Page:Further Chronicles of Avonlea (1920).djvu/210

178 who were but sorry associates for him, Avonlea people thought.

In late November he and Joe started for a trip down the coast in the latter’s boat. Thyra protested against it, but Chester laughed at her alarm.

Thyra saw him go with a heart sick from fear. She hated the sea, and was afraid of it at any time; but, most of all, in this treacherous month, with its sudden, wild gales.

Chester had been fond of the sea from boyhood. She had always tried to stifle this fondness and break off his associations with the harbor fishermen, who liked to lure the high-spirited boy out with them on fishing expeditions. But her power over him was gone now.

After Chester’s departure she was restless and miserable, wandering from window to window to scan the dour, unsmiling sky. Carl White, dropping in to pay a call, was alarmed when he heard that Chester had gone with Joe, and had not tact enough to conceal his alarm from Thyra.

“’T isn’t safe this time of year,” he said. “Folks expect no better from that reckless, harum-scarum Joe Raymond. He’ll drown himself some day, there’s nothing surer. This mad freak of starting off down the shore in November is just of a piece with his usual performances. But you shouldn't have let Chester go, Thyra.”