[Pg 12] "Not at all," I replied, with animation; "to know a language is to know when to use its idioms." They both looked a little blank, but continued to wave their handkerchiefs. "À bien-tôt!" called Alida softly, as the towering black sides of the steamer slipped along the wooden wharf. Van Dieman raised his hat on the pier below, and answered: "À bien-tôt? C'est la mort, jusqu'à bien-tôt! Donc, vîve la vie, Mademoiselle!" "There is no necessity in chattering like a Frenchman when you talk French," I observed to Alida. "Could you make out what Van Dieman said to you?" "Y—yes," she admitted, with a slight blush. I glanced at Dulcima. There was a mischievous light in her blue eyes. "Pooh!" I thought; "Van Dieman is forty if he's a day." While the ship slid on past Castle William and poked her nose toward the forts at the Narrows, I watched the distant pier which we had left. It was still black with people, moving like ants. And, as I looked, I muttered ever: "Pooh! Van Dieman's forty. There's nothing in it, nothing in it, nothing whatever." Off Fort Hamilton I noticed that Alida had a tear[Pg 13] in one of her brown eyes. "There's nothing in it," I repeated obstinately. [Pg 13] Off Sandy Hook we ran into a sea-storm. In a few minutes many of the passengers went below; in a few more minutes the remainder of the passengers went below; and I was on the way below with my daughter Alida on one arm and my daughter Dulcima on the other. "There is nothing in it," I reflected, as the ship shuddered, pitched, and we involuntarily began running down a toboggan slide, taking little timorous steps. Then the deck flew up and caught the soles of our shoes before we were ready to put our feet down. "Alida," I said, "do you feel bored?" There was no mistaking the tears in her eyes now. "There's nothing in it. There's nothing in anything," I muttered faintly. And I was right as far as it concerned the passengers on the pitching Cambodia. [Pg 14] [Pg 14] CHAPTER II
Prev.
Back
Top