BESIDE THE SEA
They strolled leisurely along the board-walk, found the sand, walked in the firm, dry line of the high-water mark for a mile to the east, and sat down on a clump of sea-grass on the top of a sand dune.
"I like this!" she cried joyously.
"So do I," he answered soberly, and lapsed into silence.
The sun was warm and genial.The wind had died, and the waves of the rising tide were creeping up the long, sloping stretches of the sand with a lazy, soothing rush.A winter gull poised above their heads and soared seaward.The smoke of an ocean liner streaked the horizon as she swept toward the channel off Sandy Hook.
Jim looked at the girl by his side and tried to speak.She caught the strained expression in his strong face and lowered her eyes.
He began to trace letters in the sand.
She knew with unerring instinct that he had made his first desperate effort to speak his love and failed.Would he give it up and wait for weeks and possibly months--or would he storm the citadel in one mad rush at the beginning?
He found his voice at last.He had recovered from the panic of his first impulse.
"Well, how do you like my idea of a good day as far as you've gone?" he asked lightly.
She met his gaze with perfect frankness."The happiest day I ever spent in my life," she confessed.
"Honest?"
"Honest."
"Oh, shucks--what's the use!" he cried, with sudden fierce resolution."You've got me, Kiddo, you've got me! I've been eatin' out of your hand since the minute I laid my eyes on you in that big room.I'm all yours.You can do anything you want with me.For God's sake, tell me that youlike me a little."
The blood slowly mounted to her cheeks in red waves of tremulous emotion.
"I like you very much," she said in low tones.
He seized her hand and held it in a desperate grip.
"I love you, Kiddo," he went on passionately."You don't mind me calling you Kiddo? You're so dainty and pretty and sweet, and that dimple keeps coming in your cheek, it just seems like that's the word--you don't mind?""No----"
"You don't know how I've been starvin' all my life for the love of a pure girl like you.You're the first one I ever spoke to.I was scared to death yesterday when I saw you.But I'd 'a' spoke to you if it killed me in my tracks.I couldn't help it.It just looked like an angel had dropped right down out of the gold clouds from that ceilin'.I was afraid I'd lose you in the crowd and never see you again.It didn't seem you were a stranger anyhow--I didn't seem strange to you, did I?"Her lips quivered, and she was silent.
"Didn't you feel like you'd known me somewhere before?" he pleaded."Yes.""I just felt you did, and that's what give me courage.Oh, Kiddo, you've got to love me a little-- I've never been loved by a human soul in all my life.The first thing I remember was hidin' under a stoop from a brute who beat me every night.I ran away and slept in barrels and crawled into coal shutes till I was big enough to earn a livin' sellin' papers.For years I never knew what it meant to have enough to eat.I just scratched and fought my way through the streets like a little hungry wolf till I got in a blacksmith's shop down on South Street and learned to handle tools.I was quick and smart, and the old man liked me and let me sleep in the shop.I had enough to eat then and got strong as an ox.I went to the night schools and learned to read and write.I don't know anything, but I'm quick and you can teach me--you will, won't you?""I'll try," was the low answer.
"You do like me, Kiddo?Say it again!"
She rose to her feet and looked out over the sea, her face scarlet."Yes, I do," she said at last.
With a sudden resistless sweep he clasped her in his arms and kissed her lips.
Her heart leaped in mad response to the first kiss a lover had ever given.Her body quivered and relaxed in his embrace.It was sweet--it was wonderful beyond words.
He kissed her again, and she clung to him, lifting her eyes to his at last in a long, wondering gaze and then pressed her own lips to his.
"Oh, my God, Kiddo, you love me! It beats the world, don't it? Love at first sight for both of us!
I've heard about it, but I didn't think it would ever happen to me like this--did you?"She shook her head and bit her lips as the tears slowly dimmed her eyes.
"It takes my breath," she murmured."I can't realize what it all means.It seems too wonderful to be true.""And you won't turn me down because I don't know who my father and mother was?""No--my heart goes out to you in a great pity for your lonely, wretched boyhood.""I couldn't help that--now could I?"
"Of course not.It's wonderful that you've made your way alone and won the fight of life."He gripped her hands and held her at arms' length, devouring her with his deep, slumbering eyes.
"Gee, but you're a brick, little girl! I thought you were an angel when I first saw you.Now I know it.Just watch me work for you! I'll show you a thing or two.You'll marry me right away, won't you?"He bent close, his breath on her lips.
