Madge Morton, Captain of the Merry Maid Part 20

But to himself Judge Arthur Hilliard asked the question: "What in the world are two young girls doing alone on this dangerous sh.o.r.e at such an hour of the night?"

It was well that Phyllis remembered Madge's order, else they might have had some trouble in locating her. As soon as Phyllis saw the friendly light from the oncoming lantern she called at the top of her lungs: "Here I am! Here I am!"

"Keep perfectly still!" Judge Hilliard commanded. "I'll have you out in a short time." He waded into the marsh, his high boots protecting him from the black ooze. When he was about five yards from Phil he flung her the rope. "Now work your way along toward us," he directed.

Phyllis obeyed his command and in an incredibly short time was safe on dry land, her shoes heavy with mud.

"It is bad enough to be lost," declared Phil as she thanked the stranger, "but it is worse to be not only lost, but stuck in the mud as well."

"You were in a most unpleasant, though I can hardly say a dangerous plight," returned the stranger. "Can I be of further service to you?"

"Would you--could you tell us where we can get a drink of water?" asked Madge. "We are so tired and thirsty."

"My name is Arthur Hilliard," returned the man. "If you will come to my house, my mother will be glad to offer you refreshment."

"Thank you," bowed Madge sedately. "We will go with you."

Mrs. Hilliard, a stout, comfortable looking old lady, received the wanderers with true Southern hospitality. Without waiting to hear their story, she insisted that they change their bedraggled clothing for two comfortable looking dressing gowns which she laid out for them, and by the time they had washed their faces and hands and dressed their hair they found a hot supper ready for them in the dining room.

"We are so sorry to have troubled you," declared Madge apologetically, as Mr. Hilliard entered the dining room when they were finis.h.i.+ng their meal. "Now we must tell you who we are and how we came to be floundering in the marsh so late in the evening."

Beginning with their visit to the island that morning Madge related all that had transpired during that long day of adventures. Judge Hilliard shook his head disapprovingly as the tale continued, but listened with grave interest to the part of the story relating to Mollie, the sailor's daughter.

"This girl of whom you speak is like the girl in the fairy story, who has a cruel step-mother and an ogre of a father," he commented when the story had ended.

"Of course she is," answered Madge; "only our girl is not in a fairy story, she is real. I can't believe that that dreadful Mike Muldoon is her father, and I know there must be some way to take her from him and make her happy."

"We are going to save her yet," declared Phyllis stoutly. "I don't see just how we are to manage it, but to-morrow we are going to try again.

How far are we from Fisherman's Island?"

"About thirty miles," Judge Hilliard replied. "I have telephoned to the nearest town to let your chaperon know you are safe. The message will be taken over to your houseboat tonight, and I will take you home in the morning. My mother insists that you remain here tonight. She will join us in the library in a few minutes."

"Thank you again," said Madge gratefully. "It was very thoughtful in you to send a message to our friends. In the morning we wish to go first to the Belleview Hotel. We wish to see a friend of ours who is staying there. Her name is Mrs. Curtis."

"Mrs. Curtis is an old friend of mine," said Judge Hilliard in pleased surprise. "I have known her ever since I was a little boy. Now I have something to say to you that may interest you. I told you I was a judge. It is my business to look into people's legal difficulties.

This trouble which concerns your friend looks to me as though it might have a legal side to it. We are in the State of Maryland. Fisherman's Island is in my jurisdiction. Suppose I issue an injunction forbidding the marriage between Mollie and the sailor, and take you up to the island in the morning to see it served. I have a steam yacht, and I think I shall take along two court officers or policemen, who will terrify your dreadful Captain Mike. At any rate, I'll see justice done his afflicted daughter, if I have to take the law in my own hands."

Madge clapped her hands joyously. Tears stood in Phil's dark eyes.

"Oh, how splendid!" she breathed.

At this juncture Mrs. Hilliard entered the library, and after a little further talk the two girls announced themselves as being quite ready to retire.

"Be ready at seven o'clock," Judge Hilliard reminded them, as he bade his guests good night. "We shall reach Captain Mike's shanty boat before he has time to proceed with the marriage. They won't expect you at your houseboat until after breakfast, and I hope to have three girls to deliver aboard, instead of two."

Phyllis and Madge dropped asleep that night the instant their heads touched their pillows. They had asked to share the same room, and as they had sleepily undressed, they congratulated each other on the fact that Mike Muldoon's cowardly act had resulted in nothing but good to them. It looked as though it might even prove a boomerang to him.

By seven o'clock the next morning the girls had breakfasted and said good-bye to Mrs. Hilliard, after promising to visit her at some future time.

"Judge Hilliard," announced Madge, as the yacht "Greyhound" steamed out from the pier, "we forgot to tell you last night that we think Mollie is old enough to come away from her father if she wishes. She doesn't know how old she is. That is one of the queer things about Mollie.

She seems quite sensible until you ask her to recall something, and then she becomes confused. Still, I am sure she is several years older than either Phil or I."

The shanty boat colony on the east side of Fisherman's Island had also risen early on this warm morning in July. Bill crossed over to the mainland in his sailboat to bring a Justice of the Peace back with him to marry him to Mollie. Captain Mike was determined to have his way with his daughter. Once she was married to Bill, her new friends would find it difficult to get her away from him.

Since Mollie's return to the shanty boat she had made no further outcry. She did not seem to know what was going on. The vacant, hopeless look had come over her face. The fright and ill treatment of the day before had completely subdued her. She seemed to have forgotten everything.

All night long she had lain awake in her miserable berth in the dirty shanty boat. She lay still, with her eyes closed, until the breathing of her family told her they were fast asleep. Then she crept out on the deck of the boat. She sat for hours without moving, her wonderful blue eyes, with the empty look in them, staring out over the silent waters. She was waiting, wistful and patient, for something to come to save her. When the dawn broke, and a rosy light bathed the bay and the sky, she rose, went quietly into the cabin and lay down in her berth again. She stayed there while the family ate their breakfast. She made no resistance when her step-mother came toward her, grinning maliciously, and bearing a coa.r.s.e white cotton dress, which she called "Moll's wedding gown."

Mollie let the woman put the dress on her. She even combed her own sun-colored hair; and, for the first time in her life, she knotted it on her head, instead of letting it stream in ragged, unkempt ends over her shoulders. A loose lock of hair over Mollie's low forehead covered the ugly scar that was her one disfigurement. She was so startlingly lovely that her stupid step-mother stared at her in a kind of bewildered amazement. Mollie was pale and worn, and painfully thin, yet nothing could spoil the wonderful color of her hair and eyes, nor take away the peculiar grace of her figure. Her expression was dull and listless. Even so Mollie looked like a lily transplanted to some field of dank weeds, but growing tall and sweet amid their ugliness.

Mike looked at his daughter curiously when her step-mother dragged her out before him. Brutal as he was, a change pa.s.sed over his face. He glanced over the water to see if Bill's boat were approaching. "I ain't never understood how things has turned out," he muttered to himself. "If Mollie wasn't foolish, I wouldn't let Bill have her. She is a pretty thing, and she looks like a lady. That's what makes it so all-fired queer."

Mollie sank down on the bench that ran around the deck of the shanty boat. She dropped her head in her hands. What she was thinking, or whether she was thinking at all, no one could know or tell. She heard a boat coming through the water, then a cry from her father. If she believed the hour had arrived for her marriage, she gave no sign. She did not raise her head when Mike Muldoon cried out savagely.

Captain Mike went ash.o.r.e. He stood with his heavy arms folded, smoking and scowling.

Judge Hilliard stepped up to Captain Mike. Two police officers accompanied him. Madge and Phil were directly behind their new friend.

They did not like to call to Mollie, but they wished she would look up at them.

"I have an injunction forbidding the marriage of your daughter, Mollie Muldoon, to a fisherman named Bill," Judge Hilliard's peremptory voice rang out. "You are forcing your daughter into this marriage against her will."

"I ain't forcing Moll," denied Captain Mike, glaring at Phil and Madge.

He was driven into a corner, and he knew nothing else to say.

"I would like to ask the girl what she desires," the judge announced.

"Moll," called Mike.

For the first time Mollie lifted her head. She left the boat and came slowly toward the little party.

Judge Hilliard stared, and for a moment he forgot to speak to her.

Madge and Phil had a.s.sured him that their protege was beautiful, but he had expected to behold the simple beauty of a country girl; this young woman was exquisitely lovely.

Madge and Phil trembled with excitement. Suppose Mollie should not understand the Judge's question and make the wrong answer? Suppose the poor girl had been bullied into submission? Suppose she should not even recall the struggle of yesterday? She forgot so much--would she forget this?

"Do you desire to marry this 'Bill'?" Judge Hilliard queried, looking with puzzled wonder into Mollie's lovely, expressionless face.

Mollie shook her head gently. Madge and Phil held their breath.

"I will not marry him," Mollie answered simply. "Nothing could make me do so."

"Then you will come home to the houseboat with us, Mollie," Madge and Phil pleaded together, taking hold of the girl's hands to lead her away.

"I am sorry," interposed Judge Hilliard, speaking to the girls, "but we can't take her away at once. We must observe the law. Muldoon,"

continued the Judge as he took a doc.u.ment out of his pocket and handed it to the sailor, "of course you know that you can not force this girl to marry against her will whether she is of age or not, but, aside from that, here is an order of court directing you to show cause why the girl should not be taken from you upon the ground of cruelty and neglect. The case will be heard in the court at the county seat of Anne Arundel County five days hence, the 30th of the month. You will, of course, be expected to prove that the girl is your daughter. This order also contains an injunction forbidding you to take the girl out of this jurisdiction within that time. These officers will remain here to see that the order of the court is carried out. If you make any attempt to remove the girl from this vicinity, you will be arrested at once."

"And now, ladies," said Judge Hilliard, turning to the girls, "we will go aboard the 'Greyhound'."

"I say, Judge," broke in Muldoon, starting hurriedly after Judge Hilliard, "I don't want to get mixed up in the law. I'll tell you something if you won't be too hard on me. Moll isn't my daughter! I picked her up almost drowned on a beach on the coast of Florida. My first old woman took a liking for the kid, so we just kept her. We didn't intend her any harm. That was ten or twelve years ago."

Judge Hilliard did not appear to be surprised; in fact, he had expected some such statement.