the nose the usual yellowing ball glow the usual dance and invitation cards and faded letters with their edges prayed a bookmarker with an embroidered friendship mixed up with forget-me-knots in coloured silks upon perforated card backed by a still gleaning red satin ribbon looped at one end and fringed out at the other the book that it was tucked into the language of flowers a large Valentine in a wrapper with many broken seals some newspaper cuttings half a sixpence with a hole in it and a dagger a type in a leather case this last he took up opened and gazed at steadily until his companion was compelled to interrupt him with an inquiring eye then he passed it over and Guthrie turned it this way and that until he caught the outlines of a long aquiline face between bunched ringlets and the long bodice with a deep point which he understood to have belonged to his distant relative at some period before he was born and this he murmured politely yes said mr. Pennyquick that's her and I've never shown it to a soul before not even to my wife a sweet expression fair was she fair as a lily and as pure and as beautiful gentle as a dub with blue eyes Guthrie did not care for this type just now he loved them dark and flashing and spirited like Miss Deborah but he murmured hmm sympathetically the loveliest woman in England the old man mourned it on surely you must have heard of her in the family Guthrie had not only heard of her as we know he had seen her but he shook a denying head and dropped another hint of his own position in the family outside the royal enclosure as it were well now I'll just tell you what happened said mr. Pennyquick turning to the open drawer again strictly between ourselves of course and only because you are a carry you understand somehow you bring it all back he was fumbling with the big Valentine getting it out of its case yes Guthrie encouraged him while inwardly chafing to be gone you see this it was an exquisite structure a foamy paper lace silver dubs gauze wing cupids transfixed hearts and wreaths of flowers miraculously delicate how it had kept its frail form intact for the many years of its age was a wonder to behold you see this said the old man well when I was a young fellow the 14th of February was a time I can tell you you fellows nowadays you don't know what fun is nor how to go according nor anything I was at old Redford that year and she was at Wellwood and all through the sleet and snow I rode there after dark tied my horse to a tree crept up that nut wall you know it and round by the East Terrace to the porch and laid my Valentine on the doorstep and clinging the bell and hid behind the you fence till the man came out to get it then I went home and last thing at night there was a clutter clutter at the door at Redford and I dashed out to catch whoever it was her brother she sent it wasn't quite smart enough if only I'd seen him I should have known as I ought to have without that but I didn't it never occurred to me that she'd send the answer so soon and she had disguised her writing in the address and there was another girl named of myrtle by me who used to have myrtle on her note paper and all over the place and hear these flowers look to me as if they were meant for myrtle and these two crossed arrows are like capital V and how I came to be such an egregory astute Lord only knows well I've paid for it that I have I've paid for it look here don't touch I'll show you what I found out when it was too late after she played shy with me till I got angry and left her and it was all over my eyes aren't good enough to see it now but I suppose it's there still with infinite care and the small blade of his pocketknife he lifted the tiny tip of a tiny cupid's wing with bent head and pocket eyelids Guththry peered under and read yours MC written on a space of paper hardly larger than a pin's head in my valentine that night said mr. Pennyquick I'd asked her to have me I didn't hide it up in this way I knew while I wondered that she took no notice that she must have seen it this was her answer and I never got it sir till she was married to another man and then by the mirror's accident then I couldn't even have the satisfaction of telling her that I'd got it and how it was I hadn't got it before of course I wasn't going to upset her after she was married to another man I've had to let her think what she liked of me Guththry was certainly interested now but not as interested as he would have been the day before the day before this story would have moved him to pour out the tale of his own untimely and irreparable loss he and old mr. Pennyquick would metaphorically speaking have mingled their tears together you forget often on said mr. Pennyquick as he wrapped up his treasure with shaking hands and excessive care perhaps figures at a time while you're at work and full of affairs that it comes back especially when you are old and lonely and you think how different your life might have been you don't know anything about these things yet perhaps when you are an old man like me you will Guththry did know no one better he believed that he did not say unknown to himself he had reached that stage which mr. Pennyquick came to when he began courting Sally Dimmesdale she had made him such a good and faithful and uninteresting wife it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all says the old proverb true enough the one might write it this way with even more truth it is better to love and lose than to love and gain one means by love romantic love of course end of chapter 4 chapter 5 sisters this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this reading by Lucy Burgoyne sisters by Ada Cambridge chapter 5 dinner was over they had all gone up to the big drawing room which was the feature of the new part the third house of the series which now made one the new part was incongruously solid and modern with a story comprising the drawing room and its staircase only which overtop the adjacent roofs below it was a corresponding dining room and both apartments were furnished richly in the fashion of the time tons of solid mahogany in the letter and a pasture of grass-grain carpet and brocade up whole strings in the former lit up with gilded wallpaper and curtain cornices as by rays of a pale sun curly rosewood sofas and armchairs and marbled and mirrored chippaneers and the like were in such profusion upstairs as to do away with the air of bleakness common to a right angle chamber of a large size and middle-class arrangement a fine-grain piano stood open in a prominent place four large shaded lamps and four piano candles pleasantly irradiated the whole while three French windows opening on a balcony still stood wide to the summer night by the great white marble mantelpiece under the great guilt from pure glass filling the huge chair specially dedicated to issues father penny quick sat in comfortable gossip with his old friend thorny croft a bundle of it irked him to separate himself from pipe and newspaper baggy coat and slouchy slippers and his corporal and frame objected to stairs but when he had guests he considered it is duty to toil up after them in paint and shoes and dining costume and sit amongst them until music or card games were on the way when he would retire as unobtrusively as he sighs and heavy footsteps permitted it was the custom to pretend not to see or hear him go and it would have annoyed him exceedingly had anyone bitten him good night the pair talk shop after the manner of old squatters when they sit apart but the tall spare gray man with the thoughtful face more like a soldier than a sheep farmer was not thinking much of his flocks and herds his thoughts followed the direction of his quiet eyes focused upon an amber silk gown and its immediate surroundings mr. thorny croft was Deborah's godfather and at 47 was to all the sisters quite an elderly man a sort of bachelor uncle to the family one with no concern in such youthful pastimes as lovemaking and marrying except as a benevolent onlooker and present giver and so the bail vigilance of his regard was not noticed as it would not have been understood by anybody but other eyes similarly occupied we're planer to read Jim her cuts of course Jim as ineligible for the most coveted post in the western district as he will could be by reason of family already depending upon him together with the load of debt left along with it by his deceased father a pal of mr. Penny Quicks in the gay and good old times still contrived to bring himself within the radius of Deborah's observation whenever occasion and being there all those silent and keeping to the background his gaze followed her as the gaze of an apostle follows a light on a dark night with the same still absorption nothing but her returning gaze could divert it from its mark it was so natural so car me customary so on a truth that nobody cared to attach importance to it he sat now far back against the green brocade hangings at the corner window where he could see the beloved profile in the middle of the room his big work rough and hands clasped his big bony knees and his long loose body hung forward out of the little chair that was never built for such as he and he seemed given over to Rose Penny Quicks tale of the pony that had corns and the cat that had been mangled in a cruel rabbit trap he gave her wise counsel regarding the treatment of these poor things his deep drawing voice an unnoticed instrument in the orchestra of tongues but his crew featured sunburned face held itself steadily in the one direction from the day that he came to manhood his soul had kept the same attitude towards the woman to whom the profile belonged but he never alluded to the fact save in this silent way then there was the Reverend Bennett Goldsworthy Church of England minister as his style and title ran privately Mr. Penny Quick did not like him but for the sake of the priestly office and as being a parishioner he gave him the freedom of the house and much besides the Parsons buggy never went empty away redford hams vegetables poultry butter and eggs etc kept these ladders supplied his horse feed was derived there from also his horse also his cow when his cow began to fail he promptly mentioned the fact he was mentioning at now to Mary Penny Quick yes he was saying a propose of his motherless little girl whom he often brought to Redford for change of air leaving her to the care of the sisters until convenient to him to reclaim her yes it will mean much to my child in afterlife to have the refining influences of this house at the most impressionable age truth was that Ruby was growing a little old for her kindergarten and he wanted Redford to offer her gratis of course a share in Francie's governess I could not endure to see her grow up like the daughters of so many of my brother clergy ignorant at the very rudiments of decent life meaning not decent life in the ordinary exception at the term but the life that included evening dress and finger glasses she has caught the colonial accent already at that horrid school when is the new cure coming says he and by the way that reminds me your good father promised me to cow a fortnight ago the one we have gives us hardly any milk for the table we have had no butter from her for months I am so sorry Greed Mary as if Redford had failed in its sacred duty of hospitality I will tell him about it the men have all been so busy with the shearing she was also distressed that she could not definitely invite Ruby for the impending holidays but Deb had issued her commands that Redford was not to be settled with a nurseless child at Christmas when everybody's hands would be full Mary was Ruby's willing foster mother when Redford had her in charge she was also the kindest hostess of them all to Ruby's father to her was left the task of entertaining him and she never neglected it naturally he gave her no thanks when he said that what Ruby needed was a mother's tender care it was at Deborah he looked who never turned a hair's breadth in his direction at any time except when good manners obliged her and who was not tended to Ruby whom she called that brat and had smartly spanked on several occasions a beautiful woman cannot help having objectionable lovers anymore than a king can help a cat looking at him this man a most well-meaning good-hearted useful little underbred person typical of so large a class in the colonial church was Deb's pet aversion and did not know it he was not made to see his own deficiencies as she saw them when first she flashed upon his dazzled vision splendid in a scarlet dinner gown and carrying her regal head as if the earth belonged to her he really saw no reason why he with these qualifications of comparative youth good looks he sought a good looks and notorious pulpit eloquence should not aspire to rush in where so many feared to tread his rush had been checked at the outset but he was still unaware of the nature of the barrier that Deb hell rigid between them he continued to gaze at her with his ardent little black eyes as if no barrier were there and it was because he did so that Deb who could not slap him for it slap Ruby sometimes and called her a brat and would not have her asked to Redford for the holidays thereby giving occasion to envious Alice Urquhart for that warning to Guthrie Kerry not to trust his baby to her there was still another lover present the favoured lover he sat with Alice near the piano where Francie and her governor's were playing duets listening without listening to his companions jerky talk those pathetic attempts to attract him which so many second-rate girls were not too proud to make obvious to his keen apprehension Claude Delvesl's distinction was that he was the most polished young man at the social circle he had all the advantages that money could give and in addition was naturally refined and handsome to hear Claude Delvesl read poetry or sing German folk songs to his own graceful accompaniment was to make a poet at the listener to dance with him was pure enchantment to another good dancer he was the best horseman in the land and if his present house could not appreciate his many charms except perhaps the last named others did the whole race of girls more or less fell down and worship him he sat with Alice Urquhart because he could not sit with Deborah or rather because he could not condescend to share her with that to Penny her penny mate at the tramp cargo boat as he stole Guthrie Kerry whom she had made happy at last she had rescued him from her father's clutches she had called him to a chair beside her where there was no room for a third chair her glistening skirt flowed over his modest toes her firm round arm flung along the chair arm between them made him feel like Peter Ibertson before the Venice of Milo it was so perfect a piece of human sculpture she lay back slowly fanning herself and smiling her eyes wandering all the time in Delvesl's neighborhood without actually touching him a tall deep bosom dark eyed dignified as well as beautiful young woman knowing herself to be such and unspoiled by the knowledge she wore her crown with the air of feeling herself entitled to it but it was an unconscious air without a trace of petty vanity behind it everything about her was large and generous and incorruptibly wholesome even her undoubted high temper and this was her charm to every man who knew her not less than her lovely face Guthrie Kerry and who shall blame him fast in his good luck but every now and then he looked up and met the glower of Claude Delvesl with a steely eye these two men each so fine of his kind met with the sentiments of rival stags in the mating season the impulse to fight onsite and assure the non-survival of the unfittest came just as naturally to them as to the less civilized animals each recognized in the other not merely a personal rival but an opposing type it amused Deborah she grasped the situation as surely as they did to note the bristling and antipathy behind the careful politeness of their mutual regard if it did not bristle under a immediate eye it crawled look out for the articles of virtue Claude had warned her earlier in the evening that big sailor of yours is rather like a bull in a china shop he nearly had the car of table over just now he doesn't know just how to judge distance in relation to his bulk I'd like to know he's fighting weight when he plants his hook you can feel the floor shake he is a fine figure of the man Deb commented with a smile I can't you're Mr. Delzel casually stand a person who eats curry with a knife and fork it was pretty tough that curry I expect he couldn't get it to pieces with a spoon he did not try to I never noticed I shouldn't remember to notice a little trifle like that my dear girl it is the little trifle that marks the man Oaf said dead and then she sought Guthrie carry and brought him to sit beside her that gentleman sings well remarked Guthrie tepidly at the conclusion of a finely rendered song I often wish I could do those ornamental things unfortunately a man who has his word if he sticks to properly gets no time to qualify I'm afraid I shall never shine at drawing room tricks tell me about your work said clever dip smiling behind her waving theme at once she had him quite happy talking about himself no effort was necessary to draw him out that she damed to listen to him was enough he struggles as boy blue nose boy he's tough battle for the first certificate he's complicated trials a second mate holding theoretically an authority that was practically none he's rise to be qualified master an actual mate no to penny her penny position in his eyes evidently his anticipation of the master extra and the pass in steam which might lead to anything the whole tale was told her inters straightforward fashion that with an art new to the modest sailor man who hated brag as much as cowardness he bragged in self defense in challenge of the formidable equipment of his rival and how interested she was how well she understood his case that it was better than the swellest training ship to make your own way by your own exertions and splendid to have done so much while still on the right side of 30 so much he had done more than that he had been a husband and father at 21 but this his most distinguished exploit was not mentioned end of chapter five