Beyond the City - Page 48/92

"Rum? In the morning?" He sat down and rubbed his eyes as one who tries

to shake off some evil dream. "Did you say rum?"

"Yes, pa. They all drink it in the profession which I am going to take

up."

"Profession, Clara?"

"Mrs. Westmacott says that every woman should follow a calling, and that

we ought to choose those which women have always avoided."

"Quite so."

"Well, I am going to act upon her advice. I am going to be a pilot."

"My dear Clara! A pilot! This is too much."

"This is a beautiful book, papa. `The Lights, Beacons, Buoys, Channels,

and Landmarks of Great Britain.' Here is another, `The Master Mariner's

Handbook.' You can't imagine how interesting it is."

"You are joking, Clara. You must be joking!"

"Not at all, pa. You can't think what a lot I have learned already.

I'm to carry a green light to starboard and a red to port, with a white

light at the mast-head, and a flare-up every fifteen minutes."

"Oh, won't it look pretty at night!" cried her sister.

"And I know the fog-signals. One blast means that a ship steers to

starboard, two to port, three astern, four that it is unmanageable. But

this man asks such dreadful questions at the end of each chapter. Listen

to this: `You see a red light. The ship is on the port tack and the wind

at north; what course is that ship steering to a point?'"

The Doctor rose with a gesture of despair. "I can't imagine what has

come over you both," said he.

"My dear papa, we are trying hard to live up to Mrs. Westmacott's

standard."

"Well, I must say that I do not admire the result. Your chemistry, Ida,

may perhaps do no harm; but your scheme, Clara, is out of the question.

How a girl of your sense could ever entertain such a notion is more than

I can imagine. But I must absolutely forbid you to go further with it."

"But, pa," asked Ida, with an air of innocent inquiry in her big blue

eyes, "what are we to do when your commands and Mrs. Westmacott's advice

are opposed? You told us to obey her. She says that when women try to

throw off their shackles, their fathers, brothers and husbands are the

very first to try to rivet them on again, and that in such a matter no

man has any authority."