【英文原著类】FRANCES WALDEAUX(弗朗西斯·沃得克斯).pdf

FRANCES WALDEAUX
FRANCES WALDEAUX
BY A HARDING DAVIS
A REMEMBRANCER OF BRITTANY FOR THE BEST
FELLOW-TRAVELLER IN THE WORLD
1
FRANCES WALDEAUX
CHAPTER I
In another minute the Kaiser Wilhelm would push off from her pier in
Hoboken. The last bell had rung, the last uniformed officer and white-
jacketed steward had scurried up the gangway. The pier was massed with
people who e to bid their friends good-by. They were all
Germans, and there had been unlimited embracing and kissing and sobs of
"Ach! mein lieber Sckatz!" and "Gott bewahre Dick!"
Now they stood looking up to the crowded decks, shouting out last
fond words. A band playing "The Merry Maiden and the Tar" marched
on board.
The passengers pressed against the rails, looking down. Almost
every one held flowers which had been brought to them: not costly
bouquets, but homely bunches of marigolds or pinks. They carried, too,
little German or American flags, which they waved frantically.
The gangways fell, and the huge ship parted from the dock. It was
but an inch, but the whole ocean yawned in it between those who went and
those who stayed. There was a sudden silence; a thousand handkerchiefs
fluttered white on the pier and the flags and flowers were waved on the
ship, but there was not a cry nor a sound.
James Perry, one of the dozen Americans on board, was leaning over
the rail watching it all with an amused smile. "Hello, Watts!" he called,
as another young man joined him. "Going over? Quite dramatic, isn't it?
It might be a German ship going out of a German port. The other liners
set off in monplace a way as a Jersey City ferryboat, but these
North German Lloyd ships always sail with a certain ceremony and
solemnity. I like it."
"I always cross on them," said Dr. Watts. "I have but a month's
vacation--two weeks on board ship, two on land. Now you, I suppose,
don't have to count your days? You cross every year. I can't see, for my
part, what business the assistant edit