She
said "No," of course, and begged him for honour and the love of God to be
reasonable; but he only cursed her and locked her in again and went his
way.
Later her aunt came, but Christie won no comfort from her tongue, and
presently stared out at the shocking truth, that in a Christian country
among Christian folks, she was going to be starved to death, because she
wouldn't wed William Bassett. On Sunday night Ted would sail again, and
she doubted if he'd come to see her till he returned, for his papers were
at Jersey along with his mother. Then she thought what lay in her power to
do about it, and if it was possible to get at Alice Chick, the barmaid--a
very clever creature and very fond of Christie. But there was no chance of
that, and she felt sure that Alice had been told she was ill and must not
be seen.
But it happened that the other girl knew all about the tragedy, because
Mr. Bassett had come in the night before, and Mrs. Fox, who was in the
bar, had spoken with him and told what was going forward, and William
hadn't liked it none too well. So Alice, though she seemed busy and
bustled about as usual, heard the ugly truth, or enough of it to guide her
actions.
She thought first of going to William Bassett herself, but she couldn't be
sure of him, and so went to her own lover instead. Andrew Beal he was--a
fisherman that worked for Fox--and that night Andrew Beal tackled a task
somewhat out of the common, for Alice saw him for ten minutes in the road
after closing time, and bade him be off to Dartmouth so quick as his legs
would carry him with a letter that she'd wrote to Masters.
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