Page:Life's little ironies (1894).pdf/139

“You are all success, and I am all the other way!” said Joanna.

“But why do you think so?” said Emily. “They are to bring back a fortune, I hear.”

“ Ah! will they come? The donbt is more than a woman can bear. All three in one ship —think of that! And I have not heard of them for months !”

“But the time is not up. You should not meet misfortune half-way.”

“Nothing will repay me for the grief of their absence.”

"Then why did you let them go? You were doing fairly well.”

“I made them go!” she said, turning vehomently upon Emily. “And I'll tell you why. I could not bear that we ehould be only muddling on, and you so rich and thriving, Now I have told you, and you may hate me if you will!”

“I shall never hate you, Joanna.”

And she proved the truth of her words afterwards. The end of autamn came and the brig should have been in port, but nothing like the Joanna appeared in the channel between the sands. It was now really time to be uneasy. Joanna Jolliffa sat by the fire, and every gust of wind caused her a cold thrill, She had always feared and detested the sea ; to her it waa a treacherous, restless, slimy creature, glorying in the griefs of women. “Still,” she said, “they must come!”

She recalled to her mind that Shadrach had said before starting that if they returned safe and sound, with success crowning their enterprise, he would go, as he had gone after his shipwreck, and kneel with his sons in the church and offer sincere thanks for their deliverance, She went to church regularly morning and afternoon, and sat in the most forward pew, nearest the chancel step. Her eyes were mostly fixed on that