"And I promise you that he will not make you fast long," replied the sailor. "You have published the banns, and you will only have to absolve him from the sins he may have committed between sky and water, in the Northern Ocean. It is a grand idea, the marriage celebrated the very day he arrives, and my son Louis shall leave his ship to go at once to the church."
"Go, then, and arrange everything, Cornbutte."
"I fly, monsieur the curé. Good-morning!"
The sailor hastened with rapid steps to his house, which stood on the quay, whence could be seen the Northern Ocean, of which he seemed so proud.
Jean Cornbutte had amassed a comfortable sum at his calling. After having long commanded the vessels of a rich ship-owner of Havre, he had settled down in his native town, where he had caused the brig Jeune-Hardie to be constructed at his own expense. Several successful voyages had been made in the North, and the ship always found a good sale for its cargoes of wood, iron, and tar. Jean Cornbutte then gave up the command of her to his son Louis, a fine sailor of thirty, who, according to all the coasting captains, was the boldest mariner in Dunkirk.
Louis Cornbutte had gone away deeply attached to Marie, his father's niece, who found the time of his absence very long and weary. Marie was scarcely twenty. She was a pretty Flemish girl, with some Dutch blood in her veins. Her mother, when she was dying, had confided her to her brother, Jean Cornbutte. The brave old sailor loved her as a daughter, and saw in her proposed union with Louis a source of real and durable happiness.
The arrival of the ship, already signaled off the coast, completed an important business operation, from which Jean Cornbutte expected large profits. The Jeune-Hardie, which had left three months before, came last from Bodoë, on the west coast of Norway, and had made a quick voyage thence.
On returning home, Jean Cornbutte found the whole house alive. Marie, with radiant face, had assumed her wedding-dress. "I hope the ship will not arrive before we are ready!" she said.
"Hurry, little one," replied Jean Cornbutte, "for the wind is north, and she sails well, you know."
"Have our friends been told, uncle?" asked Marie.
