A Maid of the Silver Sea by John Oxenham
page 55 of 332 (16%)
page 55 of 332 (16%)
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Stephen Gard's experience of women had been small. His mother had been everything to him till she died, when he was fourteen, and he went to sea. When she was gone, that which she had put into him remained, and kept him clear of many of the snares to which the life of the young sailorman is peculiarly liable. When he attained a position of responsibility he had had no time for anything else. And so, of his own experience, he knew little of women and their ways. Less, indeed, than Nance knew of men and their ways. And that was not very much and tended chiefly to scorn and dissatisfaction, seeing that her knowledge was gleaned almost entirely from her experiences of Tom and Peter Mauger. Her father was, of course, her father, and on somewhat of a different plane from other men. And so, if Nance was a wonder and a revelation to Gard, Gard was no less of, at all events, a novelty in the way of mankind to Nance. His quiet bearing and good manners, after a life-long course of Tom, had a distinct attraction for her. That he could burst into flame if occasion required, she was convinced. For, more than once, out of the corner of her eye and round the edge of her sun-bonnet, she had caught his thunderous looks of disgust at some of Tom's carryings-on. |
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