01 The Building of Jalna by Mazo de La Roche Page A

his brothers-in-law played up to it with gestures and chaff.
    Later, looking down from her bedroom window, Adeline saw that a fight had started in the street. Errand boys, butchers, beggars, anyone and everyone were shouting and fighting with fists and clubs. Dogs were barking and howling. Then suddenly a squad of peelers appeared. The fighting ceased. The crowd melted into lanes and cellarways. A Sabbath calm soothed the street.
    Philip had watched the scene over Adeline’s shoulder with an amused smile.
    “A funny lot, your people are!” he said, when it was over.
    “They are as God made them,” she replied, a little defensively.
    “And are you sure it was God, my darling?”
    “Well, He may have had a little help from outside.”
    He kissed her. “I scarcely have seen you alone,” he said, “since we sailed. There was always the baby or your brothers or Mary. Egad, I shall be thankful when all this is over and we are established in Quebec.”
    “So shall I. You’d never guess what Mr. Wilmott said when we stepped off the ship.”
    “What?”
    “He said — ‘Do you know I never expected to set foot on these islands again? I hoped never to set foot on them again.’ ‘Never come home to visit again!’ I exclaimed. ‘Never,’ he answered. And he looked sombre — like the hero of a romantic novel. I’ve done my best to encourage an attachment between him and Mrs. Cameron but it seems hopeless.”
    “A seasick widow is not alluring,” said Philip. “And, to judge by the looks he gives, he is more likely to form an attachment to you. He’d better be careful.”
    “That old sobersides,” laughed Adeline. “He’s not at all my sort. But I do like him as an acquaintance and I hope he’ll settle in Quebec near us.”
    “I think we ought to let your parents know we are here,” said Philip, abruptly changing the subject. “It will take quite a week for repairs and, if they find out from other sources, it might give them a bit of a shock.”
    “No, no,” cried Adeline, “I can’t bear another good-bye! It would be unlucky.”
    “We could tell them not to come.”
    “Nothing would keep my mother away. And my father too — he’d come and create some sort of disturbance. He’d probably abuse the Captain for not having a stauncher ship.”
    “They may see it in a newspaper.”
    “I’m willing to risk that. Next week they go on a visit to my grandfather. They’ll have no time for newspapers.”
    So she had her way and they settled down to the strange interlude in their voyage. They explored the streets of the grey old town. Philip and Mr. Wilmott went on fishing excursions. Adeline wandered with her brothers and Mary Cameron along the mountain paths of Clare or on the shore of the bay and brought home pocketfuls of shells for little Augusta. Every day there was the visit to the ship to watch the carpenters at work. Every daypeople thronged from the country about to see the wonders of the ship. It was grand to see them dancing on the deck in the spring evenings — their lithe bodies bounding and leaping to the whistled tune, clear as a pipe. They snapped their fingers and whirled and bounded in the dance. They had shapely limbs and Spanish faces and there had never been so much merriment on that ship before.
    One evening they were dancing by moonlight and the moon went under a cloud so that no one could say who was who. But a handsome fellow in a blue coat had had his eye on Adeline. He pushed his partner from him and, dancing past Adeline, touched her with his hand. She was standing between her brothers with Mary Cameron hanging as usual on Conway’s arm. Adeline gave a little laugh as the man’s hand touched her shoulder and he could see the white flash of her teeth in the dimness. He danced round the deck and in a moment was at her side again. His arm slid about her. She sprang into the dance. Wildly they danced to the sound of the whistling and the pair of them moved in such beautiful