Excerpt from The Jilt, &C: Good Stories of Man and Other Animals
It was a summer afternoon; the sun shone mellow upon the south sands of Tenby; the clear blue water sparkled to the horizon, and each ripple as it came ashore broke into diamonds. This amber sand, broad, bold, and smooth as the turf at Lord's - and, indeed, wickets are often pitched on it - has been called Nature's finest promenade;" yet, owing to a counter attraction, it was now paraded by a single figure - a tall, straight, well-built young man, rather ruddy, but tanned and bronzed by weather; shaved smooth as an egg, and his collar, his tie, and all his dress very neat and precise. He held a deck glass, and turned every ten yards, though he had a mile to promenade. These signs denoted a good seaman. Yet his glass swept the land more than the water, and that is not like a sailor.
This incongruity, however, was soon explained and justified.
There hove in sight a craft as attractive to every true tar, from an admiral of the red to the boatswain's mate, as any cutter, schooner, brig, bark, or ship, and bore down on him with colours flying alow and aloft.
Lieutenant Greaves made all sail towards her, for it was Ellen Ap Rice, the loveliest girl in Wales.
He met her with glowing cheeks and sparkling eyes, and thanked her warmly for coming. "Indeed you may," said she; "when I promised, I forgot the flower-show."
"Dear me," said he, "what a pity! I would not have asked you."
"Oh," said she, "never mind; I shall not break my heart; but it seems so odd you wanting me to come out here, when you are always welcome at our house, and papa so fond of you."
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