Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 64, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 November 1920 — SACKETT’S GIRL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SACKETT’S GIRL

By IZOLA FORRESTER

(Cspyrlaht, 1»1», by the MeClur* Newspaper Syndicate.) In the old days, Captain Nochol* said, there had been a false beacon lighted up regularly on Sackett's hill, and that was why, in the beautiful white sand along the curving, wide shore you found skeletons of schooners and all manner of ancient wreckage. Even 200 . years had failed to wipe away the shadow of responsibility in the eyes of the harbor, and Polly Sackett - always walked across Fountain square to the general store with her head just a trifle higher than was necessary on account of the old blot on the family honor. , But Benjy Sackett, her father, was genial and rotund, and far too fond of spending his leisure hours at the Three Kittens to worry over what the harbor thought about his ancestors. Polly woulcl come from, the village along the narrow board walk that guided the wayfarer over shifting sands until the dunes were reached. And half way from the square there was the hollow, a natural bowl scooped out by nature to form a shelter for the old, ramshackle yellow tavern known as the Three Kittens. Here Polly would and look inquiringly over at the open, hospitable side door, wondering if her father were inside. But never would she herself cross the. stretch of clover and sorrel-strewn sand to find out. If Rod Kennedy happened to come to the door to look out at her, she would give her head a quick, defiant shake, and go on

to the dunes. And Rod would stroll back Into, his father’s place and persuade Benjy It was time to go home. He had been sent away from the island to school for years, and had lost the memory of Polly as she grew up. Somehow, it had become a settled fact that when the day came, the Three Kittens was to be dismantled and sold to Peter Gaffney as a general feed and supply store. Peter waited the day patiently, passing the time down along the docks in daily conference with the ex-captains who sat there in the’sun. - Rod had planned after the sale to leave the island and go away somewhere. Anything rather than spend his life like the rest of the Islanders, content to wait for the weekly boat and live by tire turn of the: tides. But Polly had upset his plans, although all she did was to pause oh her way from the village to look up at the yellow house and wait for her father. ' And for ,her sake he kept an eye on old Benjy Sackett. i Benjy’s principal indulgence had been cribbage until the Flying Squirrel put into the harbor from a Jersey port. Thpt night poker was Introduced to the little company up at the yellow tavern, and before Benjy Sackett managed to navigate home- he had not only lost every cent he possessed, but had also signed a paper giving “in consideration of the sum of one dollar” a deed of sale to his 40 acres along the shore.

Rod had been over to the glee club in the yachf: clubhouse. When he returned he met the two men from the Flying Squirrel coming from the yellow house, and they were laughing together. The next day all of the harbor knew what Benjy had done and that the paper would hold In law because It was signed In the presence of witnesses. Only Rod thought deeper than the surface of things. Why had two strangers put into the harbor from a Jersey port, come deliberately io the Island, and laid fo< Benjy, instead of others? There was many a piece of land richer and better cultivated than the 40 acres along the shore arid the hill where the old false beacon had been. And In his own mind he did not believe the paper would hold InAaw. It was signed while Benjy wasj not himself. Polly heard the news In silence that afternoon whsn the two strangers paid a call to the old white house ,on the hill. Her 'father listened, too, sober and suspicious, blit the paper was there, and his name was signed to IL

He avoided Pelly's eyes, purulng hl» lips, and meditating. And while he listened ;to the two tell when they wanted possession, Rod came up the narrow, graveled walk bordered in clam shells.. Someway Polly’s w’hole heart turned to him for help at that moment, he looked so resourceful and fearless. * ‘‘Good day, Mr. Sackett,” he called cheerily. "Thought you might need a little help on this deal. Did Polly sign that deed, too?” “Only the owner’s name is necessary." said Tuttle, the older man, curtly. “Mr. Sackett’s willing to abide by what he did. la It your business to Interfere?” “I think so,” answered Rod quietly. “We’re all neighbors here on the island, you see, and my father’s taken a good deal of Mr. Sackett’s money the past twenty-odd years. I can’t stand by ant) see him lose everything now. Mr. Sackett, I’ve taken the liberty of looking up the old deed, and your wife’s name was on it as part owner, since her dower money went into the purchase of it. Under our law here you are not sole owner now, since I had found on record her will, leaving all she possessed to her daughter, Mary Elizabeth Sackett. Polly's name would have to go on that paper to make it legal, and the place is still yours and Polly’s.” “You talk just like a real lawyer,” sneered Tuttle. “I am a real lawyer,” Rod smiled., “Only I hadn’t had a chance to practice here. I think that’s all gentlemen, only this.” His eyes narrowed keenly. “We have a constable here. I’ve given him your record from the police at New Jersey ports. You’ve played this trick at a good many village ports along the shore, and you’ve set a record for quick salest You’ll find our Mr. Gaffney Is waiting for you down at the dock where your boat lies. That’s about’all.” Benjy walked after the two, chuckling and happy, but Polly stood by the pink and red hollyhocks, looking down at the little oval flower beds along the walk, her heart beating fast as she listened to Rod. “You know I did it most of all for you, Polly,” he said. "I couldn’t stand and let those fellows get away with a deal like that, of course, but It was you I thought of all the time. Why won’t you speak to me, or be friendly?!’ “Because you belonged to the Three Kittens,” she said hesitatingly. “I thought you were just going to keep it forever.” “Would you leave the Island and go with me?” he asked. “We went to school together, Polly, and you always were my girl then. Why do you treat me so now?” “I guess I must have been jealous of you, Rod,” she laughed helplessly. “I wanted to go away and study, too, and I hated to stay here all my life, and you were free to do as you pleased. It seemed as if I’d be Sackett’s girl to the end of the chapter.”

Rod’s arm closed about her. The little windbreak of beach trees and willows hid them from view. “We’ll be married at the chapel,” he said, “just when you say, Polly, and after that we’ll Riave dad to retire from business, and your father to settle down up here as he likes,’and we’ll go away traveling until I find a place where I want to hang up my shingle and settle down, too. Do you like that?” Polly nodded her head quickly, her eyes soft with tenderness. "Wouldn’t it be queer, Rod, if we just came back home, after all,” she whispered, looking off at the blue sea and the broad, sandy shore. “Remember what you wrote me once, the first year you were away: “ ‘Over the world and under the world and back to you at last.’ "Only you didn’t know you were going with me, did you?” he laughed.

Would Pause and Look Inquiringly.