Welcome to sleep stories with Steph your go-to podcast.
That offers you a calm and relaxing transition.
Into a great night's sleep.
It is time to relax and fully let go.
There is nothing you need to be doing now.
And know where you need to go.
Close your eyes.
And feel yourself sink into the support beneath you.
And let all the worries of the day go.
Drift away.
This is your time.
And your space.
Take a deep breath in through your nose.
And let it out with a long sigh.
That's it!
There is nothing you need to be doing now.
And know where you need to go.
Happy listening.
Chapter 6 Old Dr Dave and Mrs Dr Dave had come down to the little house to greet the bride and groom.
Doctor Dave was a big,
Jolly,
White,
Whiskered old fellow and Mrs Doctor was a trim,
Rosy-cheeked,
Silver-haired little lady who took Anne at once to her heart literally and figuratively.
I'm so glad to see you dear.
You must be real tired.
We've got a bite of supper ready and Captain Jim bought up some trout for you.
Captain Jim,
Where are you?
Oh,
He slipped out to see the horse,
I suppose.
Come upstairs now and take your things off.
Anne looked about her with bright,
Appreciative eyes as she followed Mrs Dr Dave upstairs.
She liked the appearance of her new home very much.
It seemed to have the atmosphere of green gables and the flavour of her old traditions.
I think I would have found Miss Elizabeth Russell's kindred spirit.
She murmured when she was alone in her room.
There were two windows in it,
The dormer one looked out across the lower harbour and the sandbar and the four winds light.
A magic casement opening on the foam of perilous seas in fairy lands forlorn,
" she quoted softly.
The gable wind gave a view of the little harvest-hued valley through which a brook ran.
Half a mile up the brook was the only house in sight.
An old rambling grey one surrounded by huge willows through which its windows peered like shy seeking eyes into the dusk.
And wondered who lived there.
They would be her nearest neighbours.
She hoped they would be nice.
She suddenly found herself thinking of the beautiful girl with the white geese.
Gilbert thought she didn't belong here,
Mused Anne,
But I feel certain she does.
There was something about her that made her part of the sea and the sky and the harbour.
Four winds is in her blood.
When Anne went downstairs,
Gilbert was standing before the fireplace talking to a stranger.
Both turned as she entered.
Anne,
This is Captain Boyd.
Captain Boyd This is my why.
It was the first time Gilbert had said my wife to anyone but Anne.
And he narrowly escaped bursting with the pride of it.
The old captain held out a sinewy hand and they smiled at each other and were friends from that very moment.
Kindred Spirit flashed recognition to Kindred Spirit.
I'm right down pleased to meet you,
Mistress Blythe.
I hope you'll be as happy as the first bride who came here.
I can't wish you no better than that.
But your husband doesn't introduce me just exactly right.
Captain Jim's my wickedy name,
And you might as well begin as your son to end up calling me that.
You certainly are a nice little bride.
Looking at you sort of makes me feel I've just been married myself.
Amid the laughter that followed,
Mrs Doctor Dave urged Captain Jim to stay and have supper with them.
Thank you kindly.
It will be a real treat,
Mrs Doctor.
I almost had to eat my meals alone with a reflection of my ugly old fizz and a looking glass opposite for company.
It isn't often I have a chance to sit down with two sweet pretty ladies.
Captain Jim's compliments may look very bold on paper,
But he paid them with such a gracious,
Gentle deference and tone,
And look,
That the woman upon whom they were bestowed felt she was being offered a Queen's tribute in a kingly fashion.
Captain Jim was a high-souled,
Simple-minded old man with eternal youth in his eyes and his heart.
He had a tall,
Rather ungainly figure,
Somewhat stooped,
Yet suggestive.
Of great strength and endurance.
A clean-shaven face deeply lined and bronzed,
A thick mane of iron-grey hair falling quite to his shoulders,
And a pair of remarkably blue deep-set eyes,
Which sometimes twinkled and sometimes dreamed,
And sometimes looked out seaward with a wistful quest in them.
As if one seeking something precious and lost.
And was to learn one day what it was for which Captain Jim looked.
Could not be denied he was a homely man.
His spare jaws,
Rugged mouth and square brow were not fashioned on the lines of beauty,
And he had passed through many hardships and sorrows which had marked his body as well as his soul.
But though at first sight Anne thought him plain,
She never thought anything more about it.
The spirit shining through that rugged tenement beautified it so wholly.
They gathered daily around the supper table.
The hearth fire banished the chill of the September evening,
But the window of the dining room was open and sea breezes entered at their own sweet will.
The view was magnificent,
Taking in the harbour and the sweep of low purple hills beyond.
The table was heaped with Mrs Doctor's delicacies,
But the pièce de résistance was undoubtedly the big platter of sea trout.
Thought they'd be sort of tasty after travelling,
" said Captain Jim.
They're fresh as trout can be,
Mistress Blythe.
Two hours ago they were swimming in the Glen Pond.
Who is attending to the light tonight,
Captain Jim.
I'll stop today.
Nephew Alec,
He understands it as well as I do.
Oh no,
I'm really glad you asked me to stage a supper.
I'm proper hungry.
I didn't have much of a dinner today.
I believe you half starve yourself most of the time down at that light.
Said Mrs Doctor Dave.
You won't take the trouble to set up a decent meal.
I do.
Tested Captain Jim.
I live like a king generally.
Last night I was up to the Glen and took home two pounds of steak.
I meant to have a spanking good dinner today.
And what happened to the steak?
She asked.
Did you lose it on the way home?
No.
Captain Jim looked sheepish.
Just at bedtime a poor,
Horny-sorted dog came along and asked for a night's lodging.
I guess he belonged to some of the fishermen long shore.
I couldn't cut the poor cur out.
He had a sore foot.
So I shut him in the porch with an old bag to lie on and went to bed.
Somehow I couldn't sleep.
Come to think it over,
I remember the dog looked hungry.
And you gave him all that steak,
All that steak!
Said Mrs Doctor Day with a kind of triumphant reproof.
Well,
There wasn't anything else to give.
So it's Captain Jim.
Nothing a dog would care for,
That is.
I reckon he was hungry,
For he made about two bites of it.
I had a fine sleep the rest of the night,
But my dinner had to be sold as scanty.
Potatoes and point,
As you might say.
The dog he lit out for home this morning.
I reckon he weren't a vegetarian.
The idea of starving yourself for a worthless dog.
Sniffed Mrs.
Doctor.
You don't know,
But he might be worth a lot to someone,
" protested Captain Jim.
He didn't look much,
Count,
But you can't go by looks in judging a dog.
Like myself,
He might be a real beauty inside.
The first mate didn't approve of him,
I'll allow.
His language was downright forcible.
But the first mate is prejudice.
No use in taking a cat's opinion of a dog.
At any rate,
I lost my dinner,
So this nice spread in this delightful company is real pleasant.
It's a great thing to have good neighbours.
Who lives in the house among the willows up the brook?
I'll stand.
Mrs Dickmore Captain Jim and her husband.
He added,
As if by way of an afterthought.
Anne smiled and deduced a mental picture of Mrs Dickmore from Captain Jim's way of putting it.
Evidently a second Mrs Rachel Lynde.
You haven't many neighbours,
Mistress Blythe.
Went on Captain Jim.
This side of the harbour was mighty thinly settled.
Most of the land belongs to Mr Howard up yonder past the glen.
He rented out the pasture.
The other side of the harbour is thick with folks,
Especially McCallisters.
There's a whole colony of mechanists and you can't throw a stone but you hit one.
I was talking to old Leon Blackwear the other day.
He's been working on the harbour all summer.
Nearly all Mechanus is over there,
He told me.
Neil McAllister,
Sandy McAllister,
William McAllister,
Alec McAllister,
Angus McAllister,
And I believe there's even Devil McAllister.
There were nearly as many Elletts and Crawfords,
Said Dr Dave,
After the laughter had subsided.
You know,
Gilbert,
We folk on this side have forwent of an old saying.
From the conceit of the Elliots,
The prize of the Macallixters,
And the vainglory of the Crawfords,
Good Lord deliver us.
There's plenty of fine people among them though,
" said Captain Jim.
I sailed with William Crawford for many a year,
And for courage and endurance and truth,
That man hadn't an equal.
They've got brains over on that side of Four Winds.
Maybe that's why this side is sort of inclined to pick on them.
Strange,
Innit,
How folks seem to resent anyone being born a mite cleverer than they be.
Dr Dave,
Who had 40 years feud with the Over Harbour people,
Laughed and subsided.
Who lives in that brilliant emerald house half a mile up the road?
Asked Gilbert.
Captain Jim smiled delightedly.
Miss Cornelia Bryant.
She'll likely be over to see you soon,
Seeing you're Presbyterians.
If you were Methodist,
You wouldn't come at all.
Cornelia has a holy horror of Methodists.
She's quite a character,
Chuckled Dr Dave.
A real man-hater.
Sour grapes,
Queried Gilbert,
Laughing.
No,
It isn't sour grapes.
Answered Captain Jim seriously.
Cornelia could have had her pick when she were young.
Even yet,
She's only to say the word to see the old widowers jump.
She just seems to have been born with a sort of chronic spite against men and Methodists.
She's got the bitterest tongue and the kindest heart in Fort Winds.
Whenever there's any trouble,
That woman is there,
Doing everything to help in the tenderest way.
She never says a harsh word about another woman.
And if she likes to cart us poor scallywags of men down,
I reckon our tough old hides can stand.
She always speaks well of you,
Captain Jim,
" said Mrs Doctor.
Yes,
I'm afraid so.
I don't half like it.
Makes me feel as if there must be something sort of unnatural.
About me.
