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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18902-8.txt b/18902-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..224529c --- /dev/null +++ b/18902-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8962 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Flood Tide, by Sara Ware Bassett, Illustrated +by M. L. Greer + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Flood Tide + + +Author: Sara Ware Bassett + + + +Release Date: July 23, 2006 [eBook #18902] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLOOD TIDE*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 18902-h.htm or 18902-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/9/0/18902/18902-h/18902-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/9/0/18902/18902-h.zip) + + + + + +FLOOD TIDE + +by + +SARA WARE BASSETT + +Author of + +"The Harbor Road," "The Wall Between," "Taming of Zenas Henry," +etc. + +With Frontispiece by M. L. Greer + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: "Delight's kinder bowled over by surprise, Tiny," Willie +explained gently.] + + + + +A. L. Burt Company +Publishers -------- New York +Published by arrangement with Little, Brown and Company +Copyright, 1921, +By Sara Ware Bassett. +All rights reserved +Published March, 1921 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE WEAVER AND HIS FANCIES + II. WILLIE HAS AN IDEE + III. A NEW ARRIVAL + IV. THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER ENTERS + V. AN APPARITION + VI. MARRYING AND GIVING IN MARRIAGE + VII. A SECOND SPIRIT APPEARS + VIII. SHADOWS + IX. A WIDENING OF THE BREACH + X. A CONSPIRACY + XI. THE GALBRAITH HOUSEHOLD + XII. ROBERT MORTON MAKES A RESOLVE + XIII. A NEWCOMER ENTERS + XIV. THE SPENCES ENTER SOCIETY + XV. A REVELATION + XVI. ANOTHER BLOW DESCENDS + XVII. A GRIM HAND INTERVENES + XVIII. THE PROGRESS OF ANOTHER ROMANCE + XIX. WILLIE AS PILOT + XX. ONE MORE OF WILLIE'S SHIPS REACHES PORT + XXI. SURPRISES + XXII. DELIGHT MAKES HER DECISION + XXIII. FAME COMES TO THE DREAMER OF DREAMS + + + + +FLOOD TIDE + + +CHAPTER I + +THE WEAVER AND HIS FANCIES + +Willie Spence was a trial. Not that his personality rasped society at +large. On the contrary his neighbors cherished toward the little old +man, with his short-sighted blue eyes and his appealing smile, an +affection peculiarly tender; and if they sometimes were wont to observe +that although Willie possessed some common sense he was blessed with +uncommon little of it, the observation was facetiously uttered and was +offered with no malicious intent. + +In fact had one scoured Wilton from end to end it would have been +difficult to unearth a single individual who bore enmity toward the +owner of the silver-gray cottage on the Harbor Road. It was impossible +to talk ten seconds with Willie Spence and not be won by his +kindliness, his optimism, his sympathy, and his honesty. Willie +probably could not have dissembled had he tried, and fortunately his +life was of so simple and transparent a trend that little lay hidden +beneath its crystalline exterior. What he was he was. When baffled by +phenomena he would scratch his thin locks and with a smile of endearing +candor frankly admit, "I dunno." When, on the other hand, he knew +himself to be master of a debated fact, no power under heaven could +shake the tenacity with which he clung to his beliefs. There was never +any compromise with truth on Willie's part. A thing was so or it was +not. + +This reputation for veracity, linked as it was with an ingenuous good +will toward all mankind, had earned for Willie Spence such universal +esteem and tenderness that whenever the stooping figure with its ruddy +cheeks, soft white hair, and gentle smile made its appearance on the +sandy roads of the hamlet, it was hailed on all sides with the loving +and indulgent greetings of the inhabitants of the village. + +Even Celestina Morton, who kept house for him and who might well have +lost patience at his defiance of domestic routine, worshipped the very +soil his foot touched. There was, of course, no denying that Willie's +disregard for the meal hour had become what she termed "chronical" and +severely taxed her forbearance; or that since she was a creature of +human limitations she did at times protest when the chowder stood +forgotten in the tureen until it was of Arctic temperature; nor had she +ever acquired the grace of spirit to amiably view freshly baked +popovers shrivel neglected into nothingness. Try as she would to curb +her tongue, under such circumstances, she occasionally would burst out: + +"I do wish, Willie Spence, you'd quit your dreamin' an' come to dinner." + +For answer Willie would rise hastily and stand arrested, a bit of +string in one hand and the hammer in the other, and peering +reproachfully over the top of his steel-bowed spectacles would reply: + +"Law, Tiny! You wouldn't begretch me my dreams, would you? They're +about all I've got. If it warn't fur the things I dream I wouldn't +have nothin'." + +The wistfulness in the sensitive face would instantly transform +Celestina's irritation into sympathy and cause her to respond: + +"Nonsense, Willie! What are you talkin' about? Ain't you got more +friends than anybody in this town? Nobody's poor so long as he has +good friends." + +"Oh, 'taint bein' poor I mind," laughed Willie, now quite himself +again. "It's knowin' nothin' an' bein' nothin' that discourages me. +If I'd only had the chance to learn somethin' when I was a youngster I +wouldn't have to be goin' it blind now like I do. There's times, +Celestina," added the man solemnly, "when I really believe I've got +stuff inside me that's worth while if only I knew what to do with it." + +"Pshaw! Ain't you usin' what's inside you all the time to help the +folks of this town out of their troubles? I'd like to know how they'd +get along if it warn't fur you. Ain't you doctorin' an' fixin' up +things for the whole of Cape Cod from one end to the other, day in and +day out? I call that amountin' to somethin' in the world if you don't." + +Willie paused thoughtfully. + +"I do do quite a batch of tinkerin', that's true," admitted he, +brightening, "an' I'm right down glad to do it, too. Don't think I +ain't. Still, I can't help knowin' there's better ways to go at it +than blunderin' along as I have to, an' sometimes I can't help wishin' +I knew what the right way is. There must be folks that know how to do +in half the time what I do by makeshift an' fussin'. Sometimes it +seems a pity there never was anybody to steer me into findin' out the +kind of things I've always wanted to know." + +Celestina began to rock nervously. + +Being of New England fiber, and classing as morbid all forms of +introspection, she always so dreaded to have the conversation drift +into a reflective channel that whenever she found Willie indulging in +reveries she was wont to rout him out of them, tartly reproaching +herself for having even indirectly been the cause of stirrin' him up. + +"Next time I'll set the chowder back on the stove an' say nothin'," she +would vow inwardly. "I'd much better have waited 'til his dream was +over an' done with. S'pose I am put out a bit--'twon't hurt me. If I +don't care enough for Willie to do somethin' for him once in a while, +good as he's always been to me, I'd oughter be ashamed of myself." + +Hence it is easily seen that neither to Wilton in general nor to +Celestina in particular was Willie Spence a trial. + +No, it was to himself that Willie was the torment. "I plague myself +'most to death, Tiny," he would not infrequently confess when the two +sat together at dusk in the little room that looked out on the reach of +blue sea. "It's gettin' all these idees that drives me distracted. +'Tain't that I go huntin' 'em; they come to me, hittin' me broadside +like as if they'd been shot out of a gun. There's times," ambled on +the quiet voice, "when they'll wake me out of a sound sleep an' give me +no peace 'til I've got up and 'tended to 'em. That notion of hitchin' +a string to the slide in the stove door so'st you could open the +draught without stirrin' out of your chair--that took me in the night. +There warn't no waitin' 'til mornin'! Long ago I learned that. Once +the idee has a-holt of me there's nothin' to do but haul myself out of +bed, even if it's midnight an' colder'n the devil, an' try out that +notion." + +"The plan was a good one; it's saved lots of steps," put in Celestina. + +"It had to be done, Tiny," Willie answered simply. "That's all there +was to it. Good or bad, I had to carry it to a finish if I didn't +sleep another wink that night." + +The assertion was true; Celestina could vouch for that. After ten +years of residence in the gray cottage she had become too completely +inured to hearing the muffled sound of saw and hammer during the wee +small hours of the night to question the verity of the statement. +Therefore she was quite ready to agree that there was no peace for +Willie, or herself either, until the particular burst of genius that +assailed him had been transformed from a mirage of the imagination to +the more tangible form of tacks and strings. + +For strings played a very vital part in Willie Spence's inspirational +world. Indeed, when Celestina had first come to the weathered cottage +on the bluff to keep house for the lonely little bachelor and had +discovered that cottage to be one gigantic spider's web, her initial +impression was that strings played far too important a part in the +household. What a labyrinthine entanglement the dwelling was! Had a +mammoth silkworm woven his airy filaments within its interior, the +effect could scarcely have been more grotesque. + +Strings stretched from the back door, across the kitchen and through +the hallway, and disappeared up the stairs into Willie's bedroom, where +one pull of a cord lifted the iron latch to admit Oliver Goldsmith, the +Maltese cat, whenever he rattled for entrance. There was a string that +hoisted and lowered the coal hod from the cellar through a square hole +in the kitchen floor, thereby saving one the fatigue of tugging it up +the stairs. + +"A coal hod is such an infernal tote to tote!" Willie would explain to +his listeners. + +Then there was a string which in like manner swung the wood box into +place. Other strings opened and closed the kitchen windows, unfastened +the front gate, rang a bell in Celestina's room, and whisked Willie's +slippers forth from their hiding place beneath the stairs; not to +mention myriad red, blue, green, yellow, and purple strings that had +their goals in the ice chest, the pump, the letter box, and the storm +door, and in connection with which objects they silently performed +mystic benefactions. + +Probably, however, the most significant string of all was that of stout +twine that reached from Willie's shop to the home of Janoah Eldridge, +two fields beyond, just at the junction of the Belleport and Harbor +roads. This string not only linked the two cottages but sustained upon +its taut line a small wooden box that could be pulled back and forth at +will and convey from one abode to the other not only written +communications but also such diminutive articles as pipes, tobacco, +spectacles, balls of string, boxes of tacks, and even tools of moderate +weight. By means of this primitive special delivery service Jan +Eldridge could be summoned posthaste whenever an especially luminous +inspiration flashed upon Willie's intellect and could assist in helping +to make the dream a reality. + +For it was always through Willie's plastic imagination that these +creative visions flitted. In all his seventy years Jan had been beset +by only one outburst of genius and that had pertained to whisking an +extra blanket over himself when he was cold at night. How much +pleasanter to lie placidly between the sheets and have the blanket +miraculously appear without the chill and discomfort of arising to +fetch it, he argued! But alas! the magic spell had failed to work. +Instead the strings had wrenched the corners from the age-worn +covering, thereby arousing Mrs. Eldridge's ire. Moreover, although Jan +had not confessed it at the time, the blanket while in process of +locomotion had for some unfathomable reason dragged in its wake all the +other bedclothes, freeing them from their moorings and submerging his +head in a smothering weight of disorganized sheets and counterpanes +only to leave his poor shivering body a prey to the unfriendly +elements. An attack of lumbago that rendered him helpless from January +until March followed and had decided Jan that inventors were born, not +made. Thereafter he had been content to abandon the realm of research +to his comrade and allow Willie to furnish the inspiration for further +creative ventures. Nevertheless his retirement from the spheres of +discovery did not prevent him from zealously assisting in the +mechanical details that rendered Willie's schemes material. Jan not +only possessed a far more practical type of mind than did his friend +but he was also a more skilful workman and therefore in the carrying +out of any plan his aid was indispensable. He was, moreover, content +to be the lesser power, looking up to Willie's ability with admiration +and asserting with unfeigned sincerity to every one he met that Willie +Spence had not only been born with the _injun_ but he had the _newity_ +to go with it. + +"Why," Jan would often declare with spirit, "in my opinion Willie has +every whit as much call to write X, Y, Z, an' all them other letters +after his name as any of those fellers that graduate from colleges! +He's a wonder, Willie Spence is--a walkin' wonder! Some day he's goin' +to make his mark, too, an' cause the folks in this town to set up an' +take notice. See if he don't." + +Willie's neighbors had long since tired of waiting for the glorious +moment of his fame to arrive; and although they had too genuine a +regard for the little old inventor to state publicly what they really +thought of the strings, the nails, the spools, the wires, and the +pulleys, in private they did not hesitate to denounce derisively the +scientist's contrivances and assert that some fine day the house on the +bluff would come to dire disaster. + +"Somebody's goin' to get hung or strangled on one of them contraptions +Willie's rigged up," Captain Phineas Taylor prophesied impressively to +Zenas Henry as the two men sat smoking in the lee of the wood pile. +"You watch out an' see if they don't." + +Indeed there was no denying that Celestina was continually catching +hairpins, hooks, and buttons in the strings; or that some such dilemma +as had been predicted had actually occurred, for one day while alone in +the house a pin fastening the back of her print gown had become +inextricably entangled in the maze amid which she moved, and fearing +Willie's wrath if she should sunder her fetters she had been forced to +stand captive and helplessly witness a newly made sponge cake burn to a +crisp in the oven. She had hoped the ignominious episode would not +reach the outside world; but as Wilton was possessed of a miraculous +power for finding out things the story filtered through the community, +affording the village a laugh and the opportunity to affirm with +ominous shakings of the head that it was only because the Lord looked +out for fools and little children that a worse evil had not long ago +befallen the Spence household. + +Willie accepted the banter in good part. Born with a forgiving, +noncombative disposition he seldom took offence and although Janoah +Eldridge, who knew him better perhaps than anyone else on earth did, +acclaimed that this tranquil exterior concealed, as did Tim +Linkinwater's, unsuspected depths of ferocity, Wilton had yet to +encounter its lionlike fury. Instead the mild little inventor, with +his spools and his pulleys, his bits of wire and his measureless +reaches of string, pursued his peaceful though tortuous way, and if his +abode became transformed into a magnified cobweb only himself and +Celestina were inconvenienced thereby. + +To Celestina inconvenience was second nature since from the moment of +her birth it had been her lot in life. Arriving in the world +prematurely she had found nothing prepared for her coming and had been +forced to put up with such makeshifts for comfort as could be hurriedly +scrambled together. From that day until the present instant the same +fate had shadowed her path; perhaps it was in her stars. Her parents +had been of dilatory habits and by the time a crib with the necessary +pillows and bedding had been secured, and she had drawn a few peaceful +breaths therein a new baby had arrived and she had been ousted from her +resting place and compelled to surrender it to the more recent comer. +Ever since she had been shunted from pillar to post, sleeping on cots, +on couches, in folding beds and in hammocks, and keeping her meager +possessions in paste-board boxes tucked away beneath tables and +bureaus. Poised on the ragged edge of domesticity she continued +throughout her girlhood to look forward with hope to an eventual state +of permanence. When she was eighteen, however, her mother died and in +the task of bringing up six brothers and sisters younger than herself +all considerations for her personal ease were forgotten. Ten years +passed and her father was no more; than gradually, one after another, +the family she had so patiently reared took wing, leaving Celestina a +lonely spinster of fifty, homeless and practically penniless. + +This cruel lack of responsibility on the part of her relatives resulted +less from a want of affection than from a supreme misunderstanding of +their older sister. So completely had Celestina learned to efface her +personality and her inclinations that they reasoned she was utterly +without preferences; that she lacked the homing instinct; and was quite +as happy in one place as in another. Having thus washed their hands of +her they proceeded to sell the Morton homestead and each one pocket his +share of the proceeds. Very scanty this inheritance was, so scanty +that it compelled Celestina to begin a rotation around the village, +where in return for shelter she filled in domestic gaps of various +kinds. She helped here, she helped there; she took care of babies, +nursed the sick, comforted the aged. On she moved from house to house, +no enduring foundation ever remaining beneath her feet. No sooner +would she strike her roots down into a congenial soil than she would be +forced to pluck them up again and find new earth to which to cling. + +She might have married a dozen times during her youth had not her +conscience deterred her from deserting her father and the children left +to her care. In fact one persistent swain who refused to take "No" for +an answer had begged Celestina to wait and pray over the matter. + +"I never trouble the Lord with things I can settle myself," replied she +firmly. "I can't go marryin' an' that's all there is to it." + +Other offers had been declined with the same characteristic firmness +until now the golden season of mating-time was past, and although she +was still a pretty little woman the stamp of spinsterhood was +unalterably fixed upon her. + +Wilton, in the meantime, had long ago lost sight of the uncomplaining +self-sacrifice it had previously lauded and explained Celestina +Morton's unwedded state by declaring that she was too "easy goin'" to +make anybody a good wife. This criticism came, perhaps, more loudly +from the female faction of the town than from the male. However that +may be, the stigma, merited or unmerited, had become so firmly branded +upon Celestina that it could not be effaced. She may to some extent +have brought it upon herself, for certain it was that she never kicked +against the pricks or tried to shape her circumstances more in +accordance with her liking. Undoubtedly had she accepted her lot less +meekly she might have commanded a greater measure of attention and +sympathy; still, if she had not been of a more or less plastic nature +and surrendered herself patiently to her destiny it is a question +whether she would have survived at all. + +It was this mutability, this power to detach herself from her +environment and view it with the stoical indifference of a spectator +that caused Wilton with its harsh New England standards, to +characterize Celestina as "easy goin'." In fact, this popularly termed +"flaw" in her make-up was what had acted as an open sesame to every +door at which she knocked and had kept a roof above her head. She had +been just sixty years of age when Willie Spence's sister had died and +left him alone in the wee cottage on the Harbor Road, and all Wilton +had begun to speculate as to what was to become of him. Willie was as +dependent as an infant; the village gossips who knew everything knew +that. From childhood he had been looked after,--first by his mother, +then by his aunt, and lastly by his sister; and when death had removed +in succession all three of these props, leaving the little old man at +last face to face with life, his startled blue eyes had grown large +with terror. What was to become of him now? Not only did Willie +himself helplessly raise the interrogation but so did all Wilton. + +Of course he could go and board with the Eldridges but that would mean +renting or selling the silver-gray cottage where he had dwelt since +birth and would be a tragic severing of all ties with the past; +moreover, and a fact more potent than all the rest, it would mean +dismantling the house of the web that for years he had spun, the +symbols of dreams that had been his chief delight. Should he go to the +Eldridges there could be no more inventing, for Jan's wife was a hard, +practical woman who had scant sympathy with Willie's "idees." +Nevertheless one redeeming consideration must not be lost sight of--she +was a famous cook, a very famous cook; and poor Willie, although he +cared little what he ate, was incapable of concocting any food at all. +But the strings, the strings! No, to go to live with Jan and Mrs. +Eldridge was not to be thought of. + +It was just at this psychological juncture, when Willie was choosing +'twixt flesh and spirit, that he saw Celestina Morton standing like a +vision in the sunshine that spangled his doorway. She said she knew +how lonely he must be and therefore she had come to make a friendly +call and tidy up the house or mend for him anything that needed +mending. With this simple introduction she had taken off her hat and +coat, donned an ample blue-and-white pinafore, and set to work. +Fascinated Willie watched her deft movements. Now and then she smiled +at him but she did not speak and neither did he; nor, he noticed, did +she disturb his strings or comment on their inconvenience. When +twilight came and the hour for her departure drew near Willie stationed +himself before the peg from which dangled her shabby wraps and +stubbornly refused to have her hat and cloak removed from the nail. +There, figuratively speaking, they had hung ever since, the inventor +reasoning that life without this paragon of capability was a wretched +and profitless adventure. + +In justifying his sudden decision to Janoah Eldridge, Willie had merely +explained that he had hired Celestina because she was so comfortable to +have around, a recommendation at which Wilton would have jeered but +which, perhaps, in the eyes of the Lord was quite as praiseworthy as +that which her more hidebound but less accommodating sisters could have +boasted. For disorder and confusion never kept Celestina awake nights +or prevented her from partaking of three hearty meals a day as it would +have Abbie Brewster or Deborah Howland. So long as things were clean, +their being an inch or two, or even a foot, out of plumb did not worry +the new inmate of the gray house an iota. And when Willie was balked +in an "idee" that had "kitched him," and left half-a-dozen strings and +wires swinging in mid-air for weeks together, Celestina would patiently +duck her head as she passed beneath them and offer no protest more +emphatic than to remark: + +"Them strings hangin' down over the sink snare me every time I wash a +dish. Ain't you calculatin' ever to take 'em down, Willie?" + +The reply vouchsafed would be as mild as the suggestion: + +"I reckon they ain't there for eternity, Tiny," the inventor would +respond. "Like as not both you an' me will live to see 'em out of the +way." + +That was all the satisfaction Celestina would get from her feeble +complaints; it was all she ever got. Yet in spite of the exasperating +response she adored Willie who had been to her the soul of kindliness +and courtesy ever since she had come to the bluff to live. He might +forget to come to his meals,--forget, in fact, whether he had eaten +them or not; he might venture forth into the village with one gray sock +and one blue one; or when part way to the post-office become lost in +reverie and return home again without ever reaching his destination. +Such incidents had happened and were likely to happen again. +Nevertheless, notwithstanding his absentmindedness, he was never too +much absorbed to maintain toward Celestina an old-fashioned deference +very appealing to one accustomed to being ignored and slighted. + +The impulse, it was quite obvious, was prompted less by conventionality +than by a knightliness of heart, and Celestina, who had never before +been the recipient of such courtesies, found herself inexpressibly +touched by the trifling attentions. Often she speculated as to whether +this mental attitude toward all womanhood was one Willie himself had +evolved or whether it was the result of standards instilled into his +sensitive consciousness by the women who had been his companions +through life,--his mother, his aunt, his sister. Whichever the case +there was no question that the old man's bearing toward her placed her +on a pinnacle where gossip was silenced, and transformed her humble +ministrations from those of a hireling into acts of graciousness and +beauty. + +Moreover to live in the same house with such an optimist was no +ordinary experience. Well Celestina remembered the day when at dinner +the little old man had choked violently, turning purple in the face in +his fight for breath. She had rushed to his side, terror-stricken, but +between his spasms of coughing the inventor had gasped out: + +"Why make so much fuss over what's gone down the wrong way, Tiny? +Think--of--the--things--I've--swallered--all--these--years--that +have--gone down--right!" + +The observation was characteristic of Willie's creed of life. He never +emphasized the exceptions but always the big, fine, elemental good in +everything. + +Even the name by which he went had been bestowed on him by the +community as a term of endearment. There were, to be sure, other men +in the hamlet whose names had passed into diminutives. There was, for +example, Seth Crocker, whose wife explained that she called him Sethie +"for short." But Sethie's name was never pronounced with the same +affectionate drawl that Willie's was. + +No, Willie had his peculiar niche in Wilton and a very sacred niche it +was. + +What marvel, therefore, that Celestina reverenced the very earth which +he trod and cheerfully put up with the strings, the wires, the spools, +the tacks, and the pulleys; that she shifted the meals about to suit +his convenience; and that when she was awakened at midnight by a +rhythmic hammering which portended that the inventor had once again +"got kitched with a new idee" she smiled indulgently in the darkness +and instead of cursing the echoes that disturbed her slumber whispered +to herself Jan Eldridge's oft-repeated prediction that the day would +come when Willie Spence would astonish the scoffers of Wilton and would +make his mark. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WILLIE HAS AN IDEE + +On a day in June so clear that a sea gull loomed mammoth against the +sky; a day when a sail against the horizon was visible for miles; a day +when the whole world seemed swept and garnished as for a festival, +Zenas Henry Brewster drew rein before the Spence cottage, hitched the +Admiral to the picket fence that bordered the highway, and ascending +the bank which sloped abruptly to the road presented himself at the +kitchen door from which issued the aroma of baking bread. + +"Mornin', Tiny," called the visitor, poking his head across the +threshold. "Willie anywheres about?" + +Celestina, who was washing the breakfast dishes, glanced up at the lank +figure with a start. + +"Law, Zenas Henry, what a turn you gave me!" she exclaimed. "I never +heard a footfall. Yes, Willie's outside somewheres. He and Jan +Eldridge have been tinkerin' with the pump since early mornin'. +They've had it apart a hundred times, I guess, an' like as not they're +round there now pullin' it to pieces for the hundred-an'-oneth." + +Zenas Henry grinned. + +"That's a queer to-do," he remarked. "What's got all the pumps? +Bewitched, I reckon. Ours ain't workin' fur a cent either, an' I drove +round thinkin' I'd fetch Willie home with me to have a look at it. +He's got a knack with such things an' I calculate he'd know what's the +matter with it. Darned if I do." + +The man began to move away across the grass. + +Celestina, however, who was in the mood for gossip, had no mind to let +him escape so easily. + +"How's your folks?" questioned she, dropping her dishcloth into the pan +and following him to the door. + +"Oh, we're all right," returned Zenas Henry with a backward glance. +"Captain Benjamin's shoulder pesters him some about layin', but I tell +him he can't expect rain an' fog not to bring rheumatism." + +"That's so," agreed Celestina. "What a spell of weather we've had! I +guess it's about over now, though. I'm sorry Benjamin's shoulders +should hector him so. We're gettin' old, Zenas Henry, that's the plain +truth of it, an' must cheerfully take our share of aches an' pains, I +s'pose. Are Captain Phineas an' Captain Jonas well?" + +"Oh, they're nimble as crabs." + +"An' Abbie?" + +"Fine as a clipper in a breeze!" responded the man with enthusiasm. +"Best wife that ever was! The sun rises an' sets in that woman, +Celestina. What she can't do ain't worth doin'! Turns off work like +as if it was of no account an' grows better lookin' every day a-doin' +it." + +Celestina laughed. + +"I reckon you didn't make no mistake gettin' married, Zenas Henry," +mused she. + +"Mistake!" repeated Zenas Henry. + +"An' no mistake takin' in the child, either," went on Celestina, +unheeding the interruption. + +She saw his face soften and a glow of tenderness overspread it. + +"Delight was sent us out of heaven," he declared with solemnity. +"'Twas as much intended that ship should come ashore here an' the three +captains an' myself bring that little girl to land as that the sun +should rise in the mornin'. The child was meant fur us--fur us an' fur +nobody else on earth. Was she our own daughter we couldn't be fonder +of her than we are. It's ten years now since the wreck of the +_Michleen_. Think of it! How time flies! Ten years--an' the girl's +most twenty. I can't realize it. Why, it seems only yesterday she was +clingin' to my neck an' I was bringin' her home." + +"She's grown to be a regular beauty," Celestina observed. + +"I s'pose she has; folks seem to think so," replied Zenas Henry. "But +it wouldn't make an ounce of difference to me how she looked; I'd love +her just the same. I reckon she'll never seem to me anyhow like she +does to other people. Still I ain't so blind that I don't know she's +pretty. Her hair is wonderful, an' she's got them big brown eyes an' +pink cheeks. I'm proud as Tophet of her. If it warn't fur Abbie I +figger the three captains an' I would have the child clean spoilt. But +Abbie's always kept a firm hand on us an' prevented us from puttin' +nonsensical notions into Delight's head. Much of the way she's turned +out is due to Abbie's common sense. Well, the girl's a mighty nice +one," concluded Zenas Henry. "There's none to match her." + +"You're right there!" Celestina assented cordially. "She's one in a +hundred, in a thousand. She has the sweetest way in the world with +her, too. A body couldn't see her an' not love her. I guess there's +many a young feller along the Cape thinks so too, or I'm much +mistaken," added she slyly. "She must have a score of beaux." + +"Beaux!" snapped Zenas Henry, wheeling abruptly about. "Indeed she +hasn't. Why, she's nothin' but a child yet." + +"She's most twenty. You said so yourself just now." + +"Pooh! Twenty! What's twenty?" Zenas Henry cried derisively. "Why, +I'm three times that already an' more too, an' I ain't old. So are +you, Tiny. Twenty? Nonsense!" + +"But Delight is twenty, Zenas Henry," persisted Celestina. + +"What of it?" + +"Well, you mustn't forget it, that's all," continued the woman softly. +"Many a girl her age is married an'----" + +"Married!" burst out the man with indignation. "What under heaven are +you talkin' about, Celestina? Delight marry? Not she! She's too +young. Besides, she's well enough content with Abbie an' the three +captains an' me. Marry? Delight marry! Ridiculous!" + +"But you don't mean to say you expect a creature as pretty as she is +not to marry," said Celestina aghast. + +"Oh, why, yes," ruminated Zenas Henry. "Of course she's goin' to get +married sometime by an' by--mebbe in ten years or so. But not now." + +"Ten years or so! My goodness! Why, she'll be thirty or thirty-five, +an' an old maid by that time." + +"No, she won't. I was forty-five before I married, an' it didn't do me +no hurt or spoil my chances." + +"You might have been livin' with Abbie all them years, though." + +"I know it." + +He paused thoughtfully. + +"Yes," he reflected aloud, "I've often thought what a pity it was Abbie +an' I didn't have our first youth together. It took me half a lifetime +to find out how much I needed her." + +"You wouldn't want Delight should do that," ventured Celestina. + +"Delight? We ain't discussin' Delight," retorted Zenas Henry, promptly +on the defensive. "Delight's another matter altogether. She's nothin' +but a baby. There's no talk of her marryin' for a long spell yet." + +Peevishly he kicked the turf with the toe of his boot. + +Although he said no more, it was quite evident that he was much +irritated. + +"Well," he presently observed in a calmer tone, "I reckon I'll go round +an' waylay Willie." + +Celestina, leaning against the door frame, watched the gaunt, +loose-jointed figure stride out into the sunshine and disappear behind +the corner of the house. + +What a day it was! From beneath the lattice that arched the entrance +to the cottage and supported a rambler rose bursting into bloom she +could see the bay, blue as a sapphire and scintillating with ripples of +gold. A weather-stained scow was making its way out of the channel, +and above it circled a screaming cloud of tern that had been routed +from their nesting place on the margin of white sand that bordered the +path to the open sea. Mingling with their cries and the rhythmic +pulsing of the surf, the clear voices of the men aboard the tug reached +her ear. It was flood tide, and the water that surged over the bar +stained its reach of pearl to jade green and feathered its edges with +snowy foam. + +It was no weather to be cooped up indoors doing housework. + +Idly Celestina loitered, drinking in the beauty of the scene. The +languor of summer breathed in the gentle, pine-scented air and rose +from the warm earth of the garden. Voluptuously she stretched her arms +and yawned; then straightening to her customary erectness she went into +the house, being probably the only woman in Wilton who that morning had +abandoned her domestic duties long enough to take into her soul the +benediction of the world about her. + +It was such detours from the path of duty that had helped to win for +Celestina her pseudonym of "easy goin'." Perhaps this very vagrant +quality in her nature was what had aided her in so thoroughly +sympathizing with Willie in his sporadic outbursts of industry. For +Willie was not a methodical worker any more than was Celestina. There +were intervals, it is true, when he toiled steadily, feverishly, all +day long and far into the night, forgetting either to eat or sleep; +then would follow days together when he simply pottered about, or did +even worse and remained idle in the sunny shelter of the grape arbor. +Here on a rude bench constructed from a discarded four-poster he would +often sit for hours, smoking his corncob pipe and softly humming to +himself; but when genius went awry and his courage was at a low ebb, +strings, wires, and pulleys having failed to work, he would neither +smoke nor sing, but with eyes on the distance would sit immovable as if +carved from stone. + +To-day, however, was not one of his "settin' days." He had been up +since dawn, had eaten no breakfast, and had even been too deeply +preoccupied to fill and light the blackened pipe that dangled limply +from his lips. Yet despite all his coaxings and cajolings, the iron +pump opposite the shed door still refused to do anything but emit from +its throat a few dry, profitless gurgles that seemed forced upward from +the very caverns of the earth. Both Willie and Jan Eldredge looked +tired and disheartened, and when Zenas Henry approached stood at bay, +surrounded by a litter of wrenches, hammers, and scattered fragments of +metal. + +"What's the matter with your pump?" called Zenas Henry as he strolled +toward them. + +Willie turned on the intruder, a smile half humorous, half +contemptuous, flitting across his face. + +"If I could answer that question, Zenas Henry, I wouldn't be standin' +here gapin' at the darn thing," was his laconic response. "It's just +took a spell, that's all there is to it. It was right enough last +night." + +"There's no accountin' fur machinery," Zenas Henry remarked. + +The observation struck a note of pessimism that rasped Willie's +patience. + +"There's got to be some accountin' fur this claptraption," retorted he, +a suggestion of crispness in his tone. "I shan't stir foot from this +spot 'til I find out what's set it to actin' up this way." + +Zenas Henry laughed at the declaration of war echoing in the words. + +"I've given up flyin' all to flinders over everything that gets out of +gear," he drawled. "If I was to be goin' up higher'n a kite every +time, fur instance, that the seaweed ketches round the propeller of my +motor-boat, I'd be in mid-air most of the time." + +Willie raised his head with the alertness of a hunter on the scent. + +"Seaweed?" he repeated vaguely. + +Zenas Henry nodded. + +"Ain't there no scheme fur doin' away with a nuisance like that?" + +"I ain't discovered any," came dryly from Zenas Henry. "We've all had +a whack at the thing--Captain Jonas, Captain Phineas, Captain Benjamin, +an' me--an' we're back where we were at the beginnin'. Nothin' we've +tried has worked." + +"U--m!" ruminated Willie, stroking his chin. + +"I've about come to the conclusion we ain't much good as mechanics, +anyhow," went on Zenas Henry with a short laugh. "In fact, Abbie's of +the mind that we get things out of order faster'n we put 'em in." + +Janoah Eldridge rubbed his grimy hands and chuckled, but Willie deigned +no reply. + +"This propeller now," he presently began as if there had been no +digression from the topic, "I s'pose the kelp gets tangled around the +blades." + +"That's it," assented Zenas Henry. + +"An' that holds up your engine." + +"Uh-huh," Zenas Henry agreed with the same bored inflection. + +"An' that leaves you rockin' like a baby in a cradle 'til you can get +the wheel free." + +"Uh-huh." + +There was a moment of silence. + +"It can't be much of a stunt tossin' round in a choppy sea like as if +you was a chip on the waves," commented Jan Eldridge with a +commiserating grin. + +"'Tain't." + +"What do you do when you find yourself in a fix like that?" he inquired +with interest. + +"Do?" reiterated Zenas Henry. "What a question! What would any fool +do? There ain't no choice left you but to hang head downwards over the +stern of the boat an' claw the eel-grass off the wheel with a gaff." + +Janoah burst into a derisive shout. + +"Oh, my eye!" he exclaimed. "So that's the way you do it, eh? Don't +talk to me of motor-boats! A good old-fashioned skiff with a +leg-o'-mutton sail in her is good enough fur me. How 'bout you, +Willie?" + +No reply was forthcoming. + +"I say, Willie," repeated Jan in a louder tone, "that these new fangled +motor-boats, with their noise an' their smell, ain't no match fur a +good clean dory." + +Willie came out of his trance just in time to catch the final clause of +the sentence. + +"Who ever saw a clean dory in Wilton?" + +Jan faltered, abashed. + +"Well, anyhow," he persisted, "in my opinion, clean or not, a straight +wholesome smell of cod ain't to be mentioned in the same breath with a +mix-up of stale fish an' gasoline." + +Zenas Henry bridled. + +"You don't buy a motor-boat to smell of," he said tartly. "You seem to +forget it's to sail in." + +"But if the eel-grass holds you hard an' fast in one spot most of the +time I don't see's you do much sailin'," taunted Jan. "'Pears to me +you're just adrift an' goin' nowheres a good part of the time." + +"No, I ain't" snapped Zenas Henry with rising ire. "It's only +sometimes the thing gets spleeny. Most always--" + +"Then it warn't you I saw pitchin' in the channel fur a couple of hours +yesterday afternoon," commented the tormentor. + +"No. That is--let me think a minute," meditated Zenas Henry. "Yes, I +guess it was me, after all," he admitted with reluctant honesty. "The +tide brought in quite a batch of weeds, an' they washed up round the +boat before I could get out of their way; quicker'n a wink we were +neatly snarled up in 'em. Captain Jonas an' Captain Phineas tried to +get clear, but somehow they ain't got much knack fur freein' the wheel. +So we did linger in the channel a spell." + +"Linger!" put in Willie. "I shouldn't call bobbin' up an' down in one +spot fur two mortal hours lingerin'. I'd call it nearer bein' +hypnotized." + +Zenas Henry was now plainly out of temper. He was well aware that +Wilton had scant sympathy with his motor-boat, the first innovation of +the sort that had been perpetrated in the town. + +"Hadn't you better turn your attention from motor-boats to pumps?" he +asked testily. + +"I reckon I had, Zenas Henry," Willie answered, unruffled by the +thrust. "As you say, if you chose to wind yourself up in the eel-grass +it's none of my affair." + +Turning his back on his visitor, he bent once more over the pump and +adjusted a leather washer between its rusty joints. + +"Now let's give her a try, Jan," he said, as he tightened the screws. +"If that don't fetch her I'm beat." + +By this time Jan's faith had lessened, and although he obediently +raised the iron handle and began to ply it up and down, it was obvious +that he did not anticipate success. But contrary to his expectations +there was a sudden subterranean groan, followed by a rumble of +gradually rising pitch; then from out the stubbed green spout a stream +of water gushed forth and trickled into the tub beneath. + +"Hurray!" shouted Jan. "There she blows, Willie! Ain't you the +dabster, though!" + +The inventor did not immediately acknowledge the plaudits heaped upon +him, but it was evident he was gratified by his success for, as he +wiped the beads of perspiration from his forehead he sighed deeply. + +"If I hadn't been such a blame fool I'd 'a' known what the matter was +in the first place," he remarked. "Well, if we knew as much when we're +born as we do when we get ready to die, what would be the use of livin' +seventy odd years?" + +In spite of his irritation Zenas Henry smiled. + +"I don't s'pose you're feelin' like tacklin' another pump to-day," he +ventured with hesitation. "Ours up at the white cottage has gone on a +strike, too." + +Instantly Willie was interested. + +"What's got yours?" he asked. + +"Blest if I know. We've took it all to pieces an' ain't found nothin' +out with it, an' now to save our souls we can't put it together again," +Zenas Henry explained. "I drove round, thinkin' that mebbe you'd go +back with me an' have a look at it." + +"Course I will, Zenas Henry," Willie said without hesitation. "I'd +admire to. A pump that won't work is like a fishline without a +hook--good for nothin'. Have you got room in your team for Jan, too?" + +"Sure." + +"Then let's start along," said the inventor, stooping to gather up his +tools. + +But he had reckoned without his host, for as he swept them into a +jagged piece of sailcloth and prepared to tie up the bundle, Celestina +called to him from the window. + +"Where you goin', Willie?" she demanded. + +"Up to Zenas Henry's to mend the pump." + +"But you can't go now," objected she. "It's ten o'clock, an' you ain't +had a mouthful of breakfast this mornin'." + +The little man regarded her blankly. + +"Ain't I et nothin'?" he inquired with surprise. + +"No. Don't you remember you got up early to go fishin', an' then you +found the pump wasn't workin', an' you've been wrestlin' with it ever +since." + +"So I have!" + +A sunny smile of recollection overspread the old man's face. + +"Ain't you hungry?" + +"I dunno," considered he without interest. "Mebbe I am. Yes, now you +speak of it, I will own to feelin' a mite holler. Can't you hand me a +snack to eat as I go along?" + +"You'd much better come in an' have your breakfast properly." + +"Oh, I don't want nothin' much," the altruist protested. "Just fetch +me out a slice of bread or a doughnut. We've got to get at that pump +of Zenas Henry's. I'm itchin' to know what's the matter with it." + +Celestina looked disappointed. + +"I've been savin' your coffee fur you since seven o'clock," murmured +she reproachfully. + +"That was very kind of you, Tiny," Willie responded with an +ingratiating glance into her eyes. "You just keep it hot a spell +longer, an' I'll be back. Likely I won't be long." + +"You've been workin' five hours on your own pump!" + +"Five hours? Pshaw! You don't say so," mused the tranquil voice. +"Think of that! An' it didn't seem no time. Well, it's a-pumpin' now, +Celestina." + +The mild face beamed with satisfaction, and Celestina had not the heart +to cloud its brightness by annoying him further. + +"That's capital!" she declared. "Here's your bread an' butter, Willie. +An' here's some apple turnovers fur you, an' Jan, an' Zenas Henry. +They'll be nice fur you goin' along in the wagon." Then turning to Jan +she whispered in a pleading undertone: + +"Do watch, Jan, that Willie don't lay that bread down somewheres an' +forget it. Mebbe if he sees the rest of you eatin' he'll remember to +eat himself. If he don't, though, remind him, for he's just as liable +to bring it back home again in his hand. Keep your eye on him!" + +Jan nodded understandingly, and climbing into the dusty wagon, the +three men rattled off over the sandy road. Willie dropped his tools +into the bottom of the carriage but the slice of bread remained +untouched in his fingers. Now that triumph had brought a respite in +his labors he seemed silent and thoughtful. It was not until the +Admiral turned in at the Brewster gate that he roused himself +sufficiently to observe with irrelevance: + +"Speakin' about that propeller of yours, Zenas Henry--it must be no end +of a temper-rasper." + +Zenas Henry slapped the reins over the horse's flank and waited +breathlessly, hoping some further comment would come from the little +inventor, but as Willie remained silent, he at length could restrain +his impatience no longer and ventured with diffidence: + +"S'pose you ain't got any notion what we could do about it, have you, +Willie?" + +The old man shrugged his shoulders. + +"No, not the ghost," was his terse reply. + +That night, however, Celestina was awakened from her dreams by the ring +of a hammer. She rose, and lighting her candle, tip-toed into the +hall. It was one o'clock, and she could see that Willie's bedroom door +was ajar and the bed untouched. + +With a little sigh she blew out the flame in her hand and crept back +beneath the shelter of her calico comforter. + +She knew the symptoms only too well. + +Willie was once again "kitched by an idee!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A NEW ARRIVAL + +The new idea, whatever it was, was evidently not one to be hastily +perfected, for the next morning when Celestina went down stairs, she +found the jaded inventor seated moodily in a rocking-chair before the +kitchen stove, his head in his hands. + +"Law, Willie, are you up already?" she asked, as if unconscious of his +nocturnal activities. + +The reply was a wan smile. + +"An' you've got the fire built, too," went on Celestina cheerily. "How +nice!" + +"Eh?" repeated he, giving her a vague stare. "The fire?" + +"Yes. I was sayin' how good it was of you to start it up." The man +gazed at her blankly. + +"I ain't touched the fire," he answered. "I might have, though, as +well as not, Tiny, if I'd thought of it." + +"That's all right," Celestina declared, making haste to repair her +blunder. "I've plenty of time to lay it myself. 'Twas only that when +I saw you settin' up before it I thought mebbe you'd built it 'cause +you were cold." + +"I was cold," acquiesced Willie, his eyes misty with thought. "But I +warn't noticin' there was no heat in the stove when I drew up here." + +Celestina bit her lip. How characteristic the confession was! + +"Well, there'll be a fire now very soon," said she, bustling out and +returning with paper and kindlings. "The kitchen will be warm as toast +in no time. An' I'll make you some hot coffee straight away. That +will heat you up. This northerly wind blows the cobwebs out of the +sky, but it does make it chilly." + +Although Willie's eyes automatically followed her brisk motions and +watched while she deftly started the blaze, it was easy to see that he +was too deep in his own meditations to sense what she was doing. +Perhaps had his mood not been such an abstract one he would have +realized that he was directly in the main thoroughfare and obstructing +the path between the pantry and the oven. As it was he failed to grasp +the circumstance, and not wishing to disturb him, Celestina patiently +circled before, behind and around him in her successive pilgrimages to +the stove. Such situations were exigencies to which she was quite +accustomed, her easy-going disposition quickly adapting itself to +emergencies of the sort. So skilful was she in effacing her presence +that Willie had no knowledge he was an obstacle until suddenly the iron +door swung back of its own volition and in passing brushed his knuckles +with its hot metal edge. + +"Ouch!" cried he, starting up from his chair. + +"What's the matter?" called Celestina from the pantry. + +"Nothin'. The oven door sprung open, that's all." + +"It didn't burn you?" + +"N--o, but it made me jump," laughed Willie. "Why didn't you tell me, +Tiny, that I was in your way?" + +"You warn't in my way." + +"But I must 'a' been," the man persisted. "You should 'a' shoved me +aside in the beginnin'." + +Stretching his arms upward with a comfortable yawn, he rose and +sauntered toward the door. + +"Now you're not to pull out of here, Willie Spence," Celestina objected +in a peremptory tone, "until you've had your breakfast. You had none +yesterday, remember, thanks to that pump; an' you had no dinner either, +thanks to Zenas Henry's pump. You're goin' to start this day right. +You're to have three square meals if I have to tag you all over Wilton +with 'em. I don't know what it is you've got on your mind this time, +but the world's worried along without it up to now, an' I guess it can +manage a little longer." + +Willie regarded his mentor good-humoredly. + +"I figger it can, Celestina," he returned. "In fact, I reckon it will +have to content itself fur quite a spell without the notion I've run +a-foul of now." + +Celestina offered no interrogation; instead she said, "Well, don't let +it harrow you up; that's all I ask. If it's goin' to be a +long-drawn-out piece of tinkerin', why there's all the more reason you +should eat your three good meals like other Christians. Next you know +you'll be gettin' run down, an' I'll be havin' to brew some dandelion +bitters for you." She came to an abrupt stop half-way between the oven +and the kitchen table, a bowl and spoon poised in her hand. "I ain't +sure but it's time to brew you somethin' anyway," she announced. "You +ain't had a tonic fur quite a spell an' mebbe 'twould do you good." + +A helpless protest trembled on Willie's lips. + +"I--I--don't think I need any bitters, Celestina," he at last observed +mildly. + +"You don't know whether you do or not," Celestina replied with as near +an approach to sharpness as she was capable of. "However, there's no +call to discuss that now. The chief thing this minute is for you to +sit up to the table an' eat your victuals." + +Docilely the man obeyed. He was hungry it proved, very hungry indeed. +With satisfaction Celestina watched every spoonful of food he put to +his lips, inwardly gloating as one muffin after another disappeared; +and when at last he could eat no more and took his blackened cob pipe +from his pocket, she drew a sigh of satisfaction. + +"There now, if you want to go back to your inventin' you can," she +remarked, as she began to clear away the dishes. "You've took aboard +enough rations to do you quite a while." + +Notwithstanding the permission Willie did not immediately avail himself +of it but instead lingered uneasily as if something troubled his +conscience. + +"Say, Tiny," he blurted out at length, "if you happen around by the +front door and miss the screen don't be scared an' think it's stole. I +had to use it fur somethin' last night." + +"The screen door?" gasped Celestina. + +"Yes." + +"But--but--Willie! The door was new this Spring; there wasn't a brack +in it." + +"I know it," was the calm answer. "That's why I took it." + +"But you could have got nettin' over at the store to-day." + +"I couldn't wait." + +Celestina did not reply at once; but when she did she had herself well +in hand, and every trace of irritation had vanished from her tone. + +"Well, we don't often open that door, anyway," she reflected aloud, "so +I guess no harm's done. It's a full year since anybody's come to the +front door, an' like as not 'twill be another before--" + +A jangling sound cut short the sentence. + +"What's that?" exclaimed she aghast. + +"It's a bell." + +"I never heard a bell like that in this house." + +"It's a bell I rigged up one day when you were gone to the Junction," +exclaimed Willie hurriedly. "I thought I told you about it." + +"You didn't." + +"Well, no matter now," he went on soothingly. + +"I meant to." + +"Where is it?" demanded Celestina. + +"It's in the hall. It's a new front-door bell, that's what it is," +proclaimed the inventor, his voice lost in a second deafening peal. + +"My soul! It's enough to wake the dead!" gasped Celestina, with hands +on her ears. "I should think it could be heard from here to Nantucket. +What set you gettin' a bell that size, Willie? 'Twould scare any +caller who dared to come this way out of a year's growth. I'll have to +go an' see who's there, if he ain't been struck dumb on the doorsill. +Who ever can it be--comin' to the front door?" + +With perturbed expectancy she hurried through the passageway, Willie +tagging at her heels. + +The infrequently patronized portal of the Spence mansion, it proved, +was so securely barred and bolted that to unfasten it necessitated no +little time and patience; even after locks and fastenings had been +withdrawn and the door was at liberty to move, not knowing what to do +with its unaccustomed freedom it refused to stir, stubbornly resisting +every attempt to wrench its hinges asunder. It was not until the man +and woman inside had combined their efforts and struggled with it for +quite an interval that it contrived to creak apart far enough to reveal +through a four-inch crack the figure of a young man who was standing +patiently outside. + +One could not have asked for a franker, merrier face than that which +peered at Celestina through the narrow chink of sunshine. To judge at +random the visitor had come into his manhood recently, for the brown +eyes were alight with youthful humor and the shoulders unbowed by the +burdens of the world. He had a mass of wavy, dark hair; a thoughtful +brow; ruddy color; a pleasant mouth and fine teeth; and a tall, erect +figure which he bore with easy grace. + +"Is Miss Morton at home?" he asked, smiling at Celestina through the +shaft of golden light. + +Celestina hesitated. So seldom was she addressed by this formal +pseudonym that for the instant she was compelled to stop and consider +whether the individual designated was on the premises or not. + +"Y--e--s," she at last admitted feebly. + +"I wonder if I might speak with her," the stranger asked. + +"Why don't you tell him you're Miss Morton," coached Willie, in a loud +whisper. + +But the man on the steps had heard. + +"You're not Miss Morton, are you?" he essayed, "Miss Celestina Morton?" + +"I expect I am," owned Celestina nervously. + +"I'm your brother Elnathan's boy, Bob." + +Celestina crumpled weakly against the door frame. + +"Nate's boy!" she repeated. "Bless my soul! Bless my soul an' body!" + +The man outside laughed a delighted laugh so infectious that before +Celestina or Willie were conscious of it they had joined in its mellow +ripple. After that everything was easy. + +"We can't open the door to let you in," explained Willie, peering out +through the rift, "'cause this blasted door ain't moved fur so long +that its hinges have growed together; but if you'll come round to the +back of the house you'll find a warmer welcome." + +The guest nodded and disappeared. + +"Land alive, Willie!" ejaculated Celestina while they struggled to +replace the dislocated bars and bolts. "To think of Nate's boy +appearin' here! I can't get over it! Nate's boy! Nate was my +favorite brother, you know--the littlest one, that I brought up from +babyhood. This lad is so completely the livin' image of him that when +I clapped eyes on him it took the gimp clear out of me. It was like +havin' Nate himself come back again." + +With fluttering eagerness she sped through the hall. + +Robert Morton was standing in the kitchen when she arrived, his head +towering into the tangle of strings that crossed and recrossed the +small interior. Whatever his impression of the extraordinary spectacle +he evinced no curiosity but remained as imperturbable amid the network +that ensnared him as if such astounding phenomena were everyday +happenings. Nevertheless, a close observer might have detected in his +hazel eyes a dancing gleam that defied control. Apparently it did not +occur either to Willie or to Celestina to explain the mystery which had +long since become to them so familiar a sight; therefore amid the +barrage of red, green, purple, pink, yellow and white strings they +greeted their guest, throwing into their welcome all the homely +cordiality they could command. + +From the first moment of their meeting it was noticeable that Willie +was strongly attracted by Robert Morton's sensitive and intelligent +face; and had he not been, for Celestina's sake he would have made an +effort to like the newcomer. Fortunately, however, effort was +unnecessary, for Bob won his way quite as uncontestedly with the little +inventor as with Celestina. There was no question that his aunt was +delighted with him. One could read it in her affectionate touch on his +arm; in her soft, nervous laughter; in the tremulous inflection of her +many questions. + +"Your father couldn't have done a kinder thing than to have sent you to +Wilton, Robert," she declared at last when quite out of breath with her +rejoicings. "My, if you're not the mortal image of him as he used to +be at your age! I can scarcely believe it isn't Nate. His forehead +was high like yours, an' the hair waved back from it the same way; he +had your eyes too--full of fun, an' yet earnest an' thoughtful. I +ain't sure but you're a mite taller than he was, though." + +"I top Dad by six inches, Aunt Tiny," smiled the young man. + +"I guessed likely you did," murmured Celestina, with her eyes still on +his face. "Now you must sit right down an' tell me all about yourself +an' your folks. I want to know everything--where you come from; when +you got here; how long you can stay, an' all." + +"The last question is the only really important one," interrupted +Willie, approaching the guest and laying a friendly hand on his +shoulder. "The doin's of your family will keep; an' where you come +from ain't no great matter neither. What counts is how long you can +spare to visitin' Wilton an' your aunt. We ain't much on talk here on +the Cape, but I just want you should know that there's an empty room +upstairs with a good bed in it, that's yours long's you can make out to +use it. Your aunt is a prime cook, too, an' though there's no danger +of your mixin' up this place with Broadway or Palm Beach, I believe you +might manage to keep contented here." + +"I'm sure I could," Bob Morton answered, "and you're certainly kind to +give me such a cordial invitation. I wasn't expecting to remain for +any length of time, however. I came down from Boston, where I happened +to be staying yesterday afternoon, and had planned to go back tonight. +I've been doing some post-graduate work in naval engineering at Tech +and have just finished my course there. So, you see, I'm really on my +way home to Indiana. But Dad wrote that before I returned he wanted me +to take a run down here and see Aunt Tiny and the old town where he was +born, so here I am." + +Willie scanned the stranger's face meditatively. + +"Then you're clear of work, an' startin' off on your summer vacation." + +"That's about it," confessed Bob. + +"Anything to take you West right away?" + +"N--o--nothing, except that the family have not seen me for some time. +I've accepted a business position with a New York firm, but I don't +start in there until October." + +"You're your own master for four months, eh?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Well, I ain't a-goin' to urge you to put in your time here; but I will +say again, in case you've forgotten it, that so long as you're content +to remain with us we'd admire to have you. 'Twould give your aunt no +end of pleasure, I'll be bound, an' I'd enjoy it as well as she would." + +"You're certainly not considerin' goin' back to Boston today!" chimed +in Celestina. + +"I was," laughed Bob. + +"You may as well put that notion right out of your head," said Willie, +"for we shan't let you carry out no such crazy scheme." + +"But to come launching down on you this way--" began the younger man. + +"You ain't come launchin' down," objected his aunt with spirit. "We +ain't got nothin' to do but inventin', an' I reckon that can wait." + +Glancing playfully at Willie she saw a sudden light of eagerness flash +into his countenance. But Bob, not understanding the allusion, looked +from one of them to the other in puzzled silence. + +"All right, Aunt Tiny," he at last announced, "if you an' Mr. Spence +really want me to, I should be delighted to stay with you a few days. +The fact is," he added with boyish frankness, "my suit case is down +behind the rose bushes this minute. Having sent most of my luggage +home, and not knowing what I should do, I brought it along with me." + +"You go straight out, young man, an' fetch it in," commanded Willie, +giving him a jocose slap on the back. + +Nevertheless, in spite of the mandate, Robert Morton lingered. + +"Do you know, Aunt Tiny, I'm almost ashamed to accept your +hospitality," he observed with winning sincerity. "We've all been so +rotten to you--never coming to see you or anything. Dad's terribly cut +up that he hasn't made a single trip East since leaving Wilton." + +The honest confession instantly quenched the last smouldering embers of +Celestina's resentment toward her kin. + +"Don't think no more of it!" she returned hurriedly. "Your father's +been busy likely, an' so have you; an' anyhow, men ain't much on +follerin' up their relations, or writin' to 'em. So don't say another +word about it. I'm sure I've hardly given it a thought." + +That the final assertion was false Robert Morton read in the woman's +brave attempt to control the pitiful little quiver of her lips; +nevertheless he blessed her for her deception. + +"You're a dear, Aunt Tiny," he exclaimed heartily, stooping to kiss her +cheek. "Had I dreamed half how nice you were, wild horses couldn't +have kept me away from Wilton." + +Celestina blushed with pleasure. + +Very pretty she looked standing there in the window, her shoulders +encircled by the arm of the big fellow who, towering above her, looked +down into her eyes so affectionately. Willie couldn't but think as he +saw her what a mother she would have made for some boy. Possibly +something of the same regret crossed Celestina's own mind, for a shadow +momentarily clouded her brow, and to banish it she repeated with +resolute gaiety: + +"Do go straight out an' bring in that suit case, Bob, or some straggler +may steal it. An' put out of your mind any notion of goin' to Boston +for the present. I'll show you which room you're to have so'st you can +unpack your things, an' while you're washin' up I'll get you some +breakfast. You ain't had none, have you?" + +"No; but really, Aunt Tiny, I'm not--" + +"Yes, you are. Don't think it's any trouble for it ain't--not a mite." + +Willie beamed with good will. + +"You've landed just in time to set down with us," he remarked. "We +ain't had our breakfast, either." + +Celestina wheeled about with astonishment. Willie's hospitality must +have burst all bounds if it had lured him, who never deviated from the +truth, into uttering a falsehood monstrous as this. One glance, +however, at his placid face, his unflinching eye, convinced her that +swept away by the interest of the moment the little old man had lost +all memory of whether he had breakfasted or not. + +She did not enlighten him. + +"Mebbe it ain't honest to let him go on thinkin' he's had nothin' to +eat," she whispered to herself, "but if all them muffins, an' oatmeal, +an' coffee don't do nothin' toward remindin' him he's et once, I ain't +goin' to do it. This second meal will make up fur the breakfast he +missed yesterday. I ain't deceivin' him; I'm simply squarin' things +up." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER ENTERS + +Before the morning had passed Bob Morton was as much at home in the +little cottage that faced the sea as if he had lived there all his +days. His property was spread out in the old mahogany bureau upstairs; +his hat dangled from a peg in the hall; and he had exchanged his "city +clothes" for the less conventional outing shirt and suit of blue serge, +both of which transformed him into a figure amazingly slender and +boyish. For two hours he and Celestina had rehearsed the family +history from beginning to end; and now he had left her to get dinner, +and he and Willie had betaken themselves to the workshop where they +were deep in confidential conversation. + +"You see," the inventor was explaining to his guest, "it's like this: +it ain't so much that I want to bother with these notions as that I +have to. They get me by the throat, an' there's no shakin' 'em off. +Only yesterday, fur example, I got kitched with an idee about a boat--" +he broke off, regarding his listener with sudden suspicion. + +Bob waited. + +Evidently Willie's scrutiny of the frank countenance opposite satisfied +him, for dropping his voice he continued in an impressive whisper: + +"About a motor-boat, this idee was." + +Glancing around as if to assure himself that no one was within hearing, +he hitched the barrel on which he was seated nearer his visitor. + +"There's a sight of plague with motor-boats among these shoals," he +went on eagerly. "What with the eel-grass that grows along the inlets +an' the kelp that's washed in by the tide after a storm, the propeller +of a motor-boat is snarled up a good bit of the time. Now my scheme," +he announced, his last trace of reserve vanishing, "is to box that +propeller somehow--if so be as it can be done--an'--," the voice +trailed off into meditation. + +Robert Morton, too, was silent. + +"You would have to see that the wheel was kept free," he mused aloud +after an interval. + +"I know it." + +"And not check the speed of the boat." + +"Right you are, mate!" exclaimed Willie with delight. + +"And not hamper the swing of the rudder." + +"You have it! You have it!" Willie shouted, rubbing his hands together +and smiling broadly. "It's all them things I'm up against." + +"I believe the trick might be turned, though," replied young Morton, +rising from the nail keg on which he was sitting and striding about the +narrow room. "It's a pretty problem and one it would be rather good +fun to work out." + +"I'd need to rig up a model to experiment with, I s'pose," reflected +Willie. + +"Oh, we could fix that easily enough," Bob cried with rising enthusiasm. + +"_We_?" + +"Sure! I'll help you." + +The announcement did not altogether reassure the inventor, and Bob +laughed at the dubious expression of his face. + +"Of course I'm only a dry-land sailor," he went on to explain +good-humoredly, "and I do not begin to have had the experience with +boats that you have. I did, however, study about them some at Tech and +perhaps--" + +"Study about 'em!" repeated Willie, unable wholly to conceal his +scepticism and scorn. + +Again the younger man laughed. + +"I realize that is not like getting knowledge first-hand," he continued +with modesty, "but it seemed the best I could do. As to this plan of +yours, two heads are sometimes better than one, and between us I +believe we can evolve an answer to the puzzle." + +"That'll be prime!" Willie ejaculated, now quite comfortable in his +mind. "An' when we get the answer to the riddle, Jan Eldridge will +help us. You ain't met Jan yet, have you? He's the salt of the earth, +Janoah Eldridge is. Him an' me are the greatest chums you ever saw. +He mebbe has his peculiarities, like the rest of us. Who ain't? +You'll likely find him kinder sharp-tongued at first, but he don't mean +nothin' by it; and' he's quick, too--goes up like a rocket at a +minute's notice. Folks down in town insist in addition that he's +jealous as a girl, but I've yet to see signs of it. Fur all his little +crochets you'll like Jan Eldridge. You can't help it. We're none of +us angels--when it comes to that. Hush!" broke off Willie warningly. +"I believe that's him now. Didn't you see a head go past the winder?" + +"I thought I did." + +"Then that's Jan. Nobody else would be comin' across the dingle. Now +not a word of this motor-boat business to him," cautioned Willie, +dropping his voice. "I never tell Jan 'bout my idees 'till I get 'em +well worked out, for he's no great shakes at inventin'." + +There was an instant of guilty silence, and then the two conspirators +beheld a freckled face, crowned by a mass of rampant sandy hair, +protrude itself through the doorway. + +"Hi, Willie!" called the newcomer, unmindful of the presence of a +stranger. "Well, how do you find yourself to-day? Ready to tackle +another pump?" + +With simulated indignation Willie bristled. + +"Pump!" he repeated. "Don't you dare so much as to mention pumps in my +hearin' fur six months, Janoah Eldridge. I've had my fill of pumps fur +one spell." + +The freckled face in the door expanded its smile into a grin that +displayed the few scattered teeth adorning its owner's jaws. + +"No," went on the inventor, "I ain't attackin' no pumps to-day. I'm +sorter takin' a vacation. You see we've got company. Tiny's nephew, +Bob Morton from Indiana, has come to stay with us. This is him on the +nail keg." + +Shuffling further into the room Jan peered inquisitively at the guest. + +"So you're Tiny's nephew, eh?" he commented, examining the visitor's +countenance with curiosity. "Well, well! To think of some of Tiny's +relations turnin' up at last! Not that it ain't high time, I'll say +that. Now which of the Mortons do you belong to, young man?" + +"Elnathan." + +"I might 'a' known first glance, for you're like him as his tintype." + +Bob laughed. + +"Aunt Tiny thinks I am, too." + +"She'd oughter know," was the dry comment. "She had the plague of +bringin' him up from the time he could toddle. I'm glad some of you +have finally got round to comin' to see her. You've been long enough +doin' it. I ain't so sure, though, but if I was in her place I'd--" + +"There, there, Jan," interrupted Willie nervously, "why go diggin' up +the past? The lad is here now an'--" + +"But they have been the devil of a while takin' notice of Tiny," Janoah +persisted, not to be coaxed away from his subject. "Why, 'twas only +the other day when we was workin' out here that you yourself said the +way her folks had neglected her was outrageous." + +"And it was, too, Mr. Eldridge," confessed Bob, flushing. "Our whole +family have treated Aunt Tiny shamefully. There is no excuse for it." + +Before the honest admission of blame, Jan's mounting wrath grudgingly +calmed itself. + +"Well," he grumbled in a more conciliatory tone, "as Willie says, mebbe +it's just as well not to go bringin' to life what's buried already. +Like as not there may have been some good reason for your folks never +comin' back to Wilton after once they'd left the place. Indiana's the +devil of a distance away--'most at the other end of the world, ain't +it? You might as well live in China as Indiana. I never could see +anyway what took people out of Wilton. There ain't a better spot on +earth to live than right here. Yet for all that, every one of the +Mortons 'cept Tiny (who showed her good sense, in my opinion) went +flockin' out of this town quick as they was growed, like as if they was +a lot of swarmin' bees. I doubt myself, too, if they're a whit better +off for it. Your father now--what does he make out to do in Indiana?" + +"Father is in the grain business," replied Bob with a smile. + +"The grain business, is he? An' likely he sets in an office all day +long, in out of the fresh air," continued Jan with contempt. "Plumb +foolish I call it, when he could be livin' in Wilton an' fishin', an' +clammin', an' enjoying himself. That's the way with so many folks. +They go kitin' off to the city to make money enough to buy one of them +automobiles. You won't ketch me with an automobile--no, nor a +motor-boat, neither; nor any other of them durn things that's goin' to +set me livin' like as if I was shot out of the cannon's mouth. What's +the good of bein' whizzed through life as if the old Nick himself was +at your heels--workin' faster, eatin' faster, dyin' faster? I see +nothin' to it--nothin' at all." + +At the risk of rousing the philosopher's resentment, Bob burst into a +peal of laughter. + +"But ain't it so now, I ask you? Ain't it just as I say?" insisted +Janoah Eldridge. "Argue as you will, what's the gain in it?" + +To the speaker's apparent disappointment, the citizen from Indiana did +not accept the challenge for argument but instead observed pleasantly: + +"I'll wager you will outlive all us city people, Mr. Eldridge." + +"Course I will," was the old man's confident retort. "I'll be +a-sailin' in my dory when the whole lot of you motor-boat folks are +under the sod. You see if I ain't! An' speakin' of motor-boats, +Willie--I s'pose you ain't done nothin toward tacklin' Zenas Henry's +tribulations with that propeller, have you?" + +The question was unexpected, and Willie colored uncomfortably. He was +not good at dissembling. + +"'Twould mean quite a bit of thinkin' to get Zenas Henry out of his +troubles," returned he evasively. "'Tain't so simple as it looks." + +Moving abruptly to the work-bench he began to overturn at random the +tools lying upon it. + +Something in this unusual proceeding arrested Jan's attention, causing +him to glance with suspicion from Robert Morton to the inventor, and +from the inventor back to Robert Morton again. The elder man was +whistling "Tenting To-night," an air that had never been a favorite of +his; and the younger, with self-conscious zeal, was shredding into bits +a long curl of shavings. + +Jan eyed both of them with distrust + +"I figger we're goin' to have a spell of fine weather now," remarked +Willie with jaunty artificiality. + +The offhand assertion was too casual to be real. Cloud and fog were +not dealt with in this cursory fashion in Wilton. It clinched Jan's +doubts into certainty. Something was being kept from him, something of +which this stranger, who had only been in the town a few hours, was +cognizant. For the first time in fifty years another had usurped his +place as Willie's confidant. It was monstrous! A tremor of jealous +rage thrilled through his frame, and he stiffened visibly. + +"I reckon I'll be joggin' along home," said he, moving with dignity +toward the door. + +"But you've only just come, Jan," protested Willie. + +"I didn't come fur nothin' but to leave this hammer," Jan answered, +placing the implement on the long bench before which his friend was +standing. + +"Maybe there was something you wanted to see Mr. Spence about," +ventured Bob. "If there was I will--" + +"No, there warn't," snapped Janoah. "Mister Spence ain't got nothin' +confidential to say to me--whatever he may have to say to other folks," +and with this parting thrust he shot out of the door. + +Bob gave a low whistle. + +"What's the matter with the man?" he asked in amazement. + +Willie flushed apologetically. + +"Nothin'--nothin' in the world!" he answered. "Jan gets like that +sometimes. Don't you remember I told you he was kinder quick. It's +just possible it may have bothered him to see me talkin' to you. Don't +mind him." + +"Do you think he suspected anything?" + +"Mercy, no! Not he!" responded Willie comfortably. "He's liable to +fly off the handle like that a score of times a day. Don't you worry +'bout him. He'll be back before the mornin's over." + +Nevertheless, sanguine as this prediction was, the hours wore on, and +Janoah Eldridge failed to make his appearance. In the meantime Bob and +Willie became so deeply engrossed in their new undertaking that they +were oblivious to his absence. They worked feverishly until noon, +devoured a hurried meal, and returned to the shop again, there to +resume their labors. By supper time they had made quite an encouraging +start on the model they required, their combined efforts having +accomplished in a single day what it would have taken Willie many an +hour to perfect. + +The inventor was jubilant. + +"Little I dreamed when you came to the front door, Bob, what I was +nettin'!" he exclaimed, clapping his hand vigorously on the young man's +shoulder. "You're a regular boat-builder, you are. The moon might 'a' +pogeed an' perigeed before I'd 'a' got as fur along as we have to-day. +How you've learned all you have about boats without ever goin' near the +water beats me. Now you ain't a-goin' to think of quittin' Wilton an' +leavin' me high an' dry with this propeller idee, are you? 'Twould be +a downright shabby trick." + +Bob smiled into the old man's anxious face. + +"I can't promise to see you to the finish for I must be back home +before many days, or I'll have my whole family down on me. Besides, I +have some business in New York to attend to," he said kindly. "But I +will arrange to stick around until the job is so well under way that +you won't need me. I am quite as interested in making the scheme a +success as you are. All is you mustn't let me wear out my welcome and +be a burden to Aunt Tiny." + +"Law, Tiny'll admire to have you stay long as you can, if only because +you drag me into the house at meal time," chuckled Willie. + +"At least I can do that," Bob returned. + +"You can do that an' a durn sight more, youngster," the inventor +declared with earnestness. "I ain't had the pleasure I've had to-day +in all my life put together. To work with somebody as has learned the +right way to go ahead--it's wonderful. When me an' Jan tackle a job, +we generally begin at the wrong end of it an' blunder along, wastin' +time an' string without limit. If we hit it right it's more luck than +anything else." + +Robert Morton, watching the mobile face, saw a pitiful sadness steal +into the blue eyes. A sudden shame surged over him. + +"I ought to be able to do far more with my training than I have done," +he answered humbly. "Dad has given me every chance." + +"Think of it!" murmured Willie, scrutinizing him with hungering gaze. +"Think of havin' every chance to learn!" + +For an interval he smoked in silence. + +"Well," he asserted at length, "you've sure proved to-day that brains +with trainin' are better'n brains without. Now if Jan an' me--" he +broke off abruptly. "There! I wonder what in tunket's become of Jan," +he speculated. "We've been so busy that he went clean out of my mind. +It's queer he didn't show up again. He ain't stayed away for a whole +day in all history. Mebbe he's took sick. I believe I'll trudge over +there an' find out what's got him. I mustn't go to neglectin' Jan, +inventin' or no inventin'." + +He rose from his chair wearily. + +"I reckon a note would do as well, though, as goin' over," he presently +remarked as an afterthought. "I could send one in the box an' ask him +to drop round an' set a spell before bedtime." + +He caught up a piece of brown paper from the workbench, tore a ragged +corner from it, and hastily scrawled a message. + +Bob watched the process with amusement. + +"There!" announced the scribe when the epistle was finished. "I reckon +that'll fetch him. We'll put it in the box an' shoot it across to him." + +Notwithstanding the dash implied in the term, it took no small length +of time for the diminutive receptacle to hitch its way through the +fields. The two men watched it jiggle along above the bushes of wild +roses, through verdant clumps of fragrant bayberry, and disappear into +the woods. Then they sat down to await Jan's appearance. + +The twilight was rarely beautiful. In a sky of palest turquoise a +crescent moon hung low, its arc of silver poised above the tips of the +stunted pines, whose feathery outlines loomed black in the dusk. From +out the dimness the note of a vesper sparrow sounded and mingled its +sweetness with the faintly breathing ocean. + +The men on the doorstep smoked silently, each absorbed in his own +reveries. + +How peaceful it was there in the stillness, with the hush of evening +descending like a benediction on the darkening earth! + +Bob sighed with contentment. His year of hard study was over, and now +that his well-earned rest had come he was surprised to discover how +tired he was. Already the peace of Wilton was stealing over him, its +dreamy atmosphere almost too beautiful to be real. From where he sat +he could see the trembling lights of the village jewelling the rim of +the bay like a circlet of stars. A man might do worse, he reflected, +than remain a few days in this sleepy little town. He liked Willie and +Celestina, too; indeed, he would have been without a heart not to have +appreciated their simple kindliness. Why should he hurry home? Would +not his father rejoice should he be content to stay and make his aunt a +short visit? There was no need to bind himself for any definite length +of time; he would merely drift and when he found himself becoming bored +flee. To be sure, about the last thing he had intended when setting +forth to the Cape was to linger there. He had come hither with +unwilling feet solely to please his parents, and having paid his +respects to his unknown relative he meant to depart West as speedily as +decency would permit, reasoning that it would be a mutual relief when +the visit was over. + +But a single day in the cozy little house at the water's edge had +served to convince him how erroneous had been his premises. Instead of +being tiresome, his Aunt Celestina was proving a delightful +acquisition, toward whom he already found himself cherishing a warm +regard. And what a cook she was! After months of city food her bread, +pies, and cookies were ambrosial. + +As for Willie--Bob had never before beheld so gentle, ingenuous and +lovable a personality. Undoubtedly the little inventor had genius. +What a pity he had been cheated of the opportunity for cultivating it! +There was something pathetic in the way he reached out for the +knowledge life had denied him; it reminded one of a patient child who +asks for water to slake his thirst. + +If, for some inscrutable reason, fortune had granted him, Robert +Morton, the chance denied this groping soul, was it not almost an +obligation that, in so far as he was able, he should place at the +other's disposal the fruits of the education that had been his? + +Presumably this motor-boat idea would not amount to much, for if such +an invention were plausible and of value, doubtless a score of nautical +authorities would have seized upon it long before now. But to work at +the plan would give the gentle dreamer in the silver-gray cottage +happiness, and after all happiness was not to be despised. If together +he and Willie could make tangible the notion that existed in the +latter's brain, the deed was certainly worth the doing. Moreover the +process would be an entertaining one, and after its completion he might +go away with a sense of having brightened at least one horizon by his +coming. + +Thus reasoned Robert Morton as in the peace of that June evening he +casually shuffled the cards of fate, little suspecting that already a +factor in his destiny stronger than any of his arguments was soon to +make its influence felt and transform Wilton into a magnet so powerful +that against its spell he would be helpless as a child. + +He was aroused from his meditations by the voice of Willie. + +"Didn't you hear a little bell?" demanded the inventor. "A sort of +tinklin' noise?" + +"I thought I did." + +"It's the box comin' from Jan's," explained he. "Can you kitch a sight +of it?" + +"I see it now." + +Rising, the old man tugged at the string, urging the reluctant +messenger through the tangle of roses. + +"By his writin' a note, I figger he ain't comin' over," he remarked, as +the object drew nearer. "I wonder what's stuck in his crop! Mebbe +Mis' Eldridge won't let him out. She's something of a Tartar--Arabella +is. Jan has to walk the plank, I can tell you." + +By this time the cigar box swaying on the taut twine was within easy +reach. Willie raised its cover and took from its interior a crumpled +fragment of paper. + +"Humph! He's mighty savin'!" he commented as he turned the missive +over. "He's writ on the other side of my letter. Let's see what he +has to say: + + "'Can't come. Busy.' + + +"Well, did you ever!" gasped he, blankly. "_Busy_! Good Lord! Jan's +never been known to be busy in all his life. He don't even know the +feelin'. If Janoah Eldridge is busy, all I've got to say is, the +world's goin' to be swallered up by another deluge." + +"Maybe, as you suggested, Mrs. Eldridge--" + +"Oh, if it had been Mis' Eldridge, he wouldn't 'a' took the trouble to +send no such message as that," broke in Willie. "He'd simply 'a' writ +_Arabella_; there wouldn't 'a' been need fur more. No, sir! +Somethin's stepped on Jan's shadder, an' to-morrow I'll have to go +straight over there an' find out what it is." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +AN APPARITION + +The next morning, after loitering uneasily about the workshop a +sufficiently long time for Janoah Eldridge to make his appearance and +finding that his crony did not make his appearance, Willie reluctantly +took his worn visor cap down from the peg and drew it over his brows, +with the remark: + +"Looks like Jan ain't headed this way to-day, either." He cast a +troubled glance through the dusty, multi-paned window of the shed. +"Much as I'm longin' to go ahead with this model, Bob, before I go +farther I've simply got to step over to the Eldridges an' straighten +him out. There's no help fur it." + +"All right. Go ahead, Sir," reassuringly returned Bob. "I'll work +while you're gone. Things won't be at a complete standstill." + +"I know that," Willie replied with a pleasant smile. "'Tain't that +that's frettin' me. It's just that I don't relish the notion of +shovin' my job onto your shoulders. 'Tain't as if you'd come to Wilton +to spend your time workin'. Celestina hinted last evenin' she was +afraid you bid fair to get but mighty little rest out of your vacation. +'Twas unlucky, she thought, that you hove into port just when I +happened to be kitched with a bigger idee than common." + +"Nonsense!" Bob protested heartily. "Don't you and Aunt Tiny give +yourselves any uneasiness about me. I'm happy. I enjoy fussing round +the shop with you, Mr. Spence. I'd far rather you took me into what +you're doing than left me out. Besides, I don't intend to work every +minute while I'm here. Some fine day I mean to steal off by myself and +explore Wilton. I may even take a day's fishing." + +"That's right, youngster, that's right!" ejaculated Willie. "That's +the proper spirit. If you'll just feel free to pull out when you +please it will take a load off my mind, an' I shall turn to tinkerin' +with a clear conscience." + +"I will, I promise you." + +"Then that's settled," sighed the inventor with relief. "I must say +you're about the best feller ever was to come a-visitin', Bob. You +ain't a mite of trouble to anybody." + +With eyes still fastened on the bench with its chaos of tools, the old +man moved unwillingly toward the door; but on the threshold he paused. + +"I'll be back quick's I can," he called. "Likely I'll bring Jan in +tow. I'd full as lief not tell him what we're doin' 'til next week if +I had my choice; still, things bein' as they are, mebbe it's as well +not to shut him out any longer. He gets miffed easy an' I wouldn't +have his feelin's hurt fur a pot of lobsters." + +With a gentle smile he waved his hand and was gone. + +Left alone in the long, low-studded room, Bob rolled up his sleeves and +to a brisk whistle began to plane down some pieces of thin board. + +The bench at which he worked stood opposite a broad window from which, +framed in a wreath of grapevine, he could see the bay and the shelving +dunes beyond it. A catboat, with sails close-hauled, was making her +way out of the channel, a wake of snowy foam churning behind her in the +blue water. Through the door of the shed swept a breeze that rustled +the shavings on the floor and blended the fragrance of newly cut wood +with the warm perfume of sweet fern from the adjoining meadow. + +For all its untidiness and confusion, its litter of boards, tools and +battered paint pots, the shop was unquestionably one of the most homey +corners of the Spence cottage. Its rough, unsheathed walls, mellowed +to a dull buff tone, were here and there adorned with prints culled by +Willie from magazines and newspapers. Likenesses of Lincoln and +Roosevelt flanked the windows with an American flag above them, and a +series of battleships and army scenes beneath. The inventor's taste, +however, had not run entirely to patriotic subjects, for scattered +along the walls, where shelves sagged with their burden of oilcans, +putty, nails and fishing tackle, were a variety of nautical +reproductions in color--a prize yacht heeling in the wind; a reach of +rough sea whose giant combers swirled about a wreck; glimpses of marsh +and dune typical of the land of the Cape dweller. + +An air-tight stove, the solitary defence against cold and storm, stood +in the corner, and before its rusty hearth a rickety chair and an +overturned soap box were suggestively placed. But perhaps what told an +observer more about Willie Spence than did anything else was a bunch of +rarely beautiful sabbatia blooming in a pickle bottle and a wee black +kitten who disported herself unmolested among the tools cluttering the +deeply scarred workbench. + +She was a mischievous kitten, a spoiled kitten; one who vented her +caprice on everything that had motion. Did a curl of shavings drop to +the ground, instantly Jezebel was at hand to catch it up in her +diminutive paws; toss it from her; steal up and fall upon it again; and +dragging it between her feet, roll over and over with it in a mad orgy +of delight. A shadow, a string, a flicker of metal was the signal for +a frolic. Let one's mood be austere as a monk's, with a single twist +of her absurdly tiny body this small creature shattered its gravity to +atoms. There was no such thing as dignity in Jezebel's presence. +Already three times Bob Morton had lifted the mite off the table and +three times back she had come, leaping in the path of his gleaming +plane as if its metallic whir and glimmering reflections were designed +solely for her amusement. In spite of his annoyance the man had +laughed and now, stooping, he caught up the tormentor and held her +aloft. + +"You minx!" he cried, shaking the sprite gently. "What do you think I +am here for--to play with you?" + +The kitten blinked at him out of her round blue eyes. + +"You'll be getting your fur mittens cut off the next thing you know," +went on Bob severely. "Scamper out of here!" + +He set the little creature on the floor, aimed her toward the doorway +and gave her a stimulating push. + +With a coquettish leap headlong into the sunshine darted Jezebel, only +to come suddenly into collision with a stranger who had crossed the +grass and was at that instant about to enter the workshop. + +The newcomer was a girl, tall and slender, with lustrous masses of dark +hair that swept her cheek in wind-tossed ringlets. She had a +complexion vivid with health, an undignified little nose and a mouth +whose short upper lip lent to her face a half childish, half pouting +expression. But it was in her eyes that one forgot all else,--eyes +large, brown, and softly deep, with a quality that held the glance +compellingly. Her gown of thin pink material dampened by the sea air +clung to her figure in folds that accentuated her lithe youthfulness, +and as she stumbled over the kitten in full flight she broke into a +delicious laugh that showed two rows of pretty, white teeth and lured +from hiding an alluring dimple. + +"You ridiculous little thing!" she exclaimed, snatching up the fleeing +culprit before she could make her escape and placing her in the warm +curve of her neck. "Do you know you almost tripped me up? Where are +your manners?" + +Jezebel merely stared. So did Robert Morton. + +The girl and the kitten were too disconcerting a spectacle. By herself +Jezebel was tantalizing enough; but in combination with the creature +who stood laughing on the threshold, the sight was so bewildering that +it not only overwhelmed but intoxicated. + +It was evident the visitor was unconscious of his presence, for instead +of addressing him, she continued to toy with the wisp of animation +snuggled against her cheek. + +"I do believe, Willie," she observed, without glancing up, "that +Jezebel grows more fascinating every time I see her." + +Bob did not answer. He was in no mood to discuss Jezebel. If he +thought of her at all it was to contrast her inky fur with the white +throat against which she nestled and speculate as to whether she sensed +what a thrice-blessed kitten she was. It did flash through his mind as +he stood there that the two possessed a bewitching, irresistible +something in common, a something he was at a loss to characterize. It +did not matter, however, for he could not have defined even the +simplest thing at the moment, and this attribute of the kitten's and +the girl's was very complex. + +Perhaps it was the silence that at last caused the visitor to raise her +eyes and look at him inquiringly. Then he saw a tremor of surprise +sweep over her, and a wave of crimson surge into her face. + +"I beg your pardon," she gasped. "I thought Willie was here." + +"Mr. Spence has stepped over to the Eldredges'. I'm expecting him back +every instant," Bob returned. + +The girl's lashes fell. They were long and very beautiful as they lay +in a fringe against her cheek, yet exquisite as they were he longed to +see her eyes again. + +"I'm Miss Morton's nephew from Indiana," the young man managed to +stammer, feeling some explanation might bridge the gulf of +embarrassment. "I am visiting here." + +"Oh!" + +Persistently she studied the toe of her shoe. If Bob had thought her +appealing before, now, demure against the background of budding apple +trees, with a shaft of sunlight on her hair, and the kitten cuddled +against her breast, she put to rout the few intelligent ideas remaining +to the young man. + +Wonderingly, helplessly, he watched while she continued to caress the +minute creature in her arms. + +"Are you staying here long?" she asked at length, gaining courage to +look up. + +"I--eh--yes; that is--I hope so," Bob answered with sudden fervor. + +"You like Wilton then." + +"Tremendously!" + +"Most strangers think the place has great beauty," observed his guest +innocently. + +"There's more beauty here in Wilton than I ever saw before in all my +life," burst out Bob, then stopped suddenly and blushed. + +His listener dimpled. + +"Really?" she remarked, raising her delicately arched brows. "You are +enthusiastic about the Cape, aren't you!" + +"Some parts of it." + +"Where else have you been?" + +The question came with disturbing directness. + +"Oh--why--Middleboro, Tremont, Buzzard's Bay and Harwich," answered the +man hurriedly. As he named the list he was conscious that it smacked +rather too suggestively of a brakeman's, and he saw she thought so too, +for she turned aside to hide a smile. + +"You might sit down; won't you?" he suggested, eager that she should +not depart. + +Flecking the dust from the soap box with his handkerchief, he dragged +it forward and placed it near the workbench. + +As she bent her head to accept the crude throne with a queen's +graciousness, Jezebel, roused into playful humor, thrust forth her +claws and, encountering Bob as he rose from his stooping posture, fixed +them with random firmness in his necktie. + +Now it chanced that the tie was a four-in-hand of raw silk, very choice +in color but of a fatally loose oriental weave; and once entangled in +its meshes the task of extricating its delicate threads from the clutch +that gripped them seemed hopeless. It apparently failed to dawn on +either of the young persons brought into such embarrassingly close +contact by the dilemma that the kitten could be handed over to Bob; or +that the tie might be removed. Instead they drew together, trying +vainly to liberate the struggling Jezebel from her imprisonment. It +was not a simple undertaking and to add to its difficulties the +ungrateful beast, irritated by their endeavors, began to protest +violently. + +"She'll tear your tie all to pieces," cried the stranger. + +"No matter. I don't mind, if she doesn't scratch you." + +"Oh, I am not afraid of her. If you can hold her a second longer, I +think I can free the last claw." + +As the girl toiled at her precarious mission, Bob could feel her warm +breath fan his cheek and could catch the fragrant perfume of her hair. +So far as he was concerned, Jezebel might retain her hold on his +necktie forever. But, alas, the slim, white fingers were too deft and +he heard at last a triumphant: + +"There!" + +At the same instant the offending kitten was placed on the floor. + +"You little monkey!" cried the man, smiling down at the furry object at +his feet. + +"Isn't she!" echoed the visitor sympathetically. "There she goes, the +imp! What is left of your tie? Let me look at it." + +"It's all right, thank you." + +"There is just one thread ruffed up. I could fix it if I had a pin." + +From her gown she produced one, but as she did so a spray of wild roses +slipped to the ground. + +"You've dropped your flowers," said Bob, picking them up. + +"Have I? Thank you. They are withered, anyway, I'm afraid." + +Tossing the rosebuds on the bench, she began to draw into smoothness +the silken loop that defaced the tie. + +"There!" she exclaimed, glancing up into his eyes and tilting her head +critically to one side. "That is ever so much better. You would +hardly notice it. Now I really must go. I have bothered you quite +enough." + +"You have not bothered me at all," contradicted Bob emphatically. + +"But I know I must have," she protested. "I've certainly delayed you. +Besides, it doesn't look as if Willie was coming back." + +"Isn't there something I can do for you?" + +"No, thank you. It was nothing important. In fact, it doesn't matter +at all. I just came to see if he could fix the clasp of my belt +buckle. It is broken, and he is so clever at mending things that I +thought perhaps he could mend this." + +"Let me see it." + +"Oh, I couldn't think of troubling you." + +"But I should be glad to fix it if I could. If not, I could at least +hand it over to Willie's superior skill." + +She laughed. + +"I'm not certain whether Willie's skill is superior," was her arch +retort. + +"Why not make a test case and find out?" + +Still she hesitated. + +"You're afraid to trust your property to me," Bob said, piqued by her +indecision. + +"No, I'm not," was the quick response. "See? Here is the belt." + +She drew from her pocket a narrow strip of white leather to which a +handsome silver buckle was attached and placed it in his hand. + +He took it, inspected its fastening and looked with beating pulse at +the girdle's slender span. + +"Do you think it can be mended?" she inquired anxiously. + +"Of course it can." + +"Oh, I'm so glad!" + +"Give me a few days and you shall have it back as good as new." + +"That will be splendid!" Her eyes shone with starry brightness. "You +see," she went on, "it was given me on my birthday by my--my--by some +one I care a great deal for--by my--" she stopped, embarrassed. + +Robert Morton was too well mannered to put into words the interrogation +that trembled on his lips, but he might as well have done so, so +transparent was the questioning glance that traveled to her left hand +in search of the telltale solitaire. Even though his search was not +rewarded, he felt certain that the hand concealed in the folds of her +dress wore the fatal ring. Of course, mused he, with a shrug, he might +have guessed it. No such beauty as this was wandering unclaimed about +the world. Well, her fiancé, whoever he might be, was a lucky devil! +Without doubt, confound his impudence, his arm had traveled the pathway +of that band of leather scores of times. + +One couldn't blame the dog! For want of a better vent for his +irritation, Bob took up the belt and again examined it. He had been +quite safe in boasting that the bauble should be returned to its owner +as good as new, for although he did not confess it, on its silver clasp +he had discovered the manufacturer's name. If the buckle could not be +repaired, another of similar pattern should replace it. Unquestionably +he was a fool to go to this trouble and expense for nothing. Yet was +it quite for nothing? Was it not worth while to win even a smile from +this creature whose approval gave one the sense of being knighted? +True, titles meant but little in these days of democracy but when +bestowed by such royalty-- She broke in on his reverie by extending +her hand. "Good-by," she said. "You have been very kind, Mr.--" + +"My name is Morton--Bob Morton." + +"Why! Then you must be the son of Aunt Tiny's brother?" + +"_Aunt Tiny_!" + +As she laughed he saw again the ravishing dimple and her even, white +teeth. + +"Oh, she isn't my real aunt," she explained. "I just call her that +because I am so fond of her. I adore both her and Willie." + +"Who is takin' my name in vain?" called a cheery voice, as the little +inventor rounded the corner of the shed and entered the room. +"Delight--as I live! I might 'a' known it was you. Well, well, dear +child, if I'm not glad to see you." + +He placed his hands on her shoulders and beamed into her blushing face +while she bent and spread the loops of his soft tie out beneath his +chin. + +"How nice of you, Willie dear, to come back before I had gone!" she +said, arranging the bow with exaggerated care. + +"Bless your heart, I'd 'a' come back sooner had I known you were here," +declared he affectionately. "What brings you, little lady?" + +She pointed to the trinket dangling from Robert Morton's grasp. + +"I snapped the clasp of my belt buckle, Willie--that lovely silver +buckle Zenas Henry gave me," she confessed with contrition. "How do +you suppose I could have been so careless? I have been heart-broken +ever since." + +"Nonsense! Nonsense!" cried the old man, patting her hand. "Don't go +grievin' over a little thing like that. 'Tain't worth it. Break all +the buckles ever was made, but not your precious heart, my dear. Like +as not the thing can be mended." + +"Mr. Morton says it can." + +"If Bob says so, it's as good as done already," replied Willie +reassuringly. "He's a great one with tools. Why, if he was to stay in +Wilton, he'd be cuttin' me all out. So you an' he have been gettin' +acquainted, eh, while I was gone? That's right. I want he should know +what nice folks we've got in Wilton 'cause it's his first visit to the +Cape, an' if he don't like us mebbe he'll never come again." + +"I thought Mr. Morton had visited other places on Cape Cod," observed +Delight, darting a mischievous glance at the abashed young man opposite. + +"No, indeed!" blundered Willie. "He ain't been nowheres. Somebody's +got to show him all the sights. Mebbe if you get time you'll take a +hand in helpin' educate him." + +"I should be glad to!" + +Notwithstanding the prim response and her unsmiling lips, the young man +had a discomfited presentiment that she was laughing at him, and even +the farewell she flashed to him over her shoulder had a hectoring +quality in it that did not altogether restore his self-esteem. + +"Who is she?" he gasped, when he had watched her out of sight. + +"That girl? Do you mean to say you don't know--an' you a-talkin' to +her half the mornin'?" demanded the old man with amazement. "Why, it +never dawned on me to introduce you to her. I thought of course you +knew already who she was. Everybody in town knows Delight Hathaway, +an' loves her, too," he added softly. "She's Zenas Henry's daughter, +the one he brought ashore from the _Michleen_ an' adopted." + +"Oh!" + +A light began to break in on Bob's understanding. + +"It's Zenas Henry's motor-boat we're tinkerin' with now," went on +Willie. + +"I see!" + +He waited eagerly for further information, but evidently his host +considered he had furnished all the data necessary, for instead of +enlarging on the subject he approached the bench and began to inspect +the model. + +"I s'pose, with her bein' here, you didn't get ahead much while I was +gone," he ventured, an inflection of disappointment in his tone. + +"No, I didn't." + +"I didn't accomplish nothin', either," the little old man went on. +"Jan warn't to home; he'd gone fishin'." + +His companion did not reply at once. + +"I don't quite get my soundin's on Jan," he at length ruminated aloud. +"Somethin's wrong with him. I feel it in my bones." + +"Perhaps not." + +"There is, I tell you. I know Janoah Eldridge from crown to heel, an' +it ain't like him to go off fishin' by himself." + +"I shouldn't fret about it if I were you," Bob said in an attempt to +comfort the disquieted inventor. "I'm sure he'll turn up all right." + +Had the conversation been of a three-master in a gale; of buried +treasure; or of the ultimate salvation of the damned, the speaker would +at that moment have been equally optimistic. + +The universe had suddenly become too radiant a place to harbor +calamity. Wilton was a paradise like the first Eden--a garden of +smiles, of dimples, of blushing cheeks--and of silver buckles. + +He began to whistle softly to himself; then, sensing that Willie was +still unconvinced by his sanguine prediction, he added: + +"And even if Mr. Eldridge shouldn't come back, I guess you and I could +manage without him." + +"That's all very well up to a certain point, youngster," was the +retort. "But who's goin' to see me through this job after you've taken +wing?" + +He pointed tragically to the beginnings of the model. + +"Maybe I shan't take wing," announced Bob, looking absently at the +cluster of withered roses in his hand. "You--you see," he went on, +endeavoring to speak in off-hand fashion, "I've been thinking things +over and--and--I've about come to the conclusion--" + +"Yes," interrupted Willie eagerly. + +"That it is perhaps better for me to stay here until we get the +invention completed." + +"You don't mean until the thing's done!" + +"If it doesn't take too long, yes." + +"Hurray!" shouted his host. "That's prime!" he rubbed his hands +together. "Under those conditions we'll pitch right in an' scurry the +work along fast as ever we can." + +Robert Morton looked chagrined. + +"I don't know that we need break our necks to rush the thing through at +a pace like that," he said, fumbling awkwardly with the flowers. "A +few weeks more or less wouldn't make any great difference." + +"But I thought you said it was absolutely necessary for you to go +home--that you had important business in New York--that--" the old man +broke off dumbfounded. + +Bob shook his head. "Oh, no, I think my affairs can be arranged," was +the sanguine response. "A piece of work like this would give me lots +of valuable experience, and I'm not sure but it is my duty to--" + +The little old inventor scanned the speaker's flushed cheeks, his +averted eye and the drooping blossoms in his hand; then his brow +cleared and he smiled broadly: + +"Duty ain't to be shunned," announced he with solemnity. "An' as for +experience, take it by an' large, I ain't sure but what you'll get a +heap of it by lingerin' on here--more, mebbe, than you realize." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MARRYING AND GIVING IN MARRIAGE + +That afternoon, after making this elaborate but by no means misleading +explanation to Willie, Bob sent off to a Boston jeweler a registered +package and while impatiently awaiting its return set to work with +redoubled zest at the new invention. + +What an amazingly different aspect the motor-boat enterprise had +assumed since yesterday! Then his one idea had been to humor Willie's +whim and in return for the old man's hospitality lend such aid to the +undertaking as he was able. But now Zenas Henry's launch had suddenly +become a glorified object, sacred to the relatives of the divinity of +the workshop, and how and where the flotsam of the tides ensnared it +was of colossal importance. Into solving the nautical enigma Robert +Morton now threw every ounce of his energy and while at work artfully +drew from his companion every detail he could obtain of Delight +Hathaway's strange story. + +He learned how the _Michleen_ had been wrecked on the Wilton Shoals in +the memorable gale of 1910; how the child's father had perished with +the ship, leaving his little daughter friendless in the world; how +Zenas Henry and the three aged captains had risked their lives to bring +the little one ashore; and how the Brewsters had taken her into their +home and brought her up. It was a simple tale and simply told, but the +heroism of the romance touched it with an epic quality that gripped the +listener's imagination and sympathies tenaciously. And now the waif +snatched from the grasp of the covetous sea had blossomed into this +exquisite being; this creature beloved, petted, and well-nigh spoiled +by a proudly exultant community. + +For although legally a member of the Brewster family, Willie explained, +the girl had come to belong in a sense to the entire village. Had she +not been cast an orphan upon its shores, and were not its treacherous +shoals responsible for her misfortune? Wilton, to be sure, was not +actually answerable for the crimes those hidden sand bars perpetrated, +but nevertheless the fisherfolk could not quite shake themselves free +of the shadow cast upon them by the tragedies ever occurring at their +gateway. Too many of their people had gone down to the sea in ships +never to return for them to become callous to the disasters they were +continually forced to witness. The wreck of the _Michleen_ had been +one of the most pathetic of these horrors, and the welfare of the child +who in consequence of it had come into the hamlet's midst had become a +matter of universal concern. + +"'Tain't to be wondered at the girl is loved," continued Willie. "At +first people took an interest in her, or tried to, from a sense of +duty, for you couldn't help bein' sorry for the little thing. But +'twarn't long before folks found out 'twarn't no hardship to be fond of +Delight Hathaway. She was livin' sunshine, that's what she was! +Wherever she went, be it one end of town or t'other, she brought +happiness. In time it got so that if you was to drop in where there +was sickness or trouble an' spied a nosegay of flowers, you could be +pretty sure Delight had been there. Why, Lyman Bearse's father, old +Lyman, that's so crabbed with rhumatism that it's a cross to live under +the same roof with him, will calm down gentle as a dove when Delight +goes to read to him. As for Mis' Furber, I reckon she'd never get to +the Junction to do a mite of shoppin' or marketin' but for Delight +stayin' with the babies whilst she was gone. I couldn't tell you half +what that girl does. She's here, there, an' everywhere. Now she's +gettin' up a party for the school children; now makin' a birthday cake +for somebody; now trimmin' a bunnit for Tiny or helpin' her plan out a +dress." + +Willie stopped to rummage on a distant shelf for a level. + +"Once," he went on, "Sarah Libbie Lewis asked me what Delight was goin' +to be. I told her there warn't no goin' to be about it; Delight was +bein' it right now. She didn't need to go soundin' for a mission in +life." + +"I take it you are not in favor of careers for women, Mr. Spence," +observed Robert Morton, who had been eagerly drinking in every word the +old man uttered. + +"Yes, I am," contradicted the inventor. "There's times when a girl +needs a career, but there's other times when to desert one's plain duty +an' go huntin' a callin' is criminal. Queer how people will look right +over the top of what they don't want to see, ain't it? I s'pose its +human nature though," he mused. + +A soft breeze stirred the shavings on the floor. + +"Tiny thinks," resumed the quiet voice, "that I mix myself up too much +with other folks's concerns anyhow. Leastways, she says I let their +troubles weigh on me more'n I'd ought. But to save my life I can't +seem to help it. Don't you believe those on the outside of a tangle +sometimes see it straighter than them that is snarled up in the mess?" + +Robert Morton nodded. + +"That's the way I figger it," rambled on the old man. "Mebbe that's +the reason I can't keep my fingers out of the pie. You'd be surprised +enough if you was to know the things I've been dragged into in my +lifetime; family quarrels, will-makin's, business matters that I didn't +know no more about than the man in the moon. Why, I've even taken a +hand in love affairs!" + +He broke into a peal of hearty laughter. "That's the beatereee!" he +declared, slapping his thigh. "'Magine me up to my ears in a love +affair! But I have been--scores of 'em, enough I reckon, put 'em all +together, to marry off the whole of Cape Cod." + +"You must be quite an authority on the heart by this time," Robert +Morton ventured. + +"I ain't," the other declared soberly. "You see, none of the snarls +was ever the same, so you kinder had to feel your way along every time +like as if you was navigatin' a new channel. Women may be all alike, +take 'em in the main, but they're almighty different when you get 'em +to the fine point, an' that's what raises the devil with makin' any +general rule for managin' 'em." + +The philosopher held the piece of wood he had been planing to the light +and examined it critically. + +"Once," he resumed, taking up his work again, "when Dave Furber was +courtin' Katie Bearse, I drove over to Sawyer's Falls with him to get +Katie a birthday present an' among other things we thought we'd buy +some candy. We went into a store, I recollect, where there was all +kinds spread out in trays, an' Dave an' me started to pick out what +we'd have. As I stood there attemptin' to decide, I couldn't help +thinkin' that selectin' that candy was a good deal like choosin' a +wife. You couldn't have all the different kinds, an' makin' up your +mind which you preferred was a seven-days' conundrum." + +The little inventor took off his spectacles, wiped them, and replaced +them upon his nose. + +"Luckily, as we was fixed, there was a chance in the box for quite a +few sorts, so that saved the day. But s'pose, I got to thinkin', you +could only have one variety out of the lot--which would you take? +That's the sticker you face when choosin' a wife. S'pose, for +instance, I was pinned down to nothin' but caramels. The caramel is a +good, square, sensible, dependable candy. You can see through the +paper exactly what you're gettin'. There's nothin' concealed or +lurkin' in a caramel. Moreover, it lasts a long time an' you don't get +tired of it. It's just like some women--not much to look at, but +wholesome an' with good wearin' qualities. Should you choose the +caramel, you'd feel sure you was doin' the wise thing, wouldn't you?" + +Robert Morton smiled into the half-closed blue eyes that met his so +whimsically. + +"But along in the next tray to the caramel," Willie went on, "was +bonbons--every color of the rainbow they were, an' pretty as could be; +an' they held all sorts of surprises inside 'em, too. They was +temptin'! But the minute you put your mind on it you knew they'd turn +out sweet and sickish, an' that after gettin' 'em you'd wish you +hadn't. There's plenty of women like that in the world. Mebbe you +ain't seen 'em, but I have." + +"Yes." + +"Besides these, there was dishes of sparklin' jelly things on the +counter, that the girl said warn't much use--gone in no time; they were +just meant to dress up the box. I called 'em brainless candies--just +silly an' expensive, an' if you look around you'll find women can match +'em. An' along with 'em you can put the candied violets an' sugared +rose leaves that only make a man out of pocket an' ain't a mite of use +to him." + +Willie scanned his companion's face earnestly. + +"Finally, after runnin' the collection over, it kinder come down to a +choice between caramels or chocolates. Even then I still stood firm +for the caramel, there bein' no way of makin' sure what I'd get inside +the chocolate. I warn't willin' to go it blind, I told Dave. A +chocolate's a sort of unknowable thing, ain't it? There's no fathomin' +it at sight. After you've got it you may be pleased to death with +what's inside it an' then again you may not. So we settled mostly on +caramels for Katie. I said to Dave comin' home it was lucky men warn't +held down to one sort of candy like they are to one sort of wife, an' +he most laughed his head off. Then he asked me what kind of sweet I +thought Katie was, an' I told him I reckoned she was the caramel +variety, an' he said he thought so, too. We warn't fur wrong neither, +for she's turned out 'bout as we figgered. Mebbe she ain't got the +looks or the sparkle of the bonbons or jelly things, but she's worn +almighty well, an' made Dave a splendid wife." + +"With all your excellent theories about women, I wonder you never +picked out a wife for yourself, Mr. Spence," Robert Morton remarked +mischievously. + +"Me get married?" questioned Willie, staring at the speaker open-eyed +over the top of his spectacles. + +"Why not?" + +"Why, bless your heart, I never thought of it!" answered the little man +naïvely. "It's taken 'bout all my time to get other folks spliced +together. Besides," he added, "I've had my inventin'." + +He glanced out of the window at a moving figure, then shot abruptly to +the door and called to some one who was passing: + +"Hi, Jack!" + +A man in coast-guard uniform waved his hand. + +"How are you, Willie?" he shouted. + +"All right," was the reply. "How are you an' Sarah Libbie makin' out?" + +"Same as ever." + +"You ain't said nothin' to her yet?" + +Robert Morton saw the burly fellow in the road sheepishly dig his heel +into the sand. + +"N--o, not yet." + +"An' never will!" ejaculated the inventor returning wrathfully to the +shop. "That feller," he explained as he resumed his seat, "has been +upwards, of twenty years tryin' to tell Sarah Libbie Lewis he's in love +with her. He knows it an' so does she, but somehow he just can't put +the fact into words. I'm clean out of patience with him. Why, one day +he actually had the face to come in here an' ask me to tell her--_me_! +What do you think of that?" + +Robert Morton chuckled at his companion's rage. + +"Did you?" + +"Did I?" repeated Willie with scorn. "Can you see me doin' it? No, +siree! I just up an' told Jack Nickerson if he warn't man enough to do +his own courtin' he warn't man enough for any self-respectin' woman to +marry. An' furthermore, I said he needn't step foot over the sill of +this shop 'till he'd took some action in the matter. That hit him +pretty hard, I can tell you, 'cause he used to admire to come in here +an' set round whenever he warn't on duty. But he saw I meant it, an' +he ain't been since." + +The old man paused. + +"I kinder bit off my own nose when I took that stand," he admitted, an +intonation of regret in his tone, "'cause Jack's mighty good company. +Still, there was nothin' for it but firm handlin'." + +"How long ago did you cast him out?" Bob asked with a chuckle. + +"Oh, somethin' over a week or ten days ago," was the reply. "I thought +he might have made some progress by now. But I ain't given up hope of +him yet. He's been sorter quiet the last two times I've seen him, an' +I figger he's mullin' things over, an' mebbe screwin' up his courage." + +The room was still save for the purr of the plane. + +"I suppose you will be marrying Miss Hathaway off some day," observed +Bob a trifle self-consciously, without raising his eyes from his work. + +"You bet I won't," came emphatically from the old inventor. "I've got +some courage but not enough for that. You see, the man that marries +her has got to have the nerve to face the whole village--brave Zenas +Henry, the three captains, an' Abbie Brewster, besides winnin' the girl +herself. 'Twill be some contract. No, you can be mortal sure I shan't +go meddlin' in no such love affair as that. Anyhow, I won't be needed, +for any man that Delight Hathaway would look at twice will be perfectly +capable of meetin' all comers; don't you worry." + +With this dubious comfort Willie stamped with spirit out of the shop. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A SECOND SPIRIT APPEARS + +Days came and went, days golden and blue, until a week had passed, and +although Robert Morton haunted the post-office, nothing was heard from +the jeweler to whom he had sent the silver buckle. Neither did the +eager young man catch even a fleeting glimpse of its owner. It was, he +told himself, unlikely that she would come to the Spence house again. +When her property was repaired she probably would expect some one +either to let her know, or bring it to her. It was to the latter +alternative that Bob was pinning his hopes. The errand would provide a +perfectly natural excuse for him to go to the Brewster home, and once +there he would meet the girl's family and perhaps be asked to come +again. Until the trinket came back from Boston, therefore, he must +bide his time with patience. + +Nevertheless the logic of these arguments did not prevent him from +turning sharply toward the door of the workshop whenever there was a +footfall on the grass. Any day, any hour, any moment the lady of his +dreams might appear once more. Had not Willie said that she sometimes +trimmed bonnets for Tiny? And was it not possible, yea, even likely +that his aunt might be needing a bonnet right away. Women were always +needing bonnets, argued the young man vaguely; at least, both his +mother and sister were, and he had not yet lived long enough in his +aunt's household to realize that with Tiny Morton the purchase of a +bonnet was not an equally casual enterprise. He even had the temerity +to ask Celestina when he saw her arrayed for the grange one afternoon +why she did not have a hat with pink in it and was chagrined to receive +the reply that she did not like pink; and that anyway her hat was well +enough as it was, and she shouldn't have another for a good couple of +years. + +"I don't go throwin' money away on new hats like you city folks do," +she said somewhat tartly. "A hat has to do me three seasons for best +an' a fourth for common. I've too much to do to go chasin' after the +fashions. I leave that to Bart Coffin's wife." + +"Who is Bart Coffin?" inquired Bob, amused by her show of spirit. + +"You ain't met Bart?" + +"Not yet." + +"Well, you will. He's the one who always used to stow all his catch of +fish in the bow of the boat 'cause he said it was easier to row +downhill. He ain't no heavyweight for brains as you can see, an' years +ago he married a wife feather-headed as himself. He did it out of +whole cloth, too, so he's got no one to blame if he don't like his +bargain. At the time of the weddin' he was terrible stuck up about his +bride, an' he gave her a black satin dress that outdid anything the +town had ever laid eyes on. It was loaded down with ruffles, an' jet, +an' lace, an' fitted her like as if she was poured into it. Folks said +it was made in Brockton, but whether it was or not there's no way of +knowin'. Anyhow, back she pranced to Wilton in that gown an' for a +year or more, whenever there was a church fair, or a meetin' of the +Eastern Star, or a funeral, you'd be certain of seein' Minnie Coffin +there in her black satin. There wasn't a lay-out in town could touch +it, an' by an' by it got so that it set the mark on every gatherin' +that was held, those where Minnie's satin didn't appear bein' rated as +of no account." Celestina paused, and her mouth took an upward curve, +as if some pleasant reverie engrossed her. "But after a while," she +presently went on, "there came an upheaval in the styles; sleeves got +smaller, an' skirts began to be nipped in. Minnie's dress warn't wore +a particle but it looked as out-of-date as Joseph's coat would look on +Willie. The women sorter nudged one another an' said that now Mis' +Bartley Coffin would have to step down a peg an' stop bein' leader of +the fashions." + +Celestina ceased rocking and leaned forward impressively. + +"But did she?" declaimed she with oratorical eloquence. "Did she? Not +a bit of it. Minnie got pictures an' patterns from Boston; scanted the +skirt; took in the sleeves; made a wide girdle with the breadths she +took out of the front--an' there she was again, high-steppin' as ever!" + +Robert Morton laughed with appreciation. + +"Since then," continued Celestina, "for at least fifteen years she's +been makin' that dress over an' over. Now she'll get a new breadth of +goods or a couple of breadths, turn the others upside down or cut 'em +over, an' by keepin' everlastingly at it she contrives to look like the +pictures in the papers most of the time. It's maddenin' to the rest of +us. Abbie Brewster knows Minnie well an' somewhere in a book she's got +set down the gyrations of that dress. I wouldn't be bothered recordin' +it but Abbie always was a methodical soul. She could give you the date +of every inch of satin in the whole thing. Just now there's 1914 +sleeves; the front breadths are 1918; the back ones 1911. Most of the +waist is January, 1912, with a June, 1913, vest. Half the girdle is +made out of 1910 satin, an' half out of 1919. Of course there's lights +when the blacks don't all look the same; still, unless you got close up +you wouldn't notice it, an' Minnie Coffin keeps on settin' the styles +for the town like she always has." + +The narrator paused for breath. + +"She's makin' it over again right now," she announced, rising from her +chair and moving toward the pantry. "You can always tell when she is +'cause she pulls down all her front curtains an' won't come to the door +when folks knock. The shades was down when Abbie an' me drove by there +last week an' to make sure Abbie got out an' tapped to' see if +anybody'd come to let us in, but nobody did. We said then: '_Minnie's +resurrectin' the black satin_.' You mark my words she'll be in church +in it Sunday. It generally takes her about ten days to get it done. I +was expectin' she'd give it another overhauling, for she ain't done +nothin' to it for three months at least an' the styles have changed +quite a little in that time. Sometimes I tell Willie I believe we'll +live to see her laid out in that dress yet." + +"You can bet Bart would draw a sigh of relief if we did," chimed in the +inventor. "Why, the money that woman's spent pullin' that durn thing +to pieces an' puttin' it together again is a caution. Bart said you'd +be dumbfounded if you could know what he's paid out. If the coffin lid +was once clamped down on the pest he'd raise a hallelujah, poor feller." + +"Willie!" gasped the horrified Celestina. + +"Oh, I ain't sayin' he'd be glad to see Minnie goin'," the little old +man protested. "But that black satin has been a bone of contention +ever since the day it was bought. To begin with, it cost about ten +times what Bart calculated 'twould; he told me that himself. An' it's +been runnin' up in money ever since. When he got it he kinder figgered +'twould be an investment somethin' like one of them twenty-year +endowments, an' that for nigh onto a quarter of a century Minnie +wouldn't need much of anything else. But his reckonin' was agog. It's +been nothin' but that black satin all his married life. Let alone the +price of continually reenforcin' it, the wear an' tear on Minnie's +nerves when she's tinkerin' with it is somethin' awful. Bart says that +dress ain't never out of her mind. She's rasped an' peevish all the +time plannin' how she can fit the pieces in to look like the pictures. +It's worse than fussin' over the cut-up puzzles folks do. Sometimes at +night she'll wake him out of a sound sleep to tell him she's just +thought how she can eke new sleeves out of the side panels, or make a +pleated front for the waist out of the girdle. I guess Bart don't get +much rest durin' makin'-over spells. I saw him yesterday at the +post-office an' he was glum as an oyster; an' when I asked him was he +sick all he said was he hoped there'd be no black satins in heaven." + +"I told you she was fixin' it over!" cried Celestina triumphantly. "So +you was at the store, was you, Willie? You didn't say nothin' about +it." + +"I forgot I went," confessed the little man. "Lemme see! I believe +'twas more nails took me down." + +"Did you get any mail?" + +"No--yes--I dunno. 'Pears like I did get somethin'. If I did, it's in +the pocket of my other coat." + +Going into the hall he returned with a small white package which he +gave to Celestina. + +"It ain't for me," said she, after she had examined the address. "It's +Bob's." + +"Bob's, eh?" queried the inventor. "I didn't notice, not havin' on my +readin' glasses. So it's Bob's, is it?" + +"Yes," answered Celestina, eyeing the neat parcel curiously. +"Whoever's sendin' you a bundle all tied up with white paper an' pink +string, Bob? It looks like it was jewelry." + +Quickly Willie sprang to the rescue. + +"Oh, Bob's been gettin' some repairin' done for the Brewsters," +explained he. "Delight's buckle was broke an' knowin' the best place +to send it, he mailed it up to town." + +"Oh," responded Celestina, glancing from one to the other with a half +satisfied air. + +"Let's have the thing out an' see how it looks, Bob," Willie went on. + +Blushingly Robert Morton undid the box. + +Yes, there amid wrappings of tissue paper, on a bed of blue cotton +wool, rested the buckle of silver, its burnished surface sparkling in +the light. + +He took it out and inspected it carefully. + +"It is all O. K.," observed he, with an attempt at indifference. "See +what a fine piece of work they made of it." + +The old man took from the table drawer a long leather case, drew out +another pair of spectacles which he exchanged for the ones he was +already wearing, and after scrutinizing the buckle and scowling at it +for an interval he carried it to the window. + +"What's the matter?" Bob demanded, instantly alert. "Isn't the +repairing properly done?" + +"'Tain't the repairin' I'm lookin' at," Willie returned slowly. "I've +no quarrel with that." + +Still he continued to twist and turn the disc of silver, now holding it +at arm's length, now bringing it close to his eye with a puzzled +intentness. + +Robert Morton could stand the suspense no longer. + +"What's wrong with it?" he at last burst out. + +Willie did not look up but evidently he caught the note of impatience +in the younger man's tone, for he drawled quizzically: + +"Don't it strike you as a mite peculiar that a buckle should go to +Boston with D. L. H. on it an' come home marked C. L. G.?" + +"_What_!" + +"That's what's on it--C. L. G. See for yourself." + +"It can't be." + +"Come an' have a look." + +The inventor placed the trinket in Robert Morton's hand. + +"C. L. G.," repeated he, as he deciphered the intertwined letters of +the monogram. "You are right, sure as fate! Jove!" + +"They've sent you the wrong girl," remarked Willie. "It's clear as a +bell on a still night. There must have been two girls an' two buckles, +an' the jeweler's mixed 'em up; you've got the other lady's." + +"That's a nice mess!" Bob ejaculated irritably. "Why, I'd rather have +given a hundred dollars than have this happen. I'll wring that man's +neck!" + +"Easy, youngster! Easy!" cautioned Willie. "Don't go heavin' all your +cargo overboard 'till you find you're really sinkin'. 'Tain't likely +Miss C. L. G. will care a row of pins for Miss D. L. H.'s buckle. +She'll be sendin' out an S. O. S. for her own an' will be ready to join +you in flayin' the jeweler. Give the poor varmint time, an' he'll +shift things round all right." + +"But Miss Hathaway--" + +"Delight's lived the best part of two weeks without that buckle, an' +she don't look none the worse for not havin' it. I saw her in the +post-office only yesterday an'--" + +"Did you?" cried Bob eagerly, then stopped short, flushed, and bit his +lip. + +"Yes, she was there," Willie returned serenely, without appearing to +have noticed his guest's agitation. "Young Farwell from Cambridge--the +one that has all the money--was talkin' to her, an' she had that +Harvard professor who boards at the Brewsters' along too; Carlton his +name is, Jasper Carlton. He's a mighty good-lookin' chap." He stole a +glance at the face that glowered out of the window. "Had you chose to +stroll down to the store with me like I asked you to, you might 'a' +seen her yourself." + +"Oh, I--I--didn't need to see her," stammered Bob. + +"Mebbe not," was the tranquil answer. "An' she didn't need to see you, +neither, judgin' from the way she was talkin' an' laughin' with them +other fellers. Still a young man is never the worse for chattin' with +a nice girl. Now, son, if I was you, I wouldn't get stirred up over +this jewelry business. We'll get a rise out of Miss C. L. G. pretty +soon an' when she comes to the surface--" + +"Who's that at the gate, Willie?" called Celestina from the kitchen. + +"What?" + +"There's somebody at the gate in a big red automobile. She's comin' +in. You go an' see what she wants, 'cause my apron ain't fresh. +Likely she's lost her way or else is huntin' board." + +Although Willie shuffled obediently into the hall he was not in time to +prevent the sonorous peal of the bell. + +"Yes, he's here," they heard him say. "Of course you can speak to him. +He's just inside. Won't you step in?" + +Then without further ado, and with utter disregard of Celestina's +rumpled apron, the door opened and the little inventor ushered into the +string-entangled sitting room a dainty, city-bred girl in a sport suit +of white serge. She was not only pretty but she was perfectly groomed +and was possessed of a fascinating vivacity and charm. Everything +about her was vivid: the gloss of her brown hair, the sparkle of her +eyes, her color, her smile, her immaculate clothes--all were dazzling. +She carried her splendor with an air of complete sureness as if she was +accustomed to the supremacy it won for her and expected it. Yet the +audacity of her pose had in it a certain fitness and was piquant rather +than offensive. + +The instant she crossed the threshold, Robert Morton leaped to meet her +with outstretched hands. + +"Cynthia Galbraith!" he cried. "How ever came you here?" + +A ripple of teasing laughter came from the girl. + +"You are surprised then; I thought you would be." + +"Surprised? I can't believe it." + +"If you'd written as you should have done, you wouldn't have been at +all amazed to see me," answered the newcomer severely. + +"I meant to write," the culprit asserted uneasily. + +"Maybe you will inform me what you are doing on Cape Cod," went on the +lady in an accusing tone. + +"How did you know I was here?" + +"You can't guess?" + +"No, I haven't a glimmer." + +From the pocket of her shell-pink sweater she drew forth a small white +box of startlingly familiar appearance. + +"Does this belong to you?" demanded she. + +Beneath the mockery of her eyes Robert Morton could feel the color +mount to his temples. + +"Well, well!" he said, with a ghastly attempt at gaiety, "So you were +C. L. G." + +"Naturally. Didn't the initials suggest the possibility?" + +"No--eh--yes; that is, I hadn't thought about it," he floundered. +"It's funny how things come about sometimes, isn't it? I want you to +meet my aunt, Miss Morton, and my friend Mr. Spence. I am visiting +here." + +Immediately the dainty Miss Cynthia was all smiles. + +"So it is relatives that bring you to the Cape!" said she. + +Robert Morton nodded. She seemed mollified. + +"Didn't Roger write you that we had taken a house at Belleport for the +season?" she asked. + +"No," replied Bob. "I haven't heard from him for weeks." + +"He's a brute. Yes, we came down in May just after I got back from +California. We are crazy over the place. The family will be wild when +I tell them you are here. My brother," she went on, turning with a +pretty graciousness toward Celestina, "was Bob's roommate at Harvard. +In that way we came to know him very well and have always kept up the +acquaintance." + +"Do you come from the West, same as my nephew does?" questioned +Celestina when there was a pause. + +The little lady raised her eyebrows deprecatingly. + +"No, indeed! The East is quite good enough for us. We are from New +York. The boys, however, were always visiting back and forth," she +added with haste, "so we have quite an affection for Indiana even if we +don't live there." She shot a conciliatory smile in Robert Morton's +direction. "Couldn't you go back with me in the car, Bob," she asked +turning toward him, "and spring a surprise on the household? Dad's +down, Mother's here, and also Grandmother Lee; and the mighty and +illustrious Roger, fresh from his law office on Fifth Avenue, is +expected Friday. Do come." + +"I am afraid I can't to-day," Bob answered. + +"Why, Bob, there ain't the least reason in the world you shouldn't go," +put in Celestina. + +The young man fingered the package in his hand nervously. + +"I really couldn't, Cynthia," he repeated, ignoring the interruption. +"I'd like immensely to come another day, though. But to-day Mr. Spence +and I have a piece of work on hand--" + +He paused, discomfited at meeting the astonished gaze of Willie's mild +blue eyes. + +"Of course you know best," Cynthia replied, drawing in her chin with +some hauteur. "I shouldn't think of urging you." + +"I'd be bully glad to come another day," reiterated Robert Morton, +fully conscious he had offended his fair guest, yet determined to stand +his ground. "Tell the affluent Roger to slide over in his racer +sometime when he has nothing better to do and get me." + +"He will probably only be here for the week-end," retorted Cynthia +coldly. + +"Sunday, then; why not Sunday? Mr. Spence and I do not work Sundays." + +"All right, if you positively won't come to-day. But I don't see why +you can't come now and Sunday, too." + +"I couldn't do it, dear lady." + +"Well, Sunday then, if that is the earliest you can make it." + +She smiled an adieu to Willie and Celestina, and with her little head +proudly set preceded Bob to her car. But although the great engine +throbbed and purred, it was some time before it left the gate and +flashed its way down the high road toward Belleport. + +After it had gone and Bob was once more in the house, Celestina had a +score of questions with which to greet him. How remarkable it was that +the owner of the missing jewelry should be some one he knew! The +Galbraiths must be well-to-do. What was the brother like? Did he +favor his sister? + +These and numberless other inquiries like them furnished Celestina with +conversation for the rest of the day. Willie, on the contrary, was +peculiarly silent, and although his furtive glance traveled at frequent +intervals over his young friend's face, he made no comment concerning +Miss Cynthia L. Galbraith and her silver buckle. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SHADOWS + +In the meantime the two men resumed their labors in the shop, touching +shoulders before the bench where their tools lay. They planed and +chiselled and sawed together as before, but as they worked each was +conscious that a barrier of sudden reserve had sprung up between them, +obstructing the perfect confidence that had previously existed. At +first the old inventor tried to bridge this gulf with trivial jests, +but as these passed unnoticed he at length lapsed into silence. Now +and then, as he stole a look at his companion, he thought he detected +in the youthful face a suppressed nervousness and irritation that found +welcome vent in the hammer's vigorous blow. Nevertheless, as the +younger man vouchsafed no information regarding the morning's +adventure, Willie asked no questions. + +He would have given a great deal to have satisfied himself about +Cynthia Galbraith. It was easily seen that her family were persons of +wealth and position with whom Robert Morton was on terms of the +greatest intimacy. It even demanded no very skilled psychologist to +perceive the girl's sentiment toward his guest, for Miss Galbraith was +a petulent, self-willed creature who did not trouble to conceal her +preferences. Her attitude was transparent as the day. But with what +feeling did Robert Morton regard her? That was the burning question +the little man longed to have answered. + +Wearily he sighed. Alas, human nature was a frail, incalculable +phenomenon. + +How was it likely a young man with his fortune to make would regard a +girl as rich and attractive as Cynthia Galbraith, especially if her +brother chanced to be his best friend and all her family reached forth +welcoming arms to him. + +Willie was not a matchmaker. Had he been impugned with the accusation +he would have denied it indignantly: Nevertheless, he had been mixed up +in too many romances not to find the relation between the sexes a +problem of engrossing interest. Furthermore, of late he had been doing +a little private castle-building, the foundations of which now abruptly +collapsed into ruins at his feet. The cornerstone of this +dream-structure had been laid the day he had first seen Robert Morton +and Delight Hathaway together. What a well-mated pair they were! For +years it had been his unwhispered ambition to see his favorite happily +married to a man who was worthy of the priceless treasure. + +The Brewster household was aging fast. Captain Jonas, Captain +Benjamin, and Captain Phineas were now old men; even Zenas Henry's hair +had thinned and whitened above his temples, and Abbie, once so +tireless, was becoming content to drop her cares on younger shoulders. +Yes, Wilton was growing old, thought the inventor sadly, and he and +Celestina were unquestionably keeping pace with the rest. In the +natural course of events, before many years Delight would be deprived +of her protectors and be left alone in the great world to fend for +herself. She was well able to do so, for she was resourceful and +capable and would never be forced to marry for a home as was many a +lonely woman. Nor would she ever come to want; the village would see +to that. Notwithstanding this certainty, however, he could not bear to +think of a time when there would be no one to stand between her and the +harsher side of life; no man who would count the championship a +privilege, an honor, his dearest duty. + +Wilton had never offered a husband of the type pictured in Willie's +mind. The hamlet could boast of but few young men, and the greater +part of those who lingered within its borders had done so because they +lacked the ambition and initiative to hew out for themselves elsewhere +broader fields of activity. Those of ability had gravitated to the +colleges, the business schools, or gone to test their strength in the +city's marts of commerce. Who could blame them for not resting content +with baiting lobster pots and dredging for scallops? Were he a young +man with his path untrodden before him he would have been one of the +first to do the same, Willie confessed. Did he not constantly covet +their youth and opportunity? Nevertheless, praiseworthy as their +motive had been, the fact remained that nowhere in the village was +there a man the peer of Delight Hathaway. Rare in her girlish beauty, +rarer yet in her promise of womanhood, what a prize she would be for +him who had the fineness of fiber to appreciate the guerdon! + +Willie was wont to attest that he himself was not a marrying man; yet +notwithstanding the assertion, deep down within the fastness of his +soul he had had his visions,--visions pure, exalted and characteristic +of his sensitively attuned nature. They were the exquisite secrets of +his life; the unfulfilled dreams that had kept him holy; a part of the +divine in him; echoes of hungers and longings that reached unsatisfied +into a world other than this. Earth had failed to consummate the loves +and ambitions of the dreamer. His had been a flattened, warped, +starved existence whose perfecting was not of this sphere. And as +without bitterness he reviewed the glories that had passed him by, he +prayed that these bounties might not also be denied her who, rounding +into the full splendor of her womanhood, was worthy of the best heaven +had to bestow. + +From her childhood he had watched her virtues unfold and none of their +potentialities had gone unobserved by the quiet little old man. +Through the beauty of his own soul he had been enabled to translate the +beauties of another, until gradually Delight Hathaway had come to +symbolize for him universal woman, the prototype of all that was +purest, most selfless, most tender; most to be revered, watched over, +beloved. Yet for all his worship the girl remained for him very human, +a creature with bewitching and appealing ways. In the same spirit in +which he rejoiced in the tint of a rose's petal or the shell-like flush +of a cloud at dawn did he find pleasure in the crimson that colored her +cheek, in the perfection of her features, in the shadowy, fathomless +depths of her eyes. Father, brother, lover, artist, at her shrine he +offered up a composite devotion which sought only her happiness. + +With such an attitude of mind to satisfy was it a marvel that in the +matter of selecting a husband for his divinity Willie was difficult to +please; or that he studied with a criticism quite as jealous as Zenas +Henry's own every male who crossed the girl's path? + +Yet with all his idealism Willie was a keen observer of life, and from +the first moment of their meeting he had detected in Robert Morton +qualities more nearly akin to his standards than he had discovered in +any of the other outsiders who had come into the hamlet. There was, +for example, the son of the Farwells who owned the great colonial +mansion on the point,--Billy Farwell, with his racing car and his dogs +and his general air of elegance and idleness. Delight had known him +since she was a child. And there was Jasper Carlton, the scholarly +scientist, years the girl's senior, who annually came to board with the +Brewsters during the vacation months. Both of these men paid court to +the village beauty, Billy with a half patronizing, half audacious +assurance born of years of intimacy; and the professor with that +old-fashioned reserve and deference characteristic of the older +generation. There were days when the two caused Willie such +perturbation of spirit that he would willingly have knocked their heads +together or cheerfully have wrung their necks. + +Delight unhesitatingly acknowledged that she liked both of them and +harmlessly coquetted first with the one, then with the other, until the +old inventor was at his wit's end to fathom which she actually favored +or whether she seriously favored either of them. Yet irreproachable as +were these suitors, to place a man of Bob Morton's attributes in the +same category with them seemed absurd. Why, he was head and shoulders +above them mentally, morally, physically,--from whichever angle one +viewed him. Moreover, blood will tell, and was he not of the fine old +Morton stock? Whatever the Carlton forbears might be, young Farwell's +ancestry was not an enviable one. Yes, Willie had settled Delight's +future to his entire satisfaction and for nights had been sleeping +peacefully, confident that with such a husband as Robert Morton her +happiness and good fortune would be assured. + +And then, like a thunderbolt out of the heavens, had come this Cynthia +Galbraith with her fetching clothes, her affluence and her air of +proprietorship! By what right had she acquired her monopoly of Bob +Morton, and was its exclusiveness gratifying or irksome to its +recipient? Might not this strange young man, concerning whom Willie +was forced to own he actually knew nothing, be playing a double game, +and the frankness of his face belie his real nature? And was it not +possible that his annoyance and irritation were caused by having been +trapped in it? + +Well, avowed Willie, he would see that Delight encountered this Don +Giovanni but seldom, at least until he gave a more trustworthy account +of himself than he had vouchsafed up to the present moment. Contrary +to the common law, the guest must be rated as guilty until he had +proved himself innocent. Yet as he darted a glance at the earnest +young face bending over the workbench Willie's conscience smote him and +he questioned whether he might not be doing his comrade a dire +injustice. The thought caused him to flush uncomfortably, and he +flushed still redder when Bob suddenly straightened up and met his eye. + +Both men stood alert, held tensely by the same sound. It was the low +music of a girlish voice humming a snatch of song, and it was +accompanied by the soft crackling of the needles that carpeted the +grove of pine between the Spence and Brewster houses. In another +instant Delight Hathaway strolled slowly out of the wood and entered +the workshop. With her coming a radiance of sunshine seemed to flood +the shabby room. She nodded a greeting to Bob, then went straight to +Willie and, placing her hands affectionately on his shoulders, looked +down into his face. They made a pretty picture, the bent old man with +his russet cheeks and thin white hair, and the girl erect as an arrow +and beautiful as a young Diana. + +The little inventor lifted his mild blue eyes to meet the haunting eyes +of hazel. + +"Well, well, my dear," he said, as he covered one of her hands with his +own worn brown one, "so you have come for your buckle, have you? It is +all done, honey, an' good as the day when 'twas made. Bob has it in +his pocket for you this minute." + +By a strange magic the truth and sunlight of the girl's presence had +for the time being dispelled all baser suspicions and Willie smiled +kindly at the man beside him. + +Holding out the crisp white package, Robert Morton came forward. + +Delight looked questioningly from the box with its immaculate paper and +neat pink string to its giver. + +"He found he couldn't fix it himself," explained Willie, immediately +interpreting the interrogation. "Neither him or I were guns enough for +the job. So Bob got somebody he knew of to tinker it up." + +"That was certainly very kind," returned Delight with gravity. "If you +will tell me what it cost I--" + +Again the old man stepped into the breach. + +"Oh, I figger 'twarn't much," said he with easy unconcern. "The feller +who did it was used to mendin' jewelry an' knew just how to set about +it, so it didn't put him out of his way none." + +"Yes," echoed Bob, with a grateful smile toward Willie. "It made him +no trouble at all." + +The two men watched the delicate fingers unfasten the package. + +"See how nice 'tis," Willie went on. "You'd never know there was a +thing the matter with it." + +"It's wonderful!" she cried. + +Her pleasure put to flight the old inventor's last compunction at his +compromise with truth. + +"I am so pleased, Mr. Morton!" she went on. "You are quite sure there +was no expense." + +"Nothing to speak of. I'm glad you like it," murmured the young man. + +"Indeed I do!" + +She stretched the band of white leather round her waist and Bob noticed +how easily its clasp met. + +"There!" exclaimed she, raising her hand in mocking imitation of a +military salute, "isn't that fine?" + +Willie laughed with involuntary admiration at the gesture, and as for +Robert Morton he could have gone down on his knees before her and +kissed her diminutive white shoe. + +The girl did not prolong the tableau. All too soon she relaxed from +rigidity into gaiety and came flitting to the work bench. + +"What are you doing, Willie dear?" she asked. "You know you never have +secrets from me. What is this marvellous thing you are busy with?" + +Before answering, Willie glanced mysteriously about. + +"It's because I know you can keep secrets that I ain't afraid to trust +you with 'em," said he. "Bob an' I are workin' on the quiet at an idee +I was kitched with a day or two ago. It's a bigger scheme than most of +the ones I've tackled, an' it may not turn out to be anything at all; +still, Bob has studied boats an' knows a heap about 'em, an' he +believes somethin' can be made of it. But 'til our fish is hooked we +ain't shoutin' that we've caught one. If the contrivance works," went +on the little old man eagerly, "it will be a bonanza for Zenas Henry. +It's--" he lowered his voice almost to a whisper, "it's an idee to keep +motor-boats from gettin' snagged." + +The words were scarcely out of his mouth before his listeners saw him +start and look apprehensively toward the door. + +They were no longer alone. On the threshold of the workshop stood +Janoah Eldridge. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A WIDENING OF THE BREACH + +"So," piped Janoah, "that's what you're doin', is it, Willie Spence? +Well, you needn't 'a' been so all-fired still about it. I guessed as +much all the time." There was an acid flavor in the words. "Yes, I +knowed it from the beginnin' well as if I'd been here, even if you did +shut me out an' take this city feller in to help you in place of me. +Mebbe he has studied 'bout boats; but how do you know what he's up to? +How do you know, anyhow, who he is or where he came from? He says, of +course, that he's Tiny's nephew, an' he may be, fur all I can tell; but +what proof have you he ain't somebody else who's come here to steal +your ideas an' get money for 'em?" + +There was a moment of stunned silence, as the barbs from his tongue +pierced the stillness. + +Then Delight stepped in front of the interloper. + +"How dare you, Janoah Eldridge!" she cried. "How dare you insult +Willie's friend and--and--mine! You've no right to speak so about Mr. +Morton." + +Before her indignation Janoah quailed. In all his life he had never +before seen Delight Hathaway angry, and something in her flashing eyes +and flaming cheeks startled him. + +"I--I--warn't meanin' to say 'twas actually so," mumbled he +apologetically. "Like as not the young man's 'xactly what he claims to +be. Still, Willie's awful gullible, an' there's times when a word of +warnin' ain't such a bad thing. I'm sorry if you didn't like it." + +"I didn't like it, not at all," the girl returned, only slightly +mollified by his conciliatory tone. "If you are anything of a +gentleman you will apologize to Mr. Morton immediately." + +"Ain't I just said I was sorry?" hedged the sheepish Janoah. + +"Indeed, there is no need for anything further," Robert Morton +protested. "Perhaps, knowing me so little, it was only natural that he +should distrust me." + +"It was neither natural nor courteous," came hotly from Delight, "and I +for one am mortified that any visitor to the village should receive +such treatment." + +Then as if clearing her skirts of the offending Mr. Eldridge, she drew +herself to her full height and swept magnificently out the door. An +awkward silence followed her departure. + +Robert Morton hesitated, glancing uneasily from Willie to Janoah, +scented a storm and, slipping softly from the shop, went in pursuit of +the retreating figure. + +"For goodness sake, Janoah, whatever set you makin' a speech like +that?" Willie demanded, when the two were alone. "Have you gone plumb +crazy? The very notion of your lightin' into that innocent young +feller! What are you thinkin' of?" + +"Mebbe he ain't so innocent as he seems," the accuser sneered. + +The little old man faced him sharply. + +"Come," he persisted, "let's have this thing out. What do you know +about him?" + +"What do you?" retorted Janoah, evading the question. + +The inventor paused, chagrined. + +"You don't know nothin' an' I don't know nothin'," continued Janoah, +seizing the advantage he had gained. "Each of us is welcome to his +opinion, ain't he? It's a free country. You're all fur believin' the +chap's an angel out of heaven. You've swallered down every word he's +uttered like as if it was gospel truth, an' took him into your own +house same's if he was a relation. There's fish that gobble down bait +just that way. I ain't that kind. Young men don't bury themselves up +in a quiet spot like Wilton without they've got somethin' up their +sleeve." + +Staring intently at his friend, he noted with satisfaction that +Willie's brow had clouded into a frown. + +"Is it to be expected, I ask you now, is it to be expected that a +spirited young sprig of a college feller such as him relishes spendin' +his time workin' away in this shop day in an' day out? What's he doin' +it fur, tell me that? This world ain't a benevolent institution, an' +the folks in it don't go throwin' their elbow-grease away unless they +look to get somethin' out of it. This Morton boy has boned down here +like a slave. What's in it fur him?" + +"Why, it's his vacation an'--" + +"Vacation!" interrupted Janoah scornfully. "You call it a vacation, do +you, for him to be workin' away here with you? You honestly think he +hankers after doin' it?" + +"He said he did." + +"An' you believed it, I s'pose, same's you credited the rest of his +talk," jeered Mr. Eldridge. "Look out the winder, Willie Spence, an' +tell me, if you was twenty instead of 'most seventy, if you'd be +stayin' indoors a-carpenterin' these summer days when you could be +outside?" + +He swept a hand dramatically toward the casement and in spite of +himself the old man obeyed his injunction and looked. + +A dome blue as larkspur arched the sky and to its farthest bound the +sea, reflecting its azure tints, flashed and sparkled as if set with +stars of gold. Along the shore where glittered reaches of hard white +sand and a gentle breeze tossed into billows the salt grass edging the +margin of the little creeks, fishermen launching their dories called to +one another, their voices floating upward on the still air with musical +clearness. + +"Would you be puttin' in your vacation a-workin' all summer, Willie, if +you was the age of that young man?" repeated Janoah. + +"He ain't here for all summer," protested the unhappy inventor, +catching at a straw. "He's only goin' to stay a little while." + +"He was here fur over night at first, warn't he?" inquired the +tormentor. "Then it lengthened into a week; an' the Lord only knows +now how much longer he's plannin' to hang round the place. Besides, if +he's only makin' a short visit, it's less likely than ever he'd want to +put in the whole of it tinkerin' with you. He'd be goin' about seein' +Wilton, sailin', fishin', swimmin' or clammin', like other folks do +that come here fur the summer, if he was a normal human bein'. But has +he been anywheres yet? No, sir! I've had my weather eye out, an' I +can answer for it that the feller ain't once poked his head out of this +shop. What's made him so keen fur stayin' in Wilton an' workin'?" + +Willie did not answer, but he took a great bandanna with a flaming +border of scarlet from his pocket and mopped his forehead nervously. + +"That young chap," resumed Janoah, holding up a grimy finger which he +shook impressively at the wretched figure opposite, "is here for one of +two reasons. You can like 'em or not, but they're true. He's either +here to steal your ideas from you, or he's got his eye on Delight +Hathaway." + +He saw his victim start violently. + +"Mebbe it's the one, mebbe it's the other; I ain't sayin'," announced +Janoah with malicious pleasure. "It may even be both reasons put +together. He's aimin' fur some landin' place, you can be certain of +that, an' I'm warnin yer as a friend to look out fur him, that's all." + +"I--I--don't believe it," burst out the little inventor, his benumbed +faculties beginning slowly to assemble themselves. "Why, there ain't a +finer, better-spoken young man to be found than Bob Morton." + +Janoah caught up the final phrase with derision. + +"The better spoken he is the more watchin' he'll bear," remarked he. +"There's many a villain with an oily gift of gab." + +"I'll not believe it!" Willie reiterated. + +Mr. Eldridge shrugged his shoulders. + +"Take it or leave it," he said. "You're welcome to your own way. Only +don't say I didn't warn yer." + +Flinging this parting shot backward into the room, Janoah Eldridge +passed out into the rose-scented sunshine. + +With a sad look in his eyes Willie let him go, watching the tall form +as it strode waist-high through the brakes and sweet fern that patched +the meadow. It was his first real quarrel with Janoah. Since boyhood +they had been friends, the gentleness of the little inventor bridging +the many disagreements that had arisen between them. Now had come this +mammoth difference, a divergence of standard too vital to be smoothed +over by a gloss of cajolery. Willie was angry through every fiber of +his being. Slowly it seeped into his consciousness that Janoah's +fundamental philosophy and his own were at odds; their attitude of mind +as antagonistic as the poles. Against trust loomed suspicion, against +generosity narrowness, against optimism pessimism. Janoah believed the +worst of the individual while he, Willie, reason as he might, +inherently believed the best. One creed was the fruit of a jealous and +envious personality that rejoiced rather than grieved over the +limitations of our human clay; the other was a result of that charity +_that beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things_, +because of a divine faith in the God in man. + +For a long time Willie stood there thinking, his gaze fixed upon the +gently swaying plumage of the pines. The shock of his discovery left +him suddenly feeling very sad and very much alone. It was as if he had +buried the friend of half a century. Yet even to bring Janoah back he +could not retract the words he had uttered or exchange the light he +followed for Janoah's sinister beckonings. In spite of a certain +reasonableness in the pessimist's logic; in spite of circumstances he +was incapable of explaining; in spite, even, of Cynthia Galbraith, a +latent belief in Robert Morton's integrity crystallized into certainty, +and he rose to his feet freed of the doubts that had previously +assailed him. + +At the instant of this emancipation the young man himself entered. + +What had passed during the interval since he had gone out of the +workshop Willie could only surmise, but it had evidently been of +sufficiently inspiring a character to bring into his countenance a +radiance almost supernatural in its splendor. Nevertheless he did not +speak but stood immovable before the little old inventor as if awaiting +a judge's decree, the glory fading from his eyes and a half-veiled +anxiety stealing into them. + +Willie smiled and, reaching up, placed his hands on the broad shoulders +that towered opposite. + +"I'm sorry, Bob," he affirmed with a sweetness as winning as a woman's. +"You mustn't mind what Jan said. He's gettin' old an' a mite crabbed, +an' he's kinder foolish about me, mebbe. I wouldn't 'a' had him hurt +your feelin's--" + +Robert Morton caught the expression of pain in the troubled face and +cut the apology short. + +"It's all right, Mr. Spence," he cried. "Don't give it another +thought. So long as you remain my friend I don't care what Mr. +Eldridge thinks. We'll pass it off as jealousy and let it go at that." + +The old man tried to smile, but the corners of his mouth drooped and he +sighed instead. To have Janoah's weaknesses thus nakedly set forth by +another was a very different thing from recognizing them himself, and +instinctively his loyalty rose in protest. + +"Mebbe 'twas jealousy," he replied. "Folks have always stood out that +Janoah was jealous. But somehow I'd rather think 'twas tryin' to look +after me an' my affairs that misled him. S'pose we call it a sort of +slab-sided friendliness." + +"We'll call it anything you like," assented Bob, with a happy laugh. + +This time Willie laughed also. + +"So she stood by you, did she?" queried he with quick understanding. + +"Yes." + +"'Twas like her." + +"It was like both of you." + +The old man raised a hand in protest against the gratitude the remark +implied. + +"Delight ain't often wrong; she's a fair dealer." Then he added +significantly, "Them as ain't fair with her deserve no salvation." + +"Hanging would be too good for the man who was not square with a girl +like that," came from Robert Morton with an emphasis unmistakable in +its sincerity. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A CONSPIRACY + +On Sunday morning, when a menacing east wind whipped the billows into +foam and a breath of storm brooded in the air, the Galbraiths' great +touring car rolled up to Willie's cottage, and from it stepped not only +Robert Morton's old college chum, Roger Galbraith, but also his father, +a finely built, middle-aged man whose decisive manner and quick speech +characterized the leader and dictator. + +He was smooth-shaven after the English fashion and from beneath shaggy +iron-gray brows a pair of dark eyes, piercing in their intensity, +looked out. The face was lined as if the stress of living had drawn +its muscles into habitual tensity, and except when a smile relieved the +setness of the mouth his countenance was stern to severity. His son, +on the other hand, possessed none of his father's force of personality. +Although his features were almost a replica of those of the older man, +they lacked strength; it was as if the second impression taken from the +type had been less clear-cut and positive. The eyes were clear rather +than penetrating, the mouth and chin handsome but mobile; even the +well-rounded physique lacked the rugged qualities that proclaimed its +development to have been the result of a Spartan combat with the world +and instead bore the more artificial sturdiness acquired from sports +and athletics. + +Nevertheless Roger Galbraith, if not the warrior his progenitor had +been, presented no unmanly appearance. Neither self-indulgence nor +effeminacy branded him. In fact, there was in his manner a certain +magnetism and warmth of sympathy that the elder man could not boast, +and it was because of this asset he had never wanted for friends and +probably never would want for them. Through the talisman of charm he +would exact from others the service which the more autocratic nature +commanded. + +Yet in spite of the opposition of their personalities, Robert Morton +cherished toward both father and son a sincere affection which differed +only in the quality of the response the two men called forth. Mr. +Galbraith he admired and revered; Roger he loved. + +Had he but known it, each of the Galbraiths in their turn esteemed +Robert Morton for widely contrasting reasons. The New York financier +found in him a youth after his own heart,--a fine student and hard +worker, who had fought his way to an education because necessity +confronted him with the choice of going armed or unarmed into life's +fray. Although comfortably off, Mr. Morton senior was a man of limited +income whose children had been forced to battle for what they had +wrested from fortune. Success had not come easily to any of them, and +the winning of it had left in its wake a self-reliance and independence +surprisingly mature. Ironically enough, this power to fend for himself +which Mr. Galbraith so heartily endorsed and respected in Bob was the +very characteristic of which he had deprived his own boy, the vast +fortune the capitalist had rolled up eliminating all struggle from +Roger's career. Every barrier had been removed, every thwarting force +had been brought into abeyance, and afterward, with an inconsistency +typical of human nature, the leveler of the road fretted at his son's +lack of aggressiveness, his eyes, ordinarily so hawklike in their +vision, blinded to the fact that what his son was he had to a great +extent made him, and if the product caused secret disappointment he had +no one to thank for it but himself. Instead his reasoning took the +bias that the younger man, having been given every opportunity, should +logically have increased the Galbraith force of character rather than +have diminished it, and very impatient was he that such had not proved +to be the case. + +Robert Morton was much more akin to the Galbraith stock, the financier +argued. He had all the dog-like persistency, the fighter's love of the +game, the courage that will not admit defeat. Although he would not +have confessed it, Mr. Galbraith would have given half his fortune to +have interchanged the personalities of the two young men. Could Roger +have been blessed with Bob's attributes, the dream of his life would +have been fulfilled. Money was a potent slave. In the great man's +hands it had wrought a magician's marvels. But this miracle, alas, it +was powerless to accomplish. Roger was his son, his only son, whom he +adored with instinctive passion; for whom he coveted every good gift; +and in whose future the hopes of his life were bound up. Long since he +had abandoned expecting the impossible; he must take the boy as he was, +rejoicing that Heaven had sent him as good a one. Yet notwithstanding +this philosophy, Mr. Galbraith never saw the two young men together +that the envy he stifled did not awaken, and the question rise to his +lips: + +"Why could I not have had such a son?" + +The interrogation clamored now as he came up the walk to the doorway +where Robert Morton was standing. + +"Well, my boy, I'm glad to see you," exclaimed he with heartiness. +"You are looking fit as a racer." + +"And feeling so, Mr. Galbraith," smiled Bob. "You are looking well +yourself." + +"Never was better in my life." + +As he stood still, sweeping his keen gaze over his surroundings, a +telegraphic glance of greeting passed between the two classmates. + +"How are you, old man?" said Roger. + +"Bully, kipper. It's great to see you again," was the reply. + +That was all, but they did not need more to assure each other of their +friendship. + +"You have a wonderful location here, Bob," observed Mr. Galbraith who +had been studying the view. "I never saw anything finer. What a site +for a hotel!" + +Robert Morton could not but smile at the characteristic comment of the +man of finance. + +"You would have trouble rooting Mr. Spence out of this spot, I'm +afraid," said he. + +"Mr. Spence?" + +"He is my host. My aunt, Miss Morton, is his housekeeper." + +Robert Morton had learned never to waste words when talking with Mr. +Galbraith. + +"I see. I should be glad to meet your aunt and Mr. Spence." + +"I know they would like to meet you too, sir. They are just inside. +Won't you come in?" + +Leading the way, Bob threw open the door into the little sitting room. + +In anticipation of the visit Celestina had arrayed herself in a fresh +print dress and ruffled apron and had compelled Willie to replace his +jumper with a suit of homespun and flatten his locks into water-soaked +rigidity. By the exchange both persons had lost a certain +picturesqueness which Bob could not but deplore. Nevertheless the fact +did not greatly matter, for it was not toward them that the capitalist +turned his glance. Instead his swiftly moving eyes traveled with one +sweep over the cobweb of strings that enmeshed the interior and without +regard for etiquette he blurted out: + +"Heavens! What's all this?" + +The remark, so genuine in its amazement, might under other conditions +have provoked resentment but now it merely raised a laugh. + +"I don't wonder you ask, sir," replied Willie, stepping forward +good-humoredly. "'Tain't a common sight, I'll admit. We get used to +it here an' think nothin' about it; but I reckon it must strike +outsiders as 'tarnal queer." + +"What are you trying to do?" queried the capitalist, still too much +interested to heed conventionalities. + +Simply and with artless naïvete Willie explained the significance of +the strings while the New Yorker listened, and as the old man told his +story it was apparent that Mr. Galbraith was not only amused but was +vastly interested. + +"I say, Mr. Spence, you should have been an inventor," he exclaimed, +when the tale was finished. + +He saw a wistful light come into the aged face. + +"I mean," he corrected hastily, "you should have a workshop with all +the trappings to help you carry out your schemes." + +"Oh, Mr. Spence has a workshop," Robert Morton interrupted. "The +nicest kind of a one." + +"Would you like to see it?" inquired Willie. + +"I should, very much." + +"I'm afraid it's no place to take you, sir," objected Celestina, +horrified at the suggestion. "It ain't been swept out since the +deluge. Willie won't have it cleaned. He says he'd never be able to +find anything again if it was." + +Mr. Galbraith laughed. + +"Workshops do not need cleaning, do they, Mr. Spence?" said he. "I +remember the chaos my father's tool-house always was in; it never was +in order and we all liked it the better because it wasn't." + +Celestina sighed and turned away. + +"Ain't it just the irony of fate," murmured she to Bob, "that after +slickin' up every room in the house so'st it would be presentable, +Willie should tow them folks from New York out into the woodshed? I +might 'a' saved myself the trouble." + +Robert Morton slipped a comforting arm round her ample waist. + +"Never you mind, Aunt Tiny," he whispered. "The Galbraiths have rooms +enough of their own to look at; but they haven't a workshop like +Willie's." + +He patted her arm sympathetically and then, giving her a reassuring +little squeeze to console her, followed his guests. + +It had not crossed his mind until he went in pursuit of them that if +they visited the shop they must perforce be brought face to face with +Willie's latest invention still in its embryo state; and it was evident +that in the pride of entertaining such distinguished strangers the +little old man had also forgotten it, for as Bob entered he caught +sight of him fumbling awkwardly with a piece of sailcloth snatched up +in a hurried attempt to conceal from view this last child of his +genius. He had not been quick enough, however, to elude the +capitalist's sharp scrutiny, and before he could prevent discovery the +eager eyes had lighted on the unfinished model on the bench. + +"What are you up to here?" demanded Richard Galbraith. + +There was no help for it. Willie never juggled with the truth, and +even if he had been accustomed to do so it would have taken a quicker +witted charlatan than he to evade such an alert questioner. Therefore +in another moment he had launched forth on a full exposition of the +latest notion that had laid hold upon his fancy. + +Mr. Galbraith listened until the gentle drawling voice had ceased. + +"By Jove!" he ejaculated. "You've got an idea here. Did you know it?" + +The inventor smiled. + +"Bob an' I kinder thought we had," returned he modestly. + +"Bob is helping you?" + +"Oh, I'm only putting in an oar," the young man hastened to say. "The +plan was entirely Mr. Spence's. I am simply working out some of the +details." + +"Bob knows a good deal more about boats than perhaps he'll own," Mr. +Galbraith asserted to Willie. "I fancy you've found that out already. +You are fortunate to have his aid." + +"Almighty fortunate," Willie agreed; then, glancing narrowly at his +visitor, he added: "Then you think there's some likelihood that a +scheme such as this might work. 'Tain't a plumb crazy notion?" + +"Not a bit of it. It isn't crazy at all. On the contrary, it should +be perfectly workable, and if it proved so, there would be a mine of +money in it." + +"You don't say!" + +It was plain that the comment contained less enthusiasm for the +prospective fortune than for the indorsement of the idea. + +The New Yorker, however, said nothing more about the invention. He +browsed about the shop with unfeigned pleasure, poking in among the +cans of paint, oil, and varnish, rattling the nails in the dingy +cigar-boxes, and examining the tools and myriad primitive devices +Willie had contrived to aid him in his work. + +"I was brought up in a shop like this," he at length exclaimed, "and I +haven't been inside such a place since. It carries me back to my +boyhood." + +A strangely softened mood possessed him, and when at last he stepped +out on the grass he lingered a moment beneath the arch of grapevine and +looked back into the low, sun-flecked interior of the shop as if loath +to leave it. + +"I am glad to have seen you, Mr. Spence," he said, "and Miss Morton, +too. Bob couldn't be in a pleasanter spot than this. I hope sometime +you will let me come over again and visit you while we are in +Belleport." + +"Sartain, sartain, sir!" cried Willie with delight. "Tiny an' me would +admire to have you come whenever the cravin' strikes you. We're +almighty fond of Bob, an' any friends of his will always be welcome." + +The little old man went with them to the car and loitered to watch them +roll away. + +"You'll see me back to-night," called Bob from the front seat. + +"Not to-night, to-morrow," Roger corrected laughingly. + +"Well, to-morrow then," smiled the young man. + +The engine pulsed, there was a quick throb of energy, and off they +sped. Almost without a sound the motor shot along the sand of the +Harbor Road and whirled into the pine-shaded thoroughfare that led +toward Belleport. + +"A fine old fellow that!" mused Mr. Galbraith aloud. "What a pity he +could not have had his chance in life." + +Bob nodded. + +"I suppose he hasn't a cent to carry out any of these schemes of his." + +"No, I am afraid he hasn't." + +The financier lit a cigar and puffed at it in thoughtful silence. + +"That motor-boat idea of his now--why, if it could be perfected and +boomed properly, it would make his fortune." + +"Do you think so?" + +"I know it." + +Again the humming of the engine was the only sound. + +"Do you know, Bob, I've half a mind to get Snelling down here and set +him to work at that job. What should you say?" + +"Snelling? You mean the expert from your ship-building plant?" + +"Yes. Wouldn't it be a good plan?" + +Robert Morton hesitated. + +"There is no question that a man of Mr. Snelling's ability would be a +tremendous asset in handling such a proposition," he agreed cautiously. + +"Snelling could drop in as if to see you," went on the capitalist. +"You could fix up all that so there would not be any need of the old +fellow suspecting who he was. Once there he could pitch in and help +the scheme along. It is going to be quite an undertaking before you +get through with it, and the more hands there are to carry it out, the +better, in my opinion." + +"Yes, it is going to be much more of a job than I realized at first," +Bob admitted. "It certainly would be a great help to have Mr. +Snelling's aid. But could you spare him? And would he want to come +and duff in on this sort of an enterprise?" + +"If I telegraphed Snelling to come he would come; and when here he +would do whatever he was told," replied Mr. Galbraith, bringing his +lips sharply together. + +"It's very kind of you!" + +"Pooh! the idea amuses me. I'll provide any materials you may need, +too. Snelling shall have an order to that effect so that he can call +on the Long Island plant for anything he wants." + +"That will be splendid, Mr. Galbraith; but where do you come in?" + +"I'll have my fun, never you fear," returned the capitalist. "In the +first place I'd like nothing better than to do that little old fellow a +good turn. There is something pathetic about him. Sometimes it is +hard to believe that life gives everybody a square deal, isn't it? +That man, for instance. He has the brain and the creative impulse, but +he has been cheated of his opportunity. I should enjoy giving him a +boost. Occasionally I fling away a small sum on a whim that catches my +fancy; now its German marks, now an abandoned farm. This time it shall +be Mr. Willie Spence and his motor-boat idee." + +He laughed. + +"I appreciate it tremendously," Bob said. + +"There, there, we won't speak of it any more," the elder man protested, +cutting him short. "I will telegraph Snelling and you may arrange the +rest. The old inventor isn't to suspect a thing--remember." + +"No, sir." + +"That is all, then." + +With a finality Robert Morton dared not transgress, the older man +lapsed into silence and Bob had no choice but to suppress his gratitude +and resign himself to listening to the rhythmic beat of the +automobile's great engine. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE GALBRAITH HOUSEHOLD + +The estate the Galbraiths had leased stood baldly upon a rise +overlooking the sea in the midst of the fashionable colony adjacent to +Wilton, and was one of those blots which the city luxury-lover affixes +to a community whose keynote is simplicity. Its expanse of veranda, +its fluttering green and white awnings, its giant tubs of blossoming +hydrangeas, to say nothing of its Italian garden with rose-laden +pergolas, were as out of place as if Saint Peter's itself had been +dropped down into a tiny New England fishing hamlet. + +The house, it is true, did not lack beauty, for it was well +proportioned and gracefully planned, and there was no denying that one +found, perhaps, more comfort on its screened and shaded piazzas than +was to be enjoyed on Willie Spence's unprotected doorstep. +Nevertheless, there was too much of everything about it: too many +rambler roses, too many rustic baskets and mighty palms; too many urns, +and stone benches, and sundials and fountains. Still, as the car +stopped at the door, the great wicker chairs with their scarlet +cushions presented a gay picture and so, too, did Mrs. Galbraith and +Cynthia who immediately rose from a breezy corner and came forward. + +The older woman was tall and handsome and in her youth must have +possessed great beauty; even now she carried with a spoiled air almost +girlish the costly gowns and jewels that her husband, proud of her +looks, lavished upon her. She had a languid grace very fascinating in +its indifference and spoke with a pretty little accent that echoed of +the South. For all her attractiveness, Cynthia could not compare in +charm with her mother whose femininity lured all men toward her as does +a magnet steel. + +Bob leaped from the car almost before it had come to a stop and went to +her side, bending low over her heavily ringed hand. + +"We're so glad to see you, Bobbie!" she smiled. "The very nicest thing +that could have happened was to find you here." + +"It is indeed a delightful surprise for me," Robert Morton answered. +"How are you, Cynthia?" + +Cynthia, who was standing in the background, frowned. + +"You've been long enough getting here," declared she petulantly. +"Where on earth have you been? We decided you must have got stalled on +the road." + +"Oh, no," interrupted her father, coming up the steps. "We made the +run over and back without a particle of trouble. What delayed us was +that we stopped to visit with Bob's aunt and the old gentleman with +whom he is staying. Such a quaint character, Maida! You really should +see him. I had all I could do to tear myself away from the place." + +His wife raised her delicately penciled brows. + +"We do not often see you so enthusiastic, Richard." + +"They are charming people, I assure you. I don't wonder Bob prefers +staying over there to coming here," chuckled the financier. + +"Oh, I say, Mr. Galbraith--" began Bob; but his host interrupted him. + +"That is a rather rough accusation, isn't it?" declared he, "and it's +not quite fair, either. To tell the truth, Bob's deep in some +important work." + +There was a light, scornful laugh from Cynthia. + +"He is, my lady. You needn't be so incredulous," her brother put in. +"Bob is busy with a boat-building project. Dad's got interested in it, +too." + +Cynthia pursed her lips with a little grimace. + +"Ask him if you don't believe it," persisted Roger. + +"Yes," went on Mr. Galbraith, "that old chap over at Wilton has an idea +that may make all our fortunes, Bob's included." + +There was a general laugh. + +"Well," pouted Cynthia, glancing down at the toe of her immaculate +buckskin shoe, "I call it very tiresome for Bob to have to work all his +vacation." + +"I don't have to," Robert Morton objected. "I am simply doing it for +fun. Can't you understand the sport of--" + +"No, she can't," her brother asserted. "Cynthia never sees any fun in +working." + +"Roger!" Mrs. Galbraith drawled gently. + +"Well, I don't like to work," owned the girl with delicious audacity. +"I detest it. Why should I pretend to like it when I don't?" + +"Cynthia is one of the lilies of the field; she's just made for +ornament," called Roger over his shoulder as he passed into the house. + +"There is something in being ornamental, isn't there, daughter?" said +Mr. Galbraith, dropping into a chair and lighting a fresh cigar. + +She was decorative, there was no mistake about that. The skirt of +heavy white satin clung to her slight figure in faultless lines, and +her sweater of a rose shade was no more lovely in tint than was the +faint flush in her cheeks. Every hair of the elaborate coiffure had +been coaxed skilfully into place by a hand that understood the cunning, +and wherever nature had been guilty of an oversight art had supplied +the defect. Yes, Cynthia Galbraith was quite a perfect product, +thought Bob, as he surveyed her there beneath the awning. + +"I thought Madam Lee was here," the young man presently remarked, as he +glanced about. + +Mrs. Galbraith's face clouded. + +"Mother is not well to-day," she answered. "Careful as we are of her +she has in some way taken cold. She is not really ill, but we thought +it wise for her to keep her room. She is heartbroken not to be +downstairs and I promised that after she had had her luncheon and nap +you would go up and see her." + +"Surely!" Robert Morton cried emphatically. + +"Mother is so devoted to you, Bobbie," went on Mrs. Galbraith. +"Sometimes I think she cares much more for you than she does for her +own grandchildren." + +"Nonsense! Of course she doesn't." + +"I'm not so certain," laughed the elder woman lightly. "You know she +is tremendously strong in her likes and dislikes. All the Lees are. +We're a headstrong family where our affections are concerned. You, +Bob, are the apple of her eye." + +"She has always been mighty kind to me," the young man affirmed +soberly. "I never saw my own grandmothers; both of them died before I +came into the world. So, you see, if it were not for borrowing Roger's +and Cynthia's, I should be quite bereft." + +The party rose and moved through the cool hall into the dining room. + +A delicious luncheon, perfectly served by a velvet-footed maid and the +old colored butler, followed, and there was a great deal of +conversation, a great deal of reminiscing and a great deal of laughter. + +Cynthia complained that the claret cup was too sweet and that the ices +were not frozen enough and had much to say of the ice cream at +Maillard's. + +"But you are far from Maillard's now, my dear," her mother remarked, +"and you must make the best of things." + +"Being on Cape Cod you are almighty lucky to get any ice cream at all," +announced Roger with brotherly zest. + +"Roger, why will you tease your sister so? You hector Cynthia every +moment you are in the house." + +"Oh, she knows I don't mean it," grinned Roger. "I just have to take +the starch out of her now and then, don't I, Cynthia Ann?" + +"Roger!" fretted his sister. "I wish you wouldn't call me Cynthia +_Ann_! I can't imagine why you've taken to doing so lately." + +"Chiefly because you do not like it, my dear," was the retort. "If I +were not so sure of getting a rise out of you every time, perhaps I +might be tempted to stop." + +"You children quarrel like a pair of apes," Mr. Galbraith said. "If I +did not know that underneath you were perfectly devoted to each other, +I should be worried to death about you." + +"You needn't waste any worry on Cynthia Ann and me, Dad," Roger +declared. "Bad as she is, she's the best sister I've got, and I rather +like her in spite of her faults." + +A smile passed between the two. + +"You've some faults of your own, remember," observed the girl, with a +grimace. + +"Not a one, mademoiselle, not a one! I swear it," was the instant +retort. "Coming into the family first, I picked the cream of the Lee +and Galbraith qualities and gave you what was left." + +"I command you two to stop your bickering," Mr. Galbraith said at last. +"You are wasting the whole luncheon, squabbling. You'd much better be +deciding what you are going to do with Bob for the rest of the day." + +"I thought I'd take him out in the knockabout," Roger suggested. "That +is, if he would like to go. The tide will be just right and there is a +fine breeze." + +"You may take him if you will get him home at tea time," Mrs. Galbraith +said. "Your grandmother has set her heart on seeing him this afternoon +and you know she retires soon after dinner." + +"You wouldn't have any time to sail at all, Roger," put in Cynthia. +"Especially if you should get stuck on a bar as you did the other day." + +"We should have two hours." + +"Why don't you take the launch, Roger?" his mother inquired. + +"And get snagged in the eel grass--not on your life!" + +"Bob and Mr. Spence are going to do away with all that eel grass, you +know," called his father, sauntering out of doors. + +"I'll wait until they do, then," was the grim retort. + +"I should think Bob would a great deal rather go for a motor-ride," +Cynthia ventured, her eyes fixed impersonally on the landscape. + +"I suppose you'd like to cart him off in your car." + +"It doesn't make any difference whose car he goes in, does it?" + +"Well, ra--_ther_! If he goes in yours there's no room for me; if he +goes in mine there is no room for you. That's the difference." + +"Children, do stop tearing Bob to fragments," lisped Mrs. Galbraith +with some amusement. "If you keep on pulling him to pieces he won't go +anywhere. Now Roger, you take Bob sailing and have a good visit with +him, and bring him back so he can have tea with your grandmother at +five; this evening the rest of us will have our chance to see him." + +She did not look at Cynthia, but with a woman's forethought she +remembered that the verandas were roomy and that the moon was full soon +after dinner. Cynthia remembered it too and smiled. + +"Yes, go ahead, Roger," she called. "Take Bob round the bay. It is a +lovely sail and as he hasn't been here before he will enjoy it." + + * * * * * * + +It was only a little past five when the two young men returned, a glow +of health and pleasure on their faces. + +"Now, Bobbie, do make haste," Mrs. Galbraith said, coming to meet him. +"Mother's tea has already gone up, and you know how she detests +waiting. Her maid is there in the hall to show you the way. Hurry +along, dear boy." + +Robert Morton needed no second bidding and at once followed the +middle-aged English woman up the staircase and into a small, +chintz-hung sitting room that looked out on the sea. + +At the farther end of it, seated before a low tea table, was a stately, +white-haired lady, very erect, very handsome and very elegantly dressed +in a gown of soft black material. At the neck, which was turned away, +she wore a fichu of filmy lace tinted by time to a creamy tone and held +in place by an old-fashioned medallion of seed pearls. White ruffles +at the wrists drooped over her delicately veined hands and showed only +the occasional flash of a ring and her perfectly manicured finger tips. +Summer or winter, fair weather or foul, Madam Lee never varied this +costume, and it seemed to possess some measure of its owner's eternal +youth, for it was always fresh and its lustrous folds always swept the +ground in the same dignified fashion. Indeed for those who knew Madam +Lee to think of her in any other guise would have been impossible. Her +silvered hair was parted and rippled over her forehead to her ears +where it was slightly puffed and caught back with combs of shell, and +from beneath it two little black eyes peered out with a bird's +alertness of gaze. Although age had claimed her strength, it was +evident from the woman's vivacious expression that she had lost none of +her interest in life and as she now sat before the silver-laden tea +table there was a girlish anticipation in her eager pose. + +"Ah, you scamp!" cried she, when she heard her visitor's footstep in +the upper hall, "I have been waiting for you a full five minutes. I +don't wait for every one, I would have you know. Come here and give an +account of yourself." + +The young man bent and softly touched her cheek with his lips. + +She put out her hand and let it linger affectionately in his as he +dropped into the chair beside her. + +"I can't begin to tell you how glad I am to see you, Bob," she went on, +in a voice soft and exquisitely modulated. "We had no idea you were on +the Cape. But for that jeweler's stupidity we should have thought you +had gone west long ago. Considering what good friends you and Roger +are, you are the worst of correspondents; and you never write to me." + +"I know it," owned Robert Morton with disarming honesty. "It's beastly +of me." + +"No, dear. On the contrary it is very like a man," contradicted Madam +Lee with a pretty little laugh. "However, I am not going to scold you +about it now. I have seen too many men in my day. First let me pour +your tea. Then you shall tell me all that you have been doing. I hear +you are visiting a new aunt whom you have just unearthed." + +"Yes." + +"How do you like her?" + +Bob chuckled at the characteristic directness of the question. + +"Very much indeed." + +"That's nice. Since relatives are not of our choosing, it is pleasant +to find they are not bores." + +Again the young man smiled. + +"And this old gentleman for whom she keeps house--what of him?" + +It was plain Madam Lee had all the facts well in mind. + +As best he could Bob sketched Willie in a few swift strokes. + +"Humph! An interesting old fellow. I should like to see him," +declared Madam Lee when the narrative was done. "And so you are +working on this motor-boat with him?" + +"Yes." + +"How long have you been here?" + +"Ten days." + +"And when do you go back to your family?" + +"I don't quite know," hesitated the big fellow. "There is still a +great deal to do on this invention we are working at." + +His companion eyed him shrewdly. + +"And the girl--where does she live?" she asked, reaching for Bob's cup. + +He colored with surprise. + +"The girl?" he repeated, disconcerted. + +"Of course there is a girl," went on the woman. + +"What makes you think so?" + +"Oh, Bob, Bob! Isn't there always a girl on every young man's horizon?" + +"I suppose so--generally speaking," he confessed with a laugh. + +"Suppose we abandon the abstract term and come down to this girl in +particular," his interrogator said. + +"Why are you so sure there is one?" he hedged teasingly. + +"My dear boy, how absurd of you!" returned the sharp-eyed old lady with +a twinkle of merriment. "In the first place, all the motor-boats in +the world couldn't keep a young man like you chained up indefinitely in +a sleepy little Cape Cod village. Besides, Cynthia told me." + +"Cynthia? She doesn't know anything about it." + +"That is precisely how I knew," piped Madam Lee triumphantly. + +"What did she tell you?" + +"She did not tell me anything," was the reply. "She simply came back +from Wilton in a wretched humor and when I inquired of her whether she +had her buckle back again, she answered with such spirit that there was +no mistaking its cause. Of course she had the wit to know you were not +wearing a belt of that pattern; nor your aunt nor Mr. Spence, either." + +"The belt and buckle belong to a girl--" + +"A girl! You surprise me," she murmured derisively. + +Robert Morton waited a moment, then, without heeding her mischievous +comment, added gravely: + +"A friend of Mr. Spence's." + +"I see." + +The old lady smoothed the satin folds of her gown thoughtfully before +she spoke, then continued with extreme gentleness: + +"Tell me all about her." + +"I couldn't do that," declared Robert Morton. "There aren't words +enough to give you any idea how lovely she is or how good." + +Nevertheless, because he had so eager and sympathetic a listener, he at +length began shyly to unfold the story of Delight Hathaway's strange +life. He told it reverently and with a lover's tenderness, touching on +the girl's tragic advent into the hamlet of Wilton, on her beauty, and +on her poverty. + +"What a romance!" exclaimed Madam Lee meditatively, when the tale was +done. "And they know nothing of the child's previous history?" + +"Next to nothing. The girl's mother died when she was born and the +little tot lived all her life aboard ship with her father." + +"Had neither the father nor mother any relatives?" + +"Apparently not. The mate of the ship said he had never heard the +Captain mention any." + +"Poor little waif! And these people who took her in have been kind to +her? She is fond of them?" + +"She adores them!" + +The old lady stirred her tea absently. + +"But, Bob dear, has the girl any education?" she inquired presently. + +"That is the miracle of it!" ejaculated he. "When she was small, one +of the summer residents, a Mrs. Farwell, who had a tutor for her son, +suggested the two children have their lessons together. As a +consequence the girl is a fine French scholar; has read broadly both +foreign and English literature; is familiar with ancient and modern +history and mathematics; and recently a professor from Harvard, who has +boarded summers with the family, has instructed her in the natural +sciences. She is much better educated than most of the society girls +I've met." + +"Than my granddaughter Cynthia, I dare say," was the quick comment. + +"Oh--eh--" + +"You need not try to be polite, Bob. I am not proud of Cynthia's +education," asserted Madam Lee. "For all her wealth and all her +opportunity to make herself accomplished she has never mastered one +thing. If she could even sew well or keep house I should rejoice. But +she can't. As for languages, music, art--bah! She is as ignorant as +if she had been brought up in a home in the slums. A thin society +veneer such as the typical fashionable boarding-school washes over the +outside and a little helter-skelter reading and travel is all Cynthia +has acquired. A real education entailed too much effort. So she is +what we see her,--a thoughtless, extravagant, pleasure-seeking +creature. She is a great disappointment to me, a great disappointment!" + +Robert Morton did not reply. + +"Come now, Bob. Why don't you agree with me?" + +"I am fond of Cynthia," said the young man in a low tone. + +"I know you are. Sometimes I have worried lest you were too fond of +her." + +There was no response. + +"Cynthia is not the wife for you, my dear boy, and never was. I am +older than you and I know life. Moreover, I love you very dearly. +Were you of my own blood I believe I could not care more deeply for you +than I do. It would break my heart to see you make a foolish +marriage--to see you married to a girl like Cynthia. You never would +be happy with her in the world. Why, it takes a small fortune even to +keep her contented. It is money, money, money, all the time. She +cares for little else, and unless a man kept her supplied with that +there would be no peace in the house." + +"Aren't you a little hard on her?" + +"Not too hard," came firmly from Madam Lee. "You think precisely as I +do, too, only you are too loyal and too chivalrous to own it." + +There was a pause broken only by the tinkle of the teacups. + +"No, Bob, you let Cynthia alone. She will get over it. And if you +have found the jewel that you think you have, be brave enough to assert +your freedom and marry her. You are not pledged to Cynthia," went on +the musical voice. "Just because you two chanced to grow up together +there is no reason any one should assume that the affair is settled. I +suppose you are afraid of disappointing the family. Then there is your +friendship for Roger--that worries you too. And of course there is +Cynthia herself! Being a gentleman you shrink from tossing a girl's +heart back into her lap. Isn't it so?" + +"To some extent, yes." + +"Would it help matters, do you think, for you to marry Cynthia if you +did not love her?" + +"But I care a lot for her." + +"Not as you do for this other girl," said the shrewd old lady, with +eyes fixed intently on his face. + +"Oh, no!" was the instant reply. + +"Then, as I said before, you much better let Cynthia alone," declared +Madam Lee emphatically. "At her age disappointments are not fatal, and +she will probably live to thank you for it. In any case it is better +to blight one life than three." + +Robert stared moodily down at the floor. + +"This other girl is attractive, you say." + +"She is very beautiful." + +"You don't say so!" was the incredulous rejoinder. + +"But she really is--she is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." + +"And she has all these other virtues as well?" + +She took the teacup from his passive hand and set it on the table. + +"I want to see her and judge for myself," affirmed she. "I know +something of beauty--and of girls, too. Why don't you bring her over +here?" + +"_Here_?" + +"Why not?" + +"But--but--it would look so strange, so pointed," gasped the young man. +"You see she doesn't even guess yet that I--" + +He heard a low, infectious laugh. + +"She knew it, you goose, from the first moment you looked at her," +cried the old lady, "or she isn't the girl I think her. What do you +imagine we women are--blind?" + +"No, of course not," Robert Morton said, joining in the laugh. "What I +meant was that I never had said anything that would--" + +"You wouldn't need to, dear boy." His hostess put a hand caressingly +on his arm. "All you would have to do would be to look as foolish as +you do now, and she would understand just as I did." Then, resuming a +more serious manner, she continued: "It is a perfectly simple matter +for you to bring one friend to meet another, isn't it? Tell the girl I +have heard her story and have become interested in her. She will +overlook an old lady's whims and be quite willing enough to come, I'm +sure, if you wish it." + +"I should like to have her meet you," admitted Bob, with a blush. + +"You mean you would like me to meet her," answered Madam Lee, with a +confiding pat on his arm. "It is sweet of you, Bob, whichever way you +put it. And after I have met the charmer you shall know exactly what I +think of her, too. Then if you marry her against my judgment, you will +have only yourself to thank for the consequences. Now leave it all to +me. I will arrange everything. In a day or two I will send the car +over to Wilton to fetch you, your aunt, Mr. Spence and this Miss--what +did you say her name was?" + +"Hathaway." + +"Hathaway! _Hathaway_!" echoed Madam Lee in an unsteady voice. + +"Yes. Why?" + +"Oh, nothing," quavered the old lady, making a tremulous attempt to +regain her poise. "Only it is not a common name. I--I--knew a +Hathaway once--very long ago--in the South." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +ROBERT MORTON MAKES A RESOLVE + +Robert Morton returned from Belleport in a mood bordering on ecstasy, +his path now clear before him. He would woo Delight Hathaway and win +her, and with a strong mutual love and hope they would set forth in +life together. He had, to be sure, no capital but his youth, his +strength, and his education, but he did not shrink from hard work and +felt certain that he would be able not only to keep want in abeyance +but place happiness within the reach of the woman he loved. + +Until Madam Lee, with her keen-visioned knowledge of human nature, had +ranged in perspective all the tangled circumstances that had so +insidiously woven themselves about him, he had been unable to see his +way. The fetters that held him were so delicate and intangible that +with an exaggerated sense of honor he had magnified them into bonds of +steel, never daring to believe that they might be snapped and leave no +scar. But now the facts stood lucidly forth. There was no actual +engagement between himself and Cynthia, nor had there ever been any +talk of one. He simply had been thrown constantly into her society and +had drifted, at first thoughtlessly and afterward indifferently, until +there had been created not only in the mind of the girl but also in the +minds of all her family a tacit expectation that ultimately their +permanent union would be consummated. + +From the Galbraiths' point of view such a marriage would have been a +very gratifying one, for although Robert Morton was without money, in +his sterling character and his potentalities for success they had every +faith. A span of years of intimacy had tested his worth, and had this +not been the case his friendship with Roger had proved the tough fiber +of his manliness. Of all their son's college acquaintances there was +none who had been welcomed into the Galbraith home with the cordiality +that had greeted Robert Morton. At first they had received him +graciously for their boy's sake, but later this initial sufferance had +been supplanted by an affectionate regard existing purely because of +his own merits. They had loaded him with favors, pressed their +hospitality upon him, and but for a certain pride and independence that +restrained them would have smoothed his financial difficulties with the +same lavishness they had those of their son. + +Many a time Mr. Galbraith, unable to endure the sight of Bob's rigid +self-denial, had delicately hinted at assistance, only to have the +offer as delicately declined. It hurt and piqued the financier to be +so firmly kept at a distance and be obliged to witness privations which +a small gift of money might have alleviated; moreover he liked his own +way and did not enjoy being balked in it by a schoolboy. Yet beneath +his irritation he paid tribute to the self-respecting determination +that had prompted the rebuff. The world in which he moved held few men +of such ideals. Rather he had repeatedly been courted by the grafter, +the promoter, the social climber, each beneath a thinly disguised +friendship working for his own selfish ends. But here at last was the +novel phenomena of one who scorned pelf, who would not even allow his +gratitude to be bought. The sight was refreshing. It rejuvenated the +New Yorker's jaded belief in human nature. + +Forced to withdraw his bounty, he had sat back and watched while the +academic career of the two young men wore on and at its close had seen +the roads of the classmates divide, his own boy entering the law +school, while Robert Morton, whose mind had always been of scientific +trend, enrolled at Technology, there to take up post-graduate work in +naval architecture. The choice of this subject reflected largely the +capitalist's influence, for his own great fortune had been amassed in +an extensive shipbuilding enterprise in which he saw the opportunity of +placing advantageously a young man of Robert Morton's exceptional +ability. The promised position was a variety of favor that Bob, proud +though he was, saw no reason for declining. The opening, to be sure, +would be his as a consequence of Mr. Galbraith's kindness, but the +retention of the position would rest on his personal worth and hard +work, a very satisfactory condition to one who demanded that he remain +captain of his soul. Hence he had deliberately trained for the post +and it was understood that the following October he would assume it. +It was a flattering beginning for a novice, the salary guaranteed being +generous and the chances for advancement alluring. Nor did the great +man who had founded the business conceal from the ambitious neophyte +that later he might be called upon to fill the niche left vacant by +Roger's flight into professional life. + +Such was the nicety with which Robert Morton had been dovetailed into +the Galbraith plans, his welcome in every direction assured him. And +now here he stood confronted by the probable overthrow of the whole +delicately balanced structure. If he did not marry Cynthia and +selected instead another bride, he risked forfeiting the regard of +those who had become dear to him, imperilling his friendship with +Roger, and sacrificing the brilliant and gratifying future for which he +had so patiently labored. Never again, he knew beyond a question, +would such an opportunity come within his grasp. He would be obliged +to start out unheralded and painfully fight his way to recognition. +That recognition would be his he did not doubt, for he never yet had +failed in that to which he had set his hand. But, alas, the weary +years before he would be able to make a hurrying universe sense that he +was alive! He knew what struggle meant when stripped of its illusions, +for had he not toiled for his education in the sweat of his brow? The +triumph of the achievement had been sweet, but for the moment the +courage to resume the weary, up-hill plodding deserted him. Why, it +would be years before he could marry a girl who was accustomed to even +as few luxuries as was Delight Hathaway! + +And suppose a miracle happened and Mr. Galbraith was large-minded +enough still to hold out to him the former offer? Should he wish to +accept it? Would it not be almost charity? No, if he refused +Cynthia's hand--and that was what, in bald terms, it would amount +to--he must decline the other favor as well and be independent of the +Galbraiths for good and all. Otherwise his position would be +unendurable. It was an odious situation, the one in which he found +himself. Only a cad cast a woman's heart back at her feet. The +unchivalrousness of the act grated upon every fiber of his sensitively +attuned, high-minded nature. Yet, as Madam Lee had reminded him, +would he not be doing Cynthia a greater injustice if he married her +without love. Friendship and brotherly affection were all he could +honestly bestow, and although these he gave with all sincerity, as he +now examined his heart in the light of the revelations real love had +brought, he realized that beyond their confines existed a realm into +which Cynthia Galbraith, fair though she was, had never set foot. No +woman had crossed that magic threshold until now, when her presence +stirred all the blended emotions of his manhood. Humility, tenderness, +reverence possessed him; self descended from its throne of egoism and +yielded its scepter to another; the hot blood of the primitive, untamed +Viking raced in his veins. Soul, mind, heart, body were all awakened. +He was a dolt who confused genuine passion with the milder preferences +of callow youth. + +Delight Hathaway was his mate, created for him before the hills in +order stood. It was as inevitable that they should come together as +that the river should sweep out to meet the sea, or the lily open to +the kiss of the sunlight. All that this woman was in purity, in +graciousness of heart, in brilliancy of intellect he loved, adored, +approved; all that she was in physical beauty he reverenced and +coveted. Her lot had been strangely cast and the scope of it limited +to a very narrow vista. Oh, for success to place at her feet the +riches of the earth! With such a goal to lure one on what was toil! +Faugh! He laughed aloud at the word. + +Madam Lee, with her unerring intuition, had probed his heart and read +his destiny aright. + +His future lay not with this pampered daughter of a great house whose +selfishness he had repeatedly excused and refused to recognize; nor +would he purchase worldly prosperity at the price of his soul. Casting +aside the easier way, he would follow the rough path that mounted +upward to the star of his desire. Before the waning of another moon +both of these women who had come into his world should know his +intentions and have the opportunity to accept or reject that which he +had to offer them. He hoped Cynthia would understand and forgive; he +was fond of Cynthia. And he hoped, prayed, implored Heaven that +Delight Hathaway would not turn a deaf ear to his entreaties, for +without the prize on which his hopes were set life's race would not be +worth the running. + +Well, he would not allow the thought of failure any place in his mind. +Victory should be his--it would be, _must_ be! See how all the world +smiled on the vow he registered. The sky had never stretched more +cloudlessly above his head; the air had never been sweeter, the dancing +ripples of the bay gladder in their golden scintillations. The whole +universe throbbed with youth and its dauntless supremacy. Something +told him he would conquer and with a high heart he alighted at the door +of the dear, familiar gray cottage. + +Willie came to meet him. + +"Well, son," said he, reaching forth his hands, "If I ain't glad to see +you flitting home again! I've missed you like as if the two days was +two weeks. I reckon your aunt has, too. Anyhow, she took to her bed +quick as you was out of sight an' ain't been seen since." + +"Aunt Tiny ill!" + +"No, not sick exactly," explained Willie, as arm in arm they proceeded +up the walk. "She's just struck of a heap with a lame shoulder such as +she has sometimes. She can't move a peg, poor soul!" + +"Great Scott! That's hard luck! Then since you're short-handed, I +shall be more bother than I'm worth round here. I'd better have stayed +where I was. You won't want any extra people to look out for and feed +now, I fancy." + +"Oh, law, I ain't doin' the cookin'!" grinned the little inventor, as +if the bare notion of such a thing amused him vastly. "Why, I could no +more cook a dish that was fit to eat than a mariner could run a pink +tea. I'd die of starvation if the victuals was left to me. Let alone +the cookin', we'd 'a' had to have help anyhow, 'cause Tiny's too +miserable to do much for herself. So we've got in one of the +neighbors." + +"It's a shame!" + +"Oh, we'll pull through alive," smiled Willie, cheerfully. "We've +piloted our way through many a worse channel. This spell of Tiny's +ain't nothin' she's goin' to die of, thank the Lord! She takes cold +sudden sometimes, an' it always makes straight for that shoulder of +hers, stiffenin' up every muscle in it. She'll admire to see you home +again, I know. The sight of you will probably make her better right +away. You can run up to her room now if you choose to. I'll be round +in the shop when you want me." + +With a beaming countenance the old man turned away. + +Robert Morton opened the screen door diffidently, speculating as to +whom he would confront in the kitchen; then he stopped, arrested on the +doorsill. + +At the wooden table near the pantry window stood Delight Hathaway, her +sleeves rolled to the elbow, and her slender figure enveloped in a +voluminous gingham pinafore that covered her from chin to ankle and was +tied in place at the back by a pert bow. She was sifting flour into a +mammoth yellow bowl, and as she stirred the mixture the sweep of her +round white arm brought a flood of color into her cheeks and wreathed +her brow with tiny, damp ringlets. + +Bob held his breath, hungrily devouring her with his eyes, but a quick +breeze brought the door to with a bang and the girl glanced over her +shoulder. + +"All hail!" she cried, the dimple darting out of hiding with her smile. +"You have a new cook, monsieur." + +"My word!" was all the young man could stammer. + +"Is it as bad as all that?" she laughed. + +"No--but--Great Hat--this is--is awful, you know." + +"What is awful?" returned she, turning to face him. + +"Why, having you come here and cook for us two men." + +"Oh, I'm always cooking for somebody," was the matter-of-fact retort. +"Why not you?" + +"Well, it makes me feel like a--it doesn't seem right, somehow." + +"It's as right as possible. I rather like it," said she, darting him a +roguish look, then bending over the bowl before her. + +"Well, you must let me help you, anyway. Can't I--I butter something?" + +"Butter something!" + +"Yes, things are always having to be buttered, aren't they--pans, and +dishes, and cups--" he paused vaguely. + +Her laugh echoed like a chime of miniature bells. + +"I am sorry to say the pan is already buttered," replied she. "What +other accomplishments have you?" + +"Oh, I can do anything I am told," came eagerly from Bob. + +"That's something, anyway. Then fetch me some flour, please." + +"Flour?" + +"It's in the barrel. No, that's the sugar bowl. The barrel under the +shelf." + +"The barrel! To be sure. Barrel ahoy! How could I have mistaken its +sylph-like form? How much flour do you want?" + +"Just a little." + +She passed the sieve to him and went to inspect the oven. + +Bob caught up the sifter, filled it to the brim, and came toward her, +turning the handle as he approached. + +"I say, this is great, isn't it?" he observed, so intent on the +mechanism of the device that he did not notice the track of whiteness +which he was leaving behind him. "It is like winding up a victrola." + +Whistling a random strain from _Faust_ he turned the handle faster. + +"Oh, Bob!" burst out Delight. "Look what you're doing." + +Obediently he looked but did not comprehend. Her slip of the tongue +had banished every other idea from his mind. + +"Say it again, please." + +"What?" + +"Say _Bob_ again as you did just now." + +"I--didn't know I did," faltered the girl. "I--I--forgot." + +"Forgot." + +He dropped the sifter into the bowl and his hand closed firmly over the +one that now rested on its yellow rim. + +"Oh, see what you've done!" cried she. "You have spilled all that +flour into the cake." + +"No matter." His eyes were on hers. + +"But it does matter. Willie's cake will be spoiled." + +She tried vainly to draw away from the grip that imprisoned her. + +"Please let me go." + +He bent across the table until he could almost feel the blood beating +in her cheeks. + +"Say it once more," he pleaded. + +Again her hand fluttered in his strong grasp. + +"Please!" + +"Please what?" persisted Robert Morton. + +"Please--please--Bob," she murmured. + +He was at the other side of the table now, but she was no longer there. +Instead she stood at the screen door, shaking the flour from her apron. + +"Don't move!" she cried severely. "You've walked all through that +flour and are tracking it about every step you take. Look at the +pantry! I shall have to sweep it all up." + +"I'll do it," he answered with instant penitence. + +"No. You sit right down there in that chair and don't you stir. I +will go and get the dustpan and brush." + +"I'm awfully sorry," called Bob, plunged into the depths of despair. +"I didn't realize that when you turned the handle of the darn thing the +stuff went through." + +"What did you think a flour-sifter was for?" asked she, dimpling. + +"I wasn't thinking of flour-sifters," declared he significantly. + +He saw her blush. + +"Mayn't I please get up?" + +"No. Not until your shoes are brushed off," she replied provokingly. + +"Let me take the brush then." + +"Don't you see I am using it?" + +"You could let me take it a second." + +"I have been taught to complete one task before I began another," was +the tantalizing reply, as she went on with her sweeping. + +"The deuce!" + +"You must not swear in my presence," she commanded, attempting to +conceal a smile. + +"Then stop dimpling that dimple." + +"Don't you like dimples?" inquired she demurely. "Now Billy Farwell +thinks that my dimples--" + +"Hang Billy Farwell!" + +"How rude of you! Billy never consigns you to such a fate." She +waited, then added, "All he ever says is '_Confound Morton_.'" + +"I thought he had more spirit," was the ungrateful rejoinder. + +"Oh, he has spirit enough," she explained. "He would say much more if +he were allowed." + +She saw Robert start forward. + +"Of course," she went on in an even tone, "I shouldn't permit him to +abuse a friend of Willie's." + +"Oh, that's the reason you put the check on him, is it?" + +"Aren't you Willie's friend?" she questioned evasively. + +"Yes, but--" + +"You don't seem to appreciate your luck. Now I adore Willie and +believe that any one who has his friendship is the most fortunate +person in the world." + +He saw a grave and tender light creep into her wonderful eyes. + +"I'm not arguing about Willie," said he. "You know how much I care for +him. But I can't think of him now. It's you I'm thinking +of--you--you." + +She did not answer but bent her head lower over her sweeping. + +"I don't believe there is any flour on my shoes, any way," grumbled the +culprit presently, stooping to examine his feet with the air of a +guilty child. He thought he heard her laugh. + +"How much longer are you going to keep me in this infernal chair?" he +fumed. + +"Bob!" called a voice from upstairs. + +"It's your aunt; she must have heard you come in." + +He sprang up only to come into collision with the dustpan full of flour +which lay near his chair. A second more and the fruits of the sweeping +drifted broadcast in a powdery cloud. + +"Delight! Dearest!" he cried, bending over the kneeling figure. + +"You must go upstairs and see your aunt--please!" she begged. "She +will think it so strange." + +"All right, sweetheart. I'm coming, Aunt Tiny." + +When Willie entered a few moments later in search of his co-laborer, +Delight was alone. He glanced questioningly about the room,--at the +girl's flushed cheeks, the half-made cake, the snowy floor. + +"Bob--Mr. Morton spilled some flour," the young woman explained, +evading his eye. + +The little old man made no response. He studied the burning face, the +drooping lashes; he also looked meditatively at some footprints on the +floor. They may not have been as startling in their significance as +were the famous marks Crusoe discovered in the sand, but they were +quite as illuminating. + +A trail of small ones led about the room and beside them, as if echoing +to their light tread, was a series of larger ones. The inventor's gaze +pursued them curiously to a spot before the stove where they became +very much confused and afterward branched apart, the larger set +trailing off toward the stairs, and the smaller moving back into the +pantry. + +The detective stroked his chin for an interval. + +"U--m!" observed he thoughtfully. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A NEWCOMER ENTERS + +The next day Mr. Howard Snelling made his appearance at the Spence +workshop. + +Bob was fitting wire netting to some metal uprights and struggling to +focus his mind on what he was doing enough to forget that Delight +Hathaway was on the other side of the partition when from the window +above the bench he saw Cynthia Galbraith come rolling up to the gate in +her runabout, accompanied by a strikingly handsome stranger. + +He hurried out to meet them. + +Her father and Roger, the girl said, had gone to a yacht race at +Hyannis, so she had brought Mr. Snelling over. She introduced the two +men but refused somewhat curtly to come in, explaining that she would +be back, or some one else would, to fetch the guest home to Belleport +for luncheon. Then, without a backward glance, she started the engine +and disappeared around the curve of the Harbor Road. + +Perhaps it was just as well, Robert Morton reflected, that she had not +accepted his invitation to come in, for to bring her and Delight +together at this delicate juncture might result in awkwardness; +nevertheless, it certainly was something unprecedented for Cynthia to +be so brusque and be in such a hurry. The enigma puzzled him, and he +found it recurring to his mind persistently. However, he resolutely +shook it off and turned his attention instead to his new acquaintance. + +He was, he could not but admit, quite unprepared to find Mr. Howard +Snelling, his future chief, possessed of so attractive a personality. +Mr. Galbraith, when alluding to the expert craftsman, had never +mentioned his age, and Bob had gleaned the impression that the man +before whose ability the entire Galbraith shipbuilding plant bowed down +was middle-aged, possibly even elderly. Therefore to be confronted by +some one in the early forties was a distinct shock. + +Snelling's hair was, to be sure, sprinkled lightly with gray, but this +hint of maturity was given the lie by his ruddy, unlined countenance +and the youthfulness with which he wore his clothes. A good tailor had +evidently found a model worthy of his skill and had tried to live up to +the task set him, for everything in the stranger's attitude and +appearance proclaimed smartness and the _savoir faire_ of the man about +town. Yet Howard Snelling was something far better than either a +fashion plate or a society darling. He was energy personified. It +spoke in every motion of his strong, fine hands, in the quick turn of +his head, in the alert attention with which he listened. Nothing +escaped his well-trained eye. One's very thoughts seemed to be at his +mercy. Mingling, however, with these more astute qualities and +counterbalancing them was a winning tact and courtesy which instantly +put another at his ease. Without these characteristics Mr. Snelling +would have been unbearable; but with them he was thoroughly charming. + +"Well, Morton, I am glad to have a chance to meet you in the flesh," he +said, as they still loitered at the gate. "The Galbraiths have sung +your praises until I began to think you a sort of myth. You certainly +have something to live up to if you are to reach the reputation they +have painted of your virtues. Mr. Galbraith, in particular, thinks +there is no obstacle that you cannot conquer." + +He swept his eye curiously over the young man before him. + +"You mustn't believe a word of what they've told you, Mr. Snelling," +laughed Robert Morton. "Our friends are always over-indulgent to our +faults. When I begin work under you, a thing I am greatly +anticipating, you will find out what a duffer I really am." + +The elder man smiled. + +"I'm ready to take the chance," said he. + +"Besides," Bob went on, "Mr. Galbraith has given you something of a +character too. He has frightened me clean out of my life with his +tales of your--" + +"Pooh! Nonsense!" broke in Mr. Snelling deprecatingly. "I like my +job, that's all; and Mr. Galbraith and I happen to hit it off." +Nevertheless Bob could see that he was pleased by the flattery. + +It was on his tongue's end to voice his thought and add that the man +who could not get on with a person of Mr. Snelling's adroitness and +diplomacy would be hard to please; but although he did not utter the +words he felt them to be true. + +"Now," began the New Yorker with a swift change of subject, "let us get +down to business. How are we going to work this thing? You must coach +me. I gather I am being employed on quite a delicate mission. My +instructions are to come in here as a friend of yours and the +Galbraiths, and without raising the suspicion that I have much of any +knowledge about boats, I am to help get this invention into workable +shape. Any parts we lack, any drawings we wish made, any materials we +need I have authority to procure from our Long Island plant. There is +to be no stint as to expense. The enterprise is to be carried through +to the finish properly." + +Robert Morton gasped. + +"I had no idea Mr. Galbraith meant to go into it to such lengths," he +murmured. + +"Oh, Mr. Galbraith never does things by halves when once he is +interested," was the reply. "Besides, he has a hunter's scent for the +commercial. He says there is a live idea here that has money in it, +and that's enough for him. Anyway, whether there is or not," Snelling +added hurriedly, "we are to humor the old gentleman's whims and get his +idea so he can handle it." + +"It is tremendously generous of Mr. Galbraith." + +Howard Snelling regarded his companion quizzically for a moment, then +remarked with gravity: + +"Oh, there is a kind heart in Mr. Galbraith, in spite of all his +business instincts." + +"Had you ever met the rest of the family before now?" questioned Bob +more with a desire to turn the channel of conversation than because he +had any interest in the matter. + +The inquiry, idly made, produced an unexpected result, visibly throwing +the expert out of his imperturbable composure; he flushed, stammered, +and bit his lip before he successfully conquered his confusion: + +"I--eh--oh, yes," was his reply. "I've been a dinner guest at the New +York house several times; been sent for on a pinch to help out. Then +Mr. Galbraith summons me there occasionally for consultation on +business matters. The Belleport place is attractive, isn't it?" + +"It's corking!" + +"I suppose you spend a lot of time over there," ventured Snelling, +lighting a gold-tipped Egyptian cigarette and offering Bob one. + +Something in the question, he could not have told what, caused Robert +Morton to dart a quick, furtive glance at the speaker. + +Mr. Snelling was smoking and blowing indifferently into the air filmy +rings of smoke, but through it the disconcerted young man encountered +his penetrating gaze. + +"I don't get over there very often," said Bob. "This invention keeps +me rather busy." + +"Of course, of course!" was the cordial response. "And now as to our +policy on this deal. I shall follow your lead, understand. Any +assertion you see fit to make you can trust me to swear to. You may +introduce me to the old chap as your college pal, even your long-lost +brother, if you choose." + +"I hardly think that will be necessary," Robert Morton answered, a hint +of coldness in his voice. "I shall simply introduce you for what you +are, Mr. Galbraith's friend--" + +"And yours," smiled Mr. Snelling, graciously placing a hand on the +young man's shoulder. + +It was unaccountable, absurd, that Bob should have shrunk at the touch; +nevertheless he did so. + +"Don't you think," he replied abruptly, "that the sooner we go in and +get to work the better? How long do you expect to be able to stay +here?" + +Again the color crept into Snelling's cheek, but this time he was quite +master of himself. + +"I cannot tell yet. It will depend to some extent on how we get on." + +"I suppose you really can't be spared from the Long Island plant a +great while." + +"As to that, Mr. Galbraith is all-powerful," was his smiling answer. +"What he wills must be arranged. Fortunately just now business is +running slack, at least my part of it is. Most of our contracts are +well on the way to completion and others can carry them out, so I can +stay down here as long as is necessary. It can go as my vacation, if +worst comes to worst. Hence you see," concluded he, pulling a spray of +honeysuckle to pieces, "we don't need to rush things." + +They entered the gate, passed the low, silvered house now almost buried +in blossoming roses, and following the clam-shell path that led to the +workshop found Willie, his spectacles pushed back from his forehead, +dragging a pile of new boards down from the shelf. + +"We have a visitor, Mr. Spence," Bob said. "Mr. Snelling, a friend of +Mr. Galbraith's and--" he paused the fraction of a second, "and of +mine. He has come over to spend the morning and wants to see what +we're doing." + +The little old inventor reached out a horny palm. + +"I'm glad to see you, sir," affirmed he simply. "Any friend of Bob's +won't want for a welcome here. Set right down an' make yourself to +home, or stand up an' poke found, if it suits you better. That's what +Mr. Galbraith did. I reckon there warn't a corner of this whole place +he didn't fish into. 'Twas amusin' to see him. He said it took him +back to the days when he was a boy. I couldn't but smile to watch him +fussin' with the plane an' saw an' hammer like as if they was old +friends he hadn't clapped eyes on for years." + +"It does feel good to handle tools when you haven't done so for a long +time," assented Mr. Snelling. + +"Likely you yourself, sir, ain't had a hammer nor nothin' in your hands +for quite a spell," went on Willie, with a benign smile. "They don't +look as if you ever had had." + +Howard Snelling glanced down at his slender, well-modelled hands with +their carefully manicured nails. + +"I haven't done much carpentry of late years," he confessed. "It would +be quite a novelty were I to be turned loose in a place like this. I +should like nothing better." + +"You don't say so!" responded Willie, with pleased surprise. "Well, +well! Ain't that queer now? I'd much sooner 'a' put you down as a +gentleman who wouldn't want to get into no dirt or clutter." + +"You don't know me." + +"Evidently not," the old man rejoined. "Well, you can have your wish +fur's carpenterin' goes. You can putter round here much as you like." + +Mr. Snelling moved toward the long workbench. + +"This is a neat thing," remarked he, regarding the unfinished invention +quite as if he had never heard of it before. "What are you doing here?" + +A glow of satisfaction spread over the little fellow's kindly face. + +"Why, me an' Bob," he explained, "are tinkerin' with a notion I got +into my head a while ago. The idee kitched me in the night, an' I come +downstairs an' commenced tacklin' it right away. But I didn't see my +course ahead, an' 'twarn't 'til Bob hove in sight an' lent a helpin' +hand that the contraption begun to take shape. But for him 'twould +never have amounted to a darn thing, I reckon. I ain't much on the +puttin' together, anyhow, an' this was such a whale of a scheme it had +me floored. But it didn't seem to strike Bob abeam. He went at it +like a dogfish for bait, an' he's beginnin' to tow the thing out of the +fog now into clear water." + +"It's quite a scheme," observed Snelling, with an assumed nonchalance. +"How did you happen on it?" + +"Them idees just come to me," was the ingenuous reply. "Some brains, +like some gardens, grow one thing, some another. Mine seems to turn +out stuff like this." + +"It's pretty good stuff." + +"It's a lot of bother to me sometimes," said the old man simply. +"Still, I enjoy it. I'd be badly off if it warn't for the thinkin' I +do. What a marvel thinkin' is, ain't it? You can think all sorts of +things; can travel in your mind to 'most every corner of the globe. +You can think yourself rich, think yourself poor, think yourself young, +think yourself happy. There's nothin' you want you can't think you +have, an' dreamin' about it is 'most as good as gettin' it." + +Mr. Snelling nodded. + +"Sometimes I think myself an artist, sometimes a musician," went on the +wistful voice. "Then again I think myself a great man an' doin' +somethin' worth while in the world. Then there's times I've thought +myself with a family of children an' planned how they should learn +mor'n ever I did." He mused, then banishing the seriousness of his +tone by an embarrassed laugh added, "I've waked up afterward to think +how much less it cost just to imagine 'em." + +The heart that would not have been won by the naïvete of the speaker +would have been stony indeed! + +Howard Snelling flashed a tribute of honest admiration into the gentle +old face. + +"Dreams are cheap things," rambled on the little inventor. "Sometimes +I figger the Lord gave 'em to those who didn't have much else, so'st to +make 'em think they are kings. If you can dream there ain't a thing in +all the world ain't yours." + +The conversation had furnished Snelling with the opportunity to study +more minutely the object on the table, and he now said with a motion of +his hand toward it: + +"Wouldn't it be rather nice if you had some netting of coarser mesh and +which wouldn't corrode?" + +"Oh, this screenin' ain't what I'd choose," returned Willie, "but 'twas +all I had. I ripped it off the front door. Tiny didn't fancy my doin' +it very well. 'Tain't often she's ruffled, an' even this time she +didn't say much; still, I could see it didn't altogether please her." + +"Tiny?" interpolated Mr. Snelling. + +"My aunt, Miss Morton, who keeps house for Mr. Spence," explained Bob +with proud directness. + +"I wasn't aware you had relatives down here," the boat-builder +observed, turning toward Robert Morton with interest. "I imagined you +came to the Cape because of the Galbraiths." + +"Oh, no. I didn't know the Galbraith's were here until the other day." + +"Really!" + +The single word was weighted with incredulousness. + +"'Twas the funniest thing you ever knew how it happened," put in Willie. + +Robert Morton tried to cut him short. + +"A package for the Galbraiths was sent to me by mistake; that was how I +secured their address," he said. + +Snelling looked puzzled. + +"That warn't it at all, Bob," persisted Willie. "You ain't tellin' it +half as queer as 'twas." + +It was useless to attempt to check the little old man now. Artlessly +he babbled the story, and Howard Snelling, listening, constructed a +good part of the romance interwoven with it from the young man's color +and irritation. + +"So there were two beauties in the case!" commented he, when the tale +was finished. + +"There were two silver buckles," came sharply from Bob. + +"Which amounts to the same thing," smiled the New Yorker. + +Robert Morton vouchsafed no reply. + +"Have your friends the Galbraiths met this--other lady?" asked Snelling +insinuatingly. + +"No, not yet." + +"I see." + +There was something offensive in the observation; something, too, that +compelled Robert Morton even against his will to add with dignity: + +"I am expecting to take Miss Hathaway over to see them some day soon." + +He told himself, as he uttered the words, that he owed Howard Snelling +no explanation and that it was ridiculous of him to make one; +nevertheless he felt impelled to do so. + +Mr. Snelling smiled superciliously. + +"That will be very pleasant, won't it?" he remarked. + +One could not have quarreled with the sentiment, but its blandness +conveyed an exasperating disbelief. + +The young man bit his lip angrily. + +At the same instant there was a sound at the door. + +"Aunt Tiny wants to know--" + +The three men glanced up simultaneously, and Mr. Snelling's jaw dropped +with amazement. + +"I beg your pardon," murmured Delight. "I did not know there was any +one here." + +"It's only Mr. Snelling, a friend of Bob's," Willie hastened to say. + +"Mr. Snelling is also a friend of Mr. Galbraith's," interrupted Robert +Morton, enraged that it fell to him to perform the introduction. "This +is Miss Hathaway, Mr. Snelling." + +"I am charmed to meet you, Miss Hathaway," Howard Snelling declared, +bending low over the girl's outstretched hand. "I did not realize you +were an inmate of the house." Then with a sidelong glance at Bob he +added: "Wilton certainly abounds in beautiful surprises." + +As with unveiled wonder he scanned the exquisite face, Robert Morton, +looking on, could have strangled him with a relish. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE SPENCES ENTER SOCIETY + +For a week Howard Snelling came and went from the small, vine-covered +cottage on the bay, making himself so useful and so delightful that the +charm of his personality gradually obliterated the first unpleasant +impression Bob had gained of him. He worked hard but worked with such +unobtrusiveness that unless one scrutinized him closely the subtle +power that lay behind his hand and brain might have passed unsuspected. +Ever mindful that his role was that of the casual visitor, he listened +with appreciation to Willie's harmless gossip and whenever the little +old man advanced a theory as to the enterprise in which they were +engaged he greeted it not only with respect but with cordiality. Now +and then as the undertaking progressed, he ventured a tactful, almost +diffident suggestion, the value of which the inventor was quick to +detect. Also, in the same nonchalant fashion, he produced from time to +time the necessary materials, weaving a fairy web of prevarication when +questioned too closely as to their source. + +"Oh, I have a friend in the boat-building business," said he, "who lets +me have any small things I want. I have done some favors for him in +the past and he is only too glad to square up the balance by sending me +whatever I ask him for." + +The explanation, given with off-hand candor, quite satisfied the +artless Willie, who imagined all the world as truthful as himself and +inquired no further, accepting with unfeigned joy the gifts the gods +provided. His face glowed with almost beatific light as he saw his +dream slowly take form. Nothing he had ever done equalled this +masterpiece. The project was his first thought at waking, the last +before closing his eyes at night. Sometimes, even, when all but the +sea slept, he would tiptoe downstairs, candle in hand, just to steal a +glance at the child of his fancy. So absorbed was he in its growth and +progress that it never crossed his mind to marvel that two men of +Howard Snelling's and Robert Morton's ability should sacrifice to the +invention the golden hours of the rare June days. Their interest was +nothing miraculous. Who wouldn't have been interested in such a +wonderful undertaking? + +Indeed, Mr. Snelling's concern for the venture was almost as keen as +his own. From morning until late noon he toiled. Occasionally the +Galbraiths' chauffeur brought him over from Belleport, but more often +it was Cynthia who made the trip with him. Mr. Galbraith, it appeared, +had been called back to New York on urgent business; Roger had gone +with friends on a yachting cruise; and Mrs. Galbraith was devoting her +time to her mother who was still indisposed. Hence Cynthia was forced +to fill the gaps and serve both as host and hostess. It was a natural +situation, and Bob thought nothing about it except selfishly to exult +that under the conditions Cynthia was kept too busy to invade the +Spence home or bother him with invitations. And that was not the only +boon that came with Snelling's presence, for with three workers in the +shop Robert Morton found not infrequent chances to steal into the +kitchen, where Delight was busy with household tasks, and enjoy the +rapture of a word or two with her. + +Never were there such days of enchantment as these! He might, he often +said to himself, have remained in Wilton an entire summer and his +acquaintance with the lady of his heart never have reached the degree +of intimacy that it attained during Celestina's illness. To behold the +girl, fair as the new-blown rose, presiding at the wee breakfast table +was to forget all else. How dainty she looked in her trim cotton gown, +with its demure cuffs and collar of white, and how deftly her hands +moved among the simple fittings of the table! The worn agate +coffee-pot seemed transformed to classic outline, and the nectar it +contained to ambrosia. And what a famous little cook she was! Surely +such flaky biscuit could never have been made by other hands. Bob +suddenly became surprisingly interested in kitchens and all that they +contained. The glint of tin pans, the dull ebony of the stove, +iridescent suds foaming fresh and hot,--all these took on a strange and +homely beauty quite novel in its charm. He had never dreamed before +what an incomparable Eden a kitchen was! + +To slip in and fill the wood-box; to creep into the pantry and watch +the beloved head as it bent over the baking table; to be permitted to +wipe the dishes while _She_ washed them made of the simple duties tasks +for gods and goddesses. He loved the pretty way her fringed lashes +lifted, the wave of color that swept her cheek when she was startled by +his step; and there was something ravishingly confidential in her +caution: + +"Be careful, Bob, not to drop Aunt Tiny's china teacups." + +It was all foolish and inconsequential--the sighs, the smiles, the +silences--but they made a paradise of the grim old universe. Many a +time he longed to press his lips to the white arm, to kiss the warm +curve of her neck where soft curls clustered. But he did none of these +things. By a gentle reserve the girl kept him at his distance, and +although there was only Jezebel to see, he did not transgress the +bounds Delight's sweet womanliness reared between them. Of course she +knew he loved her. She could not but know. Even Jezebel from her +round blue eyes proclaimed a complete understanding of the romance and +drawing herself into a fluffy ball in Willie's great chair feigned +sleep that she might not embarrass the lovers. The canary knew, and so +did the impertinent crimson rambler that clambered up the window frame +and spied in through the pane. It was no secret. The whole dazzling +world shared in the exquisite mystery. + +Were the tale to have been put into words half its delicate beauty +would have been shattered. It was now a thing of clouds, of perfume, +of sunshine. The waves whispered together of it; the birds trilled the +story. A glance, a half-uttered sentence, the meeting of hands carried +with them great throbbing reaches of emotion that went to make up the +reality of the ephemeral drama. And then there was the tormenting, +bewitching, wretched, alluring uncertainty of it all. One could never +be sure, and in the spell of this disquietude lay half the magic. + +Robert Morton speculated as to whether Willie, along with Jezebel and +the canary, had fathomed the idyl. He wondered, too, how much Snelling +suspected. The New Yorker had an irritating habit of waylaying Delight +and making pretty speeches to her, as if for the wanton pleasure of +watching the blush rise in her cheek. When it came to women there was +no denying Howard Snelling was as great an authority as at building +ships. He understood the sex and knew what pleased them, and with the +subtle art of a courtier he breathed into their ears a flattery too +delicate to be resented. Beside such an expert Bob, floundering in his +first real love affair, felt but a blunderer. Perhaps Mr. Snelling +realized this and rather enjoyed the amateur's chagrin. However that +may have been, he certainly let no opportunity slip for the display of +his proficiency. The discomfited lover fumed with jealous rage; yet on +analyzing the causes of his wrath he discovered he actually had but +scant ground for complaint. He was not engaged to Delight, and until +he was he had no claim upon her and not the smallest right in the world +to grumble if another man chose to pay her a compliment. And what were +compliments anyway? Only empty words. Yet reason as he would, he +wished Snelling twenty fathoms deep in the sea before ever he had come +to Wilton, there to haunt Willie's shop and make of himself a menace to +all tranquillity. + +So the days passed in a delirious alternation of ecstasy and despair +until one morning when Mr. Snelling came bringing from Madam Lee the +long-delayed note which she had promised Bob she would send. She was +now quite strong again, she wrote, and she wished him to arrange for +his aunt, Mr. Spence and Miss Hathaway to come and have tea with the +Belleport family on the following afternoon, when both Roger and Mr. +Galbraith would be at home. With beating heart Robert Morton took the +letter into the house and showed it to Delight. + +"How nice of them!" she exclaimed. "Oh, I do wish we could go! Willie +would love it. He liked Mr. Galbraith and his son so much! And Aunt +Tiny would be in the seventh heaven if only she were able to accept. +She so seldom has an invitation out, poor dear!" + +"And you?" + +"Oh, I couldn't go anyway." + +"Why not?" + +"Well, in the first place, I have nothing to wear to a place like that." + +"Delight!" + +"And besides," she hurried on, "they are only asking me because I +happen to be here in the house." + +"Indeed they're not!" + +"But I know they are," persisted the girl. "Everybody doesn't want to +see me just because you--" + +"Because I what?" demanded Bob, with an ominous stride in her direction. + +"Because you--and Mr. Snelling like me," concluded she tranquilly. + +"Confound Snelling!" + +"Indeed, no. He is a charming gentleman, and I won't have him +confounded." + +"Hang him then." + +"Nor hanged either," she protested. + +"Of course if you prefer Mr. Snelling--" began Robert Morton stiffly. + +She broke into a teasing laugh. + +"I may not prefer him, but nevertheless I will own he is the most +wonderful specimen of masculinity that my eyes have ever beheld. +Remember Wilton is a small place, pitifully limited in its outlook, and +that I have not traveled the wide world to view the wonders it +contains. Hence Mr. Snelling is to me like the Eiffel Tower, the +Matterhorn, the tomb of Napoleon, or Fifth Avenue at Easter--something +illustrious and novel." + +"He is nothing so fine as any of those," snapped Bob. + +"Oh, I don't know," was the provoking answer. + +Robert Morton bit his lip and moved toward the door, but he had not got +further than the sill before she whispered: + +"Bob!" + +Resolutely he held his peace. + +"Please be nice, Bob," she cooed. + +Ah, he was back again, but she had retreated behind the tall rocker. + +"I suppose," she observed, hurtling the words over Jezebel's sleeping +form, "that your aunt will be heartbroken to miss this party. Why +don't you run upstairs and let her read the note? Then we can send our +regrets when Mr. Snelling goes back to Belleport this noon." + +Obediently the young man sped to do her bidding, and soon Delight heard +his voice calling from the upper hall. + +"She won't send her regrets. She says she's going. I tell her they +will ask her another time, but she insists she feels lots better and +was thinking of getting up, anyway. She wants to start putting fresh +cuffs on her black cashmere this minute, and do I don't know what. +You'd better come up and stop her." + +But Celestina was not to be stopped. Go she would! + +"My shoulder's 'most well anyhow," she affirmed, "an' I had planned to +go down to supper. Do you think for one minute I'd miss a junket like +this? Why, I'd go if it killed me! The Galbraiths are nice folks an' +have been good to Bob and Willie. Besides," she added with +ingratiating candor, "I want to see where they live. An' they're goin' +to send the automobile for us, that great red one--imagine it! I ain't +been in an automobile more'n six times in my whole life. Do you think +I'd send my regrets? I'd go if I had to be carried on a stretcher!" + +Delight and Robert Morton laughed at her enthusiasm. + +"Now you trot straight down stairs, Bob," went on Celestina +energetically, "an' write Mis' Lee we'll admire to come, all of us." + +"But Aunt Tiny," put in Delight, "I'm not going. Somebody must stay +here and look after the house." + +"What for?" Celestina demanded. "The house won't run away, an' if +thieves was to ransack it from attic to cellar they'd find nothin' +worth carryin' away. Ridiculous!" + +"She says she hasn't anything to wear," interrupted Bob. + +"Delight Hathaway! For shame!" said the elder woman, raising a +reproving finger. "You always look pretty as a picture in anything. +Some folks need fine clothes to set 'em off but you don't. Don't be +silly! Why, half the pleasure of Willie an' me would be wiped out if +you didn't go, an' likely Bob would be disappointed, too." + +"You bet I would!" + +"W--e--ll," the girl yielded. + +"There, that's right, my dear." Celestina reached out and patted the +slender hand. "Now, Bob, you go along an' write your letter," +commanded she. "An' Delight, you bring me up some hot water an' fetch +my clean print dress from the hall closet. I kinder think, come to +mull it over, that there's fresh cuffs on my cashmere already, but you +might look an' see. An' hadn't we better furbish up my bonnet this +afternoon? It ain't been touched this season." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A REVELATION + +The morning of the pilgrimage to Belleport was a hectic one in the gray +cottage on the bluff. Before breakfast Celestina began preparations, +appearing in the kitchen without trace of invalidism and helping +Delight hurry the housework out of the way, that the precious hours +might be spent in retrimming the hat of black straw which already had +done duty four seasons. + +"Ain't it too vexatious," complained the irritated convalescent, "that +I don't wear out nothin'? This hat, now--it's as good as the day it +was bought, despite my havin' had it so long. I can't in conscience +throw it away an' get another, much as I'd like to. The trimmin' was +on the front the first summer, don't you remember? Then we tried it on +behind a year; an' there was two seasons I wore it trimmed on the side. +What are we goin' to do with it now, Delight? I've blacked it up an' +can see no way for it this time but to turn it round hindside-before. +What do you think?" + +The amateur milliner shook her head. + +"I've a plan," she smiled mysteriously. "Don't you worry, Aunt Tiny." + +"Oh, I shan't worry, child, if you take it in hand. I know that when +you get through with it it's goin' to look as if it had come straight +out of Mis' Gates's store over at the Junction. It does beat all what +a knack you have for such things. You could make your fortune bein' a +milliner. I s'pose you wouldn't want to face it in with red, would +you? Willie likes red, an' there's a scrap of silk in the trunk under +the eaves that could be stretched into a facin' with some piecin'." + +"I'm afraid you wouldn't like red, Aunt Tiny," the girl replied gently. + +"Mebbe I wouldn't," was the prompt answer. "Well, do it as you think +best. You never put me into anything yet that warn't becomin', an' I +reckon I can risk leavin' it to you." + +"Wouldn't you rather I helped you clear up the kitchen before I began +hat trimming?" + +"Mercy, no! Don't waste precious time sweepin' up an' washin' dishes; +I can do that. Like as not 'twill take some of the stiffness out of +me. Besides, the work an' the millinery ain't the worst ahead of us. +There's Willie to get ready. To coax him out of that shop an' into his +Sunday suit is goin' to take some maneuverin'. I know, 'cause I have +it to do once in a while when there's a funeral or somethin'. It's +like pullin' teeth. There's times when I wish all his jumpers was +burned to ashes. An' as for his hair, he rumples it up on end 'till +there's no makin' it stay down smooth an' spread round like other +folks's." + +"Oh, we mustn't try to dress Willie up too much," protested Delight. +"I like him best just as he is." + +"Mebbe you do," the elder woman grumbled, "but the Galbraiths ain't +goin' to feel that way. Why, what do you s'pose they'd think if Willie +was to come prancin' over there for a dish of tea lookin' as he does at +home? They'd be scandalized! Besides, ain't you an' me goin' to be +dressed up? Ain't I got my new hat?" + +"Not yet," was the mischievous retort. + +"But I am goin' to have. No, sir! If I begin indulgin' Willie by +lettin' him go all wild to this party in his old clothes, the next time +there's a funeral there'll be no reinin' him in. He'll hold it up +forevermore that he went to the Galbraiths in his jumper. I know him +better'n you do." + +"I suppose so." + +"An' I'm firmer with him, too," went on Celestina. "You'd have him +clean spoiled. I ain't sure but you've spoilt him already past all +help durin' these last ten days. Did you hear him at breakfast askin' +me to open his egg? He knows perfectly well I never take off the +shell. All I ever do for him is to put in the butter, pepper, an' +salt; an' I only do that 'cause he's squizzlin' so to get out in that +shop that he ain't a notion whether there's fixin's on his egg or not. +Let him get one of these ideas on his mind an' it's a wonder he don't +eat the egg, shells an' all." + +"Poor dear!" The girl's face softened. + +"You pet him too much," said Celestina accusingly. + +"Don't you pet Willie a little yourself, Aunt Tiny?" teased Delight. +"You know you do. Everybody does. We can't help it. People just love +him and like to see him happy." + +"I know it," the woman admitted. "Why, there's folks in Wilton (I +could name 'em right now) who would run their legs off for Willie. +Look at Bob an' this Mr. Snellin' sweatin' in that shop like beavers +over somethin' that ain't never goin' to do 'em an ounce of good--mebbe +ain't never goin' to do anybody no good. There's somethin' in him that +sorter compels people to stand on their heads for him like that. I +often try to figger out just what it is," she mused. Then in a brisker +tone she asked: "How's the hat comin'?" + +"Beautifully." + +"That's good. Hurry it right along, for I'm plannin' to have dinner at +twelve an' get it out of the way." + +"But the car isn't coming for us until three o'clock." + +"'Twill take that time to wash up the dishes an' rig Willie up." + +"Not three hours!" + +"You don't know him. We'll have our hands full to head him away from +that thing he's makin'. All I pray is no new scheme ketches him while +he's dressin', for 'twill be all day with the party if it does." + +Fortunately no such misadventure befell. Willie was corralled, his +protests smothered, and he was led placidly away by Bob, to emerge +after an interval resigned as a lamb for the slaughter. Even the +homespun suit could not wholly banish his native charm, for after it +was once on he forgot its existence and wore it with an ease almost too +oblivious to suit Celestina. + +Not so she! On the contrary she issued from her chamber conscious of +every article of finery adorning her plump person. She settled, +unsettled, resettled her hat a dozen times, and tried no less than a +score of locations for her large cameo pin. Her freshly washed lisle +gloves had unfortunately shrunk in the drying and refused to go on at +the finger tips, and from each digit projected a sharply defined glove +end which kept her busy pushing and pulling most of the afternoon. So +occupied was Delight with tying Willie's cravat and rearranging the +spray of flowers on Celestina's bonnet that she had not a moment to +consider her own toilet which was hastily made after everything else +was done. Yet as Robert Morton looked at her, he thought that nothing +could have graced her more completely than did her simple gown of +muslin. There was in the frock a demureness almost Quaker-like which +as a foil for her beauty breathed the very essence of coquetry. What +lover could have failed to feel proud of such a treasure? + +Nevertheless, Bob had his qualms about the prospective visit. He was +not concerned for Willie or Celestina. They were what they were and +any one of discrimination would recognize their worth. Nor did he +entertain fears for Delight or the Galbraiths. All of them could be +relied upon to meet the situation with ease and dignity. But +Cynthia--what would be her attitude? Of late, when she had come over +in the car with Mr. Snelling, she had maintained a distant politeness +which would have been amusing had it not been ominous. He wondered how +she would conduct herself today, not alone toward him but toward the +girl whom she could not but regard as her rival. How much did she +guess, he speculated, of the romance that was taking place in the +rose-covered cottage on the bluff. And if she had guessed nothing, +might not Snelling, leaping at conclusions, have gone back to Belleport +there to spread idle gossip of the love-story? What would Howard +Snelling know of the delicate situation 'twixt himself and Mr. +Galbraith's daughter? And even though no rumors of the affair reached +Cynthia at all, Robert Morton was old enough to sense the hazard of +introducing one woman to another. + +Well, the risk must be taken; there was no escape from it now. Even as +these disquieting imaginings chased themselves through his mind, the +car stopped before the door and Roger Galbraith, who had come to meet +the guests, entered at the gate. No courtesy that would add to their +comfort had been omitted. There were rugs and extra wraps, and a drive +along the shore road had been planned as an added pleasure. + +Willie, his back actually turned on his beloved workshop, was in the +seventh heaven. + +"What you settin' on the peaked edge of the seat for, Celestina?" he +asked when once they were in the automobile. "The thing ain't goin' to +blow up or break down. Let your whole heft sink into the cushions an' +enjoy yourself. 'Tain't often you get the chance to go a-ridin'." + +His joy in the novel experience was as unalloyed and as transparent as +a child's. + +"My soul!" he ejaculated as the vehicle turned at last into the broad +avenue leading to the Galbraith estate. "Ain't this a big place! +Big's a hotel an' some to spare." + +Even after the introductions had been performed and he had sunk into a +wicker chair beside his host, with a great pillow behind him to keep +him from being swallowed up and lost entirely, he abated not a whit of +his gladness, admiring the flowers, the smoothly cut lawns, and the +ocean view until he radiated good humor on all sides. But it was when +the tea wagon was rolled out and placed before Madam Lee that his +interest was not to be curbed. + +"Ain't that cute now?" he commented, his eyes following the +unaccustomed sight with alertness. "The feller that got a-holt of that +idee found a good one. Trundles along like a little baby carriage, +don't it?" + +Nothing would satisfy him until he had examined every part of the +invention, and Celestina trembled lest then and there his brain be +stimulated to action and he make a bolt for home to complete without +delay some sudden scheme the novelty had engendered. However, no such +calamity occurred. He drank his tea with satisfaction and was +presently borne off by Mr. Galbraith to inspect a recently purchased +barometer. After he had gone the company broke up into little groups. +Mrs. Galbraith and Celestina betook themselves to a shaded corner, +there to exchange felicitations on Miss Morton's nephew; Roger, +Cynthia, and Bob perched on the broad piazza rail and discussed the +recent boat race; and Madam Lee was left alone with Delight. Robert +Morton looked in vain for Mr. Snelling but he was nowhere to be seen, +and presently he learned that that gentleman had taken one of the cars +and gone for an afternoon's spin to Sawyer's Falls. Whether his +absence was a contributory cause or not, certain it was that for the +time being at least Cynthia lapsed into her customary friendly manner +and quite outdid herself in graciousness. + +Bob relaxed his tension. The afternoon was moving on with more +serenity than he had dared hope, and inwardly he began to congratulate +himself on the success of it. To judge from appearance every one was +in the serenest frame of mind. Willie was beaming into his host's +face, and both men were laughing immoderately; Celestina, from the +snatches of conversation that reached him, was relating for Mrs. +Galbraith's benefit the symptoms of her late illness; and Madam Lee was +chatting with Delight as with an old-time friend. Bob longed to join +them, but prudence forbade his leaving Cynthia's side. Moreover he +suspected the tête-à-tête was of the old lady's arranging and he dared +not break in on it. If Madam Lee desired his presence, she was quite +capable of commanding it by one of those characteristically imperious +waves of her hand. But she did not summon him. Instead she sat with +her keen little eyes fixed on the girl opposite as if fascinated by her +beauty. Once Bob heard her ask Delight of the Brewsters and caught +fragments that indicated they were talking of the child's early life in +the village. + +It was Celestina who at length broke in on the conversation. + +"I guess we must be thinkin' of goin', Delight, don't you? We have a +long ride back, you know." + +"Delight!" echoed Madam Lee, repeating the word with surprise. + +"A queer name, ain't it?" Celestina put in. "So old-fashioned an' +uncommon! When the child first come here folks couldn't believe but +'twas a pet name her dad had given her; but the little thing insisted +'twas what she was christened." + +"Father said I was named for my mother and my grandmother, Delight Lee." + +There was a gasp from the stately old lady in the chair. With +convulsive grasp she caught and held the girl's wrist. + +"Your father was Ralph Hathaway?" + +"Yes," was the wondering reply. "How did you know?" + +No answer came. + +"Mother!" cried Mrs. Galbraith, coming swiftly to her side and bending +over the form crumpled against the pillows. + +Her face, too, was pale, and even Mr. Galbraith looked startled. + +"Don't take on so, mother," her daughter whispered. "Control yourself +if you can. There may be some mistake. It is unlikely that--" + +"There is no mistake," came in a hollow voice from the woman huddled in +the chair, who regarded Delight with frightened eyes. "She is my +daughter's child, sent by the mercy of heaven that I might make amends +before I went down into the grave." + +Tense silence followed the assertion. + +"Did your father never tell you anything, my dear, of his marriage?" +went on Madam Lee in a tone that although firmer still trembled. + +"No." + +"Then I can tell you--I, who drove your mother from my house when she +refused to wed a man she did not love." + +Delight's great eyes widened with wonder. + +"Yes," went on the elder woman with impetuous haste, "look at me. I +have grown older and wiser since those days. But I was proud when I +was young, and self-willed, and determined to have my way. I had three +daughters: Maida, whom you see here, Delight and Muriel. We lived in +Virginia and my children's beauty was the talk of the county. Maida +married Richard Galbraith, a descendant of one of our oldest families, +and I rejoiced in the alliance. For Delight, my second daughter, I +chose as husband the son of one of my oldest friends, a rich young +landholder who although older than she I knew would bring her name and +fortune. But the girl, high-spirited like myself but lacking my +ambition, would have none of him. All unbeknown to any of us, she had +fallen in love with Ralph Hathaway, a handsome, penniless adventurer +from the West. There was nothing against the man save that he was +young, headstrong, and had his way to make, but he balked me in my +plans and I hated him for it. In vain did I try to break off the +match. It was useless. The pair loved one another devotedly and +refused to be separated." + +Madam Lee ceased speaking for an instant; then went on resolutely. + +"When I say my daughter had all the Lee determination, you will guess +the rest. She fled from home and although I spared no money to trace +her, I never saw or heard of her again. The next year, as if in +judgment upon me, Muriel, my youngest child, died and I had but one +daughter remaining. It was then that, saddened and chastened by +sorrow, I regretted my narrowness and injustice and prayed to God for +the chance to wipe out my cruelty. But my prayers went unanswered, and +all these years forgiveness has been denied me. Now I am old but God +is merciful. He has not let me die with this weight upon my soul." + +She bowed her head on Delight's shoulder and wept. + +"Your mother?" she whispered, when she was able to enunciate the words. + +"My mother died in California when I was born. Then my father took to +the sea and carried me with him. We sailed until I was ten years old, +when his ship--" + +"I know," interrupted Madam Lee gently. She gave a long sigh. "We--we +must speak more of this later," murmured she. "I am tired now." + +As she dropped back against the cushions, Celestina rose softly and +motioned the others to follow her; but when Delight attempted to slip +away the hand resting on hers tightened. + +"You are not leaving me!" pleaded the old lady faintly. + +"I will come back again," answered the girl in a soothing tone. + +"When? To-morrow?" + +"If you wish it, Madam L--" + +"Call me grandmother, my child," said the woman, a smile rare in its +peace and beauty breaking over her drawn countenance. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ANOTHER BLOW DESCENDS + +The ride home from Belleport was a subdued one, bringing to an +afternoon that had been rich in sunshine a climax of shadow. The +Galbraiths were far too stunned by the startling revelations of the day +to wish to prolong a meeting that had lapsed into awkwardness, and +until they had had opportunity to readjust themselves they were eager +to be alone; nor did their delicacy of perception fail to detect a +similar craving in the minds of their guests. Therefore they did not +press their visitors to remain and tactfully arranged that one of the +servants instead of Roger should drive the Spences back over the Harbor +Road. + +As the motor purred its way along, there was little conversation. Even +had not the chauffeur's presence acted as a restraint, none of the +party would have had the heart to make perfunctory conversation; the +tragedy of the moment had touched them too deeply. What a strange, +wonderful unraveling of life's tangled skeins had come with the few +fleeting hours. Each turned the drama over in his mind, trying to make +a reality of it and spin into the warp and woof of the tapestry time +had already woven this thread of new color. But so startling was it in +hue that it refused to blend, standing out against the duller tones of +the past with appalling distinctness; and never was it more +irreconcilable than when the familiar confines of the little fishing +hamlet by the sea were reached and those who struggled to harmonize it +saw it in contrast with this background of simplicity. + +Each silently reconstructed Delight's life, now linking it with its +ancestry and its romantic beginnings. She had, then, sprung from +aristocratic stock; riches had been her right, and culture her +heritage. She had been the single flower of a passionate love, and the +hot-headed young father to whom she had been bequeathed when bereft of +the woman he had adored had taken her with him when he had sought the +sea's balm to assuage his sorrow. She was all that remained of that +tender, throbbing memory of his youth. Where he went she followed, all +unconscious of peril and with youth's God-given faith; and when the +great moment came and the supreme sacrifice was demanded, the man +voluntarily severed the bonds that bound them, leaving her to life +while he himself went forth into the Beyond. What must not that heroic +soul have suffered when he cast his child into the ocean's arms and +upon the mercies of an unknown future! What blind trust led him; what +unselfishness and courage lay in the choice he made! A smaller mind +would have followed the easier path and kept them united to the end, +happy in the thought that in their death they were not divided, and +that no years stretched ahead when she would be without his protection. +Might he not be performing a kinder act to let her go down into the sea +than to entrust her to the charity of strangers? He must have wrestled +with all these problems and temptations as he stood lashed to the mast +out there in the fateful storm. + +Ah, his confidence in a fatherhood more omniscient than his own had not +been misplaced. Loving hands had borne his darling safely through the +waves to a home where, in an atmosphere of devotion, the beauty that +had been in her from the beginning had perfected in its maturity. Even +the homely surroundings of the environment into which she drifted could +not stifle her native fineness of soul. Bred up a fisherman's daughter +she had lived and moved among plain, kindly people, whom she had +learned to cherish and revere as if they were of her blood, and to whom +she had endeared herself to a corresponding degree. + +And now what was her future to be? Was she suddenly to be snatched +back into her rightful sphere, the ties that linked her with the +present snapped asunder, and a new world with the myriad opportunities +she had until now been denied placed within her reach? That was the +query that agitated the minds of the silent thinkers who sped along the +Harbor Road. + +Sunset was gilding the water, kissing the sands into rosy warmth and +casting glints of vermilion over the low buildings at the mouth of the +bay, where windows flashed forth a flaming reflection of fire. The +peace of approaching twilight brooded over the village. Little boats, +like homing doves, came flying across the vast expanse of waves, their +sails a splendor of copper in the fading light. With the hush of night +the breeze died into stillness until scarce a leaf of the +weather-beaten poplars stirred. From the tangle of roses, sweet fern +and bayberry that overgrew the fields the note of a thrush rose clear +on the quiet air. A whirling bevy of gulls circled the bar, left naked +and opalescent by the receding tide. Peace was everywhere, divine +peace, save in the breasts of those who gazed only to find a mockery in +the surrounding tranquillity. + +Robert Morton's face was stern in meditation. How was this mighty +transformation in Delight's fortunes to affect the hopes he fostered? +To wed the daughter of a humble fisherman was a different matter from +offering a penniless future to the grand-daughter of the stately Madam +Lee. Even when the possibility of marriage with Cynthia had loomed in +his path, his pride had rebelled at the financial inequality of the +match. He did not wish to be patronized, to come empty-handed to a +princess whose hands were full. The thought had been a galling one. +And now once again he was in a similar position. Of course, Madam Lee +and the Galbraiths would desire to make good the past; he knew them +well enough for that. Delight would be elevated to the same plane with +Cynthia, and he would be faced with the old irritating inferiority of +fortune. Moreover, in her recently acquired station, the lady of his +dreams might scorn such a humble suitor. Who could tell? Wealth +worked great changes in individuals sometimes, and at best human nature +was a frail, assailable, and incalculable factor. Furthermore the girl +had never pledged him her love. There had been no spoken word between +them. The vision that had made a Utopia of his world had been, he +reflected, of his own creating. + +He glanced at Delight, but she did not meet his eye. + +Her gaze was vacantly following the rapidly shifting landscape. + +Although the glory from the sky shone on her face the radiance that +glowed there came only from without and was the result of no inward +exultation. Even the gray cottage had assumed a false splendor in the +rosy twilight and was lighted with a beauty not its own. + +When the car stopped, Willie clambered stiffly out and he and Bob +helped the women to alight. Then the motor rolled away and they were +alone. + +"Well!" burst out Celestina, her pent-up feeling taking vent, "did you +ever know of such a to-do? I've been stiflin' to talk all the way +home! Why, you're goin' to be rich, Delight! You'll be aunts, an' +uncles, an' cousins with them Galbraiths--picture it! Likely they'll +take you to New York with 'em an' to goodness knows where!" + +The girl did not answer but moved to Willie's side and slipped her hand +into his, as if certain of his understanding and sympathy. + +"You don't seem much set up by your good luck," went on the breathless +Celestina. + +"Delight's kinder bowled over by surprise, Tiny," Willie explained +gently. "It's took all our breaths away, I guess." + +Tenderly he pressed the trembling fingers that clung to his. + +"You ain't got to worry about it, dearie," whispered he in a caressing +tone. "No power can make you do anything you don't choose to; an' +what's more, nobody'll want to force you into what won't be for your +happiness." + +"I shall never leave Zenas Henry," Delight said with determination. + +"An' nobody'll urge you to, dear heart. Don't fret, child, don't fret. +To-morrow we'll straighten this snarl all out an' 'til then you've got +nothin' to fear. Them as love you shall stay by, I give you my word on +it." + +"Hadn't I better go home to-night and tell them?" + +The old inventor considered a moment. + +"I don't believe I would," he answered at last. "They ain't expectin' +you, an' if you was to go lookin' so white an' frightened as you do +now, 'twould anger Zenas Henry an' upset 'em all. Wait an' see what +happens to-morrow. 'Twill be time enough then. You're tired, +sweetheart. Stay here an' rest to-night. What do you say, Bob?" + +"I think it would be much wiser." + +"Course 'twould," nodded Willie. "You stay right here, like as if +nothin' had happened, an' think calmly about it a little while, child. +You ain't got to decide a thing at present; furthermore, there may not +be anything for you to decide. We've no way of figgerin' what +your--your--relations mean to do. Just trust 'em a bit. They're Bob's +friends an' I guess we can count on 'em to act as is fair an' right." + +"They _are_ Bob's friends, aren't they?" repeated the girl, her face +brightening as if the fact, hitherto forgotten, gave her confidence. + +"And splendidly loyal friends too," the young man put in eagerly. + +"Then I will trust them," she said. "It isn't as if they were +strangers." + +How Robert Morton longed to go to her, to tell her in her sweet +dependence how eager he was for the day when no friend of his should be +a stranger to her; when their lives would be so closely intertwined +that every interest, every hope, every thought of his should be hers +also. Perhaps the unuttered wish that trembled on his lips was +reflected in his eyes, for after looking up at him she suddenly dropped +her lashes and, turning away, followed Tiny into the house. + +"I've cautioned Celestina not to go talkin' to her any more just now," +announced the little old man when she had gone. "Your aunt's an awful +good woman; no better lives. But there's times like today when things +don't strike her as they do me an' Delight. She's so fond of the girl +that her first thought would be for the money an' all that; but that +would be the last consideration in the world in Delight's mind. She's +awful loyal an' affectionate. Things go deep with her, an' she sets a +heap of store by the folks she cares for. Why, Zenas Henry is like her +own father. Since she was a wee tot she ain't known no other. While +this old lady, her grandmother--what is she? Why, she don't mean +nothin'--not a thing!" + +They walked on toward the shop door, each occupied with his own +reveries; then suddenly Willie roused himself. + +"Why, if here ain't Janoah!" he exclaimed. + +"What you doin', Jan? Was you after somethin'? I reckon you found the +place pretty well deserted an' were wonderin' what had become of us +all." + +"I warn't doin' no wonderin', Willie Spence," the man replied. "I +knowed where you'd gone 'cause I saw you ridin' away like a sheep bein' +led to the sacrifice." + +"Like a what?" repeated the inventor with a grin. + +"An innocent lamb, or a rat in a trap," Janoah said with solemn +emphasis. + +"What are you drivin' at, anyhow?" questioned Willie. + +"You didn't suspect nothin'?" + +"Suspect anything? No, of course not. Why?" + +"You hadn't a suspicion the whole thing was a decoy?" + +"What whole thing?" + +"The trip an' all." + +Willie studied his friend's face in puzzled silence. + +"Whatever are you tryin' to say?" demanded he at last. + +Janoah swept his hand dramatically round the shop. + +"You've been betrayed, Willie!" he announced with tragic intensity. +"Betrayed by them as you thought was your friends, an' who you've +trusted. I warned you, but you wouldn't listen, an' now the thing I +told you would happen has happened." Triumphant pleasure gleamed in +the sinister smile. "They tricked you into leavin'," went on the +malicious voice, "an' then they came here an' stole what was +yours--your invention. I caught 'em doin' it. I hid outside an' +overheard 'em tell how they'd been waitin' days for the chance when +everybody should be gone. 'Twas that Snelling an' another like him, a +draughtsman. They laughed an' said that now the old man was out of the +way they could do as they pleased. Then they took all the measurements +of your invention, made some sketches, an' took its picter." + +Willie listened, open-mouthed. + +"You must be crazy, Janoah," he slowly observed. + +"I ain't crazy," Janoah replied, with stinging sharpness. "The whole +thing was just as I say. It was part of a plot that Snellin' an' +Galbraith have been plannin' all along; an' either they've used this +young feller here [he motioned toward Robert Morton] as a tool, or else +he's in it with 'em." + +Bob started forward, but Willie's hand was on his arm. + +"Gently, son," he murmured. Then addressing Janoah he asked: "An' what +earthly use could Mr. Galbraith have for--" + +"'Cause he sees money in it," was the prompt response. + +A thrill of uneasiness passed through Robert Morton's frame. Had not +those very words been spoken both by the capitalist and Howard +Snelling? They had uttered them as a laughing prediction, but might +they not have rated them as true? With sudden chagrin he looked from +Willie to Janoah and from Janoah back to Willie again. + +"I've been inquirin' up this Galbraith," went on Janoah. "It 'pears +he's a big New York shipbuilder--that's what he is--an' Snellin' is one +of his head men." + +If the mischief-maker derived pleasure from dealing out the fruit of +his investigations he certainly reaped it now, for he was rewarded by +seeing an electrical shock stiffen Willie's figure. + +"It ain't true!" cried the little inventor. "It ain't true! Is it, +Bob?" + +Robert Morton's eyes fell before his piercing scrutiny. + +"Yes," was his reluctant answer. + +"You knew it all along?" + +"Yes." + +"An' Snellin'?" + +"He is in Mr. Galbraith's employ, yes." + +"An'--an'--you let 'em come here--" began the old man bewildered. + +"You let 'em come here to steal Willie's idee," interrupted Janoah, +wheeling on Bob. "You helped 'em to come, after his takin' you into +his home an' all!" + +"I didn't know what they meant to do," Robert Morton stammered. "I +just thought they were going to lend us a hand at working up the thing." + +"A likely story!" sniffed Janoah with scorn. "No siree! You came here +as a tool--you were paid for it, I'll bet a hat!" + +"You lie." + +"Prove it," was the taunting response. + +"I--I--can't prove it," confessed the young man wretchedly, "but Willie +knows that what you accuse me of isn't so." + +With face alight with hope he turned toward the old man at his elbow; +but no denial came from the expected source. Willie had sunk down on a +pile of boards and buried his face in his hands. + +"An' I thought they were my friends," they heard him moan. + +Robert Morton hesitated, then bent over the bowed figure, and as he did +so Janoah, casting one last look of gloating delight at the ruin he had +wrought, slipped softly from the room. + +As he went out he heard a broken murmur from the inventor: + +"I'll--I'll--not--believe it," asserted he feebly. + +But despite the brave words, the seed of suspicion had taken root, and +Robert Morton knew that Willie's confidence in him had been shaken. +Still the little old man clung with dogged persistence to his sanguine +declaration: + +"_I'll not believe it_!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A GRIM HAND INTERVENES + +The next morning saw a grave change in the household on the bluff. +Delight, with violet-circled eyes and cheeks whose rose tints had faded +to pallor, listened with dread for the sound of the Galbraith's motor. +What the day would bring forth she feared to speculate. Willie and Bob +also showed traces of a sleepless night. Although they had guarded +from the others the happenings of the previous evening, between them +loomed a barrier of mutual amazement and reproach. Beneath his +attempted optimism Willie was wounded and indignant that he should have +been deceived by those in whose kindness he had believed so +whole-heartedly. He fought the facts with loyalty, obstinately +trusting that some satisfactory explanation would be forthcoming, but +he did not understand, and the dumb question that spoke in his eyes +hurt Robert Morton more than any formulated reproach could have done. +It was human, the young man owned, that the inventor should resent +having been tricked. He himself, throughout the weary watches of the +night, had twisted and turned Janoah's damning testimony, struggling to +explain it away by some simple and harmless interpretation; yet he was +compelled to admit that the facts pointed in but one direction. And if +he was baffled in his search for a way out, how much more so must +Willie be? Why, he would be almost superman if he did not surrender +his faith before such convincing evidence. + +To the grief he experienced at forfeiting the little old man's trust, +Robert Morton was also compelled to add the bitterness of discovering +that those whose friendship was dearest to him had betrayed it and used +him as a stool pigeon in a contemptible plot that he would have scorned +to further had he been cognizant of it. He wondered, as he turned +restlessly on his pillow, whether it was Mr. Galbraith with whom the +duplicity originated or whether the conspiracy of yesterday was one of +Snelling's hatching. Was it not possible the employee desired the +invention for his own profit? That, to be sure, would be calamity +enough, but it would at least clear Mr. Galbraith of theft and +reinstate him in the young man's confidence. If only that could be the +answer to the riddle, how thankful he would be! + +Well, until he could be brought face to face with the capitalist, it +was futile to attempt to unravel the enigma. How he longed in his +bewilderment for the sympathy and counsel of a fresh perspective! But +on Tiny's discretion he could place no reliance and even had he been +able to do so, everything within him shrank from the disloyalty of +voicing evil against his friends until he had proof. Delight was also +an impossible confidant because of her recently discovered relationship +to the Galbraith family. To breathe a word which might at this +delicate juncture prejudice her against her new relatives would be +contemptible. No, there was nothing to be done but be patient and +maintain in the meantime as close a semblance to a normal attitude as +was possible. + +Fortunately the silence that settled down upon the silvered cottage +caused no surprise to any of its occupants. Having been warned not to +chatter, Celestina observed a welcome quietness perfectly understood. +Nor was it strange that in view of the shock Delight had received she +should be more thoughtful than usual. Nobody commented either on +Willie's abandonment of his inventing, or gave heed that he and Robert +Morton spoke little together. How could the Galbraiths, Bob's best +friends, be discussed in his presence? There was abundant explanation, +therefore, why a strained atmosphere should prevail and pass unnoticed +without either Celestina or Delight suspecting that its cause was other +than the disclosures made by Madam Lee on the previous afternoon. + +Nevertheless, eager as was each of the household to have speculation +satisfied and the future with whatever it might contain unfold, there +was a simultaneous start of apprehension when the Galbraiths' familiar +red car stopped at the gate of the cottage. From it alighted neither +Mr. Snelling nor any member of the family, but instead the chauffeur +gravely delivered to Robert Morton a hastily scrawled note written in +Mr. Galbraith's spreading hand. Marveling a little that it was he to +whom the communication should be addressed, the young man broke the +seal of the letter. + +Madam Lee, he read, weary with excitement, had retired almost +immediately after their departure, the maid attending her having left +her sleeping like a tired child; but when they had gone to arouse her +in the morning, it had been only to find that she had passed quietly +away in her sleep without struggle or suffering. Snelling had gone +over to New York to make the necessary funeral arrangements, and the +family were to follow the next day. There was nothing Bob could do, +but if he and Delight wished to accompany them, Mrs. Galbraith would be +glad to have them. Madam Lee had been devoted to Bob, and it was +Delight's unchallenged right to share in the final obsequies to her +grandmother. + +Awed, and in a low voice, Robert Morton read the communication aloud. + +"I shall go, of course," he said, with a catch in his voice. "Madam +Lee--was very dear to me. Had she been of my own people I could not +have cared for her more deeply." + +"And I--what shall I do?" questioned Delight. The appeal was to Bob, +and the sense of dependence vibrating in it thrilled him with tender +gladness. + +"I suppose," he answered gently, "it would make your grandmother happy +to know you were there. Wouldn't it be a token of forgiveness?" + +"What do you think, Willie?" the girl asked. + +"I agree with Bob that you should go, my dear," the old man replied. +"Somehow it seems as if your grandmother would rest the sweeter for +feelin' you were near by. An' anyhow, it's a mark of respect to the +dead. You're bound to show that, no matter how you feel. I'm pretty +sure that if you an' your grandmother had had the chance to get better +acquainted, you would have loved one another dearly. It was only that +it all came too late for you to feel toward her the same as Bob does." + +"Perhaps!" Delight returned with half-dazed seriousness. + +So it was decided the two young persons would go with the Galbraiths to +New York, and the next day they joined the Belleport family and +followed the body of the fine, stately old Southern woman to its last +resting place. There were no outside friends among the small group of +mourners, and the two days of constant and intimate companionship drew +them together with a closeness very vital in its results. Delight was +received into the circle with a tact and affection that not only put +her at her ease but won her heart; and Robert Morton, as Madam Lee's +favorite, was as much a part of the family as if he had been born into +it. For the time being, the common grief banished from his mind every +other thought, and once again he and his old-time friends met without a +shadow of distrust between them. Even Cynthia was in her most +appealing mood, casting all caprice and artificiality aside and +centering most of her attention on her newly acquired cousin. The +silent benediction of peace the presence of the dead brought brooded +over them all, and it was with no perfunctory tenderness that Delight +bent and gently kissed her grandmother's cold forehead. + +Then came the journey back to Belleport, and as Mr. Galbraith, Roger, +and Howard Snelling were all detained in New York, it was Bob who +brought the party home. In the meantime no opportunity had presented +itself for broaching to the financier the subject of Willie's +invention. The interval during the funeral rites was too inopportune, +and Robert Morton had lacked both the inclination and the courage to +break in upon such an occasion with an affair so sordid and unpleasant. +He had hoped that during the return to the Cape some chance for a talk +with the capitalist would be afforded him. But now there was no help +for it but to go back to Willie Spence's with the weight still heavy on +his heart. Mr. Galbraith, he learned, would have to remain in the city +two weeks or more; and an important business deal would keep Mr. +Snelling at the Long Island plant indefinitely. Hence for the present +there was not a possibility of clearing up the mystery. It was, +however, significant that Snelling evidently considered his part of the +work done; and if Janoah's accusations were founded on fact, as they +appeared to be, it was not surprising that he seized upon the confusion +of the present as a fortunate cover for his exit from Wilton. + +The more Robert Morton pondered on the train of events, the less +willing he became to connect Mr. Galbraith with the purloining of +Willie's idea. The financier had intended to do precisely what he had +specified, lend a friendly hand to the old man's scheme. It was +Snelling who had seen in the circumstance something too promising to +let pass and who, without his employer's knowledge, had made bold to +secure the device for his personal profit. In the meanwhile, ignorant +that Robert Morton was cognizant of his cupidity, he was as debonair as +if he had nothing on his conscience. He made himself useful in every +possible direction, and on parting from Bob at the train declared he +should look forward with the greatest anticipation to their future +business association together. How the young man longed to confront +the knave with his crime! It seemed almost imperative that before the +mischief proceeded farther steps should be taken to stop it. But what +proofs had he to present? + +No, a middle course was the only thing possible, Bob decided. He must +return to Willie's roof with the atmosphere uncleared and finish the +little that still remained to be done on the invention as if no shadow +clouded his sky. He could not leave Willie in the lurch. Furthermore, +it was out of the question for him to depart from Wilton until he had +come to an understanding with Delight Hathaway. The intimacy of the +past week, with its lights and shadows, had only served to render +stronger the bonds that bound him to her. In every issue the network +of strange events had developed her character, and displayed facets of +such unsuspected force and splendor that where beauty had at first +fascinated it was now the soul behind it that called to him. Truly +Madam Lee had in this grandchild a worthy descendant, and it brought an +added joy to his heart to thus link together the two beings he loved +most deeply. + +Therefore he made the journey back to Wilton, bravely resolved to bear +Janoah's taunts and Willie's silent reproaches until the moment came +when he could acquaint Mr. Galbraith with Snelling's perfidy and see +the injustice righted. It was not an enviable position, the one in +which he stood. He felt it to be only human that in the face of this +acid test the old inventor's affection and allegiance toward him should +waver, and that Janoah would detect and rejoice in its unsteadiness. +But as Bob relied upon ultimately solving the conundrum, he felt he +could endure a short interval of unmerited distrust. It was in Delight +and Tiny, who were unconscious of any false note in his relation to the +household, that he placed his hopes for aid. Hence it was with no +small degree of consternation that on reaching Wilton he learned that +the girl had resolved now to return to her own home. + +"I have been here over two weeks already," she said to Bob, "and I +really am needed by my own family. They miss me dreadfully when I am +gone. Zenas Henry goes down like a plummet, Abbie says. And then I +have so much to tell them! Besides, now that Aunt Tiny is well again, +there is no use in my remaining." + +"There is a great deal of use in it for me!" asserted the young man +moodily. + +"Nonsense! You and Willie have your work, and in a day or two you will +be so buried in it you won't know whether I am here or not." + +"Delight!" + +A warning echo in the word and a quick forward movement caused her to +add hurriedly: + +"And--and--anyway, you can come up to our house and see me there. You +will like the three captains and Abbie, you simply can't help it; they +are dears! And you will worship Zenas Henry--at least you will if he +is--I mean sometimes he doesn't--well, you know how older men feel when +younger ones appear. He is very devoted to me and he is always +afraid-- But I am sure he will understand, and that you and he will +get on beautifully together," she concluded with scarlet cheeks. + +The clumsy explanation had a dubious ring and Bob frowned. + +"You see, your being Aunt Tiny's nephew will help some; he likes her +very much. And of course any friend of Willie's and--and--of mine--" + +With every word the formidable Zenas Henry increased in formidableness. +She saw the scowl deepen. + +"You will come and see me, won't you?" she pleaded timidly. "I should +be sorry if--" + +Robert Morton caught the slender hand and held it firmly. + +"I'll come were there a thousand Zenas Henrys!" + +"That's nice!" she answered with a nervous laugh. "There won't be a +thousand, though. There never can be but one as good and as dear as he +is! Only remember, you mustn't come right away. I shall have a great +deal to tell them at home, and it won't be easy for Zenas Henry to face +the fact that the Galbraiths have any claims on me. It has always been +his pride that I had no relatives and belonged entirely to him. And I +do, you know," she went on quickly. "Nothing on earth shall take me +from Zenas Henry! I worried a good deal lest Madam L--lest my +grandmother should insist that I spend part of my time with her. But +that is all settled now. I can keep up my friendship with the +Galbraith family by calls and short visits, and everything will go on +as before. I don't want anything changed." + +The young man saw her draw in her chin proudly. "Of course I have +forgiven my grandmother," she went on, "but I never can forget that she +made my mother's life unhappy and that she was unkind to my father. So +I never wish to accept any favors from any of them." + +"But the Galbraiths are not to blame for the past," ventured Bob, his +loyalty instantly in arms. + +"No. But they are Lees." + +"Your grandmother was sorry--bitterly sorry," urged the young man in a +persuasive tone. "It was probably her regret that caused her death." + +The girl nodded sadly. + +"I know," she said. "I realize she lived to regret what she had done. +I am not blaming her. But for all that, she never can mean to me what +she might have meant. Rather I shall always think of her as a +handsome, stately old lady who was your friend and loved you." + +She turned to leave him, but he refused to let her go. + +"Delight," he cried, drawing her closer, "will your grandmother be +dearer to you because she loved me? Tell me, sweetheart! Do I mean +anything in your life? You are the only thing that matters in mine." + +He saw a radiance flash into her wonderful eyes, and in another instant +her head was against his breast. + +"It is only because of you, Bob," she whispered, clinging to him, "that +I can forgive the Lees at all." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE PROGRESS OF ANOTHER ROMANCE + +The ecstasy that came to Robert Morton with his new-found happiness +swept before it the clouds that had overcast his sky, until his horizon +was almost as radiant as it had been on the day of his arrival at +Wilton. Janoah Eldridge came no more to the Spence cottage; Snelling +had vanished; the Galbraiths were occupied with their own affairs; and +the barrier between Bob and Willie began slowly to wear away. The +little old man was of far too believing and charitable a nature to hold +out long against his own optimism; moreover, he detested strife and was +much more willing to endure a wrong than to harbor ill feeling; hence +he was only too ready to reconstruct Janoah's venomous story into terms +of his native blind faith. He did not, to be sure, understand, and for +days and nights he puzzled ceaselessly over the problem events +presented; but as no light was forthcoming, his zest in the enigma +cooled until the mystery took on the unfathomable quality of various +other mysteries he had wrestled with and finally shelved as +unanswerable. There was the invention to finish, and so eager was he +to see it completed that to this interest every other thought was +subordinated. Therefore, although misgivings assailed him, they +gradually receded into his subconsciousness, leaving behind them much +of the good will he had formerly cherished toward Robert Morton. + +The olive branch Willie tacitly extended Bob seized with avidity. Had +not the world suddenly become too perfect to be marred by discord? +Why, in the exuberance of his joy he would have forgiven anybody +anything! He did own to bruised feelings, but time is a great healer +of both mental and of physical pain, and the hurts he had received soon +dimmed into scars that carried with them no acute sensation. His mind +was too much occupied with Delight Hathaway and the wonder of their +love for him to think to any great extent of himself. The romance +still remained a secret between them, for so vehement had been the +turmoil into which Zenas Henry had been thrown by the tidings of the +girl's past history that it seemed unwise to follow blow with blow and +acquaint him just at present with the news of the lovers' engagement. +Moreover, there was Cynthia Galbraith to consider. Robert Morton was +too chivalrous to be brutal to any woman, much less an old friend like +Cynthia. + +Hence he and Delight moved in a dream, the full beauty of which they +alone sensed. Their secret was all the more delicious for being a +secret, and with all life before them they agreed they could afford to +wait. Nevertheless concealment was at variance with the character of +either, and although they derived a certain exhilaration from their +clandestine happiness they longed for the time when their path should +lie entirely in the open, when Zenas Henry's consent should be +obtained, and their betrothal acknowledged before all the world. Until +such a moment came an irksome deception colored their love and left +them in constant danger of discovery. Indeed, had the observer been +keen enough to interpret psychic phenomena, there was betrayal in the +soft light of Delight's eyes and in the grave tenderness of her face; +and as for Bob, he felt his great good-fortune must be emblazoned on +every feature of his countenance. + +In point of fact, no such condition prevailed. The girl returned to +her home and took her place there, bringing with her her customary +buoyancy of spirit; and if her light-heartedness was more exaggerated +than was her wont, those who loved her attributed it to her joy at +being once more beneath her own roof-tree. Zenas Henry and the three +captains fluttered about her as if her absence had been one of years +rather than of days; and even Abbie, less demonstrative than the +others, showed by a quiet satisfaction her deep contentment at having +the girl back again. + +Of course Robert Morton let no great length of time elapse before he +climbed the hill and invaded the Brewster home. As Celestina's nephew +and Willie's guest he had credentials enough to assure him of a +welcome, and for an interval these sufficed to give him an enviable +entrée; but after a few calls, his winning personality secured for him +a place of his own. He inspected Captain Phineas Taylor's broken +compass and set it right; he discussed rheumatism and its woes with +Captain Benjamin Todd; he lent an attentive ear to the nautical +adventures of Captain Jonas Baker. Abbie, who was a systematic +housekeeper, approved of his habit of wiping his feet before he entered +the door and the careful fashion he had of replacing any chair he +moved; most men, she averred, were so thoughtless and untidy. But it +was with Zenas Henry that the young man won his greatest triumph, the +two immediately coming into harmony on the common ground of +motor-boating. Most of the male visitors who dropped in at the white +cottage came only to see Delight, but here was one who came to call on +the entire family. How charming it was! They liked him one and all; +how could they help it? And soon, so eagerly did they anticipate his +coming, any lapse in his visits caused keen disappointment. + +"I kinder thought that Morton feller might be round this evenin'," +Captain Phineas would yawn in a dispirited tone, when twilight had +deepened and the familiar figure failed to make its appearance above +the crest of the hill. "Ain't it Tuesday? He most always comes +Tuesdays." + +"Tuesdays, Thursdays, an' Saturdays you can pretty mortal sure bank on +him," Captain Benjamin would reply. "If he's comin' to-night, he +better be heavin' into sight, for it's damp an' I'll have to be turnin' +in soon." + +"Mebbe he was delayed by somethin'," suggested Captain Jonas. "We'll +not give him up fur a spell longer. He told me he'd fetch me some +tobacco, an' he always does as he promises." + +Zenas Henry smoked in silence. + +"I sorter wish he would appear," he presently put in, between puffs at +his pipe. "There was somethin' I wanted to ask him about that durn +motor-boat." + +"You don't mean to say that boat's out of order again, do you, Zenas +Henry?" questioned Abbie. + +"No, oh, no! 'Tain't out of order exactly. But the pesky propeller is +kickin' up worse'n ordinary. It's awful taxin' on the patience. I'd +give a man everything I possess if he'd think up some plan to rid me of +that eel grass." + +"Why don't you set Willie on the job?" asked Captain Benjamin. + +"Ain't I told Willie over an' over again about it?" Zenas Henry +replied, turning with exasperation on the speaker. "Ain't I hinted to +him plain as day--thrown the bait to him times without number? An' +ain't he just swum round the hook an' gone off without so much as +nibblin' it? The thing don't interest him, it's easy enough to see +that. He don't like motor-boats an' ain't got no sympathy with 'em, +an' he don't give a hang if they do come to grief. In fact, I think he +rather relishes hearin' they're snagged. I gave up expectin' any help +from him long ago." + +With a frown he resumed his smoking. + +"Where's Delight?" Captain Phineas asked, scenting his friend's mood +and veering tactfully to a less irritating topic. + +"That's so! Where is the child?" rejoined Captain Jonas. "She was +round here fussin' with them roses a minute ago." + +"That ain't her over toward the pine grove, is it?" queried Captain +Benjamin. "I thought I saw somethin' pink a-movin' among the trees." + +"Yes, that's her an' Bob Morton with her, sure's you're alive!" Captain +Phineas ejaculated with pleasure. "You'll get your tobacco now, Jonas, +an' Zenas Henry can ask him about the boat." + +"Can you see has he got a bundle?" piped the short-sighted Captain +Jonas anxiously. + +"Yep!" + +"Then he ain't forgot the tobacco," was the contented comment. "He +don't generally forget. He's a mighty likely youngster, that boy!" + +"An' friendly too, ain't he?" put in Captain Benjamin. "There's +nothin' he wouldn't do for you." + +"He's the nicest chap ever I see!" Captain Phineas echoed. "Don't you +think so, Zenas Henry?" + +The answer was some time in coming, and when it did it was deliberate +and was weighted with telling impressiveness: + +"There's few young fry can boast Bob Morton's common sense," he said. +"His headpiece is on frontside-to, an' the brains inside it are tickin' +strong an' steady." + +Abbie failed to join in the laugh that followed this announcement. +Either she did not catch the remark, or she was too deeply engrossed +with her own thoughts to heed it. Her eyes were fixed wistfully on the +two figures that were approaching,--the girl exquisite with youth and +happiness and the man who leaned protectingly over her. Yet whatever +the reveries that clouded her pensive face, she kept them to herself, +and if a shadow of dread mingled with her scrutiny no one noticed it. + +Perhaps it was only Willie Spence who actually guessed the great +secret,--Willie, who having been starved for romance of his own, was +all the quicker to hear the heart-throbs of others. It chanced that +just now he was deeply involved in several amorous affairs and because +of them was experiencing no small degree of worry. The tangle between +Bob, Delight, and Cynthia Galbraith kept him in a state of constant +speculation and disquietude; then Bart Coffin and Minnie were +perilously near a rupture because of another rejuvenation of the +time-honored black satin; and although weeks had passed, Jack Nickerson +had not yet mustered up nerve enough to offer his heart and hand to +Sarah Libbie Lewis. + +"Next you know, both you an' Sarah Libbie will be under the sod," +Willie had tauntingly called after the lagging swain, as he passed the +house one afternoon on his way from the village. "What on earth you're +waitin' for is mor'n I can see." + +The discomfited coast guard hung his head sheepishly. + +"It's all right for you to talk, Willie Spence," he replied over his +shoulder. "You ain't got the speakin' to do. It's I that's got to ask +her." + +Then as he sped out of sight, he added as an afterthought: + +"By the way, Bart an' Minnie Coffin have come to a split at last over +that 'ere dress. After gettin' it fixed, an' promisin' him 'twas fur +the last time, she's ripped it all up again 'cause she's seen some +picter in a book she liked better. Bart's that mad he's took his sea +chest in the wheelbarrow an' set out for his mother's. I met him goin' +just now." + +"Bless my soul!" gasped Willie in consternation. "How far had he got?" + +"He was about quarter way to the Junction," was the response. "He sung +out he was headed where he'd be sure of gettin' three meals a day, an' +where somebody'd pay some attention to him." + +"H--m!" Willie reflected, scratching his thin locks. "Sorter looks as +if it was time I took a hand, don't it?" + +"I figger if anybody's goin' to interfere, now's the minute. Bart's +got his sails set an' is clearin' port fur good an' all this time, no +mistake. 'Twas sure to come sooner or later." + +Their roads parted and Willie turned toward the town, while Jack +Nickerson, with rolling gait, pursued his way to the beach where at the +tip of a slender bar of sand jutting out into the ocean the low roofs +of the life-saving station lay outlined against a somber sky. Great +banks of leaden clouds sagging over the horizon had dulled the water to +blackness, and a stiff gale was whistling inshore. Already the billows +were mounting angrily into caps of snarling foam and dashing themselves +on the sands with threatening echo. It promised to be a nasty night, +and Jack remembered as he looked that he was on patrol duty. Yet +although the muscles of his jaw tightened into grimness, it was not the +prospective tramp along a lonely beach in the darkness and wind that +caused the stern tensity of his countenance. Storms and their perils +were all in the day's work, and he faced their possible catastrophes +without a tremor. It would have been hard to find anywhere along the +Massachusetts coast a braver man than Jack Nickerson. Not only was he +ready to lead a crew of rescuers to succor the perishing, fearlessly +directing the surfboat in its plunge through a seething tide, but many +a time he had dashed bodily into the breakers, despite the hazard of a +powerful undertow, and dragged some drowning creature to a place of +safety. The fame of his many deeds of heroism had spread from one end +of the Cape to the other, and as he was native-born the community never +tired of relating his feats to any sojourner who strayed into the +locality. + +Yet courageous as was Jack Nickerson, there was one thing he was afraid +of and that was a woman. Not that he trembled in the presence of all +women--no, indeed! He had brought far too many of them to land for +that. Women as a class did not appall him in the least. He had seen +them in the agony of terror, in the throes of despair, and undismayed +had offered them sympathy and cheer. It was one woman only who +disconcerted him, the woman who for years had routed him out of his +habitual poise and left him as discomfited as a guilty schoolboy caught +in raiding the jam-pot. + +Yes, he who inspired his associates with both respect and admiration +was forced to acknowledge to himself that when face to face with Sarah +Libbie Lewis he was nothing better than a faltering ten-year-old whose +collar is too tight for him, and whose hands and feet are sizes too +large. The paradox was too humiliating to be endured! Nevertheless, +he had endured the ignominy of it for five-and-twenty years, and there +seemed to be every prospect that he would continue to endure it. +Periodically, it is true, he would rise in his wrath, resolving that +another sun should not go down on his vacillation and timidity; nay, +more, he would even stride forth to Sarah Libbie's home, vowing as he +went that before he slept he would speak the decisive words that had +for so long trembled on his tongue. + +Confronted by the lady of his choice, however, his courage, like that +of the immortal Bob Acres, would ooze away, and after basking for a +wretched interval in the glory of her smile, he would retrace his steps +with the declaration still unuttered. As far back as Jack could +remember, this woman had tyrannized over him and humbled his +self-esteem. In childhood she had leveled with a blow the sand castles +he built on the beach for her delight, and ever since she had contrived +to raze to the ground his less tangible castles,--dream-castles where +he saw her the mistress of his lonely fireside. Yet despite her +exasperating capriciousness, Jack had never wavered in his allegiance, +not a whit. Long ago he had made up his mind that Sarah Libbie was the +one woman in the world for him, and he had never seen cause to alter +that verdict. Nor did he entertain any doubt that Sarah Libbie's +sentiments coincided with his own, even though she did cloak her +preference beneath so many intricate and misleading devices of +femininity. It was not fear of the thundering _No_ that hindered Jack +from proclaiming his affection; it was merely the physical +impossibility of putting his heart into intelligible and coherent +phraseology when Sarah Libbie's bewitching gaze was upon him. He could +meet all comers in a political argument, could hold his own against the +banter of the village gossips; he could even defy Willie and his +counsel; but to address Sarah Libbie on a matter so tender and of such +vital import was an ordeal so overwhelming that it caused his tongue to +cleave to the roof of his mouth, and his pulse almost to cease to beat. +Unlucky Jack! + +Many were the evenings he tramped the dunes, rehearsing in the darkness +the momentous declaration that was to work a miracle in his solitary +life. Like an actor committing his lines, he would repeat the words, +hurling them upon the blackness of the night where, to the +accompaniment of the booming surf, they echoed with a majesty and +dignity astonishingly impressive. But in the light of day and Sarah +Libbie's presence, his sonorous philippic would dwindle away into a +jargon of garbled phrases too disjointed and meaningless to carry +weight with any woman, let alone the peerless Sarah Libbie Lewis. + +Thus for more than a quarter of a century Jack Nickerson had silently +worshiped at the shrine of his divinity, and in the meantime the roses +in Sarah Libbie's cheeks had grown fainter, and tendrils of silver had +found their way into the soft curls that shadowed her brow. Still Jack +could not speak the words that were on his lips. Of course the little +woman could not do it for him, although she did venture by many a +subtle device to aid him in his dilemma. She baked for him pies, +cookies, and doughnuts of a delicious russet tint and sent them to the +station, that their aroma might gently prod into action her lover's +faintness of heart; these visible tokens of her devotion would +disappear, however, leaving behind them only a tranquil sense of +enjoyment; and as this lessened the fervor of her admirer's +determination would evaporate. Then Sarah Libbie would resort to less +ephemeral offerings,--scarves, wristers, mittens, patiently knitted +from blue wool and representing such an endless number of stitches that +Jack never viewed them without elation. + +And as if these proofs of her regard were not sufficient, every evening +just at sundown she would light a lantern and flash a good-night to him +across the waters that estranged them. It was a pretty custom that had +had its beginning when the boy and girl had lived as neighbors on the +deserted highway that followed the horseshoe curve of the Belleport +shore. They had evolved a code whereby, with much labor it must be +admitted, they were able to spell out messages that flickered their way +through the night with the beauty of a firefly's revel; but when Jack +had taken up work with the coast guard, this old-time substitute for +speech had been abandoned, giving place to the briefer method of three +nightly flashes. Neither toil nor illness, rain, snow or tempest had +in all the years prevented Sarah Libbie from being at her post at +twilight, there to watch for the gleam of Jack's lantern, whose rays +she answered with the light from her own. Even when fogs obscured the +Bar so that the distant headland was cut off from view, Sarah Libbie +would go through the little ceremony and after it was over return to +her knitting with a quiet gladness, although the presence of the other +factor in the drama was a mere matter of conjecture. + +Thus the romance had drifted on, and Jack Nickerson now faced his +fiftieth year and was no nearer bringing the love story to a +culmination than he had been when as a boy in his teens he had gazed +into Sarah Libbie's blue eyes and registered the vows he had never yet +dared utter. Nevertheless lonely and disappointed as was Sarah Libbie, +Jack was a thousand times more miserable. To-night, especially, as he +tramped the coast in the teeth of the gale, he thought of Willie +Spence's ridicule and one of his periodic moods of self-abasement came +upon him. What a wretched cur he was! How lacking in nerve! Any +woman, he muttered to himself, was better off without such a +feeble-willed, spineless husband! + +The fierce winds and whirling sands that stung his cheeks and buffeted +him seemed a merited castigation, a castigation that amounted to a +penance. He welcomed their punishment. As he stumbled on through the +pitch black of the night, he asked himself what he was going to do. +Was he always to go on loving Sarah Libbie and letting her love him and +never in manly fashion bring the affair to a climax? If he did not +mean to make her his wife, had he the right to stand in the way and +prevent her from marrying some one else? The baldness of the question +brought him up with a turn, and as he paused breathlessly awaiting his +own verdict, his eye was caught by the lantern dangling from his hand. +He regarded it with slow wonder as if he had never seen it before. Why +had he never thought until now of this method of communication? Not +only was it simple and direct, but it also obviated the difficulty that +had always been the stumbling-block in his path,--the necessity of +confronting Sarah Libbie in the flesh. He grasped the inspiration with +zeal. Fate was with him. His watch was up, and he was free to make +his way back to the station, if he so willed, and put his remarkable +scheme into execution. + +Away he sped through the howling tempest. + +As he flew up the steps of the lookout tower, he could detect the +twinkling lights from his lady's home gemmed against the background of +velvet darkness. Perhaps her fluttering little heart was uneasy about +her lover, and she was peering out into the gale. However that may be, +he had no difficulty in summoning her to the window when he raised his +lantern. Then, with the talisman held high, he paused. What should he +say? Of course he could send no lengthy message. Even a few words +meant a laborious amount of spelling. Perhaps _Will You Marry Me?_ was +as simple and direct a way as he could put it. Firmly he gripped the +lantern. Then, instead of the customary three flashes, he began the +involved liftings, dippings, and circlings which in luminous waves were +to spell out his destiny. + +_Will You Marry_-- + +Ah, there was no need for him to go on! Sarah Libbie had waited too +long for those magic words to doubt their purport. Nor did she +hesitate for an answer. In an instant she caught up the unique avowal, +and across the turbulent waters signalled to her beloved the three +mystic letters that should make her his forever. With the faint, +blinking flashes, the weight of years fell away from Jack Nickerson. +No longer was he a trembling, tongue-tied captive, scorning himself for +his want of will. He was a free man, the affianced husband of the most +wonderful creature in the world. In his exultation he raised his +lantern aloft and swung it round and round with the abandon of a boy +who tosses his cap in the air. Then he bounded down the iron staircase +like a child let out of school, dashing round their spiral windings +with reckless velocity. + +The deed was done! Sarah Libbie was his! + + +It might have been half an hour later, as he sat smoking in blissful +meditation in the living room of the station, that the door was +wrenched open and Willie Spence burst into the room. Every hair on the +old inventor's head was upright with anxiety, and he puffed +breathlessly: + +"What's ashore? I saw your signal an' knew straight off somethin' +terrible was up, for you've never called for help from the town before. +I've raised all the folks I could get a-holt of an' Bob Morton's gone +to get more. They'll be here on the double quick!" + +The boast was no idle one. Even as he spoke there was a tramping, a +rush of feet, and a babel of confused, frightened voices, and into the +room flocked the dwellers of the hamlet,--men, women, and children, all +with wind-tossed hair and strained, terrified faces. + +"What is it?" + +"What's the matter?" + +"Where's the wreck?" + +As they stood there tragic in the dim light, there was a stir near the +door and Sarah Libbie Lewis pushed her way through the crowd. + +She had stopped only to toss a black shawl over her head and in +contrast to its sable folds her cheeks and lips were ashen. + +"They told me there was a wreck," she cried, rushing to Jack's side and +seizing his arm wildly. "Oh, you won't go--you won't go and leave me +now, Jack--not so soon--not after to-night!" + +Already sobs were choking the words and her hands were clinging to his. + +With the supreme defiance of a man prepared to defend his dearest +possession against the universe, Jack Nickerson circled her in his +embrace and faced the throng. No longer was he the shrinking, timorous +supplicant. Victorious love had set her crown upon his brows, +bestowing dignity upon his years and glory upon his manhood. His +explanation came fearlessly to his lips. + +"There ain't no wreck," he said quietly. "All the same I'm glad you +saw my lantern an' came, 'cause I've got somethin' to tell you all. Me +an' Sarah Libbie are goin' to get married." + +For a moment there was an incredulous hush. Then Willie Spence came to +the rescue. + +"Well, I will say, Jack," he drawled, "you had a pretty good nerve to +get us out on a night like this to tell us that! You might at least +have waited 'til mornin'. Still, I reckon if I'd been nigh on to a +quarter of a century gettin' my spunk together to ask a woman to marry +me an' had finally done it, I'd a-wanted somebody to know it." + +The words were not unkindly spoken and Jack joined in the general +laugh. Nothing mattered to him now. Oblivious to the spectators, he +was bending down over the woman he loved and murmuring: + +"I love you, Sarah Libbie. I've always loved you." + +The little old inventor watched the radiant pair a moment then motioned +to the villagers to slip away. But Bartley Coffin could not be +restrained from lagging behind and whispering confidentially in Jack's +ear: + +"If you want to be truly happy, mate, an' live clear of a life of +pesterin', don't you never buy Sarah Libbie a satin dress! Minnie an' +I have made it up, thanks to Willie Spence, but 'twas a tussle. I'd +come to the jumpin'-off place." + +The statement was but too true. Willie had indeed intervened and +averted a tragedy, but the feat had demanded ruthless measures, and he +had trudged home from the Coffins with the bone of contention clutched +rigidly beneath his arm. + +That night Celestina heard muffled sounds in the workshop. + +"Oh, my land!" she murmured. "If Willie ain't hitched again! I did +hope nothin' new would come to him 'til he got rested up from this +other idee." + +But Willie's inspiration was not of the inventive type. Instead the +little old man was standing before the stove, kindling a fire, and into +its crackling blaze he was bundling the last remnants of Minnie +Coffin's far-famed black satin. The light played on his face which was +set in grim earnestness. + +"It seems a wicked shame," he observed in a whisper, as he viewed the +funeral pyre, "but it's the only way. Long's that dress remained on +earth there'd be no peace for Bart nor his wife either. It had to go." + +The flames danced higher, flashing in and out of the trimmings of jet +and charring the beads to dullness. In the morning only a heap of gray +ashes marked the flight of Minnie Coffin's social ambitions. + +"_Requiescat in pace_!" murmured Willie as with lips firm with Puritan +stoicism he passed by the stove. There he added gently: "Poor Minnie! +Poor foolish Minnie!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +WILLIE AS PILOT + +The invention was finished! The last rivet was in place, the last +screw secure, and before the fulfilment of his dream the little old man +stood with glowing face. It was a gentle, happy face with misty blue +eyes that carried at the moment a serene contentment. + +"I couldn't 'a' done it but for you, Bob," he was saying. "The idea +was all well enough, but 'twould 'a' been of no use without other +brains to carry it out. So you must remember a big slice of the credit +is yours." + +Robert Morton shook his head. + +"Oh, the thing is yours, Willie--every bit yours," protested he. "I +only did some of the mechanical part, and that any fool could do." + +"The mechanical part, as you call it, is full as important as the +notion," Willie persisted. "I shall tell Zenas Henry it's our +invention when I turn it over to him." + +The pronoun thrilled Bob with pleasure. It meant the sweeping aside of +the last film of distrust and the restoration of the old man's former +confidence and friendship. For days Willie had slowly been reaching +the conviction that if fraud had been practised Tiny's nephew had been +only an innocent party to it--the tool of more designing hands. How +was the lad to know he was being so artfully made use of? And anyway, +perhaps there may have been no conspiracy at all. Might not Janoah +have been mistaken about Snelling raiding the workshop? Why, a score +of reasons might have brought him there! He might have left behind him +something he needed; or there might have been something he wanted to +do. It was absurd to accuse him of a secret and deliberately planned +visit. + +Willie was a simple, single-minded soul and now that Janoah and his +malicious influence had been removed, he dropped comfortably back into +a tranquillity from which, when viewed in perspective, his former +suspicions seemed both unjust and ridiculous. Suppose Mr. Galbraith +did happen to be a boat-builder? Was he not Bob's friend and Delight's +uncle, a gentleman of honor who had money enough without stooping to +secure more by treachery? And did it not follow that since Mr. +Snelling was in his employ he must be a person of reputable character? +A fig for Janoah Spence's accusations! + +Willie blew a contemptuous whiff of smoke into the air. How had he +ever dropped to being so base as to credit them for an instant? He was +ashamed for having done so. + +Therefore whole-heartedly he gave his hand to Robert Morton, and if the +act were a mute petition for forgiveness it was none the less sincere +in its intent and was met with an equal spirit of good will. + +"I suppose now that everything is complete, there is no reason why we +can't present the thing to Zenas Henry right away, is there?" +questioned Bob, who with hands thrust deep in his trousers' pockets +contemplated with satisfaction the product of their joint toil. + +"Not the least in the world," Willie answered. "If we was to keep it +here a week there ain't nothin' more we could do to it, an' since +you've tried it out over at Galbraith's we know it works." + +"Oh, it works all right!" laughed Bob. + +The eyes of the little inventor softened and into them crept a glint of +pensiveness. + +"Yes," he repeated, "we can deliver it up to Zenas Henry 'most anytime +now." He paused. "Queer, ain't it, how kinder attached you get to +anything you've fussed over so long? It gets to be 'most a part of +you. You'll think it funny, I guess, but do you know I'll be sorter +sorry to see this thing goin'." + +It was the regret of the parent compelled to part from his child and +with an effort at comfort Robert Morton said cheerfully: + +"Oh, you'll be having a new scheme before long." + +"Mebbe I will," Willie answered, brightening. "I never can tell when +the sun rises in the mornin' what idee will kitch me before night. +Still, I somehow feel there'll be no idee like this one. You know they +say every artist creates one masterpiece," he smiled shyly. "This, I +reckon, is my masterpiece." + +"It is a bully one, anyhow!" ejaculated Bob. "Aren't you curious to +hear what Zenas Henry will say when he sees it?" + +"I am sorter itchin' to," admitted Willie in less meditative tone. +"Only last night I was thinkin' after I got to bed how would be the +best way of givin' it to him. I've sorter set my heart on springin' it +on him as a surprise. What's your notion?" + +"I think that would be a fine plan," replied Bob, eager to humor the +gentle dreamer. "If we could get him and the captains out of the way, +it would be good sport simply to fasten the attachment to the boat and +wait and see what happened." + +"Wouldn't that be the beateree!" chimed in Willie excitedly. His face +glowed and he rubbed his hands with honest pleasure. "Wouldn't it, +though? We could manage it, too, for Delight could arrange to get +Zenas Henry an' the three captains out of the way. She's an almighty +good one at keepin' a secret, as I reckon you've found out already." + +He stole a sly glance at the young man at his elbow who flushed +uncomfortably. + +"Yes," he rambled on, "Delight can shut her mouth on occasions like as +if it was a scallop shell. The only trouble is she'd oughter close her +eyes too, for they talk 'most as well as her tongue does. Likely +you've noticed that," he added innocently. + +"I--eh--" + +"Fur's that goes, your own eyes do somethin' in the speakin' line," +affirmed Willie, bending to fleck a bit of dust from the appliance +before them. + +"What!" Robert Morton exclaimed with alarm. + +The old inventor nodded gravely. + +"Yes," continued he, "now I come to think of it, you've got among the +most speakin' eyes I ever see. They kinder bawl things right out." + +"What--what--have they--" stammered Bob, crumpling weakly down upon the +rickety chair before the stove. + +"Bawled? Oh, a lot of things," was the provokingly ambiguous retort. + +His companion eyed him narrowly. + +"I'm--I'm--in a horrible mess, Willie," he suddenly blurted out quite +irrelevently. + +"I know it." + +Robert Morton gasped, then lapsed into stunned silence. + +"Without goin' into any details or discussin' any ladies we know, my +advice would be to make a clean breast of the whole thing," the little +old man announced, avoiding Robert Morton's eyes and blowing a ring of +smoke from his pipe impersonally toward the low ceiling. "Have it out +with Zenas Henry an' set yourself right with the Belleport folks. You +don't want to do nothin' under cover." + +"No, I don't," rejoined the younger man quickly. "The reason I didn't +do so in the first place was because Zenas Henry was so upset when he +heard about Madam Lee that we--I thought--" + +"He's calmed down now, ain't he?" + +"Yes, he seems to have accepted the facts, especially as the Galbraiths +have not been near him and have let the whole matter drop. Of course +that is only a temporary condition, however. Mr. Galbraith has been in +New York attending to important matters ever since Madam Lee's death. +What will be done when he returns I do not know; but he will do +something--you may be sure of that." + +"That ain't no special business of yours or mine, is it?" Willie +remarked. "All that concerns you is to let both those men know where +you stand--Zenas Henry first, 'cause he's been like a father to +Delight; an' Mr. Galbraith afterwards, 'cause--" he hesitated for the +fraction of a second, "'cause the Galbraiths are the girl's nearest of +kin an' legally, I s'pose, have a right--" + +"Yes," interrupted Robert Morton hastily. + +"When you get things all squared up, we'll talk more about it," +continued Willie. "But 'til you do the affair ain't open an' above +board, an' I don't want nothin' to do with it. The top of the ocean is +good enough for me; I never was much on swimmin' under water." + +He broke off abruptly to refill his pipe. + +"Now about this motor-boat," he went on crisply, veering to a less +delicate subject. "S'pose you fix it up with Delight to keep Zenas +Henry an' the three captains away from the beach for a couple of days +so'st to give us time to get our invention securely rigged to the _Sea +Gull_. She could find somethin' for 'em to do up at the house for that +long, couldn't she?" + +"I guess so." + +"If she can't, Abbie can," chuckled Willie, with a grin. "Abbie +Brewster's the most famous woman in the world for settin' folks to +work. She's made Zenas Henry clean over since his marriage. Why, I +remember the time when you could no more have got him to do a day's +work than you could have lined up the fish of the sea in a +Sunday-school. But with trainin', Zenas Henry now does his plowin', +plantin' an' harvestin' in somethin' approachin' alarm-clock fashion. +Of course, he backslides if he ain't constantly held to it; but knowin' +his past it's a miracle what Abbie's made of him. She ain't never +wholly reformed his temper, though. There's plenty of cayenne in that +still. I reckon if you was to amputate Zenas Henry's temper you'd find +you had took away the most interestin' part of him." + +His listener smiled. + +"Now you go ahead an' arrange things with Delight, Bob," continued +Willie. "An interview with her won't be no great hardship for you, +will it? I thought not. An' any fillin' in I can do, I'll do--any +fillin' in," he repeated significantly. "You can count on me to plug +any gaps that come anywheres--remember that." + +"It's bully of you, Willie!" cried Bob, seizing his hand. + +"Not a mite," protested the little man, with a deprecating gesture. +"Now that I've got Bart Coffin an' Minnie livin' like turtle doves, an' +Jack Nickerson as good as married to Sarah Libbie Lewis, two of my +ships seem to have dropped anchor safe an' sound. I reckon I shan't +need to do no more pilotin' there." + +The little old inventor stopped a moment, then added: + +"Sometimes I figger what I was put in the world for was to do pilot +duty. You know there's folks that never own a ship of their own but +just spend their days towin' other people's ships into port. They +ain't so bad off neither," he went on in a merrier tone, "'cause +there's a heap of joy in helpin' some other vessel to make a landin'." + +More moved by the words than he would have confessed, Robert Morton +watched the bent figure move through the door and out into the +sunshine; and afterward, banishing the seriousness of his mood, he +climbed the hill to the white cottage, there to evolve with Delight a +plot that should hold the men of the Brewster household captive long +enough for Willie and himself to attach to Zenas Henry's motor-boat the +new invention. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +ONE MORE OF WILLIE'S SHIPS REACHES PORT + +Three feverish days passed, days of constant hard work and myriad +trivial annoyances. A train of misadventures had attended the +transference of Willie's "idee" to Zenas Henry's boat. Parts had +failed to fit, and much wearisome toil had been demanded before the +device was actually in place. At last, however, all was ready, and +Abbie Brewster, a party to the conspiracy, had on a sunny morning urged +her reluctant spouse and the three captains to make a trip out to the +Bar for clams. They were none too keen about the proposed expedition, +for the weather was warm and their course lay through shallow waters +which after the recent storm were turbid with seaweed. Nevertheless, +ignoring their unwillingness, Abbie declared she must have the clams, +and was not her word law? + +Therefore, without enthusiasm, the four fishermen had set forth with +their buckets and their clam forks, and it was now a full three hours +since the motor-boat that carried them had disappeared around the point +of sand jutting into the sparkling waters of the bay. + +Bob and Willie, secreted in the workshop, had breathlessly watched the +_Sea Gull_ thread her way through the channel and make the curving +shelter of the dunes, and ever since the old inventor had sat alert on +an overturned nail keg, his binoculars in one hand and his great silver +watch in the other, counting the moments until the little craft should +return from its momentous cruise. The vigil had been long and tedious, +with only the ticking of the mammoth timepiece and the far-off rumble +of the surf to break the stillness. + +Presently Celestina came from the kitchen into the shop. + +"I'm bringin' you a dish of hot doughnuts," she said, a kindly sympathy +in her face. "Oughtn't them men to be comin' pretty soon now?" + +For the hundredth time Willie raised the glasses and scanned the +shimmering golden waters. + +"We should sight 'em before long," he nodded. + +"You don't see nothin' of 'em?" + +"Not yet." + +There was an anxious frown on his forehead. + +"Why don't you eat somethin'?" suggested she. "It might take your mind +off worryin'." + +"I ain't worryin', Tiny," was the confident reply. "The boat's all +right." + +"S'pose it should be snagged or somethin' outside the bay?" she +ventured. "I wish to goodness they'd come back. Look, here's Delight +an' Abbie comin' through the grove. Likely they've been gettin' +uneasy, too." + +Sure enough, moving among the low pines that shaded the slope between +the Spence and Brewster houses they saw the two women. + +Abbie was stouter now than when she had come as a bride to Zenas +Henry's white cottage, but there was a serenity in her mien that +softened her expression into charming womanliness. As she neared the +shed she glanced at Willie with an uneasiness she could not wholly +conceal. + +"Don't it seem to you, Willie, that it's gettin' most time for 'em to +be gettin' home?" + +"You ain't nervous, Abbie," smiled the little old man. + +"N--o, not really. Of course, I know they're all right. Still, they +ain't never stayed clammin' so long before." + +"I wouldn't worry, Auntie," Delight put in, taking her hand +reassuringly. "A thousand things may have delayed them. I am sure--" + +"They're comin'!" broke in Willie with sudden excitement. "The boat's +comin'. Ain't that her makin' the point, Bob? She's clippin' along +like a race horse, too. Lord! Watch her go." + +"That's the _Sea Gull_!" cried Abbie. "I don't need no glasses to make +her out. That's her! How foolish I was to go fussin'. Still, I +always have a kind of dread--" + +"I know, I know," interrupted the inventor gently. "But there warn't +no call for worry this time. I felt mortal certain they'd be heavin' +into sight pretty soon." + +"I guess likely now we know they're on the way, we'd better slip home +again," Abbie smiled. "I'd feel silly enough to have 'em find us here." + +"Nonsense, Abbie!" said Celestina. "They needn't know you was worried. +Ain't it possible you might have come down here on an errand? Wait +'til they pass and walk back with 'em. What difference does it make if +your dinner is late?" + +Abbie hesitated. Her dinner never was late; yet, for that matter, she +never was out visiting her neighbors in the middle of the day, either. +Perhaps, as she had followed one demoralizing impulse and transgressed +all her domestic traditions, the breaking of another did not matter. + +"I--s'pose I might wait," she answered. "I'd love dearly to hear what +they'll have to say." + +"Oh, do wait, Auntie!" Delight begged. "It won't be long now before +they get here." + +"Better stay, Abbie," put in Willie. "Bob an' I won't be inventin' +every day." + +"Well," was the half unwilling answer. + +"Don't you wonder how it worked?" cried Delight, addressing Bob, her +cheeks scarlet with excitement. "See, here they come! Did you ever +hear such a chatter! Zenas Henry is swinging that clam bucket as if +there wasn't a thing in it. He will spill them all out if he isn't +careful." + +On strode the four men. With a bound they cleared the bank before the +Spence cottage and crowded in at the narrow gate. + +"Whar is he? Whar's Willie?" demanded Zenas Henry. Then, catching +sight of the old inventor half concealed behind his workbench, he +shouted: + +"Here, Willie, you rascal, out with you! Don't go hidin' there behind +that table. Man alive, why didn't you tell us what you was up to?" + +"Did it work, Zenas Henry?" queried the little fellow eagerly. + +"Did it work!" mimicked Zenas Henry with a guffaw. "Say, Phineas, did +it?" + +The fishermen gave an exuberant roar of laughter. + +"Did it work?" repeated Zenas Henry so out of breath that he could +scarcely articulate the words. "Good Lord, don't it just! Why, we +clipped along through that seaweed as if it warn't there." + +"You didn't get snagged then?" + +"Snagged? Not much! Ain't we been ridin' in an' out every little eel +grass cove along the shore just for the sheer deviltry of seein' if we +could get snagged?" piped Captain Benjamin. "There'll be no more +rockin' in the channel for us. My eye! Think of that!" + +"How ever did you manage it, Willie?" Zenas Henry questioned. + +"What makes you so sure it was me?" + +"Oh, Lord! Who else would it be?" + +"Well, it warn't all me," protested the little inventor modestly. +"Most of it was Bob. I got the idee an' he did the rest--him an' Mr. +Galbraith's friend, Mr. Snellin'." + +"Well, I'm clean beat--that's all I can say," observed Zenas Henry, +mopping his brow. "I tell you what, it's made a new thing of that +motor-boat. There's no thankin' you. All is, Willie, if you want +anything of mine it's yours for the askin'. Just speak up an' you can +have it." + +A radiant smile spread over the face of the spinner of cobwebs. + +"You ain't got nothin' I covet, Zenas Henry," he answered slowly, "but +you've got somethin' Bob Morton wants powerful bad." + +He saw a mystified expression steal into Zenas Henry's face. + +"Happiness didn't come to you early in life, Zenas Henry," went on +Willie, his voice taking on a note of gentle persuasion, "an' often +I've heard you lament you was cheated out of spendin' your youth with +Abbie. Of course, marryin' late is better than not marryin' at all, +though. Some of the rest of us--" he motioned toward the three +captains and Celestina, "have got passed by altogether. But Delight +an' Bob have found love early, while the bloom is still on it. You +wouldn't wish to keep 'em from their birthright, would you, Zenas +Henry?" + +In the hush that followed the plea, Abbie crept up to her husband and +slipped her hand into his. + +"The child loves him, dear," she said, looking up into the man's stern +face. "I read it in her eyes long ago. You want her to be happy, +don't you?" + +Her voice trembled. Only the mother instinct, supreme in its +selflessness, gave her the strength to continue: "We must not think of +ourselves. Real love is heaven-sent. It is ours neither to give nor +to deny." + +How still the room was. Suddenly it had been transformed into a battle +ground on which a soul waged mortal combat. There was no question in +the minds of those who viewed the struggle that the issue presented had +come as a shock, and that to meet it taxed every ounce of forbearance +and control that the man possessed. He looked as one stricken, his +face a turmoil of jealousy, grief, despair, and disappointment. But +gradually a gentler light shone in his eyes,--a light radiant, and +triumphant; love was conqueror and raising his head he murmured: + +"Where is the child?" + +She sped to his side. + +"So you love him, do you, little girl?" he asked, smiling faintly down +at her as he encircled her with his great arm. + +"Yes, Zenas Henry," she whispered. + +For a moment he held her close as if he could never let her go. + +"Well, Tiny," he said, "I don't know as we have anything to say against +it. He's your nephew an' she's my daughter--yes, my daughter," he +added fiercely, "in spite of the Lees and the Galbraiths." With a +swift gesture he turned toward Robert Morton. "Young man, I am payin' +you a heavy fee for that motor-boat. I'm handin' over to you the most +precious thing I have in the world. See you value it as you should or, +by God, your life won't be worth a straw to Willie, the three captains, +or me." + +They saw him wheel abruptly and stride alone into the shadow of the low +pines. Silently the others drifted from the room and Delight was left +alone with her lover. + +As Bob caught the girl in his arms, a great wave of passion surged +through his body, causing its every fiber to vibrate in tune with the +mad beating of his heart. He kissed her hair, her cheeks, the white +curve of her exquisite throat; he buried his face in her hair and let +his hands wander over its silky ripples. + +"I love you," he panted,--"I love you with all my heart. Tell me you +love me, Delight." + +"You know I do," was the shy answer. + +Again he kissed her soft lips. + +"I mustn't stay, Bob," she said at last, trying to draw herself from +his embrace. "Zenas Henry is alone somewhere, almost broken-hearted; I +must find and comfort him." + +But the arms that held her did not loosen their hold. + +"Please let me go, Bob dear," she coaxed. "We mustn't be selfish." + +Her request struck the right note and instantly she was free. + +Robert Morton followed her to the door and stood watching as she +hurried along the copper-matted path of the woods sunflecked and +mottled with shadow. + +What a sweet miracle it was, he mused! She was his now before all the +world, thanks to Willie's skilful pilotage. Where was the little old +man--that dreamer of dreams, who with Midas-like touch left upon +everything with which he came in contact the golden impress of his +heart? He must seek him out and thank him for his aid. + +Perhaps the thought carried with it a potent charm of magic, for no +sooner had Robert Morton framed it than the inventor himself appeared +on the threshold. + +"Well, another of my ships has made port!" cried he triumphantly. + +His delicate face was illumined with a joy so transcendent that one +might easily have believed that it was to him love's touchstone had +been given. + +"I never can thank you, Willie!" burst out the young man. + +"Be good to Delight, my boy, an' make her happy; that's all the thanks +I want," was the grave response. + +A pause fell between them. Perhaps Willie was thinking of the days +that must inevitably come when the girl he had loved since childhood +would be far away. How dull the gray house would be when she no longer +flitted in and out its doors! Try as he would to banish the selfish +reflection, it returned persistently. Then suddenly something quite +outside himself put the reverie to rout. + +It was the querulous voice of Janoah Eldridge. + +"I was right about them Galbraiths," he cried exultantly, standing in +the doorway and hurling the words into the room where the two men +lingered. "'Twas exactly as I said. Lyman Bearse's boy went up on the +Boston train one afternoon in front of Snelling an' that other feller +who was here, an' he heard every word they uttered. He said they +talked the whole way about gettin' a patent out on your invention. +Now, Willie Spence, was I right or warn't I? Mebbe you'll believe me +the next time I warn you against folks." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +SURPRISES + +The next morning Robert Morton awoke with the fixed determination that +another sun should not go down until he had acquainted Mr. Galbraith +with Janoah's accusations. The misgivings, the suspicions, the fears +he entertained must be cleared up at any cost or further residence +beneath Willie's roof would be impossible. If necessary he would go to +New York to see the financier. But he must know where the blame for +Snelling's treachery lay, whether with the capitalist or with his +employee. Accordingly he arose early, and having breakfasted went down +to the store where the nearest telephone was and called up the +Belleport residence. He was fortunate in getting Parker, the old +butler, on the wire. + +"Mr. Galbraith, Mr. Bob?" came the voice of the servant. "Yes, sir, he +arrived home last night. I think he is going over to Wilton to-day to +see you. I heard him saying something about it. Wait a minute. I +hear him on the stairs now." + +There was a pause; then after a delay another voice that Bob instantly +recognized to be that of the master of the house called: + +"Bob? Well, hello, boy! I guess you thought we had all left you and +your affairs high and dry, didn't you? I've been in New York, you +know--am just back. I want to see you as soon as I can about several +important matters. Suppose I run over in the car this morning? Will +you be there? Good! I'll see you later, then." + +Robert Morton hung up the receiver and walked meditatively along the +sandy road to the gray cottage. The die was cast. Whatever happened, +it could not be worse than had been the days of suspense and anxiety +that he had endured. + +The morning was close and humid, a land breeze wafting across the +fields perfumes of sun-scorched pine and blossoming roses. Scarce a +ripple marred the glittering surface of the bay that stretched like a +sheet of burnished brass as far as one could see. Now and then a faint +zephyr, rising from the wooded slopes, swept down the hill, swirling +into billows of vivid emerald the coarse salt grass that swayed on the +marshes. So still it was that every whisper of the surf lapping the +edge of the bar could be heard; over and over the waters stole up on +the shore, fretted into foam and receded, each wave creeping +rhythmically back into the deep to a song of shifting sand and pebbles. +How silvery the tiny houses of the hamlet looked against the azure of +the sky! The few scattered trees that had braved the onslaughts of +repeated gales listed landward, but the pines sheltered in the hollows +of the dunes stood erect and darkly mysterious, their plumes bending +idly in the soft wind. + +It was all a part of the idyl, the daydream, Robert Morton +thought,--too flawless a thing to last. Willie, so childlike and +simple, his kindly aunt, Delight with her rare beauty, and even the +romance of his love seemed a part of its unreality. Was it not to be +expected that sooner or later man with his blundering touch would +destroy the loveliness, making prose of the poem? The Galbraiths, +Snelling, the greed for money, Janoah's jealousy and evil +suspicions--ah, it did not take long for such influences to mar the +peace of a heaven and smear the grime of earth upon its fairness! Only +glimpses of perfection were granted the dwellers of this +planet,--quick, transient flashes that mirrored a future free from +finite limitations. He who expected to remain on the heights in this +world was doomed to disappointment. + +Slowly he skirted the curving beach and reached the weathered cottage +where the sun beat hotly down, kissing into flower every bud of the +clinging roses that festooned its gray doorway. Willie welcomed him +but a glory had passed from the old man's face since the conversation +of the night before. How could it be otherwise? Sleepless hours had +left behind them weary, careworn lines; and in the troubled depths of +the blue eyes the old interrogation had once more awakened. Bob knew +not how to meet its silent combat between hope and disappointment, and +he hailed as a glad relief the beating echo of the Galbraiths' +motor-car as it swept the horseshoe outline of the harbor and came to a +stop before the gate. + +Mr. Galbraith, who was alone, beckoned to him, and as the younger man +climbed to the seat beside him said: + +"I thought perhaps you might like to go for a spin along the shore. It +is warm to-day and we shall get more breeze; besides, we can talk more +freely in the automobile than here or at the Belleport house. Roger +has just arrived and also Howard Snelling." + +In spite of himself, Robert Morton betrayed his surprise. + +"Mr. Snelling back again!" he exclaimed. + +"Yes, he is down," was the laconic answer. + +For all his boasted eagerness to talk, however, Richard Galbraith did +not immediately avail himself of the privilege of conversation. On the +contrary, as Bob shot a questioning glance toward him, he thought he +detected for the first time in his life a strange uneasiness in the +capitalist's habitually self-contained manner. He seemed to be framing +an introduction for what he wished to say. + +"I have several matters to talk over with you, Bob," he began at last +in a resolute tone. "Some of them are pleasant and some of them may +not, I fear, prove to be so. But we must take them as they come, and +pleasant or unpleasant, I want you to believe that I have no choice but +to place them before you. I have always felt for you a warm +friendship, my boy, and that friendship has in no way lessened. +Therefore if any word I speak causes you unhappiness, I want you to +remember that I only say it because I must. We are not always +permitted to readjust life according to our inclinations. Duty maps +out many of our paths and we must close our lips and travel them." + +He stopped as if considering how to proceed. + +"While in New York," he presently resumed, "I probated Madam Lee's +will. She was possessed of a large estate and knew very definitely +what she wanted done with it. The will was made several years ago, and +no document that I have ever seen was more specifically and +conscientiously drawn up. Although she left jewels and heirlooms to my +family, she left none of her other property to the Galbraiths, +explaining that her daughter had all she needed and that both Cynthia +and Roger had more already than was good for them." He smiled +humorously. "I guessed pretty accurately what she intended to do, as +some time ago we talked the matter over, and I heartily approved of her +proposed bequest." + +He cleared his throat and in wondering silence Robert Morton waited. + +"The property was left in bulk to an old friend whom Madam Lee had +known for years--some one entirely outside the family." + +Bob did not speak. + +"I would gladly see the Lee money administered as its owner desired to +have it," Mr. Galbraith went on. "Her ideas were wise, kind, and just, +and the fulfilment of her wishes would have brought to me--to us +all--the greatest happiness. But since that will was made a new +condition has arisen. Delight Hathaway, the child of her favorite +daughter, has appeared. Had the old lady lived, I feel certain that in +view of this fact she would have altered the document that this girl +might inherit at least a portion of the fortune in which her mother +never had any share. You knew Madam Lee very intimately, Bob--probably +better than any of the rest of us. What do you think?" + +The reply came without hesitation. + +"I am certain Madam Lee would have seen to it that her granddaughter +was provided for." + +"So it seems to me," rejoined Mr. Galbraith with evident relief. "I am +glad that our code of ethics agrees thus far. Now the question is, +Bob, how strong are you for the right? If honorable action meant +sacrifice, would you be ready to meet it?" + +"I hope so," was the modest response. + +"I know so," Mr. Galbraith declared earnestly, "and it is because I am +so sure of it that I came to you to-day. Bob, it was to you that Madam +Lee left her fortune. It was to be used for the furthering of your +dearest wish because--to quote her own words--_because I love the boy +as if he were of my own blood_." + +As he listened, Robert Morton's eyes grew cloudy, and emotion choked +his utterance until he could not speak. + +Apparently Mr. Galbraith either expected no reply or tactfully +interpreted his silence, for without waiting he continued: + +"You can understand now, Bob, feeling toward you as we all do, that +this recent family development has not been easy for us to confront. +Delight Hathaway is a beautiful girl who possesses, no doubt, admirable +qualities. We expect to become warmly attached to her in time. But +for all her kinship she is a stranger to us while you are of our own--a +brother, friend." For the first time the kind voice faltered. "I have +even cherished a hope," it went on in a lower tone, "that perhaps in +the future a closer bond might bind you to us. Nothing in the world +would have given me greater satisfaction." + +Bob suddenly felt the blood leap to his face in a crimson flood. He +gasped out an incoherent word or two, hoping to check Mr. Galbraith's +speech, but no intelligible phrases came to his tongue. + +"Life is a strangely perverse game, isn't it?"' mused the capitalist. +"We build our castles, build them not alone for ourselves but for +others, and those we love shatter the structure we have so +painstakingly reared and on its ruined site make for themselves castles +of their own." + +His eyes were fixed on the narrowing ribbon of sand over which the car +sped. + +"I--I--have another surprise for you, Bob," he said in a lower tone, +without lifting his gaze from the reach of highway ahead. "Cynthia is +to be married." + +"Cynthia!" A chaos of emotions mingled in the word. + +"Her engagement has been an overwhelming shock to her mother and me," +the elder man continued steadily, still without shifting his eyes from +the road over which he guided the car, "I don't know why the +possibility never occurred to us; but it never did. She is to marry +Howard Snelling." + +A quick wave of revulsion swept over Robert Morton. This, then, was +the reason Snelling had filched from Willie his invention,--that he +might have greater riches to lay at the feet of his fiancée, and +perhaps reach more nearly a financial equality with her family. He saw +it all now. And probably it was Snelling's jealousy of himself that +had led him to retaliate by heaping his unwelcome attentions on +Delight. At last it was clear as day,--Cynthia's growing coldness and +her continual trips to and from Belleport in the boatbuilder's company. +Robert Morton could have laughed aloud at his own stupidity. The +engagement explained, too, Mr. Snelling's confusion and embarrassment +at every mention of the Galbraith family. Why, a child might have +fathomed the romance! + +Again Mr. Galbraith was speaking. + +"And now, Bob, for the last surprise of all. At first, I thought I +would delay telling you until the papers were all in shape and ready +for signature; but on second thought it seemed a pity to shut you out +of the fun. We have all the data prepared to take out a patent on Mr. +Spence's motor-boat." + +Bob felt a sudden sinking of his heart, a stifling of his breath. + +"The afternoon you all came over to Belleport," explained the +financier, "I got Snelling and a draughtsman from our company to go to +the shop and in the old gentleman's absence secure measurements and the +necessary information. These we took to New York and put into proper +hands, and when the affidavits are sworn to and everything is in legal +form I see no reason why the government should not grant the patent. +If it does, there should be a little fortune in the appliance." + +Robert Morton did not move. He felt as if he had been turned to stone. + +"I thought you would be interested," observed Mr. Galbraith, a +suggestion of disappointment in his voice. "I did not consult you at +first because I felt so sure that the idea would please you. I'm sorry +if it doesn't. It seemed to me that if we could help Mr. Spence to +patent his device, he might do quite a little with it. I thought he +might not know how to go at the matter himself. So we are preparing +all the papers for him to file an application in his own name. +Afterward I propose either to purchase from him the rights to use it, +or to buy the thing outright at a reasonable figure. In either case, +the deal will net him quite an income and place him beyond the +possibility of financial worry so long as he lives." + +Oh, the relief that surged over Robert Morton! Joy rioted with shame, +happiness with self-reproach. How feeble his faith had been. He hoped +Mr. Galbraith did not read in his eyes the suspicions he had cherished. + +Apparently he did not, for in the same kindly manner he asked: + +"Do you think it would be better to keep the secret from the little old +chap a bit longer or tell him now?" + +"Oh, tell him now! Tell him now!" cried Bob. "Tell him right away +when we get back!" + +His companion laughed at his eagerness and for the first time their +eyes met. + +"And now, sir," began Robert Morton, a ring of buoyancy and +light-heartedness in his voice such as had not sounded in it for weeks, +"I have a surprise for you. I, too, am going to be married." + +The car swerved suddenly as if a tremor had passed through the hands on +the wheel. + +"I am engaged to your niece, Mr. Galbraith." + +"To my--my niece!" repeated the great man blankly. "I don't think I +quite--" + +"To Delight Hathaway." + +Bob saw a dull brick-red flush color the neck of the capitalist and +steal up into his face. For a moment he seemed at a loss for words. +Then presently, as if he had succeeded in readjusting his ideas, he +ejaculated: + +"My word, Bob! Well, you young people have mixed yourselves up nicely! +However, if you all are happy, that is the main thing; you are the ones +to be suited. We shall still have you in the family, anyway." He +laughed. "And about the property," he went on thoughtfully,--"this +simplifies matters greatly, for it won't make much difference now which +of you has it--you or the girl." + +But Bob stopped him with a quick protest. + +"I don't want Delight to know Madam Lee's money has previously been +willed to me," he said. "If she suspected that, she would never take +it. You are not to tell her--promise me you will see to that." + +"Of course I will arrange the affair any way you wish," Mr. Galbraith +agreed, with a dubious frown. "But if you are to marry her, I really +can't see what difference it would make." + +"It will make a great deal of difference," declared the younger man. +"In the one case the fortune will be hers to use as she pleases. She +will have the independent right to hand it over to the Brewsters if she +so desires. Our entire relation will be placed on another basis; for +if I marry her under those conditions I marry an heiress, not the ward +of a poor fisherman." + +"I hadn't thought of that." + +"On the other hand, if she refuses the money, it will be mine to lay at +her feet. Can't you see what a vast contrast there will be in my +position?" + +Mr. Galbraith nodded thoughtfully as if considering the matter from a +new angle. + +"That's the only reason the fortune would mean anything to me--that I +might have something to offer her," continued Robert Morton. "Of +course, as you said, she would have the benefit of the money in either +case; but it makes a difference whether it comes to her by the mere +right of inheritance, or whether she takes it from her--husband." + +"There is a distinction," admitted the elder man. "Now that you call +my attention to it, I can see that readily. It is a delicate one, but +its consequences are far-reaching. Well, you shall have your way! A +proportion of the legacy shall be offered to Delight, and the secret +regarding it shall be yours to keep or divulge as you see fit. You are +a noble fellow, Bob. I only wish--" He checked the impulsive phrase +that rose to his lips but not before the listener had caught its import. + +"Mr. Snelling is a fine man, Mr. Galbraith," broke in Bob instantly, +dreading the words that might follow. + +"Oh, I know it--there is no question about that," the capitalist +assented with haste. "Success is written all over his future, and I +know he will be a son-in-law to be proud of. He and Cynthia are +royally happy too, and no doubt know better than I what they want. +After all, none of us can live other people's lives; each must work out +his own." + +"You've said it, Mr. Galbraith." + +The financier smiled and his eyes twinkled beneath the shaggy brows +that arched them. + +"You will have to be getting used to calling me by another name, young +man," he said. "Remember I am to be your uncle." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +DELIGHT MAKES HER DECISION + +Zenas Henry Brewster sat on the edge of his veranda, his long legs +crossed before him with a certain angular grace and his corncob pipe +held rigidly between his teeth. Beside him, ranged like sparrows on a +telegraph wire, were Captain Phineas Taylor, Captain Jonas Baker, and +Captain Benjamin Todd. From the row of pipes a miniature cloud of +smoke ascended, but save for the distant pulsing of the sea and the +murmur of the wind in the linden near the door not a sound was to be +heard through the afternoon stillness. Yet in spite of the +tranquillity of the day and the apparent peace of the four figures that +gazed so immovably out upon the reach of blue, an electrical current of +suspense was evident in the four tense forms. They were not looking at +the bay, exquisite as it was in its cerulean beauty. Instead, the head +of each man was turned toward the road that skirted the harbor and +wound its way between the pines at the foot of the hill where the white +cottage stood. + +"He'd oughter be comin' pretty soon, hadn't he?" Captain Phineas +ventured at last, unable longer to restrain his impatience. "He said +four o'clock in his letter. It must be 'most that, don't you think?" + +"Mighty nigh unto it," replied Captain Benjamin. "As I reckon it, +havin' made the necessary allowances for my watch losin' +three-an'-a-quarter minutes an hour, it should be about four now." + +"It ain't but a quarter of four," sniffed Captain Jonas with an air of +superiority. "That timepiece of yours, Benjamin, ain't worth the +silver that was put into it. What's the use of havin' a watch that +keeps you figgerin' backwards an' forards, an' doin' sums all day? I +wouldn't be bothered with it." + +Captain Benjamin bridled with indignation. + +"I don't see but my watch is good as yours," retorted he. "The only +difference is I'm addin' from mornin' 'til night while you're +substractin'." + +The discomfited Captain Baker frowned. + +"Mine comes out even minutes, anyhow," announced he. "If it does shoot +ahead some, it don't keep me reckonin' in fractions like yours does. +I'd see myself in Davie Jones's locker 'fore I'd go addin' +three-quarter minutes together from sunrise to sunset." + +"Oh, addin' fractions is mighty good trainin' for Benjamin," put in the +peace-loving Captain Phineas, with a chuckle. "It keeps his arithmetic +brushed up. I'll bet you he could beat you at a sum, Jonas." + +The triumphant Captain Benjamin observed a complacent silence. + +"Let Benjamin an' his watch alone, Jonas," drawled Zenas Henry, +speaking for the first time. "Somebody in the house has got to be up +on mathematics, an' it may as well be Benjamin as another. I'm only +sorry his ticker holds him just to addin'; if it would only make him +multiply an' divide some, an' take him into square root 'twould give +him a liberal all-round education. Still, there's always hopes it may +take a new turn. The last time it went overboard there was indications +that 'twouldn't be long before 'twould be leadin' him into algebra an' +the fourth dimension." + +Captain Benjamin grinned at the sally. + +"It won't be goin' overboard no more now, Zenas Henry," responded he +serenely, "'cause since the _Sea Gull's_ got that eel-grass-proof +contrivance hitched to her, there won't be no call for me to be lyin' +head down'ards astern. I'll be settin' up like a Christian in +future--all of us will. My soul, but Bob Morton an' Willie Spence did +a good job on that boat! It's somethin' to have a young chap with +brains like that marryin' into the family! I'll bet there's 'most +nothin' on earth he couldn't tackle." + +"You're right!" Captain Phineas chimed in. "If Delight's got to get +married--an' we'd be a lot of selfish brutes not to want her to--she +certainly has picked a promisin' husband. You can lose money--fling it +away or have it stolen from you--but you can't lose brains." + +"That's so, Phineas! That's so!" Zenas Henry said. "Besides, 'tain't +as if he was takin' her to Indiana. New York ain't fur. Why, I'll +stake a catch of mackerel we could fetch up at that Long Island place +in the _Sea Gull_." + +"Of course we could, Zenas Henry," agreed Captain Jonas, flashing a +glance of affection into his friend's face. "There's no question about +it. Take a good clear day an' the sea runnin' right, we could make it +without a mite of trouble. Long Island wouldn't be anything of a +cruise. No place that we can sail to in our own boat is fur away." + +A listener of discrimination might have detected in the dialogue a note +of assumed optimism and suspected that the four old men seated like +images on the piazza rail were trying to buoy up one another's courage, +and in the assumption he would not, perhaps, have been far wrong. + +"What do you s'pose this Galbraith has up his sleeve, Zenas Henry, that +he should be comin' over here?" Captain Benjamin Todd speculated, +during a lapse in the conversation. "He has some scheme in mind, you +can be sure of that." + +"Why do you always go rootin' up evil like as if you was diggin' fur +clams, Benjamin?" inquired Captain Phineas impatiently, "All Mr. +Galbraith said was he wanted to see Zenas Henry. There surely is no +harm in that. Delight bein' his niece, it's only to be expected he'd +want to get sight of the folks she is livin' with. Most natural thing +in the world, it seems to me. 'Twould be queerer if he didn't show no +interest in the people who have brought her up." + +"That's so, Phineas," Captain Jonas echoed. "Nothin's likelier than +that he's comin' to sorter thank Zenas Henry." + +"Thank us!" Zenas Henry burst out. "Thank us for bringin' up our own +child! What business is it of his? Do we go traipsin' to Belleport to +thank him for bein' good to his children?" + +"No, no, Zenas Henry," Captain Phineas replied soothingly. "Of course +he ain't comin' here to thank us. That would be plumb ridiculous. +More probable he's comin' as I said, to make a friendly call since he's +a relative." + +But in spite of this reassurance, the ripple of misgiving had not +entirely died away before the well-known touring-car with the New York +financier in its tonneau made its appearance at the foot of the hill. + +"He's comin', Zenas Henry!" + +"There he is!" + +"That's him!" was the excited comment. + +But Zenas Henry maintained a grim silence. He had risen to his full +height and now stood braced to meet an ordeal which he dreaded far more +than he would have been willing to admit. His gaunt figure was stiff +with resolution, his jaw set, his lips compressed. It was the same +expression his countenance had worn the night he had gone forth into +the storm to rescue the sinking crew of the _Michleen_ from probable +death; it was the expression his companions dreaded and feared,--the +fighter ready for combat. Yet his antagonist, as he alighted from the +motor-car and crossed the grass in leisurely fashion, appeared to be +anything but a formidable adversary. He came toward Delight, who had +hurried out to meet him, with easy friendliness, his hands extended and +a smile of genuine affection on his face. + +"I am glad to see you, my dear," he said, "--and in your own home, too. +I fancy you must have thought me a great while in coming. I was +detained in New York much longer than I expected; otherwise you would +have seen me days ago." + +She smiled up into the kindly gray eyes. + +"And my, my, my! What a lot of mischief you and Bob have been getting +into in my absence! You sly little puss! You may well blush. The +bare idea of your springing a surprise like that on your new uncle! +Bob has told me all about it," he suddenly became grave, "and I am very +glad for you both. You could not have chosen a finer husband, little +girl. Robert Morton is one man in a thousand. We'll talk more of him +by and by. Just now I wish to meet all your family. You must present +each one, so that I shall not get all these many captains confused." + +How simply and naturally he bridged the awkwardness of the moment! +Before they realized it, Abbie and the three veteran seafarers were +chatting gaily with the visitor, and even Zenas Henry was venturing out +of his reserve and unbending into geniality when the words "_and now to +business_" chilled the warmth of his mood and sent him back into his +shell, thrilling with vague forebodings. + +With every eye fixed expectantly upon him, Mr. Galbraith took off his +Panama and fanned himself. + +"Now that we have put together a few of the links that bind our two +families," he began, "and laid the foundation for a friendship which I +hope the future will foster, there are a few intimate matters of which +I wish to speak. First there is Bob Morton, and if you want any +reassuring as to his character, I can give it to you. Your own wise +and shrewd discrimination has led you to accept him at his face value +and your estimate of him has not been a mistaken one. I do not think +there is a young man in the world of greater sterling worth than the +one your daughter has chosen for a husband." + +At the firm emphasis on the word _daughter_, Zenas Henry's jaw relaxed. + +"Of course, you feel the same anxiety for your child that I feel for +mine, and realize how much a woman's happiness depends on the man into +whose hands she puts her life. In giving up Cynthia I know what it +means to you to give up Delight. We parents cannot expect to have all +the joy and none of the suffering that comes with having children, +however." He looked at Zenas Henry and a quiet sympathy passed from +one man to the other. "But we should be selfish indeed were we to deny +to those we love the best gift heaven has to bestow. It is making +others happy in their way, not in ours, that tests our real affection +for them. And so I know that underneath all your personal regrets you +rejoice in the prospect of Delight's marriage as I rejoice in +Cynthia's. We shall not always be in this world to safeguard our +daughters. How much better to see their future in the protection of +younger and stronger men than ourselves!" + +"Yes, yes!" murmured Zenas Henry. + +"And now I want to speak to Delight, although I am sure she will wish +you to hear what I have to say to her. It is a matter of business +about which she alone can decide. When Madam Lee, her grandmother, +died, she left a large property in real estate and securities which she +willed outright to an old friend of whom she was devotedly fond. She +felt the Galbraiths were amply provided for and therefore, with the +exception of certain jewels and heirlooms that were to be retained in +the family, she bequeathed them nothing. We understood the motives +that governed her in thus disposing of her property and were in full +accord with them. The document, however, was drawn up before she knew +of the existence of this other granddaughter, and in view of this fact, +the person to whom the property is willed feels that it is only just +that the whole or a part of it should be relinquished in Delight's +favor." + +There was an instant's pause. + +"This the beneficiary does of his own accord, not alone as a matter of +duty or as a matter of honor, but because his affection was so deep for +Madam Lee that it is a pleasure to him to act as he thinks she would +have desired. Had not her end come so suddenly, she would without +doubt have made a new will and done this herself." + +"You mean that without courts or lawyers askin' him to, this man just +wants to hand over the money?" gasped Captain Jonas. + +"Yes." + +"Well, I dunno who he is, but I'll say this much for him--he's an +honest cuss!" ejaculated the fisherman. + +In spite of his earnestness Mr. Galbraith smiled. + +Delight, however, had risen during the interval of silence and with +nervously clasped hands had gone to Zenas Henry's side, where she now +stood, her eyes large with thought. + +Her uncle turned toward her. + +"Well, my dear, what have you to say?" he asked. + +"It is--is very kind of a stranger to be so noble, so generous," she +declared gently. "He mustn't think that I do not appreciate it. But I +couldn't take a cent of the money," she went on with quick decision. +"Even had it been willed to me in the first place, it would have made +no difference. I don't want to be unkind or to hurt anybody's +feelings. But can't you see that Madam Lee was really nothing in my +life? She came in and went out of it like a phantom, and she did not +begin to mean to me what she did to this old friend of hers. Just +because at the close of her days it was discovered that I was of her +kin, it established no bond of affection between us--nothing but a +legal claim. If she had lived and we had grown dear to one another, +and she had given the fortune to me out of her heart, then I should +have accepted it gladly. But to have it bestowed on me merely by right +of succession--I couldn't think of touching a penny of it!" + +She caught her breath, and her chin rose a trifle higher. + +"And besides," she continued, "I would rather just be indebted to Zenas +Henry and my own family. My grandmother was unjust to my parents, +unkind. Although she lived to be sorry for it and would, doubtless, +have done differently when she was older, she was harsh and cruel to +them. I have forgiven but I never can forget it. I don't want the Lee +money. Zenas Henry and the three captains give me all I need, and I +have no fears but that in the future Bob can look out for me." + +There was something in the proudly poised figure, so slender and erect, +so firm and self-respecting in its calm decision, that roused every +hearer's admiration and drew from the New York financier an involuntary +homage. Nevertheless with a fear that impulse might have prompted the +girl's verdict, he felt impelled to explain: + +"But you are tossing away a large sum--thousands, child! You and your +people would be rich." + +"We don't want to be rich!" cried Delight, with quivering nostril. "Do +we, Zenas Henry?" she slipped an arm about his neck as he collapsed +into his seat on the piazza rail. "We are happy just as we are! You +don't want me to take the Lee money, do you?" she asked, putting her +cheek against his. + +"No, honey, no! You shan't be beholden to any one but me," he +answered. "I hoped you'd decide as you have. 'Twould take half the +pleasure out of my life if it warn't us that was to do for you. Just +the same, Mr. Galbraith, we thank you kindly for bringin' the offer, +an' your friend for makin' it; an' though we refuse it, 'tain't done in +no unfriendly spirit." + +"I understand that," nodded the financier. + +Nevertheless he gazed with no small amount of awe and respect at these +poor fisherfolk who could so lightly fling aside a fortune. + +"Mebbe," resumed Zenas Henry, "you'll tell this friend of Madam Lee's +that we've took note of his squareness." + +"Oh, yes, do tell him that it was splendid of him, splendid!" +interrupted Delight. + +"He's a gentleman, whoever he is," Captain Phineas added. "Tell him so +from all of us." + +"You might like to tell him so yourselves," returned Mr. Galbraith +slowly. + +"Eh?" Zenas Henry questioned. "Oh, we might write him, you mean. +That's so. Likely it would be more decent. We'd be surer of his +knowin' how we felt if 'twas put down in black an' white. What's his +name?" + +"Robert Morton." + +"Robert Morton! Robert Mor--not our--not _Bob_!" + +"Yes." + +He saw Delight flush, and her eyes suddenly fill with tears. + +"Bob!" she whispered half-aloud. "Bob!" + +Zenas Henry drew her closer. + +"What does the girl want with money," he demanded, "when she's got a +man like that? He's better than all the money on earth." + +"But she'll get the money just the same, Zenas Henry," piped Captain +Jonas. "She'll get it. Have you thought of that?" + +"It will be Bob's money, not mine," returned Delight with shy dignity. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +FAME COMES TO THE DREAMER OF DREAMS + +Richard Galbraith returned thoughtfully over the Harbor Road not sorry +at the turn affairs had taken. The honorable and magnanimous thing had +been done with the Lee fortune, and it had been firmly and proudly +refused. Now it could go unreservedly to Robert Morton for whom the +financier had a particular regard and in whose wisdom to make a +sensible use of it he felt every confidence. The money would not only +place the young man in a position to marry without delay, but +indirectly its benefits would reach the two individuals that Madam Lee +would most earnestly have desired to help. Nor did the capitalist's +regard for Delight, which had steadily been growing, decrease when +viewed from this new angle. The Lees were a proud race and the girl +came justly by the attribute. He was not sure, now that he reflected +on the matter, but that he himself would have scorned the legacy in the +same high-handed fashion. Nevertheless he had not expected this +termination of the interview, had not expected it at all. His recently +acquired relatives were proving themselves interesting persons. Who +would have dreamed that a penniless fisherman's daughter would have +tossed the Lee ducats back into his face? + +He laughed to himself when he thought of the paradox. He had always +admired spirit in a woman. + +The car rolled on, flashing past swamps of swaying iris bedded deep in +the salt marsh-grass, past tangles of fragrant honeysuckle and garlands +of clinging clematis, and presently shot out into the sunny stretch of +road that like a white ribbon bound the blue waters of the bay. When +it reached the bluff where the sand mounted into green-capped dunes, +patched in their hollows with shadows of violet, it slowed down and +came to a stop before Willie Spence's weathered cottage. + +The old inventor and Bob were seated idly on the workshop steps. No +longer did the vibrant hammer and purring plane blend their metallic +notes with the music of the surf. Their work was done, and until he +was "kitched with a new idee" Willie had nothing to do but smoke +beneath the shade of the grapevine and rambler rose and watch the vast +reach of water to the line where it melted into the blue of the sky. + +Since his interview with Mr. Galbraith, Robert Morton had had all he +could do to keep from Willie the assurance that Janoah's accusations +were false and that instead of misfortune good luck was winging its way +toward the low gray house on the bay. Bob was a generous fellow and it +added tenfold to his present happiness to know that joy was also coming +to one toward whom he cherished an abiding affection. The secret, +however, was Mr. Galbraith's, and until the New Yorker saw fit to +impart it he must maintain silence. Therefore, with smiles wreathing +his face and the wonderful story locked tightly in his possession, he +tried to be patient until the final revelation should be made. + +And now with the approach of the capitalist he knew that at last the +great moment had arrived. The dream of years was to come true and the +darling of Willie's brain, his greatest and most ambitious idea, was to +be made a potent factor in the broad universe. So perfectly did he +understand the quaint, half-shrinking inventor that he knew well no +money, no fame, no praise could mean to him what this recognition +would. Persons were to use the thing he had thought out,--to use it +neither because of friendship nor interest, but because it was a +practical, indispensable article which no mind had previously given to +the world. In the days and weeks Bob had spent in the Spence cottage +it was impossible not to read all this and more in the sensitive, +hungering nature of the man who had worked beside him. Love and +parenthood in its smaller and more specific sense had passed Willie +Spence by, but in their place there had sprung into life a broader +altruism and a larger creative impulse. The children his mind begot +were as much of his blood and marrow as if they had actually been born +of his own flesh; and to have one of them go victoriously forth into +that moving current that reached so far beyond his own humble door +would be like sending a child into battle. It transformed the father +to one of the elect. + +Surely, thought Robert Morton, great and unexpected issues had centered +about his visit to Wilton. When confronted by the present unfoldings, +who would have the temerity to boast that one's destinies were matters +of chance? + +"Well," called Mr. Galbraith as he came up the walk, "you two people +look comfortable. Is there room on that doorstep for one more?" + +"Certainly, sir! Certainly!" Willie replied. "But wouldn't you rather +we heaved a box or something out of the shop for you to set on? You'll +find these steps a good way down, I'm afraid." + +"Not a bit of it," the New Yorker answered, dropping into the welcome +shade of the trellis. "You have deserted the shop, I see. Does that +mean your work is done?" + +"Done an' delivered," smiled Willie. "We've discharged our cargo an' +ain't took nothin' else aboard yet. We're just kinder ridin' at +anchor." + +"How did your friend, Mr. Brewster, like your handiwork?" + +In spite of his native modesty Willie's bronzed face lighted with pride. + +"Say, you'd oughter seen him!" exclaimed he, forgetting everything else +in his pleasure. "He was struck clean abeam! He never suspected +nothin' about it an' the surprise took him broadside. An' it works!" +continued the little man with enthusiasm. "Yes, siree! It works! +That cockleshell of a _Sea Gull_ goes rippin' along through the eel +grass, her propeller clear and free as if she had twenty fathoms of +water under her. It's as pretty a sight as you'd care to look on." + +Mr. Galbraith watched the shining eyes of the inventor. + +"Mr. Spence," he said, "that idea of yours is going to be a very useful +and valuable one. Have you thought of that?" + +Willie flushed. + +"Well," replied he with hesitation, "yesterday when I was shuckin' +clams it did come to me that mebbe there'd be other folks besides Zenas +Henry would like it." + +"A great many folks!" rejoined the capitalist. "I am in a position to +know, because shipbuilding chances to be my business." + +"So I was told," his listener remarked quietly. An expression of quick +surprise passed over the other's countenance. + +"Yes," he went on, "both Mr. Snelling and I are interested in boats in +our way." + +"It's a fine job," Willie observed evasively. + +"Yes, it is. Not only is shipbuilding a fascinating occupation but it +is a patriotic one as well, for I believe the resurrection of our +merchant marine to be one of the most important duties of our nation. +Everything that works toward that end is a service to the country, in +my estimation." + +"You're right, sir," was the rejoinder. "I'm terrible fond of ships +myself. They're human as people an' as different. You can turn 'em +out from the same model, but no two of 'em will ever be alike. I've +got a little yawl down on the shore I wouldn't take a thousand dollars +for. She's knowin' as if she was alive. I can tell to an inch how +much sail she'll stand an' how much water she'll draw. She answers to +the tiller quick as a child to your voice, too--quicker'n most +children. I've had her for years, an' smooth weather or foul she ain't +never gone back on me. Folks disappoint you sometimes; but a boat +never does." As if sensing that he was venturing on dangerous ground, +he stopped abruptly. "So you build boats, do you?" he commented to +change the subject. + +Richard Galbraith nodded. + +"That's my calling," he assented. "And since it is, I am in a position +to handle things that have to do with boats of all kinds. That is why +your motor-boat idea has interested me so deeply. I saw its +possibilities from the moment I first laid eyes on it, and I wish to +congratulate you on having given the public such a useful invention." + +"It ain't got far toward the public," objected Willie, with a +deprecating shrug of his shoulders. + +"But it is going to," Mr. Galbraith declared with promptness. "Bob, +Mr. Snelling and I have taken matters into our own hands and have +ventured to have an application for a patent prepared--description, +claims and all; and after you have sworn to the affidavit and affixed +your signature, we will send it off to Washington, where I haven't a +doubt it will be granted. I thought this would save you the bother of +attending to it yourself." + +Poor Willie was too amazed to speak. + +"Now Galbraith and Company will want the monopoly of that patent, Mr. +Spence," hurried on the financier. "We are going to make you a +proposition either for the purchase of it outright, or for its use on a +royalty basis." + +With a supreme disregard for business, Willie wheeled on him before he +could go further and said simply: + +"Law, Mr. Galbraith, you can use the thing an' welcome. Turn out as +many of 'em as you like. It won't make no odds to me. But the +patent--think of havin' a real patent on somethin' I've thought out! +Just you picture it!" + +He repeated the words in a soft, musing voice that hushed his hearers +into stillness. + +"I never thought to live to see the day anything of mine would be +patented. That means that nobody else anywhere in the world ever was +kitched by that same idee before, don't it? It's sorter--sorter +wonderful an' gratifyin'. But if it hadn't been for the rest of you +that's helped me, the claptraption would never have been in any kind of +shape. 'Twould 'a' been just a hit-or-miss contrivance like the rest +of the idees I've got indoors. You see, I never had the schoolin' to +manage my notions, even when once I'd got 'em. I know that well +enough. So if I should get a patent on this thing, 'twould be mostly +due to you that's helped me, an' I thank you most humble." His voice +trembled with feeling. "After all you've done--the three of you--you +wouldn't expect me to take money from you for usin' the scheme, would +you? Take it an' welcome, an' may it bring luck to your business! But +there's one thing I would like," he added timidly. "If we should get +them patent papers from the government an' they ain't no particular use +to you, I'd like to keep 'em by me to read over now an' again. 'Twould +sorter make it all seem more real some way, an' less as if I'd dreamed +it. I've imagined this happenin' so many times an' woke up to find +'twas only imaginin's." + +The blue eyes softened into mistiness. + +"To think of gettin' a patent! To think of it! Celestina will be +glad. I'm afraid, by an' large, I've bothered her quite considerable +with my strings, an' spools, an' tacks, an' such. She'll like to know +some of 'em went for somethin', after all. The Brewsters an' Delight +will be pleased, too. An' there's Janoah! Oh, Janoah must be told +right away, Bob, quick's ever we can fetch it. 'Twill clear the air +'twixt him an' me, an' make us both happier. I ain't never been able +to convince him that if you put your trust in folks they seldom betray +it. Who knows but when he finds out what's happened he'll kitch _that_ +idee? If he should, 'twould be worth all the inventions and patents in +the world put together. Look for the best, I say, an' you get it every +time," continued the little old man, with a smile of exquisite +serenity. "The universe is full of kindly souls with hearts a-beatin' +inside 'em same's yours. Meet 'em with your hands out, an' their hands +will come the other halfway." + +"It is a pity you can't take out a patent on that notion, Mr. Spence, +and sow it broadcast," returned the New Yorker soberly. + +Willie's gaze traveled with wistful and reverent faith across the +other's face to the sky above him. + +"Somehow," he murmured, "I like to believe that idee was patented +centuries ago by One who put it right to work by believin' the best of +all us poor sinners. Folks ain't used the notion yet, much as they +might, but they're gettin' round to, an' the day'll come when not to +believe in the other feller's soul will be like--well, like havin' a +motor-boat without our attachment," concluded he whimsically. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLOOD TIDE*** + + +******* This file should be named 18902-8.txt or 18902-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/9/0/18902 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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L. Greer</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Flood Tide</p> +<p>Author: Sara Ware Bassett</p> +<p>Release Date: July 23, 2006 [eBook #18902]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLOOD TIDE***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Al Haines</h3></center><br><br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT=""Delight's kinder bowled over by surprise, Tiny," Willie explained gently." BORDER="2" WIDTH="398" HEIGHT="620"> +<H3> +[Frontispiece: "Delight's kinder bowled over by surprise, Tiny," <BR> +Willie explained gently.] +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +FLOOD TIDE +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY SARA WARE BASSETT +</H3> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AUTHOR OF +<BR> +"<I>The Harbor Road</I>," "<I>The Wall Between</I>," <BR> +"<I>Taming of Zenas Henry</I>," +etc. +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WITH FRONTISPIECE BY +<BR> +M. L. GREER +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A. L. BURT COMPANY +<BR> +Publishers ———— New York +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Published by arrangement with Little, Brown and Company +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Copyright, 1921, +<BR> +BY SARA WARE BASSETT. +<BR><BR> +<I>All rights reserved</I> +<BR><BR> +Published March, 1921 +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<CENTER> + +<TABLE WIDTH="80%"> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE WEAVER AND HIS FANCIES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">WILLIE HAS AN IDEE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">A NEW ARRIVAL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER ENTERS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">AN APPARITION</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">MARRYING AND GIVING IN MARRIAGE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">A SECOND SPIRIT APPEARS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">SHADOWS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">A WIDENING OF THE BREACH</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">A CONSPIRACY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">THE GALBRAITH HOUSEHOLD</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">ROBERT MORTON MAKES A RESOLVE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">A NEWCOMER ENTERS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">THE SPENCES ENTER SOCIETY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">A REVELATION</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">ANOTHER BLOW DESCENDS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">A GRIM HAND INTERVENES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">THE PROGRESS OF ANOTHER ROMANCE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">WILLIE AS PILOT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">ONE MORE OF WILLIE'S SHIPS REACHES PORT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">SURPRISES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">DELIGHT MAKES HER DECISION</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">FAME COMES TO THE DREAMER OF DREAMS</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +FLOOD TIDE +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE WEAVER AND HIS FANCIES +</H3> + +<P> +Willie Spence was a trial. Not that his personality rasped society at +large. On the contrary his neighbors cherished toward the little old +man, with his short-sighted blue eyes and his appealing smile, an +affection peculiarly tender; and if they sometimes were wont to observe +that although Willie possessed some common sense he was blessed with +uncommon little of it, the observation was facetiously uttered and was +offered with no malicious intent. +</P> + +<P> +In fact had one scoured Wilton from end to end it would have been +difficult to unearth a single individual who bore enmity toward the +owner of the silver-gray cottage on the Harbor Road. It was impossible +to talk ten seconds with Willie Spence and not be won by his +kindliness, his optimism, his sympathy, and his honesty. Willie +probably could not have dissembled had he tried, and fortunately his +life was of so simple and transparent a trend that little lay hidden +beneath its crystalline exterior. What he was he was. When baffled by +phenomena he would scratch his thin locks and with a smile of endearing +candor frankly admit, "I dunno." When, on the other hand, he knew +himself to be master of a debated fact, no power under heaven could +shake the tenacity with which he clung to his beliefs. There was never +any compromise with truth on Willie's part. A thing was so or it was +not. +</P> + +<P> +This reputation for veracity, linked as it was with an ingenuous good +will toward all mankind, had earned for Willie Spence such universal +esteem and tenderness that whenever the stooping figure with its ruddy +cheeks, soft white hair, and gentle smile made its appearance on the +sandy roads of the hamlet, it was hailed on all sides with the loving +and indulgent greetings of the inhabitants of the village. +</P> + +<P> +Even Celestina Morton, who kept house for him and who might well have +lost patience at his defiance of domestic routine, worshipped the very +soil his foot touched. There was, of course, no denying that Willie's +disregard for the meal hour had become what she termed "chronical" and +severely taxed her forbearance; or that since she was a creature of +human limitations she did at times protest when the chowder stood +forgotten in the tureen until it was of Arctic temperature; nor had she +ever acquired the grace of spirit to amiably view freshly baked +popovers shrivel neglected into nothingness. Try as she would to curb +her tongue, under such circumstances, she occasionally would burst out: +</P> + +<P> +"I do wish, Willie Spence, you'd quit your dreamin' an' come to dinner." +</P> + +<P> +For answer Willie would rise hastily and stand arrested, a bit of +string in one hand and the hammer in the other, and peering +reproachfully over the top of his steel-bowed spectacles would reply: +</P> + +<P> +"Law, Tiny! You wouldn't begretch me my dreams, would you? They're +about all I've got. If it warn't fur the things I dream I wouldn't +have nothin'." +</P> + +<P> +The wistfulness in the sensitive face would instantly transform +Celestina's irritation into sympathy and cause her to respond: +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense, Willie! What are you talkin' about? Ain't you got more +friends than anybody in this town? Nobody's poor so long as he has +good friends." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, 'taint bein' poor I mind," laughed Willie, now quite himself +again. "It's knowin' nothin' an' bein' nothin' that discourages me. +If I'd only had the chance to learn somethin' when I was a youngster I +wouldn't have to be goin' it blind now like I do. There's times, +Celestina," added the man solemnly, "when I really believe I've got +stuff inside me that's worth while if only I knew what to do with it." +</P> + +<P> +"Pshaw! Ain't you usin' what's inside you all the time to help the +folks of this town out of their troubles? I'd like to know how they'd +get along if it warn't fur you. Ain't you doctorin' an' fixin' up +things for the whole of Cape Cod from one end to the other, day in and +day out? I call that amountin' to somethin' in the world if you don't." +</P> + +<P> +Willie paused thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"I do do quite a batch of tinkerin', that's true," admitted he, +brightening, "an' I'm right down glad to do it, too. Don't think I +ain't. Still, I can't help knowin' there's better ways to go at it +than blunderin' along as I have to, an' sometimes I can't help wishin' +I knew what the right way is. There must be folks that know how to do +in half the time what I do by makeshift an' fussin'. Sometimes it +seems a pity there never was anybody to steer me into findin' out the +kind of things I've always wanted to know." +</P> + +<P> +Celestina began to rock nervously. +</P> + +<P> +Being of New England fiber, and classing as morbid all forms of +introspection, she always so dreaded to have the conversation drift +into a reflective channel that whenever she found Willie indulging in +reveries she was wont to rout him out of them, tartly reproaching +herself for having even indirectly been the cause of stirrin' him up. +</P> + +<P> +"Next time I'll set the chowder back on the stove an' say nothin'," she +would vow inwardly. "I'd much better have waited 'til his dream was +over an' done with. S'pose I am put out a bit—'twon't hurt me. If I +don't care enough for Willie to do somethin' for him once in a while, +good as he's always been to me, I'd oughter be ashamed of myself." +</P> + +<P> +Hence it is easily seen that neither to Wilton in general nor to +Celestina in particular was Willie Spence a trial. +</P> + +<P> +No, it was to himself that Willie was the torment. "I plague myself +'most to death, Tiny," he would not infrequently confess when the two +sat together at dusk in the little room that looked out on the reach of +blue sea. "It's gettin' all these idees that drives me distracted. +'Tain't that I go huntin' 'em; they come to me, hittin' me broadside +like as if they'd been shot out of a gun. There's times," ambled on +the quiet voice, "when they'll wake me out of a sound sleep an' give me +no peace 'til I've got up and 'tended to 'em. That notion of hitchin' +a string to the slide in the stove door so'st you could open the +draught without stirrin' out of your chair—that took me in the night. +There warn't no waitin' 'til mornin'! Long ago I learned that. Once +the idee has a-holt of me there's nothin' to do but haul myself out of +bed, even if it's midnight an' colder'n the devil, an' try out that +notion." +</P> + +<P> +"The plan was a good one; it's saved lots of steps," put in Celestina. +</P> + +<P> +"It had to be done, Tiny," Willie answered simply. "That's all there +was to it. Good or bad, I had to carry it to a finish if I didn't +sleep another wink that night." +</P> + +<P> +The assertion was true; Celestina could vouch for that. After ten +years of residence in the gray cottage she had become too completely +inured to hearing the muffled sound of saw and hammer during the wee +small hours of the night to question the verity of the statement. +Therefore she was quite ready to agree that there was no peace for +Willie, or herself either, until the particular burst of genius that +assailed him had been transformed from a mirage of the imagination to +the more tangible form of tacks and strings. +</P> + +<P> +For strings played a very vital part in Willie Spence's inspirational +world. Indeed, when Celestina had first come to the weathered cottage +on the bluff to keep house for the lonely little bachelor and had +discovered that cottage to be one gigantic spider's web, her initial +impression was that strings played far too important a part in the +household. What a labyrinthine entanglement the dwelling was! Had a +mammoth silkworm woven his airy filaments within its interior, the +effect could scarcely have been more grotesque. +</P> + +<P> +Strings stretched from the back door, across the kitchen and through +the hallway, and disappeared up the stairs into Willie's bedroom, where +one pull of a cord lifted the iron latch to admit Oliver Goldsmith, the +Maltese cat, whenever he rattled for entrance. There was a string that +hoisted and lowered the coal hod from the cellar through a square hole +in the kitchen floor, thereby saving one the fatigue of tugging it up +the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +"A coal hod is such an infernal tote to tote!" Willie would explain to +his listeners. +</P> + +<P> +Then there was a string which in like manner swung the wood box into +place. Other strings opened and closed the kitchen windows, unfastened +the front gate, rang a bell in Celestina's room, and whisked Willie's +slippers forth from their hiding place beneath the stairs; not to +mention myriad red, blue, green, yellow, and purple strings that had +their goals in the ice chest, the pump, the letter box, and the storm +door, and in connection with which objects they silently performed +mystic benefactions. +</P> + +<P> +Probably, however, the most significant string of all was that of stout +twine that reached from Willie's shop to the home of Janoah Eldridge, +two fields beyond, just at the junction of the Belleport and Harbor +roads. This string not only linked the two cottages but sustained upon +its taut line a small wooden box that could be pulled back and forth at +will and convey from one abode to the other not only written +communications but also such diminutive articles as pipes, tobacco, +spectacles, balls of string, boxes of tacks, and even tools of moderate +weight. By means of this primitive special delivery service Jan +Eldridge could be summoned posthaste whenever an especially luminous +inspiration flashed upon Willie's intellect and could assist in helping +to make the dream a reality. +</P> + +<P> +For it was always through Willie's plastic imagination that these +creative visions flitted. In all his seventy years Jan had been beset +by only one outburst of genius and that had pertained to whisking an +extra blanket over himself when he was cold at night. How much +pleasanter to lie placidly between the sheets and have the blanket +miraculously appear without the chill and discomfort of arising to +fetch it, he argued! But alas! the magic spell had failed to work. +Instead the strings had wrenched the corners from the age-worn +covering, thereby arousing Mrs. Eldridge's ire. Moreover, although Jan +had not confessed it at the time, the blanket while in process of +locomotion had for some unfathomable reason dragged in its wake all the +other bedclothes, freeing them from their moorings and submerging his +head in a smothering weight of disorganized sheets and counterpanes +only to leave his poor shivering body a prey to the unfriendly +elements. An attack of lumbago that rendered him helpless from January +until March followed and had decided Jan that inventors were born, not +made. Thereafter he had been content to abandon the realm of research +to his comrade and allow Willie to furnish the inspiration for further +creative ventures. Nevertheless his retirement from the spheres of +discovery did not prevent him from zealously assisting in the +mechanical details that rendered Willie's schemes material. Jan not +only possessed a far more practical type of mind than did his friend +but he was also a more skilful workman and therefore in the carrying +out of any plan his aid was indispensable. He was, moreover, content +to be the lesser power, looking up to Willie's ability with admiration +and asserting with unfeigned sincerity to every one he met that Willie +Spence had not only been born with the <I>injun</I> but he had the <I>newity</I> +to go with it. +</P> + +<P> +"Why," Jan would often declare with spirit, "in my opinion Willie has +every whit as much call to write X, Y, Z, an' all them other letters +after his name as any of those fellers that graduate from colleges! +He's a wonder, Willie Spence is—a walkin' wonder! Some day he's goin' +to make his mark, too, an' cause the folks in this town to set up an' +take notice. See if he don't." +</P> + +<P> +Willie's neighbors had long since tired of waiting for the glorious +moment of his fame to arrive; and although they had too genuine a +regard for the little old inventor to state publicly what they really +thought of the strings, the nails, the spools, the wires, and the +pulleys, in private they did not hesitate to denounce derisively the +scientist's contrivances and assert that some fine day the house on the +bluff would come to dire disaster. +</P> + +<P> +"Somebody's goin' to get hung or strangled on one of them contraptions +Willie's rigged up," Captain Phineas Taylor prophesied impressively to +Zenas Henry as the two men sat smoking in the lee of the wood pile. +"You watch out an' see if they don't." +</P> + +<P> +Indeed there was no denying that Celestina was continually catching +hairpins, hooks, and buttons in the strings; or that some such dilemma +as had been predicted had actually occurred, for one day while alone in +the house a pin fastening the back of her print gown had become +inextricably entangled in the maze amid which she moved, and fearing +Willie's wrath if she should sunder her fetters she had been forced to +stand captive and helplessly witness a newly made sponge cake burn to a +crisp in the oven. She had hoped the ignominious episode would not +reach the outside world; but as Wilton was possessed of a miraculous +power for finding out things the story filtered through the community, +affording the village a laugh and the opportunity to affirm with +ominous shakings of the head that it was only because the Lord looked +out for fools and little children that a worse evil had not long ago +befallen the Spence household. +</P> + +<P> +Willie accepted the banter in good part. Born with a forgiving, +noncombative disposition he seldom took offence and although Janoah +Eldridge, who knew him better perhaps than anyone else on earth did, +acclaimed that this tranquil exterior concealed, as did Tim +Linkinwater's, unsuspected depths of ferocity, Wilton had yet to +encounter its lionlike fury. Instead the mild little inventor, with +his spools and his pulleys, his bits of wire and his measureless +reaches of string, pursued his peaceful though tortuous way, and if his +abode became transformed into a magnified cobweb only himself and +Celestina were inconvenienced thereby. +</P> + +<P> +To Celestina inconvenience was second nature since from the moment of +her birth it had been her lot in life. Arriving in the world +prematurely she had found nothing prepared for her coming and had been +forced to put up with such makeshifts for comfort as could be hurriedly +scrambled together. From that day until the present instant the same +fate had shadowed her path; perhaps it was in her stars. Her parents +had been of dilatory habits and by the time a crib with the necessary +pillows and bedding had been secured, and she had drawn a few peaceful +breaths therein a new baby had arrived and she had been ousted from her +resting place and compelled to surrender it to the more recent comer. +Ever since she had been shunted from pillar to post, sleeping on cots, +on couches, in folding beds and in hammocks, and keeping her meager +possessions in paste-board boxes tucked away beneath tables and +bureaus. Poised on the ragged edge of domesticity she continued +throughout her girlhood to look forward with hope to an eventual state +of permanence. When she was eighteen, however, her mother died and in +the task of bringing up six brothers and sisters younger than herself +all considerations for her personal ease were forgotten. Ten years +passed and her father was no more; than gradually, one after another, +the family she had so patiently reared took wing, leaving Celestina a +lonely spinster of fifty, homeless and practically penniless. +</P> + +<P> +This cruel lack of responsibility on the part of her relatives resulted +less from a want of affection than from a supreme misunderstanding of +their older sister. So completely had Celestina learned to efface her +personality and her inclinations that they reasoned she was utterly +without preferences; that she lacked the homing instinct; and was quite +as happy in one place as in another. Having thus washed their hands of +her they proceeded to sell the Morton homestead and each one pocket his +share of the proceeds. Very scanty this inheritance was, so scanty +that it compelled Celestina to begin a rotation around the village, +where in return for shelter she filled in domestic gaps of various +kinds. She helped here, she helped there; she took care of babies, +nursed the sick, comforted the aged. On she moved from house to house, +no enduring foundation ever remaining beneath her feet. No sooner +would she strike her roots down into a congenial soil than she would be +forced to pluck them up again and find new earth to which to cling. +</P> + +<P> +She might have married a dozen times during her youth had not her +conscience deterred her from deserting her father and the children left +to her care. In fact one persistent swain who refused to take "No" for +an answer had begged Celestina to wait and pray over the matter. +</P> + +<P> +"I never trouble the Lord with things I can settle myself," replied she +firmly. "I can't go marryin' an' that's all there is to it." +</P> + +<P> +Other offers had been declined with the same characteristic firmness +until now the golden season of mating-time was past, and although she +was still a pretty little woman the stamp of spinsterhood was +unalterably fixed upon her. +</P> + +<P> +Wilton, in the meantime, had long ago lost sight of the uncomplaining +self-sacrifice it had previously lauded and explained Celestina +Morton's unwedded state by declaring that she was too "easy goin'" to +make anybody a good wife. This criticism came, perhaps, more loudly +from the female faction of the town than from the male. However that +may be, the stigma, merited or unmerited, had become so firmly branded +upon Celestina that it could not be effaced. She may to some extent +have brought it upon herself, for certain it was that she never kicked +against the pricks or tried to shape her circumstances more in +accordance with her liking. Undoubtedly had she accepted her lot less +meekly she might have commanded a greater measure of attention and +sympathy; still, if she had not been of a more or less plastic nature +and surrendered herself patiently to her destiny it is a question +whether she would have survived at all. +</P> + +<P> +It was this mutability, this power to detach herself from her +environment and view it with the stoical indifference of a spectator +that caused Wilton with its harsh New England standards, to +characterize Celestina as "easy goin'." In fact, this popularly termed +"flaw" in her make-up was what had acted as an open sesame to every +door at which she knocked and had kept a roof above her head. She had +been just sixty years of age when Willie Spence's sister had died and +left him alone in the wee cottage on the Harbor Road, and all Wilton +had begun to speculate as to what was to become of him. Willie was as +dependent as an infant; the village gossips who knew everything knew +that. From childhood he had been looked after,—first by his mother, +then by his aunt, and lastly by his sister; and when death had removed +in succession all three of these props, leaving the little old man at +last face to face with life, his startled blue eyes had grown large +with terror. What was to become of him now? Not only did Willie +himself helplessly raise the interrogation but so did all Wilton. +</P> + +<P> +Of course he could go and board with the Eldridges but that would mean +renting or selling the silver-gray cottage where he had dwelt since +birth and would be a tragic severing of all ties with the past; +moreover, and a fact more potent than all the rest, it would mean +dismantling the house of the web that for years he had spun, the +symbols of dreams that had been his chief delight. Should he go to the +Eldridges there could be no more inventing, for Jan's wife was a hard, +practical woman who had scant sympathy with Willie's "idees." +Nevertheless one redeeming consideration must not be lost sight of—she +was a famous cook, a very famous cook; and poor Willie, although he +cared little what he ate, was incapable of concocting any food at all. +But the strings, the strings! No, to go to live with Jan and Mrs. +Eldridge was not to be thought of. +</P> + +<P> +It was just at this psychological juncture, when Willie was choosing +'twixt flesh and spirit, that he saw Celestina Morton standing like a +vision in the sunshine that spangled his doorway. She said she knew +how lonely he must be and therefore she had come to make a friendly +call and tidy up the house or mend for him anything that needed +mending. With this simple introduction she had taken off her hat and +coat, donned an ample blue-and-white pinafore, and set to work. +Fascinated Willie watched her deft movements. Now and then she smiled +at him but she did not speak and neither did he; nor, he noticed, did +she disturb his strings or comment on their inconvenience. When +twilight came and the hour for her departure drew near Willie stationed +himself before the peg from which dangled her shabby wraps and +stubbornly refused to have her hat and cloak removed from the nail. +There, figuratively speaking, they had hung ever since, the inventor +reasoning that life without this paragon of capability was a wretched +and profitless adventure. +</P> + +<P> +In justifying his sudden decision to Janoah Eldridge, Willie had merely +explained that he had hired Celestina because she was so comfortable to +have around, a recommendation at which Wilton would have jeered but +which, perhaps, in the eyes of the Lord was quite as praiseworthy as +that which her more hidebound but less accommodating sisters could have +boasted. For disorder and confusion never kept Celestina awake nights +or prevented her from partaking of three hearty meals a day as it would +have Abbie Brewster or Deborah Howland. So long as things were clean, +their being an inch or two, or even a foot, out of plumb did not worry +the new inmate of the gray house an iota. And when Willie was balked +in an "idee" that had "kitched him," and left half-a-dozen strings and +wires swinging in mid-air for weeks together, Celestina would patiently +duck her head as she passed beneath them and offer no protest more +emphatic than to remark: +</P> + +<P> +"Them strings hangin' down over the sink snare me every time I wash a +dish. Ain't you calculatin' ever to take 'em down, Willie?" +</P> + +<P> +The reply vouchsafed would be as mild as the suggestion: +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon they ain't there for eternity, Tiny," the inventor would +respond. "Like as not both you an' me will live to see 'em out of the +way." +</P> + +<P> +That was all the satisfaction Celestina would get from her feeble +complaints; it was all she ever got. Yet in spite of the exasperating +response she adored Willie who had been to her the soul of kindliness +and courtesy ever since she had come to the bluff to live. He might +forget to come to his meals,—forget, in fact, whether he had eaten +them or not; he might venture forth into the village with one gray sock +and one blue one; or when part way to the post-office become lost in +reverie and return home again without ever reaching his destination. +Such incidents had happened and were likely to happen again. +Nevertheless, notwithstanding his absentmindedness, he was never too +much absorbed to maintain toward Celestina an old-fashioned deference +very appealing to one accustomed to being ignored and slighted. +</P> + +<P> +The impulse, it was quite obvious, was prompted less by conventionality +than by a knightliness of heart, and Celestina, who had never before +been the recipient of such courtesies, found herself inexpressibly +touched by the trifling attentions. Often she speculated as to whether +this mental attitude toward all womanhood was one Willie himself had +evolved or whether it was the result of standards instilled into his +sensitive consciousness by the women who had been his companions +through life,—his mother, his aunt, his sister. Whichever the case +there was no question that the old man's bearing toward her placed her +on a pinnacle where gossip was silenced, and transformed her humble +ministrations from those of a hireling into acts of graciousness and +beauty. +</P> + +<P> +Moreover to live in the same house with such an optimist was no +ordinary experience. Well Celestina remembered the day when at dinner +the little old man had choked violently, turning purple in the face in +his fight for breath. She had rushed to his side, terror-stricken, but +between his spasms of coughing the inventor had gasped out: +</P> + +<P> +"Why make so much fuss over what's gone down the wrong way, Tiny? +Think—of—the—things—I've—swallered—all—these—years—that +have—gone down—right!" +</P> + +<P> +The observation was characteristic of Willie's creed of life. He never +emphasized the exceptions but always the big, fine, elemental good in +everything. +</P> + +<P> +Even the name by which he went had been bestowed on him by the +community as a term of endearment. There were, to be sure, other men +in the hamlet whose names had passed into diminutives. There was, for +example, Seth Crocker, whose wife explained that she called him Sethie +"for short." But Sethie's name was never pronounced with the same +affectionate drawl that Willie's was. +</P> + +<P> +No, Willie had his peculiar niche in Wilton and a very sacred niche it +was. +</P> + +<P> +What marvel, therefore, that Celestina reverenced the very earth which +he trod and cheerfully put up with the strings, the wires, the spools, +the tacks, and the pulleys; that she shifted the meals about to suit +his convenience; and that when she was awakened at midnight by a +rhythmic hammering which portended that the inventor had once again +"got kitched with a new idee" she smiled indulgently in the darkness +and instead of cursing the echoes that disturbed her slumber whispered +to herself Jan Eldridge's oft-repeated prediction that the day would +come when Willie Spence would astonish the scoffers of Wilton and would +make his mark. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WILLIE HAS AN IDEE +</H3> + + +<P> +On a day in June so clear that a sea gull loomed mammoth against the +sky; a day when a sail against the horizon was visible for miles; a day +when the whole world seemed swept and garnished as for a festival, +Zenas Henry Brewster drew rein before the Spence cottage, hitched the +Admiral to the picket fence that bordered the highway, and ascending +the bank which sloped abruptly to the road presented himself at the +kitchen door from which issued the aroma of baking bread. +</P> + +<P> +"Mornin', Tiny," called the visitor, poking his head across the +threshold. "Willie anywheres about?" +</P> + +<P> +Celestina, who was washing the breakfast dishes, glanced up at the lank +figure with a start. +</P> + +<P> +"Law, Zenas Henry, what a turn you gave me!" she exclaimed. "I never +heard a footfall. Yes, Willie's outside somewheres. He and Jan +Eldridge have been tinkerin' with the pump since early mornin'. +They've had it apart a hundred times, I guess, an' like as not they're +round there now pullin' it to pieces for the hundred-an'-oneth." +</P> + +<P> +Zenas Henry grinned. +</P> + +<P> +"That's a queer to-do," he remarked. "What's got all the pumps? +Bewitched, I reckon. Ours ain't workin' fur a cent either, an' I drove +round thinkin' I'd fetch Willie home with me to have a look at it. +He's got a knack with such things an' I calculate he'd know what's the +matter with it. Darned if I do." +</P> + +<P> +The man began to move away across the grass. +</P> + +<P> +Celestina, however, who was in the mood for gossip, had no mind to let +him escape so easily. +</P> + +<P> +"How's your folks?" questioned she, dropping her dishcloth into the pan +and following him to the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we're all right," returned Zenas Henry with a backward glance. +"Captain Benjamin's shoulder pesters him some about layin', but I tell +him he can't expect rain an' fog not to bring rheumatism." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so," agreed Celestina. "What a spell of weather we've had! I +guess it's about over now, though. I'm sorry Benjamin's shoulders +should hector him so. We're gettin' old, Zenas Henry, that's the plain +truth of it, an' must cheerfully take our share of aches an' pains, I +s'pose. Are Captain Phineas an' Captain Jonas well?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, they're nimble as crabs." +</P> + +<P> +"An' Abbie?" +</P> + +<P> +"Fine as a clipper in a breeze!" responded the man with enthusiasm. +"Best wife that ever was! The sun rises an' sets in that woman, +Celestina. What she can't do ain't worth doin'! Turns off work like +as if it was of no account an' grows better lookin' every day a-doin' +it." +</P> + +<P> +Celestina laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon you didn't make no mistake gettin' married, Zenas Henry," +mused she. +</P> + +<P> +"Mistake!" repeated Zenas Henry. +</P> + +<P> +"An' no mistake takin' in the child, either," went on Celestina, +unheeding the interruption. +</P> + +<P> +She saw his face soften and a glow of tenderness overspread it. +</P> + +<P> +"Delight was sent us out of heaven," he declared with solemnity. +"'Twas as much intended that ship should come ashore here an' the three +captains an' myself bring that little girl to land as that the sun +should rise in the mornin'. The child was meant fur us—fur us an' fur +nobody else on earth. Was she our own daughter we couldn't be fonder +of her than we are. It's ten years now since the wreck of the +<I>Michleen</I>. Think of it! How time flies! Ten years—an' the girl's +most twenty. I can't realize it. Why, it seems only yesterday she was +clingin' to my neck an' I was bringin' her home." +</P> + +<P> +"She's grown to be a regular beauty," Celestina observed. +</P> + +<P> +"I s'pose she has; folks seem to think so," replied Zenas Henry. "But +it wouldn't make an ounce of difference to me how she looked; I'd love +her just the same. I reckon she'll never seem to me anyhow like she +does to other people. Still I ain't so blind that I don't know she's +pretty. Her hair is wonderful, an' she's got them big brown eyes an' +pink cheeks. I'm proud as Tophet of her. If it warn't fur Abbie I +figger the three captains an' I would have the child clean spoilt. But +Abbie's always kept a firm hand on us an' prevented us from puttin' +nonsensical notions into Delight's head. Much of the way she's turned +out is due to Abbie's common sense. Well, the girl's a mighty nice +one," concluded Zenas Henry. "There's none to match her." +</P> + +<P> +"You're right there!" Celestina assented cordially. "She's one in a +hundred, in a thousand. She has the sweetest way in the world with +her, too. A body couldn't see her an' not love her. I guess there's +many a young feller along the Cape thinks so too, or I'm much +mistaken," added she slyly. "She must have a score of beaux." +</P> + +<P> +"Beaux!" snapped Zenas Henry, wheeling abruptly about. "Indeed she +hasn't. Why, she's nothin' but a child yet." +</P> + +<P> +"She's most twenty. You said so yourself just now." +</P> + +<P> +"Pooh! Twenty! What's twenty?" Zenas Henry cried derisively. "Why, +I'm three times that already an' more too, an' I ain't old. So are +you, Tiny. Twenty? Nonsense!" +</P> + +<P> +"But Delight is twenty, Zenas Henry," persisted Celestina. +</P> + +<P> +"What of it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you mustn't forget it, that's all," continued the woman softly. +"Many a girl her age is married an'——" +</P> + +<P> +"Married!" burst out the man with indignation. "What under heaven are +you talkin' about, Celestina? Delight marry? Not she! She's too +young. Besides, she's well enough content with Abbie an' the three +captains an' me. Marry? Delight marry! Ridiculous!" +</P> + +<P> +"But you don't mean to say you expect a creature as pretty as she is +not to marry," said Celestina aghast. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, why, yes," ruminated Zenas Henry. "Of course she's goin' to get +married sometime by an' by—mebbe in ten years or so. But not now." +</P> + +<P> +"Ten years or so! My goodness! Why, she'll be thirty or thirty-five, +an' an old maid by that time." +</P> + +<P> +"No, she won't. I was forty-five before I married, an' it didn't do me +no hurt or spoil my chances." +</P> + +<P> +"You might have been livin' with Abbie all them years, though." +</P> + +<P> +"I know it." +</P> + +<P> +He paused thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he reflected aloud, "I've often thought what a pity it was Abbie +an' I didn't have our first youth together. It took me half a lifetime +to find out how much I needed her." +</P> + +<P> +"You wouldn't want Delight should do that," ventured Celestina. +</P> + +<P> +"Delight? We ain't discussin' Delight," retorted Zenas Henry, promptly +on the defensive. "Delight's another matter altogether. She's nothin' +but a baby. There's no talk of her marryin' for a long spell yet." +</P> + +<P> +Peevishly he kicked the turf with the toe of his boot. +</P> + +<P> +Although he said no more, it was quite evident that he was much +irritated. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," he presently observed in a calmer tone, "I reckon I'll go round +an' waylay Willie." +</P> + +<P> +Celestina, leaning against the door frame, watched the gaunt, +loose-jointed figure stride out into the sunshine and disappear behind +the corner of the house. +</P> + +<P> +What a day it was! From beneath the lattice that arched the entrance +to the cottage and supported a rambler rose bursting into bloom she +could see the bay, blue as a sapphire and scintillating with ripples of +gold. A weather-stained scow was making its way out of the channel, +and above it circled a screaming cloud of tern that had been routed +from their nesting place on the margin of white sand that bordered the +path to the open sea. Mingling with their cries and the rhythmic +pulsing of the surf, the clear voices of the men aboard the tug reached +her ear. It was flood tide, and the water that surged over the bar +stained its reach of pearl to jade green and feathered its edges with +snowy foam. +</P> + +<P> +It was no weather to be cooped up indoors doing housework. +</P> + +<P> +Idly Celestina loitered, drinking in the beauty of the scene. The +languor of summer breathed in the gentle, pine-scented air and rose +from the warm earth of the garden. Voluptuously she stretched her arms +and yawned; then straightening to her customary erectness she went into +the house, being probably the only woman in Wilton who that morning had +abandoned her domestic duties long enough to take into her soul the +benediction of the world about her. +</P> + +<P> +It was such detours from the path of duty that had helped to win for +Celestina her pseudonym of "easy goin'." Perhaps this very vagrant +quality in her nature was what had aided her in so thoroughly +sympathizing with Willie in his sporadic outbursts of industry. For +Willie was not a methodical worker any more than was Celestina. There +were intervals, it is true, when he toiled steadily, feverishly, all +day long and far into the night, forgetting either to eat or sleep; +then would follow days together when he simply pottered about, or did +even worse and remained idle in the sunny shelter of the grape arbor. +Here on a rude bench constructed from a discarded four-poster he would +often sit for hours, smoking his corncob pipe and softly humming to +himself; but when genius went awry and his courage was at a low ebb, +strings, wires, and pulleys having failed to work, he would neither +smoke nor sing, but with eyes on the distance would sit immovable as if +carved from stone. +</P> + +<P> +To-day, however, was not one of his "settin' days." He had been up +since dawn, had eaten no breakfast, and had even been too deeply +preoccupied to fill and light the blackened pipe that dangled limply +from his lips. Yet despite all his coaxings and cajolings, the iron +pump opposite the shed door still refused to do anything but emit from +its throat a few dry, profitless gurgles that seemed forced upward from +the very caverns of the earth. Both Willie and Jan Eldredge looked +tired and disheartened, and when Zenas Henry approached stood at bay, +surrounded by a litter of wrenches, hammers, and scattered fragments of +metal. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter with your pump?" called Zenas Henry as he strolled +toward them. +</P> + +<P> +Willie turned on the intruder, a smile half humorous, half +contemptuous, flitting across his face. +</P> + +<P> +"If I could answer that question, Zenas Henry, I wouldn't be standin' +here gapin' at the darn thing," was his laconic response. "It's just +took a spell, that's all there is to it. It was right enough last +night." +</P> + +<P> +"There's no accountin' fur machinery," Zenas Henry remarked. +</P> + +<P> +The observation struck a note of pessimism that rasped Willie's +patience. +</P> + +<P> +"There's got to be some accountin' fur this claptraption," retorted he, +a suggestion of crispness in his tone. "I shan't stir foot from this +spot 'til I find out what's set it to actin' up this way." +</P> + +<P> +Zenas Henry laughed at the declaration of war echoing in the words. +</P> + +<P> +"I've given up flyin' all to flinders over everything that gets out of +gear," he drawled. "If I was to be goin' up higher'n a kite every +time, fur instance, that the seaweed ketches round the propeller of my +motor-boat, I'd be in mid-air most of the time." +</P> + +<P> +Willie raised his head with the alertness of a hunter on the scent. +</P> + +<P> +"Seaweed?" he repeated vaguely. +</P> + +<P> +Zenas Henry nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Ain't there no scheme fur doin' away with a nuisance like that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I ain't discovered any," came dryly from Zenas Henry. "We've all had +a whack at the thing—Captain Jonas, Captain Phineas, Captain Benjamin, +an' me—an' we're back where we were at the beginnin'. Nothin' we've +tried has worked." +</P> + +<P> +"U—m!" ruminated Willie, stroking his chin. +</P> + +<P> +"I've about come to the conclusion we ain't much good as mechanics, +anyhow," went on Zenas Henry with a short laugh. "In fact, Abbie's of +the mind that we get things out of order faster'n we put 'em in." +</P> + +<P> +Janoah Eldridge rubbed his grimy hands and chuckled, but Willie deigned +no reply. +</P> + +<P> +"This propeller now," he presently began as if there had been no +digression from the topic, "I s'pose the kelp gets tangled around the +blades." +</P> + +<P> +"That's it," assented Zenas Henry. +</P> + +<P> +"An' that holds up your engine." +</P> + +<P> +"Uh-huh," Zenas Henry agreed with the same bored inflection. +</P> + +<P> +"An' that leaves you rockin' like a baby in a cradle 'til you can get +the wheel free." +</P> + +<P> +"Uh-huh." +</P> + +<P> +There was a moment of silence. +</P> + +<P> +"It can't be much of a stunt tossin' round in a choppy sea like as if +you was a chip on the waves," commented Jan Eldridge with a +commiserating grin. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tain't." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you do when you find yourself in a fix like that?" he inquired +with interest. +</P> + +<P> +"Do?" reiterated Zenas Henry. "What a question! What would any fool +do? There ain't no choice left you but to hang head downwards over the +stern of the boat an' claw the eel-grass off the wheel with a gaff." +</P> + +<P> +Janoah burst into a derisive shout. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, my eye!" he exclaimed. "So that's the way you do it, eh? Don't +talk to me of motor-boats! A good old-fashioned skiff with a +leg-o'-mutton sail in her is good enough fur me. How 'bout you, +Willie?" +</P> + +<P> +No reply was forthcoming. +</P> + +<P> +"I say, Willie," repeated Jan in a louder tone, "that these new fangled +motor-boats, with their noise an' their smell, ain't no match fur a +good clean dory." +</P> + +<P> +Willie came out of his trance just in time to catch the final clause of +the sentence. +</P> + +<P> +"Who ever saw a clean dory in Wilton?" +</P> + +<P> +Jan faltered, abashed. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, anyhow," he persisted, "in my opinion, clean or not, a straight +wholesome smell of cod ain't to be mentioned in the same breath with a +mix-up of stale fish an' gasoline." +</P> + +<P> +Zenas Henry bridled. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't buy a motor-boat to smell of," he said tartly. "You seem to +forget it's to sail in." +</P> + +<P> +"But if the eel-grass holds you hard an' fast in one spot most of the +time I don't see's you do much sailin'," taunted Jan. "'Pears to me +you're just adrift an' goin' nowheres a good part of the time." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I ain't" snapped Zenas Henry with rising ire. "It's only +sometimes the thing gets spleeny. Most always—" +</P> + +<P> +"Then it warn't you I saw pitchin' in the channel fur a couple of hours +yesterday afternoon," commented the tormentor. +</P> + +<P> +"No. That is—let me think a minute," meditated Zenas Henry. "Yes, I +guess it was me, after all," he admitted with reluctant honesty. "The +tide brought in quite a batch of weeds, an' they washed up round the +boat before I could get out of their way; quicker'n a wink we were +neatly snarled up in 'em. Captain Jonas an' Captain Phineas tried to +get clear, but somehow they ain't got much knack fur freein' the wheel. +So we did linger in the channel a spell." +</P> + +<P> +"Linger!" put in Willie. "I shouldn't call bobbin' up an' down in one +spot fur two mortal hours lingerin'. I'd call it nearer bein' +hypnotized." +</P> + +<P> +Zenas Henry was now plainly out of temper. He was well aware that +Wilton had scant sympathy with his motor-boat, the first innovation of +the sort that had been perpetrated in the town. +</P> + +<P> +"Hadn't you better turn your attention from motor-boats to pumps?" he +asked testily. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon I had, Zenas Henry," Willie answered, unruffled by the +thrust. "As you say, if you chose to wind yourself up in the eel-grass +it's none of my affair." +</P> + +<P> +Turning his back on his visitor, he bent once more over the pump and +adjusted a leather washer between its rusty joints. +</P> + +<P> +"Now let's give her a try, Jan," he said, as he tightened the screws. +"If that don't fetch her I'm beat." +</P> + +<P> +By this time Jan's faith had lessened, and although he obediently +raised the iron handle and began to ply it up and down, it was obvious +that he did not anticipate success. But contrary to his expectations +there was a sudden subterranean groan, followed by a rumble of +gradually rising pitch; then from out the stubbed green spout a stream +of water gushed forth and trickled into the tub beneath. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurray!" shouted Jan. "There she blows, Willie! Ain't you the +dabster, though!" +</P> + +<P> +The inventor did not immediately acknowledge the plaudits heaped upon +him, but it was evident he was gratified by his success for, as he +wiped the beads of perspiration from his forehead he sighed deeply. +</P> + +<P> +"If I hadn't been such a blame fool I'd 'a' known what the matter was +in the first place," he remarked. "Well, if we knew as much when we're +born as we do when we get ready to die, what would be the use of livin' +seventy odd years?" +</P> + +<P> +In spite of his irritation Zenas Henry smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't s'pose you're feelin' like tacklin' another pump to-day," he +ventured with hesitation. "Ours up at the white cottage has gone on a +strike, too." +</P> + +<P> +Instantly Willie was interested. +</P> + +<P> +"What's got yours?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Blest if I know. We've took it all to pieces an' ain't found nothin' +out with it, an' now to save our souls we can't put it together again," +Zenas Henry explained. "I drove round, thinkin' that mebbe you'd go +back with me an' have a look at it." +</P> + +<P> +"Course I will, Zenas Henry," Willie said without hesitation. "I'd +admire to. A pump that won't work is like a fishline without a +hook—good for nothin'. Have you got room in your team for Jan, too?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure." +</P> + +<P> +"Then let's start along," said the inventor, stooping to gather up his +tools. +</P> + +<P> +But he had reckoned without his host, for as he swept them into a +jagged piece of sailcloth and prepared to tie up the bundle, Celestina +called to him from the window. +</P> + +<P> +"Where you goin', Willie?" she demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"Up to Zenas Henry's to mend the pump." +</P> + +<P> +"But you can't go now," objected she. "It's ten o'clock, an' you ain't +had a mouthful of breakfast this mornin'." +</P> + +<P> +The little man regarded her blankly. +</P> + +<P> +"Ain't I et nothin'?" he inquired with surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"No. Don't you remember you got up early to go fishin', an' then you +found the pump wasn't workin', an' you've been wrestlin' with it ever +since." +</P> + +<P> +"So I have!" +</P> + +<P> +A sunny smile of recollection overspread the old man's face. +</P> + +<P> +"Ain't you hungry?" +</P> + +<P> +"I dunno," considered he without interest. "Mebbe I am. Yes, now you +speak of it, I will own to feelin' a mite holler. Can't you hand me a +snack to eat as I go along?" +</P> + +<P> +"You'd much better come in an' have your breakfast properly." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't want nothin' much," the altruist protested. "Just fetch +me out a slice of bread or a doughnut. We've got to get at that pump +of Zenas Henry's. I'm itchin' to know what's the matter with it." +</P> + +<P> +Celestina looked disappointed. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been savin' your coffee fur you since seven o'clock," murmured +she reproachfully. +</P> + +<P> +"That was very kind of you, Tiny," Willie responded with an +ingratiating glance into her eyes. "You just keep it hot a spell +longer, an' I'll be back. Likely I won't be long." +</P> + +<P> +"You've been workin' five hours on your own pump!" +</P> + +<P> +"Five hours? Pshaw! You don't say so," mused the tranquil voice. +"Think of that! An' it didn't seem no time. Well, it's a-pumpin' now, +Celestina." +</P> + +<P> +The mild face beamed with satisfaction, and Celestina had not the heart +to cloud its brightness by annoying him further. +</P> + +<P> +"That's capital!" she declared. "Here's your bread an' butter, Willie. +An' here's some apple turnovers fur you, an' Jan, an' Zenas Henry. +They'll be nice fur you goin' along in the wagon." Then turning to Jan +she whispered in a pleading undertone: +</P> + +<P> +"Do watch, Jan, that Willie don't lay that bread down somewheres an' +forget it. Mebbe if he sees the rest of you eatin' he'll remember to +eat himself. If he don't, though, remind him, for he's just as liable +to bring it back home again in his hand. Keep your eye on him!" +</P> + +<P> +Jan nodded understandingly, and climbing into the dusty wagon, the +three men rattled off over the sandy road. Willie dropped his tools +into the bottom of the carriage but the slice of bread remained +untouched in his fingers. Now that triumph had brought a respite in +his labors he seemed silent and thoughtful. It was not until the +Admiral turned in at the Brewster gate that he roused himself +sufficiently to observe with irrelevance: +</P> + +<P> +"Speakin' about that propeller of yours, Zenas Henry—it must be no end +of a temper-rasper." +</P> + +<P> +Zenas Henry slapped the reins over the horse's flank and waited +breathlessly, hoping some further comment would come from the little +inventor, but as Willie remained silent, he at length could restrain +his impatience no longer and ventured with diffidence: +</P> + +<P> +"S'pose you ain't got any notion what we could do about it, have you, +Willie?" +</P> + +<P> +The old man shrugged his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"No, not the ghost," was his terse reply. +</P> + +<P> +That night, however, Celestina was awakened from her dreams by the ring +of a hammer. She rose, and lighting her candle, tip-toed into the +hall. It was one o'clock, and she could see that Willie's bedroom door +was ajar and the bed untouched. +</P> + +<P> +With a little sigh she blew out the flame in her hand and crept back +beneath the shelter of her calico comforter. +</P> + +<P> +She knew the symptoms only too well. +</P> + +<P> +Willie was once again "kitched by an idee!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A NEW ARRIVAL +</H3> + + +<P> +The new idea, whatever it was, was evidently not one to be hastily +perfected, for the next morning when Celestina went down stairs, she +found the jaded inventor seated moodily in a rocking-chair before the +kitchen stove, his head in his hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Law, Willie, are you up already?" she asked, as if unconscious of his +nocturnal activities. +</P> + +<P> +The reply was a wan smile. +</P> + +<P> +"An' you've got the fire built, too," went on Celestina cheerily. "How +nice!" +</P> + +<P> +"Eh?" repeated he, giving her a vague stare. "The fire?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. I was sayin' how good it was of you to start it up." The man +gazed at her blankly. +</P> + +<P> +"I ain't touched the fire," he answered. "I might have, though, as +well as not, Tiny, if I'd thought of it." +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right," Celestina declared, making haste to repair her +blunder. "I've plenty of time to lay it myself. 'Twas only that when +I saw you settin' up before it I thought mebbe you'd built it 'cause +you were cold." +</P> + +<P> +"I was cold," acquiesced Willie, his eyes misty with thought. "But I +warn't noticin' there was no heat in the stove when I drew up here." +</P> + +<P> +Celestina bit her lip. How characteristic the confession was! +</P> + +<P> +"Well, there'll be a fire now very soon," said she, bustling out and +returning with paper and kindlings. "The kitchen will be warm as toast +in no time. An' I'll make you some hot coffee straight away. That +will heat you up. This northerly wind blows the cobwebs out of the +sky, but it does make it chilly." +</P> + +<P> +Although Willie's eyes automatically followed her brisk motions and +watched while she deftly started the blaze, it was easy to see that he +was too deep in his own meditations to sense what she was doing. +Perhaps had his mood not been such an abstract one he would have +realized that he was directly in the main thoroughfare and obstructing +the path between the pantry and the oven. As it was he failed to grasp +the circumstance, and not wishing to disturb him, Celestina patiently +circled before, behind and around him in her successive pilgrimages to +the stove. Such situations were exigencies to which she was quite +accustomed, her easy-going disposition quickly adapting itself to +emergencies of the sort. So skilful was she in effacing her presence +that Willie had no knowledge he was an obstacle until suddenly the iron +door swung back of its own volition and in passing brushed his knuckles +with its hot metal edge. +</P> + +<P> +"Ouch!" cried he, starting up from his chair. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter?" called Celestina from the pantry. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothin'. The oven door sprung open, that's all." +</P> + +<P> +"It didn't burn you?" +</P> + +<P> +"N—o, but it made me jump," laughed Willie. "Why didn't you tell me, +Tiny, that I was in your way?" +</P> + +<P> +"You warn't in my way." +</P> + +<P> +"But I must 'a' been," the man persisted. "You should 'a' shoved me +aside in the beginnin'." +</P> + +<P> +Stretching his arms upward with a comfortable yawn, he rose and +sauntered toward the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Now you're not to pull out of here, Willie Spence," Celestina objected +in a peremptory tone, "until you've had your breakfast. You had none +yesterday, remember, thanks to that pump; an' you had no dinner either, +thanks to Zenas Henry's pump. You're goin' to start this day right. +You're to have three square meals if I have to tag you all over Wilton +with 'em. I don't know what it is you've got on your mind this time, +but the world's worried along without it up to now, an' I guess it can +manage a little longer." +</P> + +<P> +Willie regarded his mentor good-humoredly. +</P> + +<P> +"I figger it can, Celestina," he returned. "In fact, I reckon it will +have to content itself fur quite a spell without the notion I've run +a-foul of now." +</P> + +<P> +Celestina offered no interrogation; instead she said, "Well, don't let +it harrow you up; that's all I ask. If it's goin' to be a +long-drawn-out piece of tinkerin', why there's all the more reason you +should eat your three good meals like other Christians. Next you know +you'll be gettin' run down, an' I'll be havin' to brew some dandelion +bitters for you." She came to an abrupt stop half-way between the oven +and the kitchen table, a bowl and spoon poised in her hand. "I ain't +sure but it's time to brew you somethin' anyway," she announced. "You +ain't had a tonic fur quite a spell an' mebbe 'twould do you good." +</P> + +<P> +A helpless protest trembled on Willie's lips. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I—don't think I need any bitters, Celestina," he at last observed +mildly. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't know whether you do or not," Celestina replied with as near +an approach to sharpness as she was capable of. "However, there's no +call to discuss that now. The chief thing this minute is for you to +sit up to the table an' eat your victuals." +</P> + +<P> +Docilely the man obeyed. He was hungry it proved, very hungry indeed. +With satisfaction Celestina watched every spoonful of food he put to +his lips, inwardly gloating as one muffin after another disappeared; +and when at last he could eat no more and took his blackened cob pipe +from his pocket, she drew a sigh of satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +"There now, if you want to go back to your inventin' you can," she +remarked, as she began to clear away the dishes. "You've took aboard +enough rations to do you quite a while." +</P> + +<P> +Notwithstanding the permission Willie did not immediately avail himself +of it but instead lingered uneasily as if something troubled his +conscience. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Tiny," he blurted out at length, "if you happen around by the +front door and miss the screen don't be scared an' think it's stole. I +had to use it fur somethin' last night." +</P> + +<P> +"The screen door?" gasped Celestina. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"But—but—Willie! The door was new this Spring; there wasn't a brack +in it." +</P> + +<P> +"I know it," was the calm answer. "That's why I took it." +</P> + +<P> +"But you could have got nettin' over at the store to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't wait." +</P> + +<P> +Celestina did not reply at once; but when she did she had herself well +in hand, and every trace of irritation had vanished from her tone. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we don't often open that door, anyway," she reflected aloud, "so +I guess no harm's done. It's a full year since anybody's come to the +front door, an' like as not 'twill be another before—" +</P> + +<P> +A jangling sound cut short the sentence. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" exclaimed she aghast. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a bell." +</P> + +<P> +"I never heard a bell like that in this house." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a bell I rigged up one day when you were gone to the Junction," +exclaimed Willie hurriedly. "I thought I told you about it." +</P> + +<P> +"You didn't." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, no matter now," he went on soothingly. +</P> + +<P> +"I meant to." +</P> + +<P> +"Where is it?" demanded Celestina. +</P> + +<P> +"It's in the hall. It's a new front-door bell, that's what it is," +proclaimed the inventor, his voice lost in a second deafening peal. +</P> + +<P> +"My soul! It's enough to wake the dead!" gasped Celestina, with hands +on her ears. "I should think it could be heard from here to Nantucket. +What set you gettin' a bell that size, Willie? 'Twould scare any +caller who dared to come this way out of a year's growth. I'll have to +go an' see who's there, if he ain't been struck dumb on the doorsill. +Who ever can it be—comin' to the front door?" +</P> + +<P> +With perturbed expectancy she hurried through the passageway, Willie +tagging at her heels. +</P> + +<P> +The infrequently patronized portal of the Spence mansion, it proved, +was so securely barred and bolted that to unfasten it necessitated no +little time and patience; even after locks and fastenings had been +withdrawn and the door was at liberty to move, not knowing what to do +with its unaccustomed freedom it refused to stir, stubbornly resisting +every attempt to wrench its hinges asunder. It was not until the man +and woman inside had combined their efforts and struggled with it for +quite an interval that it contrived to creak apart far enough to reveal +through a four-inch crack the figure of a young man who was standing +patiently outside. +</P> + +<P> +One could not have asked for a franker, merrier face than that which +peered at Celestina through the narrow chink of sunshine. To judge at +random the visitor had come into his manhood recently, for the brown +eyes were alight with youthful humor and the shoulders unbowed by the +burdens of the world. He had a mass of wavy, dark hair; a thoughtful +brow; ruddy color; a pleasant mouth and fine teeth; and a tall, erect +figure which he bore with easy grace. +</P> + +<P> +"Is Miss Morton at home?" he asked, smiling at Celestina through the +shaft of golden light. +</P> + +<P> +Celestina hesitated. So seldom was she addressed by this formal +pseudonym that for the instant she was compelled to stop and consider +whether the individual designated was on the premises or not. +</P> + +<P> +"Y—e—s," she at last admitted feebly. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if I might speak with her," the stranger asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you tell him you're Miss Morton," coached Willie, in a loud +whisper. +</P> + +<P> +But the man on the steps had heard. +</P> + +<P> +"You're not Miss Morton, are you?" he essayed, "Miss Celestina Morton?" +</P> + +<P> +"I expect I am," owned Celestina nervously. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm your brother Elnathan's boy, Bob." +</P> + +<P> +Celestina crumpled weakly against the door frame. +</P> + +<P> +"Nate's boy!" she repeated. "Bless my soul! Bless my soul an' body!" +</P> + +<P> +The man outside laughed a delighted laugh so infectious that before +Celestina or Willie were conscious of it they had joined in its mellow +ripple. After that everything was easy. +</P> + +<P> +"We can't open the door to let you in," explained Willie, peering out +through the rift, "'cause this blasted door ain't moved fur so long +that its hinges have growed together; but if you'll come round to the +back of the house you'll find a warmer welcome." +</P> + +<P> +The guest nodded and disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +"Land alive, Willie!" ejaculated Celestina while they struggled to +replace the dislocated bars and bolts. "To think of Nate's boy +appearin' here! I can't get over it! Nate's boy! Nate was my +favorite brother, you know—the littlest one, that I brought up from +babyhood. This lad is so completely the livin' image of him that when +I clapped eyes on him it took the gimp clear out of me. It was like +havin' Nate himself come back again." +</P> + +<P> +With fluttering eagerness she sped through the hall. +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton was standing in the kitchen when she arrived, his head +towering into the tangle of strings that crossed and recrossed the +small interior. Whatever his impression of the extraordinary spectacle +he evinced no curiosity but remained as imperturbable amid the network +that ensnared him as if such astounding phenomena were everyday +happenings. Nevertheless, a close observer might have detected in his +hazel eyes a dancing gleam that defied control. Apparently it did not +occur either to Willie or to Celestina to explain the mystery which had +long since become to them so familiar a sight; therefore amid the +barrage of red, green, purple, pink, yellow and white strings they +greeted their guest, throwing into their welcome all the homely +cordiality they could command. +</P> + +<P> +From the first moment of their meeting it was noticeable that Willie +was strongly attracted by Robert Morton's sensitive and intelligent +face; and had he not been, for Celestina's sake he would have made an +effort to like the newcomer. Fortunately, however, effort was +unnecessary, for Bob won his way quite as uncontestedly with the little +inventor as with Celestina. There was no question that his aunt was +delighted with him. One could read it in her affectionate touch on his +arm; in her soft, nervous laughter; in the tremulous inflection of her +many questions. +</P> + +<P> +"Your father couldn't have done a kinder thing than to have sent you to +Wilton, Robert," she declared at last when quite out of breath with her +rejoicings. "My, if you're not the mortal image of him as he used to +be at your age! I can scarcely believe it isn't Nate. His forehead +was high like yours, an' the hair waved back from it the same way; he +had your eyes too—full of fun, an' yet earnest an' thoughtful. I +ain't sure but you're a mite taller than he was, though." +</P> + +<P> +"I top Dad by six inches, Aunt Tiny," smiled the young man. +</P> + +<P> +"I guessed likely you did," murmured Celestina, with her eyes still on +his face. "Now you must sit right down an' tell me all about yourself +an' your folks. I want to know everything—where you come from; when +you got here; how long you can stay, an' all." +</P> + +<P> +"The last question is the only really important one," interrupted +Willie, approaching the guest and laying a friendly hand on his +shoulder. "The doin's of your family will keep; an' where you come +from ain't no great matter neither. What counts is how long you can +spare to visitin' Wilton an' your aunt. We ain't much on talk here on +the Cape, but I just want you should know that there's an empty room +upstairs with a good bed in it, that's yours long's you can make out to +use it. Your aunt is a prime cook, too, an' though there's no danger +of your mixin' up this place with Broadway or Palm Beach, I believe you +might manage to keep contented here." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sure I could," Bob Morton answered, "and you're certainly kind to +give me such a cordial invitation. I wasn't expecting to remain for +any length of time, however. I came down from Boston, where I happened +to be staying yesterday afternoon, and had planned to go back tonight. +I've been doing some post-graduate work in naval engineering at Tech +and have just finished my course there. So, you see, I'm really on my +way home to Indiana. But Dad wrote that before I returned he wanted me +to take a run down here and see Aunt Tiny and the old town where he was +born, so here I am." +</P> + +<P> +Willie scanned the stranger's face meditatively. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you're clear of work, an' startin' off on your summer vacation." +</P> + +<P> +"That's about it," confessed Bob. +</P> + +<P> +"Anything to take you West right away?" +</P> + +<P> +"N—o—nothing, except that the family have not seen me for some time. +I've accepted a business position with a New York firm, but I don't +start in there until October." +</P> + +<P> +"You're your own master for four months, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I ain't a-goin' to urge you to put in your time here; but I will +say again, in case you've forgotten it, that so long as you're content +to remain with us we'd admire to have you. 'Twould give your aunt no +end of pleasure, I'll be bound, an' I'd enjoy it as well as she would." +</P> + +<P> +"You're certainly not considerin' goin' back to Boston today!" chimed +in Celestina. +</P> + +<P> +"I was," laughed Bob. +</P> + +<P> +"You may as well put that notion right out of your head," said Willie, +"for we shan't let you carry out no such crazy scheme." +</P> + +<P> +"But to come launching down on you this way—" began the younger man. +</P> + +<P> +"You ain't come launchin' down," objected his aunt with spirit. "We +ain't got nothin' to do but inventin', an' I reckon that can wait." +</P> + +<P> +Glancing playfully at Willie she saw a sudden light of eagerness flash +into his countenance. But Bob, not understanding the allusion, looked +from one of them to the other in puzzled silence. +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Aunt Tiny," he at last announced, "if you an' Mr. Spence +really want me to, I should be delighted to stay with you a few days. +The fact is," he added with boyish frankness, "my suit case is down +behind the rose bushes this minute. Having sent most of my luggage +home, and not knowing what I should do, I brought it along with me." +</P> + +<P> +"You go straight out, young man, an' fetch it in," commanded Willie, +giving him a jocose slap on the back. +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, in spite of the mandate, Robert Morton lingered. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know, Aunt Tiny, I'm almost ashamed to accept your +hospitality," he observed with winning sincerity. "We've all been so +rotten to you—never coming to see you or anything. Dad's terribly cut +up that he hasn't made a single trip East since leaving Wilton." +</P> + +<P> +The honest confession instantly quenched the last smouldering embers of +Celestina's resentment toward her kin. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't think no more of it!" she returned hurriedly. "Your father's +been busy likely, an' so have you; an' anyhow, men ain't much on +follerin' up their relations, or writin' to 'em. So don't say another +word about it. I'm sure I've hardly given it a thought." +</P> + +<P> +That the final assertion was false Robert Morton read in the woman's +brave attempt to control the pitiful little quiver of her lips; +nevertheless he blessed her for her deception. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a dear, Aunt Tiny," he exclaimed heartily, stooping to kiss her +cheek. "Had I dreamed half how nice you were, wild horses couldn't +have kept me away from Wilton." +</P> + +<P> +Celestina blushed with pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +Very pretty she looked standing there in the window, her shoulders +encircled by the arm of the big fellow who, towering above her, looked +down into her eyes so affectionately. Willie couldn't but think as he +saw her what a mother she would have made for some boy. Possibly +something of the same regret crossed Celestina's own mind, for a shadow +momentarily clouded her brow, and to banish it she repeated with +resolute gaiety: +</P> + +<P> +"Do go straight out an' bring in that suit case, Bob, or some straggler +may steal it. An' put out of your mind any notion of goin' to Boston +for the present. I'll show you which room you're to have so'st you can +unpack your things, an' while you're washin' up I'll get you some +breakfast. You ain't had none, have you?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; but really, Aunt Tiny, I'm not—" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, you are. Don't think it's any trouble for it ain't—not a mite." +</P> + +<P> +Willie beamed with good will. +</P> + +<P> +"You've landed just in time to set down with us," he remarked. "We +ain't had our breakfast, either." +</P> + +<P> +Celestina wheeled about with astonishment. Willie's hospitality must +have burst all bounds if it had lured him, who never deviated from the +truth, into uttering a falsehood monstrous as this. One glance, +however, at his placid face, his unflinching eye, convinced her that +swept away by the interest of the moment the little old man had lost +all memory of whether he had breakfasted or not. +</P> + +<P> +She did not enlighten him. +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe it ain't honest to let him go on thinkin' he's had nothin' to +eat," she whispered to herself, "but if all them muffins, an' oatmeal, +an' coffee don't do nothin' toward remindin' him he's et once, I ain't +goin' to do it. This second meal will make up fur the breakfast he +missed yesterday. I ain't deceivin' him; I'm simply squarin' things +up." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER ENTERS +</H3> + + +<P> +Before the morning had passed Bob Morton was as much at home in the +little cottage that faced the sea as if he had lived there all his +days. His property was spread out in the old mahogany bureau upstairs; +his hat dangled from a peg in the hall; and he had exchanged his "city +clothes" for the less conventional outing shirt and suit of blue serge, +both of which transformed him into a figure amazingly slender and +boyish. For two hours he and Celestina had rehearsed the family +history from beginning to end; and now he had left her to get dinner, +and he and Willie had betaken themselves to the workshop where they +were deep in confidential conversation. +</P> + +<P> +"You see," the inventor was explaining to his guest, "it's like this: +it ain't so much that I want to bother with these notions as that I +have to. They get me by the throat, an' there's no shakin' 'em off. +Only yesterday, fur example, I got kitched with an idee about a boat—" +he broke off, regarding his listener with sudden suspicion. +</P> + +<P> +Bob waited. +</P> + +<P> +Evidently Willie's scrutiny of the frank countenance opposite satisfied +him, for dropping his voice he continued in an impressive whisper: +</P> + +<P> +"About a motor-boat, this idee was." +</P> + +<P> +Glancing around as if to assure himself that no one was within hearing, +he hitched the barrel on which he was seated nearer his visitor. +</P> + +<P> +"There's a sight of plague with motor-boats among these shoals," he +went on eagerly. "What with the eel-grass that grows along the inlets +an' the kelp that's washed in by the tide after a storm, the propeller +of a motor-boat is snarled up a good bit of the time. Now my scheme," +he announced, his last trace of reserve vanishing, "is to box that +propeller somehow—if so be as it can be done—an'—," the voice +trailed off into meditation. +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton, too, was silent. +</P> + +<P> +"You would have to see that the wheel was kept free," he mused aloud +after an interval. +</P> + +<P> +"I know it." +</P> + +<P> +"And not check the speed of the boat." +</P> + +<P> +"Right you are, mate!" exclaimed Willie with delight. +</P> + +<P> +"And not hamper the swing of the rudder." +</P> + +<P> +"You have it! You have it!" Willie shouted, rubbing his hands together +and smiling broadly. "It's all them things I'm up against." +</P> + +<P> +"I believe the trick might be turned, though," replied young Morton, +rising from the nail keg on which he was sitting and striding about the +narrow room. "It's a pretty problem and one it would be rather good +fun to work out." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd need to rig up a model to experiment with, I s'pose," reflected +Willie. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we could fix that easily enough," Bob cried with rising enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>We</I>?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure! I'll help you." +</P> + +<P> +The announcement did not altogether reassure the inventor, and Bob +laughed at the dubious expression of his face. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course I'm only a dry-land sailor," he went on to explain +good-humoredly, "and I do not begin to have had the experience with +boats that you have. I did, however, study about them some at Tech and +perhaps—" +</P> + +<P> +"Study about 'em!" repeated Willie, unable wholly to conceal his +scepticism and scorn. +</P> + +<P> +Again the younger man laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"I realize that is not like getting knowledge first-hand," he continued +with modesty, "but it seemed the best I could do. As to this plan of +yours, two heads are sometimes better than one, and between us I +believe we can evolve an answer to the puzzle." +</P> + +<P> +"That'll be prime!" Willie ejaculated, now quite comfortable in his +mind. "An' when we get the answer to the riddle, Jan Eldridge will +help us. You ain't met Jan yet, have you? He's the salt of the earth, +Janoah Eldridge is. Him an' me are the greatest chums you ever saw. +He mebbe has his peculiarities, like the rest of us. Who ain't? +You'll likely find him kinder sharp-tongued at first, but he don't mean +nothin' by it; and' he's quick, too—goes up like a rocket at a +minute's notice. Folks down in town insist in addition that he's +jealous as a girl, but I've yet to see signs of it. Fur all his little +crochets you'll like Jan Eldridge. You can't help it. We're none of +us angels—when it comes to that. Hush!" broke off Willie warningly. +"I believe that's him now. Didn't you see a head go past the winder?" +</P> + +<P> +"I thought I did." +</P> + +<P> +"Then that's Jan. Nobody else would be comin' across the dingle. Now +not a word of this motor-boat business to him," cautioned Willie, +dropping his voice. "I never tell Jan 'bout my idees 'till I get 'em +well worked out, for he's no great shakes at inventin'." +</P> + +<P> +There was an instant of guilty silence, and then the two conspirators +beheld a freckled face, crowned by a mass of rampant sandy hair, +protrude itself through the doorway. +</P> + +<P> +"Hi, Willie!" called the newcomer, unmindful of the presence of a +stranger. "Well, how do you find yourself to-day? Ready to tackle +another pump?" +</P> + +<P> +With simulated indignation Willie bristled. +</P> + +<P> +"Pump!" he repeated. "Don't you dare so much as to mention pumps in my +hearin' fur six months, Janoah Eldridge. I've had my fill of pumps fur +one spell." +</P> + +<P> +The freckled face in the door expanded its smile into a grin that +displayed the few scattered teeth adorning its owner's jaws. +</P> + +<P> +"No," went on the inventor, "I ain't attackin' no pumps to-day. I'm +sorter takin' a vacation. You see we've got company. Tiny's nephew, +Bob Morton from Indiana, has come to stay with us. This is him on the +nail keg." +</P> + +<P> +Shuffling further into the room Jan peered inquisitively at the guest. +</P> + +<P> +"So you're Tiny's nephew, eh?" he commented, examining the visitor's +countenance with curiosity. "Well, well! To think of some of Tiny's +relations turnin' up at last! Not that it ain't high time, I'll say +that. Now which of the Mortons do you belong to, young man?" +</P> + +<P> +"Elnathan." +</P> + +<P> +"I might 'a' known first glance, for you're like him as his tintype." +</P> + +<P> +Bob laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Aunt Tiny thinks I am, too." +</P> + +<P> +"She'd oughter know," was the dry comment. "She had the plague of +bringin' him up from the time he could toddle. I'm glad some of you +have finally got round to comin' to see her. You've been long enough +doin' it. I ain't so sure, though, but if I was in her place I'd—" +</P> + +<P> +"There, there, Jan," interrupted Willie nervously, "why go diggin' up +the past? The lad is here now an'—" +</P> + +<P> +"But they have been the devil of a while takin' notice of Tiny," Janoah +persisted, not to be coaxed away from his subject. "Why, 'twas only +the other day when we was workin' out here that you yourself said the +way her folks had neglected her was outrageous." +</P> + +<P> +"And it was, too, Mr. Eldridge," confessed Bob, flushing. "Our whole +family have treated Aunt Tiny shamefully. There is no excuse for it." +</P> + +<P> +Before the honest admission of blame, Jan's mounting wrath grudgingly +calmed itself. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," he grumbled in a more conciliatory tone, "as Willie says, mebbe +it's just as well not to go bringin' to life what's buried already. +Like as not there may have been some good reason for your folks never +comin' back to Wilton after once they'd left the place. Indiana's the +devil of a distance away—'most at the other end of the world, ain't +it? You might as well live in China as Indiana. I never could see +anyway what took people out of Wilton. There ain't a better spot on +earth to live than right here. Yet for all that, every one of the +Mortons 'cept Tiny (who showed her good sense, in my opinion) went +flockin' out of this town quick as they was growed, like as if they was +a lot of swarmin' bees. I doubt myself, too, if they're a whit better +off for it. Your father now—what does he make out to do in Indiana?" +</P> + +<P> +"Father is in the grain business," replied Bob with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"The grain business, is he? An' likely he sets in an office all day +long, in out of the fresh air," continued Jan with contempt. "Plumb +foolish I call it, when he could be livin' in Wilton an' fishin', an' +clammin', an' enjoying himself. That's the way with so many folks. +They go kitin' off to the city to make money enough to buy one of them +automobiles. You won't ketch me with an automobile—no, nor a +motor-boat, neither; nor any other of them durn things that's goin' to +set me livin' like as if I was shot out of the cannon's mouth. What's +the good of bein' whizzed through life as if the old Nick himself was +at your heels—workin' faster, eatin' faster, dyin' faster? I see +nothin' to it—nothin' at all." +</P> + +<P> +At the risk of rousing the philosopher's resentment, Bob burst into a +peal of laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"But ain't it so now, I ask you? Ain't it just as I say?" insisted +Janoah Eldridge. "Argue as you will, what's the gain in it?" +</P> + +<P> +To the speaker's apparent disappointment, the citizen from Indiana did +not accept the challenge for argument but instead observed pleasantly: +</P> + +<P> +"I'll wager you will outlive all us city people, Mr. Eldridge." +</P> + +<P> +"Course I will," was the old man's confident retort. "I'll be +a-sailin' in my dory when the whole lot of you motor-boat folks are +under the sod. You see if I ain't! An' speakin' of motor-boats, +Willie—I s'pose you ain't done nothin toward tacklin' Zenas Henry's +tribulations with that propeller, have you?" +</P> + +<P> +The question was unexpected, and Willie colored uncomfortably. He was +not good at dissembling. +</P> + +<P> +"'Twould mean quite a bit of thinkin' to get Zenas Henry out of his +troubles," returned he evasively. "'Tain't so simple as it looks." +</P> + +<P> +Moving abruptly to the work-bench he began to overturn at random the +tools lying upon it. +</P> + +<P> +Something in this unusual proceeding arrested Jan's attention, causing +him to glance with suspicion from Robert Morton to the inventor, and +from the inventor back to Robert Morton again. The elder man was +whistling "Tenting To-night," an air that had never been a favorite of +his; and the younger, with self-conscious zeal, was shredding into bits +a long curl of shavings. +</P> + +<P> +Jan eyed both of them with distrust +</P> + +<P> +"I figger we're goin' to have a spell of fine weather now," remarked +Willie with jaunty artificiality. +</P> + +<P> +The offhand assertion was too casual to be real. Cloud and fog were +not dealt with in this cursory fashion in Wilton. It clinched Jan's +doubts into certainty. Something was being kept from him, something of +which this stranger, who had only been in the town a few hours, was +cognizant. For the first time in fifty years another had usurped his +place as Willie's confidant. It was monstrous! A tremor of jealous +rage thrilled through his frame, and he stiffened visibly. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon I'll be joggin' along home," said he, moving with dignity +toward the door. +</P> + +<P> +"But you've only just come, Jan," protested Willie. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't come fur nothin' but to leave this hammer," Jan answered, +placing the implement on the long bench before which his friend was +standing. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe there was something you wanted to see Mr. Spence about," +ventured Bob. "If there was I will—" +</P> + +<P> +"No, there warn't," snapped Janoah. "Mister Spence ain't got nothin' +confidential to say to me—whatever he may have to say to other folks," +and with this parting thrust he shot out of the door. +</P> + +<P> +Bob gave a low whistle. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter with the man?" he asked in amazement. +</P> + +<P> +Willie flushed apologetically. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothin'—nothin' in the world!" he answered. "Jan gets like that +sometimes. Don't you remember I told you he was kinder quick. It's +just possible it may have bothered him to see me talkin' to you. Don't +mind him." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think he suspected anything?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy, no! Not he!" responded Willie comfortably. "He's liable to +fly off the handle like that a score of times a day. Don't you worry +'bout him. He'll be back before the mornin's over." +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, sanguine as this prediction was, the hours wore on, and +Janoah Eldridge failed to make his appearance. In the meantime Bob and +Willie became so deeply engrossed in their new undertaking that they +were oblivious to his absence. They worked feverishly until noon, +devoured a hurried meal, and returned to the shop again, there to +resume their labors. By supper time they had made quite an encouraging +start on the model they required, their combined efforts having +accomplished in a single day what it would have taken Willie many an +hour to perfect. +</P> + +<P> +The inventor was jubilant. +</P> + +<P> +"Little I dreamed when you came to the front door, Bob, what I was +nettin'!" he exclaimed, clapping his hand vigorously on the young man's +shoulder. "You're a regular boat-builder, you are. The moon might 'a' +pogeed an' perigeed before I'd 'a' got as fur along as we have to-day. +How you've learned all you have about boats without ever goin' near the +water beats me. Now you ain't a-goin' to think of quittin' Wilton an' +leavin' me high an' dry with this propeller idee, are you? 'Twould be +a downright shabby trick." +</P> + +<P> +Bob smiled into the old man's anxious face. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't promise to see you to the finish for I must be back home +before many days, or I'll have my whole family down on me. Besides, I +have some business in New York to attend to," he said kindly. "But I +will arrange to stick around until the job is so well under way that +you won't need me. I am quite as interested in making the scheme a +success as you are. All is you mustn't let me wear out my welcome and +be a burden to Aunt Tiny." +</P> + +<P> +"Law, Tiny'll admire to have you stay long as you can, if only because +you drag me into the house at meal time," chuckled Willie. +</P> + +<P> +"At least I can do that," Bob returned. +</P> + +<P> +"You can do that an' a durn sight more, youngster," the inventor +declared with earnestness. "I ain't had the pleasure I've had to-day +in all my life put together. To work with somebody as has learned the +right way to go ahead—it's wonderful. When me an' Jan tackle a job, +we generally begin at the wrong end of it an' blunder along, wastin' +time an' string without limit. If we hit it right it's more luck than +anything else." +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton, watching the mobile face, saw a pitiful sadness steal +into the blue eyes. A sudden shame surged over him. +</P> + +<P> +"I ought to be able to do far more with my training than I have done," +he answered humbly. "Dad has given me every chance." +</P> + +<P> +"Think of it!" murmured Willie, scrutinizing him with hungering gaze. +"Think of havin' every chance to learn!" +</P> + +<P> +For an interval he smoked in silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," he asserted at length, "you've sure proved to-day that brains +with trainin' are better'n brains without. Now if Jan an' me—" he +broke off abruptly. "There! I wonder what in tunket's become of Jan," +he speculated. "We've been so busy that he went clean out of my mind. +It's queer he didn't show up again. He ain't stayed away for a whole +day in all history. Mebbe he's took sick. I believe I'll trudge over +there an' find out what's got him. I mustn't go to neglectin' Jan, +inventin' or no inventin'." +</P> + +<P> +He rose from his chair wearily. +</P> + +<P> +"I reckon a note would do as well, though, as goin' over," he presently +remarked as an afterthought. "I could send one in the box an' ask him +to drop round an' set a spell before bedtime." +</P> + +<P> +He caught up a piece of brown paper from the workbench, tore a ragged +corner from it, and hastily scrawled a message. +</P> + +<P> +Bob watched the process with amusement. +</P> + +<P> +"There!" announced the scribe when the epistle was finished. "I reckon +that'll fetch him. We'll put it in the box an' shoot it across to him." +</P> + +<P> +Notwithstanding the dash implied in the term, it took no small length +of time for the diminutive receptacle to hitch its way through the +fields. The two men watched it jiggle along above the bushes of wild +roses, through verdant clumps of fragrant bayberry, and disappear into +the woods. Then they sat down to await Jan's appearance. +</P> + +<P> +The twilight was rarely beautiful. In a sky of palest turquoise a +crescent moon hung low, its arc of silver poised above the tips of the +stunted pines, whose feathery outlines loomed black in the dusk. From +out the dimness the note of a vesper sparrow sounded and mingled its +sweetness with the faintly breathing ocean. +</P> + +<P> +The men on the doorstep smoked silently, each absorbed in his own +reveries. +</P> + +<P> +How peaceful it was there in the stillness, with the hush of evening +descending like a benediction on the darkening earth! +</P> + +<P> +Bob sighed with contentment. His year of hard study was over, and now +that his well-earned rest had come he was surprised to discover how +tired he was. Already the peace of Wilton was stealing over him, its +dreamy atmosphere almost too beautiful to be real. From where he sat +he could see the trembling lights of the village jewelling the rim of +the bay like a circlet of stars. A man might do worse, he reflected, +than remain a few days in this sleepy little town. He liked Willie and +Celestina, too; indeed, he would have been without a heart not to have +appreciated their simple kindliness. Why should he hurry home? Would +not his father rejoice should he be content to stay and make his aunt a +short visit? There was no need to bind himself for any definite length +of time; he would merely drift and when he found himself becoming bored +flee. To be sure, about the last thing he had intended when setting +forth to the Cape was to linger there. He had come hither with +unwilling feet solely to please his parents, and having paid his +respects to his unknown relative he meant to depart West as speedily as +decency would permit, reasoning that it would be a mutual relief when +the visit was over. +</P> + +<P> +But a single day in the cozy little house at the water's edge had +served to convince him how erroneous had been his premises. Instead of +being tiresome, his Aunt Celestina was proving a delightful +acquisition, toward whom he already found himself cherishing a warm +regard. And what a cook she was! After months of city food her bread, +pies, and cookies were ambrosial. +</P> + +<P> +As for Willie—Bob had never before beheld so gentle, ingenuous and +lovable a personality. Undoubtedly the little inventor had genius. +What a pity he had been cheated of the opportunity for cultivating it! +There was something pathetic in the way he reached out for the +knowledge life had denied him; it reminded one of a patient child who +asks for water to slake his thirst. +</P> + +<P> +If, for some inscrutable reason, fortune had granted him, Robert +Morton, the chance denied this groping soul, was it not almost an +obligation that, in so far as he was able, he should place at the +other's disposal the fruits of the education that had been his? +</P> + +<P> +Presumably this motor-boat idea would not amount to much, for if such +an invention were plausible and of value, doubtless a score of nautical +authorities would have seized upon it long before now. But to work at +the plan would give the gentle dreamer in the silver-gray cottage +happiness, and after all happiness was not to be despised. If together +he and Willie could make tangible the notion that existed in the +latter's brain, the deed was certainly worth the doing. Moreover the +process would be an entertaining one, and after its completion he might +go away with a sense of having brightened at least one horizon by his +coming. +</P> + +<P> +Thus reasoned Robert Morton as in the peace of that June evening he +casually shuffled the cards of fate, little suspecting that already a +factor in his destiny stronger than any of his arguments was soon to +make its influence felt and transform Wilton into a magnet so powerful +that against its spell he would be helpless as a child. +</P> + +<P> +He was aroused from his meditations by the voice of Willie. +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't you hear a little bell?" demanded the inventor. "A sort of +tinklin' noise?" +</P> + +<P> +"I thought I did." +</P> + +<P> +"It's the box comin' from Jan's," explained he. "Can you kitch a sight +of it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I see it now." +</P> + +<P> +Rising, the old man tugged at the string, urging the reluctant +messenger through the tangle of roses. +</P> + +<P> +"By his writin' a note, I figger he ain't comin' over," he remarked, as +the object drew nearer. "I wonder what's stuck in his crop! Mebbe +Mis' Eldridge won't let him out. She's something of a Tartar—Arabella +is. Jan has to walk the plank, I can tell you." +</P> + +<P> +By this time the cigar box swaying on the taut twine was within easy +reach. Willie raised its cover and took from its interior a crumpled +fragment of paper. +</P> + +<P> +"Humph! He's mighty savin'!" he commented as he turned the missive +over. "He's writ on the other side of my letter. Let's see what he +has to say: +</P> + +<P> + "'Can't come. Busy.'<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Well, did you ever!" gasped he, blankly. "<I>Busy</I>! Good Lord! Jan's +never been known to be busy in all his life. He don't even know the +feelin'. If Janoah Eldridge is busy, all I've got to say is, the +world's goin' to be swallered up by another deluge." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe, as you suggested, Mrs. Eldridge—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, if it had been Mis' Eldridge, he wouldn't 'a' took the trouble to +send no such message as that," broke in Willie. "He'd simply 'a' writ +<I>Arabella</I>; there wouldn't 'a' been need fur more. No, sir! +Somethin's stepped on Jan's shadder, an' to-morrow I'll have to go +straight over there an' find out what it is." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN APPARITION +</H3> + + +<P> +The next morning, after loitering uneasily about the workshop a +sufficiently long time for Janoah Eldridge to make his appearance and +finding that his crony did not make his appearance, Willie reluctantly +took his worn visor cap down from the peg and drew it over his brows, +with the remark: +</P> + +<P> +"Looks like Jan ain't headed this way to-day, either." He cast a +troubled glance through the dusty, multi-paned window of the shed. +"Much as I'm longin' to go ahead with this model, Bob, before I go +farther I've simply got to step over to the Eldridges an' straighten +him out. There's no help fur it." +</P> + +<P> +"All right. Go ahead, Sir," reassuringly returned Bob. "I'll work +while you're gone. Things won't be at a complete standstill." +</P> + +<P> +"I know that," Willie replied with a pleasant smile. "'Tain't that +that's frettin' me. It's just that I don't relish the notion of +shovin' my job onto your shoulders. 'Tain't as if you'd come to Wilton +to spend your time workin'. Celestina hinted last evenin' she was +afraid you bid fair to get but mighty little rest out of your vacation. +'Twas unlucky, she thought, that you hove into port just when I +happened to be kitched with a bigger idee than common." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense!" Bob protested heartily. "Don't you and Aunt Tiny give +yourselves any uneasiness about me. I'm happy. I enjoy fussing round +the shop with you, Mr. Spence. I'd far rather you took me into what +you're doing than left me out. Besides, I don't intend to work every +minute while I'm here. Some fine day I mean to steal off by myself and +explore Wilton. I may even take a day's fishing." +</P> + +<P> +"That's right, youngster, that's right!" ejaculated Willie. "That's +the proper spirit. If you'll just feel free to pull out when you +please it will take a load off my mind, an' I shall turn to tinkerin' +with a clear conscience." +</P> + +<P> +"I will, I promise you." +</P> + +<P> +"Then that's settled," sighed the inventor with relief. "I must say +you're about the best feller ever was to come a-visitin', Bob. You +ain't a mite of trouble to anybody." +</P> + +<P> +With eyes still fastened on the bench with its chaos of tools, the old +man moved unwillingly toward the door; but on the threshold he paused. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be back quick's I can," he called. "Likely I'll bring Jan in +tow. I'd full as lief not tell him what we're doin' 'til next week if +I had my choice; still, things bein' as they are, mebbe it's as well +not to shut him out any longer. He gets miffed easy an' I wouldn't +have his feelin's hurt fur a pot of lobsters." +</P> + +<P> +With a gentle smile he waved his hand and was gone. +</P> + +<P> +Left alone in the long, low-studded room, Bob rolled up his sleeves and +to a brisk whistle began to plane down some pieces of thin board. +</P> + +<P> +The bench at which he worked stood opposite a broad window from which, +framed in a wreath of grapevine, he could see the bay and the shelving +dunes beyond it. A catboat, with sails close-hauled, was making her +way out of the channel, a wake of snowy foam churning behind her in the +blue water. Through the door of the shed swept a breeze that rustled +the shavings on the floor and blended the fragrance of newly cut wood +with the warm perfume of sweet fern from the adjoining meadow. +</P> + +<P> +For all its untidiness and confusion, its litter of boards, tools and +battered paint pots, the shop was unquestionably one of the most homey +corners of the Spence cottage. Its rough, unsheathed walls, mellowed +to a dull buff tone, were here and there adorned with prints culled by +Willie from magazines and newspapers. Likenesses of Lincoln and +Roosevelt flanked the windows with an American flag above them, and a +series of battleships and army scenes beneath. The inventor's taste, +however, had not run entirely to patriotic subjects, for scattered +along the walls, where shelves sagged with their burden of oilcans, +putty, nails and fishing tackle, were a variety of nautical +reproductions in color—a prize yacht heeling in the wind; a reach of +rough sea whose giant combers swirled about a wreck; glimpses of marsh +and dune typical of the land of the Cape dweller. +</P> + +<P> +An air-tight stove, the solitary defence against cold and storm, stood +in the corner, and before its rusty hearth a rickety chair and an +overturned soap box were suggestively placed. But perhaps what told an +observer more about Willie Spence than did anything else was a bunch of +rarely beautiful sabbatia blooming in a pickle bottle and a wee black +kitten who disported herself unmolested among the tools cluttering the +deeply scarred workbench. +</P> + +<P> +She was a mischievous kitten, a spoiled kitten; one who vented her +caprice on everything that had motion. Did a curl of shavings drop to +the ground, instantly Jezebel was at hand to catch it up in her +diminutive paws; toss it from her; steal up and fall upon it again; and +dragging it between her feet, roll over and over with it in a mad orgy +of delight. A shadow, a string, a flicker of metal was the signal for +a frolic. Let one's mood be austere as a monk's, with a single twist +of her absurdly tiny body this small creature shattered its gravity to +atoms. There was no such thing as dignity in Jezebel's presence. +Already three times Bob Morton had lifted the mite off the table and +three times back she had come, leaping in the path of his gleaming +plane as if its metallic whir and glimmering reflections were designed +solely for her amusement. In spite of his annoyance the man had +laughed and now, stooping, he caught up the tormentor and held her +aloft. +</P> + +<P> +"You minx!" he cried, shaking the sprite gently. "What do you think I +am here for—to play with you?" +</P> + +<P> +The kitten blinked at him out of her round blue eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll be getting your fur mittens cut off the next thing you know," +went on Bob severely. "Scamper out of here!" +</P> + +<P> +He set the little creature on the floor, aimed her toward the doorway +and gave her a stimulating push. +</P> + +<P> +With a coquettish leap headlong into the sunshine darted Jezebel, only +to come suddenly into collision with a stranger who had crossed the +grass and was at that instant about to enter the workshop. +</P> + +<P> +The newcomer was a girl, tall and slender, with lustrous masses of dark +hair that swept her cheek in wind-tossed ringlets. She had a +complexion vivid with health, an undignified little nose and a mouth +whose short upper lip lent to her face a half childish, half pouting +expression. But it was in her eyes that one forgot all else,—eyes +large, brown, and softly deep, with a quality that held the glance +compellingly. Her gown of thin pink material dampened by the sea air +clung to her figure in folds that accentuated her lithe youthfulness, +and as she stumbled over the kitten in full flight she broke into a +delicious laugh that showed two rows of pretty, white teeth and lured +from hiding an alluring dimple. +</P> + +<P> +"You ridiculous little thing!" she exclaimed, snatching up the fleeing +culprit before she could make her escape and placing her in the warm +curve of her neck. "Do you know you almost tripped me up? Where are +your manners?" +</P> + +<P> +Jezebel merely stared. So did Robert Morton. +</P> + +<P> +The girl and the kitten were too disconcerting a spectacle. By herself +Jezebel was tantalizing enough; but in combination with the creature +who stood laughing on the threshold, the sight was so bewildering that +it not only overwhelmed but intoxicated. +</P> + +<P> +It was evident the visitor was unconscious of his presence, for instead +of addressing him, she continued to toy with the wisp of animation +snuggled against her cheek. +</P> + +<P> +"I do believe, Willie," she observed, without glancing up, "that +Jezebel grows more fascinating every time I see her." +</P> + +<P> +Bob did not answer. He was in no mood to discuss Jezebel. If he +thought of her at all it was to contrast her inky fur with the white +throat against which she nestled and speculate as to whether she sensed +what a thrice-blessed kitten she was. It did flash through his mind as +he stood there that the two possessed a bewitching, irresistible +something in common, a something he was at a loss to characterize. It +did not matter, however, for he could not have defined even the +simplest thing at the moment, and this attribute of the kitten's and +the girl's was very complex. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps it was the silence that at last caused the visitor to raise her +eyes and look at him inquiringly. Then he saw a tremor of surprise +sweep over her, and a wave of crimson surge into her face. +</P> + +<P> +"I beg your pardon," she gasped. "I thought Willie was here." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Spence has stepped over to the Eldredges'. I'm expecting him back +every instant," Bob returned. +</P> + +<P> +The girl's lashes fell. They were long and very beautiful as they lay +in a fringe against her cheek, yet exquisite as they were he longed to +see her eyes again. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm Miss Morton's nephew from Indiana," the young man managed to +stammer, feeling some explanation might bridge the gulf of +embarrassment. "I am visiting here." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" +</P> + +<P> +Persistently she studied the toe of her shoe. If Bob had thought her +appealing before, now, demure against the background of budding apple +trees, with a shaft of sunlight on her hair, and the kitten cuddled +against her breast, she put to rout the few intelligent ideas remaining +to the young man. +</P> + +<P> +Wonderingly, helplessly, he watched while she continued to caress the +minute creature in her arms. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you staying here long?" she asked at length, gaining courage to +look up. +</P> + +<P> +"I—eh—yes; that is—I hope so," Bob answered with sudden fervor. +</P> + +<P> +"You like Wilton then." +</P> + +<P> +"Tremendously!" +</P> + +<P> +"Most strangers think the place has great beauty," observed his guest +innocently. +</P> + +<P> +"There's more beauty here in Wilton than I ever saw before in all my +life," burst out Bob, then stopped suddenly and blushed. +</P> + +<P> +His listener dimpled. +</P> + +<P> +"Really?" she remarked, raising her delicately arched brows. "You are +enthusiastic about the Cape, aren't you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Some parts of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Where else have you been?" +</P> + +<P> +The question came with disturbing directness. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh—why—Middleboro, Tremont, Buzzard's Bay and Harwich," answered the +man hurriedly. As he named the list he was conscious that it smacked +rather too suggestively of a brakeman's, and he saw she thought so too, +for she turned aside to hide a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"You might sit down; won't you?" he suggested, eager that she should +not depart. +</P> + +<P> +Flecking the dust from the soap box with his handkerchief, he dragged +it forward and placed it near the workbench. +</P> + +<P> +As she bent her head to accept the crude throne with a queen's +graciousness, Jezebel, roused into playful humor, thrust forth her +claws and, encountering Bob as he rose from his stooping posture, fixed +them with random firmness in his necktie. +</P> + +<P> +Now it chanced that the tie was a four-in-hand of raw silk, very choice +in color but of a fatally loose oriental weave; and once entangled in +its meshes the task of extricating its delicate threads from the clutch +that gripped them seemed hopeless. It apparently failed to dawn on +either of the young persons brought into such embarrassingly close +contact by the dilemma that the kitten could be handed over to Bob; or +that the tie might be removed. Instead they drew together, trying +vainly to liberate the struggling Jezebel from her imprisonment. It +was not a simple undertaking and to add to its difficulties the +ungrateful beast, irritated by their endeavors, began to protest +violently. +</P> + +<P> +"She'll tear your tie all to pieces," cried the stranger. +</P> + +<P> +"No matter. I don't mind, if she doesn't scratch you." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I am not afraid of her. If you can hold her a second longer, I +think I can free the last claw." +</P> + +<P> +As the girl toiled at her precarious mission, Bob could feel her warm +breath fan his cheek and could catch the fragrant perfume of her hair. +So far as he was concerned, Jezebel might retain her hold on his +necktie forever. But, alas, the slim, white fingers were too deft and +he heard at last a triumphant: +</P> + +<P> +"There!" +</P> + +<P> +At the same instant the offending kitten was placed on the floor. +</P> + +<P> +"You little monkey!" cried the man, smiling down at the furry object at +his feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't she!" echoed the visitor sympathetically. "There she goes, the +imp! What is left of your tie? Let me look at it." +</P> + +<P> +"It's all right, thank you." +</P> + +<P> +"There is just one thread ruffed up. I could fix it if I had a pin." +</P> + +<P> +From her gown she produced one, but as she did so a spray of wild roses +slipped to the ground. +</P> + +<P> +"You've dropped your flowers," said Bob, picking them up. +</P> + +<P> +"Have I? Thank you. They are withered, anyway, I'm afraid." +</P> + +<P> +Tossing the rosebuds on the bench, she began to draw into smoothness +the silken loop that defaced the tie. +</P> + +<P> +"There!" she exclaimed, glancing up into his eyes and tilting her head +critically to one side. "That is ever so much better. You would +hardly notice it. Now I really must go. I have bothered you quite +enough." +</P> + +<P> +"You have not bothered me at all," contradicted Bob emphatically. +</P> + +<P> +"But I know I must have," she protested. "I've certainly delayed you. +Besides, it doesn't look as if Willie was coming back." +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't there something I can do for you?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, thank you. It was nothing important. In fact, it doesn't matter +at all. I just came to see if he could fix the clasp of my belt +buckle. It is broken, and he is so clever at mending things that I +thought perhaps he could mend this." +</P> + +<P> +"Let me see it." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I couldn't think of troubling you." +</P> + +<P> +"But I should be glad to fix it if I could. If not, I could at least +hand it over to Willie's superior skill." +</P> + +<P> +She laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not certain whether Willie's skill is superior," was her arch +retort. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not make a test case and find out?" +</P> + +<P> +Still she hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +"You're afraid to trust your property to me," Bob said, piqued by her +indecision. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I'm not," was the quick response. "See? Here is the belt." +</P> + +<P> +She drew from her pocket a narrow strip of white leather to which a +handsome silver buckle was attached and placed it in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +He took it, inspected its fastening and looked with beating pulse at +the girdle's slender span. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think it can be mended?" she inquired anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course it can." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'm so glad!" +</P> + +<P> +"Give me a few days and you shall have it back as good as new." +</P> + +<P> +"That will be splendid!" Her eyes shone with starry brightness. "You +see," she went on, "it was given me on my birthday by my—my—by some +one I care a great deal for—by my—" she stopped, embarrassed. +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton was too well mannered to put into words the interrogation +that trembled on his lips, but he might as well have done so, so +transparent was the questioning glance that traveled to her left hand +in search of the telltale solitaire. Even though his search was not +rewarded, he felt certain that the hand concealed in the folds of her +dress wore the fatal ring. Of course, mused he, with a shrug, he might +have guessed it. No such beauty as this was wandering unclaimed about +the world. Well, her fiancé, whoever he might be, was a lucky devil! +Without doubt, confound his impudence, his arm had traveled the pathway +of that band of leather scores of times. +</P> + +<P> +One couldn't blame the dog! For want of a better vent for his +irritation, Bob took up the belt and again examined it. He had been +quite safe in boasting that the bauble should be returned to its owner +as good as new, for although he did not confess it, on its silver clasp +he had discovered the manufacturer's name. If the buckle could not be +repaired, another of similar pattern should replace it. Unquestionably +he was a fool to go to this trouble and expense for nothing. Yet was +it quite for nothing? Was it not worth while to win even a smile from +this creature whose approval gave one the sense of being knighted? +True, titles meant but little in these days of democracy but when +bestowed by such royalty— She broke in on his reverie by extending +her hand. "Good-by," she said. "You have been very kind, Mr.—" +</P> + +<P> +"My name is Morton—Bob Morton." +</P> + +<P> +"Why! Then you must be the son of Aunt Tiny's brother?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Aunt Tiny</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +As she laughed he saw again the ravishing dimple and her even, white +teeth. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, she isn't my real aunt," she explained. "I just call her that +because I am so fond of her. I adore both her and Willie." +</P> + +<P> +"Who is takin' my name in vain?" called a cheery voice, as the little +inventor rounded the corner of the shed and entered the room. +"Delight—as I live! I might 'a' known it was you. Well, well, dear +child, if I'm not glad to see you." +</P> + +<P> +He placed his hands on her shoulders and beamed into her blushing face +while she bent and spread the loops of his soft tie out beneath his +chin. +</P> + +<P> +"How nice of you, Willie dear, to come back before I had gone!" she +said, arranging the bow with exaggerated care. +</P> + +<P> +"Bless your heart, I'd 'a' come back sooner had I known you were here," +declared he affectionately. "What brings you, little lady?" +</P> + +<P> +She pointed to the trinket dangling from Robert Morton's grasp. +</P> + +<P> +"I snapped the clasp of my belt buckle, Willie—that lovely silver +buckle Zenas Henry gave me," she confessed with contrition. "How do +you suppose I could have been so careless? I have been heart-broken +ever since." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense! Nonsense!" cried the old man, patting her hand. "Don't go +grievin' over a little thing like that. 'Tain't worth it. Break all +the buckles ever was made, but not your precious heart, my dear. Like +as not the thing can be mended." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Morton says it can." +</P> + +<P> +"If Bob says so, it's as good as done already," replied Willie +reassuringly. "He's a great one with tools. Why, if he was to stay in +Wilton, he'd be cuttin' me all out. So you an' he have been gettin' +acquainted, eh, while I was gone? That's right. I want he should know +what nice folks we've got in Wilton 'cause it's his first visit to the +Cape, an' if he don't like us mebbe he'll never come again." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought Mr. Morton had visited other places on Cape Cod," observed +Delight, darting a mischievous glance at the abashed young man opposite. +</P> + +<P> +"No, indeed!" blundered Willie. "He ain't been nowheres. Somebody's +got to show him all the sights. Mebbe if you get time you'll take a +hand in helpin' educate him." +</P> + +<P> +"I should be glad to!" +</P> + +<P> +Notwithstanding the prim response and her unsmiling lips, the young man +had a discomfited presentiment that she was laughing at him, and even +the farewell she flashed to him over her shoulder had a hectoring +quality in it that did not altogether restore his self-esteem. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is she?" he gasped, when he had watched her out of sight. +</P> + +<P> +"That girl? Do you mean to say you don't know—an' you a-talkin' to +her half the mornin'?" demanded the old man with amazement. "Why, it +never dawned on me to introduce you to her. I thought of course you +knew already who she was. Everybody in town knows Delight Hathaway, +an' loves her, too," he added softly. "She's Zenas Henry's daughter, +the one he brought ashore from the <I>Michleen</I> an' adopted." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" +</P> + +<P> +A light began to break in on Bob's understanding. +</P> + +<P> +"It's Zenas Henry's motor-boat we're tinkerin' with now," went on +Willie. +</P> + +<P> +"I see!" +</P> + +<P> +He waited eagerly for further information, but evidently his host +considered he had furnished all the data necessary, for instead of +enlarging on the subject he approached the bench and began to inspect +the model. +</P> + +<P> +"I s'pose, with her bein' here, you didn't get ahead much while I was +gone," he ventured, an inflection of disappointment in his tone. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I didn't." +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't accomplish nothin', either," the little old man went on. +"Jan warn't to home; he'd gone fishin'." +</P> + +<P> +His companion did not reply at once. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't quite get my soundin's on Jan," he at length ruminated aloud. +"Somethin's wrong with him. I feel it in my bones." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps not." +</P> + +<P> +"There is, I tell you. I know Janoah Eldridge from crown to heel, an' +it ain't like him to go off fishin' by himself." +</P> + +<P> +"I shouldn't fret about it if I were you," Bob said in an attempt to +comfort the disquieted inventor. "I'm sure he'll turn up all right." +</P> + +<P> +Had the conversation been of a three-master in a gale; of buried +treasure; or of the ultimate salvation of the damned, the speaker would +at that moment have been equally optimistic. +</P> + +<P> +The universe had suddenly become too radiant a place to harbor +calamity. Wilton was a paradise like the first Eden—a garden of +smiles, of dimples, of blushing cheeks—and of silver buckles. +</P> + +<P> +He began to whistle softly to himself; then, sensing that Willie was +still unconvinced by his sanguine prediction, he added: +</P> + +<P> +"And even if Mr. Eldridge shouldn't come back, I guess you and I could +manage without him." +</P> + +<P> +"That's all very well up to a certain point, youngster," was the +retort. "But who's goin' to see me through this job after you've taken +wing?" +</P> + +<P> +He pointed tragically to the beginnings of the model. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe I shan't take wing," announced Bob, looking absently at the +cluster of withered roses in his hand. "You—you see," he went on, +endeavoring to speak in off-hand fashion, "I've been thinking things +over and—and—I've about come to the conclusion—" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," interrupted Willie eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"That it is perhaps better for me to stay here until we get the +invention completed." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't mean until the thing's done!" +</P> + +<P> +"If it doesn't take too long, yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Hurray!" shouted his host. "That's prime!" he rubbed his hands +together. "Under those conditions we'll pitch right in an' scurry the +work along fast as ever we can." +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton looked chagrined. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know that we need break our necks to rush the thing through at +a pace like that," he said, fumbling awkwardly with the flowers. "A +few weeks more or less wouldn't make any great difference." +</P> + +<P> +"But I thought you said it was absolutely necessary for you to go +home—that you had important business in New York—that—" the old man +broke off dumbfounded. +</P> + +<P> +Bob shook his head. "Oh, no, I think my affairs can be arranged," was +the sanguine response. "A piece of work like this would give me lots +of valuable experience, and I'm not sure but it is my duty to—" +</P> + +<P> +The little old inventor scanned the speaker's flushed cheeks, his +averted eye and the drooping blossoms in his hand; then his brow +cleared and he smiled broadly: +</P> + +<P> +"Duty ain't to be shunned," announced he with solemnity. "An' as for +experience, take it by an' large, I ain't sure but what you'll get a +heap of it by lingerin' on here—more, mebbe, than you realize." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MARRYING AND GIVING IN MARRIAGE +</H3> + + +<P> +That afternoon, after making this elaborate but by no means misleading +explanation to Willie, Bob sent off to a Boston jeweler a registered +package and while impatiently awaiting its return set to work with +redoubled zest at the new invention. +</P> + +<P> +What an amazingly different aspect the motor-boat enterprise had +assumed since yesterday! Then his one idea had been to humor Willie's +whim and in return for the old man's hospitality lend such aid to the +undertaking as he was able. But now Zenas Henry's launch had suddenly +become a glorified object, sacred to the relatives of the divinity of +the workshop, and how and where the flotsam of the tides ensnared it +was of colossal importance. Into solving the nautical enigma Robert +Morton now threw every ounce of his energy and while at work artfully +drew from his companion every detail he could obtain of Delight +Hathaway's strange story. +</P> + +<P> +He learned how the <I>Michleen</I> had been wrecked on the Wilton Shoals in +the memorable gale of 1910; how the child's father had perished with +the ship, leaving his little daughter friendless in the world; how +Zenas Henry and the three aged captains had risked their lives to bring +the little one ashore; and how the Brewsters had taken her into their +home and brought her up. It was a simple tale and simply told, but the +heroism of the romance touched it with an epic quality that gripped the +listener's imagination and sympathies tenaciously. And now the waif +snatched from the grasp of the covetous sea had blossomed into this +exquisite being; this creature beloved, petted, and well-nigh spoiled +by a proudly exultant community. +</P> + +<P> +For although legally a member of the Brewster family, Willie explained, +the girl had come to belong in a sense to the entire village. Had she +not been cast an orphan upon its shores, and were not its treacherous +shoals responsible for her misfortune? Wilton, to be sure, was not +actually answerable for the crimes those hidden sand bars perpetrated, +but nevertheless the fisherfolk could not quite shake themselves free +of the shadow cast upon them by the tragedies ever occurring at their +gateway. Too many of their people had gone down to the sea in ships +never to return for them to become callous to the disasters they were +continually forced to witness. The wreck of the <I>Michleen</I> had been +one of the most pathetic of these horrors, and the welfare of the child +who in consequence of it had come into the hamlet's midst had become a +matter of universal concern. +</P> + +<P> +"'Tain't to be wondered at the girl is loved," continued Willie. "At +first people took an interest in her, or tried to, from a sense of +duty, for you couldn't help bein' sorry for the little thing. But +'twarn't long before folks found out 'twarn't no hardship to be fond of +Delight Hathaway. She was livin' sunshine, that's what she was! +Wherever she went, be it one end of town or t'other, she brought +happiness. In time it got so that if you was to drop in where there +was sickness or trouble an' spied a nosegay of flowers, you could be +pretty sure Delight had been there. Why, Lyman Bearse's father, old +Lyman, that's so crabbed with rhumatism that it's a cross to live under +the same roof with him, will calm down gentle as a dove when Delight +goes to read to him. As for Mis' Furber, I reckon she'd never get to +the Junction to do a mite of shoppin' or marketin' but for Delight +stayin' with the babies whilst she was gone. I couldn't tell you half +what that girl does. She's here, there, an' everywhere. Now she's +gettin' up a party for the school children; now makin' a birthday cake +for somebody; now trimmin' a bunnit for Tiny or helpin' her plan out a +dress." +</P> + +<P> +Willie stopped to rummage on a distant shelf for a level. +</P> + +<P> +"Once," he went on, "Sarah Libbie Lewis asked me what Delight was goin' +to be. I told her there warn't no goin' to be about it; Delight was +bein' it right now. She didn't need to go soundin' for a mission in +life." +</P> + +<P> +"I take it you are not in favor of careers for women, Mr. Spence," +observed Robert Morton, who had been eagerly drinking in every word the +old man uttered. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I am," contradicted the inventor. "There's times when a girl +needs a career, but there's other times when to desert one's plain duty +an' go huntin' a callin' is criminal. Queer how people will look right +over the top of what they don't want to see, ain't it? I s'pose its +human nature though," he mused. +</P> + +<P> +A soft breeze stirred the shavings on the floor. +</P> + +<P> +"Tiny thinks," resumed the quiet voice, "that I mix myself up too much +with other folks's concerns anyhow. Leastways, she says I let their +troubles weigh on me more'n I'd ought. But to save my life I can't +seem to help it. Don't you believe those on the outside of a tangle +sometimes see it straighter than them that is snarled up in the mess?" +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the way I figger it," rambled on the old man. "Mebbe that's +the reason I can't keep my fingers out of the pie. You'd be surprised +enough if you was to know the things I've been dragged into in my +lifetime; family quarrels, will-makin's, business matters that I didn't +know no more about than the man in the moon. Why, I've even taken a +hand in love affairs!" +</P> + +<P> +He broke into a peal of hearty laughter. "That's the beatereee!" he +declared, slapping his thigh. "'Magine me up to my ears in a love +affair! But I have been—scores of 'em, enough I reckon, put 'em all +together, to marry off the whole of Cape Cod." +</P> + +<P> +"You must be quite an authority on the heart by this time," Robert +Morton ventured. +</P> + +<P> +"I ain't," the other declared soberly. "You see, none of the snarls +was ever the same, so you kinder had to feel your way along every time +like as if you was navigatin' a new channel. Women may be all alike, +take 'em in the main, but they're almighty different when you get 'em +to the fine point, an' that's what raises the devil with makin' any +general rule for managin' 'em." +</P> + +<P> +The philosopher held the piece of wood he had been planing to the light +and examined it critically. +</P> + +<P> +"Once," he resumed, taking up his work again, "when Dave Furber was +courtin' Katie Bearse, I drove over to Sawyer's Falls with him to get +Katie a birthday present an' among other things we thought we'd buy +some candy. We went into a store, I recollect, where there was all +kinds spread out in trays, an' Dave an' me started to pick out what +we'd have. As I stood there attemptin' to decide, I couldn't help +thinkin' that selectin' that candy was a good deal like choosin' a +wife. You couldn't have all the different kinds, an' makin' up your +mind which you preferred was a seven-days' conundrum." +</P> + +<P> +The little inventor took off his spectacles, wiped them, and replaced +them upon his nose. +</P> + +<P> +"Luckily, as we was fixed, there was a chance in the box for quite a +few sorts, so that saved the day. But s'pose, I got to thinkin', you +could only have one variety out of the lot—which would you take? +That's the sticker you face when choosin' a wife. S'pose, for +instance, I was pinned down to nothin' but caramels. The caramel is a +good, square, sensible, dependable candy. You can see through the +paper exactly what you're gettin'. There's nothin' concealed or +lurkin' in a caramel. Moreover, it lasts a long time an' you don't get +tired of it. It's just like some women—not much to look at, but +wholesome an' with good wearin' qualities. Should you choose the +caramel, you'd feel sure you was doin' the wise thing, wouldn't you?" +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton smiled into the half-closed blue eyes that met his so +whimsically. +</P> + +<P> +"But along in the next tray to the caramel," Willie went on, "was +bonbons—every color of the rainbow they were, an' pretty as could be; +an' they held all sorts of surprises inside 'em, too. They was +temptin'! But the minute you put your mind on it you knew they'd turn +out sweet and sickish, an' that after gettin' 'em you'd wish you +hadn't. There's plenty of women like that in the world. Mebbe you +ain't seen 'em, but I have." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Besides these, there was dishes of sparklin' jelly things on the +counter, that the girl said warn't much use—gone in no time; they were +just meant to dress up the box. I called 'em brainless candies—just +silly an' expensive, an' if you look around you'll find women can match +'em. An' along with 'em you can put the candied violets an' sugared +rose leaves that only make a man out of pocket an' ain't a mite of use +to him." +</P> + +<P> +Willie scanned his companion's face earnestly. +</P> + +<P> +"Finally, after runnin' the collection over, it kinder come down to a +choice between caramels or chocolates. Even then I still stood firm +for the caramel, there bein' no way of makin' sure what I'd get inside +the chocolate. I warn't willin' to go it blind, I told Dave. A +chocolate's a sort of unknowable thing, ain't it? There's no fathomin' +it at sight. After you've got it you may be pleased to death with +what's inside it an' then again you may not. So we settled mostly on +caramels for Katie. I said to Dave comin' home it was lucky men warn't +held down to one sort of candy like they are to one sort of wife, an' +he most laughed his head off. Then he asked me what kind of sweet I +thought Katie was, an' I told him I reckoned she was the caramel +variety, an' he said he thought so, too. We warn't fur wrong neither, +for she's turned out 'bout as we figgered. Mebbe she ain't got the +looks or the sparkle of the bonbons or jelly things, but she's worn +almighty well, an' made Dave a splendid wife." +</P> + +<P> +"With all your excellent theories about women, I wonder you never +picked out a wife for yourself, Mr. Spence," Robert Morton remarked +mischievously. +</P> + +<P> +"Me get married?" questioned Willie, staring at the speaker open-eyed +over the top of his spectacles. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, bless your heart, I never thought of it!" answered the little man +naïvely. "It's taken 'bout all my time to get other folks spliced +together. Besides," he added, "I've had my inventin'." +</P> + +<P> +He glanced out of the window at a moving figure, then shot abruptly to +the door and called to some one who was passing: +</P> + +<P> +"Hi, Jack!" +</P> + +<P> +A man in coast-guard uniform waved his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"How are you, Willie?" he shouted. +</P> + +<P> +"All right," was the reply. "How are you an' Sarah Libbie makin' out?" +</P> + +<P> +"Same as ever." +</P> + +<P> +"You ain't said nothin' to her yet?" +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton saw the burly fellow in the road sheepishly dig his heel +into the sand. +</P> + +<P> +"N—o, not yet." +</P> + +<P> +"An' never will!" ejaculated the inventor returning wrathfully to the +shop. "That feller," he explained as he resumed his seat, "has been +upwards, of twenty years tryin' to tell Sarah Libbie Lewis he's in love +with her. He knows it an' so does she, but somehow he just can't put +the fact into words. I'm clean out of patience with him. Why, one day +he actually had the face to come in here an' ask me to tell her—<I>me</I>! +What do you think of that?" +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton chuckled at his companion's rage. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Did I?" repeated Willie with scorn. "Can you see me doin' it? No, +siree! I just up an' told Jack Nickerson if he warn't man enough to do +his own courtin' he warn't man enough for any self-respectin' woman to +marry. An' furthermore, I said he needn't step foot over the sill of +this shop 'till he'd took some action in the matter. That hit him +pretty hard, I can tell you, 'cause he used to admire to come in here +an' set round whenever he warn't on duty. But he saw I meant it, an' +he ain't been since." +</P> + +<P> +The old man paused. +</P> + +<P> +"I kinder bit off my own nose when I took that stand," he admitted, an +intonation of regret in his tone, "'cause Jack's mighty good company. +Still, there was nothin' for it but firm handlin'." +</P> + +<P> +"How long ago did you cast him out?" Bob asked with a chuckle. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, somethin' over a week or ten days ago," was the reply. "I thought +he might have made some progress by now. But I ain't given up hope of +him yet. He's been sorter quiet the last two times I've seen him, an' +I figger he's mullin' things over, an' mebbe screwin' up his courage." +</P> + +<P> +The room was still save for the purr of the plane. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you will be marrying Miss Hathaway off some day," observed +Bob a trifle self-consciously, without raising his eyes from his work. +</P> + +<P> +"You bet I won't," came emphatically from the old inventor. "I've got +some courage but not enough for that. You see, the man that marries +her has got to have the nerve to face the whole village—brave Zenas +Henry, the three captains, an' Abbie Brewster, besides winnin' the girl +herself. 'Twill be some contract. No, you can be mortal sure I shan't +go meddlin' in no such love affair as that. Anyhow, I won't be needed, +for any man that Delight Hathaway would look at twice will be perfectly +capable of meetin' all comers; don't you worry." +</P> + +<P> +With this dubious comfort Willie stamped with spirit out of the shop. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A SECOND SPIRIT APPEARS +</H3> + + +<P> +Days came and went, days golden and blue, until a week had passed, and +although Robert Morton haunted the post-office, nothing was heard from +the jeweler to whom he had sent the silver buckle. Neither did the +eager young man catch even a fleeting glimpse of its owner. It was, he +told himself, unlikely that she would come to the Spence house again. +When her property was repaired she probably would expect some one +either to let her know, or bring it to her. It was to the latter +alternative that Bob was pinning his hopes. The errand would provide a +perfectly natural excuse for him to go to the Brewster home, and once +there he would meet the girl's family and perhaps be asked to come +again. Until the trinket came back from Boston, therefore, he must +bide his time with patience. +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless the logic of these arguments did not prevent him from +turning sharply toward the door of the workshop whenever there was a +footfall on the grass. Any day, any hour, any moment the lady of his +dreams might appear once more. Had not Willie said that she sometimes +trimmed bonnets for Tiny? And was it not possible, yea, even likely +that his aunt might be needing a bonnet right away. Women were always +needing bonnets, argued the young man vaguely; at least, both his +mother and sister were, and he had not yet lived long enough in his +aunt's household to realize that with Tiny Morton the purchase of a +bonnet was not an equally casual enterprise. He even had the temerity +to ask Celestina when he saw her arrayed for the grange one afternoon +why she did not have a hat with pink in it and was chagrined to receive +the reply that she did not like pink; and that anyway her hat was well +enough as it was, and she shouldn't have another for a good couple of +years. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't go throwin' money away on new hats like you city folks do," +she said somewhat tartly. "A hat has to do me three seasons for best +an' a fourth for common. I've too much to do to go chasin' after the +fashions. I leave that to Bart Coffin's wife." +</P> + +<P> +"Who is Bart Coffin?" inquired Bob, amused by her show of spirit. +</P> + +<P> +"You ain't met Bart?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you will. He's the one who always used to stow all his catch of +fish in the bow of the boat 'cause he said it was easier to row +downhill. He ain't no heavyweight for brains as you can see, an' years +ago he married a wife feather-headed as himself. He did it out of +whole cloth, too, so he's got no one to blame if he don't like his +bargain. At the time of the weddin' he was terrible stuck up about his +bride, an' he gave her a black satin dress that outdid anything the +town had ever laid eyes on. It was loaded down with ruffles, an' jet, +an' lace, an' fitted her like as if she was poured into it. Folks said +it was made in Brockton, but whether it was or not there's no way of +knowin'. Anyhow, back she pranced to Wilton in that gown an' for a +year or more, whenever there was a church fair, or a meetin' of the +Eastern Star, or a funeral, you'd be certain of seein' Minnie Coffin +there in her black satin. There wasn't a lay-out in town could touch +it, an' by an' by it got so that it set the mark on every gatherin' +that was held, those where Minnie's satin didn't appear bein' rated as +of no account." Celestina paused, and her mouth took an upward curve, +as if some pleasant reverie engrossed her. "But after a while," she +presently went on, "there came an upheaval in the styles; sleeves got +smaller, an' skirts began to be nipped in. Minnie's dress warn't wore +a particle but it looked as out-of-date as Joseph's coat would look on +Willie. The women sorter nudged one another an' said that now Mis' +Bartley Coffin would have to step down a peg an' stop bein' leader of +the fashions." +</P> + +<P> +Celestina ceased rocking and leaned forward impressively. +</P> + +<P> +"But did she?" declaimed she with oratorical eloquence. "Did she? Not +a bit of it. Minnie got pictures an' patterns from Boston; scanted the +skirt; took in the sleeves; made a wide girdle with the breadths she +took out of the front—an' there she was again, high-steppin' as ever!" +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton laughed with appreciation. +</P> + +<P> +"Since then," continued Celestina, "for at least fifteen years she's +been makin' that dress over an' over. Now she'll get a new breadth of +goods or a couple of breadths, turn the others upside down or cut 'em +over, an' by keepin' everlastingly at it she contrives to look like the +pictures in the papers most of the time. It's maddenin' to the rest of +us. Abbie Brewster knows Minnie well an' somewhere in a book she's got +set down the gyrations of that dress. I wouldn't be bothered recordin' +it but Abbie always was a methodical soul. She could give you the date +of every inch of satin in the whole thing. Just now there's 1914 +sleeves; the front breadths are 1918; the back ones 1911. Most of the +waist is January, 1912, with a June, 1913, vest. Half the girdle is +made out of 1910 satin, an' half out of 1919. Of course there's lights +when the blacks don't all look the same; still, unless you got close up +you wouldn't notice it, an' Minnie Coffin keeps on settin' the styles +for the town like she always has." +</P> + +<P> +The narrator paused for breath. +</P> + +<P> +"She's makin' it over again right now," she announced, rising from her +chair and moving toward the pantry. "You can always tell when she is +'cause she pulls down all her front curtains an' won't come to the door +when folks knock. The shades was down when Abbie an' me drove by there +last week an' to make sure Abbie got out an' tapped to' see if +anybody'd come to let us in, but nobody did. We said then: '<I>Minnie's +resurrectin' the black satin</I>.' You mark my words she'll be in church +in it Sunday. It generally takes her about ten days to get it done. I +was expectin' she'd give it another overhauling, for she ain't done +nothin' to it for three months at least an' the styles have changed +quite a little in that time. Sometimes I tell Willie I believe we'll +live to see her laid out in that dress yet." +</P> + +<P> +"You can bet Bart would draw a sigh of relief if we did," chimed in the +inventor. "Why, the money that woman's spent pullin' that durn thing +to pieces an' puttin' it together again is a caution. Bart said you'd +be dumbfounded if you could know what he's paid out. If the coffin lid +was once clamped down on the pest he'd raise a hallelujah, poor feller." +</P> + +<P> +"Willie!" gasped the horrified Celestina. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I ain't sayin' he'd be glad to see Minnie goin'," the little old +man protested. "But that black satin has been a bone of contention +ever since the day it was bought. To begin with, it cost about ten +times what Bart calculated 'twould; he told me that himself. An' it's +been runnin' up in money ever since. When he got it he kinder figgered +'twould be an investment somethin' like one of them twenty-year +endowments, an' that for nigh onto a quarter of a century Minnie +wouldn't need much of anything else. But his reckonin' was agog. It's +been nothin' but that black satin all his married life. Let alone the +price of continually reenforcin' it, the wear an' tear on Minnie's +nerves when she's tinkerin' with it is somethin' awful. Bart says that +dress ain't never out of her mind. She's rasped an' peevish all the +time plannin' how she can fit the pieces in to look like the pictures. +It's worse than fussin' over the cut-up puzzles folks do. Sometimes at +night she'll wake him out of a sound sleep to tell him she's just +thought how she can eke new sleeves out of the side panels, or make a +pleated front for the waist out of the girdle. I guess Bart don't get +much rest durin' makin'-over spells. I saw him yesterday at the +post-office an' he was glum as an oyster; an' when I asked him was he +sick all he said was he hoped there'd be no black satins in heaven." +</P> + +<P> +"I told you she was fixin' it over!" cried Celestina triumphantly. "So +you was at the store, was you, Willie? You didn't say nothin' about +it." +</P> + +<P> +"I forgot I went," confessed the little man. "Lemme see! I believe +'twas more nails took me down." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you get any mail?" +</P> + +<P> +"No—yes—I dunno. 'Pears like I did get somethin'. If I did, it's in +the pocket of my other coat." +</P> + +<P> +Going into the hall he returned with a small white package which he +gave to Celestina. +</P> + +<P> +"It ain't for me," said she, after she had examined the address. "It's +Bob's." +</P> + +<P> +"Bob's, eh?" queried the inventor. "I didn't notice, not havin' on my +readin' glasses. So it's Bob's, is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," answered Celestina, eyeing the neat parcel curiously. +"Whoever's sendin' you a bundle all tied up with white paper an' pink +string, Bob? It looks like it was jewelry." +</P> + +<P> +Quickly Willie sprang to the rescue. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Bob's been gettin' some repairin' done for the Brewsters," +explained he. "Delight's buckle was broke an' knowin' the best place +to send it, he mailed it up to town." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," responded Celestina, glancing from one to the other with a half +satisfied air. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's have the thing out an' see how it looks, Bob," Willie went on. +</P> + +<P> +Blushingly Robert Morton undid the box. +</P> + +<P> +Yes, there amid wrappings of tissue paper, on a bed of blue cotton +wool, rested the buckle of silver, its burnished surface sparkling in +the light. +</P> + +<P> +He took it out and inspected it carefully. +</P> + +<P> +"It is all O. K.," observed he, with an attempt at indifference. "See +what a fine piece of work they made of it." +</P> + +<P> +The old man took from the table drawer a long leather case, drew out +another pair of spectacles which he exchanged for the ones he was +already wearing, and after scrutinizing the buckle and scowling at it +for an interval he carried it to the window. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter?" Bob demanded, instantly alert. "Isn't the +repairing properly done?" +</P> + +<P> +"'Tain't the repairin' I'm lookin' at," Willie returned slowly. "I've +no quarrel with that." +</P> + +<P> +Still he continued to twist and turn the disc of silver, now holding it +at arm's length, now bringing it close to his eye with a puzzled +intentness. +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton could stand the suspense no longer. +</P> + +<P> +"What's wrong with it?" he at last burst out. +</P> + +<P> +Willie did not look up but evidently he caught the note of impatience +in the younger man's tone, for he drawled quizzically: +</P> + +<P> +"Don't it strike you as a mite peculiar that a buckle should go to +Boston with D. L. H. on it an' come home marked C. L. G.?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>What</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's what's on it—C. L. G. See for yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"It can't be." +</P> + +<P> +"Come an' have a look." +</P> + +<P> +The inventor placed the trinket in Robert Morton's hand. +</P> + +<P> +"C. L. G.," repeated he, as he deciphered the intertwined letters of +the monogram. "You are right, sure as fate! Jove!" +</P> + +<P> +"They've sent you the wrong girl," remarked Willie. "It's clear as a +bell on a still night. There must have been two girls an' two buckles, +an' the jeweler's mixed 'em up; you've got the other lady's." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a nice mess!" Bob ejaculated irritably. "Why, I'd rather have +given a hundred dollars than have this happen. I'll wring that man's +neck!" +</P> + +<P> +"Easy, youngster! Easy!" cautioned Willie. "Don't go heavin' all your +cargo overboard 'till you find you're really sinkin'. 'Tain't likely +Miss C. L. G. will care a row of pins for Miss D. L. H.'s buckle. +She'll be sendin' out an S. O. S. for her own an' will be ready to join +you in flayin' the jeweler. Give the poor varmint time, an' he'll +shift things round all right." +</P> + +<P> +"But Miss Hathaway—" +</P> + +<P> +"Delight's lived the best part of two weeks without that buckle, an' +she don't look none the worse for not havin' it. I saw her in the +post-office only yesterday an'—" +</P> + +<P> +"Did you?" cried Bob eagerly, then stopped short, flushed, and bit his +lip. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, she was there," Willie returned serenely, without appearing to +have noticed his guest's agitation. "Young Farwell from Cambridge—the +one that has all the money—was talkin' to her, an' she had that +Harvard professor who boards at the Brewsters' along too; Carlton his +name is, Jasper Carlton. He's a mighty good-lookin' chap." He stole a +glance at the face that glowered out of the window. "Had you chose to +stroll down to the store with me like I asked you to, you might 'a' +seen her yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I—I—didn't need to see her," stammered Bob. +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe not," was the tranquil answer. "An' she didn't need to see you, +neither, judgin' from the way she was talkin' an' laughin' with them +other fellers. Still a young man is never the worse for chattin' with +a nice girl. Now, son, if I was you, I wouldn't get stirred up over +this jewelry business. We'll get a rise out of Miss C. L. G. pretty +soon an' when she comes to the surface—" +</P> + +<P> +"Who's that at the gate, Willie?" called Celestina from the kitchen. +</P> + +<P> +"What?" +</P> + +<P> +"There's somebody at the gate in a big red automobile. She's comin' +in. You go an' see what she wants, 'cause my apron ain't fresh. +Likely she's lost her way or else is huntin' board." +</P> + +<P> +Although Willie shuffled obediently into the hall he was not in time to +prevent the sonorous peal of the bell. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he's here," they heard him say. "Of course you can speak to him. +He's just inside. Won't you step in?" +</P> + +<P> +Then without further ado, and with utter disregard of Celestina's +rumpled apron, the door opened and the little inventor ushered into the +string-entangled sitting room a dainty, city-bred girl in a sport suit +of white serge. She was not only pretty but she was perfectly groomed +and was possessed of a fascinating vivacity and charm. Everything +about her was vivid: the gloss of her brown hair, the sparkle of her +eyes, her color, her smile, her immaculate clothes—all were dazzling. +She carried her splendor with an air of complete sureness as if she was +accustomed to the supremacy it won for her and expected it. Yet the +audacity of her pose had in it a certain fitness and was piquant rather +than offensive. +</P> + +<P> +The instant she crossed the threshold, Robert Morton leaped to meet her +with outstretched hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Cynthia Galbraith!" he cried. "How ever came you here?" +</P> + +<P> +A ripple of teasing laughter came from the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"You are surprised then; I thought you would be." +</P> + +<P> +"Surprised? I can't believe it." +</P> + +<P> +"If you'd written as you should have done, you wouldn't have been at +all amazed to see me," answered the newcomer severely. +</P> + +<P> +"I meant to write," the culprit asserted uneasily. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe you will inform me what you are doing on Cape Cod," went on the +lady in an accusing tone. +</P> + +<P> +"How did you know I was here?" +</P> + +<P> +"You can't guess?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I haven't a glimmer." +</P> + +<P> +From the pocket of her shell-pink sweater she drew forth a small white +box of startlingly familiar appearance. +</P> + +<P> +"Does this belong to you?" demanded she. +</P> + +<P> +Beneath the mockery of her eyes Robert Morton could feel the color +mount to his temples. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well!" he said, with a ghastly attempt at gaiety, "So you were +C. L. G." +</P> + +<P> +"Naturally. Didn't the initials suggest the possibility?" +</P> + +<P> +"No—eh—yes; that is, I hadn't thought about it," he floundered. +"It's funny how things come about sometimes, isn't it? I want you to +meet my aunt, Miss Morton, and my friend Mr. Spence. I am visiting +here." +</P> + +<P> +Immediately the dainty Miss Cynthia was all smiles. +</P> + +<P> +"So it is relatives that bring you to the Cape!" said she. +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton nodded. She seemed mollified. +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't Roger write you that we had taken a house at Belleport for the +season?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied Bob. "I haven't heard from him for weeks." +</P> + +<P> +"He's a brute. Yes, we came down in May just after I got back from +California. We are crazy over the place. The family will be wild when +I tell them you are here. My brother," she went on, turning with a +pretty graciousness toward Celestina, "was Bob's roommate at Harvard. +In that way we came to know him very well and have always kept up the +acquaintance." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you come from the West, same as my nephew does?" questioned +Celestina when there was a pause. +</P> + +<P> +The little lady raised her eyebrows deprecatingly. +</P> + +<P> +"No, indeed! The East is quite good enough for us. We are from New +York. The boys, however, were always visiting back and forth," she +added with haste, "so we have quite an affection for Indiana even if we +don't live there." She shot a conciliatory smile in Robert Morton's +direction. "Couldn't you go back with me in the car, Bob," she asked +turning toward him, "and spring a surprise on the household? Dad's +down, Mother's here, and also Grandmother Lee; and the mighty and +illustrious Roger, fresh from his law office on Fifth Avenue, is +expected Friday. Do come." +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid I can't to-day," Bob answered. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Bob, there ain't the least reason in the world you shouldn't go," +put in Celestina. +</P> + +<P> +The young man fingered the package in his hand nervously. +</P> + +<P> +"I really couldn't, Cynthia," he repeated, ignoring the interruption. +"I'd like immensely to come another day, though. But to-day Mr. Spence +and I have a piece of work on hand—" +</P> + +<P> +He paused, discomfited at meeting the astonished gaze of Willie's mild +blue eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course you know best," Cynthia replied, drawing in her chin with +some hauteur. "I shouldn't think of urging you." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd be bully glad to come another day," reiterated Robert Morton, +fully conscious he had offended his fair guest, yet determined to stand +his ground. "Tell the affluent Roger to slide over in his racer +sometime when he has nothing better to do and get me." +</P> + +<P> +"He will probably only be here for the week-end," retorted Cynthia +coldly. +</P> + +<P> +"Sunday, then; why not Sunday? Mr. Spence and I do not work Sundays." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, if you positively won't come to-day. But I don't see why +you can't come now and Sunday, too." +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't do it, dear lady." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Sunday then, if that is the earliest you can make it." +</P> + +<P> +She smiled an adieu to Willie and Celestina, and with her little head +proudly set preceded Bob to her car. But although the great engine +throbbed and purred, it was some time before it left the gate and +flashed its way down the high road toward Belleport. +</P> + +<P> +After it had gone and Bob was once more in the house, Celestina had a +score of questions with which to greet him. How remarkable it was that +the owner of the missing jewelry should be some one he knew! The +Galbraiths must be well-to-do. What was the brother like? Did he +favor his sister? +</P> + +<P> +These and numberless other inquiries like them furnished Celestina with +conversation for the rest of the day. Willie, on the contrary, was +peculiarly silent, and although his furtive glance traveled at frequent +intervals over his young friend's face, he made no comment concerning +Miss Cynthia L. Galbraith and her silver buckle. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SHADOWS +</H3> + + +<P> +In the meantime the two men resumed their labors in the shop, touching +shoulders before the bench where their tools lay. They planed and +chiselled and sawed together as before, but as they worked each was +conscious that a barrier of sudden reserve had sprung up between them, +obstructing the perfect confidence that had previously existed. At +first the old inventor tried to bridge this gulf with trivial jests, +but as these passed unnoticed he at length lapsed into silence. Now +and then, as he stole a look at his companion, he thought he detected +in the youthful face a suppressed nervousness and irritation that found +welcome vent in the hammer's vigorous blow. Nevertheless, as the +younger man vouchsafed no information regarding the morning's +adventure, Willie asked no questions. +</P> + +<P> +He would have given a great deal to have satisfied himself about +Cynthia Galbraith. It was easily seen that her family were persons of +wealth and position with whom Robert Morton was on terms of the +greatest intimacy. It even demanded no very skilled psychologist to +perceive the girl's sentiment toward his guest, for Miss Galbraith was +a petulent, self-willed creature who did not trouble to conceal her +preferences. Her attitude was transparent as the day. But with what +feeling did Robert Morton regard her? That was the burning question +the little man longed to have answered. +</P> + +<P> +Wearily he sighed. Alas, human nature was a frail, incalculable +phenomenon. +</P> + +<P> +How was it likely a young man with his fortune to make would regard a +girl as rich and attractive as Cynthia Galbraith, especially if her +brother chanced to be his best friend and all her family reached forth +welcoming arms to him. +</P> + +<P> +Willie was not a matchmaker. Had he been impugned with the accusation +he would have denied it indignantly: Nevertheless, he had been mixed up +in too many romances not to find the relation between the sexes a +problem of engrossing interest. Furthermore, of late he had been doing +a little private castle-building, the foundations of which now abruptly +collapsed into ruins at his feet. The cornerstone of this +dream-structure had been laid the day he had first seen Robert Morton +and Delight Hathaway together. What a well-mated pair they were! For +years it had been his unwhispered ambition to see his favorite happily +married to a man who was worthy of the priceless treasure. +</P> + +<P> +The Brewster household was aging fast. Captain Jonas, Captain +Benjamin, and Captain Phineas were now old men; even Zenas Henry's hair +had thinned and whitened above his temples, and Abbie, once so +tireless, was becoming content to drop her cares on younger shoulders. +Yes, Wilton was growing old, thought the inventor sadly, and he and +Celestina were unquestionably keeping pace with the rest. In the +natural course of events, before many years Delight would be deprived +of her protectors and be left alone in the great world to fend for +herself. She was well able to do so, for she was resourceful and +capable and would never be forced to marry for a home as was many a +lonely woman. Nor would she ever come to want; the village would see +to that. Notwithstanding this certainty, however, he could not bear to +think of a time when there would be no one to stand between her and the +harsher side of life; no man who would count the championship a +privilege, an honor, his dearest duty. +</P> + +<P> +Wilton had never offered a husband of the type pictured in Willie's +mind. The hamlet could boast of but few young men, and the greater +part of those who lingered within its borders had done so because they +lacked the ambition and initiative to hew out for themselves elsewhere +broader fields of activity. Those of ability had gravitated to the +colleges, the business schools, or gone to test their strength in the +city's marts of commerce. Who could blame them for not resting content +with baiting lobster pots and dredging for scallops? Were he a young +man with his path untrodden before him he would have been one of the +first to do the same, Willie confessed. Did he not constantly covet +their youth and opportunity? Nevertheless, praiseworthy as their +motive had been, the fact remained that nowhere in the village was +there a man the peer of Delight Hathaway. Rare in her girlish beauty, +rarer yet in her promise of womanhood, what a prize she would be for +him who had the fineness of fiber to appreciate the guerdon! +</P> + +<P> +Willie was wont to attest that he himself was not a marrying man; yet +notwithstanding the assertion, deep down within the fastness of his +soul he had had his visions,—visions pure, exalted and characteristic +of his sensitively attuned nature. They were the exquisite secrets of +his life; the unfulfilled dreams that had kept him holy; a part of the +divine in him; echoes of hungers and longings that reached unsatisfied +into a world other than this. Earth had failed to consummate the loves +and ambitions of the dreamer. His had been a flattened, warped, +starved existence whose perfecting was not of this sphere. And as +without bitterness he reviewed the glories that had passed him by, he +prayed that these bounties might not also be denied her who, rounding +into the full splendor of her womanhood, was worthy of the best heaven +had to bestow. +</P> + +<P> +From her childhood he had watched her virtues unfold and none of their +potentialities had gone unobserved by the quiet little old man. +Through the beauty of his own soul he had been enabled to translate the +beauties of another, until gradually Delight Hathaway had come to +symbolize for him universal woman, the prototype of all that was +purest, most selfless, most tender; most to be revered, watched over, +beloved. Yet for all his worship the girl remained for him very human, +a creature with bewitching and appealing ways. In the same spirit in +which he rejoiced in the tint of a rose's petal or the shell-like flush +of a cloud at dawn did he find pleasure in the crimson that colored her +cheek, in the perfection of her features, in the shadowy, fathomless +depths of her eyes. Father, brother, lover, artist, at her shrine he +offered up a composite devotion which sought only her happiness. +</P> + +<P> +With such an attitude of mind to satisfy was it a marvel that in the +matter of selecting a husband for his divinity Willie was difficult to +please; or that he studied with a criticism quite as jealous as Zenas +Henry's own every male who crossed the girl's path? +</P> + +<P> +Yet with all his idealism Willie was a keen observer of life, and from +the first moment of their meeting he had detected in Robert Morton +qualities more nearly akin to his standards than he had discovered in +any of the other outsiders who had come into the hamlet. There was, +for example, the son of the Farwells who owned the great colonial +mansion on the point,—Billy Farwell, with his racing car and his dogs +and his general air of elegance and idleness. Delight had known him +since she was a child. And there was Jasper Carlton, the scholarly +scientist, years the girl's senior, who annually came to board with the +Brewsters during the vacation months. Both of these men paid court to +the village beauty, Billy with a half patronizing, half audacious +assurance born of years of intimacy; and the professor with that +old-fashioned reserve and deference characteristic of the older +generation. There were days when the two caused Willie such +perturbation of spirit that he would willingly have knocked their heads +together or cheerfully have wrung their necks. +</P> + +<P> +Delight unhesitatingly acknowledged that she liked both of them and +harmlessly coquetted first with the one, then with the other, until the +old inventor was at his wit's end to fathom which she actually favored +or whether she seriously favored either of them. Yet irreproachable as +were these suitors, to place a man of Bob Morton's attributes in the +same category with them seemed absurd. Why, he was head and shoulders +above them mentally, morally, physically,—from whichever angle one +viewed him. Moreover, blood will tell, and was he not of the fine old +Morton stock? Whatever the Carlton forbears might be, young Farwell's +ancestry was not an enviable one. Yes, Willie had settled Delight's +future to his entire satisfaction and for nights had been sleeping +peacefully, confident that with such a husband as Robert Morton her +happiness and good fortune would be assured. +</P> + +<P> +And then, like a thunderbolt out of the heavens, had come this Cynthia +Galbraith with her fetching clothes, her affluence and her air of +proprietorship! By what right had she acquired her monopoly of Bob +Morton, and was its exclusiveness gratifying or irksome to its +recipient? Might not this strange young man, concerning whom Willie +was forced to own he actually knew nothing, be playing a double game, +and the frankness of his face belie his real nature? And was it not +possible that his annoyance and irritation were caused by having been +trapped in it? +</P> + +<P> +Well, avowed Willie, he would see that Delight encountered this Don +Giovanni but seldom, at least until he gave a more trustworthy account +of himself than he had vouchsafed up to the present moment. Contrary +to the common law, the guest must be rated as guilty until he had +proved himself innocent. Yet as he darted a glance at the earnest +young face bending over the workbench Willie's conscience smote him and +he questioned whether he might not be doing his comrade a dire +injustice. The thought caused him to flush uncomfortably, and he +flushed still redder when Bob suddenly straightened up and met his eye. +</P> + +<P> +Both men stood alert, held tensely by the same sound. It was the low +music of a girlish voice humming a snatch of song, and it was +accompanied by the soft crackling of the needles that carpeted the +grove of pine between the Spence and Brewster houses. In another +instant Delight Hathaway strolled slowly out of the wood and entered +the workshop. With her coming a radiance of sunshine seemed to flood +the shabby room. She nodded a greeting to Bob, then went straight to +Willie and, placing her hands affectionately on his shoulders, looked +down into his face. They made a pretty picture, the bent old man with +his russet cheeks and thin white hair, and the girl erect as an arrow +and beautiful as a young Diana. +</P> + +<P> +The little inventor lifted his mild blue eyes to meet the haunting eyes +of hazel. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well, my dear," he said, as he covered one of her hands with his +own worn brown one, "so you have come for your buckle, have you? It is +all done, honey, an' good as the day when 'twas made. Bob has it in +his pocket for you this minute." +</P> + +<P> +By a strange magic the truth and sunlight of the girl's presence had +for the time being dispelled all baser suspicions and Willie smiled +kindly at the man beside him. +</P> + +<P> +Holding out the crisp white package, Robert Morton came forward. +</P> + +<P> +Delight looked questioningly from the box with its immaculate paper and +neat pink string to its giver. +</P> + +<P> +"He found he couldn't fix it himself," explained Willie, immediately +interpreting the interrogation. "Neither him or I were guns enough for +the job. So Bob got somebody he knew of to tinker it up." +</P> + +<P> +"That was certainly very kind," returned Delight with gravity. "If you +will tell me what it cost I—" +</P> + +<P> +Again the old man stepped into the breach. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I figger 'twarn't much," said he with easy unconcern. "The feller +who did it was used to mendin' jewelry an' knew just how to set about +it, so it didn't put him out of his way none." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," echoed Bob, with a grateful smile toward Willie. "It made him +no trouble at all." +</P> + +<P> +The two men watched the delicate fingers unfasten the package. +</P> + +<P> +"See how nice 'tis," Willie went on. "You'd never know there was a +thing the matter with it." +</P> + +<P> +"It's wonderful!" she cried. +</P> + +<P> +Her pleasure put to flight the old inventor's last compunction at his +compromise with truth. +</P> + +<P> +"I am so pleased, Mr. Morton!" she went on. "You are quite sure there +was no expense." +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing to speak of. I'm glad you like it," murmured the young man. +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed I do!" +</P> + +<P> +She stretched the band of white leather round her waist and Bob noticed +how easily its clasp met. +</P> + +<P> +"There!" exclaimed she, raising her hand in mocking imitation of a +military salute, "isn't that fine?" +</P> + +<P> +Willie laughed with involuntary admiration at the gesture, and as for +Robert Morton he could have gone down on his knees before her and +kissed her diminutive white shoe. +</P> + +<P> +The girl did not prolong the tableau. All too soon she relaxed from +rigidity into gaiety and came flitting to the work bench. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you doing, Willie dear?" she asked. "You know you never have +secrets from me. What is this marvellous thing you are busy with?" +</P> + +<P> +Before answering, Willie glanced mysteriously about. +</P> + +<P> +"It's because I know you can keep secrets that I ain't afraid to trust +you with 'em," said he. "Bob an' I are workin' on the quiet at an idee +I was kitched with a day or two ago. It's a bigger scheme than most of +the ones I've tackled, an' it may not turn out to be anything at all; +still, Bob has studied boats an' knows a heap about 'em, an' he +believes somethin' can be made of it. But 'til our fish is hooked we +ain't shoutin' that we've caught one. If the contrivance works," went +on the little old man eagerly, "it will be a bonanza for Zenas Henry. +It's—" he lowered his voice almost to a whisper, "it's an idee to keep +motor-boats from gettin' snagged." +</P> + +<P> +The words were scarcely out of his mouth before his listeners saw him +start and look apprehensively toward the door. +</P> + +<P> +They were no longer alone. On the threshold of the workshop stood +Janoah Eldridge. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A WIDENING OF THE BREACH +</H3> + + +<P> +"So," piped Janoah, "that's what you're doin', is it, Willie Spence? +Well, you needn't 'a' been so all-fired still about it. I guessed as +much all the time." There was an acid flavor in the words. "Yes, I +knowed it from the beginnin' well as if I'd been here, even if you did +shut me out an' take this city feller in to help you in place of me. +Mebbe he has studied 'bout boats; but how do you know what he's up to? +How do you know, anyhow, who he is or where he came from? He says, of +course, that he's Tiny's nephew, an' he may be, fur all I can tell; but +what proof have you he ain't somebody else who's come here to steal +your ideas an' get money for 'em?" +</P> + +<P> +There was a moment of stunned silence, as the barbs from his tongue +pierced the stillness. +</P> + +<P> +Then Delight stepped in front of the interloper. +</P> + +<P> +"How dare you, Janoah Eldridge!" she cried. "How dare you insult +Willie's friend and—and—mine! You've no right to speak so about Mr. +Morton." +</P> + +<P> +Before her indignation Janoah quailed. In all his life he had never +before seen Delight Hathaway angry, and something in her flashing eyes +and flaming cheeks startled him. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I—warn't meanin' to say 'twas actually so," mumbled he +apologetically. "Like as not the young man's 'xactly what he claims to +be. Still, Willie's awful gullible, an' there's times when a word of +warnin' ain't such a bad thing. I'm sorry if you didn't like it." +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't like it, not at all," the girl returned, only slightly +mollified by his conciliatory tone. "If you are anything of a +gentleman you will apologize to Mr. Morton immediately." +</P> + +<P> +"Ain't I just said I was sorry?" hedged the sheepish Janoah. +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed, there is no need for anything further," Robert Morton +protested. "Perhaps, knowing me so little, it was only natural that he +should distrust me." +</P> + +<P> +"It was neither natural nor courteous," came hotly from Delight, "and I +for one am mortified that any visitor to the village should receive +such treatment." +</P> + +<P> +Then as if clearing her skirts of the offending Mr. Eldridge, she drew +herself to her full height and swept magnificently out the door. An +awkward silence followed her departure. +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton hesitated, glancing uneasily from Willie to Janoah, +scented a storm and, slipping softly from the shop, went in pursuit of +the retreating figure. +</P> + +<P> +"For goodness sake, Janoah, whatever set you makin' a speech like +that?" Willie demanded, when the two were alone. "Have you gone plumb +crazy? The very notion of your lightin' into that innocent young +feller! What are you thinkin' of?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe he ain't so innocent as he seems," the accuser sneered. +</P> + +<P> +The little old man faced him sharply. +</P> + +<P> +"Come," he persisted, "let's have this thing out. What do you know +about him?" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you?" retorted Janoah, evading the question. +</P> + +<P> +The inventor paused, chagrined. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't know nothin' an' I don't know nothin'," continued Janoah, +seizing the advantage he had gained. "Each of us is welcome to his +opinion, ain't he? It's a free country. You're all fur believin' the +chap's an angel out of heaven. You've swallered down every word he's +uttered like as if it was gospel truth, an' took him into your own +house same's if he was a relation. There's fish that gobble down bait +just that way. I ain't that kind. Young men don't bury themselves up +in a quiet spot like Wilton without they've got somethin' up their +sleeve." +</P> + +<P> +Staring intently at his friend, he noted with satisfaction that +Willie's brow had clouded into a frown. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it to be expected, I ask you now, is it to be expected that a +spirited young sprig of a college feller such as him relishes spendin' +his time workin' away in this shop day in an' day out? What's he doin' +it fur, tell me that? This world ain't a benevolent institution, an' +the folks in it don't go throwin' their elbow-grease away unless they +look to get somethin' out of it. This Morton boy has boned down here +like a slave. What's in it fur him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, it's his vacation an'—" +</P> + +<P> +"Vacation!" interrupted Janoah scornfully. "You call it a vacation, do +you, for him to be workin' away here with you? You honestly think he +hankers after doin' it?" +</P> + +<P> +"He said he did." +</P> + +<P> +"An' you believed it, I s'pose, same's you credited the rest of his +talk," jeered Mr. Eldridge. "Look out the winder, Willie Spence, an' +tell me, if you was twenty instead of 'most seventy, if you'd be +stayin' indoors a-carpenterin' these summer days when you could be +outside?" +</P> + +<P> +He swept a hand dramatically toward the casement and in spite of +himself the old man obeyed his injunction and looked. +</P> + +<P> +A dome blue as larkspur arched the sky and to its farthest bound the +sea, reflecting its azure tints, flashed and sparkled as if set with +stars of gold. Along the shore where glittered reaches of hard white +sand and a gentle breeze tossed into billows the salt grass edging the +margin of the little creeks, fishermen launching their dories called to +one another, their voices floating upward on the still air with musical +clearness. +</P> + +<P> +"Would you be puttin' in your vacation a-workin' all summer, Willie, if +you was the age of that young man?" repeated Janoah. +</P> + +<P> +"He ain't here for all summer," protested the unhappy inventor, +catching at a straw. "He's only goin' to stay a little while." +</P> + +<P> +"He was here fur over night at first, warn't he?" inquired the +tormentor. "Then it lengthened into a week; an' the Lord only knows +now how much longer he's plannin' to hang round the place. Besides, if +he's only makin' a short visit, it's less likely than ever he'd want to +put in the whole of it tinkerin' with you. He'd be goin' about seein' +Wilton, sailin', fishin', swimmin' or clammin', like other folks do +that come here fur the summer, if he was a normal human bein'. But has +he been anywheres yet? No, sir! I've had my weather eye out, an' I +can answer for it that the feller ain't once poked his head out of this +shop. What's made him so keen fur stayin' in Wilton an' workin'?" +</P> + +<P> +Willie did not answer, but he took a great bandanna with a flaming +border of scarlet from his pocket and mopped his forehead nervously. +</P> + +<P> +"That young chap," resumed Janoah, holding up a grimy finger which he +shook impressively at the wretched figure opposite, "is here for one of +two reasons. You can like 'em or not, but they're true. He's either +here to steal your ideas from you, or he's got his eye on Delight +Hathaway." +</P> + +<P> +He saw his victim start violently. +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe it's the one, mebbe it's the other; I ain't sayin'," announced +Janoah with malicious pleasure. "It may even be both reasons put +together. He's aimin' fur some landin' place, you can be certain of +that, an' I'm warnin yer as a friend to look out fur him, that's all." +</P> + +<P> +"I—I—don't believe it," burst out the little inventor, his benumbed +faculties beginning slowly to assemble themselves. "Why, there ain't a +finer, better-spoken young man to be found than Bob Morton." +</P> + +<P> +Janoah caught up the final phrase with derision. +</P> + +<P> +"The better spoken he is the more watchin' he'll bear," remarked he. +"There's many a villain with an oily gift of gab." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll not believe it!" Willie reiterated. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Eldridge shrugged his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"Take it or leave it," he said. "You're welcome to your own way. Only +don't say I didn't warn yer." +</P> + +<P> +Flinging this parting shot backward into the room, Janoah Eldridge +passed out into the rose-scented sunshine. +</P> + +<P> +With a sad look in his eyes Willie let him go, watching the tall form +as it strode waist-high through the brakes and sweet fern that patched +the meadow. It was his first real quarrel with Janoah. Since boyhood +they had been friends, the gentleness of the little inventor bridging +the many disagreements that had arisen between them. Now had come this +mammoth difference, a divergence of standard too vital to be smoothed +over by a gloss of cajolery. Willie was angry through every fiber of +his being. Slowly it seeped into his consciousness that Janoah's +fundamental philosophy and his own were at odds; their attitude of mind +as antagonistic as the poles. Against trust loomed suspicion, against +generosity narrowness, against optimism pessimism. Janoah believed the +worst of the individual while he, Willie, reason as he might, +inherently believed the best. One creed was the fruit of a jealous and +envious personality that rejoiced rather than grieved over the +limitations of our human clay; the other was a result of that charity +<I>that beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things</I>, +because of a divine faith in the God in man. +</P> + +<P> +For a long time Willie stood there thinking, his gaze fixed upon the +gently swaying plumage of the pines. The shock of his discovery left +him suddenly feeling very sad and very much alone. It was as if he had +buried the friend of half a century. Yet even to bring Janoah back he +could not retract the words he had uttered or exchange the light he +followed for Janoah's sinister beckonings. In spite of a certain +reasonableness in the pessimist's logic; in spite of circumstances he +was incapable of explaining; in spite, even, of Cynthia Galbraith, a +latent belief in Robert Morton's integrity crystallized into certainty, +and he rose to his feet freed of the doubts that had previously +assailed him. +</P> + +<P> +At the instant of this emancipation the young man himself entered. +</P> + +<P> +What had passed during the interval since he had gone out of the +workshop Willie could only surmise, but it had evidently been of +sufficiently inspiring a character to bring into his countenance a +radiance almost supernatural in its splendor. Nevertheless he did not +speak but stood immovable before the little old inventor as if awaiting +a judge's decree, the glory fading from his eyes and a half-veiled +anxiety stealing into them. +</P> + +<P> +Willie smiled and, reaching up, placed his hands on the broad shoulders +that towered opposite. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry, Bob," he affirmed with a sweetness as winning as a woman's. +"You mustn't mind what Jan said. He's gettin' old an' a mite crabbed, +an' he's kinder foolish about me, mebbe. I wouldn't 'a' had him hurt +your feelin's—" +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton caught the expression of pain in the troubled face and +cut the apology short. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all right, Mr. Spence," he cried. "Don't give it another +thought. So long as you remain my friend I don't care what Mr. +Eldridge thinks. We'll pass it off as jealousy and let it go at that." +</P> + +<P> +The old man tried to smile, but the corners of his mouth drooped and he +sighed instead. To have Janoah's weaknesses thus nakedly set forth by +another was a very different thing from recognizing them himself, and +instinctively his loyalty rose in protest. +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe 'twas jealousy," he replied. "Folks have always stood out that +Janoah was jealous. But somehow I'd rather think 'twas tryin' to look +after me an' my affairs that misled him. S'pose we call it a sort of +slab-sided friendliness." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll call it anything you like," assented Bob, with a happy laugh. +</P> + +<P> +This time Willie laughed also. +</P> + +<P> +"So she stood by you, did she?" queried he with quick understanding. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"'Twas like her." +</P> + +<P> +"It was like both of you." +</P> + +<P> +The old man raised a hand in protest against the gratitude the remark +implied. +</P> + +<P> +"Delight ain't often wrong; she's a fair dealer." Then he added +significantly, "Them as ain't fair with her deserve no salvation." +</P> + +<P> +"Hanging would be too good for the man who was not square with a girl +like that," came from Robert Morton with an emphasis unmistakable in +its sincerity. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A CONSPIRACY +</H3> + + +<P> +On Sunday morning, when a menacing east wind whipped the billows into +foam and a breath of storm brooded in the air, the Galbraiths' great +touring car rolled up to Willie's cottage, and from it stepped not only +Robert Morton's old college chum, Roger Galbraith, but also his father, +a finely built, middle-aged man whose decisive manner and quick speech +characterized the leader and dictator. +</P> + +<P> +He was smooth-shaven after the English fashion and from beneath shaggy +iron-gray brows a pair of dark eyes, piercing in their intensity, +looked out. The face was lined as if the stress of living had drawn +its muscles into habitual tensity, and except when a smile relieved the +setness of the mouth his countenance was stern to severity. His son, +on the other hand, possessed none of his father's force of personality. +Although his features were almost a replica of those of the older man, +they lacked strength; it was as if the second impression taken from the +type had been less clear-cut and positive. The eyes were clear rather +than penetrating, the mouth and chin handsome but mobile; even the +well-rounded physique lacked the rugged qualities that proclaimed its +development to have been the result of a Spartan combat with the world +and instead bore the more artificial sturdiness acquired from sports +and athletics. +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless Roger Galbraith, if not the warrior his progenitor had +been, presented no unmanly appearance. Neither self-indulgence nor +effeminacy branded him. In fact, there was in his manner a certain +magnetism and warmth of sympathy that the elder man could not boast, +and it was because of this asset he had never wanted for friends and +probably never would want for them. Through the talisman of charm he +would exact from others the service which the more autocratic nature +commanded. +</P> + +<P> +Yet in spite of the opposition of their personalities, Robert Morton +cherished toward both father and son a sincere affection which differed +only in the quality of the response the two men called forth. Mr. +Galbraith he admired and revered; Roger he loved. +</P> + +<P> +Had he but known it, each of the Galbraiths in their turn esteemed +Robert Morton for widely contrasting reasons. The New York financier +found in him a youth after his own heart,—a fine student and hard +worker, who had fought his way to an education because necessity +confronted him with the choice of going armed or unarmed into life's +fray. Although comfortably off, Mr. Morton senior was a man of limited +income whose children had been forced to battle for what they had +wrested from fortune. Success had not come easily to any of them, and +the winning of it had left in its wake a self-reliance and independence +surprisingly mature. Ironically enough, this power to fend for himself +which Mr. Galbraith so heartily endorsed and respected in Bob was the +very characteristic of which he had deprived his own boy, the vast +fortune the capitalist had rolled up eliminating all struggle from +Roger's career. Every barrier had been removed, every thwarting force +had been brought into abeyance, and afterward, with an inconsistency +typical of human nature, the leveler of the road fretted at his son's +lack of aggressiveness, his eyes, ordinarily so hawklike in their +vision, blinded to the fact that what his son was he had to a great +extent made him, and if the product caused secret disappointment he had +no one to thank for it but himself. Instead his reasoning took the +bias that the younger man, having been given every opportunity, should +logically have increased the Galbraith force of character rather than +have diminished it, and very impatient was he that such had not proved +to be the case. +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton was much more akin to the Galbraith stock, the financier +argued. He had all the dog-like persistency, the fighter's love of the +game, the courage that will not admit defeat. Although he would not +have confessed it, Mr. Galbraith would have given half his fortune to +have interchanged the personalities of the two young men. Could Roger +have been blessed with Bob's attributes, the dream of his life would +have been fulfilled. Money was a potent slave. In the great man's +hands it had wrought a magician's marvels. But this miracle, alas, it +was powerless to accomplish. Roger was his son, his only son, whom he +adored with instinctive passion; for whom he coveted every good gift; +and in whose future the hopes of his life were bound up. Long since he +had abandoned expecting the impossible; he must take the boy as he was, +rejoicing that Heaven had sent him as good a one. Yet notwithstanding +this philosophy, Mr. Galbraith never saw the two young men together +that the envy he stifled did not awaken, and the question rise to his +lips: +</P> + +<P> +"Why could I not have had such a son?" +</P> + +<P> +The interrogation clamored now as he came up the walk to the doorway +where Robert Morton was standing. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my boy, I'm glad to see you," exclaimed he with heartiness. +"You are looking fit as a racer." +</P> + +<P> +"And feeling so, Mr. Galbraith," smiled Bob. "You are looking well +yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"Never was better in my life." +</P> + +<P> +As he stood still, sweeping his keen gaze over his surroundings, a +telegraphic glance of greeting passed between the two classmates. +</P> + +<P> +"How are you, old man?" said Roger. +</P> + +<P> +"Bully, kipper. It's great to see you again," was the reply. +</P> + +<P> +That was all, but they did not need more to assure each other of their +friendship. +</P> + +<P> +"You have a wonderful location here, Bob," observed Mr. Galbraith who +had been studying the view. "I never saw anything finer. What a site +for a hotel!" +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton could not but smile at the characteristic comment of the +man of finance. +</P> + +<P> +"You would have trouble rooting Mr. Spence out of this spot, I'm +afraid," said he. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Spence?" +</P> + +<P> +"He is my host. My aunt, Miss Morton, is his housekeeper." +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton had learned never to waste words when talking with Mr. +Galbraith. +</P> + +<P> +"I see. I should be glad to meet your aunt and Mr. Spence." +</P> + +<P> +"I know they would like to meet you too, sir. They are just inside. +Won't you come in?" +</P> + +<P> +Leading the way, Bob threw open the door into the little sitting room. +</P> + +<P> +In anticipation of the visit Celestina had arrayed herself in a fresh +print dress and ruffled apron and had compelled Willie to replace his +jumper with a suit of homespun and flatten his locks into water-soaked +rigidity. By the exchange both persons had lost a certain +picturesqueness which Bob could not but deplore. Nevertheless the fact +did not greatly matter, for it was not toward them that the capitalist +turned his glance. Instead his swiftly moving eyes traveled with one +sweep over the cobweb of strings that enmeshed the interior and without +regard for etiquette he blurted out: +</P> + +<P> +"Heavens! What's all this?" +</P> + +<P> +The remark, so genuine in its amazement, might under other conditions +have provoked resentment but now it merely raised a laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't wonder you ask, sir," replied Willie, stepping forward +good-humoredly. "'Tain't a common sight, I'll admit. We get used to +it here an' think nothin' about it; but I reckon it must strike +outsiders as 'tarnal queer." +</P> + +<P> +"What are you trying to do?" queried the capitalist, still too much +interested to heed conventionalities. +</P> + +<P> +Simply and with artless naïvete Willie explained the significance of +the strings while the New Yorker listened, and as the old man told his +story it was apparent that Mr. Galbraith was not only amused but was +vastly interested. +</P> + +<P> +"I say, Mr. Spence, you should have been an inventor," he exclaimed, +when the tale was finished. +</P> + +<P> +He saw a wistful light come into the aged face. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean," he corrected hastily, "you should have a workshop with all +the trappings to help you carry out your schemes." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mr. Spence has a workshop," Robert Morton interrupted. "The +nicest kind of a one." +</P> + +<P> +"Would you like to see it?" inquired Willie. +</P> + +<P> +"I should, very much." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid it's no place to take you, sir," objected Celestina, +horrified at the suggestion. "It ain't been swept out since the +deluge. Willie won't have it cleaned. He says he'd never be able to +find anything again if it was." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Galbraith laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Workshops do not need cleaning, do they, Mr. Spence?" said he. "I +remember the chaos my father's tool-house always was in; it never was +in order and we all liked it the better because it wasn't." +</P> + +<P> +Celestina sighed and turned away. +</P> + +<P> +"Ain't it just the irony of fate," murmured she to Bob, "that after +slickin' up every room in the house so'st it would be presentable, +Willie should tow them folks from New York out into the woodshed? I +might 'a' saved myself the trouble." +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton slipped a comforting arm round her ample waist. +</P> + +<P> +"Never you mind, Aunt Tiny," he whispered. "The Galbraiths have rooms +enough of their own to look at; but they haven't a workshop like +Willie's." +</P> + +<P> +He patted her arm sympathetically and then, giving her a reassuring +little squeeze to console her, followed his guests. +</P> + +<P> +It had not crossed his mind until he went in pursuit of them that if +they visited the shop they must perforce be brought face to face with +Willie's latest invention still in its embryo state; and it was evident +that in the pride of entertaining such distinguished strangers the +little old man had also forgotten it, for as Bob entered he caught +sight of him fumbling awkwardly with a piece of sailcloth snatched up +in a hurried attempt to conceal from view this last child of his +genius. He had not been quick enough, however, to elude the +capitalist's sharp scrutiny, and before he could prevent discovery the +eager eyes had lighted on the unfinished model on the bench. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you up to here?" demanded Richard Galbraith. +</P> + +<P> +There was no help for it. Willie never juggled with the truth, and +even if he had been accustomed to do so it would have taken a quicker +witted charlatan than he to evade such an alert questioner. Therefore +in another moment he had launched forth on a full exposition of the +latest notion that had laid hold upon his fancy. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Galbraith listened until the gentle drawling voice had ceased. +</P> + +<P> +"By Jove!" he ejaculated. "You've got an idea here. Did you know it?" +</P> + +<P> +The inventor smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Bob an' I kinder thought we had," returned he modestly. +</P> + +<P> +"Bob is helping you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'm only putting in an oar," the young man hastened to say. "The +plan was entirely Mr. Spence's. I am simply working out some of the +details." +</P> + +<P> +"Bob knows a good deal more about boats than perhaps he'll own," Mr. +Galbraith asserted to Willie. "I fancy you've found that out already. +You are fortunate to have his aid." +</P> + +<P> +"Almighty fortunate," Willie agreed; then, glancing narrowly at his +visitor, he added: "Then you think there's some likelihood that a +scheme such as this might work. 'Tain't a plumb crazy notion?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bit of it. It isn't crazy at all. On the contrary, it should +be perfectly workable, and if it proved so, there would be a mine of +money in it." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't say!" +</P> + +<P> +It was plain that the comment contained less enthusiasm for the +prospective fortune than for the indorsement of the idea. +</P> + +<P> +The New Yorker, however, said nothing more about the invention. He +browsed about the shop with unfeigned pleasure, poking in among the +cans of paint, oil, and varnish, rattling the nails in the dingy +cigar-boxes, and examining the tools and myriad primitive devices +Willie had contrived to aid him in his work. +</P> + +<P> +"I was brought up in a shop like this," he at length exclaimed, "and I +haven't been inside such a place since. It carries me back to my +boyhood." +</P> + +<P> +A strangely softened mood possessed him, and when at last he stepped +out on the grass he lingered a moment beneath the arch of grapevine and +looked back into the low, sun-flecked interior of the shop as if loath +to leave it. +</P> + +<P> +"I am glad to have seen you, Mr. Spence," he said, "and Miss Morton, +too. Bob couldn't be in a pleasanter spot than this. I hope sometime +you will let me come over again and visit you while we are in +Belleport." +</P> + +<P> +"Sartain, sartain, sir!" cried Willie with delight. "Tiny an' me would +admire to have you come whenever the cravin' strikes you. We're +almighty fond of Bob, an' any friends of his will always be welcome." +</P> + +<P> +The little old man went with them to the car and loitered to watch them +roll away. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll see me back to-night," called Bob from the front seat. +</P> + +<P> +"Not to-night, to-morrow," Roger corrected laughingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, to-morrow then," smiled the young man. +</P> + +<P> +The engine pulsed, there was a quick throb of energy, and off they +sped. Almost without a sound the motor shot along the sand of the +Harbor Road and whirled into the pine-shaded thoroughfare that led +toward Belleport. +</P> + +<P> +"A fine old fellow that!" mused Mr. Galbraith aloud. "What a pity he +could not have had his chance in life." +</P> + +<P> +Bob nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose he hasn't a cent to carry out any of these schemes of his." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I am afraid he hasn't." +</P> + +<P> +The financier lit a cigar and puffed at it in thoughtful silence. +</P> + +<P> +"That motor-boat idea of his now—why, if it could be perfected and +boomed properly, it would make his fortune." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think so?" +</P> + +<P> +"I know it." +</P> + +<P> +Again the humming of the engine was the only sound. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know, Bob, I've half a mind to get Snelling down here and set +him to work at that job. What should you say?" +</P> + +<P> +"Snelling? You mean the expert from your ship-building plant?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Wouldn't it be a good plan?" +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +"There is no question that a man of Mr. Snelling's ability would be a +tremendous asset in handling such a proposition," he agreed cautiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Snelling could drop in as if to see you," went on the capitalist. +"You could fix up all that so there would not be any need of the old +fellow suspecting who he was. Once there he could pitch in and help +the scheme along. It is going to be quite an undertaking before you +get through with it, and the more hands there are to carry it out, the +better, in my opinion." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it is going to be much more of a job than I realized at first," +Bob admitted. "It certainly would be a great help to have Mr. +Snelling's aid. But could you spare him? And would he want to come +and duff in on this sort of an enterprise?" +</P> + +<P> +"If I telegraphed Snelling to come he would come; and when here he +would do whatever he was told," replied Mr. Galbraith, bringing his +lips sharply together. +</P> + +<P> +"It's very kind of you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Pooh! the idea amuses me. I'll provide any materials you may need, +too. Snelling shall have an order to that effect so that he can call +on the Long Island plant for anything he wants." +</P> + +<P> +"That will be splendid, Mr. Galbraith; but where do you come in?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll have my fun, never you fear," returned the capitalist. "In the +first place I'd like nothing better than to do that little old fellow a +good turn. There is something pathetic about him. Sometimes it is +hard to believe that life gives everybody a square deal, isn't it? +That man, for instance. He has the brain and the creative impulse, but +he has been cheated of his opportunity. I should enjoy giving him a +boost. Occasionally I fling away a small sum on a whim that catches my +fancy; now its German marks, now an abandoned farm. This time it shall +be Mr. Willie Spence and his motor-boat idee." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"I appreciate it tremendously," Bob said. +</P> + +<P> +"There, there, we won't speak of it any more," the elder man protested, +cutting him short. "I will telegraph Snelling and you may arrange the +rest. The old inventor isn't to suspect a thing—remember." +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"That is all, then." +</P> + +<P> +With a finality Robert Morton dared not transgress, the older man +lapsed into silence and Bob had no choice but to suppress his gratitude +and resign himself to listening to the rhythmic beat of the +automobile's great engine. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE GALBRAITH HOUSEHOLD +</H3> + + +<P> +The estate the Galbraiths had leased stood baldly upon a rise +overlooking the sea in the midst of the fashionable colony adjacent to +Wilton, and was one of those blots which the city luxury-lover affixes +to a community whose keynote is simplicity. Its expanse of veranda, +its fluttering green and white awnings, its giant tubs of blossoming +hydrangeas, to say nothing of its Italian garden with rose-laden +pergolas, were as out of place as if Saint Peter's itself had been +dropped down into a tiny New England fishing hamlet. +</P> + +<P> +The house, it is true, did not lack beauty, for it was well +proportioned and gracefully planned, and there was no denying that one +found, perhaps, more comfort on its screened and shaded piazzas than +was to be enjoyed on Willie Spence's unprotected doorstep. +Nevertheless, there was too much of everything about it: too many +rambler roses, too many rustic baskets and mighty palms; too many urns, +and stone benches, and sundials and fountains. Still, as the car +stopped at the door, the great wicker chairs with their scarlet +cushions presented a gay picture and so, too, did Mrs. Galbraith and +Cynthia who immediately rose from a breezy corner and came forward. +</P> + +<P> +The older woman was tall and handsome and in her youth must have +possessed great beauty; even now she carried with a spoiled air almost +girlish the costly gowns and jewels that her husband, proud of her +looks, lavished upon her. She had a languid grace very fascinating in +its indifference and spoke with a pretty little accent that echoed of +the South. For all her attractiveness, Cynthia could not compare in +charm with her mother whose femininity lured all men toward her as does +a magnet steel. +</P> + +<P> +Bob leaped from the car almost before it had come to a stop and went to +her side, bending low over her heavily ringed hand. +</P> + +<P> +"We're so glad to see you, Bobbie!" she smiled. "The very nicest thing +that could have happened was to find you here." +</P> + +<P> +"It is indeed a delightful surprise for me," Robert Morton answered. +"How are you, Cynthia?" +</P> + +<P> +Cynthia, who was standing in the background, frowned. +</P> + +<P> +"You've been long enough getting here," declared she petulantly. +"Where on earth have you been? We decided you must have got stalled on +the road." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no," interrupted her father, coming up the steps. "We made the +run over and back without a particle of trouble. What delayed us was +that we stopped to visit with Bob's aunt and the old gentleman with +whom he is staying. Such a quaint character, Maida! You really should +see him. I had all I could do to tear myself away from the place." +</P> + +<P> +His wife raised her delicately penciled brows. +</P> + +<P> +"We do not often see you so enthusiastic, Richard." +</P> + +<P> +"They are charming people, I assure you. I don't wonder Bob prefers +staying over there to coming here," chuckled the financier. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I say, Mr. Galbraith—" began Bob; but his host interrupted him. +</P> + +<P> +"That is a rather rough accusation, isn't it?" declared he, "and it's +not quite fair, either. To tell the truth, Bob's deep in some +important work." +</P> + +<P> +There was a light, scornful laugh from Cynthia. +</P> + +<P> +"He is, my lady. You needn't be so incredulous," her brother put in. +"Bob is busy with a boat-building project. Dad's got interested in it, +too." +</P> + +<P> +Cynthia pursed her lips with a little grimace. +</P> + +<P> +"Ask him if you don't believe it," persisted Roger. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," went on Mr. Galbraith, "that old chap over at Wilton has an idea +that may make all our fortunes, Bob's included." +</P> + +<P> +There was a general laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," pouted Cynthia, glancing down at the toe of her immaculate +buckskin shoe, "I call it very tiresome for Bob to have to work all his +vacation." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't have to," Robert Morton objected. "I am simply doing it for +fun. Can't you understand the sport of—" +</P> + +<P> +"No, she can't," her brother asserted. "Cynthia never sees any fun in +working." +</P> + +<P> +"Roger!" Mrs. Galbraith drawled gently. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I don't like to work," owned the girl with delicious audacity. +"I detest it. Why should I pretend to like it when I don't?" +</P> + +<P> +"Cynthia is one of the lilies of the field; she's just made for +ornament," called Roger over his shoulder as he passed into the house. +</P> + +<P> +"There is something in being ornamental, isn't there, daughter?" said +Mr. Galbraith, dropping into a chair and lighting a fresh cigar. +</P> + +<P> +She was decorative, there was no mistake about that. The skirt of +heavy white satin clung to her slight figure in faultless lines, and +her sweater of a rose shade was no more lovely in tint than was the +faint flush in her cheeks. Every hair of the elaborate coiffure had +been coaxed skilfully into place by a hand that understood the cunning, +and wherever nature had been guilty of an oversight art had supplied +the defect. Yes, Cynthia Galbraith was quite a perfect product, +thought Bob, as he surveyed her there beneath the awning. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought Madam Lee was here," the young man presently remarked, as he +glanced about. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Galbraith's face clouded. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother is not well to-day," she answered. "Careful as we are of her +she has in some way taken cold. She is not really ill, but we thought +it wise for her to keep her room. She is heartbroken not to be +downstairs and I promised that after she had had her luncheon and nap +you would go up and see her." +</P> + +<P> +"Surely!" Robert Morton cried emphatically. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother is so devoted to you, Bobbie," went on Mrs. Galbraith. +"Sometimes I think she cares much more for you than she does for her +own grandchildren." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense! Of course she doesn't." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not so certain," laughed the elder woman lightly. "You know she +is tremendously strong in her likes and dislikes. All the Lees are. +We're a headstrong family where our affections are concerned. You, +Bob, are the apple of her eye." +</P> + +<P> +"She has always been mighty kind to me," the young man affirmed +soberly. "I never saw my own grandmothers; both of them died before I +came into the world. So, you see, if it were not for borrowing Roger's +and Cynthia's, I should be quite bereft." +</P> + +<P> +The party rose and moved through the cool hall into the dining room. +</P> + +<P> +A delicious luncheon, perfectly served by a velvet-footed maid and the +old colored butler, followed, and there was a great deal of +conversation, a great deal of reminiscing and a great deal of laughter. +</P> + +<P> +Cynthia complained that the claret cup was too sweet and that the ices +were not frozen enough and had much to say of the ice cream at +Maillard's. +</P> + +<P> +"But you are far from Maillard's now, my dear," her mother remarked, +"and you must make the best of things." +</P> + +<P> +"Being on Cape Cod you are almighty lucky to get any ice cream at all," +announced Roger with brotherly zest. +</P> + +<P> +"Roger, why will you tease your sister so? You hector Cynthia every +moment you are in the house." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, she knows I don't mean it," grinned Roger. "I just have to take +the starch out of her now and then, don't I, Cynthia Ann?" +</P> + +<P> +"Roger!" fretted his sister. "I wish you wouldn't call me Cynthia +<I>Ann</I>! I can't imagine why you've taken to doing so lately." +</P> + +<P> +"Chiefly because you do not like it, my dear," was the retort. "If I +were not so sure of getting a rise out of you every time, perhaps I +might be tempted to stop." +</P> + +<P> +"You children quarrel like a pair of apes," Mr. Galbraith said. "If I +did not know that underneath you were perfectly devoted to each other, +I should be worried to death about you." +</P> + +<P> +"You needn't waste any worry on Cynthia Ann and me, Dad," Roger +declared. "Bad as she is, she's the best sister I've got, and I rather +like her in spite of her faults." +</P> + +<P> +A smile passed between the two. +</P> + +<P> +"You've some faults of your own, remember," observed the girl, with a +grimace. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a one, mademoiselle, not a one! I swear it," was the instant +retort. "Coming into the family first, I picked the cream of the Lee +and Galbraith qualities and gave you what was left." +</P> + +<P> +"I command you two to stop your bickering," Mr. Galbraith said at last. +"You are wasting the whole luncheon, squabbling. You'd much better be +deciding what you are going to do with Bob for the rest of the day." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought I'd take him out in the knockabout," Roger suggested. "That +is, if he would like to go. The tide will be just right and there is a +fine breeze." +</P> + +<P> +"You may take him if you will get him home at tea time," Mrs. Galbraith +said. "Your grandmother has set her heart on seeing him this afternoon +and you know she retires soon after dinner." +</P> + +<P> +"You wouldn't have any time to sail at all, Roger," put in Cynthia. +"Especially if you should get stuck on a bar as you did the other day." +</P> + +<P> +"We should have two hours." +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you take the launch, Roger?" his mother inquired. +</P> + +<P> +"And get snagged in the eel grass—not on your life!" +</P> + +<P> +"Bob and Mr. Spence are going to do away with all that eel grass, you +know," called his father, sauntering out of doors. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll wait until they do, then," was the grim retort. +</P> + +<P> +"I should think Bob would a great deal rather go for a motor-ride," +Cynthia ventured, her eyes fixed impersonally on the landscape. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you'd like to cart him off in your car." +</P> + +<P> +"It doesn't make any difference whose car he goes in, does it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, ra—<I>ther</I>! If he goes in yours there's no room for me; if he +goes in mine there is no room for you. That's the difference." +</P> + +<P> +"Children, do stop tearing Bob to fragments," lisped Mrs. Galbraith +with some amusement. "If you keep on pulling him to pieces he won't go +anywhere. Now Roger, you take Bob sailing and have a good visit with +him, and bring him back so he can have tea with your grandmother at +five; this evening the rest of us will have our chance to see him." +</P> + +<P> +She did not look at Cynthia, but with a woman's forethought she +remembered that the verandas were roomy and that the moon was full soon +after dinner. Cynthia remembered it too and smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, go ahead, Roger," she called. "Take Bob round the bay. It is a +lovely sail and as he hasn't been here before he will enjoy it." +</P> + +<BR> +<HR WIDTH="60%" ALIGN="center"> +<BR> + +<P> +It was only a little past five when the two young men returned, a glow +of health and pleasure on their faces. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Bobbie, do make haste," Mrs. Galbraith said, coming to meet him. +"Mother's tea has already gone up, and you know how she detests +waiting. Her maid is there in the hall to show you the way. Hurry +along, dear boy." +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton needed no second bidding and at once followed the +middle-aged English woman up the staircase and into a small, +chintz-hung sitting room that looked out on the sea. +</P> + +<P> +At the farther end of it, seated before a low tea table, was a stately, +white-haired lady, very erect, very handsome and very elegantly dressed +in a gown of soft black material. At the neck, which was turned away, +she wore a fichu of filmy lace tinted by time to a creamy tone and held +in place by an old-fashioned medallion of seed pearls. White ruffles +at the wrists drooped over her delicately veined hands and showed only +the occasional flash of a ring and her perfectly manicured finger tips. +Summer or winter, fair weather or foul, Madam Lee never varied this +costume, and it seemed to possess some measure of its owner's eternal +youth, for it was always fresh and its lustrous folds always swept the +ground in the same dignified fashion. Indeed for those who knew Madam +Lee to think of her in any other guise would have been impossible. Her +silvered hair was parted and rippled over her forehead to her ears +where it was slightly puffed and caught back with combs of shell, and +from beneath it two little black eyes peered out with a bird's +alertness of gaze. Although age had claimed her strength, it was +evident from the woman's vivacious expression that she had lost none of +her interest in life and as she now sat before the silver-laden tea +table there was a girlish anticipation in her eager pose. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, you scamp!" cried she, when she heard her visitor's footstep in +the upper hall, "I have been waiting for you a full five minutes. I +don't wait for every one, I would have you know. Come here and give an +account of yourself." +</P> + +<P> +The young man bent and softly touched her cheek with his lips. +</P> + +<P> +She put out her hand and let it linger affectionately in his as he +dropped into the chair beside her. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't begin to tell you how glad I am to see you, Bob," she went on, +in a voice soft and exquisitely modulated. "We had no idea you were on +the Cape. But for that jeweler's stupidity we should have thought you +had gone west long ago. Considering what good friends you and Roger +are, you are the worst of correspondents; and you never write to me." +</P> + +<P> +"I know it," owned Robert Morton with disarming honesty. "It's beastly +of me." +</P> + +<P> +"No, dear. On the contrary it is very like a man," contradicted Madam +Lee with a pretty little laugh. "However, I am not going to scold you +about it now. I have seen too many men in my day. First let me pour +your tea. Then you shall tell me all that you have been doing. I hear +you are visiting a new aunt whom you have just unearthed." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you like her?" +</P> + +<P> +Bob chuckled at the characteristic directness of the question. +</P> + +<P> +"Very much indeed." +</P> + +<P> +"That's nice. Since relatives are not of our choosing, it is pleasant +to find they are not bores." +</P> + +<P> +Again the young man smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"And this old gentleman for whom she keeps house—what of him?" +</P> + +<P> +It was plain Madam Lee had all the facts well in mind. +</P> + +<P> +As best he could Bob sketched Willie in a few swift strokes. +</P> + +<P> +"Humph! An interesting old fellow. I should like to see him," +declared Madam Lee when the narrative was done. "And so you are +working on this motor-boat with him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"How long have you been here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ten days." +</P> + +<P> +"And when do you go back to your family?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't quite know," hesitated the big fellow. "There is still a +great deal to do on this invention we are working at." +</P> + +<P> +His companion eyed him shrewdly. +</P> + +<P> +"And the girl—where does she live?" she asked, reaching for Bob's cup. +</P> + +<P> +He colored with surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"The girl?" he repeated, disconcerted. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course there is a girl," went on the woman. +</P> + +<P> +"What makes you think so?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Bob, Bob! Isn't there always a girl on every young man's horizon?" +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose so—generally speaking," he confessed with a laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose we abandon the abstract term and come down to this girl in +particular," his interrogator said. +</P> + +<P> +"Why are you so sure there is one?" he hedged teasingly. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear boy, how absurd of you!" returned the sharp-eyed old lady with +a twinkle of merriment. "In the first place, all the motor-boats in +the world couldn't keep a young man like you chained up indefinitely in +a sleepy little Cape Cod village. Besides, Cynthia told me." +</P> + +<P> +"Cynthia? She doesn't know anything about it." +</P> + +<P> +"That is precisely how I knew," piped Madam Lee triumphantly. +</P> + +<P> +"What did she tell you?" +</P> + +<P> +"She did not tell me anything," was the reply. "She simply came back +from Wilton in a wretched humor and when I inquired of her whether she +had her buckle back again, she answered with such spirit that there was +no mistaking its cause. Of course she had the wit to know you were not +wearing a belt of that pattern; nor your aunt nor Mr. Spence, either." +</P> + +<P> +"The belt and buckle belong to a girl—" +</P> + +<P> +"A girl! You surprise me," she murmured derisively. +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton waited a moment, then, without heeding her mischievous +comment, added gravely: +</P> + +<P> +"A friend of Mr. Spence's." +</P> + +<P> +"I see." +</P> + +<P> +The old lady smoothed the satin folds of her gown thoughtfully before +she spoke, then continued with extreme gentleness: +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me all about her." +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't do that," declared Robert Morton. "There aren't words +enough to give you any idea how lovely she is or how good." +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, because he had so eager and sympathetic a listener, he at +length began shyly to unfold the story of Delight Hathaway's strange +life. He told it reverently and with a lover's tenderness, touching on +the girl's tragic advent into the hamlet of Wilton, on her beauty, and +on her poverty. +</P> + +<P> +"What a romance!" exclaimed Madam Lee meditatively, when the tale was +done. "And they know nothing of the child's previous history?" +</P> + +<P> +"Next to nothing. The girl's mother died when she was born and the +little tot lived all her life aboard ship with her father." +</P> + +<P> +"Had neither the father nor mother any relatives?" +</P> + +<P> +"Apparently not. The mate of the ship said he had never heard the +Captain mention any." +</P> + +<P> +"Poor little waif! And these people who took her in have been kind to +her? She is fond of them?" +</P> + +<P> +"She adores them!" +</P> + +<P> +The old lady stirred her tea absently. +</P> + +<P> +"But, Bob dear, has the girl any education?" she inquired presently. +</P> + +<P> +"That is the miracle of it!" ejaculated he. "When she was small, one +of the summer residents, a Mrs. Farwell, who had a tutor for her son, +suggested the two children have their lessons together. As a +consequence the girl is a fine French scholar; has read broadly both +foreign and English literature; is familiar with ancient and modern +history and mathematics; and recently a professor from Harvard, who has +boarded summers with the family, has instructed her in the natural +sciences. She is much better educated than most of the society girls +I've met." +</P> + +<P> +"Than my granddaughter Cynthia, I dare say," was the quick comment. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh—eh—" +</P> + +<P> +"You need not try to be polite, Bob. I am not proud of Cynthia's +education," asserted Madam Lee. "For all her wealth and all her +opportunity to make herself accomplished she has never mastered one +thing. If she could even sew well or keep house I should rejoice. But +she can't. As for languages, music, art—bah! She is as ignorant as +if she had been brought up in a home in the slums. A thin society +veneer such as the typical fashionable boarding-school washes over the +outside and a little helter-skelter reading and travel is all Cynthia +has acquired. A real education entailed too much effort. So she is +what we see her,—a thoughtless, extravagant, pleasure-seeking +creature. She is a great disappointment to me, a great disappointment!" +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton did not reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Come now, Bob. Why don't you agree with me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am fond of Cynthia," said the young man in a low tone. +</P> + +<P> +"I know you are. Sometimes I have worried lest you were too fond of +her." +</P> + +<P> +There was no response. +</P> + +<P> +"Cynthia is not the wife for you, my dear boy, and never was. I am +older than you and I know life. Moreover, I love you very dearly. +Were you of my own blood I believe I could not care more deeply for you +than I do. It would break my heart to see you make a foolish +marriage—to see you married to a girl like Cynthia. You never would +be happy with her in the world. Why, it takes a small fortune even to +keep her contented. It is money, money, money, all the time. She +cares for little else, and unless a man kept her supplied with that +there would be no peace in the house." +</P> + +<P> +"Aren't you a little hard on her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not too hard," came firmly from Madam Lee. "You think precisely as I +do, too, only you are too loyal and too chivalrous to own it." +</P> + +<P> +There was a pause broken only by the tinkle of the teacups. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Bob, you let Cynthia alone. She will get over it. And if you +have found the jewel that you think you have, be brave enough to assert +your freedom and marry her. You are not pledged to Cynthia," went on +the musical voice. "Just because you two chanced to grow up together +there is no reason any one should assume that the affair is settled. I +suppose you are afraid of disappointing the family. Then there is your +friendship for Roger—that worries you too. And of course there is +Cynthia herself! Being a gentleman you shrink from tossing a girl's +heart back into her lap. Isn't it so?" +</P> + +<P> +"To some extent, yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Would it help matters, do you think, for you to marry Cynthia if you +did not love her?" +</P> + +<P> +"But I care a lot for her." +</P> + +<P> +"Not as you do for this other girl," said the shrewd old lady, with +eyes fixed intently on his face. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no!" was the instant reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Then, as I said before, you much better let Cynthia alone," declared +Madam Lee emphatically. "At her age disappointments are not fatal, and +she will probably live to thank you for it. In any case it is better +to blight one life than three." +</P> + +<P> +Robert stared moodily down at the floor. +</P> + +<P> +"This other girl is attractive, you say." +</P> + +<P> +"She is very beautiful." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't say so!" was the incredulous rejoinder. +</P> + +<P> +"But she really is—she is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." +</P> + +<P> +"And she has all these other virtues as well?" +</P> + +<P> +She took the teacup from his passive hand and set it on the table. +</P> + +<P> +"I want to see her and judge for myself," affirmed she. "I know +something of beauty—and of girls, too. Why don't you bring her over +here?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Here</I>?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" +</P> + +<P> +"But—but—it would look so strange, so pointed," gasped the young man. +"You see she doesn't even guess yet that I—" +</P> + +<P> +He heard a low, infectious laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"She knew it, you goose, from the first moment you looked at her," +cried the old lady, "or she isn't the girl I think her. What do you +imagine we women are—blind?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, of course not," Robert Morton said, joining in the laugh. "What I +meant was that I never had said anything that would—" +</P> + +<P> +"You wouldn't need to, dear boy." His hostess put a hand caressingly +on his arm. "All you would have to do would be to look as foolish as +you do now, and she would understand just as I did." Then, resuming a +more serious manner, she continued: "It is a perfectly simple matter +for you to bring one friend to meet another, isn't it? Tell the girl I +have heard her story and have become interested in her. She will +overlook an old lady's whims and be quite willing enough to come, I'm +sure, if you wish it." +</P> + +<P> +"I should like to have her meet you," admitted Bob, with a blush. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean you would like me to meet her," answered Madam Lee, with a +confiding pat on his arm. "It is sweet of you, Bob, whichever way you +put it. And after I have met the charmer you shall know exactly what I +think of her, too. Then if you marry her against my judgment, you will +have only yourself to thank for the consequences. Now leave it all to +me. I will arrange everything. In a day or two I will send the car +over to Wilton to fetch you, your aunt, Mr. Spence and this Miss—what +did you say her name was?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hathaway." +</P> + +<P> +"Hathaway! <I>Hathaway</I>!" echoed Madam Lee in an unsteady voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Why?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, nothing," quavered the old lady, making a tremulous attempt to +regain her poise. "Only it is not a common name. I—I—knew a +Hathaway once—very long ago—in the South." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ROBERT MORTON MAKES A RESOLVE +</H3> + + +<P> +Robert Morton returned from Belleport in a mood bordering on ecstasy, +his path now clear before him. He would woo Delight Hathaway and win +her, and with a strong mutual love and hope they would set forth in +life together. He had, to be sure, no capital but his youth, his +strength, and his education, but he did not shrink from hard work and +felt certain that he would be able not only to keep want in abeyance +but place happiness within the reach of the woman he loved. +</P> + +<P> +Until Madam Lee, with her keen-visioned knowledge of human nature, had +ranged in perspective all the tangled circumstances that had so +insidiously woven themselves about him, he had been unable to see his +way. The fetters that held him were so delicate and intangible that +with an exaggerated sense of honor he had magnified them into bonds of +steel, never daring to believe that they might be snapped and leave no +scar. But now the facts stood lucidly forth. There was no actual +engagement between himself and Cynthia, nor had there ever been any +talk of one. He simply had been thrown constantly into her society and +had drifted, at first thoughtlessly and afterward indifferently, until +there had been created not only in the mind of the girl but also in the +minds of all her family a tacit expectation that ultimately their +permanent union would be consummated. +</P> + +<P> +From the Galbraiths' point of view such a marriage would have been a +very gratifying one, for although Robert Morton was without money, in +his sterling character and his potentalities for success they had every +faith. A span of years of intimacy had tested his worth, and had this +not been the case his friendship with Roger had proved the tough fiber +of his manliness. Of all their son's college acquaintances there was +none who had been welcomed into the Galbraith home with the cordiality +that had greeted Robert Morton. At first they had received him +graciously for their boy's sake, but later this initial sufferance had +been supplanted by an affectionate regard existing purely because of +his own merits. They had loaded him with favors, pressed their +hospitality upon him, and but for a certain pride and independence that +restrained them would have smoothed his financial difficulties with the +same lavishness they had those of their son. +</P> + +<P> +Many a time Mr. Galbraith, unable to endure the sight of Bob's rigid +self-denial, had delicately hinted at assistance, only to have the +offer as delicately declined. It hurt and piqued the financier to be +so firmly kept at a distance and be obliged to witness privations which +a small gift of money might have alleviated; moreover he liked his own +way and did not enjoy being balked in it by a schoolboy. Yet beneath +his irritation he paid tribute to the self-respecting determination +that had prompted the rebuff. The world in which he moved held few men +of such ideals. Rather he had repeatedly been courted by the grafter, +the promoter, the social climber, each beneath a thinly disguised +friendship working for his own selfish ends. But here at last was the +novel phenomena of one who scorned pelf, who would not even allow his +gratitude to be bought. The sight was refreshing. It rejuvenated the +New Yorker's jaded belief in human nature. +</P> + +<P> +Forced to withdraw his bounty, he had sat back and watched while the +academic career of the two young men wore on and at its close had seen +the roads of the classmates divide, his own boy entering the law +school, while Robert Morton, whose mind had always been of scientific +trend, enrolled at Technology, there to take up post-graduate work in +naval architecture. The choice of this subject reflected largely the +capitalist's influence, for his own great fortune had been amassed in +an extensive shipbuilding enterprise in which he saw the opportunity of +placing advantageously a young man of Robert Morton's exceptional +ability. The promised position was a variety of favor that Bob, proud +though he was, saw no reason for declining. The opening, to be sure, +would be his as a consequence of Mr. Galbraith's kindness, but the +retention of the position would rest on his personal worth and hard +work, a very satisfactory condition to one who demanded that he remain +captain of his soul. Hence he had deliberately trained for the post +and it was understood that the following October he would assume it. +It was a flattering beginning for a novice, the salary guaranteed being +generous and the chances for advancement alluring. Nor did the great +man who had founded the business conceal from the ambitious neophyte +that later he might be called upon to fill the niche left vacant by +Roger's flight into professional life. +</P> + +<P> +Such was the nicety with which Robert Morton had been dovetailed into +the Galbraith plans, his welcome in every direction assured him. And +now here he stood confronted by the probable overthrow of the whole +delicately balanced structure. If he did not marry Cynthia and +selected instead another bride, he risked forfeiting the regard of +those who had become dear to him, imperilling his friendship with +Roger, and sacrificing the brilliant and gratifying future for which he +had so patiently labored. Never again, he knew beyond a question, +would such an opportunity come within his grasp. He would be obliged +to start out unheralded and painfully fight his way to recognition. +That recognition would be his he did not doubt, for he never yet had +failed in that to which he had set his hand. But, alas, the weary +years before he would be able to make a hurrying universe sense that he +was alive! He knew what struggle meant when stripped of its illusions, +for had he not toiled for his education in the sweat of his brow? The +triumph of the achievement had been sweet, but for the moment the +courage to resume the weary, up-hill plodding deserted him. Why, it +would be years before he could marry a girl who was accustomed to even +as few luxuries as was Delight Hathaway! +</P> + +<P> +And suppose a miracle happened and Mr. Galbraith was large-minded +enough still to hold out to him the former offer? Should he wish to +accept it? Would it not be almost charity? No, if he refused +Cynthia's hand—and that was what, in bald terms, it would amount +to—he must decline the other favor as well and be independent of the +Galbraiths for good and all. Otherwise his position would be +unendurable. It was an odious situation, the one in which he found +himself. Only a cad cast a woman's heart back at her feet. The +unchivalrousness of the act grated upon every fiber of his sensitively +attuned, high-minded nature. Yet, as Madam Lee had reminded him, +would he not be doing Cynthia a greater injustice if he married her +without love. Friendship and brotherly affection were all he could +honestly bestow, and although these he gave with all sincerity, as he +now examined his heart in the light of the revelations real love had +brought, he realized that beyond their confines existed a realm into +which Cynthia Galbraith, fair though she was, had never set foot. No +woman had crossed that magic threshold until now, when her presence +stirred all the blended emotions of his manhood. Humility, tenderness, +reverence possessed him; self descended from its throne of egoism and +yielded its scepter to another; the hot blood of the primitive, untamed +Viking raced in his veins. Soul, mind, heart, body were all awakened. +He was a dolt who confused genuine passion with the milder preferences +of callow youth. +</P> + +<P> +Delight Hathaway was his mate, created for him before the hills in +order stood. It was as inevitable that they should come together as +that the river should sweep out to meet the sea, or the lily open to +the kiss of the sunlight. All that this woman was in purity, in +graciousness of heart, in brilliancy of intellect he loved, adored, +approved; all that she was in physical beauty he reverenced and +coveted. Her lot had been strangely cast and the scope of it limited +to a very narrow vista. Oh, for success to place at her feet the +riches of the earth! With such a goal to lure one on what was toil! +Faugh! He laughed aloud at the word. +</P> + +<P> +Madam Lee, with her unerring intuition, had probed his heart and read +his destiny aright. +</P> + +<P> +His future lay not with this pampered daughter of a great house whose +selfishness he had repeatedly excused and refused to recognize; nor +would he purchase worldly prosperity at the price of his soul. Casting +aside the easier way, he would follow the rough path that mounted +upward to the star of his desire. Before the waning of another moon +both of these women who had come into his world should know his +intentions and have the opportunity to accept or reject that which he +had to offer them. He hoped Cynthia would understand and forgive; he +was fond of Cynthia. And he hoped, prayed, implored Heaven that +Delight Hathaway would not turn a deaf ear to his entreaties, for +without the prize on which his hopes were set life's race would not be +worth the running. +</P> + +<P> +Well, he would not allow the thought of failure any place in his mind. +Victory should be his—it would be, <I>must</I> be! See how all the world +smiled on the vow he registered. The sky had never stretched more +cloudlessly above his head; the air had never been sweeter, the dancing +ripples of the bay gladder in their golden scintillations. The whole +universe throbbed with youth and its dauntless supremacy. Something +told him he would conquer and with a high heart he alighted at the door +of the dear, familiar gray cottage. +</P> + +<P> +Willie came to meet him. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, son," said he, reaching forth his hands, "If I ain't glad to see +you flitting home again! I've missed you like as if the two days was +two weeks. I reckon your aunt has, too. Anyhow, she took to her bed +quick as you was out of sight an' ain't been seen since." +</P> + +<P> +"Aunt Tiny ill!" +</P> + +<P> +"No, not sick exactly," explained Willie, as arm in arm they proceeded +up the walk. "She's just struck of a heap with a lame shoulder such as +she has sometimes. She can't move a peg, poor soul!" +</P> + +<P> +"Great Scott! That's hard luck! Then since you're short-handed, I +shall be more bother than I'm worth round here. I'd better have stayed +where I was. You won't want any extra people to look out for and feed +now, I fancy." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, law, I ain't doin' the cookin'!" grinned the little inventor, as +if the bare notion of such a thing amused him vastly. "Why, I could no +more cook a dish that was fit to eat than a mariner could run a pink +tea. I'd die of starvation if the victuals was left to me. Let alone +the cookin', we'd 'a' had to have help anyhow, 'cause Tiny's too +miserable to do much for herself. So we've got in one of the +neighbors." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a shame!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we'll pull through alive," smiled Willie, cheerfully. "We've +piloted our way through many a worse channel. This spell of Tiny's +ain't nothin' she's goin' to die of, thank the Lord! She takes cold +sudden sometimes, an' it always makes straight for that shoulder of +hers, stiffenin' up every muscle in it. She'll admire to see you home +again, I know. The sight of you will probably make her better right +away. You can run up to her room now if you choose to. I'll be round +in the shop when you want me." +</P> + +<P> +With a beaming countenance the old man turned away. +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton opened the screen door diffidently, speculating as to +whom he would confront in the kitchen; then he stopped, arrested on the +doorsill. +</P> + +<P> +At the wooden table near the pantry window stood Delight Hathaway, her +sleeves rolled to the elbow, and her slender figure enveloped in a +voluminous gingham pinafore that covered her from chin to ankle and was +tied in place at the back by a pert bow. She was sifting flour into a +mammoth yellow bowl, and as she stirred the mixture the sweep of her +round white arm brought a flood of color into her cheeks and wreathed +her brow with tiny, damp ringlets. +</P> + +<P> +Bob held his breath, hungrily devouring her with his eyes, but a quick +breeze brought the door to with a bang and the girl glanced over her +shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"All hail!" she cried, the dimple darting out of hiding with her smile. +"You have a new cook, monsieur." +</P> + +<P> +"My word!" was all the young man could stammer. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it as bad as all that?" she laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"No—but—Great Hat—this is—is awful, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"What is awful?" returned she, turning to face him. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, having you come here and cook for us two men." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I'm always cooking for somebody," was the matter-of-fact retort. +"Why not you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it makes me feel like a—it doesn't seem right, somehow." +</P> + +<P> +"It's as right as possible. I rather like it," said she, darting him a +roguish look, then bending over the bowl before her. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you must let me help you, anyway. Can't I—I butter something?" +</P> + +<P> +"Butter something!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, things are always having to be buttered, aren't they—pans, and +dishes, and cups—" he paused vaguely. +</P> + +<P> +Her laugh echoed like a chime of miniature bells. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry to say the pan is already buttered," replied she. "What +other accomplishments have you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I can do anything I am told," came eagerly from Bob. +</P> + +<P> +"That's something, anyway. Then fetch me some flour, please." +</P> + +<P> +"Flour?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's in the barrel. No, that's the sugar bowl. The barrel under the +shelf." +</P> + +<P> +"The barrel! To be sure. Barrel ahoy! How could I have mistaken its +sylph-like form? How much flour do you want?" +</P> + +<P> +"Just a little." +</P> + +<P> +She passed the sieve to him and went to inspect the oven. +</P> + +<P> +Bob caught up the sifter, filled it to the brim, and came toward her, +turning the handle as he approached. +</P> + +<P> +"I say, this is great, isn't it?" he observed, so intent on the +mechanism of the device that he did not notice the track of whiteness +which he was leaving behind him. "It is like winding up a victrola." +</P> + +<P> +Whistling a random strain from <I>Faust</I> he turned the handle faster. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Bob!" burst out Delight. "Look what you're doing." +</P> + +<P> +Obediently he looked but did not comprehend. Her slip of the tongue +had banished every other idea from his mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Say it again, please." +</P> + +<P> +"What?" +</P> + +<P> +"Say <I>Bob</I> again as you did just now." +</P> + +<P> +"I—didn't know I did," faltered the girl. "I—I—forgot." +</P> + +<P> +"Forgot." +</P> + +<P> +He dropped the sifter into the bowl and his hand closed firmly over the +one that now rested on its yellow rim. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, see what you've done!" cried she. "You have spilled all that +flour into the cake." +</P> + +<P> +"No matter." His eyes were on hers. +</P> + +<P> +"But it does matter. Willie's cake will be spoiled." +</P> + +<P> +She tried vainly to draw away from the grip that imprisoned her. +</P> + +<P> +"Please let me go." +</P> + +<P> +He bent across the table until he could almost feel the blood beating +in her cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +"Say it once more," he pleaded. +</P> + +<P> +Again her hand fluttered in his strong grasp. +</P> + +<P> +"Please!" +</P> + +<P> +"Please what?" persisted Robert Morton. +</P> + +<P> +"Please—please—Bob," she murmured. +</P> + +<P> +He was at the other side of the table now, but she was no longer there. +Instead she stood at the screen door, shaking the flour from her apron. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't move!" she cried severely. "You've walked all through that +flour and are tracking it about every step you take. Look at the +pantry! I shall have to sweep it all up." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll do it," he answered with instant penitence. +</P> + +<P> +"No. You sit right down there in that chair and don't you stir. I +will go and get the dustpan and brush." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm awfully sorry," called Bob, plunged into the depths of despair. +"I didn't realize that when you turned the handle of the darn thing the +stuff went through." +</P> + +<P> +"What did you think a flour-sifter was for?" asked she, dimpling. +</P> + +<P> +"I wasn't thinking of flour-sifters," declared he significantly. +</P> + +<P> +He saw her blush. +</P> + +<P> +"Mayn't I please get up?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. Not until your shoes are brushed off," she replied provokingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Let me take the brush then." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you see I am using it?" +</P> + +<P> +"You could let me take it a second." +</P> + +<P> +"I have been taught to complete one task before I began another," was +the tantalizing reply, as she went on with her sweeping. +</P> + +<P> +"The deuce!" +</P> + +<P> +"You must not swear in my presence," she commanded, attempting to +conceal a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Then stop dimpling that dimple." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you like dimples?" inquired she demurely. "Now Billy Farwell +thinks that my dimples—" +</P> + +<P> +"Hang Billy Farwell!" +</P> + +<P> +"How rude of you! Billy never consigns you to such a fate." She +waited, then added, "All he ever says is '<I>Confound Morton</I>.'" +</P> + +<P> +"I thought he had more spirit," was the ungrateful rejoinder. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he has spirit enough," she explained. "He would say much more if +he were allowed." +</P> + +<P> +She saw Robert start forward. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," she went on in an even tone, "I shouldn't permit him to +abuse a friend of Willie's." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that's the reason you put the check on him, is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Aren't you Willie's friend?" she questioned evasively. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, but—" +</P> + +<P> +"You don't seem to appreciate your luck. Now I adore Willie and +believe that any one who has his friendship is the most fortunate +person in the world." +</P> + +<P> +He saw a grave and tender light creep into her wonderful eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not arguing about Willie," said he. "You know how much I care for +him. But I can't think of him now. It's you I'm thinking +of—you—you." +</P> + +<P> +She did not answer but bent her head lower over her sweeping. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe there is any flour on my shoes, any way," grumbled the +culprit presently, stooping to examine his feet with the air of a +guilty child. He thought he heard her laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"How much longer are you going to keep me in this infernal chair?" he +fumed. +</P> + +<P> +"Bob!" called a voice from upstairs. +</P> + +<P> +"It's your aunt; she must have heard you come in." +</P> + +<P> +He sprang up only to come into collision with the dustpan full of flour +which lay near his chair. A second more and the fruits of the sweeping +drifted broadcast in a powdery cloud. +</P> + +<P> +"Delight! Dearest!" he cried, bending over the kneeling figure. +</P> + +<P> +"You must go upstairs and see your aunt—please!" she begged. "She +will think it so strange." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, sweetheart. I'm coming, Aunt Tiny." +</P> + +<P> +When Willie entered a few moments later in search of his co-laborer, +Delight was alone. He glanced questioningly about the room,—at the +girl's flushed cheeks, the half-made cake, the snowy floor. +</P> + +<P> +"Bob—Mr. Morton spilled some flour," the young woman explained, +evading his eye. +</P> + +<P> +The little old man made no response. He studied the burning face, the +drooping lashes; he also looked meditatively at some footprints on the +floor. They may not have been as startling in their significance as +were the famous marks Crusoe discovered in the sand, but they were +quite as illuminating. +</P> + +<P> +A trail of small ones led about the room and beside them, as if echoing +to their light tread, was a series of larger ones. The inventor's gaze +pursued them curiously to a spot before the stove where they became +very much confused and afterward branched apart, the larger set +trailing off toward the stairs, and the smaller moving back into the +pantry. +</P> + +<P> +The detective stroked his chin for an interval. +</P> + +<P> +"U—m!" observed he thoughtfully. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A NEWCOMER ENTERS +</H3> + + +<P> +The next day Mr. Howard Snelling made his appearance at the Spence +workshop. +</P> + +<P> +Bob was fitting wire netting to some metal uprights and struggling to +focus his mind on what he was doing enough to forget that Delight +Hathaway was on the other side of the partition when from the window +above the bench he saw Cynthia Galbraith come rolling up to the gate in +her runabout, accompanied by a strikingly handsome stranger. +</P> + +<P> +He hurried out to meet them. +</P> + +<P> +Her father and Roger, the girl said, had gone to a yacht race at +Hyannis, so she had brought Mr. Snelling over. She introduced the two +men but refused somewhat curtly to come in, explaining that she would +be back, or some one else would, to fetch the guest home to Belleport +for luncheon. Then, without a backward glance, she started the engine +and disappeared around the curve of the Harbor Road. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps it was just as well, Robert Morton reflected, that she had not +accepted his invitation to come in, for to bring her and Delight +together at this delicate juncture might result in awkwardness; +nevertheless, it certainly was something unprecedented for Cynthia to +be so brusque and be in such a hurry. The enigma puzzled him, and he +found it recurring to his mind persistently. However, he resolutely +shook it off and turned his attention instead to his new acquaintance. +</P> + +<P> +He was, he could not but admit, quite unprepared to find Mr. Howard +Snelling, his future chief, possessed of so attractive a personality. +Mr. Galbraith, when alluding to the expert craftsman, had never +mentioned his age, and Bob had gleaned the impression that the man +before whose ability the entire Galbraith shipbuilding plant bowed down +was middle-aged, possibly even elderly. Therefore to be confronted by +some one in the early forties was a distinct shock. +</P> + +<P> +Snelling's hair was, to be sure, sprinkled lightly with gray, but this +hint of maturity was given the lie by his ruddy, unlined countenance +and the youthfulness with which he wore his clothes. A good tailor had +evidently found a model worthy of his skill and had tried to live up to +the task set him, for everything in the stranger's attitude and +appearance proclaimed smartness and the <I>savoir faire</I> of the man about +town. Yet Howard Snelling was something far better than either a +fashion plate or a society darling. He was energy personified. It +spoke in every motion of his strong, fine hands, in the quick turn of +his head, in the alert attention with which he listened. Nothing +escaped his well-trained eye. One's very thoughts seemed to be at his +mercy. Mingling, however, with these more astute qualities and +counterbalancing them was a winning tact and courtesy which instantly +put another at his ease. Without these characteristics Mr. Snelling +would have been unbearable; but with them he was thoroughly charming. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Morton, I am glad to have a chance to meet you in the flesh," he +said, as they still loitered at the gate. "The Galbraiths have sung +your praises until I began to think you a sort of myth. You certainly +have something to live up to if you are to reach the reputation they +have painted of your virtues. Mr. Galbraith, in particular, thinks +there is no obstacle that you cannot conquer." +</P> + +<P> +He swept his eye curiously over the young man before him. +</P> + +<P> +"You mustn't believe a word of what they've told you, Mr. Snelling," +laughed Robert Morton. "Our friends are always over-indulgent to our +faults. When I begin work under you, a thing I am greatly +anticipating, you will find out what a duffer I really am." +</P> + +<P> +The elder man smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm ready to take the chance," said he. +</P> + +<P> +"Besides," Bob went on, "Mr. Galbraith has given you something of a +character too. He has frightened me clean out of my life with his +tales of your—" +</P> + +<P> +"Pooh! Nonsense!" broke in Mr. Snelling deprecatingly. "I like my +job, that's all; and Mr. Galbraith and I happen to hit it off." +Nevertheless Bob could see that he was pleased by the flattery. +</P> + +<P> +It was on his tongue's end to voice his thought and add that the man +who could not get on with a person of Mr. Snelling's adroitness and +diplomacy would be hard to please; but although he did not utter the +words he felt them to be true. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," began the New Yorker with a swift change of subject, "let us get +down to business. How are we going to work this thing? You must coach +me. I gather I am being employed on quite a delicate mission. My +instructions are to come in here as a friend of yours and the +Galbraiths, and without raising the suspicion that I have much of any +knowledge about boats, I am to help get this invention into workable +shape. Any parts we lack, any drawings we wish made, any materials we +need I have authority to procure from our Long Island plant. There is +to be no stint as to expense. The enterprise is to be carried through +to the finish properly." +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton gasped. +</P> + +<P> +"I had no idea Mr. Galbraith meant to go into it to such lengths," he +murmured. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mr. Galbraith never does things by halves when once he is +interested," was the reply. "Besides, he has a hunter's scent for the +commercial. He says there is a live idea here that has money in it, +and that's enough for him. Anyway, whether there is or not," Snelling +added hurriedly, "we are to humor the old gentleman's whims and get his +idea so he can handle it." +</P> + +<P> +"It is tremendously generous of Mr. Galbraith." +</P> + +<P> +Howard Snelling regarded his companion quizzically for a moment, then +remarked with gravity: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, there is a kind heart in Mr. Galbraith, in spite of all his +business instincts." +</P> + +<P> +"Had you ever met the rest of the family before now?" questioned Bob +more with a desire to turn the channel of conversation than because he +had any interest in the matter. +</P> + +<P> +The inquiry, idly made, produced an unexpected result, visibly throwing +the expert out of his imperturbable composure; he flushed, stammered, +and bit his lip before he successfully conquered his confusion: +</P> + +<P> +"I—eh—oh, yes," was his reply. "I've been a dinner guest at the New +York house several times; been sent for on a pinch to help out. Then +Mr. Galbraith summons me there occasionally for consultation on +business matters. The Belleport place is attractive, isn't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's corking!" +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you spend a lot of time over there," ventured Snelling, +lighting a gold-tipped Egyptian cigarette and offering Bob one. +</P> + +<P> +Something in the question, he could not have told what, caused Robert +Morton to dart a quick, furtive glance at the speaker. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Snelling was smoking and blowing indifferently into the air filmy +rings of smoke, but through it the disconcerted young man encountered +his penetrating gaze. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't get over there very often," said Bob. "This invention keeps +me rather busy." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, of course!" was the cordial response. "And now as to our +policy on this deal. I shall follow your lead, understand. Any +assertion you see fit to make you can trust me to swear to. You may +introduce me to the old chap as your college pal, even your long-lost +brother, if you choose." +</P> + +<P> +"I hardly think that will be necessary," Robert Morton answered, a hint +of coldness in his voice. "I shall simply introduce you for what you +are, Mr. Galbraith's friend—" +</P> + +<P> +"And yours," smiled Mr. Snelling, graciously placing a hand on the +young man's shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +It was unaccountable, absurd, that Bob should have shrunk at the touch; +nevertheless he did so. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you think," he replied abruptly, "that the sooner we go in and +get to work the better? How long do you expect to be able to stay +here?" +</P> + +<P> +Again the color crept into Snelling's cheek, but this time he was quite +master of himself. +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot tell yet. It will depend to some extent on how we get on." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you really can't be spared from the Long Island plant a +great while." +</P> + +<P> +"As to that, Mr. Galbraith is all-powerful," was his smiling answer. +"What he wills must be arranged. Fortunately just now business is +running slack, at least my part of it is. Most of our contracts are +well on the way to completion and others can carry them out, so I can +stay down here as long as is necessary. It can go as my vacation, if +worst comes to worst. Hence you see," concluded he, pulling a spray of +honeysuckle to pieces, "we don't need to rush things." +</P> + +<P> +They entered the gate, passed the low, silvered house now almost buried +in blossoming roses, and following the clam-shell path that led to the +workshop found Willie, his spectacles pushed back from his forehead, +dragging a pile of new boards down from the shelf. +</P> + +<P> +"We have a visitor, Mr. Spence," Bob said. "Mr. Snelling, a friend of +Mr. Galbraith's and—" he paused the fraction of a second, "and of +mine. He has come over to spend the morning and wants to see what +we're doing." +</P> + +<P> +The little old inventor reached out a horny palm. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad to see you, sir," affirmed he simply. "Any friend of Bob's +won't want for a welcome here. Set right down an' make yourself to +home, or stand up an' poke found, if it suits you better. That's what +Mr. Galbraith did. I reckon there warn't a corner of this whole place +he didn't fish into. 'Twas amusin' to see him. He said it took him +back to the days when he was a boy. I couldn't but smile to watch him +fussin' with the plane an' saw an' hammer like as if they was old +friends he hadn't clapped eyes on for years." +</P> + +<P> +"It does feel good to handle tools when you haven't done so for a long +time," assented Mr. Snelling. +</P> + +<P> +"Likely you yourself, sir, ain't had a hammer nor nothin' in your hands +for quite a spell," went on Willie, with a benign smile. "They don't +look as if you ever had had." +</P> + +<P> +Howard Snelling glanced down at his slender, well-modelled hands with +their carefully manicured nails. +</P> + +<P> +"I haven't done much carpentry of late years," he confessed. "It would +be quite a novelty were I to be turned loose in a place like this. I +should like nothing better." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't say so!" responded Willie, with pleased surprise. "Well, +well! Ain't that queer now? I'd much sooner 'a' put you down as a +gentleman who wouldn't want to get into no dirt or clutter." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't know me." +</P> + +<P> +"Evidently not," the old man rejoined. "Well, you can have your wish +fur's carpenterin' goes. You can putter round here much as you like." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Snelling moved toward the long workbench. +</P> + +<P> +"This is a neat thing," remarked he, regarding the unfinished invention +quite as if he had never heard of it before. "What are you doing here?" +</P> + +<P> +A glow of satisfaction spread over the little fellow's kindly face. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, me an' Bob," he explained, "are tinkerin' with a notion I got +into my head a while ago. The idee kitched me in the night, an' I come +downstairs an' commenced tacklin' it right away. But I didn't see my +course ahead, an' 'twarn't 'til Bob hove in sight an' lent a helpin' +hand that the contraption begun to take shape. But for him 'twould +never have amounted to a darn thing, I reckon. I ain't much on the +puttin' together, anyhow, an' this was such a whale of a scheme it had +me floored. But it didn't seem to strike Bob abeam. He went at it +like a dogfish for bait, an' he's beginnin' to tow the thing out of the +fog now into clear water." +</P> + +<P> +"It's quite a scheme," observed Snelling, with an assumed nonchalance. +"How did you happen on it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Them idees just come to me," was the ingenuous reply. "Some brains, +like some gardens, grow one thing, some another. Mine seems to turn +out stuff like this." +</P> + +<P> +"It's pretty good stuff." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a lot of bother to me sometimes," said the old man simply. +"Still, I enjoy it. I'd be badly off if it warn't for the thinkin' I +do. What a marvel thinkin' is, ain't it? You can think all sorts of +things; can travel in your mind to 'most every corner of the globe. +You can think yourself rich, think yourself poor, think yourself young, +think yourself happy. There's nothin' you want you can't think you +have, an' dreamin' about it is 'most as good as gettin' it." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Snelling nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Sometimes I think myself an artist, sometimes a musician," went on the +wistful voice. "Then again I think myself a great man an' doin' +somethin' worth while in the world. Then there's times I've thought +myself with a family of children an' planned how they should learn +mor'n ever I did." He mused, then banishing the seriousness of his +tone by an embarrassed laugh added, "I've waked up afterward to think +how much less it cost just to imagine 'em." +</P> + +<P> +The heart that would not have been won by the naïvete of the speaker +would have been stony indeed! +</P> + +<P> +Howard Snelling flashed a tribute of honest admiration into the gentle +old face. +</P> + +<P> +"Dreams are cheap things," rambled on the little inventor. "Sometimes +I figger the Lord gave 'em to those who didn't have much else, so'st to +make 'em think they are kings. If you can dream there ain't a thing in +all the world ain't yours." +</P> + +<P> +The conversation had furnished Snelling with the opportunity to study +more minutely the object on the table, and he now said with a motion of +his hand toward it: +</P> + +<P> +"Wouldn't it be rather nice if you had some netting of coarser mesh and +which wouldn't corrode?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, this screenin' ain't what I'd choose," returned Willie, "but 'twas +all I had. I ripped it off the front door. Tiny didn't fancy my doin' +it very well. 'Tain't often she's ruffled, an' even this time she +didn't say much; still, I could see it didn't altogether please her." +</P> + +<P> +"Tiny?" interpolated Mr. Snelling. +</P> + +<P> +"My aunt, Miss Morton, who keeps house for Mr. Spence," explained Bob +with proud directness. +</P> + +<P> +"I wasn't aware you had relatives down here," the boat-builder +observed, turning toward Robert Morton with interest. "I imagined you +came to the Cape because of the Galbraiths." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no. I didn't know the Galbraith's were here until the other day." +</P> + +<P> +"Really!" +</P> + +<P> +The single word was weighted with incredulousness. +</P> + +<P> +"'Twas the funniest thing you ever knew how it happened," put in Willie. +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton tried to cut him short. +</P> + +<P> +"A package for the Galbraiths was sent to me by mistake; that was how I +secured their address," he said. +</P> + +<P> +Snelling looked puzzled. +</P> + +<P> +"That warn't it at all, Bob," persisted Willie. "You ain't tellin' it +half as queer as 'twas." +</P> + +<P> +It was useless to attempt to check the little old man now. Artlessly +he babbled the story, and Howard Snelling, listening, constructed a +good part of the romance interwoven with it from the young man's color +and irritation. +</P> + +<P> +"So there were two beauties in the case!" commented he, when the tale +was finished. +</P> + +<P> +"There were two silver buckles," came sharply from Bob. +</P> + +<P> +"Which amounts to the same thing," smiled the New Yorker. +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton vouchsafed no reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Have your friends the Galbraiths met this—other lady?" asked Snelling +insinuatingly. +</P> + +<P> +"No, not yet." +</P> + +<P> +"I see." +</P> + +<P> +There was something offensive in the observation; something, too, that +compelled Robert Morton even against his will to add with dignity: +</P> + +<P> +"I am expecting to take Miss Hathaway over to see them some day soon." +</P> + +<P> +He told himself, as he uttered the words, that he owed Howard Snelling +no explanation and that it was ridiculous of him to make one; +nevertheless he felt impelled to do so. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Snelling smiled superciliously. +</P> + +<P> +"That will be very pleasant, won't it?" he remarked. +</P> + +<P> +One could not have quarreled with the sentiment, but its blandness +conveyed an exasperating disbelief. +</P> + +<P> +The young man bit his lip angrily. +</P> + +<P> +At the same instant there was a sound at the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Aunt Tiny wants to know—" +</P> + +<P> +The three men glanced up simultaneously, and Mr. Snelling's jaw dropped +with amazement. +</P> + +<P> +"I beg your pardon," murmured Delight. "I did not know there was any +one here." +</P> + +<P> +"It's only Mr. Snelling, a friend of Bob's," Willie hastened to say. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Snelling is also a friend of Mr. Galbraith's," interrupted Robert +Morton, enraged that it fell to him to perform the introduction. "This +is Miss Hathaway, Mr. Snelling." +</P> + +<P> +"I am charmed to meet you, Miss Hathaway," Howard Snelling declared, +bending low over the girl's outstretched hand. "I did not realize you +were an inmate of the house." Then with a sidelong glance at Bob he +added: "Wilton certainly abounds in beautiful surprises." +</P> + +<P> +As with unveiled wonder he scanned the exquisite face, Robert Morton, +looking on, could have strangled him with a relish. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SPENCES ENTER SOCIETY +</H3> + + +<P> +For a week Howard Snelling came and went from the small, vine-covered +cottage on the bay, making himself so useful and so delightful that the +charm of his personality gradually obliterated the first unpleasant +impression Bob had gained of him. He worked hard but worked with such +unobtrusiveness that unless one scrutinized him closely the subtle +power that lay behind his hand and brain might have passed unsuspected. +Ever mindful that his role was that of the casual visitor, he listened +with appreciation to Willie's harmless gossip and whenever the little +old man advanced a theory as to the enterprise in which they were +engaged he greeted it not only with respect but with cordiality. Now +and then as the undertaking progressed, he ventured a tactful, almost +diffident suggestion, the value of which the inventor was quick to +detect. Also, in the same nonchalant fashion, he produced from time to +time the necessary materials, weaving a fairy web of prevarication when +questioned too closely as to their source. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I have a friend in the boat-building business," said he, "who lets +me have any small things I want. I have done some favors for him in +the past and he is only too glad to square up the balance by sending me +whatever I ask him for." +</P> + +<P> +The explanation, given with off-hand candor, quite satisfied the +artless Willie, who imagined all the world as truthful as himself and +inquired no further, accepting with unfeigned joy the gifts the gods +provided. His face glowed with almost beatific light as he saw his +dream slowly take form. Nothing he had ever done equalled this +masterpiece. The project was his first thought at waking, the last +before closing his eyes at night. Sometimes, even, when all but the +sea slept, he would tiptoe downstairs, candle in hand, just to steal a +glance at the child of his fancy. So absorbed was he in its growth and +progress that it never crossed his mind to marvel that two men of +Howard Snelling's and Robert Morton's ability should sacrifice to the +invention the golden hours of the rare June days. Their interest was +nothing miraculous. Who wouldn't have been interested in such a +wonderful undertaking? +</P> + +<P> +Indeed, Mr. Snelling's concern for the venture was almost as keen as +his own. From morning until late noon he toiled. Occasionally the +Galbraiths' chauffeur brought him over from Belleport, but more often +it was Cynthia who made the trip with him. Mr. Galbraith, it appeared, +had been called back to New York on urgent business; Roger had gone +with friends on a yachting cruise; and Mrs. Galbraith was devoting her +time to her mother who was still indisposed. Hence Cynthia was forced +to fill the gaps and serve both as host and hostess. It was a natural +situation, and Bob thought nothing about it except selfishly to exult +that under the conditions Cynthia was kept too busy to invade the +Spence home or bother him with invitations. And that was not the only +boon that came with Snelling's presence, for with three workers in the +shop Robert Morton found not infrequent chances to steal into the +kitchen, where Delight was busy with household tasks, and enjoy the +rapture of a word or two with her. +</P> + +<P> +Never were there such days of enchantment as these! He might, he often +said to himself, have remained in Wilton an entire summer and his +acquaintance with the lady of his heart never have reached the degree +of intimacy that it attained during Celestina's illness. To behold the +girl, fair as the new-blown rose, presiding at the wee breakfast table +was to forget all else. How dainty she looked in her trim cotton gown, +with its demure cuffs and collar of white, and how deftly her hands +moved among the simple fittings of the table! The worn agate +coffee-pot seemed transformed to classic outline, and the nectar it +contained to ambrosia. And what a famous little cook she was! Surely +such flaky biscuit could never have been made by other hands. Bob +suddenly became surprisingly interested in kitchens and all that they +contained. The glint of tin pans, the dull ebony of the stove, +iridescent suds foaming fresh and hot,—all these took on a strange and +homely beauty quite novel in its charm. He had never dreamed before +what an incomparable Eden a kitchen was! +</P> + +<P> +To slip in and fill the wood-box; to creep into the pantry and watch +the beloved head as it bent over the baking table; to be permitted to +wipe the dishes while <I>She</I> washed them made of the simple duties tasks +for gods and goddesses. He loved the pretty way her fringed lashes +lifted, the wave of color that swept her cheek when she was startled by +his step; and there was something ravishingly confidential in her +caution: +</P> + +<P> +"Be careful, Bob, not to drop Aunt Tiny's china teacups." +</P> + +<P> +It was all foolish and inconsequential—the sighs, the smiles, the +silences—but they made a paradise of the grim old universe. Many a +time he longed to press his lips to the white arm, to kiss the warm +curve of her neck where soft curls clustered. But he did none of these +things. By a gentle reserve the girl kept him at his distance, and +although there was only Jezebel to see, he did not transgress the +bounds Delight's sweet womanliness reared between them. Of course she +knew he loved her. She could not but know. Even Jezebel from her +round blue eyes proclaimed a complete understanding of the romance and +drawing herself into a fluffy ball in Willie's great chair feigned +sleep that she might not embarrass the lovers. The canary knew, and so +did the impertinent crimson rambler that clambered up the window frame +and spied in through the pane. It was no secret. The whole dazzling +world shared in the exquisite mystery. +</P> + +<P> +Were the tale to have been put into words half its delicate beauty +would have been shattered. It was now a thing of clouds, of perfume, +of sunshine. The waves whispered together of it; the birds trilled the +story. A glance, a half-uttered sentence, the meeting of hands carried +with them great throbbing reaches of emotion that went to make up the +reality of the ephemeral drama. And then there was the tormenting, +bewitching, wretched, alluring uncertainty of it all. One could never +be sure, and in the spell of this disquietude lay half the magic. +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton speculated as to whether Willie, along with Jezebel and +the canary, had fathomed the idyl. He wondered, too, how much Snelling +suspected. The New Yorker had an irritating habit of waylaying Delight +and making pretty speeches to her, as if for the wanton pleasure of +watching the blush rise in her cheek. When it came to women there was +no denying Howard Snelling was as great an authority as at building +ships. He understood the sex and knew what pleased them, and with the +subtle art of a courtier he breathed into their ears a flattery too +delicate to be resented. Beside such an expert Bob, floundering in his +first real love affair, felt but a blunderer. Perhaps Mr. Snelling +realized this and rather enjoyed the amateur's chagrin. However that +may have been, he certainly let no opportunity slip for the display of +his proficiency. The discomfited lover fumed with jealous rage; yet on +analyzing the causes of his wrath he discovered he actually had but +scant ground for complaint. He was not engaged to Delight, and until +he was he had no claim upon her and not the smallest right in the world +to grumble if another man chose to pay her a compliment. And what were +compliments anyway? Only empty words. Yet reason as he would, he +wished Snelling twenty fathoms deep in the sea before ever he had come +to Wilton, there to haunt Willie's shop and make of himself a menace to +all tranquillity. +</P> + +<P> +So the days passed in a delirious alternation of ecstasy and despair +until one morning when Mr. Snelling came bringing from Madam Lee the +long-delayed note which she had promised Bob she would send. She was +now quite strong again, she wrote, and she wished him to arrange for +his aunt, Mr. Spence and Miss Hathaway to come and have tea with the +Belleport family on the following afternoon, when both Roger and Mr. +Galbraith would be at home. With beating heart Robert Morton took the +letter into the house and showed it to Delight. +</P> + +<P> +"How nice of them!" she exclaimed. "Oh, I do wish we could go! Willie +would love it. He liked Mr. Galbraith and his son so much! And Aunt +Tiny would be in the seventh heaven if only she were able to accept. +She so seldom has an invitation out, poor dear!" +</P> + +<P> +"And you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I couldn't go anyway." +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, in the first place, I have nothing to wear to a place like that." +</P> + +<P> +"Delight!" +</P> + +<P> +"And besides," she hurried on, "they are only asking me because I +happen to be here in the house." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed they're not!" +</P> + +<P> +"But I know they are," persisted the girl. "Everybody doesn't want to +see me just because you—" +</P> + +<P> +"Because I what?" demanded Bob, with an ominous stride in her direction. +</P> + +<P> +"Because you—and Mr. Snelling like me," concluded she tranquilly. +</P> + +<P> +"Confound Snelling!" +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed, no. He is a charming gentleman, and I won't have him +confounded." +</P> + +<P> +"Hang him then." +</P> + +<P> +"Nor hanged either," she protested. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course if you prefer Mr. Snelling—" began Robert Morton stiffly. +</P> + +<P> +She broke into a teasing laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"I may not prefer him, but nevertheless I will own he is the most +wonderful specimen of masculinity that my eyes have ever beheld. +Remember Wilton is a small place, pitifully limited in its outlook, and +that I have not traveled the wide world to view the wonders it +contains. Hence Mr. Snelling is to me like the Eiffel Tower, the +Matterhorn, the tomb of Napoleon, or Fifth Avenue at Easter—something +illustrious and novel." +</P> + +<P> +"He is nothing so fine as any of those," snapped Bob. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't know," was the provoking answer. +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton bit his lip and moved toward the door, but he had not got +further than the sill before she whispered: +</P> + +<P> +"Bob!" +</P> + +<P> +Resolutely he held his peace. +</P> + +<P> +"Please be nice, Bob," she cooed. +</P> + +<P> +Ah, he was back again, but she had retreated behind the tall rocker. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose," she observed, hurtling the words over Jezebel's sleeping +form, "that your aunt will be heartbroken to miss this party. Why +don't you run upstairs and let her read the note? Then we can send our +regrets when Mr. Snelling goes back to Belleport this noon." +</P> + +<P> +Obediently the young man sped to do her bidding, and soon Delight heard +his voice calling from the upper hall. +</P> + +<P> +"She won't send her regrets. She says she's going. I tell her they +will ask her another time, but she insists she feels lots better and +was thinking of getting up, anyway. She wants to start putting fresh +cuffs on her black cashmere this minute, and do I don't know what. +You'd better come up and stop her." +</P> + +<P> +But Celestina was not to be stopped. Go she would! +</P> + +<P> +"My shoulder's 'most well anyhow," she affirmed, "an' I had planned to +go down to supper. Do you think for one minute I'd miss a junket like +this? Why, I'd go if it killed me! The Galbraiths are nice folks an' +have been good to Bob and Willie. Besides," she added with +ingratiating candor, "I want to see where they live. An' they're goin' +to send the automobile for us, that great red one—imagine it! I ain't +been in an automobile more'n six times in my whole life. Do you think +I'd send my regrets? I'd go if I had to be carried on a stretcher!" +</P> + +<P> +Delight and Robert Morton laughed at her enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +"Now you trot straight down stairs, Bob," went on Celestina +energetically, "an' write Mis' Lee we'll admire to come, all of us." +</P> + +<P> +"But Aunt Tiny," put in Delight, "I'm not going. Somebody must stay +here and look after the house." +</P> + +<P> +"What for?" Celestina demanded. "The house won't run away, an' if +thieves was to ransack it from attic to cellar they'd find nothin' +worth carryin' away. Ridiculous!" +</P> + +<P> +"She says she hasn't anything to wear," interrupted Bob. +</P> + +<P> +"Delight Hathaway! For shame!" said the elder woman, raising a +reproving finger. "You always look pretty as a picture in anything. +Some folks need fine clothes to set 'em off but you don't. Don't be +silly! Why, half the pleasure of Willie an' me would be wiped out if +you didn't go, an' likely Bob would be disappointed, too." +</P> + +<P> +"You bet I would!" +</P> + +<P> +"W—e—ll," the girl yielded. +</P> + +<P> +"There, that's right, my dear." Celestina reached out and patted the +slender hand. "Now, Bob, you go along an' write your letter," +commanded she. "An' Delight, you bring me up some hot water an' fetch +my clean print dress from the hall closet. I kinder think, come to +mull it over, that there's fresh cuffs on my cashmere already, but you +might look an' see. An' hadn't we better furbish up my bonnet this +afternoon? It ain't been touched this season." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A REVELATION +</H3> + + +<P> +The morning of the pilgrimage to Belleport was a hectic one in the gray +cottage on the bluff. Before breakfast Celestina began preparations, +appearing in the kitchen without trace of invalidism and helping +Delight hurry the housework out of the way, that the precious hours +might be spent in retrimming the hat of black straw which already had +done duty four seasons. +</P> + +<P> +"Ain't it too vexatious," complained the irritated convalescent, "that +I don't wear out nothin'? This hat, now—it's as good as the day it +was bought, despite my havin' had it so long. I can't in conscience +throw it away an' get another, much as I'd like to. The trimmin' was +on the front the first summer, don't you remember? Then we tried it on +behind a year; an' there was two seasons I wore it trimmed on the side. +What are we goin' to do with it now, Delight? I've blacked it up an' +can see no way for it this time but to turn it round hindside-before. +What do you think?" +</P> + +<P> +The amateur milliner shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"I've a plan," she smiled mysteriously. "Don't you worry, Aunt Tiny." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I shan't worry, child, if you take it in hand. I know that when +you get through with it it's goin' to look as if it had come straight +out of Mis' Gates's store over at the Junction. It does beat all what +a knack you have for such things. You could make your fortune bein' a +milliner. I s'pose you wouldn't want to face it in with red, would +you? Willie likes red, an' there's a scrap of silk in the trunk under +the eaves that could be stretched into a facin' with some piecin'." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid you wouldn't like red, Aunt Tiny," the girl replied gently. +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe I wouldn't," was the prompt answer. "Well, do it as you think +best. You never put me into anything yet that warn't becomin', an' I +reckon I can risk leavin' it to you." +</P> + +<P> +"Wouldn't you rather I helped you clear up the kitchen before I began +hat trimming?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy, no! Don't waste precious time sweepin' up an' washin' dishes; +I can do that. Like as not 'twill take some of the stiffness out of +me. Besides, the work an' the millinery ain't the worst ahead of us. +There's Willie to get ready. To coax him out of that shop an' into his +Sunday suit is goin' to take some maneuverin'. I know, 'cause I have +it to do once in a while when there's a funeral or somethin'. It's +like pullin' teeth. There's times when I wish all his jumpers was +burned to ashes. An' as for his hair, he rumples it up on end 'till +there's no makin' it stay down smooth an' spread round like other +folks's." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we mustn't try to dress Willie up too much," protested Delight. +"I like him best just as he is." +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe you do," the elder woman grumbled, "but the Galbraiths ain't +goin' to feel that way. Why, what do you s'pose they'd think if Willie +was to come prancin' over there for a dish of tea lookin' as he does at +home? They'd be scandalized! Besides, ain't you an' me goin' to be +dressed up? Ain't I got my new hat?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not yet," was the mischievous retort. +</P> + +<P> +"But I am goin' to have. No, sir! If I begin indulgin' Willie by +lettin' him go all wild to this party in his old clothes, the next time +there's a funeral there'll be no reinin' him in. He'll hold it up +forevermore that he went to the Galbraiths in his jumper. I know him +better'n you do." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose so." +</P> + +<P> +"An' I'm firmer with him, too," went on Celestina. "You'd have him +clean spoiled. I ain't sure but you've spoilt him already past all +help durin' these last ten days. Did you hear him at breakfast askin' +me to open his egg? He knows perfectly well I never take off the +shell. All I ever do for him is to put in the butter, pepper, an' +salt; an' I only do that 'cause he's squizzlin' so to get out in that +shop that he ain't a notion whether there's fixin's on his egg or not. +Let him get one of these ideas on his mind an' it's a wonder he don't +eat the egg, shells an' all." +</P> + +<P> +"Poor dear!" The girl's face softened. +</P> + +<P> +"You pet him too much," said Celestina accusingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you pet Willie a little yourself, Aunt Tiny?" teased Delight. +"You know you do. Everybody does. We can't help it. People just love +him and like to see him happy." +</P> + +<P> +"I know it," the woman admitted. "Why, there's folks in Wilton (I +could name 'em right now) who would run their legs off for Willie. +Look at Bob an' this Mr. Snellin' sweatin' in that shop like beavers +over somethin' that ain't never goin' to do 'em an ounce of good—mebbe +ain't never goin' to do anybody no good. There's somethin' in him that +sorter compels people to stand on their heads for him like that. I +often try to figger out just what it is," she mused. Then in a brisker +tone she asked: "How's the hat comin'?" +</P> + +<P> +"Beautifully." +</P> + +<P> +"That's good. Hurry it right along, for I'm plannin' to have dinner at +twelve an' get it out of the way." +</P> + +<P> +"But the car isn't coming for us until three o'clock." +</P> + +<P> +"'Twill take that time to wash up the dishes an' rig Willie up." +</P> + +<P> +"Not three hours!" +</P> + +<P> +"You don't know him. We'll have our hands full to head him away from +that thing he's makin'. All I pray is no new scheme ketches him while +he's dressin', for 'twill be all day with the party if it does." +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately no such misadventure befell. Willie was corralled, his +protests smothered, and he was led placidly away by Bob, to emerge +after an interval resigned as a lamb for the slaughter. Even the +homespun suit could not wholly banish his native charm, for after it +was once on he forgot its existence and wore it with an ease almost too +oblivious to suit Celestina. +</P> + +<P> +Not so she! On the contrary she issued from her chamber conscious of +every article of finery adorning her plump person. She settled, +unsettled, resettled her hat a dozen times, and tried no less than a +score of locations for her large cameo pin. Her freshly washed lisle +gloves had unfortunately shrunk in the drying and refused to go on at +the finger tips, and from each digit projected a sharply defined glove +end which kept her busy pushing and pulling most of the afternoon. So +occupied was Delight with tying Willie's cravat and rearranging the +spray of flowers on Celestina's bonnet that she had not a moment to +consider her own toilet which was hastily made after everything else +was done. Yet as Robert Morton looked at her, he thought that nothing +could have graced her more completely than did her simple gown of +muslin. There was in the frock a demureness almost Quaker-like which +as a foil for her beauty breathed the very essence of coquetry. What +lover could have failed to feel proud of such a treasure? +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, Bob had his qualms about the prospective visit. He was +not concerned for Willie or Celestina. They were what they were and +any one of discrimination would recognize their worth. Nor did he +entertain fears for Delight or the Galbraiths. All of them could be +relied upon to meet the situation with ease and dignity. But +Cynthia—what would be her attitude? Of late, when she had come over +in the car with Mr. Snelling, she had maintained a distant politeness +which would have been amusing had it not been ominous. He wondered how +she would conduct herself today, not alone toward him but toward the +girl whom she could not but regard as her rival. How much did she +guess, he speculated, of the romance that was taking place in the +rose-covered cottage on the bluff. And if she had guessed nothing, +might not Snelling, leaping at conclusions, have gone back to Belleport +there to spread idle gossip of the love-story? What would Howard +Snelling know of the delicate situation 'twixt himself and Mr. +Galbraith's daughter? And even though no rumors of the affair reached +Cynthia at all, Robert Morton was old enough to sense the hazard of +introducing one woman to another. +</P> + +<P> +Well, the risk must be taken; there was no escape from it now. Even as +these disquieting imaginings chased themselves through his mind, the +car stopped before the door and Roger Galbraith, who had come to meet +the guests, entered at the gate. No courtesy that would add to their +comfort had been omitted. There were rugs and extra wraps, and a drive +along the shore road had been planned as an added pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +Willie, his back actually turned on his beloved workshop, was in the +seventh heaven. +</P> + +<P> +"What you settin' on the peaked edge of the seat for, Celestina?" he +asked when once they were in the automobile. "The thing ain't goin' to +blow up or break down. Let your whole heft sink into the cushions an' +enjoy yourself. 'Tain't often you get the chance to go a-ridin'." +</P> + +<P> +His joy in the novel experience was as unalloyed and as transparent as +a child's. +</P> + +<P> +"My soul!" he ejaculated as the vehicle turned at last into the broad +avenue leading to the Galbraith estate. "Ain't this a big place! +Big's a hotel an' some to spare." +</P> + +<P> +Even after the introductions had been performed and he had sunk into a +wicker chair beside his host, with a great pillow behind him to keep +him from being swallowed up and lost entirely, he abated not a whit of +his gladness, admiring the flowers, the smoothly cut lawns, and the +ocean view until he radiated good humor on all sides. But it was when +the tea wagon was rolled out and placed before Madam Lee that his +interest was not to be curbed. +</P> + +<P> +"Ain't that cute now?" he commented, his eyes following the +unaccustomed sight with alertness. "The feller that got a-holt of that +idee found a good one. Trundles along like a little baby carriage, +don't it?" +</P> + +<P> +Nothing would satisfy him until he had examined every part of the +invention, and Celestina trembled lest then and there his brain be +stimulated to action and he make a bolt for home to complete without +delay some sudden scheme the novelty had engendered. However, no such +calamity occurred. He drank his tea with satisfaction and was +presently borne off by Mr. Galbraith to inspect a recently purchased +barometer. After he had gone the company broke up into little groups. +Mrs. Galbraith and Celestina betook themselves to a shaded corner, +there to exchange felicitations on Miss Morton's nephew; Roger, +Cynthia, and Bob perched on the broad piazza rail and discussed the +recent boat race; and Madam Lee was left alone with Delight. Robert +Morton looked in vain for Mr. Snelling but he was nowhere to be seen, +and presently he learned that that gentleman had taken one of the cars +and gone for an afternoon's spin to Sawyer's Falls. Whether his +absence was a contributory cause or not, certain it was that for the +time being at least Cynthia lapsed into her customary friendly manner +and quite outdid herself in graciousness. +</P> + +<P> +Bob relaxed his tension. The afternoon was moving on with more +serenity than he had dared hope, and inwardly he began to congratulate +himself on the success of it. To judge from appearance every one was +in the serenest frame of mind. Willie was beaming into his host's +face, and both men were laughing immoderately; Celestina, from the +snatches of conversation that reached him, was relating for Mrs. +Galbraith's benefit the symptoms of her late illness; and Madam Lee was +chatting with Delight as with an old-time friend. Bob longed to join +them, but prudence forbade his leaving Cynthia's side. Moreover he +suspected the tête-à-tête was of the old lady's arranging and he dared +not break in on it. If Madam Lee desired his presence, she was quite +capable of commanding it by one of those characteristically imperious +waves of her hand. But she did not summon him. Instead she sat with +her keen little eyes fixed on the girl opposite as if fascinated by her +beauty. Once Bob heard her ask Delight of the Brewsters and caught +fragments that indicated they were talking of the child's early life in +the village. +</P> + +<P> +It was Celestina who at length broke in on the conversation. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess we must be thinkin' of goin', Delight, don't you? We have a +long ride back, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Delight!" echoed Madam Lee, repeating the word with surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"A queer name, ain't it?" Celestina put in. "So old-fashioned an' +uncommon! When the child first come here folks couldn't believe but +'twas a pet name her dad had given her; but the little thing insisted +'twas what she was christened." +</P> + +<P> +"Father said I was named for my mother and my grandmother, Delight Lee." +</P> + +<P> +There was a gasp from the stately old lady in the chair. With +convulsive grasp she caught and held the girl's wrist. +</P> + +<P> +"Your father was Ralph Hathaway?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," was the wondering reply. "How did you know?" +</P> + +<P> +No answer came. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother!" cried Mrs. Galbraith, coming swiftly to her side and bending +over the form crumpled against the pillows. +</P> + +<P> +Her face, too, was pale, and even Mr. Galbraith looked startled. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't take on so, mother," her daughter whispered. "Control yourself +if you can. There may be some mistake. It is unlikely that—" +</P> + +<P> +"There is no mistake," came in a hollow voice from the woman huddled in +the chair, who regarded Delight with frightened eyes. "She is my +daughter's child, sent by the mercy of heaven that I might make amends +before I went down into the grave." +</P> + +<P> +Tense silence followed the assertion. +</P> + +<P> +"Did your father never tell you anything, my dear, of his marriage?" +went on Madam Lee in a tone that although firmer still trembled. +</P> + +<P> +"No." +</P> + +<P> +"Then I can tell you—I, who drove your mother from my house when she +refused to wed a man she did not love." +</P> + +<P> +Delight's great eyes widened with wonder. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," went on the elder woman with impetuous haste, "look at me. I +have grown older and wiser since those days. But I was proud when I +was young, and self-willed, and determined to have my way. I had three +daughters: Maida, whom you see here, Delight and Muriel. We lived in +Virginia and my children's beauty was the talk of the county. Maida +married Richard Galbraith, a descendant of one of our oldest families, +and I rejoiced in the alliance. For Delight, my second daughter, I +chose as husband the son of one of my oldest friends, a rich young +landholder who although older than she I knew would bring her name and +fortune. But the girl, high-spirited like myself but lacking my +ambition, would have none of him. All unbeknown to any of us, she had +fallen in love with Ralph Hathaway, a handsome, penniless adventurer +from the West. There was nothing against the man save that he was +young, headstrong, and had his way to make, but he balked me in my +plans and I hated him for it. In vain did I try to break off the +match. It was useless. The pair loved one another devotedly and +refused to be separated." +</P> + +<P> +Madam Lee ceased speaking for an instant; then went on resolutely. +</P> + +<P> +"When I say my daughter had all the Lee determination, you will guess +the rest. She fled from home and although I spared no money to trace +her, I never saw or heard of her again. The next year, as if in +judgment upon me, Muriel, my youngest child, died and I had but one +daughter remaining. It was then that, saddened and chastened by +sorrow, I regretted my narrowness and injustice and prayed to God for +the chance to wipe out my cruelty. But my prayers went unanswered, and +all these years forgiveness has been denied me. Now I am old but God +is merciful. He has not let me die with this weight upon my soul." +</P> + +<P> +She bowed her head on Delight's shoulder and wept. +</P> + +<P> +"Your mother?" she whispered, when she was able to enunciate the words. +</P> + +<P> +"My mother died in California when I was born. Then my father took to +the sea and carried me with him. We sailed until I was ten years old, +when his ship—" +</P> + +<P> +"I know," interrupted Madam Lee gently. She gave a long sigh. "We—we +must speak more of this later," murmured she. "I am tired now." +</P> + +<P> +As she dropped back against the cushions, Celestina rose softly and +motioned the others to follow her; but when Delight attempted to slip +away the hand resting on hers tightened. +</P> + +<P> +"You are not leaving me!" pleaded the old lady faintly. +</P> + +<P> +"I will come back again," answered the girl in a soothing tone. +</P> + +<P> +"When? To-morrow?" +</P> + +<P> +"If you wish it, Madam L—" +</P> + +<P> +"Call me grandmother, my child," said the woman, a smile rare in its +peace and beauty breaking over her drawn countenance. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ANOTHER BLOW DESCENDS +</H3> + + +<P> +The ride home from Belleport was a subdued one, bringing to an +afternoon that had been rich in sunshine a climax of shadow. The +Galbraiths were far too stunned by the startling revelations of the day +to wish to prolong a meeting that had lapsed into awkwardness, and +until they had had opportunity to readjust themselves they were eager +to be alone; nor did their delicacy of perception fail to detect a +similar craving in the minds of their guests. Therefore they did not +press their visitors to remain and tactfully arranged that one of the +servants instead of Roger should drive the Spences back over the Harbor +Road. +</P> + +<P> +As the motor purred its way along, there was little conversation. Even +had not the chauffeur's presence acted as a restraint, none of the +party would have had the heart to make perfunctory conversation; the +tragedy of the moment had touched them too deeply. What a strange, +wonderful unraveling of life's tangled skeins had come with the few +fleeting hours. Each turned the drama over in his mind, trying to make +a reality of it and spin into the warp and woof of the tapestry time +had already woven this thread of new color. But so startling was it in +hue that it refused to blend, standing out against the duller tones of +the past with appalling distinctness; and never was it more +irreconcilable than when the familiar confines of the little fishing +hamlet by the sea were reached and those who struggled to harmonize it +saw it in contrast with this background of simplicity. +</P> + +<P> +Each silently reconstructed Delight's life, now linking it with its +ancestry and its romantic beginnings. She had, then, sprung from +aristocratic stock; riches had been her right, and culture her +heritage. She had been the single flower of a passionate love, and the +hot-headed young father to whom she had been bequeathed when bereft of +the woman he had adored had taken her with him when he had sought the +sea's balm to assuage his sorrow. She was all that remained of that +tender, throbbing memory of his youth. Where he went she followed, all +unconscious of peril and with youth's God-given faith; and when the +great moment came and the supreme sacrifice was demanded, the man +voluntarily severed the bonds that bound them, leaving her to life +while he himself went forth into the Beyond. What must not that heroic +soul have suffered when he cast his child into the ocean's arms and +upon the mercies of an unknown future! What blind trust led him; what +unselfishness and courage lay in the choice he made! A smaller mind +would have followed the easier path and kept them united to the end, +happy in the thought that in their death they were not divided, and +that no years stretched ahead when she would be without his protection. +Might he not be performing a kinder act to let her go down into the sea +than to entrust her to the charity of strangers? He must have wrestled +with all these problems and temptations as he stood lashed to the mast +out there in the fateful storm. +</P> + +<P> +Ah, his confidence in a fatherhood more omniscient than his own had not +been misplaced. Loving hands had borne his darling safely through the +waves to a home where, in an atmosphere of devotion, the beauty that +had been in her from the beginning had perfected in its maturity. Even +the homely surroundings of the environment into which she drifted could +not stifle her native fineness of soul. Bred up a fisherman's daughter +she had lived and moved among plain, kindly people, whom she had +learned to cherish and revere as if they were of her blood, and to whom +she had endeared herself to a corresponding degree. +</P> + +<P> +And now what was her future to be? Was she suddenly to be snatched +back into her rightful sphere, the ties that linked her with the +present snapped asunder, and a new world with the myriad opportunities +she had until now been denied placed within her reach? That was the +query that agitated the minds of the silent thinkers who sped along the +Harbor Road. +</P> + +<P> +Sunset was gilding the water, kissing the sands into rosy warmth and +casting glints of vermilion over the low buildings at the mouth of the +bay, where windows flashed forth a flaming reflection of fire. The +peace of approaching twilight brooded over the village. Little boats, +like homing doves, came flying across the vast expanse of waves, their +sails a splendor of copper in the fading light. With the hush of night +the breeze died into stillness until scarce a leaf of the +weather-beaten poplars stirred. From the tangle of roses, sweet fern +and bayberry that overgrew the fields the note of a thrush rose clear +on the quiet air. A whirling bevy of gulls circled the bar, left naked +and opalescent by the receding tide. Peace was everywhere, divine +peace, save in the breasts of those who gazed only to find a mockery in +the surrounding tranquillity. +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton's face was stern in meditation. How was this mighty +transformation in Delight's fortunes to affect the hopes he fostered? +To wed the daughter of a humble fisherman was a different matter from +offering a penniless future to the grand-daughter of the stately Madam +Lee. Even when the possibility of marriage with Cynthia had loomed in +his path, his pride had rebelled at the financial inequality of the +match. He did not wish to be patronized, to come empty-handed to a +princess whose hands were full. The thought had been a galling one. +And now once again he was in a similar position. Of course, Madam Lee +and the Galbraiths would desire to make good the past; he knew them +well enough for that. Delight would be elevated to the same plane with +Cynthia, and he would be faced with the old irritating inferiority of +fortune. Moreover, in her recently acquired station, the lady of his +dreams might scorn such a humble suitor. Who could tell? Wealth +worked great changes in individuals sometimes, and at best human nature +was a frail, assailable, and incalculable factor. Furthermore the girl +had never pledged him her love. There had been no spoken word between +them. The vision that had made a Utopia of his world had been, he +reflected, of his own creating. +</P> + +<P> +He glanced at Delight, but she did not meet his eye. +</P> + +<P> +Her gaze was vacantly following the rapidly shifting landscape. +</P> + +<P> +Although the glory from the sky shone on her face the radiance that +glowed there came only from without and was the result of no inward +exultation. Even the gray cottage had assumed a false splendor in the +rosy twilight and was lighted with a beauty not its own. +</P> + +<P> +When the car stopped, Willie clambered stiffly out and he and Bob +helped the women to alight. Then the motor rolled away and they were +alone. +</P> + +<P> +"Well!" burst out Celestina, her pent-up feeling taking vent, "did you +ever know of such a to-do? I've been stiflin' to talk all the way +home! Why, you're goin' to be rich, Delight! You'll be aunts, an' +uncles, an' cousins with them Galbraiths—picture it! Likely they'll +take you to New York with 'em an' to goodness knows where!" +</P> + +<P> +The girl did not answer but moved to Willie's side and slipped her hand +into his, as if certain of his understanding and sympathy. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't seem much set up by your good luck," went on the breathless +Celestina. +</P> + +<P> +"Delight's kinder bowled over by surprise, Tiny," Willie explained +gently. "It's took all our breaths away, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +Tenderly he pressed the trembling fingers that clung to his. +</P> + +<P> +"You ain't got to worry about it, dearie," whispered he in a caressing +tone. "No power can make you do anything you don't choose to; an' +what's more, nobody'll want to force you into what won't be for your +happiness." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall never leave Zenas Henry," Delight said with determination. +</P> + +<P> +"An' nobody'll urge you to, dear heart. Don't fret, child, don't fret. +To-morrow we'll straighten this snarl all out an' 'til then you've got +nothin' to fear. Them as love you shall stay by, I give you my word on +it." +</P> + +<P> +"Hadn't I better go home to-night and tell them?" +</P> + +<P> +The old inventor considered a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't believe I would," he answered at last. "They ain't expectin' +you, an' if you was to go lookin' so white an' frightened as you do +now, 'twould anger Zenas Henry an' upset 'em all. Wait an' see what +happens to-morrow. 'Twill be time enough then. You're tired, +sweetheart. Stay here an' rest to-night. What do you say, Bob?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think it would be much wiser." +</P> + +<P> +"Course 'twould," nodded Willie. "You stay right here, like as if +nothin' had happened, an' think calmly about it a little while, child. +You ain't got to decide a thing at present; furthermore, there may not +be anything for you to decide. We've no way of figgerin' what +your—your—relations mean to do. Just trust 'em a bit. They're Bob's +friends an' I guess we can count on 'em to act as is fair an' right." +</P> + +<P> +"They <I>are</I> Bob's friends, aren't they?" repeated the girl, her face +brightening as if the fact, hitherto forgotten, gave her confidence. +</P> + +<P> +"And splendidly loyal friends too," the young man put in eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"Then I will trust them," she said. "It isn't as if they were +strangers." +</P> + +<P> +How Robert Morton longed to go to her, to tell her in her sweet +dependence how eager he was for the day when no friend of his should be +a stranger to her; when their lives would be so closely intertwined +that every interest, every hope, every thought of his should be hers +also. Perhaps the unuttered wish that trembled on his lips was +reflected in his eyes, for after looking up at him she suddenly dropped +her lashes and, turning away, followed Tiny into the house. +</P> + +<P> +"I've cautioned Celestina not to go talkin' to her any more just now," +announced the little old man when she had gone. "Your aunt's an awful +good woman; no better lives. But there's times like today when things +don't strike her as they do me an' Delight. She's so fond of the girl +that her first thought would be for the money an' all that; but that +would be the last consideration in the world in Delight's mind. She's +awful loyal an' affectionate. Things go deep with her, an' she sets a +heap of store by the folks she cares for. Why, Zenas Henry is like her +own father. Since she was a wee tot she ain't known no other. While +this old lady, her grandmother—what is she? Why, she don't mean +nothin'—not a thing!" +</P> + +<P> +They walked on toward the shop door, each occupied with his own +reveries; then suddenly Willie roused himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, if here ain't Janoah!" he exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"What you doin', Jan? Was you after somethin'? I reckon you found the +place pretty well deserted an' were wonderin' what had become of us +all." +</P> + +<P> +"I warn't doin' no wonderin', Willie Spence," the man replied. "I +knowed where you'd gone 'cause I saw you ridin' away like a sheep bein' +led to the sacrifice." +</P> + +<P> +"Like a what?" repeated the inventor with a grin. +</P> + +<P> +"An innocent lamb, or a rat in a trap," Janoah said with solemn +emphasis. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you drivin' at, anyhow?" questioned Willie. +</P> + +<P> +"You didn't suspect nothin'?" +</P> + +<P> +"Suspect anything? No, of course not. Why?" +</P> + +<P> +"You hadn't a suspicion the whole thing was a decoy?" +</P> + +<P> +"What whole thing?" +</P> + +<P> +"The trip an' all." +</P> + +<P> +Willie studied his friend's face in puzzled silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Whatever are you tryin' to say?" demanded he at last. +</P> + +<P> +Janoah swept his hand dramatically round the shop. +</P> + +<P> +"You've been betrayed, Willie!" he announced with tragic intensity. +"Betrayed by them as you thought was your friends, an' who you've +trusted. I warned you, but you wouldn't listen, an' now the thing I +told you would happen has happened." Triumphant pleasure gleamed in +the sinister smile. "They tricked you into leavin'," went on the +malicious voice, "an' then they came here an' stole what was +yours—your invention. I caught 'em doin' it. I hid outside an' +overheard 'em tell how they'd been waitin' days for the chance when +everybody should be gone. 'Twas that Snelling an' another like him, a +draughtsman. They laughed an' said that now the old man was out of the +way they could do as they pleased. Then they took all the measurements +of your invention, made some sketches, an' took its picter." +</P> + +<P> +Willie listened, open-mouthed. +</P> + +<P> +"You must be crazy, Janoah," he slowly observed. +</P> + +<P> +"I ain't crazy," Janoah replied, with stinging sharpness. "The whole +thing was just as I say. It was part of a plot that Snellin' an' +Galbraith have been plannin' all along; an' either they've used this +young feller here [he motioned toward Robert Morton] as a tool, or else +he's in it with 'em." +</P> + +<P> +Bob started forward, but Willie's hand was on his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Gently, son," he murmured. Then addressing Janoah he asked: "An' what +earthly use could Mr. Galbraith have for—" +</P> + +<P> +"'Cause he sees money in it," was the prompt response. +</P> + +<P> +A thrill of uneasiness passed through Robert Morton's frame. Had not +those very words been spoken both by the capitalist and Howard +Snelling? They had uttered them as a laughing prediction, but might +they not have rated them as true? With sudden chagrin he looked from +Willie to Janoah and from Janoah back to Willie again. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been inquirin' up this Galbraith," went on Janoah. "It 'pears +he's a big New York shipbuilder—that's what he is—an' Snellin' is one +of his head men." +</P> + +<P> +If the mischief-maker derived pleasure from dealing out the fruit of +his investigations he certainly reaped it now, for he was rewarded by +seeing an electrical shock stiffen Willie's figure. +</P> + +<P> +"It ain't true!" cried the little inventor. "It ain't true! Is it, +Bob?" +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton's eyes fell before his piercing scrutiny. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," was his reluctant answer. +</P> + +<P> +"You knew it all along?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"An' Snellin'?" +</P> + +<P> +"He is in Mr. Galbraith's employ, yes." +</P> + +<P> +"An'—an'—you let 'em come here—" began the old man bewildered. +</P> + +<P> +"You let 'em come here to steal Willie's idee," interrupted Janoah, +wheeling on Bob. "You helped 'em to come, after his takin' you into +his home an' all!" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't know what they meant to do," Robert Morton stammered. "I +just thought they were going to lend us a hand at working up the thing." +</P> + +<P> +"A likely story!" sniffed Janoah with scorn. "No siree! You came here +as a tool—you were paid for it, I'll bet a hat!" +</P> + +<P> +"You lie." +</P> + +<P> +"Prove it," was the taunting response. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I—can't prove it," confessed the young man wretchedly, "but Willie +knows that what you accuse me of isn't so." +</P> + +<P> +With face alight with hope he turned toward the old man at his elbow; +but no denial came from the expected source. Willie had sunk down on a +pile of boards and buried his face in his hands. +</P> + +<P> +"An' I thought they were my friends," they heard him moan. +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton hesitated, then bent over the bowed figure, and as he did +so Janoah, casting one last look of gloating delight at the ruin he had +wrought, slipped softly from the room. +</P> + +<P> +As he went out he heard a broken murmur from the inventor: +</P> + +<P> +"I'll—I'll—not—believe it," asserted he feebly. +</P> + +<P> +But despite the brave words, the seed of suspicion had taken root, and +Robert Morton knew that Willie's confidence in him had been shaken. +Still the little old man clung with dogged persistence to his sanguine +declaration: +</P> + +<P> +"<I>I'll not believe it</I>!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A GRIM HAND INTERVENES +</H3> + + +<P> +The next morning saw a grave change in the household on the bluff. +Delight, with violet-circled eyes and cheeks whose rose tints had faded +to pallor, listened with dread for the sound of the Galbraith's motor. +What the day would bring forth she feared to speculate. Willie and Bob +also showed traces of a sleepless night. Although they had guarded +from the others the happenings of the previous evening, between them +loomed a barrier of mutual amazement and reproach. Beneath his +attempted optimism Willie was wounded and indignant that he should have +been deceived by those in whose kindness he had believed so +whole-heartedly. He fought the facts with loyalty, obstinately +trusting that some satisfactory explanation would be forthcoming, but +he did not understand, and the dumb question that spoke in his eyes +hurt Robert Morton more than any formulated reproach could have done. +It was human, the young man owned, that the inventor should resent +having been tricked. He himself, throughout the weary watches of the +night, had twisted and turned Janoah's damning testimony, struggling to +explain it away by some simple and harmless interpretation; yet he was +compelled to admit that the facts pointed in but one direction. And if +he was baffled in his search for a way out, how much more so must +Willie be? Why, he would be almost superman if he did not surrender +his faith before such convincing evidence. +</P> + +<P> +To the grief he experienced at forfeiting the little old man's trust, +Robert Morton was also compelled to add the bitterness of discovering +that those whose friendship was dearest to him had betrayed it and used +him as a stool pigeon in a contemptible plot that he would have scorned +to further had he been cognizant of it. He wondered, as he turned +restlessly on his pillow, whether it was Mr. Galbraith with whom the +duplicity originated or whether the conspiracy of yesterday was one of +Snelling's hatching. Was it not possible the employee desired the +invention for his own profit? That, to be sure, would be calamity +enough, but it would at least clear Mr. Galbraith of theft and +reinstate him in the young man's confidence. If only that could be the +answer to the riddle, how thankful he would be! +</P> + +<P> +Well, until he could be brought face to face with the capitalist, it +was futile to attempt to unravel the enigma. How he longed in his +bewilderment for the sympathy and counsel of a fresh perspective! But +on Tiny's discretion he could place no reliance and even had he been +able to do so, everything within him shrank from the disloyalty of +voicing evil against his friends until he had proof. Delight was also +an impossible confidant because of her recently discovered relationship +to the Galbraith family. To breathe a word which might at this +delicate juncture prejudice her against her new relatives would be +contemptible. No, there was nothing to be done but be patient and +maintain in the meantime as close a semblance to a normal attitude as +was possible. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately the silence that settled down upon the silvered cottage +caused no surprise to any of its occupants. Having been warned not to +chatter, Celestina observed a welcome quietness perfectly understood. +Nor was it strange that in view of the shock Delight had received she +should be more thoughtful than usual. Nobody commented either on +Willie's abandonment of his inventing, or gave heed that he and Robert +Morton spoke little together. How could the Galbraiths, Bob's best +friends, be discussed in his presence? There was abundant explanation, +therefore, why a strained atmosphere should prevail and pass unnoticed +without either Celestina or Delight suspecting that its cause was other +than the disclosures made by Madam Lee on the previous afternoon. +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, eager as was each of the household to have speculation +satisfied and the future with whatever it might contain unfold, there +was a simultaneous start of apprehension when the Galbraiths' familiar +red car stopped at the gate of the cottage. From it alighted neither +Mr. Snelling nor any member of the family, but instead the chauffeur +gravely delivered to Robert Morton a hastily scrawled note written in +Mr. Galbraith's spreading hand. Marveling a little that it was he to +whom the communication should be addressed, the young man broke the +seal of the letter. +</P> + +<P> +Madam Lee, he read, weary with excitement, had retired almost +immediately after their departure, the maid attending her having left +her sleeping like a tired child; but when they had gone to arouse her +in the morning, it had been only to find that she had passed quietly +away in her sleep without struggle or suffering. Snelling had gone +over to New York to make the necessary funeral arrangements, and the +family were to follow the next day. There was nothing Bob could do, +but if he and Delight wished to accompany them, Mrs. Galbraith would be +glad to have them. Madam Lee had been devoted to Bob, and it was +Delight's unchallenged right to share in the final obsequies to her +grandmother. +</P> + +<P> +Awed, and in a low voice, Robert Morton read the communication aloud. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall go, of course," he said, with a catch in his voice. "Madam +Lee—was very dear to me. Had she been of my own people I could not +have cared for her more deeply." +</P> + +<P> +"And I—what shall I do?" questioned Delight. The appeal was to Bob, +and the sense of dependence vibrating in it thrilled him with tender +gladness. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose," he answered gently, "it would make your grandmother happy +to know you were there. Wouldn't it be a token of forgiveness?" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think, Willie?" the girl asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I agree with Bob that you should go, my dear," the old man replied. +"Somehow it seems as if your grandmother would rest the sweeter for +feelin' you were near by. An' anyhow, it's a mark of respect to the +dead. You're bound to show that, no matter how you feel. I'm pretty +sure that if you an' your grandmother had had the chance to get better +acquainted, you would have loved one another dearly. It was only that +it all came too late for you to feel toward her the same as Bob does." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps!" Delight returned with half-dazed seriousness. +</P> + +<P> +So it was decided the two young persons would go with the Galbraiths to +New York, and the next day they joined the Belleport family and +followed the body of the fine, stately old Southern woman to its last +resting place. There were no outside friends among the small group of +mourners, and the two days of constant and intimate companionship drew +them together with a closeness very vital in its results. Delight was +received into the circle with a tact and affection that not only put +her at her ease but won her heart; and Robert Morton, as Madam Lee's +favorite, was as much a part of the family as if he had been born into +it. For the time being, the common grief banished from his mind every +other thought, and once again he and his old-time friends met without a +shadow of distrust between them. Even Cynthia was in her most +appealing mood, casting all caprice and artificiality aside and +centering most of her attention on her newly acquired cousin. The +silent benediction of peace the presence of the dead brought brooded +over them all, and it was with no perfunctory tenderness that Delight +bent and gently kissed her grandmother's cold forehead. +</P> + +<P> +Then came the journey back to Belleport, and as Mr. Galbraith, Roger, +and Howard Snelling were all detained in New York, it was Bob who +brought the party home. In the meantime no opportunity had presented +itself for broaching to the financier the subject of Willie's +invention. The interval during the funeral rites was too inopportune, +and Robert Morton had lacked both the inclination and the courage to +break in upon such an occasion with an affair so sordid and unpleasant. +He had hoped that during the return to the Cape some chance for a talk +with the capitalist would be afforded him. But now there was no help +for it but to go back to Willie Spence's with the weight still heavy on +his heart. Mr. Galbraith, he learned, would have to remain in the city +two weeks or more; and an important business deal would keep Mr. +Snelling at the Long Island plant indefinitely. Hence for the present +there was not a possibility of clearing up the mystery. It was, +however, significant that Snelling evidently considered his part of the +work done; and if Janoah's accusations were founded on fact, as they +appeared to be, it was not surprising that he seized upon the confusion +of the present as a fortunate cover for his exit from Wilton. +</P> + +<P> +The more Robert Morton pondered on the train of events, the less +willing he became to connect Mr. Galbraith with the purloining of +Willie's idea. The financier had intended to do precisely what he had +specified, lend a friendly hand to the old man's scheme. It was +Snelling who had seen in the circumstance something too promising to +let pass and who, without his employer's knowledge, had made bold to +secure the device for his personal profit. In the meanwhile, ignorant +that Robert Morton was cognizant of his cupidity, he was as debonair as +if he had nothing on his conscience. He made himself useful in every +possible direction, and on parting from Bob at the train declared he +should look forward with the greatest anticipation to their future +business association together. How the young man longed to confront +the knave with his crime! It seemed almost imperative that before the +mischief proceeded farther steps should be taken to stop it. But what +proofs had he to present? +</P> + +<P> +No, a middle course was the only thing possible, Bob decided. He must +return to Willie's roof with the atmosphere uncleared and finish the +little that still remained to be done on the invention as if no shadow +clouded his sky. He could not leave Willie in the lurch. Furthermore, +it was out of the question for him to depart from Wilton until he had +come to an understanding with Delight Hathaway. The intimacy of the +past week, with its lights and shadows, had only served to render +stronger the bonds that bound him to her. In every issue the network +of strange events had developed her character, and displayed facets of +such unsuspected force and splendor that where beauty had at first +fascinated it was now the soul behind it that called to him. Truly +Madam Lee had in this grandchild a worthy descendant, and it brought an +added joy to his heart to thus link together the two beings he loved +most deeply. +</P> + +<P> +Therefore he made the journey back to Wilton, bravely resolved to bear +Janoah's taunts and Willie's silent reproaches until the moment came +when he could acquaint Mr. Galbraith with Snelling's perfidy and see +the injustice righted. It was not an enviable position, the one in +which he stood. He felt it to be only human that in the face of this +acid test the old inventor's affection and allegiance toward him should +waver, and that Janoah would detect and rejoice in its unsteadiness. +But as Bob relied upon ultimately solving the conundrum, he felt he +could endure a short interval of unmerited distrust. It was in Delight +and Tiny, who were unconscious of any false note in his relation to the +household, that he placed his hopes for aid. Hence it was with no +small degree of consternation that on reaching Wilton he learned that +the girl had resolved now to return to her own home. +</P> + +<P> +"I have been here over two weeks already," she said to Bob, "and I +really am needed by my own family. They miss me dreadfully when I am +gone. Zenas Henry goes down like a plummet, Abbie says. And then I +have so much to tell them! Besides, now that Aunt Tiny is well again, +there is no use in my remaining." +</P> + +<P> +"There is a great deal of use in it for me!" asserted the young man +moodily. +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense! You and Willie have your work, and in a day or two you will +be so buried in it you won't know whether I am here or not." +</P> + +<P> +"Delight!" +</P> + +<P> +A warning echo in the word and a quick forward movement caused her to +add hurriedly: +</P> + +<P> +"And—and—anyway, you can come up to our house and see me there. You +will like the three captains and Abbie, you simply can't help it; they +are dears! And you will worship Zenas Henry—at least you will if he +is—I mean sometimes he doesn't—well, you know how older men feel when +younger ones appear. He is very devoted to me and he is always +afraid— But I am sure he will understand, and that you and he will +get on beautifully together," she concluded with scarlet cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +The clumsy explanation had a dubious ring and Bob frowned. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, your being Aunt Tiny's nephew will help some; he likes her +very much. And of course any friend of Willie's and—and—of mine—" +</P> + +<P> +With every word the formidable Zenas Henry increased in formidableness. +She saw the scowl deepen. +</P> + +<P> +"You will come and see me, won't you?" she pleaded timidly. "I should +be sorry if—" +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton caught the slender hand and held it firmly. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll come were there a thousand Zenas Henrys!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's nice!" she answered with a nervous laugh. "There won't be a +thousand, though. There never can be but one as good and as dear as he +is! Only remember, you mustn't come right away. I shall have a great +deal to tell them at home, and it won't be easy for Zenas Henry to face +the fact that the Galbraiths have any claims on me. It has always been +his pride that I had no relatives and belonged entirely to him. And I +do, you know," she went on quickly. "Nothing on earth shall take me +from Zenas Henry! I worried a good deal lest Madam L—lest my +grandmother should insist that I spend part of my time with her. But +that is all settled now. I can keep up my friendship with the +Galbraith family by calls and short visits, and everything will go on +as before. I don't want anything changed." +</P> + +<P> +The young man saw her draw in her chin proudly. "Of course I have +forgiven my grandmother," she went on, "but I never can forget that she +made my mother's life unhappy and that she was unkind to my father. So +I never wish to accept any favors from any of them." +</P> + +<P> +"But the Galbraiths are not to blame for the past," ventured Bob, his +loyalty instantly in arms. +</P> + +<P> +"No. But they are Lees." +</P> + +<P> +"Your grandmother was sorry—bitterly sorry," urged the young man in a +persuasive tone. "It was probably her regret that caused her death." +</P> + +<P> +The girl nodded sadly. +</P> + +<P> +"I know," she said. "I realize she lived to regret what she had done. +I am not blaming her. But for all that, she never can mean to me what +she might have meant. Rather I shall always think of her as a +handsome, stately old lady who was your friend and loved you." +</P> + +<P> +She turned to leave him, but he refused to let her go. +</P> + +<P> +"Delight," he cried, drawing her closer, "will your grandmother be +dearer to you because she loved me? Tell me, sweetheart! Do I mean +anything in your life? You are the only thing that matters in mine." +</P> + +<P> +He saw a radiance flash into her wonderful eyes, and in another instant +her head was against his breast. +</P> + +<P> +"It is only because of you, Bob," she whispered, clinging to him, "that +I can forgive the Lees at all." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE PROGRESS OF ANOTHER ROMANCE +</H3> + + +<P> +The ecstasy that came to Robert Morton with his new-found happiness +swept before it the clouds that had overcast his sky, until his horizon +was almost as radiant as it had been on the day of his arrival at +Wilton. Janoah Eldridge came no more to the Spence cottage; Snelling +had vanished; the Galbraiths were occupied with their own affairs; and +the barrier between Bob and Willie began slowly to wear away. The +little old man was of far too believing and charitable a nature to hold +out long against his own optimism; moreover, he detested strife and was +much more willing to endure a wrong than to harbor ill feeling; hence +he was only too ready to reconstruct Janoah's venomous story into terms +of his native blind faith. He did not, to be sure, understand, and for +days and nights he puzzled ceaselessly over the problem events +presented; but as no light was forthcoming, his zest in the enigma +cooled until the mystery took on the unfathomable quality of various +other mysteries he had wrestled with and finally shelved as +unanswerable. There was the invention to finish, and so eager was he +to see it completed that to this interest every other thought was +subordinated. Therefore, although misgivings assailed him, they +gradually receded into his subconsciousness, leaving behind them much +of the good will he had formerly cherished toward Robert Morton. +</P> + +<P> +The olive branch Willie tacitly extended Bob seized with avidity. Had +not the world suddenly become too perfect to be marred by discord? +Why, in the exuberance of his joy he would have forgiven anybody +anything! He did own to bruised feelings, but time is a great healer +of both mental and of physical pain, and the hurts he had received soon +dimmed into scars that carried with them no acute sensation. His mind +was too much occupied with Delight Hathaway and the wonder of their +love for him to think to any great extent of himself. The romance +still remained a secret between them, for so vehement had been the +turmoil into which Zenas Henry had been thrown by the tidings of the +girl's past history that it seemed unwise to follow blow with blow and +acquaint him just at present with the news of the lovers' engagement. +Moreover, there was Cynthia Galbraith to consider. Robert Morton was +too chivalrous to be brutal to any woman, much less an old friend like +Cynthia. +</P> + +<P> +Hence he and Delight moved in a dream, the full beauty of which they +alone sensed. Their secret was all the more delicious for being a +secret, and with all life before them they agreed they could afford to +wait. Nevertheless concealment was at variance with the character of +either, and although they derived a certain exhilaration from their +clandestine happiness they longed for the time when their path should +lie entirely in the open, when Zenas Henry's consent should be +obtained, and their betrothal acknowledged before all the world. Until +such a moment came an irksome deception colored their love and left +them in constant danger of discovery. Indeed, had the observer been +keen enough to interpret psychic phenomena, there was betrayal in the +soft light of Delight's eyes and in the grave tenderness of her face; +and as for Bob, he felt his great good-fortune must be emblazoned on +every feature of his countenance. +</P> + +<P> +In point of fact, no such condition prevailed. The girl returned to +her home and took her place there, bringing with her her customary +buoyancy of spirit; and if her light-heartedness was more exaggerated +than was her wont, those who loved her attributed it to her joy at +being once more beneath her own roof-tree. Zenas Henry and the three +captains fluttered about her as if her absence had been one of years +rather than of days; and even Abbie, less demonstrative than the +others, showed by a quiet satisfaction her deep contentment at having +the girl back again. +</P> + +<P> +Of course Robert Morton let no great length of time elapse before he +climbed the hill and invaded the Brewster home. As Celestina's nephew +and Willie's guest he had credentials enough to assure him of a +welcome, and for an interval these sufficed to give him an enviable +entrée; but after a few calls, his winning personality secured for him +a place of his own. He inspected Captain Phineas Taylor's broken +compass and set it right; he discussed rheumatism and its woes with +Captain Benjamin Todd; he lent an attentive ear to the nautical +adventures of Captain Jonas Baker. Abbie, who was a systematic +housekeeper, approved of his habit of wiping his feet before he entered +the door and the careful fashion he had of replacing any chair he +moved; most men, she averred, were so thoughtless and untidy. But it +was with Zenas Henry that the young man won his greatest triumph, the +two immediately coming into harmony on the common ground of +motor-boating. Most of the male visitors who dropped in at the white +cottage came only to see Delight, but here was one who came to call on +the entire family. How charming it was! They liked him one and all; +how could they help it? And soon, so eagerly did they anticipate his +coming, any lapse in his visits caused keen disappointment. +</P> + +<P> +"I kinder thought that Morton feller might be round this evenin'," +Captain Phineas would yawn in a dispirited tone, when twilight had +deepened and the familiar figure failed to make its appearance above +the crest of the hill. "Ain't it Tuesday? He most always comes +Tuesdays." +</P> + +<P> +"Tuesdays, Thursdays, an' Saturdays you can pretty mortal sure bank on +him," Captain Benjamin would reply. "If he's comin' to-night, he +better be heavin' into sight, for it's damp an' I'll have to be turnin' +in soon." +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe he was delayed by somethin'," suggested Captain Jonas. "We'll +not give him up fur a spell longer. He told me he'd fetch me some +tobacco, an' he always does as he promises." +</P> + +<P> +Zenas Henry smoked in silence. +</P> + +<P> +"I sorter wish he would appear," he presently put in, between puffs at +his pipe. "There was somethin' I wanted to ask him about that durn +motor-boat." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't mean to say that boat's out of order again, do you, Zenas +Henry?" questioned Abbie. +</P> + +<P> +"No, oh, no! 'Tain't out of order exactly. But the pesky propeller is +kickin' up worse'n ordinary. It's awful taxin' on the patience. I'd +give a man everything I possess if he'd think up some plan to rid me of +that eel grass." +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you set Willie on the job?" asked Captain Benjamin. +</P> + +<P> +"Ain't I told Willie over an' over again about it?" Zenas Henry +replied, turning with exasperation on the speaker. "Ain't I hinted to +him plain as day—thrown the bait to him times without number? An' +ain't he just swum round the hook an' gone off without so much as +nibblin' it? The thing don't interest him, it's easy enough to see +that. He don't like motor-boats an' ain't got no sympathy with 'em, +an' he don't give a hang if they do come to grief. In fact, I think he +rather relishes hearin' they're snagged. I gave up expectin' any help +from him long ago." +</P> + +<P> +With a frown he resumed his smoking. +</P> + +<P> +"Where's Delight?" Captain Phineas asked, scenting his friend's mood +and veering tactfully to a less irritating topic. +</P> + +<P> +"That's so! Where is the child?" rejoined Captain Jonas. "She was +round here fussin' with them roses a minute ago." +</P> + +<P> +"That ain't her over toward the pine grove, is it?" queried Captain +Benjamin. "I thought I saw somethin' pink a-movin' among the trees." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that's her an' Bob Morton with her, sure's you're alive!" Captain +Phineas ejaculated with pleasure. "You'll get your tobacco now, Jonas, +an' Zenas Henry can ask him about the boat." +</P> + +<P> +"Can you see has he got a bundle?" piped the short-sighted Captain +Jonas anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Yep!" +</P> + +<P> +"Then he ain't forgot the tobacco," was the contented comment. "He +don't generally forget. He's a mighty likely youngster, that boy!" +</P> + +<P> +"An' friendly too, ain't he?" put in Captain Benjamin. "There's +nothin' he wouldn't do for you." +</P> + +<P> +"He's the nicest chap ever I see!" Captain Phineas echoed. "Don't you +think so, Zenas Henry?" +</P> + +<P> +The answer was some time in coming, and when it did it was deliberate +and was weighted with telling impressiveness: +</P> + +<P> +"There's few young fry can boast Bob Morton's common sense," he said. +"His headpiece is on frontside-to, an' the brains inside it are tickin' +strong an' steady." +</P> + +<P> +Abbie failed to join in the laugh that followed this announcement. +Either she did not catch the remark, or she was too deeply engrossed +with her own thoughts to heed it. Her eyes were fixed wistfully on the +two figures that were approaching,—the girl exquisite with youth and +happiness and the man who leaned protectingly over her. Yet whatever +the reveries that clouded her pensive face, she kept them to herself, +and if a shadow of dread mingled with her scrutiny no one noticed it. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps it was only Willie Spence who actually guessed the great +secret,—Willie, who having been starved for romance of his own, was +all the quicker to hear the heart-throbs of others. It chanced that +just now he was deeply involved in several amorous affairs and because +of them was experiencing no small degree of worry. The tangle between +Bob, Delight, and Cynthia Galbraith kept him in a state of constant +speculation and disquietude; then Bart Coffin and Minnie were +perilously near a rupture because of another rejuvenation of the +time-honored black satin; and although weeks had passed, Jack Nickerson +had not yet mustered up nerve enough to offer his heart and hand to +Sarah Libbie Lewis. +</P> + +<P> +"Next you know, both you an' Sarah Libbie will be under the sod," +Willie had tauntingly called after the lagging swain, as he passed the +house one afternoon on his way from the village. "What on earth you're +waitin' for is mor'n I can see." +</P> + +<P> +The discomfited coast guard hung his head sheepishly. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all right for you to talk, Willie Spence," he replied over his +shoulder. "You ain't got the speakin' to do. It's I that's got to ask +her." +</P> + +<P> +Then as he sped out of sight, he added as an afterthought: +</P> + +<P> +"By the way, Bart an' Minnie Coffin have come to a split at last over +that 'ere dress. After gettin' it fixed, an' promisin' him 'twas fur +the last time, she's ripped it all up again 'cause she's seen some +picter in a book she liked better. Bart's that mad he's took his sea +chest in the wheelbarrow an' set out for his mother's. I met him goin' +just now." +</P> + +<P> +"Bless my soul!" gasped Willie in consternation. "How far had he got?" +</P> + +<P> +"He was about quarter way to the Junction," was the response. "He sung +out he was headed where he'd be sure of gettin' three meals a day, an' +where somebody'd pay some attention to him." +</P> + +<P> +"H—m!" Willie reflected, scratching his thin locks. "Sorter looks as +if it was time I took a hand, don't it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I figger if anybody's goin' to interfere, now's the minute. Bart's +got his sails set an' is clearin' port fur good an' all this time, no +mistake. 'Twas sure to come sooner or later." +</P> + +<P> +Their roads parted and Willie turned toward the town, while Jack +Nickerson, with rolling gait, pursued his way to the beach where at the +tip of a slender bar of sand jutting out into the ocean the low roofs +of the life-saving station lay outlined against a somber sky. Great +banks of leaden clouds sagging over the horizon had dulled the water to +blackness, and a stiff gale was whistling inshore. Already the billows +were mounting angrily into caps of snarling foam and dashing themselves +on the sands with threatening echo. It promised to be a nasty night, +and Jack remembered as he looked that he was on patrol duty. Yet +although the muscles of his jaw tightened into grimness, it was not the +prospective tramp along a lonely beach in the darkness and wind that +caused the stern tensity of his countenance. Storms and their perils +were all in the day's work, and he faced their possible catastrophes +without a tremor. It would have been hard to find anywhere along the +Massachusetts coast a braver man than Jack Nickerson. Not only was he +ready to lead a crew of rescuers to succor the perishing, fearlessly +directing the surfboat in its plunge through a seething tide, but many +a time he had dashed bodily into the breakers, despite the hazard of a +powerful undertow, and dragged some drowning creature to a place of +safety. The fame of his many deeds of heroism had spread from one end +of the Cape to the other, and as he was native-born the community never +tired of relating his feats to any sojourner who strayed into the +locality. +</P> + +<P> +Yet courageous as was Jack Nickerson, there was one thing he was afraid +of and that was a woman. Not that he trembled in the presence of all +women—no, indeed! He had brought far too many of them to land for +that. Women as a class did not appall him in the least. He had seen +them in the agony of terror, in the throes of despair, and undismayed +had offered them sympathy and cheer. It was one woman only who +disconcerted him, the woman who for years had routed him out of his +habitual poise and left him as discomfited as a guilty schoolboy caught +in raiding the jam-pot. +</P> + +<P> +Yes, he who inspired his associates with both respect and admiration +was forced to acknowledge to himself that when face to face with Sarah +Libbie Lewis he was nothing better than a faltering ten-year-old whose +collar is too tight for him, and whose hands and feet are sizes too +large. The paradox was too humiliating to be endured! Nevertheless, +he had endured the ignominy of it for five-and-twenty years, and there +seemed to be every prospect that he would continue to endure it. +Periodically, it is true, he would rise in his wrath, resolving that +another sun should not go down on his vacillation and timidity; nay, +more, he would even stride forth to Sarah Libbie's home, vowing as he +went that before he slept he would speak the decisive words that had +for so long trembled on his tongue. +</P> + +<P> +Confronted by the lady of his choice, however, his courage, like that +of the immortal Bob Acres, would ooze away, and after basking for a +wretched interval in the glory of her smile, he would retrace his steps +with the declaration still unuttered. As far back as Jack could +remember, this woman had tyrannized over him and humbled his +self-esteem. In childhood she had leveled with a blow the sand castles +he built on the beach for her delight, and ever since she had contrived +to raze to the ground his less tangible castles,—dream-castles where +he saw her the mistress of his lonely fireside. Yet despite her +exasperating capriciousness, Jack had never wavered in his allegiance, +not a whit. Long ago he had made up his mind that Sarah Libbie was the +one woman in the world for him, and he had never seen cause to alter +that verdict. Nor did he entertain any doubt that Sarah Libbie's +sentiments coincided with his own, even though she did cloak her +preference beneath so many intricate and misleading devices of +femininity. It was not fear of the thundering <I>No</I> that hindered Jack +from proclaiming his affection; it was merely the physical +impossibility of putting his heart into intelligible and coherent +phraseology when Sarah Libbie's bewitching gaze was upon him. He could +meet all comers in a political argument, could hold his own against the +banter of the village gossips; he could even defy Willie and his +counsel; but to address Sarah Libbie on a matter so tender and of such +vital import was an ordeal so overwhelming that it caused his tongue to +cleave to the roof of his mouth, and his pulse almost to cease to beat. +Unlucky Jack! +</P> + +<P> +Many were the evenings he tramped the dunes, rehearsing in the darkness +the momentous declaration that was to work a miracle in his solitary +life. Like an actor committing his lines, he would repeat the words, +hurling them upon the blackness of the night where, to the +accompaniment of the booming surf, they echoed with a majesty and +dignity astonishingly impressive. But in the light of day and Sarah +Libbie's presence, his sonorous philippic would dwindle away into a +jargon of garbled phrases too disjointed and meaningless to carry +weight with any woman, let alone the peerless Sarah Libbie Lewis. +</P> + +<P> +Thus for more than a quarter of a century Jack Nickerson had silently +worshiped at the shrine of his divinity, and in the meantime the roses +in Sarah Libbie's cheeks had grown fainter, and tendrils of silver had +found their way into the soft curls that shadowed her brow. Still Jack +could not speak the words that were on his lips. Of course the little +woman could not do it for him, although she did venture by many a +subtle device to aid him in his dilemma. She baked for him pies, +cookies, and doughnuts of a delicious russet tint and sent them to the +station, that their aroma might gently prod into action her lover's +faintness of heart; these visible tokens of her devotion would +disappear, however, leaving behind them only a tranquil sense of +enjoyment; and as this lessened the fervor of her admirer's +determination would evaporate. Then Sarah Libbie would resort to less +ephemeral offerings,—scarves, wristers, mittens, patiently knitted +from blue wool and representing such an endless number of stitches that +Jack never viewed them without elation. +</P> + +<P> +And as if these proofs of her regard were not sufficient, every evening +just at sundown she would light a lantern and flash a good-night to him +across the waters that estranged them. It was a pretty custom that had +had its beginning when the boy and girl had lived as neighbors on the +deserted highway that followed the horseshoe curve of the Belleport +shore. They had evolved a code whereby, with much labor it must be +admitted, they were able to spell out messages that flickered their way +through the night with the beauty of a firefly's revel; but when Jack +had taken up work with the coast guard, this old-time substitute for +speech had been abandoned, giving place to the briefer method of three +nightly flashes. Neither toil nor illness, rain, snow or tempest had +in all the years prevented Sarah Libbie from being at her post at +twilight, there to watch for the gleam of Jack's lantern, whose rays +she answered with the light from her own. Even when fogs obscured the +Bar so that the distant headland was cut off from view, Sarah Libbie +would go through the little ceremony and after it was over return to +her knitting with a quiet gladness, although the presence of the other +factor in the drama was a mere matter of conjecture. +</P> + +<P> +Thus the romance had drifted on, and Jack Nickerson now faced his +fiftieth year and was no nearer bringing the love story to a +culmination than he had been when as a boy in his teens he had gazed +into Sarah Libbie's blue eyes and registered the vows he had never yet +dared utter. Nevertheless lonely and disappointed as was Sarah Libbie, +Jack was a thousand times more miserable. To-night, especially, as he +tramped the coast in the teeth of the gale, he thought of Willie +Spence's ridicule and one of his periodic moods of self-abasement came +upon him. What a wretched cur he was! How lacking in nerve! Any +woman, he muttered to himself, was better off without such a +feeble-willed, spineless husband! +</P> + +<P> +The fierce winds and whirling sands that stung his cheeks and buffeted +him seemed a merited castigation, a castigation that amounted to a +penance. He welcomed their punishment. As he stumbled on through the +pitch black of the night, he asked himself what he was going to do. +Was he always to go on loving Sarah Libbie and letting her love him and +never in manly fashion bring the affair to a climax? If he did not +mean to make her his wife, had he the right to stand in the way and +prevent her from marrying some one else? The baldness of the question +brought him up with a turn, and as he paused breathlessly awaiting his +own verdict, his eye was caught by the lantern dangling from his hand. +He regarded it with slow wonder as if he had never seen it before. Why +had he never thought until now of this method of communication? Not +only was it simple and direct, but it also obviated the difficulty that +had always been the stumbling-block in his path,—the necessity of +confronting Sarah Libbie in the flesh. He grasped the inspiration with +zeal. Fate was with him. His watch was up, and he was free to make +his way back to the station, if he so willed, and put his remarkable +scheme into execution. +</P> + +<P> +Away he sped through the howling tempest. +</P> + +<P> +As he flew up the steps of the lookout tower, he could detect the +twinkling lights from his lady's home gemmed against the background of +velvet darkness. Perhaps her fluttering little heart was uneasy about +her lover, and she was peering out into the gale. However that may be, +he had no difficulty in summoning her to the window when he raised his +lantern. Then, with the talisman held high, he paused. What should he +say? Of course he could send no lengthy message. Even a few words +meant a laborious amount of spelling. Perhaps <I>Will You Marry Me?</I> was +as simple and direct a way as he could put it. Firmly he gripped the +lantern. Then, instead of the customary three flashes, he began the +involved liftings, dippings, and circlings which in luminous waves were +to spell out his destiny. +</P> + +<P> +<I>Will You Marry</I>— +</P> + +<P> +Ah, there was no need for him to go on! Sarah Libbie had waited too +long for those magic words to doubt their purport. Nor did she +hesitate for an answer. In an instant she caught up the unique avowal, +and across the turbulent waters signalled to her beloved the three +mystic letters that should make her his forever. With the faint, +blinking flashes, the weight of years fell away from Jack Nickerson. +No longer was he a trembling, tongue-tied captive, scorning himself for +his want of will. He was a free man, the affianced husband of the most +wonderful creature in the world. In his exultation he raised his +lantern aloft and swung it round and round with the abandon of a boy +who tosses his cap in the air. Then he bounded down the iron staircase +like a child let out of school, dashing round their spiral windings +with reckless velocity. +</P> + +<P> +The deed was done! Sarah Libbie was his! +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +It might have been half an hour later, as he sat smoking in blissful +meditation in the living room of the station, that the door was +wrenched open and Willie Spence burst into the room. Every hair on the +old inventor's head was upright with anxiety, and he puffed +breathlessly: +</P> + +<P> +"What's ashore? I saw your signal an' knew straight off somethin' +terrible was up, for you've never called for help from the town before. +I've raised all the folks I could get a-holt of an' Bob Morton's gone +to get more. They'll be here on the double quick!" +</P> + +<P> +The boast was no idle one. Even as he spoke there was a tramping, a +rush of feet, and a babel of confused, frightened voices, and into the +room flocked the dwellers of the hamlet,—men, women, and children, all +with wind-tossed hair and strained, terrified faces. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +"Where's the wreck?" +</P> + +<P> +As they stood there tragic in the dim light, there was a stir near the +door and Sarah Libbie Lewis pushed her way through the crowd. +</P> + +<P> +She had stopped only to toss a black shawl over her head and in +contrast to its sable folds her cheeks and lips were ashen. +</P> + +<P> +"They told me there was a wreck," she cried, rushing to Jack's side and +seizing his arm wildly. "Oh, you won't go—you won't go and leave me +now, Jack—not so soon—not after to-night!" +</P> + +<P> +Already sobs were choking the words and her hands were clinging to his. +</P> + +<P> +With the supreme defiance of a man prepared to defend his dearest +possession against the universe, Jack Nickerson circled her in his +embrace and faced the throng. No longer was he the shrinking, timorous +supplicant. Victorious love had set her crown upon his brows, +bestowing dignity upon his years and glory upon his manhood. His +explanation came fearlessly to his lips. +</P> + +<P> +"There ain't no wreck," he said quietly. "All the same I'm glad you +saw my lantern an' came, 'cause I've got somethin' to tell you all. Me +an' Sarah Libbie are goin' to get married." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment there was an incredulous hush. Then Willie Spence came to +the rescue. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I will say, Jack," he drawled, "you had a pretty good nerve to +get us out on a night like this to tell us that! You might at least +have waited 'til mornin'. Still, I reckon if I'd been nigh on to a +quarter of a century gettin' my spunk together to ask a woman to marry +me an' had finally done it, I'd a-wanted somebody to know it." +</P> + +<P> +The words were not unkindly spoken and Jack joined in the general +laugh. Nothing mattered to him now. Oblivious to the spectators, he +was bending down over the woman he loved and murmuring: +</P> + +<P> +"I love you, Sarah Libbie. I've always loved you." +</P> + +<P> +The little old inventor watched the radiant pair a moment then motioned +to the villagers to slip away. But Bartley Coffin could not be +restrained from lagging behind and whispering confidentially in Jack's +ear: +</P> + +<P> +"If you want to be truly happy, mate, an' live clear of a life of +pesterin', don't you never buy Sarah Libbie a satin dress! Minnie an' +I have made it up, thanks to Willie Spence, but 'twas a tussle. I'd +come to the jumpin'-off place." +</P> + +<P> +The statement was but too true. Willie had indeed intervened and +averted a tragedy, but the feat had demanded ruthless measures, and he +had trudged home from the Coffins with the bone of contention clutched +rigidly beneath his arm. +</P> + +<P> +That night Celestina heard muffled sounds in the workshop. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, my land!" she murmured. "If Willie ain't hitched again! I did +hope nothin' new would come to him 'til he got rested up from this +other idee." +</P> + +<P> +But Willie's inspiration was not of the inventive type. Instead the +little old man was standing before the stove, kindling a fire, and into +its crackling blaze he was bundling the last remnants of Minnie +Coffin's far-famed black satin. The light played on his face which was +set in grim earnestness. +</P> + +<P> +"It seems a wicked shame," he observed in a whisper, as he viewed the +funeral pyre, "but it's the only way. Long's that dress remained on +earth there'd be no peace for Bart nor his wife either. It had to go." +</P> + +<P> +The flames danced higher, flashing in and out of the trimmings of jet +and charring the beads to dullness. In the morning only a heap of gray +ashes marked the flight of Minnie Coffin's social ambitions. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Requiescat in pace</I>!" murmured Willie as with lips firm with Puritan +stoicism he passed by the stove. There he added gently: "Poor Minnie! +Poor foolish Minnie!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WILLIE AS PILOT +</H3> + + +<P> +The invention was finished! The last rivet was in place, the last +screw secure, and before the fulfilment of his dream the little old man +stood with glowing face. It was a gentle, happy face with misty blue +eyes that carried at the moment a serene contentment. +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't 'a' done it but for you, Bob," he was saying. "The idea +was all well enough, but 'twould 'a' been of no use without other +brains to carry it out. So you must remember a big slice of the credit +is yours." +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, the thing is yours, Willie—every bit yours," protested he. "I +only did some of the mechanical part, and that any fool could do." +</P> + +<P> +"The mechanical part, as you call it, is full as important as the +notion," Willie persisted. "I shall tell Zenas Henry it's our +invention when I turn it over to him." +</P> + +<P> +The pronoun thrilled Bob with pleasure. It meant the sweeping aside of +the last film of distrust and the restoration of the old man's former +confidence and friendship. For days Willie had slowly been reaching +the conviction that if fraud had been practised Tiny's nephew had been +only an innocent party to it—the tool of more designing hands. How +was the lad to know he was being so artfully made use of? And anyway, +perhaps there may have been no conspiracy at all. Might not Janoah +have been mistaken about Snelling raiding the workshop? Why, a score +of reasons might have brought him there! He might have left behind him +something he needed; or there might have been something he wanted to +do. It was absurd to accuse him of a secret and deliberately planned +visit. +</P> + +<P> +Willie was a simple, single-minded soul and now that Janoah and his +malicious influence had been removed, he dropped comfortably back into +a tranquillity from which, when viewed in perspective, his former +suspicions seemed both unjust and ridiculous. Suppose Mr. Galbraith +did happen to be a boat-builder? Was he not Bob's friend and Delight's +uncle, a gentleman of honor who had money enough without stooping to +secure more by treachery? And did it not follow that since Mr. +Snelling was in his employ he must be a person of reputable character? +A fig for Janoah Spence's accusations! +</P> + +<P> +Willie blew a contemptuous whiff of smoke into the air. How had he +ever dropped to being so base as to credit them for an instant? He was +ashamed for having done so. +</P> + +<P> +Therefore whole-heartedly he gave his hand to Robert Morton, and if the +act were a mute petition for forgiveness it was none the less sincere +in its intent and was met with an equal spirit of good will. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose now that everything is complete, there is no reason why we +can't present the thing to Zenas Henry right away, is there?" +questioned Bob, who with hands thrust deep in his trousers' pockets +contemplated with satisfaction the product of their joint toil. +</P> + +<P> +"Not the least in the world," Willie answered. "If we was to keep it +here a week there ain't nothin' more we could do to it, an' since +you've tried it out over at Galbraith's we know it works." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it works all right!" laughed Bob. +</P> + +<P> +The eyes of the little inventor softened and into them crept a glint of +pensiveness. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he repeated, "we can deliver it up to Zenas Henry 'most anytime +now." He paused. "Queer, ain't it, how kinder attached you get to +anything you've fussed over so long? It gets to be 'most a part of +you. You'll think it funny, I guess, but do you know I'll be sorter +sorry to see this thing goin'." +</P> + +<P> +It was the regret of the parent compelled to part from his child and +with an effort at comfort Robert Morton said cheerfully: +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you'll be having a new scheme before long." +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe I will," Willie answered, brightening. "I never can tell when +the sun rises in the mornin' what idee will kitch me before night. +Still, I somehow feel there'll be no idee like this one. You know they +say every artist creates one masterpiece," he smiled shyly. "This, I +reckon, is my masterpiece." +</P> + +<P> +"It is a bully one, anyhow!" ejaculated Bob. "Aren't you curious to +hear what Zenas Henry will say when he sees it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorter itchin' to," admitted Willie in less meditative tone. +"Only last night I was thinkin' after I got to bed how would be the +best way of givin' it to him. I've sorter set my heart on springin' it +on him as a surprise. What's your notion?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think that would be a fine plan," replied Bob, eager to humor the +gentle dreamer. "If we could get him and the captains out of the way, +it would be good sport simply to fasten the attachment to the boat and +wait and see what happened." +</P> + +<P> +"Wouldn't that be the beateree!" chimed in Willie excitedly. His face +glowed and he rubbed his hands with honest pleasure. "Wouldn't it, +though? We could manage it, too, for Delight could arrange to get +Zenas Henry an' the three captains out of the way. She's an almighty +good one at keepin' a secret, as I reckon you've found out already." +</P> + +<P> +He stole a sly glance at the young man at his elbow who flushed +uncomfortably. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he rambled on, "Delight can shut her mouth on occasions like as +if it was a scallop shell. The only trouble is she'd oughter close her +eyes too, for they talk 'most as well as her tongue does. Likely +you've noticed that," he added innocently. +</P> + +<P> +"I—eh—" +</P> + +<P> +"Fur's that goes, your own eyes do somethin' in the speakin' line," +affirmed Willie, bending to fleck a bit of dust from the appliance +before them. +</P> + +<P> +"What!" Robert Morton exclaimed with alarm. +</P> + +<P> +The old inventor nodded gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," continued he, "now I come to think of it, you've got among the +most speakin' eyes I ever see. They kinder bawl things right out." +</P> + +<P> +"What—what—have they—" stammered Bob, crumpling weakly down upon the +rickety chair before the stove. +</P> + +<P> +"Bawled? Oh, a lot of things," was the provokingly ambiguous retort. +</P> + +<P> +His companion eyed him narrowly. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm—I'm—in a horrible mess, Willie," he suddenly blurted out quite +irrelevently. +</P> + +<P> +"I know it." +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton gasped, then lapsed into stunned silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Without goin' into any details or discussin' any ladies we know, my +advice would be to make a clean breast of the whole thing," the little +old man announced, avoiding Robert Morton's eyes and blowing a ring of +smoke from his pipe impersonally toward the low ceiling. "Have it out +with Zenas Henry an' set yourself right with the Belleport folks. You +don't want to do nothin' under cover." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I don't," rejoined the younger man quickly. "The reason I didn't +do so in the first place was because Zenas Henry was so upset when he +heard about Madam Lee that we—I thought—" +</P> + +<P> +"He's calmed down now, ain't he?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he seems to have accepted the facts, especially as the Galbraiths +have not been near him and have let the whole matter drop. Of course +that is only a temporary condition, however. Mr. Galbraith has been in +New York attending to important matters ever since Madam Lee's death. +What will be done when he returns I do not know; but he will do +something—you may be sure of that." +</P> + +<P> +"That ain't no special business of yours or mine, is it?" Willie +remarked. "All that concerns you is to let both those men know where +you stand—Zenas Henry first, 'cause he's been like a father to +Delight; an' Mr. Galbraith afterwards, 'cause—" he hesitated for the +fraction of a second, "'cause the Galbraiths are the girl's nearest of +kin an' legally, I s'pose, have a right—" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," interrupted Robert Morton hastily. +</P> + +<P> +"When you get things all squared up, we'll talk more about it," +continued Willie. "But 'til you do the affair ain't open an' above +board, an' I don't want nothin' to do with it. The top of the ocean is +good enough for me; I never was much on swimmin' under water." +</P> + +<P> +He broke off abruptly to refill his pipe. +</P> + +<P> +"Now about this motor-boat," he went on crisply, veering to a less +delicate subject. "S'pose you fix it up with Delight to keep Zenas +Henry an' the three captains away from the beach for a couple of days +so'st to give us time to get our invention securely rigged to the <I>Sea +Gull</I>. She could find somethin' for 'em to do up at the house for that +long, couldn't she?" +</P> + +<P> +"I guess so." +</P> + +<P> +"If she can't, Abbie can," chuckled Willie, with a grin. "Abbie +Brewster's the most famous woman in the world for settin' folks to +work. She's made Zenas Henry clean over since his marriage. Why, I +remember the time when you could no more have got him to do a day's +work than you could have lined up the fish of the sea in a +Sunday-school. But with trainin', Zenas Henry now does his plowin', +plantin' an' harvestin' in somethin' approachin' alarm-clock fashion. +Of course, he backslides if he ain't constantly held to it; but knowin' +his past it's a miracle what Abbie's made of him. She ain't never +wholly reformed his temper, though. There's plenty of cayenne in that +still. I reckon if you was to amputate Zenas Henry's temper you'd find +you had took away the most interestin' part of him." +</P> + +<P> +His listener smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Now you go ahead an' arrange things with Delight, Bob," continued +Willie. "An interview with her won't be no great hardship for you, +will it? I thought not. An' any fillin' in I can do, I'll do—any +fillin' in," he repeated significantly. "You can count on me to plug +any gaps that come anywheres—remember that." +</P> + +<P> +"It's bully of you, Willie!" cried Bob, seizing his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a mite," protested the little man, with a deprecating gesture. +"Now that I've got Bart Coffin an' Minnie livin' like turtle doves, an' +Jack Nickerson as good as married to Sarah Libbie Lewis, two of my +ships seem to have dropped anchor safe an' sound. I reckon I shan't +need to do no more pilotin' there." +</P> + +<P> +The little old inventor stopped a moment, then added: +</P> + +<P> +"Sometimes I figger what I was put in the world for was to do pilot +duty. You know there's folks that never own a ship of their own but +just spend their days towin' other people's ships into port. They +ain't so bad off neither," he went on in a merrier tone, "'cause +there's a heap of joy in helpin' some other vessel to make a landin'." +</P> + +<P> +More moved by the words than he would have confessed, Robert Morton +watched the bent figure move through the door and out into the +sunshine; and afterward, banishing the seriousness of his mood, he +climbed the hill to the white cottage, there to evolve with Delight a +plot that should hold the men of the Brewster household captive long +enough for Willie and himself to attach to Zenas Henry's motor-boat the +new invention. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ONE MORE OF WILLIE'S SHIPS REACHES PORT +</H3> + + +<P> +Three feverish days passed, days of constant hard work and myriad +trivial annoyances. A train of misadventures had attended the +transference of Willie's "idee" to Zenas Henry's boat. Parts had +failed to fit, and much wearisome toil had been demanded before the +device was actually in place. At last, however, all was ready, and +Abbie Brewster, a party to the conspiracy, had on a sunny morning urged +her reluctant spouse and the three captains to make a trip out to the +Bar for clams. They were none too keen about the proposed expedition, +for the weather was warm and their course lay through shallow waters +which after the recent storm were turbid with seaweed. Nevertheless, +ignoring their unwillingness, Abbie declared she must have the clams, +and was not her word law? +</P> + +<P> +Therefore, without enthusiasm, the four fishermen had set forth with +their buckets and their clam forks, and it was now a full three hours +since the motor-boat that carried them had disappeared around the point +of sand jutting into the sparkling waters of the bay. +</P> + +<P> +Bob and Willie, secreted in the workshop, had breathlessly watched the +<I>Sea Gull</I> thread her way through the channel and make the curving +shelter of the dunes, and ever since the old inventor had sat alert on +an overturned nail keg, his binoculars in one hand and his great silver +watch in the other, counting the moments until the little craft should +return from its momentous cruise. The vigil had been long and tedious, +with only the ticking of the mammoth timepiece and the far-off rumble +of the surf to break the stillness. +</P> + +<P> +Presently Celestina came from the kitchen into the shop. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm bringin' you a dish of hot doughnuts," she said, a kindly sympathy +in her face. "Oughtn't them men to be comin' pretty soon now?" +</P> + +<P> +For the hundredth time Willie raised the glasses and scanned the +shimmering golden waters. +</P> + +<P> +"We should sight 'em before long," he nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't see nothin' of 'em?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not yet." +</P> + +<P> +There was an anxious frown on his forehead. +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you eat somethin'?" suggested she. "It might take your mind +off worryin'." +</P> + +<P> +"I ain't worryin', Tiny," was the confident reply. "The boat's all +right." +</P> + +<P> +"S'pose it should be snagged or somethin' outside the bay?" she +ventured. "I wish to goodness they'd come back. Look, here's Delight +an' Abbie comin' through the grove. Likely they've been gettin' +uneasy, too." +</P> + +<P> +Sure enough, moving among the low pines that shaded the slope between +the Spence and Brewster houses they saw the two women. +</P> + +<P> +Abbie was stouter now than when she had come as a bride to Zenas +Henry's white cottage, but there was a serenity in her mien that +softened her expression into charming womanliness. As she neared the +shed she glanced at Willie with an uneasiness she could not wholly +conceal. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't it seem to you, Willie, that it's gettin' most time for 'em to +be gettin' home?" +</P> + +<P> +"You ain't nervous, Abbie," smiled the little old man. +</P> + +<P> +"N—o, not really. Of course, I know they're all right. Still, they +ain't never stayed clammin' so long before." +</P> + +<P> +"I wouldn't worry, Auntie," Delight put in, taking her hand +reassuringly. "A thousand things may have delayed them. I am sure—" +</P> + +<P> +"They're comin'!" broke in Willie with sudden excitement. "The boat's +comin'. Ain't that her makin' the point, Bob? She's clippin' along +like a race horse, too. Lord! Watch her go." +</P> + +<P> +"That's the <I>Sea Gull</I>!" cried Abbie. "I don't need no glasses to make +her out. That's her! How foolish I was to go fussin'. Still, I +always have a kind of dread—" +</P> + +<P> +"I know, I know," interrupted the inventor gently. "But there warn't +no call for worry this time. I felt mortal certain they'd be heavin' +into sight pretty soon." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess likely now we know they're on the way, we'd better slip home +again," Abbie smiled. "I'd feel silly enough to have 'em find us here." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense, Abbie!" said Celestina. "They needn't know you was worried. +Ain't it possible you might have come down here on an errand? Wait +'til they pass and walk back with 'em. What difference does it make if +your dinner is late?" +</P> + +<P> +Abbie hesitated. Her dinner never was late; yet, for that matter, she +never was out visiting her neighbors in the middle of the day, either. +Perhaps, as she had followed one demoralizing impulse and transgressed +all her domestic traditions, the breaking of another did not matter. +</P> + +<P> +"I—s'pose I might wait," she answered. "I'd love dearly to hear what +they'll have to say." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, do wait, Auntie!" Delight begged. "It won't be long now before +they get here." +</P> + +<P> +"Better stay, Abbie," put in Willie. "Bob an' I won't be inventin' +every day." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," was the half unwilling answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you wonder how it worked?" cried Delight, addressing Bob, her +cheeks scarlet with excitement. "See, here they come! Did you ever +hear such a chatter! Zenas Henry is swinging that clam bucket as if +there wasn't a thing in it. He will spill them all out if he isn't +careful." +</P> + +<P> +On strode the four men. With a bound they cleared the bank before the +Spence cottage and crowded in at the narrow gate. +</P> + +<P> +"Whar is he? Whar's Willie?" demanded Zenas Henry. Then, catching +sight of the old inventor half concealed behind his workbench, he +shouted: +</P> + +<P> +"Here, Willie, you rascal, out with you! Don't go hidin' there behind +that table. Man alive, why didn't you tell us what you was up to?" +</P> + +<P> +"Did it work, Zenas Henry?" queried the little fellow eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"Did it work!" mimicked Zenas Henry with a guffaw. "Say, Phineas, did +it?" +</P> + +<P> +The fishermen gave an exuberant roar of laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Did it work?" repeated Zenas Henry so out of breath that he could +scarcely articulate the words. "Good Lord, don't it just! Why, we +clipped along through that seaweed as if it warn't there." +</P> + +<P> +"You didn't get snagged then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Snagged? Not much! Ain't we been ridin' in an' out every little eel +grass cove along the shore just for the sheer deviltry of seein' if we +could get snagged?" piped Captain Benjamin. "There'll be no more +rockin' in the channel for us. My eye! Think of that!" +</P> + +<P> +"How ever did you manage it, Willie?" Zenas Henry questioned. +</P> + +<P> +"What makes you so sure it was me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Lord! Who else would it be?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it warn't all me," protested the little inventor modestly. +"Most of it was Bob. I got the idee an' he did the rest—him an' Mr. +Galbraith's friend, Mr. Snellin'." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm clean beat—that's all I can say," observed Zenas Henry, +mopping his brow. "I tell you what, it's made a new thing of that +motor-boat. There's no thankin' you. All is, Willie, if you want +anything of mine it's yours for the askin'. Just speak up an' you can +have it." +</P> + +<P> +A radiant smile spread over the face of the spinner of cobwebs. +</P> + +<P> +"You ain't got nothin' I covet, Zenas Henry," he answered slowly, "but +you've got somethin' Bob Morton wants powerful bad." +</P> + +<P> +He saw a mystified expression steal into Zenas Henry's face. +</P> + +<P> +"Happiness didn't come to you early in life, Zenas Henry," went on +Willie, his voice taking on a note of gentle persuasion, "an' often +I've heard you lament you was cheated out of spendin' your youth with +Abbie. Of course, marryin' late is better than not marryin' at all, +though. Some of the rest of us—" he motioned toward the three +captains and Celestina, "have got passed by altogether. But Delight +an' Bob have found love early, while the bloom is still on it. You +wouldn't wish to keep 'em from their birthright, would you, Zenas +Henry?" +</P> + +<P> +In the hush that followed the plea, Abbie crept up to her husband and +slipped her hand into his. +</P> + +<P> +"The child loves him, dear," she said, looking up into the man's stern +face. "I read it in her eyes long ago. You want her to be happy, +don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +Her voice trembled. Only the mother instinct, supreme in its +selflessness, gave her the strength to continue: "We must not think of +ourselves. Real love is heaven-sent. It is ours neither to give nor +to deny." +</P> + +<P> +How still the room was. Suddenly it had been transformed into a battle +ground on which a soul waged mortal combat. There was no question in +the minds of those who viewed the struggle that the issue presented had +come as a shock, and that to meet it taxed every ounce of forbearance +and control that the man possessed. He looked as one stricken, his +face a turmoil of jealousy, grief, despair, and disappointment. But +gradually a gentler light shone in his eyes,—a light radiant, and +triumphant; love was conqueror and raising his head he murmured: +</P> + +<P> +"Where is the child?" +</P> + +<P> +She sped to his side. +</P> + +<P> +"So you love him, do you, little girl?" he asked, smiling faintly down +at her as he encircled her with his great arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Zenas Henry," she whispered. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment he held her close as if he could never let her go. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Tiny," he said, "I don't know as we have anything to say against +it. He's your nephew an' she's my daughter—yes, my daughter," he +added fiercely, "in spite of the Lees and the Galbraiths." With a +swift gesture he turned toward Robert Morton. "Young man, I am payin' +you a heavy fee for that motor-boat. I'm handin' over to you the most +precious thing I have in the world. See you value it as you should or, +by God, your life won't be worth a straw to Willie, the three captains, +or me." +</P> + +<P> +They saw him wheel abruptly and stride alone into the shadow of the low +pines. Silently the others drifted from the room and Delight was left +alone with her lover. +</P> + +<P> +As Bob caught the girl in his arms, a great wave of passion surged +through his body, causing its every fiber to vibrate in tune with the +mad beating of his heart. He kissed her hair, her cheeks, the white +curve of her exquisite throat; he buried his face in her hair and let +his hands wander over its silky ripples. +</P> + +<P> +"I love you," he panted,—"I love you with all my heart. Tell me you +love me, Delight." +</P> + +<P> +"You know I do," was the shy answer. +</P> + +<P> +Again he kissed her soft lips. +</P> + +<P> +"I mustn't stay, Bob," she said at last, trying to draw herself from +his embrace. "Zenas Henry is alone somewhere, almost broken-hearted; I +must find and comfort him." +</P> + +<P> +But the arms that held her did not loosen their hold. +</P> + +<P> +"Please let me go, Bob dear," she coaxed. "We mustn't be selfish." +</P> + +<P> +Her request struck the right note and instantly she was free. +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton followed her to the door and stood watching as she +hurried along the copper-matted path of the woods sunflecked and +mottled with shadow. +</P> + +<P> +What a sweet miracle it was, he mused! She was his now before all the +world, thanks to Willie's skilful pilotage. Where was the little old +man—that dreamer of dreams, who with Midas-like touch left upon +everything with which he came in contact the golden impress of his +heart? He must seek him out and thank him for his aid. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps the thought carried with it a potent charm of magic, for no +sooner had Robert Morton framed it than the inventor himself appeared +on the threshold. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, another of my ships has made port!" cried he triumphantly. +</P> + +<P> +His delicate face was illumined with a joy so transcendent that one +might easily have believed that it was to him love's touchstone had +been given. +</P> + +<P> +"I never can thank you, Willie!" burst out the young man. +</P> + +<P> +"Be good to Delight, my boy, an' make her happy; that's all the thanks +I want," was the grave response. +</P> + +<P> +A pause fell between them. Perhaps Willie was thinking of the days +that must inevitably come when the girl he had loved since childhood +would be far away. How dull the gray house would be when she no longer +flitted in and out its doors! Try as he would to banish the selfish +reflection, it returned persistently. Then suddenly something quite +outside himself put the reverie to rout. +</P> + +<P> +It was the querulous voice of Janoah Eldridge. +</P> + +<P> +"I was right about them Galbraiths," he cried exultantly, standing in +the doorway and hurling the words into the room where the two men +lingered. "'Twas exactly as I said. Lyman Bearse's boy went up on the +Boston train one afternoon in front of Snelling an' that other feller +who was here, an' he heard every word they uttered. He said they +talked the whole way about gettin' a patent out on your invention. +Now, Willie Spence, was I right or warn't I? Mebbe you'll believe me +the next time I warn you against folks." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SURPRISES +</H3> + + +<P> +The next morning Robert Morton awoke with the fixed determination that +another sun should not go down until he had acquainted Mr. Galbraith +with Janoah's accusations. The misgivings, the suspicions, the fears +he entertained must be cleared up at any cost or further residence +beneath Willie's roof would be impossible. If necessary he would go to +New York to see the financier. But he must know where the blame for +Snelling's treachery lay, whether with the capitalist or with his +employee. Accordingly he arose early, and having breakfasted went down +to the store where the nearest telephone was and called up the +Belleport residence. He was fortunate in getting Parker, the old +butler, on the wire. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Galbraith, Mr. Bob?" came the voice of the servant. "Yes, sir, he +arrived home last night. I think he is going over to Wilton to-day to +see you. I heard him saying something about it. Wait a minute. I +hear him on the stairs now." +</P> + +<P> +There was a pause; then after a delay another voice that Bob instantly +recognized to be that of the master of the house called: +</P> + +<P> +"Bob? Well, hello, boy! I guess you thought we had all left you and +your affairs high and dry, didn't you? I've been in New York, you +know—am just back. I want to see you as soon as I can about several +important matters. Suppose I run over in the car this morning? Will +you be there? Good! I'll see you later, then." +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton hung up the receiver and walked meditatively along the +sandy road to the gray cottage. The die was cast. Whatever happened, +it could not be worse than had been the days of suspense and anxiety +that he had endured. +</P> + +<P> +The morning was close and humid, a land breeze wafting across the +fields perfumes of sun-scorched pine and blossoming roses. Scarce a +ripple marred the glittering surface of the bay that stretched like a +sheet of burnished brass as far as one could see. Now and then a faint +zephyr, rising from the wooded slopes, swept down the hill, swirling +into billows of vivid emerald the coarse salt grass that swayed on the +marshes. So still it was that every whisper of the surf lapping the +edge of the bar could be heard; over and over the waters stole up on +the shore, fretted into foam and receded, each wave creeping +rhythmically back into the deep to a song of shifting sand and pebbles. +How silvery the tiny houses of the hamlet looked against the azure of +the sky! The few scattered trees that had braved the onslaughts of +repeated gales listed landward, but the pines sheltered in the hollows +of the dunes stood erect and darkly mysterious, their plumes bending +idly in the soft wind. +</P> + +<P> +It was all a part of the idyl, the daydream, Robert Morton +thought,—too flawless a thing to last. Willie, so childlike and +simple, his kindly aunt, Delight with her rare beauty, and even the +romance of his love seemed a part of its unreality. Was it not to be +expected that sooner or later man with his blundering touch would +destroy the loveliness, making prose of the poem? The Galbraiths, +Snelling, the greed for money, Janoah's jealousy and evil +suspicions—ah, it did not take long for such influences to mar the +peace of a heaven and smear the grime of earth upon its fairness! Only +glimpses of perfection were granted the dwellers of this +planet,—quick, transient flashes that mirrored a future free from +finite limitations. He who expected to remain on the heights in this +world was doomed to disappointment. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly he skirted the curving beach and reached the weathered cottage +where the sun beat hotly down, kissing into flower every bud of the +clinging roses that festooned its gray doorway. Willie welcomed him +but a glory had passed from the old man's face since the conversation +of the night before. How could it be otherwise? Sleepless hours had +left behind them weary, careworn lines; and in the troubled depths of +the blue eyes the old interrogation had once more awakened. Bob knew +not how to meet its silent combat between hope and disappointment, and +he hailed as a glad relief the beating echo of the Galbraiths' +motor-car as it swept the horseshoe outline of the harbor and came to a +stop before the gate. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Galbraith, who was alone, beckoned to him, and as the younger man +climbed to the seat beside him said: +</P> + +<P> +"I thought perhaps you might like to go for a spin along the shore. It +is warm to-day and we shall get more breeze; besides, we can talk more +freely in the automobile than here or at the Belleport house. Roger +has just arrived and also Howard Snelling." +</P> + +<P> +In spite of himself, Robert Morton betrayed his surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Snelling back again!" he exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he is down," was the laconic answer. +</P> + +<P> +For all his boasted eagerness to talk, however, Richard Galbraith did +not immediately avail himself of the privilege of conversation. On the +contrary, as Bob shot a questioning glance toward him, he thought he +detected for the first time in his life a strange uneasiness in the +capitalist's habitually self-contained manner. He seemed to be framing +an introduction for what he wished to say. +</P> + +<P> +"I have several matters to talk over with you, Bob," he began at last +in a resolute tone. "Some of them are pleasant and some of them may +not, I fear, prove to be so. But we must take them as they come, and +pleasant or unpleasant, I want you to believe that I have no choice but +to place them before you. I have always felt for you a warm +friendship, my boy, and that friendship has in no way lessened. +Therefore if any word I speak causes you unhappiness, I want you to +remember that I only say it because I must. We are not always +permitted to readjust life according to our inclinations. Duty maps +out many of our paths and we must close our lips and travel them." +</P> + +<P> +He stopped as if considering how to proceed. +</P> + +<P> +"While in New York," he presently resumed, "I probated Madam Lee's +will. She was possessed of a large estate and knew very definitely +what she wanted done with it. The will was made several years ago, and +no document that I have ever seen was more specifically and +conscientiously drawn up. Although she left jewels and heirlooms to my +family, she left none of her other property to the Galbraiths, +explaining that her daughter had all she needed and that both Cynthia +and Roger had more already than was good for them." He smiled +humorously. "I guessed pretty accurately what she intended to do, as +some time ago we talked the matter over, and I heartily approved of her +proposed bequest." +</P> + +<P> +He cleared his throat and in wondering silence Robert Morton waited. +</P> + +<P> +"The property was left in bulk to an old friend whom Madam Lee had +known for years—some one entirely outside the family." +</P> + +<P> +Bob did not speak. +</P> + +<P> +"I would gladly see the Lee money administered as its owner desired to +have it," Mr. Galbraith went on. "Her ideas were wise, kind, and just, +and the fulfilment of her wishes would have brought to me—to us +all—the greatest happiness. But since that will was made a new +condition has arisen. Delight Hathaway, the child of her favorite +daughter, has appeared. Had the old lady lived, I feel certain that in +view of this fact she would have altered the document that this girl +might inherit at least a portion of the fortune in which her mother +never had any share. You knew Madam Lee very intimately, Bob—probably +better than any of the rest of us. What do you think?" +</P> + +<P> +The reply came without hesitation. +</P> + +<P> +"I am certain Madam Lee would have seen to it that her granddaughter +was provided for." +</P> + +<P> +"So it seems to me," rejoined Mr. Galbraith with evident relief. "I am +glad that our code of ethics agrees thus far. Now the question is, +Bob, how strong are you for the right? If honorable action meant +sacrifice, would you be ready to meet it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I hope so," was the modest response. +</P> + +<P> +"I know so," Mr. Galbraith declared earnestly, "and it is because I am +so sure of it that I came to you to-day. Bob, it was to you that Madam +Lee left her fortune. It was to be used for the furthering of your +dearest wish because—to quote her own words—<I>because I love the boy +as if he were of my own blood</I>." +</P> + +<P> +As he listened, Robert Morton's eyes grew cloudy, and emotion choked +his utterance until he could not speak. +</P> + +<P> +Apparently Mr. Galbraith either expected no reply or tactfully +interpreted his silence, for without waiting he continued: +</P> + +<P> +"You can understand now, Bob, feeling toward you as we all do, that +this recent family development has not been easy for us to confront. +Delight Hathaway is a beautiful girl who possesses, no doubt, admirable +qualities. We expect to become warmly attached to her in time. But +for all her kinship she is a stranger to us while you are of our own—a +brother, friend." For the first time the kind voice faltered. "I have +even cherished a hope," it went on in a lower tone, "that perhaps in +the future a closer bond might bind you to us. Nothing in the world +would have given me greater satisfaction." +</P> + +<P> +Bob suddenly felt the blood leap to his face in a crimson flood. He +gasped out an incoherent word or two, hoping to check Mr. Galbraith's +speech, but no intelligible phrases came to his tongue. +</P> + +<P> +"Life is a strangely perverse game, isn't it?"' mused the capitalist. +"We build our castles, build them not alone for ourselves but for +others, and those we love shatter the structure we have so +painstakingly reared and on its ruined site make for themselves castles +of their own." +</P> + +<P> +His eyes were fixed on the narrowing ribbon of sand over which the car +sped. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I—have another surprise for you, Bob," he said in a lower tone, +without lifting his gaze from the reach of highway ahead. "Cynthia is +to be married." +</P> + +<P> +"Cynthia!" A chaos of emotions mingled in the word. +</P> + +<P> +"Her engagement has been an overwhelming shock to her mother and me," +the elder man continued steadily, still without shifting his eyes from +the road over which he guided the car, "I don't know why the +possibility never occurred to us; but it never did. She is to marry +Howard Snelling." +</P> + +<P> +A quick wave of revulsion swept over Robert Morton. This, then, was +the reason Snelling had filched from Willie his invention,—that he +might have greater riches to lay at the feet of his fiancée, and +perhaps reach more nearly a financial equality with her family. He saw +it all now. And probably it was Snelling's jealousy of himself that +had led him to retaliate by heaping his unwelcome attentions on +Delight. At last it was clear as day,—Cynthia's growing coldness and +her continual trips to and from Belleport in the boatbuilder's company. +Robert Morton could have laughed aloud at his own stupidity. The +engagement explained, too, Mr. Snelling's confusion and embarrassment +at every mention of the Galbraith family. Why, a child might have +fathomed the romance! +</P> + +<P> +Again Mr. Galbraith was speaking. +</P> + +<P> +"And now, Bob, for the last surprise of all. At first, I thought I +would delay telling you until the papers were all in shape and ready +for signature; but on second thought it seemed a pity to shut you out +of the fun. We have all the data prepared to take out a patent on Mr. +Spence's motor-boat." +</P> + +<P> +Bob felt a sudden sinking of his heart, a stifling of his breath. +</P> + +<P> +"The afternoon you all came over to Belleport," explained the +financier, "I got Snelling and a draughtsman from our company to go to +the shop and in the old gentleman's absence secure measurements and the +necessary information. These we took to New York and put into proper +hands, and when the affidavits are sworn to and everything is in legal +form I see no reason why the government should not grant the patent. +If it does, there should be a little fortune in the appliance." +</P> + +<P> +Robert Morton did not move. He felt as if he had been turned to stone. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought you would be interested," observed Mr. Galbraith, a +suggestion of disappointment in his voice. "I did not consult you at +first because I felt so sure that the idea would please you. I'm sorry +if it doesn't. It seemed to me that if we could help Mr. Spence to +patent his device, he might do quite a little with it. I thought he +might not know how to go at the matter himself. So we are preparing +all the papers for him to file an application in his own name. +Afterward I propose either to purchase from him the rights to use it, +or to buy the thing outright at a reasonable figure. In either case, +the deal will net him quite an income and place him beyond the +possibility of financial worry so long as he lives." +</P> + +<P> +Oh, the relief that surged over Robert Morton! Joy rioted with shame, +happiness with self-reproach. How feeble his faith had been. He hoped +Mr. Galbraith did not read in his eyes the suspicions he had cherished. +</P> + +<P> +Apparently he did not, for in the same kindly manner he asked: +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think it would be better to keep the secret from the little old +chap a bit longer or tell him now?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, tell him now! Tell him now!" cried Bob. "Tell him right away +when we get back!" +</P> + +<P> +His companion laughed at his eagerness and for the first time their +eyes met. +</P> + +<P> +"And now, sir," began Robert Morton, a ring of buoyancy and +light-heartedness in his voice such as had not sounded in it for weeks, +"I have a surprise for you. I, too, am going to be married." +</P> + +<P> +The car swerved suddenly as if a tremor had passed through the hands on +the wheel. +</P> + +<P> +"I am engaged to your niece, Mr. Galbraith." +</P> + +<P> +"To my—my niece!" repeated the great man blankly. "I don't think I +quite—" +</P> + +<P> +"To Delight Hathaway." +</P> + +<P> +Bob saw a dull brick-red flush color the neck of the capitalist and +steal up into his face. For a moment he seemed at a loss for words. +Then presently, as if he had succeeded in readjusting his ideas, he +ejaculated: +</P> + +<P> +"My word, Bob! Well, you young people have mixed yourselves up nicely! +However, if you all are happy, that is the main thing; you are the ones +to be suited. We shall still have you in the family, anyway." He +laughed. "And about the property," he went on thoughtfully,—"this +simplifies matters greatly, for it won't make much difference now which +of you has it—you or the girl." +</P> + +<P> +But Bob stopped him with a quick protest. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't want Delight to know Madam Lee's money has previously been +willed to me," he said. "If she suspected that, she would never take +it. You are not to tell her—promise me you will see to that." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course I will arrange the affair any way you wish," Mr. Galbraith +agreed, with a dubious frown. "But if you are to marry her, I really +can't see what difference it would make." +</P> + +<P> +"It will make a great deal of difference," declared the younger man. +"In the one case the fortune will be hers to use as she pleases. She +will have the independent right to hand it over to the Brewsters if she +so desires. Our entire relation will be placed on another basis; for +if I marry her under those conditions I marry an heiress, not the ward +of a poor fisherman." +</P> + +<P> +"I hadn't thought of that." +</P> + +<P> +"On the other hand, if she refuses the money, it will be mine to lay at +her feet. Can't you see what a vast contrast there will be in my +position?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Galbraith nodded thoughtfully as if considering the matter from a +new angle. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the only reason the fortune would mean anything to me—that I +might have something to offer her," continued Robert Morton. "Of +course, as you said, she would have the benefit of the money in either +case; but it makes a difference whether it comes to her by the mere +right of inheritance, or whether she takes it from her—husband." +</P> + +<P> +"There is a distinction," admitted the elder man. "Now that you call +my attention to it, I can see that readily. It is a delicate one, but +its consequences are far-reaching. Well, you shall have your way! A +proportion of the legacy shall be offered to Delight, and the secret +regarding it shall be yours to keep or divulge as you see fit. You are +a noble fellow, Bob. I only wish—" He checked the impulsive phrase +that rose to his lips but not before the listener had caught its import. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Snelling is a fine man, Mr. Galbraith," broke in Bob instantly, +dreading the words that might follow. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I know it—there is no question about that," the capitalist +assented with haste. "Success is written all over his future, and I +know he will be a son-in-law to be proud of. He and Cynthia are +royally happy too, and no doubt know better than I what they want. +After all, none of us can live other people's lives; each must work out +his own." +</P> + +<P> +"You've said it, Mr. Galbraith." +</P> + +<P> +The financier smiled and his eyes twinkled beneath the shaggy brows +that arched them. +</P> + +<P> +"You will have to be getting used to calling me by another name, young +man," he said. "Remember I am to be your uncle." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DELIGHT MAKES HER DECISION +</H3> + + +<P> +Zenas Henry Brewster sat on the edge of his veranda, his long legs +crossed before him with a certain angular grace and his corncob pipe +held rigidly between his teeth. Beside him, ranged like sparrows on a +telegraph wire, were Captain Phineas Taylor, Captain Jonas Baker, and +Captain Benjamin Todd. From the row of pipes a miniature cloud of +smoke ascended, but save for the distant pulsing of the sea and the +murmur of the wind in the linden near the door not a sound was to be +heard through the afternoon stillness. Yet in spite of the +tranquillity of the day and the apparent peace of the four figures that +gazed so immovably out upon the reach of blue, an electrical current of +suspense was evident in the four tense forms. They were not looking at +the bay, exquisite as it was in its cerulean beauty. Instead, the head +of each man was turned toward the road that skirted the harbor and +wound its way between the pines at the foot of the hill where the white +cottage stood. +</P> + +<P> +"He'd oughter be comin' pretty soon, hadn't he?" Captain Phineas +ventured at last, unable longer to restrain his impatience. "He said +four o'clock in his letter. It must be 'most that, don't you think?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mighty nigh unto it," replied Captain Benjamin. "As I reckon it, +havin' made the necessary allowances for my watch losin' +three-an'-a-quarter minutes an hour, it should be about four now." +</P> + +<P> +"It ain't but a quarter of four," sniffed Captain Jonas with an air of +superiority. "That timepiece of yours, Benjamin, ain't worth the +silver that was put into it. What's the use of havin' a watch that +keeps you figgerin' backwards an' forards, an' doin' sums all day? I +wouldn't be bothered with it." +</P> + +<P> +Captain Benjamin bridled with indignation. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see but my watch is good as yours," retorted he. "The only +difference is I'm addin' from mornin' 'til night while you're +substractin'." +</P> + +<P> +The discomfited Captain Baker frowned. +</P> + +<P> +"Mine comes out even minutes, anyhow," announced he. "If it does shoot +ahead some, it don't keep me reckonin' in fractions like yours does. +I'd see myself in Davie Jones's locker 'fore I'd go addin' +three-quarter minutes together from sunrise to sunset." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, addin' fractions is mighty good trainin' for Benjamin," put in the +peace-loving Captain Phineas, with a chuckle. "It keeps his arithmetic +brushed up. I'll bet you he could beat you at a sum, Jonas." +</P> + +<P> +The triumphant Captain Benjamin observed a complacent silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Let Benjamin an' his watch alone, Jonas," drawled Zenas Henry, +speaking for the first time. "Somebody in the house has got to be up +on mathematics, an' it may as well be Benjamin as another. I'm only +sorry his ticker holds him just to addin'; if it would only make him +multiply an' divide some, an' take him into square root 'twould give +him a liberal all-round education. Still, there's always hopes it may +take a new turn. The last time it went overboard there was indications +that 'twouldn't be long before 'twould be leadin' him into algebra an' +the fourth dimension." +</P> + +<P> +Captain Benjamin grinned at the sally. +</P> + +<P> +"It won't be goin' overboard no more now, Zenas Henry," responded he +serenely, "'cause since the <I>Sea Gull's</I> got that eel-grass-proof +contrivance hitched to her, there won't be no call for me to be lyin' +head down'ards astern. I'll be settin' up like a Christian in +future—all of us will. My soul, but Bob Morton an' Willie Spence did +a good job on that boat! It's somethin' to have a young chap with +brains like that marryin' into the family! I'll bet there's 'most +nothin' on earth he couldn't tackle." +</P> + +<P> +"You're right!" Captain Phineas chimed in. "If Delight's got to get +married—an' we'd be a lot of selfish brutes not to want her to—she +certainly has picked a promisin' husband. You can lose money—fling it +away or have it stolen from you—but you can't lose brains." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so, Phineas! That's so!" Zenas Henry said. "Besides, 'tain't +as if he was takin' her to Indiana. New York ain't fur. Why, I'll +stake a catch of mackerel we could fetch up at that Long Island place +in the <I>Sea Gull</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course we could, Zenas Henry," agreed Captain Jonas, flashing a +glance of affection into his friend's face. "There's no question about +it. Take a good clear day an' the sea runnin' right, we could make it +without a mite of trouble. Long Island wouldn't be anything of a +cruise. No place that we can sail to in our own boat is fur away." +</P> + +<P> +A listener of discrimination might have detected in the dialogue a note +of assumed optimism and suspected that the four old men seated like +images on the piazza rail were trying to buoy up one another's courage, +and in the assumption he would not, perhaps, have been far wrong. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you s'pose this Galbraith has up his sleeve, Zenas Henry, that +he should be comin' over here?" Captain Benjamin Todd speculated, +during a lapse in the conversation. "He has some scheme in mind, you +can be sure of that." +</P> + +<P> +"Why do you always go rootin' up evil like as if you was diggin' fur +clams, Benjamin?" inquired Captain Phineas impatiently, "All Mr. +Galbraith said was he wanted to see Zenas Henry. There surely is no +harm in that. Delight bein' his niece, it's only to be expected he'd +want to get sight of the folks she is livin' with. Most natural thing +in the world, it seems to me. 'Twould be queerer if he didn't show no +interest in the people who have brought her up." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so, Phineas," Captain Jonas echoed. "Nothin's likelier than +that he's comin' to sorter thank Zenas Henry." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank us!" Zenas Henry burst out. "Thank us for bringin' up our own +child! What business is it of his? Do we go traipsin' to Belleport to +thank him for bein' good to his children?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, no, Zenas Henry," Captain Phineas replied soothingly. "Of course +he ain't comin' here to thank us. That would be plumb ridiculous. +More probable he's comin' as I said, to make a friendly call since he's +a relative." +</P> + +<P> +But in spite of this reassurance, the ripple of misgiving had not +entirely died away before the well-known touring-car with the New York +financier in its tonneau made its appearance at the foot of the hill. +</P> + +<P> +"He's comin', Zenas Henry!" +</P> + +<P> +"There he is!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's him!" was the excited comment. +</P> + +<P> +But Zenas Henry maintained a grim silence. He had risen to his full +height and now stood braced to meet an ordeal which he dreaded far more +than he would have been willing to admit. His gaunt figure was stiff +with resolution, his jaw set, his lips compressed. It was the same +expression his countenance had worn the night he had gone forth into +the storm to rescue the sinking crew of the <I>Michleen</I> from probable +death; it was the expression his companions dreaded and feared,—the +fighter ready for combat. Yet his antagonist, as he alighted from the +motor-car and crossed the grass in leisurely fashion, appeared to be +anything but a formidable adversary. He came toward Delight, who had +hurried out to meet him, with easy friendliness, his hands extended and +a smile of genuine affection on his face. +</P> + +<P> +"I am glad to see you, my dear," he said, "—and in your own home, too. +I fancy you must have thought me a great while in coming. I was +detained in New York much longer than I expected; otherwise you would +have seen me days ago." +</P> + +<P> +She smiled up into the kindly gray eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"And my, my, my! What a lot of mischief you and Bob have been getting +into in my absence! You sly little puss! You may well blush. The +bare idea of your springing a surprise like that on your new uncle! +Bob has told me all about it," he suddenly became grave, "and I am very +glad for you both. You could not have chosen a finer husband, little +girl. Robert Morton is one man in a thousand. We'll talk more of him +by and by. Just now I wish to meet all your family. You must present +each one, so that I shall not get all these many captains confused." +</P> + +<P> +How simply and naturally he bridged the awkwardness of the moment! +Before they realized it, Abbie and the three veteran seafarers were +chatting gaily with the visitor, and even Zenas Henry was venturing out +of his reserve and unbending into geniality when the words "<I>and now to +business</I>" chilled the warmth of his mood and sent him back into his +shell, thrilling with vague forebodings. +</P> + +<P> +With every eye fixed expectantly upon him, Mr. Galbraith took off his +Panama and fanned himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Now that we have put together a few of the links that bind our two +families," he began, "and laid the foundation for a friendship which I +hope the future will foster, there are a few intimate matters of which +I wish to speak. First there is Bob Morton, and if you want any +reassuring as to his character, I can give it to you. Your own wise +and shrewd discrimination has led you to accept him at his face value +and your estimate of him has not been a mistaken one. I do not think +there is a young man in the world of greater sterling worth than the +one your daughter has chosen for a husband." +</P> + +<P> +At the firm emphasis on the word <I>daughter</I>, Zenas Henry's jaw relaxed. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, you feel the same anxiety for your child that I feel for +mine, and realize how much a woman's happiness depends on the man into +whose hands she puts her life. In giving up Cynthia I know what it +means to you to give up Delight. We parents cannot expect to have all +the joy and none of the suffering that comes with having children, +however." He looked at Zenas Henry and a quiet sympathy passed from +one man to the other. "But we should be selfish indeed were we to deny +to those we love the best gift heaven has to bestow. It is making +others happy in their way, not in ours, that tests our real affection +for them. And so I know that underneath all your personal regrets you +rejoice in the prospect of Delight's marriage as I rejoice in +Cynthia's. We shall not always be in this world to safeguard our +daughters. How much better to see their future in the protection of +younger and stronger men than ourselves!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes!" murmured Zenas Henry. +</P> + +<P> +"And now I want to speak to Delight, although I am sure she will wish +you to hear what I have to say to her. It is a matter of business +about which she alone can decide. When Madam Lee, her grandmother, +died, she left a large property in real estate and securities which she +willed outright to an old friend of whom she was devotedly fond. She +felt the Galbraiths were amply provided for and therefore, with the +exception of certain jewels and heirlooms that were to be retained in +the family, she bequeathed them nothing. We understood the motives +that governed her in thus disposing of her property and were in full +accord with them. The document, however, was drawn up before she knew +of the existence of this other granddaughter, and in view of this fact, +the person to whom the property is willed feels that it is only just +that the whole or a part of it should be relinquished in Delight's +favor." +</P> + +<P> +There was an instant's pause. +</P> + +<P> +"This the beneficiary does of his own accord, not alone as a matter of +duty or as a matter of honor, but because his affection was so deep for +Madam Lee that it is a pleasure to him to act as he thinks she would +have desired. Had not her end come so suddenly, she would without +doubt have made a new will and done this herself." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean that without courts or lawyers askin' him to, this man just +wants to hand over the money?" gasped Captain Jonas. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I dunno who he is, but I'll say this much for him—he's an +honest cuss!" ejaculated the fisherman. +</P> + +<P> +In spite of his earnestness Mr. Galbraith smiled. +</P> + +<P> +Delight, however, had risen during the interval of silence and with +nervously clasped hands had gone to Zenas Henry's side, where she now +stood, her eyes large with thought. +</P> + +<P> +Her uncle turned toward her. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, my dear, what have you to say?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"It is—is very kind of a stranger to be so noble, so generous," she +declared gently. "He mustn't think that I do not appreciate it. But I +couldn't take a cent of the money," she went on with quick decision. +"Even had it been willed to me in the first place, it would have made +no difference. I don't want to be unkind or to hurt anybody's +feelings. But can't you see that Madam Lee was really nothing in my +life? She came in and went out of it like a phantom, and she did not +begin to mean to me what she did to this old friend of hers. Just +because at the close of her days it was discovered that I was of her +kin, it established no bond of affection between us—nothing but a +legal claim. If she had lived and we had grown dear to one another, +and she had given the fortune to me out of her heart, then I should +have accepted it gladly. But to have it bestowed on me merely by right +of succession—I couldn't think of touching a penny of it!" +</P> + +<P> +She caught her breath, and her chin rose a trifle higher. +</P> + +<P> +"And besides," she continued, "I would rather just be indebted to Zenas +Henry and my own family. My grandmother was unjust to my parents, +unkind. Although she lived to be sorry for it and would, doubtless, +have done differently when she was older, she was harsh and cruel to +them. I have forgiven but I never can forget it. I don't want the Lee +money. Zenas Henry and the three captains give me all I need, and I +have no fears but that in the future Bob can look out for me." +</P> + +<P> +There was something in the proudly poised figure, so slender and erect, +so firm and self-respecting in its calm decision, that roused every +hearer's admiration and drew from the New York financier an involuntary +homage. Nevertheless with a fear that impulse might have prompted the +girl's verdict, he felt impelled to explain: +</P> + +<P> +"But you are tossing away a large sum—thousands, child! You and your +people would be rich." +</P> + +<P> +"We don't want to be rich!" cried Delight, with quivering nostril. "Do +we, Zenas Henry?" she slipped an arm about his neck as he collapsed +into his seat on the piazza rail. "We are happy just as we are! You +don't want me to take the Lee money, do you?" she asked, putting her +cheek against his. +</P> + +<P> +"No, honey, no! You shan't be beholden to any one but me," he +answered. "I hoped you'd decide as you have. 'Twould take half the +pleasure out of my life if it warn't us that was to do for you. Just +the same, Mr. Galbraith, we thank you kindly for bringin' the offer, +an' your friend for makin' it; an' though we refuse it, 'tain't done in +no unfriendly spirit." +</P> + +<P> +"I understand that," nodded the financier. +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless he gazed with no small amount of awe and respect at these +poor fisherfolk who could so lightly fling aside a fortune. +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe," resumed Zenas Henry, "you'll tell this friend of Madam Lee's +that we've took note of his squareness." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, do tell him that it was splendid of him, splendid!" +interrupted Delight. +</P> + +<P> +"He's a gentleman, whoever he is," Captain Phineas added. "Tell him so +from all of us." +</P> + +<P> +"You might like to tell him so yourselves," returned Mr. Galbraith +slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"Eh?" Zenas Henry questioned. "Oh, we might write him, you mean. +That's so. Likely it would be more decent. We'd be surer of his +knowin' how we felt if 'twas put down in black an' white. What's his +name?" +</P> + +<P> +"Robert Morton." +</P> + +<P> +"Robert Morton! Robert Mor—not our—not <I>Bob</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +He saw Delight flush, and her eyes suddenly fill with tears. +</P> + +<P> +"Bob!" she whispered half-aloud. "Bob!" +</P> + +<P> +Zenas Henry drew her closer. +</P> + +<P> +"What does the girl want with money," he demanded, "when she's got a +man like that? He's better than all the money on earth." +</P> + +<P> +"But she'll get the money just the same, Zenas Henry," piped Captain +Jonas. "She'll get it. Have you thought of that?" +</P> + +<P> +"It will be Bob's money, not mine," returned Delight with shy dignity. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FAME COMES TO THE DREAMER OF DREAMS +</H3> + + +<P> +Richard Galbraith returned thoughtfully over the Harbor Road not sorry +at the turn affairs had taken. The honorable and magnanimous thing had +been done with the Lee fortune, and it had been firmly and proudly +refused. Now it could go unreservedly to Robert Morton for whom the +financier had a particular regard and in whose wisdom to make a +sensible use of it he felt every confidence. The money would not only +place the young man in a position to marry without delay, but +indirectly its benefits would reach the two individuals that Madam Lee +would most earnestly have desired to help. Nor did the capitalist's +regard for Delight, which had steadily been growing, decrease when +viewed from this new angle. The Lees were a proud race and the girl +came justly by the attribute. He was not sure, now that he reflected +on the matter, but that he himself would have scorned the legacy in the +same high-handed fashion. Nevertheless he had not expected this +termination of the interview, had not expected it at all. His recently +acquired relatives were proving themselves interesting persons. Who +would have dreamed that a penniless fisherman's daughter would have +tossed the Lee ducats back into his face? +</P> + +<P> +He laughed to himself when he thought of the paradox. He had always +admired spirit in a woman. +</P> + +<P> +The car rolled on, flashing past swamps of swaying iris bedded deep in +the salt marsh-grass, past tangles of fragrant honeysuckle and garlands +of clinging clematis, and presently shot out into the sunny stretch of +road that like a white ribbon bound the blue waters of the bay. When +it reached the bluff where the sand mounted into green-capped dunes, +patched in their hollows with shadows of violet, it slowed down and +came to a stop before Willie Spence's weathered cottage. +</P> + +<P> +The old inventor and Bob were seated idly on the workshop steps. No +longer did the vibrant hammer and purring plane blend their metallic +notes with the music of the surf. Their work was done, and until he +was "kitched with a new idee" Willie had nothing to do but smoke +beneath the shade of the grapevine and rambler rose and watch the vast +reach of water to the line where it melted into the blue of the sky. +</P> + +<P> +Since his interview with Mr. Galbraith, Robert Morton had had all he +could do to keep from Willie the assurance that Janoah's accusations +were false and that instead of misfortune good luck was winging its way +toward the low gray house on the bay. Bob was a generous fellow and it +added tenfold to his present happiness to know that joy was also coming +to one toward whom he cherished an abiding affection. The secret, +however, was Mr. Galbraith's, and until the New Yorker saw fit to +impart it he must maintain silence. Therefore, with smiles wreathing +his face and the wonderful story locked tightly in his possession, he +tried to be patient until the final revelation should be made. +</P> + +<P> +And now with the approach of the capitalist he knew that at last the +great moment had arrived. The dream of years was to come true and the +darling of Willie's brain, his greatest and most ambitious idea, was to +be made a potent factor in the broad universe. So perfectly did he +understand the quaint, half-shrinking inventor that he knew well no +money, no fame, no praise could mean to him what this recognition +would. Persons were to use the thing he had thought out,—to use it +neither because of friendship nor interest, but because it was a +practical, indispensable article which no mind had previously given to +the world. In the days and weeks Bob had spent in the Spence cottage +it was impossible not to read all this and more in the sensitive, +hungering nature of the man who had worked beside him. Love and +parenthood in its smaller and more specific sense had passed Willie +Spence by, but in their place there had sprung into life a broader +altruism and a larger creative impulse. The children his mind begot +were as much of his blood and marrow as if they had actually been born +of his own flesh; and to have one of them go victoriously forth into +that moving current that reached so far beyond his own humble door +would be like sending a child into battle. It transformed the father +to one of the elect. +</P> + +<P> +Surely, thought Robert Morton, great and unexpected issues had centered +about his visit to Wilton. When confronted by the present unfoldings, +who would have the temerity to boast that one's destinies were matters +of chance? +</P> + +<P> +"Well," called Mr. Galbraith as he came up the walk, "you two people +look comfortable. Is there room on that doorstep for one more?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly, sir! Certainly!" Willie replied. "But wouldn't you rather +we heaved a box or something out of the shop for you to set on? You'll +find these steps a good way down, I'm afraid." +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bit of it," the New Yorker answered, dropping into the welcome +shade of the trellis. "You have deserted the shop, I see. Does that +mean your work is done?" +</P> + +<P> +"Done an' delivered," smiled Willie. "We've discharged our cargo an' +ain't took nothin' else aboard yet. We're just kinder ridin' at +anchor." +</P> + +<P> +"How did your friend, Mr. Brewster, like your handiwork?" +</P> + +<P> +In spite of his native modesty Willie's bronzed face lighted with pride. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, you'd oughter seen him!" exclaimed he, forgetting everything else +in his pleasure. "He was struck clean abeam! He never suspected +nothin' about it an' the surprise took him broadside. An' it works!" +continued the little man with enthusiasm. "Yes, siree! It works! +That cockleshell of a <I>Sea Gull</I> goes rippin' along through the eel +grass, her propeller clear and free as if she had twenty fathoms of +water under her. It's as pretty a sight as you'd care to look on." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Galbraith watched the shining eyes of the inventor. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Spence," he said, "that idea of yours is going to be a very useful +and valuable one. Have you thought of that?" +</P> + +<P> +Willie flushed. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," replied he with hesitation, "yesterday when I was shuckin' +clams it did come to me that mebbe there'd be other folks besides Zenas +Henry would like it." +</P> + +<P> +"A great many folks!" rejoined the capitalist. "I am in a position to +know, because shipbuilding chances to be my business." +</P> + +<P> +"So I was told," his listener remarked quietly. An expression of quick +surprise passed over the other's countenance. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he went on, "both Mr. Snelling and I are interested in boats in +our way." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a fine job," Willie observed evasively. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it is. Not only is shipbuilding a fascinating occupation but it +is a patriotic one as well, for I believe the resurrection of our +merchant marine to be one of the most important duties of our nation. +Everything that works toward that end is a service to the country, in +my estimation." +</P> + +<P> +"You're right, sir," was the rejoinder. "I'm terrible fond of ships +myself. They're human as people an' as different. You can turn 'em +out from the same model, but no two of 'em will ever be alike. I've +got a little yawl down on the shore I wouldn't take a thousand dollars +for. She's knowin' as if she was alive. I can tell to an inch how +much sail she'll stand an' how much water she'll draw. She answers to +the tiller quick as a child to your voice, too—quicker'n most +children. I've had her for years, an' smooth weather or foul she ain't +never gone back on me. Folks disappoint you sometimes; but a boat +never does." As if sensing that he was venturing on dangerous ground, +he stopped abruptly. "So you build boats, do you?" he commented to +change the subject. +</P> + +<P> +Richard Galbraith nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"That's my calling," he assented. "And since it is, I am in a position +to handle things that have to do with boats of all kinds. That is why +your motor-boat idea has interested me so deeply. I saw its +possibilities from the moment I first laid eyes on it, and I wish to +congratulate you on having given the public such a useful invention." +</P> + +<P> +"It ain't got far toward the public," objected Willie, with a +deprecating shrug of his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"But it is going to," Mr. Galbraith declared with promptness. "Bob, +Mr. Snelling and I have taken matters into our own hands and have +ventured to have an application for a patent prepared—description, +claims and all; and after you have sworn to the affidavit and affixed +your signature, we will send it off to Washington, where I haven't a +doubt it will be granted. I thought this would save you the bother of +attending to it yourself." +</P> + +<P> +Poor Willie was too amazed to speak. +</P> + +<P> +"Now Galbraith and Company will want the monopoly of that patent, Mr. +Spence," hurried on the financier. "We are going to make you a +proposition either for the purchase of it outright, or for its use on a +royalty basis." +</P> + +<P> +With a supreme disregard for business, Willie wheeled on him before he +could go further and said simply: +</P> + +<P> +"Law, Mr. Galbraith, you can use the thing an' welcome. Turn out as +many of 'em as you like. It won't make no odds to me. But the +patent—think of havin' a real patent on somethin' I've thought out! +Just you picture it!" +</P> + +<P> +He repeated the words in a soft, musing voice that hushed his hearers +into stillness. +</P> + +<P> +"I never thought to live to see the day anything of mine would be +patented. That means that nobody else anywhere in the world ever was +kitched by that same idee before, don't it? It's sorter—sorter +wonderful an' gratifyin'. But if it hadn't been for the rest of you +that's helped me, the claptraption would never have been in any kind of +shape. 'Twould 'a' been just a hit-or-miss contrivance like the rest +of the idees I've got indoors. You see, I never had the schoolin' to +manage my notions, even when once I'd got 'em. I know that well +enough. So if I should get a patent on this thing, 'twould be mostly +due to you that's helped me, an' I thank you most humble." His voice +trembled with feeling. "After all you've done—the three of you—you +wouldn't expect me to take money from you for usin' the scheme, would +you? Take it an' welcome, an' may it bring luck to your business! But +there's one thing I would like," he added timidly. "If we should get +them patent papers from the government an' they ain't no particular use +to you, I'd like to keep 'em by me to read over now an' again. 'Twould +sorter make it all seem more real some way, an' less as if I'd dreamed +it. I've imagined this happenin' so many times an' woke up to find +'twas only imaginin's." +</P> + +<P> +The blue eyes softened into mistiness. +</P> + +<P> +"To think of gettin' a patent! To think of it! Celestina will be +glad. I'm afraid, by an' large, I've bothered her quite considerable +with my strings, an' spools, an' tacks, an' such. She'll like to know +some of 'em went for somethin', after all. The Brewsters an' Delight +will be pleased, too. An' there's Janoah! Oh, Janoah must be told +right away, Bob, quick's ever we can fetch it. 'Twill clear the air +'twixt him an' me, an' make us both happier. I ain't never been able +to convince him that if you put your trust in folks they seldom betray +it. Who knows but when he finds out what's happened he'll kitch <I>that</I> +idee? If he should, 'twould be worth all the inventions and patents in +the world put together. Look for the best, I say, an' you get it every +time," continued the little old man, with a smile of exquisite +serenity. "The universe is full of kindly souls with hearts a-beatin' +inside 'em same's yours. Meet 'em with your hands out, an' their hands +will come the other halfway." +</P> + +<P> +"It is a pity you can't take out a patent on that notion, Mr. Spence, +and sow it broadcast," returned the New Yorker soberly. +</P> + +<P> +Willie's gaze traveled with wistful and reverent faith across the +other's face to the sky above him. +</P> + +<P> +"Somehow," he murmured, "I like to believe that idee was patented +centuries ago by One who put it right to work by believin' the best of +all us poor sinners. Folks ain't used the notion yet, much as they +might, but they're gettin' round to, an' the day'll come when not to +believe in the other feller's soul will be like—well, like havin' a +motor-boat without our attachment," concluded he whimsically. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> +<hr class="full" noshade> + +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLOOD TIDE***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 18902-h.txt or 18902-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/9/0/18902">http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/9/0/18902</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/18902-h/images/img-front.jpg b/18902-h/images/img-front.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..24a903b --- /dev/null +++ b/18902-h/images/img-front.jpg diff --git a/18902.txt b/18902.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bdfd541 --- /dev/null +++ b/18902.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8962 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Flood Tide, by Sara Ware Bassett, Illustrated +by M. L. Greer + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Flood Tide + + +Author: Sara Ware Bassett + + + +Release Date: July 23, 2006 [eBook #18902] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLOOD TIDE*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 18902-h.htm or 18902-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/9/0/18902/18902-h/18902-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/9/0/18902/18902-h.zip) + + + + + +FLOOD TIDE + +by + +SARA WARE BASSETT + +Author of + +"The Harbor Road," "The Wall Between," "Taming of Zenas Henry," +etc. + +With Frontispiece by M. L. Greer + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: "Delight's kinder bowled over by surprise, Tiny," Willie +explained gently.] + + + + +A. L. Burt Company +Publishers -------- New York +Published by arrangement with Little, Brown and Company +Copyright, 1921, +By Sara Ware Bassett. +All rights reserved +Published March, 1921 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE WEAVER AND HIS FANCIES + II. WILLIE HAS AN IDEE + III. A NEW ARRIVAL + IV. THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER ENTERS + V. AN APPARITION + VI. MARRYING AND GIVING IN MARRIAGE + VII. A SECOND SPIRIT APPEARS + VIII. SHADOWS + IX. A WIDENING OF THE BREACH + X. A CONSPIRACY + XI. THE GALBRAITH HOUSEHOLD + XII. ROBERT MORTON MAKES A RESOLVE + XIII. A NEWCOMER ENTERS + XIV. THE SPENCES ENTER SOCIETY + XV. A REVELATION + XVI. ANOTHER BLOW DESCENDS + XVII. A GRIM HAND INTERVENES + XVIII. THE PROGRESS OF ANOTHER ROMANCE + XIX. WILLIE AS PILOT + XX. ONE MORE OF WILLIE'S SHIPS REACHES PORT + XXI. SURPRISES + XXII. DELIGHT MAKES HER DECISION + XXIII. FAME COMES TO THE DREAMER OF DREAMS + + + + +FLOOD TIDE + + +CHAPTER I + +THE WEAVER AND HIS FANCIES + +Willie Spence was a trial. Not that his personality rasped society at +large. On the contrary his neighbors cherished toward the little old +man, with his short-sighted blue eyes and his appealing smile, an +affection peculiarly tender; and if they sometimes were wont to observe +that although Willie possessed some common sense he was blessed with +uncommon little of it, the observation was facetiously uttered and was +offered with no malicious intent. + +In fact had one scoured Wilton from end to end it would have been +difficult to unearth a single individual who bore enmity toward the +owner of the silver-gray cottage on the Harbor Road. It was impossible +to talk ten seconds with Willie Spence and not be won by his +kindliness, his optimism, his sympathy, and his honesty. Willie +probably could not have dissembled had he tried, and fortunately his +life was of so simple and transparent a trend that little lay hidden +beneath its crystalline exterior. What he was he was. When baffled by +phenomena he would scratch his thin locks and with a smile of endearing +candor frankly admit, "I dunno." When, on the other hand, he knew +himself to be master of a debated fact, no power under heaven could +shake the tenacity with which he clung to his beliefs. There was never +any compromise with truth on Willie's part. A thing was so or it was +not. + +This reputation for veracity, linked as it was with an ingenuous good +will toward all mankind, had earned for Willie Spence such universal +esteem and tenderness that whenever the stooping figure with its ruddy +cheeks, soft white hair, and gentle smile made its appearance on the +sandy roads of the hamlet, it was hailed on all sides with the loving +and indulgent greetings of the inhabitants of the village. + +Even Celestina Morton, who kept house for him and who might well have +lost patience at his defiance of domestic routine, worshipped the very +soil his foot touched. There was, of course, no denying that Willie's +disregard for the meal hour had become what she termed "chronical" and +severely taxed her forbearance; or that since she was a creature of +human limitations she did at times protest when the chowder stood +forgotten in the tureen until it was of Arctic temperature; nor had she +ever acquired the grace of spirit to amiably view freshly baked +popovers shrivel neglected into nothingness. Try as she would to curb +her tongue, under such circumstances, she occasionally would burst out: + +"I do wish, Willie Spence, you'd quit your dreamin' an' come to dinner." + +For answer Willie would rise hastily and stand arrested, a bit of +string in one hand and the hammer in the other, and peering +reproachfully over the top of his steel-bowed spectacles would reply: + +"Law, Tiny! You wouldn't begretch me my dreams, would you? They're +about all I've got. If it warn't fur the things I dream I wouldn't +have nothin'." + +The wistfulness in the sensitive face would instantly transform +Celestina's irritation into sympathy and cause her to respond: + +"Nonsense, Willie! What are you talkin' about? Ain't you got more +friends than anybody in this town? Nobody's poor so long as he has +good friends." + +"Oh, 'taint bein' poor I mind," laughed Willie, now quite himself +again. "It's knowin' nothin' an' bein' nothin' that discourages me. +If I'd only had the chance to learn somethin' when I was a youngster I +wouldn't have to be goin' it blind now like I do. There's times, +Celestina," added the man solemnly, "when I really believe I've got +stuff inside me that's worth while if only I knew what to do with it." + +"Pshaw! Ain't you usin' what's inside you all the time to help the +folks of this town out of their troubles? I'd like to know how they'd +get along if it warn't fur you. Ain't you doctorin' an' fixin' up +things for the whole of Cape Cod from one end to the other, day in and +day out? I call that amountin' to somethin' in the world if you don't." + +Willie paused thoughtfully. + +"I do do quite a batch of tinkerin', that's true," admitted he, +brightening, "an' I'm right down glad to do it, too. Don't think I +ain't. Still, I can't help knowin' there's better ways to go at it +than blunderin' along as I have to, an' sometimes I can't help wishin' +I knew what the right way is. There must be folks that know how to do +in half the time what I do by makeshift an' fussin'. Sometimes it +seems a pity there never was anybody to steer me into findin' out the +kind of things I've always wanted to know." + +Celestina began to rock nervously. + +Being of New England fiber, and classing as morbid all forms of +introspection, she always so dreaded to have the conversation drift +into a reflective channel that whenever she found Willie indulging in +reveries she was wont to rout him out of them, tartly reproaching +herself for having even indirectly been the cause of stirrin' him up. + +"Next time I'll set the chowder back on the stove an' say nothin'," she +would vow inwardly. "I'd much better have waited 'til his dream was +over an' done with. S'pose I am put out a bit--'twon't hurt me. If I +don't care enough for Willie to do somethin' for him once in a while, +good as he's always been to me, I'd oughter be ashamed of myself." + +Hence it is easily seen that neither to Wilton in general nor to +Celestina in particular was Willie Spence a trial. + +No, it was to himself that Willie was the torment. "I plague myself +'most to death, Tiny," he would not infrequently confess when the two +sat together at dusk in the little room that looked out on the reach of +blue sea. "It's gettin' all these idees that drives me distracted. +'Tain't that I go huntin' 'em; they come to me, hittin' me broadside +like as if they'd been shot out of a gun. There's times," ambled on +the quiet voice, "when they'll wake me out of a sound sleep an' give me +no peace 'til I've got up and 'tended to 'em. That notion of hitchin' +a string to the slide in the stove door so'st you could open the +draught without stirrin' out of your chair--that took me in the night. +There warn't no waitin' 'til mornin'! Long ago I learned that. Once +the idee has a-holt of me there's nothin' to do but haul myself out of +bed, even if it's midnight an' colder'n the devil, an' try out that +notion." + +"The plan was a good one; it's saved lots of steps," put in Celestina. + +"It had to be done, Tiny," Willie answered simply. "That's all there +was to it. Good or bad, I had to carry it to a finish if I didn't +sleep another wink that night." + +The assertion was true; Celestina could vouch for that. After ten +years of residence in the gray cottage she had become too completely +inured to hearing the muffled sound of saw and hammer during the wee +small hours of the night to question the verity of the statement. +Therefore she was quite ready to agree that there was no peace for +Willie, or herself either, until the particular burst of genius that +assailed him had been transformed from a mirage of the imagination to +the more tangible form of tacks and strings. + +For strings played a very vital part in Willie Spence's inspirational +world. Indeed, when Celestina had first come to the weathered cottage +on the bluff to keep house for the lonely little bachelor and had +discovered that cottage to be one gigantic spider's web, her initial +impression was that strings played far too important a part in the +household. What a labyrinthine entanglement the dwelling was! Had a +mammoth silkworm woven his airy filaments within its interior, the +effect could scarcely have been more grotesque. + +Strings stretched from the back door, across the kitchen and through +the hallway, and disappeared up the stairs into Willie's bedroom, where +one pull of a cord lifted the iron latch to admit Oliver Goldsmith, the +Maltese cat, whenever he rattled for entrance. There was a string that +hoisted and lowered the coal hod from the cellar through a square hole +in the kitchen floor, thereby saving one the fatigue of tugging it up +the stairs. + +"A coal hod is such an infernal tote to tote!" Willie would explain to +his listeners. + +Then there was a string which in like manner swung the wood box into +place. Other strings opened and closed the kitchen windows, unfastened +the front gate, rang a bell in Celestina's room, and whisked Willie's +slippers forth from their hiding place beneath the stairs; not to +mention myriad red, blue, green, yellow, and purple strings that had +their goals in the ice chest, the pump, the letter box, and the storm +door, and in connection with which objects they silently performed +mystic benefactions. + +Probably, however, the most significant string of all was that of stout +twine that reached from Willie's shop to the home of Janoah Eldridge, +two fields beyond, just at the junction of the Belleport and Harbor +roads. This string not only linked the two cottages but sustained upon +its taut line a small wooden box that could be pulled back and forth at +will and convey from one abode to the other not only written +communications but also such diminutive articles as pipes, tobacco, +spectacles, balls of string, boxes of tacks, and even tools of moderate +weight. By means of this primitive special delivery service Jan +Eldridge could be summoned posthaste whenever an especially luminous +inspiration flashed upon Willie's intellect and could assist in helping +to make the dream a reality. + +For it was always through Willie's plastic imagination that these +creative visions flitted. In all his seventy years Jan had been beset +by only one outburst of genius and that had pertained to whisking an +extra blanket over himself when he was cold at night. How much +pleasanter to lie placidly between the sheets and have the blanket +miraculously appear without the chill and discomfort of arising to +fetch it, he argued! But alas! the magic spell had failed to work. +Instead the strings had wrenched the corners from the age-worn +covering, thereby arousing Mrs. Eldridge's ire. Moreover, although Jan +had not confessed it at the time, the blanket while in process of +locomotion had for some unfathomable reason dragged in its wake all the +other bedclothes, freeing them from their moorings and submerging his +head in a smothering weight of disorganized sheets and counterpanes +only to leave his poor shivering body a prey to the unfriendly +elements. An attack of lumbago that rendered him helpless from January +until March followed and had decided Jan that inventors were born, not +made. Thereafter he had been content to abandon the realm of research +to his comrade and allow Willie to furnish the inspiration for further +creative ventures. Nevertheless his retirement from the spheres of +discovery did not prevent him from zealously assisting in the +mechanical details that rendered Willie's schemes material. Jan not +only possessed a far more practical type of mind than did his friend +but he was also a more skilful workman and therefore in the carrying +out of any plan his aid was indispensable. He was, moreover, content +to be the lesser power, looking up to Willie's ability with admiration +and asserting with unfeigned sincerity to every one he met that Willie +Spence had not only been born with the _injun_ but he had the _newity_ +to go with it. + +"Why," Jan would often declare with spirit, "in my opinion Willie has +every whit as much call to write X, Y, Z, an' all them other letters +after his name as any of those fellers that graduate from colleges! +He's a wonder, Willie Spence is--a walkin' wonder! Some day he's goin' +to make his mark, too, an' cause the folks in this town to set up an' +take notice. See if he don't." + +Willie's neighbors had long since tired of waiting for the glorious +moment of his fame to arrive; and although they had too genuine a +regard for the little old inventor to state publicly what they really +thought of the strings, the nails, the spools, the wires, and the +pulleys, in private they did not hesitate to denounce derisively the +scientist's contrivances and assert that some fine day the house on the +bluff would come to dire disaster. + +"Somebody's goin' to get hung or strangled on one of them contraptions +Willie's rigged up," Captain Phineas Taylor prophesied impressively to +Zenas Henry as the two men sat smoking in the lee of the wood pile. +"You watch out an' see if they don't." + +Indeed there was no denying that Celestina was continually catching +hairpins, hooks, and buttons in the strings; or that some such dilemma +as had been predicted had actually occurred, for one day while alone in +the house a pin fastening the back of her print gown had become +inextricably entangled in the maze amid which she moved, and fearing +Willie's wrath if she should sunder her fetters she had been forced to +stand captive and helplessly witness a newly made sponge cake burn to a +crisp in the oven. She had hoped the ignominious episode would not +reach the outside world; but as Wilton was possessed of a miraculous +power for finding out things the story filtered through the community, +affording the village a laugh and the opportunity to affirm with +ominous shakings of the head that it was only because the Lord looked +out for fools and little children that a worse evil had not long ago +befallen the Spence household. + +Willie accepted the banter in good part. Born with a forgiving, +noncombative disposition he seldom took offence and although Janoah +Eldridge, who knew him better perhaps than anyone else on earth did, +acclaimed that this tranquil exterior concealed, as did Tim +Linkinwater's, unsuspected depths of ferocity, Wilton had yet to +encounter its lionlike fury. Instead the mild little inventor, with +his spools and his pulleys, his bits of wire and his measureless +reaches of string, pursued his peaceful though tortuous way, and if his +abode became transformed into a magnified cobweb only himself and +Celestina were inconvenienced thereby. + +To Celestina inconvenience was second nature since from the moment of +her birth it had been her lot in life. Arriving in the world +prematurely she had found nothing prepared for her coming and had been +forced to put up with such makeshifts for comfort as could be hurriedly +scrambled together. From that day until the present instant the same +fate had shadowed her path; perhaps it was in her stars. Her parents +had been of dilatory habits and by the time a crib with the necessary +pillows and bedding had been secured, and she had drawn a few peaceful +breaths therein a new baby had arrived and she had been ousted from her +resting place and compelled to surrender it to the more recent comer. +Ever since she had been shunted from pillar to post, sleeping on cots, +on couches, in folding beds and in hammocks, and keeping her meager +possessions in paste-board boxes tucked away beneath tables and +bureaus. Poised on the ragged edge of domesticity she continued +throughout her girlhood to look forward with hope to an eventual state +of permanence. When she was eighteen, however, her mother died and in +the task of bringing up six brothers and sisters younger than herself +all considerations for her personal ease were forgotten. Ten years +passed and her father was no more; than gradually, one after another, +the family she had so patiently reared took wing, leaving Celestina a +lonely spinster of fifty, homeless and practically penniless. + +This cruel lack of responsibility on the part of her relatives resulted +less from a want of affection than from a supreme misunderstanding of +their older sister. So completely had Celestina learned to efface her +personality and her inclinations that they reasoned she was utterly +without preferences; that she lacked the homing instinct; and was quite +as happy in one place as in another. Having thus washed their hands of +her they proceeded to sell the Morton homestead and each one pocket his +share of the proceeds. Very scanty this inheritance was, so scanty +that it compelled Celestina to begin a rotation around the village, +where in return for shelter she filled in domestic gaps of various +kinds. She helped here, she helped there; she took care of babies, +nursed the sick, comforted the aged. On she moved from house to house, +no enduring foundation ever remaining beneath her feet. No sooner +would she strike her roots down into a congenial soil than she would be +forced to pluck them up again and find new earth to which to cling. + +She might have married a dozen times during her youth had not her +conscience deterred her from deserting her father and the children left +to her care. In fact one persistent swain who refused to take "No" for +an answer had begged Celestina to wait and pray over the matter. + +"I never trouble the Lord with things I can settle myself," replied she +firmly. "I can't go marryin' an' that's all there is to it." + +Other offers had been declined with the same characteristic firmness +until now the golden season of mating-time was past, and although she +was still a pretty little woman the stamp of spinsterhood was +unalterably fixed upon her. + +Wilton, in the meantime, had long ago lost sight of the uncomplaining +self-sacrifice it had previously lauded and explained Celestina +Morton's unwedded state by declaring that she was too "easy goin'" to +make anybody a good wife. This criticism came, perhaps, more loudly +from the female faction of the town than from the male. However that +may be, the stigma, merited or unmerited, had become so firmly branded +upon Celestina that it could not be effaced. She may to some extent +have brought it upon herself, for certain it was that she never kicked +against the pricks or tried to shape her circumstances more in +accordance with her liking. Undoubtedly had she accepted her lot less +meekly she might have commanded a greater measure of attention and +sympathy; still, if she had not been of a more or less plastic nature +and surrendered herself patiently to her destiny it is a question +whether she would have survived at all. + +It was this mutability, this power to detach herself from her +environment and view it with the stoical indifference of a spectator +that caused Wilton with its harsh New England standards, to +characterize Celestina as "easy goin'." In fact, this popularly termed +"flaw" in her make-up was what had acted as an open sesame to every +door at which she knocked and had kept a roof above her head. She had +been just sixty years of age when Willie Spence's sister had died and +left him alone in the wee cottage on the Harbor Road, and all Wilton +had begun to speculate as to what was to become of him. Willie was as +dependent as an infant; the village gossips who knew everything knew +that. From childhood he had been looked after,--first by his mother, +then by his aunt, and lastly by his sister; and when death had removed +in succession all three of these props, leaving the little old man at +last face to face with life, his startled blue eyes had grown large +with terror. What was to become of him now? Not only did Willie +himself helplessly raise the interrogation but so did all Wilton. + +Of course he could go and board with the Eldridges but that would mean +renting or selling the silver-gray cottage where he had dwelt since +birth and would be a tragic severing of all ties with the past; +moreover, and a fact more potent than all the rest, it would mean +dismantling the house of the web that for years he had spun, the +symbols of dreams that had been his chief delight. Should he go to the +Eldridges there could be no more inventing, for Jan's wife was a hard, +practical woman who had scant sympathy with Willie's "idees." +Nevertheless one redeeming consideration must not be lost sight of--she +was a famous cook, a very famous cook; and poor Willie, although he +cared little what he ate, was incapable of concocting any food at all. +But the strings, the strings! No, to go to live with Jan and Mrs. +Eldridge was not to be thought of. + +It was just at this psychological juncture, when Willie was choosing +'twixt flesh and spirit, that he saw Celestina Morton standing like a +vision in the sunshine that spangled his doorway. She said she knew +how lonely he must be and therefore she had come to make a friendly +call and tidy up the house or mend for him anything that needed +mending. With this simple introduction she had taken off her hat and +coat, donned an ample blue-and-white pinafore, and set to work. +Fascinated Willie watched her deft movements. Now and then she smiled +at him but she did not speak and neither did he; nor, he noticed, did +she disturb his strings or comment on their inconvenience. When +twilight came and the hour for her departure drew near Willie stationed +himself before the peg from which dangled her shabby wraps and +stubbornly refused to have her hat and cloak removed from the nail. +There, figuratively speaking, they had hung ever since, the inventor +reasoning that life without this paragon of capability was a wretched +and profitless adventure. + +In justifying his sudden decision to Janoah Eldridge, Willie had merely +explained that he had hired Celestina because she was so comfortable to +have around, a recommendation at which Wilton would have jeered but +which, perhaps, in the eyes of the Lord was quite as praiseworthy as +that which her more hidebound but less accommodating sisters could have +boasted. For disorder and confusion never kept Celestina awake nights +or prevented her from partaking of three hearty meals a day as it would +have Abbie Brewster or Deborah Howland. So long as things were clean, +their being an inch or two, or even a foot, out of plumb did not worry +the new inmate of the gray house an iota. And when Willie was balked +in an "idee" that had "kitched him," and left half-a-dozen strings and +wires swinging in mid-air for weeks together, Celestina would patiently +duck her head as she passed beneath them and offer no protest more +emphatic than to remark: + +"Them strings hangin' down over the sink snare me every time I wash a +dish. Ain't you calculatin' ever to take 'em down, Willie?" + +The reply vouchsafed would be as mild as the suggestion: + +"I reckon they ain't there for eternity, Tiny," the inventor would +respond. "Like as not both you an' me will live to see 'em out of the +way." + +That was all the satisfaction Celestina would get from her feeble +complaints; it was all she ever got. Yet in spite of the exasperating +response she adored Willie who had been to her the soul of kindliness +and courtesy ever since she had come to the bluff to live. He might +forget to come to his meals,--forget, in fact, whether he had eaten +them or not; he might venture forth into the village with one gray sock +and one blue one; or when part way to the post-office become lost in +reverie and return home again without ever reaching his destination. +Such incidents had happened and were likely to happen again. +Nevertheless, notwithstanding his absentmindedness, he was never too +much absorbed to maintain toward Celestina an old-fashioned deference +very appealing to one accustomed to being ignored and slighted. + +The impulse, it was quite obvious, was prompted less by conventionality +than by a knightliness of heart, and Celestina, who had never before +been the recipient of such courtesies, found herself inexpressibly +touched by the trifling attentions. Often she speculated as to whether +this mental attitude toward all womanhood was one Willie himself had +evolved or whether it was the result of standards instilled into his +sensitive consciousness by the women who had been his companions +through life,--his mother, his aunt, his sister. Whichever the case +there was no question that the old man's bearing toward her placed her +on a pinnacle where gossip was silenced, and transformed her humble +ministrations from those of a hireling into acts of graciousness and +beauty. + +Moreover to live in the same house with such an optimist was no +ordinary experience. Well Celestina remembered the day when at dinner +the little old man had choked violently, turning purple in the face in +his fight for breath. She had rushed to his side, terror-stricken, but +between his spasms of coughing the inventor had gasped out: + +"Why make so much fuss over what's gone down the wrong way, Tiny? +Think--of--the--things--I've--swallered--all--these--years--that +have--gone down--right!" + +The observation was characteristic of Willie's creed of life. He never +emphasized the exceptions but always the big, fine, elemental good in +everything. + +Even the name by which he went had been bestowed on him by the +community as a term of endearment. There were, to be sure, other men +in the hamlet whose names had passed into diminutives. There was, for +example, Seth Crocker, whose wife explained that she called him Sethie +"for short." But Sethie's name was never pronounced with the same +affectionate drawl that Willie's was. + +No, Willie had his peculiar niche in Wilton and a very sacred niche it +was. + +What marvel, therefore, that Celestina reverenced the very earth which +he trod and cheerfully put up with the strings, the wires, the spools, +the tacks, and the pulleys; that she shifted the meals about to suit +his convenience; and that when she was awakened at midnight by a +rhythmic hammering which portended that the inventor had once again +"got kitched with a new idee" she smiled indulgently in the darkness +and instead of cursing the echoes that disturbed her slumber whispered +to herself Jan Eldridge's oft-repeated prediction that the day would +come when Willie Spence would astonish the scoffers of Wilton and would +make his mark. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WILLIE HAS AN IDEE + +On a day in June so clear that a sea gull loomed mammoth against the +sky; a day when a sail against the horizon was visible for miles; a day +when the whole world seemed swept and garnished as for a festival, +Zenas Henry Brewster drew rein before the Spence cottage, hitched the +Admiral to the picket fence that bordered the highway, and ascending +the bank which sloped abruptly to the road presented himself at the +kitchen door from which issued the aroma of baking bread. + +"Mornin', Tiny," called the visitor, poking his head across the +threshold. "Willie anywheres about?" + +Celestina, who was washing the breakfast dishes, glanced up at the lank +figure with a start. + +"Law, Zenas Henry, what a turn you gave me!" she exclaimed. "I never +heard a footfall. Yes, Willie's outside somewheres. He and Jan +Eldridge have been tinkerin' with the pump since early mornin'. +They've had it apart a hundred times, I guess, an' like as not they're +round there now pullin' it to pieces for the hundred-an'-oneth." + +Zenas Henry grinned. + +"That's a queer to-do," he remarked. "What's got all the pumps? +Bewitched, I reckon. Ours ain't workin' fur a cent either, an' I drove +round thinkin' I'd fetch Willie home with me to have a look at it. +He's got a knack with such things an' I calculate he'd know what's the +matter with it. Darned if I do." + +The man began to move away across the grass. + +Celestina, however, who was in the mood for gossip, had no mind to let +him escape so easily. + +"How's your folks?" questioned she, dropping her dishcloth into the pan +and following him to the door. + +"Oh, we're all right," returned Zenas Henry with a backward glance. +"Captain Benjamin's shoulder pesters him some about layin', but I tell +him he can't expect rain an' fog not to bring rheumatism." + +"That's so," agreed Celestina. "What a spell of weather we've had! I +guess it's about over now, though. I'm sorry Benjamin's shoulders +should hector him so. We're gettin' old, Zenas Henry, that's the plain +truth of it, an' must cheerfully take our share of aches an' pains, I +s'pose. Are Captain Phineas an' Captain Jonas well?" + +"Oh, they're nimble as crabs." + +"An' Abbie?" + +"Fine as a clipper in a breeze!" responded the man with enthusiasm. +"Best wife that ever was! The sun rises an' sets in that woman, +Celestina. What she can't do ain't worth doin'! Turns off work like +as if it was of no account an' grows better lookin' every day a-doin' +it." + +Celestina laughed. + +"I reckon you didn't make no mistake gettin' married, Zenas Henry," +mused she. + +"Mistake!" repeated Zenas Henry. + +"An' no mistake takin' in the child, either," went on Celestina, +unheeding the interruption. + +She saw his face soften and a glow of tenderness overspread it. + +"Delight was sent us out of heaven," he declared with solemnity. +"'Twas as much intended that ship should come ashore here an' the three +captains an' myself bring that little girl to land as that the sun +should rise in the mornin'. The child was meant fur us--fur us an' fur +nobody else on earth. Was she our own daughter we couldn't be fonder +of her than we are. It's ten years now since the wreck of the +_Michleen_. Think of it! How time flies! Ten years--an' the girl's +most twenty. I can't realize it. Why, it seems only yesterday she was +clingin' to my neck an' I was bringin' her home." + +"She's grown to be a regular beauty," Celestina observed. + +"I s'pose she has; folks seem to think so," replied Zenas Henry. "But +it wouldn't make an ounce of difference to me how she looked; I'd love +her just the same. I reckon she'll never seem to me anyhow like she +does to other people. Still I ain't so blind that I don't know she's +pretty. Her hair is wonderful, an' she's got them big brown eyes an' +pink cheeks. I'm proud as Tophet of her. If it warn't fur Abbie I +figger the three captains an' I would have the child clean spoilt. But +Abbie's always kept a firm hand on us an' prevented us from puttin' +nonsensical notions into Delight's head. Much of the way she's turned +out is due to Abbie's common sense. Well, the girl's a mighty nice +one," concluded Zenas Henry. "There's none to match her." + +"You're right there!" Celestina assented cordially. "She's one in a +hundred, in a thousand. She has the sweetest way in the world with +her, too. A body couldn't see her an' not love her. I guess there's +many a young feller along the Cape thinks so too, or I'm much +mistaken," added she slyly. "She must have a score of beaux." + +"Beaux!" snapped Zenas Henry, wheeling abruptly about. "Indeed she +hasn't. Why, she's nothin' but a child yet." + +"She's most twenty. You said so yourself just now." + +"Pooh! Twenty! What's twenty?" Zenas Henry cried derisively. "Why, +I'm three times that already an' more too, an' I ain't old. So are +you, Tiny. Twenty? Nonsense!" + +"But Delight is twenty, Zenas Henry," persisted Celestina. + +"What of it?" + +"Well, you mustn't forget it, that's all," continued the woman softly. +"Many a girl her age is married an'----" + +"Married!" burst out the man with indignation. "What under heaven are +you talkin' about, Celestina? Delight marry? Not she! She's too +young. Besides, she's well enough content with Abbie an' the three +captains an' me. Marry? Delight marry! Ridiculous!" + +"But you don't mean to say you expect a creature as pretty as she is +not to marry," said Celestina aghast. + +"Oh, why, yes," ruminated Zenas Henry. "Of course she's goin' to get +married sometime by an' by--mebbe in ten years or so. But not now." + +"Ten years or so! My goodness! Why, she'll be thirty or thirty-five, +an' an old maid by that time." + +"No, she won't. I was forty-five before I married, an' it didn't do me +no hurt or spoil my chances." + +"You might have been livin' with Abbie all them years, though." + +"I know it." + +He paused thoughtfully. + +"Yes," he reflected aloud, "I've often thought what a pity it was Abbie +an' I didn't have our first youth together. It took me half a lifetime +to find out how much I needed her." + +"You wouldn't want Delight should do that," ventured Celestina. + +"Delight? We ain't discussin' Delight," retorted Zenas Henry, promptly +on the defensive. "Delight's another matter altogether. She's nothin' +but a baby. There's no talk of her marryin' for a long spell yet." + +Peevishly he kicked the turf with the toe of his boot. + +Although he said no more, it was quite evident that he was much +irritated. + +"Well," he presently observed in a calmer tone, "I reckon I'll go round +an' waylay Willie." + +Celestina, leaning against the door frame, watched the gaunt, +loose-jointed figure stride out into the sunshine and disappear behind +the corner of the house. + +What a day it was! From beneath the lattice that arched the entrance +to the cottage and supported a rambler rose bursting into bloom she +could see the bay, blue as a sapphire and scintillating with ripples of +gold. A weather-stained scow was making its way out of the channel, +and above it circled a screaming cloud of tern that had been routed +from their nesting place on the margin of white sand that bordered the +path to the open sea. Mingling with their cries and the rhythmic +pulsing of the surf, the clear voices of the men aboard the tug reached +her ear. It was flood tide, and the water that surged over the bar +stained its reach of pearl to jade green and feathered its edges with +snowy foam. + +It was no weather to be cooped up indoors doing housework. + +Idly Celestina loitered, drinking in the beauty of the scene. The +languor of summer breathed in the gentle, pine-scented air and rose +from the warm earth of the garden. Voluptuously she stretched her arms +and yawned; then straightening to her customary erectness she went into +the house, being probably the only woman in Wilton who that morning had +abandoned her domestic duties long enough to take into her soul the +benediction of the world about her. + +It was such detours from the path of duty that had helped to win for +Celestina her pseudonym of "easy goin'." Perhaps this very vagrant +quality in her nature was what had aided her in so thoroughly +sympathizing with Willie in his sporadic outbursts of industry. For +Willie was not a methodical worker any more than was Celestina. There +were intervals, it is true, when he toiled steadily, feverishly, all +day long and far into the night, forgetting either to eat or sleep; +then would follow days together when he simply pottered about, or did +even worse and remained idle in the sunny shelter of the grape arbor. +Here on a rude bench constructed from a discarded four-poster he would +often sit for hours, smoking his corncob pipe and softly humming to +himself; but when genius went awry and his courage was at a low ebb, +strings, wires, and pulleys having failed to work, he would neither +smoke nor sing, but with eyes on the distance would sit immovable as if +carved from stone. + +To-day, however, was not one of his "settin' days." He had been up +since dawn, had eaten no breakfast, and had even been too deeply +preoccupied to fill and light the blackened pipe that dangled limply +from his lips. Yet despite all his coaxings and cajolings, the iron +pump opposite the shed door still refused to do anything but emit from +its throat a few dry, profitless gurgles that seemed forced upward from +the very caverns of the earth. Both Willie and Jan Eldredge looked +tired and disheartened, and when Zenas Henry approached stood at bay, +surrounded by a litter of wrenches, hammers, and scattered fragments of +metal. + +"What's the matter with your pump?" called Zenas Henry as he strolled +toward them. + +Willie turned on the intruder, a smile half humorous, half +contemptuous, flitting across his face. + +"If I could answer that question, Zenas Henry, I wouldn't be standin' +here gapin' at the darn thing," was his laconic response. "It's just +took a spell, that's all there is to it. It was right enough last +night." + +"There's no accountin' fur machinery," Zenas Henry remarked. + +The observation struck a note of pessimism that rasped Willie's +patience. + +"There's got to be some accountin' fur this claptraption," retorted he, +a suggestion of crispness in his tone. "I shan't stir foot from this +spot 'til I find out what's set it to actin' up this way." + +Zenas Henry laughed at the declaration of war echoing in the words. + +"I've given up flyin' all to flinders over everything that gets out of +gear," he drawled. "If I was to be goin' up higher'n a kite every +time, fur instance, that the seaweed ketches round the propeller of my +motor-boat, I'd be in mid-air most of the time." + +Willie raised his head with the alertness of a hunter on the scent. + +"Seaweed?" he repeated vaguely. + +Zenas Henry nodded. + +"Ain't there no scheme fur doin' away with a nuisance like that?" + +"I ain't discovered any," came dryly from Zenas Henry. "We've all had +a whack at the thing--Captain Jonas, Captain Phineas, Captain Benjamin, +an' me--an' we're back where we were at the beginnin'. Nothin' we've +tried has worked." + +"U--m!" ruminated Willie, stroking his chin. + +"I've about come to the conclusion we ain't much good as mechanics, +anyhow," went on Zenas Henry with a short laugh. "In fact, Abbie's of +the mind that we get things out of order faster'n we put 'em in." + +Janoah Eldridge rubbed his grimy hands and chuckled, but Willie deigned +no reply. + +"This propeller now," he presently began as if there had been no +digression from the topic, "I s'pose the kelp gets tangled around the +blades." + +"That's it," assented Zenas Henry. + +"An' that holds up your engine." + +"Uh-huh," Zenas Henry agreed with the same bored inflection. + +"An' that leaves you rockin' like a baby in a cradle 'til you can get +the wheel free." + +"Uh-huh." + +There was a moment of silence. + +"It can't be much of a stunt tossin' round in a choppy sea like as if +you was a chip on the waves," commented Jan Eldridge with a +commiserating grin. + +"'Tain't." + +"What do you do when you find yourself in a fix like that?" he inquired +with interest. + +"Do?" reiterated Zenas Henry. "What a question! What would any fool +do? There ain't no choice left you but to hang head downwards over the +stern of the boat an' claw the eel-grass off the wheel with a gaff." + +Janoah burst into a derisive shout. + +"Oh, my eye!" he exclaimed. "So that's the way you do it, eh? Don't +talk to me of motor-boats! A good old-fashioned skiff with a +leg-o'-mutton sail in her is good enough fur me. How 'bout you, +Willie?" + +No reply was forthcoming. + +"I say, Willie," repeated Jan in a louder tone, "that these new fangled +motor-boats, with their noise an' their smell, ain't no match fur a +good clean dory." + +Willie came out of his trance just in time to catch the final clause of +the sentence. + +"Who ever saw a clean dory in Wilton?" + +Jan faltered, abashed. + +"Well, anyhow," he persisted, "in my opinion, clean or not, a straight +wholesome smell of cod ain't to be mentioned in the same breath with a +mix-up of stale fish an' gasoline." + +Zenas Henry bridled. + +"You don't buy a motor-boat to smell of," he said tartly. "You seem to +forget it's to sail in." + +"But if the eel-grass holds you hard an' fast in one spot most of the +time I don't see's you do much sailin'," taunted Jan. "'Pears to me +you're just adrift an' goin' nowheres a good part of the time." + +"No, I ain't" snapped Zenas Henry with rising ire. "It's only +sometimes the thing gets spleeny. Most always--" + +"Then it warn't you I saw pitchin' in the channel fur a couple of hours +yesterday afternoon," commented the tormentor. + +"No. That is--let me think a minute," meditated Zenas Henry. "Yes, I +guess it was me, after all," he admitted with reluctant honesty. "The +tide brought in quite a batch of weeds, an' they washed up round the +boat before I could get out of their way; quicker'n a wink we were +neatly snarled up in 'em. Captain Jonas an' Captain Phineas tried to +get clear, but somehow they ain't got much knack fur freein' the wheel. +So we did linger in the channel a spell." + +"Linger!" put in Willie. "I shouldn't call bobbin' up an' down in one +spot fur two mortal hours lingerin'. I'd call it nearer bein' +hypnotized." + +Zenas Henry was now plainly out of temper. He was well aware that +Wilton had scant sympathy with his motor-boat, the first innovation of +the sort that had been perpetrated in the town. + +"Hadn't you better turn your attention from motor-boats to pumps?" he +asked testily. + +"I reckon I had, Zenas Henry," Willie answered, unruffled by the +thrust. "As you say, if you chose to wind yourself up in the eel-grass +it's none of my affair." + +Turning his back on his visitor, he bent once more over the pump and +adjusted a leather washer between its rusty joints. + +"Now let's give her a try, Jan," he said, as he tightened the screws. +"If that don't fetch her I'm beat." + +By this time Jan's faith had lessened, and although he obediently +raised the iron handle and began to ply it up and down, it was obvious +that he did not anticipate success. But contrary to his expectations +there was a sudden subterranean groan, followed by a rumble of +gradually rising pitch; then from out the stubbed green spout a stream +of water gushed forth and trickled into the tub beneath. + +"Hurray!" shouted Jan. "There she blows, Willie! Ain't you the +dabster, though!" + +The inventor did not immediately acknowledge the plaudits heaped upon +him, but it was evident he was gratified by his success for, as he +wiped the beads of perspiration from his forehead he sighed deeply. + +"If I hadn't been such a blame fool I'd 'a' known what the matter was +in the first place," he remarked. "Well, if we knew as much when we're +born as we do when we get ready to die, what would be the use of livin' +seventy odd years?" + +In spite of his irritation Zenas Henry smiled. + +"I don't s'pose you're feelin' like tacklin' another pump to-day," he +ventured with hesitation. "Ours up at the white cottage has gone on a +strike, too." + +Instantly Willie was interested. + +"What's got yours?" he asked. + +"Blest if I know. We've took it all to pieces an' ain't found nothin' +out with it, an' now to save our souls we can't put it together again," +Zenas Henry explained. "I drove round, thinkin' that mebbe you'd go +back with me an' have a look at it." + +"Course I will, Zenas Henry," Willie said without hesitation. "I'd +admire to. A pump that won't work is like a fishline without a +hook--good for nothin'. Have you got room in your team for Jan, too?" + +"Sure." + +"Then let's start along," said the inventor, stooping to gather up his +tools. + +But he had reckoned without his host, for as he swept them into a +jagged piece of sailcloth and prepared to tie up the bundle, Celestina +called to him from the window. + +"Where you goin', Willie?" she demanded. + +"Up to Zenas Henry's to mend the pump." + +"But you can't go now," objected she. "It's ten o'clock, an' you ain't +had a mouthful of breakfast this mornin'." + +The little man regarded her blankly. + +"Ain't I et nothin'?" he inquired with surprise. + +"No. Don't you remember you got up early to go fishin', an' then you +found the pump wasn't workin', an' you've been wrestlin' with it ever +since." + +"So I have!" + +A sunny smile of recollection overspread the old man's face. + +"Ain't you hungry?" + +"I dunno," considered he without interest. "Mebbe I am. Yes, now you +speak of it, I will own to feelin' a mite holler. Can't you hand me a +snack to eat as I go along?" + +"You'd much better come in an' have your breakfast properly." + +"Oh, I don't want nothin' much," the altruist protested. "Just fetch +me out a slice of bread or a doughnut. We've got to get at that pump +of Zenas Henry's. I'm itchin' to know what's the matter with it." + +Celestina looked disappointed. + +"I've been savin' your coffee fur you since seven o'clock," murmured +she reproachfully. + +"That was very kind of you, Tiny," Willie responded with an +ingratiating glance into her eyes. "You just keep it hot a spell +longer, an' I'll be back. Likely I won't be long." + +"You've been workin' five hours on your own pump!" + +"Five hours? Pshaw! You don't say so," mused the tranquil voice. +"Think of that! An' it didn't seem no time. Well, it's a-pumpin' now, +Celestina." + +The mild face beamed with satisfaction, and Celestina had not the heart +to cloud its brightness by annoying him further. + +"That's capital!" she declared. "Here's your bread an' butter, Willie. +An' here's some apple turnovers fur you, an' Jan, an' Zenas Henry. +They'll be nice fur you goin' along in the wagon." Then turning to Jan +she whispered in a pleading undertone: + +"Do watch, Jan, that Willie don't lay that bread down somewheres an' +forget it. Mebbe if he sees the rest of you eatin' he'll remember to +eat himself. If he don't, though, remind him, for he's just as liable +to bring it back home again in his hand. Keep your eye on him!" + +Jan nodded understandingly, and climbing into the dusty wagon, the +three men rattled off over the sandy road. Willie dropped his tools +into the bottom of the carriage but the slice of bread remained +untouched in his fingers. Now that triumph had brought a respite in +his labors he seemed silent and thoughtful. It was not until the +Admiral turned in at the Brewster gate that he roused himself +sufficiently to observe with irrelevance: + +"Speakin' about that propeller of yours, Zenas Henry--it must be no end +of a temper-rasper." + +Zenas Henry slapped the reins over the horse's flank and waited +breathlessly, hoping some further comment would come from the little +inventor, but as Willie remained silent, he at length could restrain +his impatience no longer and ventured with diffidence: + +"S'pose you ain't got any notion what we could do about it, have you, +Willie?" + +The old man shrugged his shoulders. + +"No, not the ghost," was his terse reply. + +That night, however, Celestina was awakened from her dreams by the ring +of a hammer. She rose, and lighting her candle, tip-toed into the +hall. It was one o'clock, and she could see that Willie's bedroom door +was ajar and the bed untouched. + +With a little sigh she blew out the flame in her hand and crept back +beneath the shelter of her calico comforter. + +She knew the symptoms only too well. + +Willie was once again "kitched by an idee!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A NEW ARRIVAL + +The new idea, whatever it was, was evidently not one to be hastily +perfected, for the next morning when Celestina went down stairs, she +found the jaded inventor seated moodily in a rocking-chair before the +kitchen stove, his head in his hands. + +"Law, Willie, are you up already?" she asked, as if unconscious of his +nocturnal activities. + +The reply was a wan smile. + +"An' you've got the fire built, too," went on Celestina cheerily. "How +nice!" + +"Eh?" repeated he, giving her a vague stare. "The fire?" + +"Yes. I was sayin' how good it was of you to start it up." The man +gazed at her blankly. + +"I ain't touched the fire," he answered. "I might have, though, as +well as not, Tiny, if I'd thought of it." + +"That's all right," Celestina declared, making haste to repair her +blunder. "I've plenty of time to lay it myself. 'Twas only that when +I saw you settin' up before it I thought mebbe you'd built it 'cause +you were cold." + +"I was cold," acquiesced Willie, his eyes misty with thought. "But I +warn't noticin' there was no heat in the stove when I drew up here." + +Celestina bit her lip. How characteristic the confession was! + +"Well, there'll be a fire now very soon," said she, bustling out and +returning with paper and kindlings. "The kitchen will be warm as toast +in no time. An' I'll make you some hot coffee straight away. That +will heat you up. This northerly wind blows the cobwebs out of the +sky, but it does make it chilly." + +Although Willie's eyes automatically followed her brisk motions and +watched while she deftly started the blaze, it was easy to see that he +was too deep in his own meditations to sense what she was doing. +Perhaps had his mood not been such an abstract one he would have +realized that he was directly in the main thoroughfare and obstructing +the path between the pantry and the oven. As it was he failed to grasp +the circumstance, and not wishing to disturb him, Celestina patiently +circled before, behind and around him in her successive pilgrimages to +the stove. Such situations were exigencies to which she was quite +accustomed, her easy-going disposition quickly adapting itself to +emergencies of the sort. So skilful was she in effacing her presence +that Willie had no knowledge he was an obstacle until suddenly the iron +door swung back of its own volition and in passing brushed his knuckles +with its hot metal edge. + +"Ouch!" cried he, starting up from his chair. + +"What's the matter?" called Celestina from the pantry. + +"Nothin'. The oven door sprung open, that's all." + +"It didn't burn you?" + +"N--o, but it made me jump," laughed Willie. "Why didn't you tell me, +Tiny, that I was in your way?" + +"You warn't in my way." + +"But I must 'a' been," the man persisted. "You should 'a' shoved me +aside in the beginnin'." + +Stretching his arms upward with a comfortable yawn, he rose and +sauntered toward the door. + +"Now you're not to pull out of here, Willie Spence," Celestina objected +in a peremptory tone, "until you've had your breakfast. You had none +yesterday, remember, thanks to that pump; an' you had no dinner either, +thanks to Zenas Henry's pump. You're goin' to start this day right. +You're to have three square meals if I have to tag you all over Wilton +with 'em. I don't know what it is you've got on your mind this time, +but the world's worried along without it up to now, an' I guess it can +manage a little longer." + +Willie regarded his mentor good-humoredly. + +"I figger it can, Celestina," he returned. "In fact, I reckon it will +have to content itself fur quite a spell without the notion I've run +a-foul of now." + +Celestina offered no interrogation; instead she said, "Well, don't let +it harrow you up; that's all I ask. If it's goin' to be a +long-drawn-out piece of tinkerin', why there's all the more reason you +should eat your three good meals like other Christians. Next you know +you'll be gettin' run down, an' I'll be havin' to brew some dandelion +bitters for you." She came to an abrupt stop half-way between the oven +and the kitchen table, a bowl and spoon poised in her hand. "I ain't +sure but it's time to brew you somethin' anyway," she announced. "You +ain't had a tonic fur quite a spell an' mebbe 'twould do you good." + +A helpless protest trembled on Willie's lips. + +"I--I--don't think I need any bitters, Celestina," he at last observed +mildly. + +"You don't know whether you do or not," Celestina replied with as near +an approach to sharpness as she was capable of. "However, there's no +call to discuss that now. The chief thing this minute is for you to +sit up to the table an' eat your victuals." + +Docilely the man obeyed. He was hungry it proved, very hungry indeed. +With satisfaction Celestina watched every spoonful of food he put to +his lips, inwardly gloating as one muffin after another disappeared; +and when at last he could eat no more and took his blackened cob pipe +from his pocket, she drew a sigh of satisfaction. + +"There now, if you want to go back to your inventin' you can," she +remarked, as she began to clear away the dishes. "You've took aboard +enough rations to do you quite a while." + +Notwithstanding the permission Willie did not immediately avail himself +of it but instead lingered uneasily as if something troubled his +conscience. + +"Say, Tiny," he blurted out at length, "if you happen around by the +front door and miss the screen don't be scared an' think it's stole. I +had to use it fur somethin' last night." + +"The screen door?" gasped Celestina. + +"Yes." + +"But--but--Willie! The door was new this Spring; there wasn't a brack +in it." + +"I know it," was the calm answer. "That's why I took it." + +"But you could have got nettin' over at the store to-day." + +"I couldn't wait." + +Celestina did not reply at once; but when she did she had herself well +in hand, and every trace of irritation had vanished from her tone. + +"Well, we don't often open that door, anyway," she reflected aloud, "so +I guess no harm's done. It's a full year since anybody's come to the +front door, an' like as not 'twill be another before--" + +A jangling sound cut short the sentence. + +"What's that?" exclaimed she aghast. + +"It's a bell." + +"I never heard a bell like that in this house." + +"It's a bell I rigged up one day when you were gone to the Junction," +exclaimed Willie hurriedly. "I thought I told you about it." + +"You didn't." + +"Well, no matter now," he went on soothingly. + +"I meant to." + +"Where is it?" demanded Celestina. + +"It's in the hall. It's a new front-door bell, that's what it is," +proclaimed the inventor, his voice lost in a second deafening peal. + +"My soul! It's enough to wake the dead!" gasped Celestina, with hands +on her ears. "I should think it could be heard from here to Nantucket. +What set you gettin' a bell that size, Willie? 'Twould scare any +caller who dared to come this way out of a year's growth. I'll have to +go an' see who's there, if he ain't been struck dumb on the doorsill. +Who ever can it be--comin' to the front door?" + +With perturbed expectancy she hurried through the passageway, Willie +tagging at her heels. + +The infrequently patronized portal of the Spence mansion, it proved, +was so securely barred and bolted that to unfasten it necessitated no +little time and patience; even after locks and fastenings had been +withdrawn and the door was at liberty to move, not knowing what to do +with its unaccustomed freedom it refused to stir, stubbornly resisting +every attempt to wrench its hinges asunder. It was not until the man +and woman inside had combined their efforts and struggled with it for +quite an interval that it contrived to creak apart far enough to reveal +through a four-inch crack the figure of a young man who was standing +patiently outside. + +One could not have asked for a franker, merrier face than that which +peered at Celestina through the narrow chink of sunshine. To judge at +random the visitor had come into his manhood recently, for the brown +eyes were alight with youthful humor and the shoulders unbowed by the +burdens of the world. He had a mass of wavy, dark hair; a thoughtful +brow; ruddy color; a pleasant mouth and fine teeth; and a tall, erect +figure which he bore with easy grace. + +"Is Miss Morton at home?" he asked, smiling at Celestina through the +shaft of golden light. + +Celestina hesitated. So seldom was she addressed by this formal +pseudonym that for the instant she was compelled to stop and consider +whether the individual designated was on the premises or not. + +"Y--e--s," she at last admitted feebly. + +"I wonder if I might speak with her," the stranger asked. + +"Why don't you tell him you're Miss Morton," coached Willie, in a loud +whisper. + +But the man on the steps had heard. + +"You're not Miss Morton, are you?" he essayed, "Miss Celestina Morton?" + +"I expect I am," owned Celestina nervously. + +"I'm your brother Elnathan's boy, Bob." + +Celestina crumpled weakly against the door frame. + +"Nate's boy!" she repeated. "Bless my soul! Bless my soul an' body!" + +The man outside laughed a delighted laugh so infectious that before +Celestina or Willie were conscious of it they had joined in its mellow +ripple. After that everything was easy. + +"We can't open the door to let you in," explained Willie, peering out +through the rift, "'cause this blasted door ain't moved fur so long +that its hinges have growed together; but if you'll come round to the +back of the house you'll find a warmer welcome." + +The guest nodded and disappeared. + +"Land alive, Willie!" ejaculated Celestina while they struggled to +replace the dislocated bars and bolts. "To think of Nate's boy +appearin' here! I can't get over it! Nate's boy! Nate was my +favorite brother, you know--the littlest one, that I brought up from +babyhood. This lad is so completely the livin' image of him that when +I clapped eyes on him it took the gimp clear out of me. It was like +havin' Nate himself come back again." + +With fluttering eagerness she sped through the hall. + +Robert Morton was standing in the kitchen when she arrived, his head +towering into the tangle of strings that crossed and recrossed the +small interior. Whatever his impression of the extraordinary spectacle +he evinced no curiosity but remained as imperturbable amid the network +that ensnared him as if such astounding phenomena were everyday +happenings. Nevertheless, a close observer might have detected in his +hazel eyes a dancing gleam that defied control. Apparently it did not +occur either to Willie or to Celestina to explain the mystery which had +long since become to them so familiar a sight; therefore amid the +barrage of red, green, purple, pink, yellow and white strings they +greeted their guest, throwing into their welcome all the homely +cordiality they could command. + +From the first moment of their meeting it was noticeable that Willie +was strongly attracted by Robert Morton's sensitive and intelligent +face; and had he not been, for Celestina's sake he would have made an +effort to like the newcomer. Fortunately, however, effort was +unnecessary, for Bob won his way quite as uncontestedly with the little +inventor as with Celestina. There was no question that his aunt was +delighted with him. One could read it in her affectionate touch on his +arm; in her soft, nervous laughter; in the tremulous inflection of her +many questions. + +"Your father couldn't have done a kinder thing than to have sent you to +Wilton, Robert," she declared at last when quite out of breath with her +rejoicings. "My, if you're not the mortal image of him as he used to +be at your age! I can scarcely believe it isn't Nate. His forehead +was high like yours, an' the hair waved back from it the same way; he +had your eyes too--full of fun, an' yet earnest an' thoughtful. I +ain't sure but you're a mite taller than he was, though." + +"I top Dad by six inches, Aunt Tiny," smiled the young man. + +"I guessed likely you did," murmured Celestina, with her eyes still on +his face. "Now you must sit right down an' tell me all about yourself +an' your folks. I want to know everything--where you come from; when +you got here; how long you can stay, an' all." + +"The last question is the only really important one," interrupted +Willie, approaching the guest and laying a friendly hand on his +shoulder. "The doin's of your family will keep; an' where you come +from ain't no great matter neither. What counts is how long you can +spare to visitin' Wilton an' your aunt. We ain't much on talk here on +the Cape, but I just want you should know that there's an empty room +upstairs with a good bed in it, that's yours long's you can make out to +use it. Your aunt is a prime cook, too, an' though there's no danger +of your mixin' up this place with Broadway or Palm Beach, I believe you +might manage to keep contented here." + +"I'm sure I could," Bob Morton answered, "and you're certainly kind to +give me such a cordial invitation. I wasn't expecting to remain for +any length of time, however. I came down from Boston, where I happened +to be staying yesterday afternoon, and had planned to go back tonight. +I've been doing some post-graduate work in naval engineering at Tech +and have just finished my course there. So, you see, I'm really on my +way home to Indiana. But Dad wrote that before I returned he wanted me +to take a run down here and see Aunt Tiny and the old town where he was +born, so here I am." + +Willie scanned the stranger's face meditatively. + +"Then you're clear of work, an' startin' off on your summer vacation." + +"That's about it," confessed Bob. + +"Anything to take you West right away?" + +"N--o--nothing, except that the family have not seen me for some time. +I've accepted a business position with a New York firm, but I don't +start in there until October." + +"You're your own master for four months, eh?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Well, I ain't a-goin' to urge you to put in your time here; but I will +say again, in case you've forgotten it, that so long as you're content +to remain with us we'd admire to have you. 'Twould give your aunt no +end of pleasure, I'll be bound, an' I'd enjoy it as well as she would." + +"You're certainly not considerin' goin' back to Boston today!" chimed +in Celestina. + +"I was," laughed Bob. + +"You may as well put that notion right out of your head," said Willie, +"for we shan't let you carry out no such crazy scheme." + +"But to come launching down on you this way--" began the younger man. + +"You ain't come launchin' down," objected his aunt with spirit. "We +ain't got nothin' to do but inventin', an' I reckon that can wait." + +Glancing playfully at Willie she saw a sudden light of eagerness flash +into his countenance. But Bob, not understanding the allusion, looked +from one of them to the other in puzzled silence. + +"All right, Aunt Tiny," he at last announced, "if you an' Mr. Spence +really want me to, I should be delighted to stay with you a few days. +The fact is," he added with boyish frankness, "my suit case is down +behind the rose bushes this minute. Having sent most of my luggage +home, and not knowing what I should do, I brought it along with me." + +"You go straight out, young man, an' fetch it in," commanded Willie, +giving him a jocose slap on the back. + +Nevertheless, in spite of the mandate, Robert Morton lingered. + +"Do you know, Aunt Tiny, I'm almost ashamed to accept your +hospitality," he observed with winning sincerity. "We've all been so +rotten to you--never coming to see you or anything. Dad's terribly cut +up that he hasn't made a single trip East since leaving Wilton." + +The honest confession instantly quenched the last smouldering embers of +Celestina's resentment toward her kin. + +"Don't think no more of it!" she returned hurriedly. "Your father's +been busy likely, an' so have you; an' anyhow, men ain't much on +follerin' up their relations, or writin' to 'em. So don't say another +word about it. I'm sure I've hardly given it a thought." + +That the final assertion was false Robert Morton read in the woman's +brave attempt to control the pitiful little quiver of her lips; +nevertheless he blessed her for her deception. + +"You're a dear, Aunt Tiny," he exclaimed heartily, stooping to kiss her +cheek. "Had I dreamed half how nice you were, wild horses couldn't +have kept me away from Wilton." + +Celestina blushed with pleasure. + +Very pretty she looked standing there in the window, her shoulders +encircled by the arm of the big fellow who, towering above her, looked +down into her eyes so affectionately. Willie couldn't but think as he +saw her what a mother she would have made for some boy. Possibly +something of the same regret crossed Celestina's own mind, for a shadow +momentarily clouded her brow, and to banish it she repeated with +resolute gaiety: + +"Do go straight out an' bring in that suit case, Bob, or some straggler +may steal it. An' put out of your mind any notion of goin' to Boston +for the present. I'll show you which room you're to have so'st you can +unpack your things, an' while you're washin' up I'll get you some +breakfast. You ain't had none, have you?" + +"No; but really, Aunt Tiny, I'm not--" + +"Yes, you are. Don't think it's any trouble for it ain't--not a mite." + +Willie beamed with good will. + +"You've landed just in time to set down with us," he remarked. "We +ain't had our breakfast, either." + +Celestina wheeled about with astonishment. Willie's hospitality must +have burst all bounds if it had lured him, who never deviated from the +truth, into uttering a falsehood monstrous as this. One glance, +however, at his placid face, his unflinching eye, convinced her that +swept away by the interest of the moment the little old man had lost +all memory of whether he had breakfasted or not. + +She did not enlighten him. + +"Mebbe it ain't honest to let him go on thinkin' he's had nothin' to +eat," she whispered to herself, "but if all them muffins, an' oatmeal, +an' coffee don't do nothin' toward remindin' him he's et once, I ain't +goin' to do it. This second meal will make up fur the breakfast he +missed yesterday. I ain't deceivin' him; I'm simply squarin' things +up." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER ENTERS + +Before the morning had passed Bob Morton was as much at home in the +little cottage that faced the sea as if he had lived there all his +days. His property was spread out in the old mahogany bureau upstairs; +his hat dangled from a peg in the hall; and he had exchanged his "city +clothes" for the less conventional outing shirt and suit of blue serge, +both of which transformed him into a figure amazingly slender and +boyish. For two hours he and Celestina had rehearsed the family +history from beginning to end; and now he had left her to get dinner, +and he and Willie had betaken themselves to the workshop where they +were deep in confidential conversation. + +"You see," the inventor was explaining to his guest, "it's like this: +it ain't so much that I want to bother with these notions as that I +have to. They get me by the throat, an' there's no shakin' 'em off. +Only yesterday, fur example, I got kitched with an idee about a boat--" +he broke off, regarding his listener with sudden suspicion. + +Bob waited. + +Evidently Willie's scrutiny of the frank countenance opposite satisfied +him, for dropping his voice he continued in an impressive whisper: + +"About a motor-boat, this idee was." + +Glancing around as if to assure himself that no one was within hearing, +he hitched the barrel on which he was seated nearer his visitor. + +"There's a sight of plague with motor-boats among these shoals," he +went on eagerly. "What with the eel-grass that grows along the inlets +an' the kelp that's washed in by the tide after a storm, the propeller +of a motor-boat is snarled up a good bit of the time. Now my scheme," +he announced, his last trace of reserve vanishing, "is to box that +propeller somehow--if so be as it can be done--an'--," the voice +trailed off into meditation. + +Robert Morton, too, was silent. + +"You would have to see that the wheel was kept free," he mused aloud +after an interval. + +"I know it." + +"And not check the speed of the boat." + +"Right you are, mate!" exclaimed Willie with delight. + +"And not hamper the swing of the rudder." + +"You have it! You have it!" Willie shouted, rubbing his hands together +and smiling broadly. "It's all them things I'm up against." + +"I believe the trick might be turned, though," replied young Morton, +rising from the nail keg on which he was sitting and striding about the +narrow room. "It's a pretty problem and one it would be rather good +fun to work out." + +"I'd need to rig up a model to experiment with, I s'pose," reflected +Willie. + +"Oh, we could fix that easily enough," Bob cried with rising enthusiasm. + +"_We_?" + +"Sure! I'll help you." + +The announcement did not altogether reassure the inventor, and Bob +laughed at the dubious expression of his face. + +"Of course I'm only a dry-land sailor," he went on to explain +good-humoredly, "and I do not begin to have had the experience with +boats that you have. I did, however, study about them some at Tech and +perhaps--" + +"Study about 'em!" repeated Willie, unable wholly to conceal his +scepticism and scorn. + +Again the younger man laughed. + +"I realize that is not like getting knowledge first-hand," he continued +with modesty, "but it seemed the best I could do. As to this plan of +yours, two heads are sometimes better than one, and between us I +believe we can evolve an answer to the puzzle." + +"That'll be prime!" Willie ejaculated, now quite comfortable in his +mind. "An' when we get the answer to the riddle, Jan Eldridge will +help us. You ain't met Jan yet, have you? He's the salt of the earth, +Janoah Eldridge is. Him an' me are the greatest chums you ever saw. +He mebbe has his peculiarities, like the rest of us. Who ain't? +You'll likely find him kinder sharp-tongued at first, but he don't mean +nothin' by it; and' he's quick, too--goes up like a rocket at a +minute's notice. Folks down in town insist in addition that he's +jealous as a girl, but I've yet to see signs of it. Fur all his little +crochets you'll like Jan Eldridge. You can't help it. We're none of +us angels--when it comes to that. Hush!" broke off Willie warningly. +"I believe that's him now. Didn't you see a head go past the winder?" + +"I thought I did." + +"Then that's Jan. Nobody else would be comin' across the dingle. Now +not a word of this motor-boat business to him," cautioned Willie, +dropping his voice. "I never tell Jan 'bout my idees 'till I get 'em +well worked out, for he's no great shakes at inventin'." + +There was an instant of guilty silence, and then the two conspirators +beheld a freckled face, crowned by a mass of rampant sandy hair, +protrude itself through the doorway. + +"Hi, Willie!" called the newcomer, unmindful of the presence of a +stranger. "Well, how do you find yourself to-day? Ready to tackle +another pump?" + +With simulated indignation Willie bristled. + +"Pump!" he repeated. "Don't you dare so much as to mention pumps in my +hearin' fur six months, Janoah Eldridge. I've had my fill of pumps fur +one spell." + +The freckled face in the door expanded its smile into a grin that +displayed the few scattered teeth adorning its owner's jaws. + +"No," went on the inventor, "I ain't attackin' no pumps to-day. I'm +sorter takin' a vacation. You see we've got company. Tiny's nephew, +Bob Morton from Indiana, has come to stay with us. This is him on the +nail keg." + +Shuffling further into the room Jan peered inquisitively at the guest. + +"So you're Tiny's nephew, eh?" he commented, examining the visitor's +countenance with curiosity. "Well, well! To think of some of Tiny's +relations turnin' up at last! Not that it ain't high time, I'll say +that. Now which of the Mortons do you belong to, young man?" + +"Elnathan." + +"I might 'a' known first glance, for you're like him as his tintype." + +Bob laughed. + +"Aunt Tiny thinks I am, too." + +"She'd oughter know," was the dry comment. "She had the plague of +bringin' him up from the time he could toddle. I'm glad some of you +have finally got round to comin' to see her. You've been long enough +doin' it. I ain't so sure, though, but if I was in her place I'd--" + +"There, there, Jan," interrupted Willie nervously, "why go diggin' up +the past? The lad is here now an'--" + +"But they have been the devil of a while takin' notice of Tiny," Janoah +persisted, not to be coaxed away from his subject. "Why, 'twas only +the other day when we was workin' out here that you yourself said the +way her folks had neglected her was outrageous." + +"And it was, too, Mr. Eldridge," confessed Bob, flushing. "Our whole +family have treated Aunt Tiny shamefully. There is no excuse for it." + +Before the honest admission of blame, Jan's mounting wrath grudgingly +calmed itself. + +"Well," he grumbled in a more conciliatory tone, "as Willie says, mebbe +it's just as well not to go bringin' to life what's buried already. +Like as not there may have been some good reason for your folks never +comin' back to Wilton after once they'd left the place. Indiana's the +devil of a distance away--'most at the other end of the world, ain't +it? You might as well live in China as Indiana. I never could see +anyway what took people out of Wilton. There ain't a better spot on +earth to live than right here. Yet for all that, every one of the +Mortons 'cept Tiny (who showed her good sense, in my opinion) went +flockin' out of this town quick as they was growed, like as if they was +a lot of swarmin' bees. I doubt myself, too, if they're a whit better +off for it. Your father now--what does he make out to do in Indiana?" + +"Father is in the grain business," replied Bob with a smile. + +"The grain business, is he? An' likely he sets in an office all day +long, in out of the fresh air," continued Jan with contempt. "Plumb +foolish I call it, when he could be livin' in Wilton an' fishin', an' +clammin', an' enjoying himself. That's the way with so many folks. +They go kitin' off to the city to make money enough to buy one of them +automobiles. You won't ketch me with an automobile--no, nor a +motor-boat, neither; nor any other of them durn things that's goin' to +set me livin' like as if I was shot out of the cannon's mouth. What's +the good of bein' whizzed through life as if the old Nick himself was +at your heels--workin' faster, eatin' faster, dyin' faster? I see +nothin' to it--nothin' at all." + +At the risk of rousing the philosopher's resentment, Bob burst into a +peal of laughter. + +"But ain't it so now, I ask you? Ain't it just as I say?" insisted +Janoah Eldridge. "Argue as you will, what's the gain in it?" + +To the speaker's apparent disappointment, the citizen from Indiana did +not accept the challenge for argument but instead observed pleasantly: + +"I'll wager you will outlive all us city people, Mr. Eldridge." + +"Course I will," was the old man's confident retort. "I'll be +a-sailin' in my dory when the whole lot of you motor-boat folks are +under the sod. You see if I ain't! An' speakin' of motor-boats, +Willie--I s'pose you ain't done nothin toward tacklin' Zenas Henry's +tribulations with that propeller, have you?" + +The question was unexpected, and Willie colored uncomfortably. He was +not good at dissembling. + +"'Twould mean quite a bit of thinkin' to get Zenas Henry out of his +troubles," returned he evasively. "'Tain't so simple as it looks." + +Moving abruptly to the work-bench he began to overturn at random the +tools lying upon it. + +Something in this unusual proceeding arrested Jan's attention, causing +him to glance with suspicion from Robert Morton to the inventor, and +from the inventor back to Robert Morton again. The elder man was +whistling "Tenting To-night," an air that had never been a favorite of +his; and the younger, with self-conscious zeal, was shredding into bits +a long curl of shavings. + +Jan eyed both of them with distrust + +"I figger we're goin' to have a spell of fine weather now," remarked +Willie with jaunty artificiality. + +The offhand assertion was too casual to be real. Cloud and fog were +not dealt with in this cursory fashion in Wilton. It clinched Jan's +doubts into certainty. Something was being kept from him, something of +which this stranger, who had only been in the town a few hours, was +cognizant. For the first time in fifty years another had usurped his +place as Willie's confidant. It was monstrous! A tremor of jealous +rage thrilled through his frame, and he stiffened visibly. + +"I reckon I'll be joggin' along home," said he, moving with dignity +toward the door. + +"But you've only just come, Jan," protested Willie. + +"I didn't come fur nothin' but to leave this hammer," Jan answered, +placing the implement on the long bench before which his friend was +standing. + +"Maybe there was something you wanted to see Mr. Spence about," +ventured Bob. "If there was I will--" + +"No, there warn't," snapped Janoah. "Mister Spence ain't got nothin' +confidential to say to me--whatever he may have to say to other folks," +and with this parting thrust he shot out of the door. + +Bob gave a low whistle. + +"What's the matter with the man?" he asked in amazement. + +Willie flushed apologetically. + +"Nothin'--nothin' in the world!" he answered. "Jan gets like that +sometimes. Don't you remember I told you he was kinder quick. It's +just possible it may have bothered him to see me talkin' to you. Don't +mind him." + +"Do you think he suspected anything?" + +"Mercy, no! Not he!" responded Willie comfortably. "He's liable to +fly off the handle like that a score of times a day. Don't you worry +'bout him. He'll be back before the mornin's over." + +Nevertheless, sanguine as this prediction was, the hours wore on, and +Janoah Eldridge failed to make his appearance. In the meantime Bob and +Willie became so deeply engrossed in their new undertaking that they +were oblivious to his absence. They worked feverishly until noon, +devoured a hurried meal, and returned to the shop again, there to +resume their labors. By supper time they had made quite an encouraging +start on the model they required, their combined efforts having +accomplished in a single day what it would have taken Willie many an +hour to perfect. + +The inventor was jubilant. + +"Little I dreamed when you came to the front door, Bob, what I was +nettin'!" he exclaimed, clapping his hand vigorously on the young man's +shoulder. "You're a regular boat-builder, you are. The moon might 'a' +pogeed an' perigeed before I'd 'a' got as fur along as we have to-day. +How you've learned all you have about boats without ever goin' near the +water beats me. Now you ain't a-goin' to think of quittin' Wilton an' +leavin' me high an' dry with this propeller idee, are you? 'Twould be +a downright shabby trick." + +Bob smiled into the old man's anxious face. + +"I can't promise to see you to the finish for I must be back home +before many days, or I'll have my whole family down on me. Besides, I +have some business in New York to attend to," he said kindly. "But I +will arrange to stick around until the job is so well under way that +you won't need me. I am quite as interested in making the scheme a +success as you are. All is you mustn't let me wear out my welcome and +be a burden to Aunt Tiny." + +"Law, Tiny'll admire to have you stay long as you can, if only because +you drag me into the house at meal time," chuckled Willie. + +"At least I can do that," Bob returned. + +"You can do that an' a durn sight more, youngster," the inventor +declared with earnestness. "I ain't had the pleasure I've had to-day +in all my life put together. To work with somebody as has learned the +right way to go ahead--it's wonderful. When me an' Jan tackle a job, +we generally begin at the wrong end of it an' blunder along, wastin' +time an' string without limit. If we hit it right it's more luck than +anything else." + +Robert Morton, watching the mobile face, saw a pitiful sadness steal +into the blue eyes. A sudden shame surged over him. + +"I ought to be able to do far more with my training than I have done," +he answered humbly. "Dad has given me every chance." + +"Think of it!" murmured Willie, scrutinizing him with hungering gaze. +"Think of havin' every chance to learn!" + +For an interval he smoked in silence. + +"Well," he asserted at length, "you've sure proved to-day that brains +with trainin' are better'n brains without. Now if Jan an' me--" he +broke off abruptly. "There! I wonder what in tunket's become of Jan," +he speculated. "We've been so busy that he went clean out of my mind. +It's queer he didn't show up again. He ain't stayed away for a whole +day in all history. Mebbe he's took sick. I believe I'll trudge over +there an' find out what's got him. I mustn't go to neglectin' Jan, +inventin' or no inventin'." + +He rose from his chair wearily. + +"I reckon a note would do as well, though, as goin' over," he presently +remarked as an afterthought. "I could send one in the box an' ask him +to drop round an' set a spell before bedtime." + +He caught up a piece of brown paper from the workbench, tore a ragged +corner from it, and hastily scrawled a message. + +Bob watched the process with amusement. + +"There!" announced the scribe when the epistle was finished. "I reckon +that'll fetch him. We'll put it in the box an' shoot it across to him." + +Notwithstanding the dash implied in the term, it took no small length +of time for the diminutive receptacle to hitch its way through the +fields. The two men watched it jiggle along above the bushes of wild +roses, through verdant clumps of fragrant bayberry, and disappear into +the woods. Then they sat down to await Jan's appearance. + +The twilight was rarely beautiful. In a sky of palest turquoise a +crescent moon hung low, its arc of silver poised above the tips of the +stunted pines, whose feathery outlines loomed black in the dusk. From +out the dimness the note of a vesper sparrow sounded and mingled its +sweetness with the faintly breathing ocean. + +The men on the doorstep smoked silently, each absorbed in his own +reveries. + +How peaceful it was there in the stillness, with the hush of evening +descending like a benediction on the darkening earth! + +Bob sighed with contentment. His year of hard study was over, and now +that his well-earned rest had come he was surprised to discover how +tired he was. Already the peace of Wilton was stealing over him, its +dreamy atmosphere almost too beautiful to be real. From where he sat +he could see the trembling lights of the village jewelling the rim of +the bay like a circlet of stars. A man might do worse, he reflected, +than remain a few days in this sleepy little town. He liked Willie and +Celestina, too; indeed, he would have been without a heart not to have +appreciated their simple kindliness. Why should he hurry home? Would +not his father rejoice should he be content to stay and make his aunt a +short visit? There was no need to bind himself for any definite length +of time; he would merely drift and when he found himself becoming bored +flee. To be sure, about the last thing he had intended when setting +forth to the Cape was to linger there. He had come hither with +unwilling feet solely to please his parents, and having paid his +respects to his unknown relative he meant to depart West as speedily as +decency would permit, reasoning that it would be a mutual relief when +the visit was over. + +But a single day in the cozy little house at the water's edge had +served to convince him how erroneous had been his premises. Instead of +being tiresome, his Aunt Celestina was proving a delightful +acquisition, toward whom he already found himself cherishing a warm +regard. And what a cook she was! After months of city food her bread, +pies, and cookies were ambrosial. + +As for Willie--Bob had never before beheld so gentle, ingenuous and +lovable a personality. Undoubtedly the little inventor had genius. +What a pity he had been cheated of the opportunity for cultivating it! +There was something pathetic in the way he reached out for the +knowledge life had denied him; it reminded one of a patient child who +asks for water to slake his thirst. + +If, for some inscrutable reason, fortune had granted him, Robert +Morton, the chance denied this groping soul, was it not almost an +obligation that, in so far as he was able, he should place at the +other's disposal the fruits of the education that had been his? + +Presumably this motor-boat idea would not amount to much, for if such +an invention were plausible and of value, doubtless a score of nautical +authorities would have seized upon it long before now. But to work at +the plan would give the gentle dreamer in the silver-gray cottage +happiness, and after all happiness was not to be despised. If together +he and Willie could make tangible the notion that existed in the +latter's brain, the deed was certainly worth the doing. Moreover the +process would be an entertaining one, and after its completion he might +go away with a sense of having brightened at least one horizon by his +coming. + +Thus reasoned Robert Morton as in the peace of that June evening he +casually shuffled the cards of fate, little suspecting that already a +factor in his destiny stronger than any of his arguments was soon to +make its influence felt and transform Wilton into a magnet so powerful +that against its spell he would be helpless as a child. + +He was aroused from his meditations by the voice of Willie. + +"Didn't you hear a little bell?" demanded the inventor. "A sort of +tinklin' noise?" + +"I thought I did." + +"It's the box comin' from Jan's," explained he. "Can you kitch a sight +of it?" + +"I see it now." + +Rising, the old man tugged at the string, urging the reluctant +messenger through the tangle of roses. + +"By his writin' a note, I figger he ain't comin' over," he remarked, as +the object drew nearer. "I wonder what's stuck in his crop! Mebbe +Mis' Eldridge won't let him out. She's something of a Tartar--Arabella +is. Jan has to walk the plank, I can tell you." + +By this time the cigar box swaying on the taut twine was within easy +reach. Willie raised its cover and took from its interior a crumpled +fragment of paper. + +"Humph! He's mighty savin'!" he commented as he turned the missive +over. "He's writ on the other side of my letter. Let's see what he +has to say: + + "'Can't come. Busy.' + + +"Well, did you ever!" gasped he, blankly. "_Busy_! Good Lord! Jan's +never been known to be busy in all his life. He don't even know the +feelin'. If Janoah Eldridge is busy, all I've got to say is, the +world's goin' to be swallered up by another deluge." + +"Maybe, as you suggested, Mrs. Eldridge--" + +"Oh, if it had been Mis' Eldridge, he wouldn't 'a' took the trouble to +send no such message as that," broke in Willie. "He'd simply 'a' writ +_Arabella_; there wouldn't 'a' been need fur more. No, sir! +Somethin's stepped on Jan's shadder, an' to-morrow I'll have to go +straight over there an' find out what it is." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +AN APPARITION + +The next morning, after loitering uneasily about the workshop a +sufficiently long time for Janoah Eldridge to make his appearance and +finding that his crony did not make his appearance, Willie reluctantly +took his worn visor cap down from the peg and drew it over his brows, +with the remark: + +"Looks like Jan ain't headed this way to-day, either." He cast a +troubled glance through the dusty, multi-paned window of the shed. +"Much as I'm longin' to go ahead with this model, Bob, before I go +farther I've simply got to step over to the Eldridges an' straighten +him out. There's no help fur it." + +"All right. Go ahead, Sir," reassuringly returned Bob. "I'll work +while you're gone. Things won't be at a complete standstill." + +"I know that," Willie replied with a pleasant smile. "'Tain't that +that's frettin' me. It's just that I don't relish the notion of +shovin' my job onto your shoulders. 'Tain't as if you'd come to Wilton +to spend your time workin'. Celestina hinted last evenin' she was +afraid you bid fair to get but mighty little rest out of your vacation. +'Twas unlucky, she thought, that you hove into port just when I +happened to be kitched with a bigger idee than common." + +"Nonsense!" Bob protested heartily. "Don't you and Aunt Tiny give +yourselves any uneasiness about me. I'm happy. I enjoy fussing round +the shop with you, Mr. Spence. I'd far rather you took me into what +you're doing than left me out. Besides, I don't intend to work every +minute while I'm here. Some fine day I mean to steal off by myself and +explore Wilton. I may even take a day's fishing." + +"That's right, youngster, that's right!" ejaculated Willie. "That's +the proper spirit. If you'll just feel free to pull out when you +please it will take a load off my mind, an' I shall turn to tinkerin' +with a clear conscience." + +"I will, I promise you." + +"Then that's settled," sighed the inventor with relief. "I must say +you're about the best feller ever was to come a-visitin', Bob. You +ain't a mite of trouble to anybody." + +With eyes still fastened on the bench with its chaos of tools, the old +man moved unwillingly toward the door; but on the threshold he paused. + +"I'll be back quick's I can," he called. "Likely I'll bring Jan in +tow. I'd full as lief not tell him what we're doin' 'til next week if +I had my choice; still, things bein' as they are, mebbe it's as well +not to shut him out any longer. He gets miffed easy an' I wouldn't +have his feelin's hurt fur a pot of lobsters." + +With a gentle smile he waved his hand and was gone. + +Left alone in the long, low-studded room, Bob rolled up his sleeves and +to a brisk whistle began to plane down some pieces of thin board. + +The bench at which he worked stood opposite a broad window from which, +framed in a wreath of grapevine, he could see the bay and the shelving +dunes beyond it. A catboat, with sails close-hauled, was making her +way out of the channel, a wake of snowy foam churning behind her in the +blue water. Through the door of the shed swept a breeze that rustled +the shavings on the floor and blended the fragrance of newly cut wood +with the warm perfume of sweet fern from the adjoining meadow. + +For all its untidiness and confusion, its litter of boards, tools and +battered paint pots, the shop was unquestionably one of the most homey +corners of the Spence cottage. Its rough, unsheathed walls, mellowed +to a dull buff tone, were here and there adorned with prints culled by +Willie from magazines and newspapers. Likenesses of Lincoln and +Roosevelt flanked the windows with an American flag above them, and a +series of battleships and army scenes beneath. The inventor's taste, +however, had not run entirely to patriotic subjects, for scattered +along the walls, where shelves sagged with their burden of oilcans, +putty, nails and fishing tackle, were a variety of nautical +reproductions in color--a prize yacht heeling in the wind; a reach of +rough sea whose giant combers swirled about a wreck; glimpses of marsh +and dune typical of the land of the Cape dweller. + +An air-tight stove, the solitary defence against cold and storm, stood +in the corner, and before its rusty hearth a rickety chair and an +overturned soap box were suggestively placed. But perhaps what told an +observer more about Willie Spence than did anything else was a bunch of +rarely beautiful sabbatia blooming in a pickle bottle and a wee black +kitten who disported herself unmolested among the tools cluttering the +deeply scarred workbench. + +She was a mischievous kitten, a spoiled kitten; one who vented her +caprice on everything that had motion. Did a curl of shavings drop to +the ground, instantly Jezebel was at hand to catch it up in her +diminutive paws; toss it from her; steal up and fall upon it again; and +dragging it between her feet, roll over and over with it in a mad orgy +of delight. A shadow, a string, a flicker of metal was the signal for +a frolic. Let one's mood be austere as a monk's, with a single twist +of her absurdly tiny body this small creature shattered its gravity to +atoms. There was no such thing as dignity in Jezebel's presence. +Already three times Bob Morton had lifted the mite off the table and +three times back she had come, leaping in the path of his gleaming +plane as if its metallic whir and glimmering reflections were designed +solely for her amusement. In spite of his annoyance the man had +laughed and now, stooping, he caught up the tormentor and held her +aloft. + +"You minx!" he cried, shaking the sprite gently. "What do you think I +am here for--to play with you?" + +The kitten blinked at him out of her round blue eyes. + +"You'll be getting your fur mittens cut off the next thing you know," +went on Bob severely. "Scamper out of here!" + +He set the little creature on the floor, aimed her toward the doorway +and gave her a stimulating push. + +With a coquettish leap headlong into the sunshine darted Jezebel, only +to come suddenly into collision with a stranger who had crossed the +grass and was at that instant about to enter the workshop. + +The newcomer was a girl, tall and slender, with lustrous masses of dark +hair that swept her cheek in wind-tossed ringlets. She had a +complexion vivid with health, an undignified little nose and a mouth +whose short upper lip lent to her face a half childish, half pouting +expression. But it was in her eyes that one forgot all else,--eyes +large, brown, and softly deep, with a quality that held the glance +compellingly. Her gown of thin pink material dampened by the sea air +clung to her figure in folds that accentuated her lithe youthfulness, +and as she stumbled over the kitten in full flight she broke into a +delicious laugh that showed two rows of pretty, white teeth and lured +from hiding an alluring dimple. + +"You ridiculous little thing!" she exclaimed, snatching up the fleeing +culprit before she could make her escape and placing her in the warm +curve of her neck. "Do you know you almost tripped me up? Where are +your manners?" + +Jezebel merely stared. So did Robert Morton. + +The girl and the kitten were too disconcerting a spectacle. By herself +Jezebel was tantalizing enough; but in combination with the creature +who stood laughing on the threshold, the sight was so bewildering that +it not only overwhelmed but intoxicated. + +It was evident the visitor was unconscious of his presence, for instead +of addressing him, she continued to toy with the wisp of animation +snuggled against her cheek. + +"I do believe, Willie," she observed, without glancing up, "that +Jezebel grows more fascinating every time I see her." + +Bob did not answer. He was in no mood to discuss Jezebel. If he +thought of her at all it was to contrast her inky fur with the white +throat against which she nestled and speculate as to whether she sensed +what a thrice-blessed kitten she was. It did flash through his mind as +he stood there that the two possessed a bewitching, irresistible +something in common, a something he was at a loss to characterize. It +did not matter, however, for he could not have defined even the +simplest thing at the moment, and this attribute of the kitten's and +the girl's was very complex. + +Perhaps it was the silence that at last caused the visitor to raise her +eyes and look at him inquiringly. Then he saw a tremor of surprise +sweep over her, and a wave of crimson surge into her face. + +"I beg your pardon," she gasped. "I thought Willie was here." + +"Mr. Spence has stepped over to the Eldredges'. I'm expecting him back +every instant," Bob returned. + +The girl's lashes fell. They were long and very beautiful as they lay +in a fringe against her cheek, yet exquisite as they were he longed to +see her eyes again. + +"I'm Miss Morton's nephew from Indiana," the young man managed to +stammer, feeling some explanation might bridge the gulf of +embarrassment. "I am visiting here." + +"Oh!" + +Persistently she studied the toe of her shoe. If Bob had thought her +appealing before, now, demure against the background of budding apple +trees, with a shaft of sunlight on her hair, and the kitten cuddled +against her breast, she put to rout the few intelligent ideas remaining +to the young man. + +Wonderingly, helplessly, he watched while she continued to caress the +minute creature in her arms. + +"Are you staying here long?" she asked at length, gaining courage to +look up. + +"I--eh--yes; that is--I hope so," Bob answered with sudden fervor. + +"You like Wilton then." + +"Tremendously!" + +"Most strangers think the place has great beauty," observed his guest +innocently. + +"There's more beauty here in Wilton than I ever saw before in all my +life," burst out Bob, then stopped suddenly and blushed. + +His listener dimpled. + +"Really?" she remarked, raising her delicately arched brows. "You are +enthusiastic about the Cape, aren't you!" + +"Some parts of it." + +"Where else have you been?" + +The question came with disturbing directness. + +"Oh--why--Middleboro, Tremont, Buzzard's Bay and Harwich," answered the +man hurriedly. As he named the list he was conscious that it smacked +rather too suggestively of a brakeman's, and he saw she thought so too, +for she turned aside to hide a smile. + +"You might sit down; won't you?" he suggested, eager that she should +not depart. + +Flecking the dust from the soap box with his handkerchief, he dragged +it forward and placed it near the workbench. + +As she bent her head to accept the crude throne with a queen's +graciousness, Jezebel, roused into playful humor, thrust forth her +claws and, encountering Bob as he rose from his stooping posture, fixed +them with random firmness in his necktie. + +Now it chanced that the tie was a four-in-hand of raw silk, very choice +in color but of a fatally loose oriental weave; and once entangled in +its meshes the task of extricating its delicate threads from the clutch +that gripped them seemed hopeless. It apparently failed to dawn on +either of the young persons brought into such embarrassingly close +contact by the dilemma that the kitten could be handed over to Bob; or +that the tie might be removed. Instead they drew together, trying +vainly to liberate the struggling Jezebel from her imprisonment. It +was not a simple undertaking and to add to its difficulties the +ungrateful beast, irritated by their endeavors, began to protest +violently. + +"She'll tear your tie all to pieces," cried the stranger. + +"No matter. I don't mind, if she doesn't scratch you." + +"Oh, I am not afraid of her. If you can hold her a second longer, I +think I can free the last claw." + +As the girl toiled at her precarious mission, Bob could feel her warm +breath fan his cheek and could catch the fragrant perfume of her hair. +So far as he was concerned, Jezebel might retain her hold on his +necktie forever. But, alas, the slim, white fingers were too deft and +he heard at last a triumphant: + +"There!" + +At the same instant the offending kitten was placed on the floor. + +"You little monkey!" cried the man, smiling down at the furry object at +his feet. + +"Isn't she!" echoed the visitor sympathetically. "There she goes, the +imp! What is left of your tie? Let me look at it." + +"It's all right, thank you." + +"There is just one thread ruffed up. I could fix it if I had a pin." + +From her gown she produced one, but as she did so a spray of wild roses +slipped to the ground. + +"You've dropped your flowers," said Bob, picking them up. + +"Have I? Thank you. They are withered, anyway, I'm afraid." + +Tossing the rosebuds on the bench, she began to draw into smoothness +the silken loop that defaced the tie. + +"There!" she exclaimed, glancing up into his eyes and tilting her head +critically to one side. "That is ever so much better. You would +hardly notice it. Now I really must go. I have bothered you quite +enough." + +"You have not bothered me at all," contradicted Bob emphatically. + +"But I know I must have," she protested. "I've certainly delayed you. +Besides, it doesn't look as if Willie was coming back." + +"Isn't there something I can do for you?" + +"No, thank you. It was nothing important. In fact, it doesn't matter +at all. I just came to see if he could fix the clasp of my belt +buckle. It is broken, and he is so clever at mending things that I +thought perhaps he could mend this." + +"Let me see it." + +"Oh, I couldn't think of troubling you." + +"But I should be glad to fix it if I could. If not, I could at least +hand it over to Willie's superior skill." + +She laughed. + +"I'm not certain whether Willie's skill is superior," was her arch +retort. + +"Why not make a test case and find out?" + +Still she hesitated. + +"You're afraid to trust your property to me," Bob said, piqued by her +indecision. + +"No, I'm not," was the quick response. "See? Here is the belt." + +She drew from her pocket a narrow strip of white leather to which a +handsome silver buckle was attached and placed it in his hand. + +He took it, inspected its fastening and looked with beating pulse at +the girdle's slender span. + +"Do you think it can be mended?" she inquired anxiously. + +"Of course it can." + +"Oh, I'm so glad!" + +"Give me a few days and you shall have it back as good as new." + +"That will be splendid!" Her eyes shone with starry brightness. "You +see," she went on, "it was given me on my birthday by my--my--by some +one I care a great deal for--by my--" she stopped, embarrassed. + +Robert Morton was too well mannered to put into words the interrogation +that trembled on his lips, but he might as well have done so, so +transparent was the questioning glance that traveled to her left hand +in search of the telltale solitaire. Even though his search was not +rewarded, he felt certain that the hand concealed in the folds of her +dress wore the fatal ring. Of course, mused he, with a shrug, he might +have guessed it. No such beauty as this was wandering unclaimed about +the world. Well, her fiance, whoever he might be, was a lucky devil! +Without doubt, confound his impudence, his arm had traveled the pathway +of that band of leather scores of times. + +One couldn't blame the dog! For want of a better vent for his +irritation, Bob took up the belt and again examined it. He had been +quite safe in boasting that the bauble should be returned to its owner +as good as new, for although he did not confess it, on its silver clasp +he had discovered the manufacturer's name. If the buckle could not be +repaired, another of similar pattern should replace it. Unquestionably +he was a fool to go to this trouble and expense for nothing. Yet was +it quite for nothing? Was it not worth while to win even a smile from +this creature whose approval gave one the sense of being knighted? +True, titles meant but little in these days of democracy but when +bestowed by such royalty-- She broke in on his reverie by extending +her hand. "Good-by," she said. "You have been very kind, Mr.--" + +"My name is Morton--Bob Morton." + +"Why! Then you must be the son of Aunt Tiny's brother?" + +"_Aunt Tiny_!" + +As she laughed he saw again the ravishing dimple and her even, white +teeth. + +"Oh, she isn't my real aunt," she explained. "I just call her that +because I am so fond of her. I adore both her and Willie." + +"Who is takin' my name in vain?" called a cheery voice, as the little +inventor rounded the corner of the shed and entered the room. +"Delight--as I live! I might 'a' known it was you. Well, well, dear +child, if I'm not glad to see you." + +He placed his hands on her shoulders and beamed into her blushing face +while she bent and spread the loops of his soft tie out beneath his +chin. + +"How nice of you, Willie dear, to come back before I had gone!" she +said, arranging the bow with exaggerated care. + +"Bless your heart, I'd 'a' come back sooner had I known you were here," +declared he affectionately. "What brings you, little lady?" + +She pointed to the trinket dangling from Robert Morton's grasp. + +"I snapped the clasp of my belt buckle, Willie--that lovely silver +buckle Zenas Henry gave me," she confessed with contrition. "How do +you suppose I could have been so careless? I have been heart-broken +ever since." + +"Nonsense! Nonsense!" cried the old man, patting her hand. "Don't go +grievin' over a little thing like that. 'Tain't worth it. Break all +the buckles ever was made, but not your precious heart, my dear. Like +as not the thing can be mended." + +"Mr. Morton says it can." + +"If Bob says so, it's as good as done already," replied Willie +reassuringly. "He's a great one with tools. Why, if he was to stay in +Wilton, he'd be cuttin' me all out. So you an' he have been gettin' +acquainted, eh, while I was gone? That's right. I want he should know +what nice folks we've got in Wilton 'cause it's his first visit to the +Cape, an' if he don't like us mebbe he'll never come again." + +"I thought Mr. Morton had visited other places on Cape Cod," observed +Delight, darting a mischievous glance at the abashed young man opposite. + +"No, indeed!" blundered Willie. "He ain't been nowheres. Somebody's +got to show him all the sights. Mebbe if you get time you'll take a +hand in helpin' educate him." + +"I should be glad to!" + +Notwithstanding the prim response and her unsmiling lips, the young man +had a discomfited presentiment that she was laughing at him, and even +the farewell she flashed to him over her shoulder had a hectoring +quality in it that did not altogether restore his self-esteem. + +"Who is she?" he gasped, when he had watched her out of sight. + +"That girl? Do you mean to say you don't know--an' you a-talkin' to +her half the mornin'?" demanded the old man with amazement. "Why, it +never dawned on me to introduce you to her. I thought of course you +knew already who she was. Everybody in town knows Delight Hathaway, +an' loves her, too," he added softly. "She's Zenas Henry's daughter, +the one he brought ashore from the _Michleen_ an' adopted." + +"Oh!" + +A light began to break in on Bob's understanding. + +"It's Zenas Henry's motor-boat we're tinkerin' with now," went on +Willie. + +"I see!" + +He waited eagerly for further information, but evidently his host +considered he had furnished all the data necessary, for instead of +enlarging on the subject he approached the bench and began to inspect +the model. + +"I s'pose, with her bein' here, you didn't get ahead much while I was +gone," he ventured, an inflection of disappointment in his tone. + +"No, I didn't." + +"I didn't accomplish nothin', either," the little old man went on. +"Jan warn't to home; he'd gone fishin'." + +His companion did not reply at once. + +"I don't quite get my soundin's on Jan," he at length ruminated aloud. +"Somethin's wrong with him. I feel it in my bones." + +"Perhaps not." + +"There is, I tell you. I know Janoah Eldridge from crown to heel, an' +it ain't like him to go off fishin' by himself." + +"I shouldn't fret about it if I were you," Bob said in an attempt to +comfort the disquieted inventor. "I'm sure he'll turn up all right." + +Had the conversation been of a three-master in a gale; of buried +treasure; or of the ultimate salvation of the damned, the speaker would +at that moment have been equally optimistic. + +The universe had suddenly become too radiant a place to harbor +calamity. Wilton was a paradise like the first Eden--a garden of +smiles, of dimples, of blushing cheeks--and of silver buckles. + +He began to whistle softly to himself; then, sensing that Willie was +still unconvinced by his sanguine prediction, he added: + +"And even if Mr. Eldridge shouldn't come back, I guess you and I could +manage without him." + +"That's all very well up to a certain point, youngster," was the +retort. "But who's goin' to see me through this job after you've taken +wing?" + +He pointed tragically to the beginnings of the model. + +"Maybe I shan't take wing," announced Bob, looking absently at the +cluster of withered roses in his hand. "You--you see," he went on, +endeavoring to speak in off-hand fashion, "I've been thinking things +over and--and--I've about come to the conclusion--" + +"Yes," interrupted Willie eagerly. + +"That it is perhaps better for me to stay here until we get the +invention completed." + +"You don't mean until the thing's done!" + +"If it doesn't take too long, yes." + +"Hurray!" shouted his host. "That's prime!" he rubbed his hands +together. "Under those conditions we'll pitch right in an' scurry the +work along fast as ever we can." + +Robert Morton looked chagrined. + +"I don't know that we need break our necks to rush the thing through at +a pace like that," he said, fumbling awkwardly with the flowers. "A +few weeks more or less wouldn't make any great difference." + +"But I thought you said it was absolutely necessary for you to go +home--that you had important business in New York--that--" the old man +broke off dumbfounded. + +Bob shook his head. "Oh, no, I think my affairs can be arranged," was +the sanguine response. "A piece of work like this would give me lots +of valuable experience, and I'm not sure but it is my duty to--" + +The little old inventor scanned the speaker's flushed cheeks, his +averted eye and the drooping blossoms in his hand; then his brow +cleared and he smiled broadly: + +"Duty ain't to be shunned," announced he with solemnity. "An' as for +experience, take it by an' large, I ain't sure but what you'll get a +heap of it by lingerin' on here--more, mebbe, than you realize." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MARRYING AND GIVING IN MARRIAGE + +That afternoon, after making this elaborate but by no means misleading +explanation to Willie, Bob sent off to a Boston jeweler a registered +package and while impatiently awaiting its return set to work with +redoubled zest at the new invention. + +What an amazingly different aspect the motor-boat enterprise had +assumed since yesterday! Then his one idea had been to humor Willie's +whim and in return for the old man's hospitality lend such aid to the +undertaking as he was able. But now Zenas Henry's launch had suddenly +become a glorified object, sacred to the relatives of the divinity of +the workshop, and how and where the flotsam of the tides ensnared it +was of colossal importance. Into solving the nautical enigma Robert +Morton now threw every ounce of his energy and while at work artfully +drew from his companion every detail he could obtain of Delight +Hathaway's strange story. + +He learned how the _Michleen_ had been wrecked on the Wilton Shoals in +the memorable gale of 1910; how the child's father had perished with +the ship, leaving his little daughter friendless in the world; how +Zenas Henry and the three aged captains had risked their lives to bring +the little one ashore; and how the Brewsters had taken her into their +home and brought her up. It was a simple tale and simply told, but the +heroism of the romance touched it with an epic quality that gripped the +listener's imagination and sympathies tenaciously. And now the waif +snatched from the grasp of the covetous sea had blossomed into this +exquisite being; this creature beloved, petted, and well-nigh spoiled +by a proudly exultant community. + +For although legally a member of the Brewster family, Willie explained, +the girl had come to belong in a sense to the entire village. Had she +not been cast an orphan upon its shores, and were not its treacherous +shoals responsible for her misfortune? Wilton, to be sure, was not +actually answerable for the crimes those hidden sand bars perpetrated, +but nevertheless the fisherfolk could not quite shake themselves free +of the shadow cast upon them by the tragedies ever occurring at their +gateway. Too many of their people had gone down to the sea in ships +never to return for them to become callous to the disasters they were +continually forced to witness. The wreck of the _Michleen_ had been +one of the most pathetic of these horrors, and the welfare of the child +who in consequence of it had come into the hamlet's midst had become a +matter of universal concern. + +"'Tain't to be wondered at the girl is loved," continued Willie. "At +first people took an interest in her, or tried to, from a sense of +duty, for you couldn't help bein' sorry for the little thing. But +'twarn't long before folks found out 'twarn't no hardship to be fond of +Delight Hathaway. She was livin' sunshine, that's what she was! +Wherever she went, be it one end of town or t'other, she brought +happiness. In time it got so that if you was to drop in where there +was sickness or trouble an' spied a nosegay of flowers, you could be +pretty sure Delight had been there. Why, Lyman Bearse's father, old +Lyman, that's so crabbed with rhumatism that it's a cross to live under +the same roof with him, will calm down gentle as a dove when Delight +goes to read to him. As for Mis' Furber, I reckon she'd never get to +the Junction to do a mite of shoppin' or marketin' but for Delight +stayin' with the babies whilst she was gone. I couldn't tell you half +what that girl does. She's here, there, an' everywhere. Now she's +gettin' up a party for the school children; now makin' a birthday cake +for somebody; now trimmin' a bunnit for Tiny or helpin' her plan out a +dress." + +Willie stopped to rummage on a distant shelf for a level. + +"Once," he went on, "Sarah Libbie Lewis asked me what Delight was goin' +to be. I told her there warn't no goin' to be about it; Delight was +bein' it right now. She didn't need to go soundin' for a mission in +life." + +"I take it you are not in favor of careers for women, Mr. Spence," +observed Robert Morton, who had been eagerly drinking in every word the +old man uttered. + +"Yes, I am," contradicted the inventor. "There's times when a girl +needs a career, but there's other times when to desert one's plain duty +an' go huntin' a callin' is criminal. Queer how people will look right +over the top of what they don't want to see, ain't it? I s'pose its +human nature though," he mused. + +A soft breeze stirred the shavings on the floor. + +"Tiny thinks," resumed the quiet voice, "that I mix myself up too much +with other folks's concerns anyhow. Leastways, she says I let their +troubles weigh on me more'n I'd ought. But to save my life I can't +seem to help it. Don't you believe those on the outside of a tangle +sometimes see it straighter than them that is snarled up in the mess?" + +Robert Morton nodded. + +"That's the way I figger it," rambled on the old man. "Mebbe that's +the reason I can't keep my fingers out of the pie. You'd be surprised +enough if you was to know the things I've been dragged into in my +lifetime; family quarrels, will-makin's, business matters that I didn't +know no more about than the man in the moon. Why, I've even taken a +hand in love affairs!" + +He broke into a peal of hearty laughter. "That's the beatereee!" he +declared, slapping his thigh. "'Magine me up to my ears in a love +affair! But I have been--scores of 'em, enough I reckon, put 'em all +together, to marry off the whole of Cape Cod." + +"You must be quite an authority on the heart by this time," Robert +Morton ventured. + +"I ain't," the other declared soberly. "You see, none of the snarls +was ever the same, so you kinder had to feel your way along every time +like as if you was navigatin' a new channel. Women may be all alike, +take 'em in the main, but they're almighty different when you get 'em +to the fine point, an' that's what raises the devil with makin' any +general rule for managin' 'em." + +The philosopher held the piece of wood he had been planing to the light +and examined it critically. + +"Once," he resumed, taking up his work again, "when Dave Furber was +courtin' Katie Bearse, I drove over to Sawyer's Falls with him to get +Katie a birthday present an' among other things we thought we'd buy +some candy. We went into a store, I recollect, where there was all +kinds spread out in trays, an' Dave an' me started to pick out what +we'd have. As I stood there attemptin' to decide, I couldn't help +thinkin' that selectin' that candy was a good deal like choosin' a +wife. You couldn't have all the different kinds, an' makin' up your +mind which you preferred was a seven-days' conundrum." + +The little inventor took off his spectacles, wiped them, and replaced +them upon his nose. + +"Luckily, as we was fixed, there was a chance in the box for quite a +few sorts, so that saved the day. But s'pose, I got to thinkin', you +could only have one variety out of the lot--which would you take? +That's the sticker you face when choosin' a wife. S'pose, for +instance, I was pinned down to nothin' but caramels. The caramel is a +good, square, sensible, dependable candy. You can see through the +paper exactly what you're gettin'. There's nothin' concealed or +lurkin' in a caramel. Moreover, it lasts a long time an' you don't get +tired of it. It's just like some women--not much to look at, but +wholesome an' with good wearin' qualities. Should you choose the +caramel, you'd feel sure you was doin' the wise thing, wouldn't you?" + +Robert Morton smiled into the half-closed blue eyes that met his so +whimsically. + +"But along in the next tray to the caramel," Willie went on, "was +bonbons--every color of the rainbow they were, an' pretty as could be; +an' they held all sorts of surprises inside 'em, too. They was +temptin'! But the minute you put your mind on it you knew they'd turn +out sweet and sickish, an' that after gettin' 'em you'd wish you +hadn't. There's plenty of women like that in the world. Mebbe you +ain't seen 'em, but I have." + +"Yes." + +"Besides these, there was dishes of sparklin' jelly things on the +counter, that the girl said warn't much use--gone in no time; they were +just meant to dress up the box. I called 'em brainless candies--just +silly an' expensive, an' if you look around you'll find women can match +'em. An' along with 'em you can put the candied violets an' sugared +rose leaves that only make a man out of pocket an' ain't a mite of use +to him." + +Willie scanned his companion's face earnestly. + +"Finally, after runnin' the collection over, it kinder come down to a +choice between caramels or chocolates. Even then I still stood firm +for the caramel, there bein' no way of makin' sure what I'd get inside +the chocolate. I warn't willin' to go it blind, I told Dave. A +chocolate's a sort of unknowable thing, ain't it? There's no fathomin' +it at sight. After you've got it you may be pleased to death with +what's inside it an' then again you may not. So we settled mostly on +caramels for Katie. I said to Dave comin' home it was lucky men warn't +held down to one sort of candy like they are to one sort of wife, an' +he most laughed his head off. Then he asked me what kind of sweet I +thought Katie was, an' I told him I reckoned she was the caramel +variety, an' he said he thought so, too. We warn't fur wrong neither, +for she's turned out 'bout as we figgered. Mebbe she ain't got the +looks or the sparkle of the bonbons or jelly things, but she's worn +almighty well, an' made Dave a splendid wife." + +"With all your excellent theories about women, I wonder you never +picked out a wife for yourself, Mr. Spence," Robert Morton remarked +mischievously. + +"Me get married?" questioned Willie, staring at the speaker open-eyed +over the top of his spectacles. + +"Why not?" + +"Why, bless your heart, I never thought of it!" answered the little man +naively. "It's taken 'bout all my time to get other folks spliced +together. Besides," he added, "I've had my inventin'." + +He glanced out of the window at a moving figure, then shot abruptly to +the door and called to some one who was passing: + +"Hi, Jack!" + +A man in coast-guard uniform waved his hand. + +"How are you, Willie?" he shouted. + +"All right," was the reply. "How are you an' Sarah Libbie makin' out?" + +"Same as ever." + +"You ain't said nothin' to her yet?" + +Robert Morton saw the burly fellow in the road sheepishly dig his heel +into the sand. + +"N--o, not yet." + +"An' never will!" ejaculated the inventor returning wrathfully to the +shop. "That feller," he explained as he resumed his seat, "has been +upwards, of twenty years tryin' to tell Sarah Libbie Lewis he's in love +with her. He knows it an' so does she, but somehow he just can't put +the fact into words. I'm clean out of patience with him. Why, one day +he actually had the face to come in here an' ask me to tell her--_me_! +What do you think of that?" + +Robert Morton chuckled at his companion's rage. + +"Did you?" + +"Did I?" repeated Willie with scorn. "Can you see me doin' it? No, +siree! I just up an' told Jack Nickerson if he warn't man enough to do +his own courtin' he warn't man enough for any self-respectin' woman to +marry. An' furthermore, I said he needn't step foot over the sill of +this shop 'till he'd took some action in the matter. That hit him +pretty hard, I can tell you, 'cause he used to admire to come in here +an' set round whenever he warn't on duty. But he saw I meant it, an' +he ain't been since." + +The old man paused. + +"I kinder bit off my own nose when I took that stand," he admitted, an +intonation of regret in his tone, "'cause Jack's mighty good company. +Still, there was nothin' for it but firm handlin'." + +"How long ago did you cast him out?" Bob asked with a chuckle. + +"Oh, somethin' over a week or ten days ago," was the reply. "I thought +he might have made some progress by now. But I ain't given up hope of +him yet. He's been sorter quiet the last two times I've seen him, an' +I figger he's mullin' things over, an' mebbe screwin' up his courage." + +The room was still save for the purr of the plane. + +"I suppose you will be marrying Miss Hathaway off some day," observed +Bob a trifle self-consciously, without raising his eyes from his work. + +"You bet I won't," came emphatically from the old inventor. "I've got +some courage but not enough for that. You see, the man that marries +her has got to have the nerve to face the whole village--brave Zenas +Henry, the three captains, an' Abbie Brewster, besides winnin' the girl +herself. 'Twill be some contract. No, you can be mortal sure I shan't +go meddlin' in no such love affair as that. Anyhow, I won't be needed, +for any man that Delight Hathaway would look at twice will be perfectly +capable of meetin' all comers; don't you worry." + +With this dubious comfort Willie stamped with spirit out of the shop. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A SECOND SPIRIT APPEARS + +Days came and went, days golden and blue, until a week had passed, and +although Robert Morton haunted the post-office, nothing was heard from +the jeweler to whom he had sent the silver buckle. Neither did the +eager young man catch even a fleeting glimpse of its owner. It was, he +told himself, unlikely that she would come to the Spence house again. +When her property was repaired she probably would expect some one +either to let her know, or bring it to her. It was to the latter +alternative that Bob was pinning his hopes. The errand would provide a +perfectly natural excuse for him to go to the Brewster home, and once +there he would meet the girl's family and perhaps be asked to come +again. Until the trinket came back from Boston, therefore, he must +bide his time with patience. + +Nevertheless the logic of these arguments did not prevent him from +turning sharply toward the door of the workshop whenever there was a +footfall on the grass. Any day, any hour, any moment the lady of his +dreams might appear once more. Had not Willie said that she sometimes +trimmed bonnets for Tiny? And was it not possible, yea, even likely +that his aunt might be needing a bonnet right away. Women were always +needing bonnets, argued the young man vaguely; at least, both his +mother and sister were, and he had not yet lived long enough in his +aunt's household to realize that with Tiny Morton the purchase of a +bonnet was not an equally casual enterprise. He even had the temerity +to ask Celestina when he saw her arrayed for the grange one afternoon +why she did not have a hat with pink in it and was chagrined to receive +the reply that she did not like pink; and that anyway her hat was well +enough as it was, and she shouldn't have another for a good couple of +years. + +"I don't go throwin' money away on new hats like you city folks do," +she said somewhat tartly. "A hat has to do me three seasons for best +an' a fourth for common. I've too much to do to go chasin' after the +fashions. I leave that to Bart Coffin's wife." + +"Who is Bart Coffin?" inquired Bob, amused by her show of spirit. + +"You ain't met Bart?" + +"Not yet." + +"Well, you will. He's the one who always used to stow all his catch of +fish in the bow of the boat 'cause he said it was easier to row +downhill. He ain't no heavyweight for brains as you can see, an' years +ago he married a wife feather-headed as himself. He did it out of +whole cloth, too, so he's got no one to blame if he don't like his +bargain. At the time of the weddin' he was terrible stuck up about his +bride, an' he gave her a black satin dress that outdid anything the +town had ever laid eyes on. It was loaded down with ruffles, an' jet, +an' lace, an' fitted her like as if she was poured into it. Folks said +it was made in Brockton, but whether it was or not there's no way of +knowin'. Anyhow, back she pranced to Wilton in that gown an' for a +year or more, whenever there was a church fair, or a meetin' of the +Eastern Star, or a funeral, you'd be certain of seein' Minnie Coffin +there in her black satin. There wasn't a lay-out in town could touch +it, an' by an' by it got so that it set the mark on every gatherin' +that was held, those where Minnie's satin didn't appear bein' rated as +of no account." Celestina paused, and her mouth took an upward curve, +as if some pleasant reverie engrossed her. "But after a while," she +presently went on, "there came an upheaval in the styles; sleeves got +smaller, an' skirts began to be nipped in. Minnie's dress warn't wore +a particle but it looked as out-of-date as Joseph's coat would look on +Willie. The women sorter nudged one another an' said that now Mis' +Bartley Coffin would have to step down a peg an' stop bein' leader of +the fashions." + +Celestina ceased rocking and leaned forward impressively. + +"But did she?" declaimed she with oratorical eloquence. "Did she? Not +a bit of it. Minnie got pictures an' patterns from Boston; scanted the +skirt; took in the sleeves; made a wide girdle with the breadths she +took out of the front--an' there she was again, high-steppin' as ever!" + +Robert Morton laughed with appreciation. + +"Since then," continued Celestina, "for at least fifteen years she's +been makin' that dress over an' over. Now she'll get a new breadth of +goods or a couple of breadths, turn the others upside down or cut 'em +over, an' by keepin' everlastingly at it she contrives to look like the +pictures in the papers most of the time. It's maddenin' to the rest of +us. Abbie Brewster knows Minnie well an' somewhere in a book she's got +set down the gyrations of that dress. I wouldn't be bothered recordin' +it but Abbie always was a methodical soul. She could give you the date +of every inch of satin in the whole thing. Just now there's 1914 +sleeves; the front breadths are 1918; the back ones 1911. Most of the +waist is January, 1912, with a June, 1913, vest. Half the girdle is +made out of 1910 satin, an' half out of 1919. Of course there's lights +when the blacks don't all look the same; still, unless you got close up +you wouldn't notice it, an' Minnie Coffin keeps on settin' the styles +for the town like she always has." + +The narrator paused for breath. + +"She's makin' it over again right now," she announced, rising from her +chair and moving toward the pantry. "You can always tell when she is +'cause she pulls down all her front curtains an' won't come to the door +when folks knock. The shades was down when Abbie an' me drove by there +last week an' to make sure Abbie got out an' tapped to' see if +anybody'd come to let us in, but nobody did. We said then: '_Minnie's +resurrectin' the black satin_.' You mark my words she'll be in church +in it Sunday. It generally takes her about ten days to get it done. I +was expectin' she'd give it another overhauling, for she ain't done +nothin' to it for three months at least an' the styles have changed +quite a little in that time. Sometimes I tell Willie I believe we'll +live to see her laid out in that dress yet." + +"You can bet Bart would draw a sigh of relief if we did," chimed in the +inventor. "Why, the money that woman's spent pullin' that durn thing +to pieces an' puttin' it together again is a caution. Bart said you'd +be dumbfounded if you could know what he's paid out. If the coffin lid +was once clamped down on the pest he'd raise a hallelujah, poor feller." + +"Willie!" gasped the horrified Celestina. + +"Oh, I ain't sayin' he'd be glad to see Minnie goin'," the little old +man protested. "But that black satin has been a bone of contention +ever since the day it was bought. To begin with, it cost about ten +times what Bart calculated 'twould; he told me that himself. An' it's +been runnin' up in money ever since. When he got it he kinder figgered +'twould be an investment somethin' like one of them twenty-year +endowments, an' that for nigh onto a quarter of a century Minnie +wouldn't need much of anything else. But his reckonin' was agog. It's +been nothin' but that black satin all his married life. Let alone the +price of continually reenforcin' it, the wear an' tear on Minnie's +nerves when she's tinkerin' with it is somethin' awful. Bart says that +dress ain't never out of her mind. She's rasped an' peevish all the +time plannin' how she can fit the pieces in to look like the pictures. +It's worse than fussin' over the cut-up puzzles folks do. Sometimes at +night she'll wake him out of a sound sleep to tell him she's just +thought how she can eke new sleeves out of the side panels, or make a +pleated front for the waist out of the girdle. I guess Bart don't get +much rest durin' makin'-over spells. I saw him yesterday at the +post-office an' he was glum as an oyster; an' when I asked him was he +sick all he said was he hoped there'd be no black satins in heaven." + +"I told you she was fixin' it over!" cried Celestina triumphantly. "So +you was at the store, was you, Willie? You didn't say nothin' about +it." + +"I forgot I went," confessed the little man. "Lemme see! I believe +'twas more nails took me down." + +"Did you get any mail?" + +"No--yes--I dunno. 'Pears like I did get somethin'. If I did, it's in +the pocket of my other coat." + +Going into the hall he returned with a small white package which he +gave to Celestina. + +"It ain't for me," said she, after she had examined the address. "It's +Bob's." + +"Bob's, eh?" queried the inventor. "I didn't notice, not havin' on my +readin' glasses. So it's Bob's, is it?" + +"Yes," answered Celestina, eyeing the neat parcel curiously. +"Whoever's sendin' you a bundle all tied up with white paper an' pink +string, Bob? It looks like it was jewelry." + +Quickly Willie sprang to the rescue. + +"Oh, Bob's been gettin' some repairin' done for the Brewsters," +explained he. "Delight's buckle was broke an' knowin' the best place +to send it, he mailed it up to town." + +"Oh," responded Celestina, glancing from one to the other with a half +satisfied air. + +"Let's have the thing out an' see how it looks, Bob," Willie went on. + +Blushingly Robert Morton undid the box. + +Yes, there amid wrappings of tissue paper, on a bed of blue cotton +wool, rested the buckle of silver, its burnished surface sparkling in +the light. + +He took it out and inspected it carefully. + +"It is all O. K.," observed he, with an attempt at indifference. "See +what a fine piece of work they made of it." + +The old man took from the table drawer a long leather case, drew out +another pair of spectacles which he exchanged for the ones he was +already wearing, and after scrutinizing the buckle and scowling at it +for an interval he carried it to the window. + +"What's the matter?" Bob demanded, instantly alert. "Isn't the +repairing properly done?" + +"'Tain't the repairin' I'm lookin' at," Willie returned slowly. "I've +no quarrel with that." + +Still he continued to twist and turn the disc of silver, now holding it +at arm's length, now bringing it close to his eye with a puzzled +intentness. + +Robert Morton could stand the suspense no longer. + +"What's wrong with it?" he at last burst out. + +Willie did not look up but evidently he caught the note of impatience +in the younger man's tone, for he drawled quizzically: + +"Don't it strike you as a mite peculiar that a buckle should go to +Boston with D. L. H. on it an' come home marked C. L. G.?" + +"_What_!" + +"That's what's on it--C. L. G. See for yourself." + +"It can't be." + +"Come an' have a look." + +The inventor placed the trinket in Robert Morton's hand. + +"C. L. G.," repeated he, as he deciphered the intertwined letters of +the monogram. "You are right, sure as fate! Jove!" + +"They've sent you the wrong girl," remarked Willie. "It's clear as a +bell on a still night. There must have been two girls an' two buckles, +an' the jeweler's mixed 'em up; you've got the other lady's." + +"That's a nice mess!" Bob ejaculated irritably. "Why, I'd rather have +given a hundred dollars than have this happen. I'll wring that man's +neck!" + +"Easy, youngster! Easy!" cautioned Willie. "Don't go heavin' all your +cargo overboard 'till you find you're really sinkin'. 'Tain't likely +Miss C. L. G. will care a row of pins for Miss D. L. H.'s buckle. +She'll be sendin' out an S. O. S. for her own an' will be ready to join +you in flayin' the jeweler. Give the poor varmint time, an' he'll +shift things round all right." + +"But Miss Hathaway--" + +"Delight's lived the best part of two weeks without that buckle, an' +she don't look none the worse for not havin' it. I saw her in the +post-office only yesterday an'--" + +"Did you?" cried Bob eagerly, then stopped short, flushed, and bit his +lip. + +"Yes, she was there," Willie returned serenely, without appearing to +have noticed his guest's agitation. "Young Farwell from Cambridge--the +one that has all the money--was talkin' to her, an' she had that +Harvard professor who boards at the Brewsters' along too; Carlton his +name is, Jasper Carlton. He's a mighty good-lookin' chap." He stole a +glance at the face that glowered out of the window. "Had you chose to +stroll down to the store with me like I asked you to, you might 'a' +seen her yourself." + +"Oh, I--I--didn't need to see her," stammered Bob. + +"Mebbe not," was the tranquil answer. "An' she didn't need to see you, +neither, judgin' from the way she was talkin' an' laughin' with them +other fellers. Still a young man is never the worse for chattin' with +a nice girl. Now, son, if I was you, I wouldn't get stirred up over +this jewelry business. We'll get a rise out of Miss C. L. G. pretty +soon an' when she comes to the surface--" + +"Who's that at the gate, Willie?" called Celestina from the kitchen. + +"What?" + +"There's somebody at the gate in a big red automobile. She's comin' +in. You go an' see what she wants, 'cause my apron ain't fresh. +Likely she's lost her way or else is huntin' board." + +Although Willie shuffled obediently into the hall he was not in time to +prevent the sonorous peal of the bell. + +"Yes, he's here," they heard him say. "Of course you can speak to him. +He's just inside. Won't you step in?" + +Then without further ado, and with utter disregard of Celestina's +rumpled apron, the door opened and the little inventor ushered into the +string-entangled sitting room a dainty, city-bred girl in a sport suit +of white serge. She was not only pretty but she was perfectly groomed +and was possessed of a fascinating vivacity and charm. Everything +about her was vivid: the gloss of her brown hair, the sparkle of her +eyes, her color, her smile, her immaculate clothes--all were dazzling. +She carried her splendor with an air of complete sureness as if she was +accustomed to the supremacy it won for her and expected it. Yet the +audacity of her pose had in it a certain fitness and was piquant rather +than offensive. + +The instant she crossed the threshold, Robert Morton leaped to meet her +with outstretched hands. + +"Cynthia Galbraith!" he cried. "How ever came you here?" + +A ripple of teasing laughter came from the girl. + +"You are surprised then; I thought you would be." + +"Surprised? I can't believe it." + +"If you'd written as you should have done, you wouldn't have been at +all amazed to see me," answered the newcomer severely. + +"I meant to write," the culprit asserted uneasily. + +"Maybe you will inform me what you are doing on Cape Cod," went on the +lady in an accusing tone. + +"How did you know I was here?" + +"You can't guess?" + +"No, I haven't a glimmer." + +From the pocket of her shell-pink sweater she drew forth a small white +box of startlingly familiar appearance. + +"Does this belong to you?" demanded she. + +Beneath the mockery of her eyes Robert Morton could feel the color +mount to his temples. + +"Well, well!" he said, with a ghastly attempt at gaiety, "So you were +C. L. G." + +"Naturally. Didn't the initials suggest the possibility?" + +"No--eh--yes; that is, I hadn't thought about it," he floundered. +"It's funny how things come about sometimes, isn't it? I want you to +meet my aunt, Miss Morton, and my friend Mr. Spence. I am visiting +here." + +Immediately the dainty Miss Cynthia was all smiles. + +"So it is relatives that bring you to the Cape!" said she. + +Robert Morton nodded. She seemed mollified. + +"Didn't Roger write you that we had taken a house at Belleport for the +season?" she asked. + +"No," replied Bob. "I haven't heard from him for weeks." + +"He's a brute. Yes, we came down in May just after I got back from +California. We are crazy over the place. The family will be wild when +I tell them you are here. My brother," she went on, turning with a +pretty graciousness toward Celestina, "was Bob's roommate at Harvard. +In that way we came to know him very well and have always kept up the +acquaintance." + +"Do you come from the West, same as my nephew does?" questioned +Celestina when there was a pause. + +The little lady raised her eyebrows deprecatingly. + +"No, indeed! The East is quite good enough for us. We are from New +York. The boys, however, were always visiting back and forth," she +added with haste, "so we have quite an affection for Indiana even if we +don't live there." She shot a conciliatory smile in Robert Morton's +direction. "Couldn't you go back with me in the car, Bob," she asked +turning toward him, "and spring a surprise on the household? Dad's +down, Mother's here, and also Grandmother Lee; and the mighty and +illustrious Roger, fresh from his law office on Fifth Avenue, is +expected Friday. Do come." + +"I am afraid I can't to-day," Bob answered. + +"Why, Bob, there ain't the least reason in the world you shouldn't go," +put in Celestina. + +The young man fingered the package in his hand nervously. + +"I really couldn't, Cynthia," he repeated, ignoring the interruption. +"I'd like immensely to come another day, though. But to-day Mr. Spence +and I have a piece of work on hand--" + +He paused, discomfited at meeting the astonished gaze of Willie's mild +blue eyes. + +"Of course you know best," Cynthia replied, drawing in her chin with +some hauteur. "I shouldn't think of urging you." + +"I'd be bully glad to come another day," reiterated Robert Morton, +fully conscious he had offended his fair guest, yet determined to stand +his ground. "Tell the affluent Roger to slide over in his racer +sometime when he has nothing better to do and get me." + +"He will probably only be here for the week-end," retorted Cynthia +coldly. + +"Sunday, then; why not Sunday? Mr. Spence and I do not work Sundays." + +"All right, if you positively won't come to-day. But I don't see why +you can't come now and Sunday, too." + +"I couldn't do it, dear lady." + +"Well, Sunday then, if that is the earliest you can make it." + +She smiled an adieu to Willie and Celestina, and with her little head +proudly set preceded Bob to her car. But although the great engine +throbbed and purred, it was some time before it left the gate and +flashed its way down the high road toward Belleport. + +After it had gone and Bob was once more in the house, Celestina had a +score of questions with which to greet him. How remarkable it was that +the owner of the missing jewelry should be some one he knew! The +Galbraiths must be well-to-do. What was the brother like? Did he +favor his sister? + +These and numberless other inquiries like them furnished Celestina with +conversation for the rest of the day. Willie, on the contrary, was +peculiarly silent, and although his furtive glance traveled at frequent +intervals over his young friend's face, he made no comment concerning +Miss Cynthia L. Galbraith and her silver buckle. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SHADOWS + +In the meantime the two men resumed their labors in the shop, touching +shoulders before the bench where their tools lay. They planed and +chiselled and sawed together as before, but as they worked each was +conscious that a barrier of sudden reserve had sprung up between them, +obstructing the perfect confidence that had previously existed. At +first the old inventor tried to bridge this gulf with trivial jests, +but as these passed unnoticed he at length lapsed into silence. Now +and then, as he stole a look at his companion, he thought he detected +in the youthful face a suppressed nervousness and irritation that found +welcome vent in the hammer's vigorous blow. Nevertheless, as the +younger man vouchsafed no information regarding the morning's +adventure, Willie asked no questions. + +He would have given a great deal to have satisfied himself about +Cynthia Galbraith. It was easily seen that her family were persons of +wealth and position with whom Robert Morton was on terms of the +greatest intimacy. It even demanded no very skilled psychologist to +perceive the girl's sentiment toward his guest, for Miss Galbraith was +a petulent, self-willed creature who did not trouble to conceal her +preferences. Her attitude was transparent as the day. But with what +feeling did Robert Morton regard her? That was the burning question +the little man longed to have answered. + +Wearily he sighed. Alas, human nature was a frail, incalculable +phenomenon. + +How was it likely a young man with his fortune to make would regard a +girl as rich and attractive as Cynthia Galbraith, especially if her +brother chanced to be his best friend and all her family reached forth +welcoming arms to him. + +Willie was not a matchmaker. Had he been impugned with the accusation +he would have denied it indignantly: Nevertheless, he had been mixed up +in too many romances not to find the relation between the sexes a +problem of engrossing interest. Furthermore, of late he had been doing +a little private castle-building, the foundations of which now abruptly +collapsed into ruins at his feet. The cornerstone of this +dream-structure had been laid the day he had first seen Robert Morton +and Delight Hathaway together. What a well-mated pair they were! For +years it had been his unwhispered ambition to see his favorite happily +married to a man who was worthy of the priceless treasure. + +The Brewster household was aging fast. Captain Jonas, Captain +Benjamin, and Captain Phineas were now old men; even Zenas Henry's hair +had thinned and whitened above his temples, and Abbie, once so +tireless, was becoming content to drop her cares on younger shoulders. +Yes, Wilton was growing old, thought the inventor sadly, and he and +Celestina were unquestionably keeping pace with the rest. In the +natural course of events, before many years Delight would be deprived +of her protectors and be left alone in the great world to fend for +herself. She was well able to do so, for she was resourceful and +capable and would never be forced to marry for a home as was many a +lonely woman. Nor would she ever come to want; the village would see +to that. Notwithstanding this certainty, however, he could not bear to +think of a time when there would be no one to stand between her and the +harsher side of life; no man who would count the championship a +privilege, an honor, his dearest duty. + +Wilton had never offered a husband of the type pictured in Willie's +mind. The hamlet could boast of but few young men, and the greater +part of those who lingered within its borders had done so because they +lacked the ambition and initiative to hew out for themselves elsewhere +broader fields of activity. Those of ability had gravitated to the +colleges, the business schools, or gone to test their strength in the +city's marts of commerce. Who could blame them for not resting content +with baiting lobster pots and dredging for scallops? Were he a young +man with his path untrodden before him he would have been one of the +first to do the same, Willie confessed. Did he not constantly covet +their youth and opportunity? Nevertheless, praiseworthy as their +motive had been, the fact remained that nowhere in the village was +there a man the peer of Delight Hathaway. Rare in her girlish beauty, +rarer yet in her promise of womanhood, what a prize she would be for +him who had the fineness of fiber to appreciate the guerdon! + +Willie was wont to attest that he himself was not a marrying man; yet +notwithstanding the assertion, deep down within the fastness of his +soul he had had his visions,--visions pure, exalted and characteristic +of his sensitively attuned nature. They were the exquisite secrets of +his life; the unfulfilled dreams that had kept him holy; a part of the +divine in him; echoes of hungers and longings that reached unsatisfied +into a world other than this. Earth had failed to consummate the loves +and ambitions of the dreamer. His had been a flattened, warped, +starved existence whose perfecting was not of this sphere. And as +without bitterness he reviewed the glories that had passed him by, he +prayed that these bounties might not also be denied her who, rounding +into the full splendor of her womanhood, was worthy of the best heaven +had to bestow. + +From her childhood he had watched her virtues unfold and none of their +potentialities had gone unobserved by the quiet little old man. +Through the beauty of his own soul he had been enabled to translate the +beauties of another, until gradually Delight Hathaway had come to +symbolize for him universal woman, the prototype of all that was +purest, most selfless, most tender; most to be revered, watched over, +beloved. Yet for all his worship the girl remained for him very human, +a creature with bewitching and appealing ways. In the same spirit in +which he rejoiced in the tint of a rose's petal or the shell-like flush +of a cloud at dawn did he find pleasure in the crimson that colored her +cheek, in the perfection of her features, in the shadowy, fathomless +depths of her eyes. Father, brother, lover, artist, at her shrine he +offered up a composite devotion which sought only her happiness. + +With such an attitude of mind to satisfy was it a marvel that in the +matter of selecting a husband for his divinity Willie was difficult to +please; or that he studied with a criticism quite as jealous as Zenas +Henry's own every male who crossed the girl's path? + +Yet with all his idealism Willie was a keen observer of life, and from +the first moment of their meeting he had detected in Robert Morton +qualities more nearly akin to his standards than he had discovered in +any of the other outsiders who had come into the hamlet. There was, +for example, the son of the Farwells who owned the great colonial +mansion on the point,--Billy Farwell, with his racing car and his dogs +and his general air of elegance and idleness. Delight had known him +since she was a child. And there was Jasper Carlton, the scholarly +scientist, years the girl's senior, who annually came to board with the +Brewsters during the vacation months. Both of these men paid court to +the village beauty, Billy with a half patronizing, half audacious +assurance born of years of intimacy; and the professor with that +old-fashioned reserve and deference characteristic of the older +generation. There were days when the two caused Willie such +perturbation of spirit that he would willingly have knocked their heads +together or cheerfully have wrung their necks. + +Delight unhesitatingly acknowledged that she liked both of them and +harmlessly coquetted first with the one, then with the other, until the +old inventor was at his wit's end to fathom which she actually favored +or whether she seriously favored either of them. Yet irreproachable as +were these suitors, to place a man of Bob Morton's attributes in the +same category with them seemed absurd. Why, he was head and shoulders +above them mentally, morally, physically,--from whichever angle one +viewed him. Moreover, blood will tell, and was he not of the fine old +Morton stock? Whatever the Carlton forbears might be, young Farwell's +ancestry was not an enviable one. Yes, Willie had settled Delight's +future to his entire satisfaction and for nights had been sleeping +peacefully, confident that with such a husband as Robert Morton her +happiness and good fortune would be assured. + +And then, like a thunderbolt out of the heavens, had come this Cynthia +Galbraith with her fetching clothes, her affluence and her air of +proprietorship! By what right had she acquired her monopoly of Bob +Morton, and was its exclusiveness gratifying or irksome to its +recipient? Might not this strange young man, concerning whom Willie +was forced to own he actually knew nothing, be playing a double game, +and the frankness of his face belie his real nature? And was it not +possible that his annoyance and irritation were caused by having been +trapped in it? + +Well, avowed Willie, he would see that Delight encountered this Don +Giovanni but seldom, at least until he gave a more trustworthy account +of himself than he had vouchsafed up to the present moment. Contrary +to the common law, the guest must be rated as guilty until he had +proved himself innocent. Yet as he darted a glance at the earnest +young face bending over the workbench Willie's conscience smote him and +he questioned whether he might not be doing his comrade a dire +injustice. The thought caused him to flush uncomfortably, and he +flushed still redder when Bob suddenly straightened up and met his eye. + +Both men stood alert, held tensely by the same sound. It was the low +music of a girlish voice humming a snatch of song, and it was +accompanied by the soft crackling of the needles that carpeted the +grove of pine between the Spence and Brewster houses. In another +instant Delight Hathaway strolled slowly out of the wood and entered +the workshop. With her coming a radiance of sunshine seemed to flood +the shabby room. She nodded a greeting to Bob, then went straight to +Willie and, placing her hands affectionately on his shoulders, looked +down into his face. They made a pretty picture, the bent old man with +his russet cheeks and thin white hair, and the girl erect as an arrow +and beautiful as a young Diana. + +The little inventor lifted his mild blue eyes to meet the haunting eyes +of hazel. + +"Well, well, my dear," he said, as he covered one of her hands with his +own worn brown one, "so you have come for your buckle, have you? It is +all done, honey, an' good as the day when 'twas made. Bob has it in +his pocket for you this minute." + +By a strange magic the truth and sunlight of the girl's presence had +for the time being dispelled all baser suspicions and Willie smiled +kindly at the man beside him. + +Holding out the crisp white package, Robert Morton came forward. + +Delight looked questioningly from the box with its immaculate paper and +neat pink string to its giver. + +"He found he couldn't fix it himself," explained Willie, immediately +interpreting the interrogation. "Neither him or I were guns enough for +the job. So Bob got somebody he knew of to tinker it up." + +"That was certainly very kind," returned Delight with gravity. "If you +will tell me what it cost I--" + +Again the old man stepped into the breach. + +"Oh, I figger 'twarn't much," said he with easy unconcern. "The feller +who did it was used to mendin' jewelry an' knew just how to set about +it, so it didn't put him out of his way none." + +"Yes," echoed Bob, with a grateful smile toward Willie. "It made him +no trouble at all." + +The two men watched the delicate fingers unfasten the package. + +"See how nice 'tis," Willie went on. "You'd never know there was a +thing the matter with it." + +"It's wonderful!" she cried. + +Her pleasure put to flight the old inventor's last compunction at his +compromise with truth. + +"I am so pleased, Mr. Morton!" she went on. "You are quite sure there +was no expense." + +"Nothing to speak of. I'm glad you like it," murmured the young man. + +"Indeed I do!" + +She stretched the band of white leather round her waist and Bob noticed +how easily its clasp met. + +"There!" exclaimed she, raising her hand in mocking imitation of a +military salute, "isn't that fine?" + +Willie laughed with involuntary admiration at the gesture, and as for +Robert Morton he could have gone down on his knees before her and +kissed her diminutive white shoe. + +The girl did not prolong the tableau. All too soon she relaxed from +rigidity into gaiety and came flitting to the work bench. + +"What are you doing, Willie dear?" she asked. "You know you never have +secrets from me. What is this marvellous thing you are busy with?" + +Before answering, Willie glanced mysteriously about. + +"It's because I know you can keep secrets that I ain't afraid to trust +you with 'em," said he. "Bob an' I are workin' on the quiet at an idee +I was kitched with a day or two ago. It's a bigger scheme than most of +the ones I've tackled, an' it may not turn out to be anything at all; +still, Bob has studied boats an' knows a heap about 'em, an' he +believes somethin' can be made of it. But 'til our fish is hooked we +ain't shoutin' that we've caught one. If the contrivance works," went +on the little old man eagerly, "it will be a bonanza for Zenas Henry. +It's--" he lowered his voice almost to a whisper, "it's an idee to keep +motor-boats from gettin' snagged." + +The words were scarcely out of his mouth before his listeners saw him +start and look apprehensively toward the door. + +They were no longer alone. On the threshold of the workshop stood +Janoah Eldridge. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A WIDENING OF THE BREACH + +"So," piped Janoah, "that's what you're doin', is it, Willie Spence? +Well, you needn't 'a' been so all-fired still about it. I guessed as +much all the time." There was an acid flavor in the words. "Yes, I +knowed it from the beginnin' well as if I'd been here, even if you did +shut me out an' take this city feller in to help you in place of me. +Mebbe he has studied 'bout boats; but how do you know what he's up to? +How do you know, anyhow, who he is or where he came from? He says, of +course, that he's Tiny's nephew, an' he may be, fur all I can tell; but +what proof have you he ain't somebody else who's come here to steal +your ideas an' get money for 'em?" + +There was a moment of stunned silence, as the barbs from his tongue +pierced the stillness. + +Then Delight stepped in front of the interloper. + +"How dare you, Janoah Eldridge!" she cried. "How dare you insult +Willie's friend and--and--mine! You've no right to speak so about Mr. +Morton." + +Before her indignation Janoah quailed. In all his life he had never +before seen Delight Hathaway angry, and something in her flashing eyes +and flaming cheeks startled him. + +"I--I--warn't meanin' to say 'twas actually so," mumbled he +apologetically. "Like as not the young man's 'xactly what he claims to +be. Still, Willie's awful gullible, an' there's times when a word of +warnin' ain't such a bad thing. I'm sorry if you didn't like it." + +"I didn't like it, not at all," the girl returned, only slightly +mollified by his conciliatory tone. "If you are anything of a +gentleman you will apologize to Mr. Morton immediately." + +"Ain't I just said I was sorry?" hedged the sheepish Janoah. + +"Indeed, there is no need for anything further," Robert Morton +protested. "Perhaps, knowing me so little, it was only natural that he +should distrust me." + +"It was neither natural nor courteous," came hotly from Delight, "and I +for one am mortified that any visitor to the village should receive +such treatment." + +Then as if clearing her skirts of the offending Mr. Eldridge, she drew +herself to her full height and swept magnificently out the door. An +awkward silence followed her departure. + +Robert Morton hesitated, glancing uneasily from Willie to Janoah, +scented a storm and, slipping softly from the shop, went in pursuit of +the retreating figure. + +"For goodness sake, Janoah, whatever set you makin' a speech like +that?" Willie demanded, when the two were alone. "Have you gone plumb +crazy? The very notion of your lightin' into that innocent young +feller! What are you thinkin' of?" + +"Mebbe he ain't so innocent as he seems," the accuser sneered. + +The little old man faced him sharply. + +"Come," he persisted, "let's have this thing out. What do you know +about him?" + +"What do you?" retorted Janoah, evading the question. + +The inventor paused, chagrined. + +"You don't know nothin' an' I don't know nothin'," continued Janoah, +seizing the advantage he had gained. "Each of us is welcome to his +opinion, ain't he? It's a free country. You're all fur believin' the +chap's an angel out of heaven. You've swallered down every word he's +uttered like as if it was gospel truth, an' took him into your own +house same's if he was a relation. There's fish that gobble down bait +just that way. I ain't that kind. Young men don't bury themselves up +in a quiet spot like Wilton without they've got somethin' up their +sleeve." + +Staring intently at his friend, he noted with satisfaction that +Willie's brow had clouded into a frown. + +"Is it to be expected, I ask you now, is it to be expected that a +spirited young sprig of a college feller such as him relishes spendin' +his time workin' away in this shop day in an' day out? What's he doin' +it fur, tell me that? This world ain't a benevolent institution, an' +the folks in it don't go throwin' their elbow-grease away unless they +look to get somethin' out of it. This Morton boy has boned down here +like a slave. What's in it fur him?" + +"Why, it's his vacation an'--" + +"Vacation!" interrupted Janoah scornfully. "You call it a vacation, do +you, for him to be workin' away here with you? You honestly think he +hankers after doin' it?" + +"He said he did." + +"An' you believed it, I s'pose, same's you credited the rest of his +talk," jeered Mr. Eldridge. "Look out the winder, Willie Spence, an' +tell me, if you was twenty instead of 'most seventy, if you'd be +stayin' indoors a-carpenterin' these summer days when you could be +outside?" + +He swept a hand dramatically toward the casement and in spite of +himself the old man obeyed his injunction and looked. + +A dome blue as larkspur arched the sky and to its farthest bound the +sea, reflecting its azure tints, flashed and sparkled as if set with +stars of gold. Along the shore where glittered reaches of hard white +sand and a gentle breeze tossed into billows the salt grass edging the +margin of the little creeks, fishermen launching their dories called to +one another, their voices floating upward on the still air with musical +clearness. + +"Would you be puttin' in your vacation a-workin' all summer, Willie, if +you was the age of that young man?" repeated Janoah. + +"He ain't here for all summer," protested the unhappy inventor, +catching at a straw. "He's only goin' to stay a little while." + +"He was here fur over night at first, warn't he?" inquired the +tormentor. "Then it lengthened into a week; an' the Lord only knows +now how much longer he's plannin' to hang round the place. Besides, if +he's only makin' a short visit, it's less likely than ever he'd want to +put in the whole of it tinkerin' with you. He'd be goin' about seein' +Wilton, sailin', fishin', swimmin' or clammin', like other folks do +that come here fur the summer, if he was a normal human bein'. But has +he been anywheres yet? No, sir! I've had my weather eye out, an' I +can answer for it that the feller ain't once poked his head out of this +shop. What's made him so keen fur stayin' in Wilton an' workin'?" + +Willie did not answer, but he took a great bandanna with a flaming +border of scarlet from his pocket and mopped his forehead nervously. + +"That young chap," resumed Janoah, holding up a grimy finger which he +shook impressively at the wretched figure opposite, "is here for one of +two reasons. You can like 'em or not, but they're true. He's either +here to steal your ideas from you, or he's got his eye on Delight +Hathaway." + +He saw his victim start violently. + +"Mebbe it's the one, mebbe it's the other; I ain't sayin'," announced +Janoah with malicious pleasure. "It may even be both reasons put +together. He's aimin' fur some landin' place, you can be certain of +that, an' I'm warnin yer as a friend to look out fur him, that's all." + +"I--I--don't believe it," burst out the little inventor, his benumbed +faculties beginning slowly to assemble themselves. "Why, there ain't a +finer, better-spoken young man to be found than Bob Morton." + +Janoah caught up the final phrase with derision. + +"The better spoken he is the more watchin' he'll bear," remarked he. +"There's many a villain with an oily gift of gab." + +"I'll not believe it!" Willie reiterated. + +Mr. Eldridge shrugged his shoulders. + +"Take it or leave it," he said. "You're welcome to your own way. Only +don't say I didn't warn yer." + +Flinging this parting shot backward into the room, Janoah Eldridge +passed out into the rose-scented sunshine. + +With a sad look in his eyes Willie let him go, watching the tall form +as it strode waist-high through the brakes and sweet fern that patched +the meadow. It was his first real quarrel with Janoah. Since boyhood +they had been friends, the gentleness of the little inventor bridging +the many disagreements that had arisen between them. Now had come this +mammoth difference, a divergence of standard too vital to be smoothed +over by a gloss of cajolery. Willie was angry through every fiber of +his being. Slowly it seeped into his consciousness that Janoah's +fundamental philosophy and his own were at odds; their attitude of mind +as antagonistic as the poles. Against trust loomed suspicion, against +generosity narrowness, against optimism pessimism. Janoah believed the +worst of the individual while he, Willie, reason as he might, +inherently believed the best. One creed was the fruit of a jealous and +envious personality that rejoiced rather than grieved over the +limitations of our human clay; the other was a result of that charity +_that beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things_, +because of a divine faith in the God in man. + +For a long time Willie stood there thinking, his gaze fixed upon the +gently swaying plumage of the pines. The shock of his discovery left +him suddenly feeling very sad and very much alone. It was as if he had +buried the friend of half a century. Yet even to bring Janoah back he +could not retract the words he had uttered or exchange the light he +followed for Janoah's sinister beckonings. In spite of a certain +reasonableness in the pessimist's logic; in spite of circumstances he +was incapable of explaining; in spite, even, of Cynthia Galbraith, a +latent belief in Robert Morton's integrity crystallized into certainty, +and he rose to his feet freed of the doubts that had previously +assailed him. + +At the instant of this emancipation the young man himself entered. + +What had passed during the interval since he had gone out of the +workshop Willie could only surmise, but it had evidently been of +sufficiently inspiring a character to bring into his countenance a +radiance almost supernatural in its splendor. Nevertheless he did not +speak but stood immovable before the little old inventor as if awaiting +a judge's decree, the glory fading from his eyes and a half-veiled +anxiety stealing into them. + +Willie smiled and, reaching up, placed his hands on the broad shoulders +that towered opposite. + +"I'm sorry, Bob," he affirmed with a sweetness as winning as a woman's. +"You mustn't mind what Jan said. He's gettin' old an' a mite crabbed, +an' he's kinder foolish about me, mebbe. I wouldn't 'a' had him hurt +your feelin's--" + +Robert Morton caught the expression of pain in the troubled face and +cut the apology short. + +"It's all right, Mr. Spence," he cried. "Don't give it another +thought. So long as you remain my friend I don't care what Mr. +Eldridge thinks. We'll pass it off as jealousy and let it go at that." + +The old man tried to smile, but the corners of his mouth drooped and he +sighed instead. To have Janoah's weaknesses thus nakedly set forth by +another was a very different thing from recognizing them himself, and +instinctively his loyalty rose in protest. + +"Mebbe 'twas jealousy," he replied. "Folks have always stood out that +Janoah was jealous. But somehow I'd rather think 'twas tryin' to look +after me an' my affairs that misled him. S'pose we call it a sort of +slab-sided friendliness." + +"We'll call it anything you like," assented Bob, with a happy laugh. + +This time Willie laughed also. + +"So she stood by you, did she?" queried he with quick understanding. + +"Yes." + +"'Twas like her." + +"It was like both of you." + +The old man raised a hand in protest against the gratitude the remark +implied. + +"Delight ain't often wrong; she's a fair dealer." Then he added +significantly, "Them as ain't fair with her deserve no salvation." + +"Hanging would be too good for the man who was not square with a girl +like that," came from Robert Morton with an emphasis unmistakable in +its sincerity. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A CONSPIRACY + +On Sunday morning, when a menacing east wind whipped the billows into +foam and a breath of storm brooded in the air, the Galbraiths' great +touring car rolled up to Willie's cottage, and from it stepped not only +Robert Morton's old college chum, Roger Galbraith, but also his father, +a finely built, middle-aged man whose decisive manner and quick speech +characterized the leader and dictator. + +He was smooth-shaven after the English fashion and from beneath shaggy +iron-gray brows a pair of dark eyes, piercing in their intensity, +looked out. The face was lined as if the stress of living had drawn +its muscles into habitual tensity, and except when a smile relieved the +setness of the mouth his countenance was stern to severity. His son, +on the other hand, possessed none of his father's force of personality. +Although his features were almost a replica of those of the older man, +they lacked strength; it was as if the second impression taken from the +type had been less clear-cut and positive. The eyes were clear rather +than penetrating, the mouth and chin handsome but mobile; even the +well-rounded physique lacked the rugged qualities that proclaimed its +development to have been the result of a Spartan combat with the world +and instead bore the more artificial sturdiness acquired from sports +and athletics. + +Nevertheless Roger Galbraith, if not the warrior his progenitor had +been, presented no unmanly appearance. Neither self-indulgence nor +effeminacy branded him. In fact, there was in his manner a certain +magnetism and warmth of sympathy that the elder man could not boast, +and it was because of this asset he had never wanted for friends and +probably never would want for them. Through the talisman of charm he +would exact from others the service which the more autocratic nature +commanded. + +Yet in spite of the opposition of their personalities, Robert Morton +cherished toward both father and son a sincere affection which differed +only in the quality of the response the two men called forth. Mr. +Galbraith he admired and revered; Roger he loved. + +Had he but known it, each of the Galbraiths in their turn esteemed +Robert Morton for widely contrasting reasons. The New York financier +found in him a youth after his own heart,--a fine student and hard +worker, who had fought his way to an education because necessity +confronted him with the choice of going armed or unarmed into life's +fray. Although comfortably off, Mr. Morton senior was a man of limited +income whose children had been forced to battle for what they had +wrested from fortune. Success had not come easily to any of them, and +the winning of it had left in its wake a self-reliance and independence +surprisingly mature. Ironically enough, this power to fend for himself +which Mr. Galbraith so heartily endorsed and respected in Bob was the +very characteristic of which he had deprived his own boy, the vast +fortune the capitalist had rolled up eliminating all struggle from +Roger's career. Every barrier had been removed, every thwarting force +had been brought into abeyance, and afterward, with an inconsistency +typical of human nature, the leveler of the road fretted at his son's +lack of aggressiveness, his eyes, ordinarily so hawklike in their +vision, blinded to the fact that what his son was he had to a great +extent made him, and if the product caused secret disappointment he had +no one to thank for it but himself. Instead his reasoning took the +bias that the younger man, having been given every opportunity, should +logically have increased the Galbraith force of character rather than +have diminished it, and very impatient was he that such had not proved +to be the case. + +Robert Morton was much more akin to the Galbraith stock, the financier +argued. He had all the dog-like persistency, the fighter's love of the +game, the courage that will not admit defeat. Although he would not +have confessed it, Mr. Galbraith would have given half his fortune to +have interchanged the personalities of the two young men. Could Roger +have been blessed with Bob's attributes, the dream of his life would +have been fulfilled. Money was a potent slave. In the great man's +hands it had wrought a magician's marvels. But this miracle, alas, it +was powerless to accomplish. Roger was his son, his only son, whom he +adored with instinctive passion; for whom he coveted every good gift; +and in whose future the hopes of his life were bound up. Long since he +had abandoned expecting the impossible; he must take the boy as he was, +rejoicing that Heaven had sent him as good a one. Yet notwithstanding +this philosophy, Mr. Galbraith never saw the two young men together +that the envy he stifled did not awaken, and the question rise to his +lips: + +"Why could I not have had such a son?" + +The interrogation clamored now as he came up the walk to the doorway +where Robert Morton was standing. + +"Well, my boy, I'm glad to see you," exclaimed he with heartiness. +"You are looking fit as a racer." + +"And feeling so, Mr. Galbraith," smiled Bob. "You are looking well +yourself." + +"Never was better in my life." + +As he stood still, sweeping his keen gaze over his surroundings, a +telegraphic glance of greeting passed between the two classmates. + +"How are you, old man?" said Roger. + +"Bully, kipper. It's great to see you again," was the reply. + +That was all, but they did not need more to assure each other of their +friendship. + +"You have a wonderful location here, Bob," observed Mr. Galbraith who +had been studying the view. "I never saw anything finer. What a site +for a hotel!" + +Robert Morton could not but smile at the characteristic comment of the +man of finance. + +"You would have trouble rooting Mr. Spence out of this spot, I'm +afraid," said he. + +"Mr. Spence?" + +"He is my host. My aunt, Miss Morton, is his housekeeper." + +Robert Morton had learned never to waste words when talking with Mr. +Galbraith. + +"I see. I should be glad to meet your aunt and Mr. Spence." + +"I know they would like to meet you too, sir. They are just inside. +Won't you come in?" + +Leading the way, Bob threw open the door into the little sitting room. + +In anticipation of the visit Celestina had arrayed herself in a fresh +print dress and ruffled apron and had compelled Willie to replace his +jumper with a suit of homespun and flatten his locks into water-soaked +rigidity. By the exchange both persons had lost a certain +picturesqueness which Bob could not but deplore. Nevertheless the fact +did not greatly matter, for it was not toward them that the capitalist +turned his glance. Instead his swiftly moving eyes traveled with one +sweep over the cobweb of strings that enmeshed the interior and without +regard for etiquette he blurted out: + +"Heavens! What's all this?" + +The remark, so genuine in its amazement, might under other conditions +have provoked resentment but now it merely raised a laugh. + +"I don't wonder you ask, sir," replied Willie, stepping forward +good-humoredly. "'Tain't a common sight, I'll admit. We get used to +it here an' think nothin' about it; but I reckon it must strike +outsiders as 'tarnal queer." + +"What are you trying to do?" queried the capitalist, still too much +interested to heed conventionalities. + +Simply and with artless naivete Willie explained the significance of +the strings while the New Yorker listened, and as the old man told his +story it was apparent that Mr. Galbraith was not only amused but was +vastly interested. + +"I say, Mr. Spence, you should have been an inventor," he exclaimed, +when the tale was finished. + +He saw a wistful light come into the aged face. + +"I mean," he corrected hastily, "you should have a workshop with all +the trappings to help you carry out your schemes." + +"Oh, Mr. Spence has a workshop," Robert Morton interrupted. "The +nicest kind of a one." + +"Would you like to see it?" inquired Willie. + +"I should, very much." + +"I'm afraid it's no place to take you, sir," objected Celestina, +horrified at the suggestion. "It ain't been swept out since the +deluge. Willie won't have it cleaned. He says he'd never be able to +find anything again if it was." + +Mr. Galbraith laughed. + +"Workshops do not need cleaning, do they, Mr. Spence?" said he. "I +remember the chaos my father's tool-house always was in; it never was +in order and we all liked it the better because it wasn't." + +Celestina sighed and turned away. + +"Ain't it just the irony of fate," murmured she to Bob, "that after +slickin' up every room in the house so'st it would be presentable, +Willie should tow them folks from New York out into the woodshed? I +might 'a' saved myself the trouble." + +Robert Morton slipped a comforting arm round her ample waist. + +"Never you mind, Aunt Tiny," he whispered. "The Galbraiths have rooms +enough of their own to look at; but they haven't a workshop like +Willie's." + +He patted her arm sympathetically and then, giving her a reassuring +little squeeze to console her, followed his guests. + +It had not crossed his mind until he went in pursuit of them that if +they visited the shop they must perforce be brought face to face with +Willie's latest invention still in its embryo state; and it was evident +that in the pride of entertaining such distinguished strangers the +little old man had also forgotten it, for as Bob entered he caught +sight of him fumbling awkwardly with a piece of sailcloth snatched up +in a hurried attempt to conceal from view this last child of his +genius. He had not been quick enough, however, to elude the +capitalist's sharp scrutiny, and before he could prevent discovery the +eager eyes had lighted on the unfinished model on the bench. + +"What are you up to here?" demanded Richard Galbraith. + +There was no help for it. Willie never juggled with the truth, and +even if he had been accustomed to do so it would have taken a quicker +witted charlatan than he to evade such an alert questioner. Therefore +in another moment he had launched forth on a full exposition of the +latest notion that had laid hold upon his fancy. + +Mr. Galbraith listened until the gentle drawling voice had ceased. + +"By Jove!" he ejaculated. "You've got an idea here. Did you know it?" + +The inventor smiled. + +"Bob an' I kinder thought we had," returned he modestly. + +"Bob is helping you?" + +"Oh, I'm only putting in an oar," the young man hastened to say. "The +plan was entirely Mr. Spence's. I am simply working out some of the +details." + +"Bob knows a good deal more about boats than perhaps he'll own," Mr. +Galbraith asserted to Willie. "I fancy you've found that out already. +You are fortunate to have his aid." + +"Almighty fortunate," Willie agreed; then, glancing narrowly at his +visitor, he added: "Then you think there's some likelihood that a +scheme such as this might work. 'Tain't a plumb crazy notion?" + +"Not a bit of it. It isn't crazy at all. On the contrary, it should +be perfectly workable, and if it proved so, there would be a mine of +money in it." + +"You don't say!" + +It was plain that the comment contained less enthusiasm for the +prospective fortune than for the indorsement of the idea. + +The New Yorker, however, said nothing more about the invention. He +browsed about the shop with unfeigned pleasure, poking in among the +cans of paint, oil, and varnish, rattling the nails in the dingy +cigar-boxes, and examining the tools and myriad primitive devices +Willie had contrived to aid him in his work. + +"I was brought up in a shop like this," he at length exclaimed, "and I +haven't been inside such a place since. It carries me back to my +boyhood." + +A strangely softened mood possessed him, and when at last he stepped +out on the grass he lingered a moment beneath the arch of grapevine and +looked back into the low, sun-flecked interior of the shop as if loath +to leave it. + +"I am glad to have seen you, Mr. Spence," he said, "and Miss Morton, +too. Bob couldn't be in a pleasanter spot than this. I hope sometime +you will let me come over again and visit you while we are in +Belleport." + +"Sartain, sartain, sir!" cried Willie with delight. "Tiny an' me would +admire to have you come whenever the cravin' strikes you. We're +almighty fond of Bob, an' any friends of his will always be welcome." + +The little old man went with them to the car and loitered to watch them +roll away. + +"You'll see me back to-night," called Bob from the front seat. + +"Not to-night, to-morrow," Roger corrected laughingly. + +"Well, to-morrow then," smiled the young man. + +The engine pulsed, there was a quick throb of energy, and off they +sped. Almost without a sound the motor shot along the sand of the +Harbor Road and whirled into the pine-shaded thoroughfare that led +toward Belleport. + +"A fine old fellow that!" mused Mr. Galbraith aloud. "What a pity he +could not have had his chance in life." + +Bob nodded. + +"I suppose he hasn't a cent to carry out any of these schemes of his." + +"No, I am afraid he hasn't." + +The financier lit a cigar and puffed at it in thoughtful silence. + +"That motor-boat idea of his now--why, if it could be perfected and +boomed properly, it would make his fortune." + +"Do you think so?" + +"I know it." + +Again the humming of the engine was the only sound. + +"Do you know, Bob, I've half a mind to get Snelling down here and set +him to work at that job. What should you say?" + +"Snelling? You mean the expert from your ship-building plant?" + +"Yes. Wouldn't it be a good plan?" + +Robert Morton hesitated. + +"There is no question that a man of Mr. Snelling's ability would be a +tremendous asset in handling such a proposition," he agreed cautiously. + +"Snelling could drop in as if to see you," went on the capitalist. +"You could fix up all that so there would not be any need of the old +fellow suspecting who he was. Once there he could pitch in and help +the scheme along. It is going to be quite an undertaking before you +get through with it, and the more hands there are to carry it out, the +better, in my opinion." + +"Yes, it is going to be much more of a job than I realized at first," +Bob admitted. "It certainly would be a great help to have Mr. +Snelling's aid. But could you spare him? And would he want to come +and duff in on this sort of an enterprise?" + +"If I telegraphed Snelling to come he would come; and when here he +would do whatever he was told," replied Mr. Galbraith, bringing his +lips sharply together. + +"It's very kind of you!" + +"Pooh! the idea amuses me. I'll provide any materials you may need, +too. Snelling shall have an order to that effect so that he can call +on the Long Island plant for anything he wants." + +"That will be splendid, Mr. Galbraith; but where do you come in?" + +"I'll have my fun, never you fear," returned the capitalist. "In the +first place I'd like nothing better than to do that little old fellow a +good turn. There is something pathetic about him. Sometimes it is +hard to believe that life gives everybody a square deal, isn't it? +That man, for instance. He has the brain and the creative impulse, but +he has been cheated of his opportunity. I should enjoy giving him a +boost. Occasionally I fling away a small sum on a whim that catches my +fancy; now its German marks, now an abandoned farm. This time it shall +be Mr. Willie Spence and his motor-boat idee." + +He laughed. + +"I appreciate it tremendously," Bob said. + +"There, there, we won't speak of it any more," the elder man protested, +cutting him short. "I will telegraph Snelling and you may arrange the +rest. The old inventor isn't to suspect a thing--remember." + +"No, sir." + +"That is all, then." + +With a finality Robert Morton dared not transgress, the older man +lapsed into silence and Bob had no choice but to suppress his gratitude +and resign himself to listening to the rhythmic beat of the +automobile's great engine. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE GALBRAITH HOUSEHOLD + +The estate the Galbraiths had leased stood baldly upon a rise +overlooking the sea in the midst of the fashionable colony adjacent to +Wilton, and was one of those blots which the city luxury-lover affixes +to a community whose keynote is simplicity. Its expanse of veranda, +its fluttering green and white awnings, its giant tubs of blossoming +hydrangeas, to say nothing of its Italian garden with rose-laden +pergolas, were as out of place as if Saint Peter's itself had been +dropped down into a tiny New England fishing hamlet. + +The house, it is true, did not lack beauty, for it was well +proportioned and gracefully planned, and there was no denying that one +found, perhaps, more comfort on its screened and shaded piazzas than +was to be enjoyed on Willie Spence's unprotected doorstep. +Nevertheless, there was too much of everything about it: too many +rambler roses, too many rustic baskets and mighty palms; too many urns, +and stone benches, and sundials and fountains. Still, as the car +stopped at the door, the great wicker chairs with their scarlet +cushions presented a gay picture and so, too, did Mrs. Galbraith and +Cynthia who immediately rose from a breezy corner and came forward. + +The older woman was tall and handsome and in her youth must have +possessed great beauty; even now she carried with a spoiled air almost +girlish the costly gowns and jewels that her husband, proud of her +looks, lavished upon her. She had a languid grace very fascinating in +its indifference and spoke with a pretty little accent that echoed of +the South. For all her attractiveness, Cynthia could not compare in +charm with her mother whose femininity lured all men toward her as does +a magnet steel. + +Bob leaped from the car almost before it had come to a stop and went to +her side, bending low over her heavily ringed hand. + +"We're so glad to see you, Bobbie!" she smiled. "The very nicest thing +that could have happened was to find you here." + +"It is indeed a delightful surprise for me," Robert Morton answered. +"How are you, Cynthia?" + +Cynthia, who was standing in the background, frowned. + +"You've been long enough getting here," declared she petulantly. +"Where on earth have you been? We decided you must have got stalled on +the road." + +"Oh, no," interrupted her father, coming up the steps. "We made the +run over and back without a particle of trouble. What delayed us was +that we stopped to visit with Bob's aunt and the old gentleman with +whom he is staying. Such a quaint character, Maida! You really should +see him. I had all I could do to tear myself away from the place." + +His wife raised her delicately penciled brows. + +"We do not often see you so enthusiastic, Richard." + +"They are charming people, I assure you. I don't wonder Bob prefers +staying over there to coming here," chuckled the financier. + +"Oh, I say, Mr. Galbraith--" began Bob; but his host interrupted him. + +"That is a rather rough accusation, isn't it?" declared he, "and it's +not quite fair, either. To tell the truth, Bob's deep in some +important work." + +There was a light, scornful laugh from Cynthia. + +"He is, my lady. You needn't be so incredulous," her brother put in. +"Bob is busy with a boat-building project. Dad's got interested in it, +too." + +Cynthia pursed her lips with a little grimace. + +"Ask him if you don't believe it," persisted Roger. + +"Yes," went on Mr. Galbraith, "that old chap over at Wilton has an idea +that may make all our fortunes, Bob's included." + +There was a general laugh. + +"Well," pouted Cynthia, glancing down at the toe of her immaculate +buckskin shoe, "I call it very tiresome for Bob to have to work all his +vacation." + +"I don't have to," Robert Morton objected. "I am simply doing it for +fun. Can't you understand the sport of--" + +"No, she can't," her brother asserted. "Cynthia never sees any fun in +working." + +"Roger!" Mrs. Galbraith drawled gently. + +"Well, I don't like to work," owned the girl with delicious audacity. +"I detest it. Why should I pretend to like it when I don't?" + +"Cynthia is one of the lilies of the field; she's just made for +ornament," called Roger over his shoulder as he passed into the house. + +"There is something in being ornamental, isn't there, daughter?" said +Mr. Galbraith, dropping into a chair and lighting a fresh cigar. + +She was decorative, there was no mistake about that. The skirt of +heavy white satin clung to her slight figure in faultless lines, and +her sweater of a rose shade was no more lovely in tint than was the +faint flush in her cheeks. Every hair of the elaborate coiffure had +been coaxed skilfully into place by a hand that understood the cunning, +and wherever nature had been guilty of an oversight art had supplied +the defect. Yes, Cynthia Galbraith was quite a perfect product, +thought Bob, as he surveyed her there beneath the awning. + +"I thought Madam Lee was here," the young man presently remarked, as he +glanced about. + +Mrs. Galbraith's face clouded. + +"Mother is not well to-day," she answered. "Careful as we are of her +she has in some way taken cold. She is not really ill, but we thought +it wise for her to keep her room. She is heartbroken not to be +downstairs and I promised that after she had had her luncheon and nap +you would go up and see her." + +"Surely!" Robert Morton cried emphatically. + +"Mother is so devoted to you, Bobbie," went on Mrs. Galbraith. +"Sometimes I think she cares much more for you than she does for her +own grandchildren." + +"Nonsense! Of course she doesn't." + +"I'm not so certain," laughed the elder woman lightly. "You know she +is tremendously strong in her likes and dislikes. All the Lees are. +We're a headstrong family where our affections are concerned. You, +Bob, are the apple of her eye." + +"She has always been mighty kind to me," the young man affirmed +soberly. "I never saw my own grandmothers; both of them died before I +came into the world. So, you see, if it were not for borrowing Roger's +and Cynthia's, I should be quite bereft." + +The party rose and moved through the cool hall into the dining room. + +A delicious luncheon, perfectly served by a velvet-footed maid and the +old colored butler, followed, and there was a great deal of +conversation, a great deal of reminiscing and a great deal of laughter. + +Cynthia complained that the claret cup was too sweet and that the ices +were not frozen enough and had much to say of the ice cream at +Maillard's. + +"But you are far from Maillard's now, my dear," her mother remarked, +"and you must make the best of things." + +"Being on Cape Cod you are almighty lucky to get any ice cream at all," +announced Roger with brotherly zest. + +"Roger, why will you tease your sister so? You hector Cynthia every +moment you are in the house." + +"Oh, she knows I don't mean it," grinned Roger. "I just have to take +the starch out of her now and then, don't I, Cynthia Ann?" + +"Roger!" fretted his sister. "I wish you wouldn't call me Cynthia +_Ann_! I can't imagine why you've taken to doing so lately." + +"Chiefly because you do not like it, my dear," was the retort. "If I +were not so sure of getting a rise out of you every time, perhaps I +might be tempted to stop." + +"You children quarrel like a pair of apes," Mr. Galbraith said. "If I +did not know that underneath you were perfectly devoted to each other, +I should be worried to death about you." + +"You needn't waste any worry on Cynthia Ann and me, Dad," Roger +declared. "Bad as she is, she's the best sister I've got, and I rather +like her in spite of her faults." + +A smile passed between the two. + +"You've some faults of your own, remember," observed the girl, with a +grimace. + +"Not a one, mademoiselle, not a one! I swear it," was the instant +retort. "Coming into the family first, I picked the cream of the Lee +and Galbraith qualities and gave you what was left." + +"I command you two to stop your bickering," Mr. Galbraith said at last. +"You are wasting the whole luncheon, squabbling. You'd much better be +deciding what you are going to do with Bob for the rest of the day." + +"I thought I'd take him out in the knockabout," Roger suggested. "That +is, if he would like to go. The tide will be just right and there is a +fine breeze." + +"You may take him if you will get him home at tea time," Mrs. Galbraith +said. "Your grandmother has set her heart on seeing him this afternoon +and you know she retires soon after dinner." + +"You wouldn't have any time to sail at all, Roger," put in Cynthia. +"Especially if you should get stuck on a bar as you did the other day." + +"We should have two hours." + +"Why don't you take the launch, Roger?" his mother inquired. + +"And get snagged in the eel grass--not on your life!" + +"Bob and Mr. Spence are going to do away with all that eel grass, you +know," called his father, sauntering out of doors. + +"I'll wait until they do, then," was the grim retort. + +"I should think Bob would a great deal rather go for a motor-ride," +Cynthia ventured, her eyes fixed impersonally on the landscape. + +"I suppose you'd like to cart him off in your car." + +"It doesn't make any difference whose car he goes in, does it?" + +"Well, ra--_ther_! If he goes in yours there's no room for me; if he +goes in mine there is no room for you. That's the difference." + +"Children, do stop tearing Bob to fragments," lisped Mrs. Galbraith +with some amusement. "If you keep on pulling him to pieces he won't go +anywhere. Now Roger, you take Bob sailing and have a good visit with +him, and bring him back so he can have tea with your grandmother at +five; this evening the rest of us will have our chance to see him." + +She did not look at Cynthia, but with a woman's forethought she +remembered that the verandas were roomy and that the moon was full soon +after dinner. Cynthia remembered it too and smiled. + +"Yes, go ahead, Roger," she called. "Take Bob round the bay. It is a +lovely sail and as he hasn't been here before he will enjoy it." + + * * * * * * + +It was only a little past five when the two young men returned, a glow +of health and pleasure on their faces. + +"Now, Bobbie, do make haste," Mrs. Galbraith said, coming to meet him. +"Mother's tea has already gone up, and you know how she detests +waiting. Her maid is there in the hall to show you the way. Hurry +along, dear boy." + +Robert Morton needed no second bidding and at once followed the +middle-aged English woman up the staircase and into a small, +chintz-hung sitting room that looked out on the sea. + +At the farther end of it, seated before a low tea table, was a stately, +white-haired lady, very erect, very handsome and very elegantly dressed +in a gown of soft black material. At the neck, which was turned away, +she wore a fichu of filmy lace tinted by time to a creamy tone and held +in place by an old-fashioned medallion of seed pearls. White ruffles +at the wrists drooped over her delicately veined hands and showed only +the occasional flash of a ring and her perfectly manicured finger tips. +Summer or winter, fair weather or foul, Madam Lee never varied this +costume, and it seemed to possess some measure of its owner's eternal +youth, for it was always fresh and its lustrous folds always swept the +ground in the same dignified fashion. Indeed for those who knew Madam +Lee to think of her in any other guise would have been impossible. Her +silvered hair was parted and rippled over her forehead to her ears +where it was slightly puffed and caught back with combs of shell, and +from beneath it two little black eyes peered out with a bird's +alertness of gaze. Although age had claimed her strength, it was +evident from the woman's vivacious expression that she had lost none of +her interest in life and as she now sat before the silver-laden tea +table there was a girlish anticipation in her eager pose. + +"Ah, you scamp!" cried she, when she heard her visitor's footstep in +the upper hall, "I have been waiting for you a full five minutes. I +don't wait for every one, I would have you know. Come here and give an +account of yourself." + +The young man bent and softly touched her cheek with his lips. + +She put out her hand and let it linger affectionately in his as he +dropped into the chair beside her. + +"I can't begin to tell you how glad I am to see you, Bob," she went on, +in a voice soft and exquisitely modulated. "We had no idea you were on +the Cape. But for that jeweler's stupidity we should have thought you +had gone west long ago. Considering what good friends you and Roger +are, you are the worst of correspondents; and you never write to me." + +"I know it," owned Robert Morton with disarming honesty. "It's beastly +of me." + +"No, dear. On the contrary it is very like a man," contradicted Madam +Lee with a pretty little laugh. "However, I am not going to scold you +about it now. I have seen too many men in my day. First let me pour +your tea. Then you shall tell me all that you have been doing. I hear +you are visiting a new aunt whom you have just unearthed." + +"Yes." + +"How do you like her?" + +Bob chuckled at the characteristic directness of the question. + +"Very much indeed." + +"That's nice. Since relatives are not of our choosing, it is pleasant +to find they are not bores." + +Again the young man smiled. + +"And this old gentleman for whom she keeps house--what of him?" + +It was plain Madam Lee had all the facts well in mind. + +As best he could Bob sketched Willie in a few swift strokes. + +"Humph! An interesting old fellow. I should like to see him," +declared Madam Lee when the narrative was done. "And so you are +working on this motor-boat with him?" + +"Yes." + +"How long have you been here?" + +"Ten days." + +"And when do you go back to your family?" + +"I don't quite know," hesitated the big fellow. "There is still a +great deal to do on this invention we are working at." + +His companion eyed him shrewdly. + +"And the girl--where does she live?" she asked, reaching for Bob's cup. + +He colored with surprise. + +"The girl?" he repeated, disconcerted. + +"Of course there is a girl," went on the woman. + +"What makes you think so?" + +"Oh, Bob, Bob! Isn't there always a girl on every young man's horizon?" + +"I suppose so--generally speaking," he confessed with a laugh. + +"Suppose we abandon the abstract term and come down to this girl in +particular," his interrogator said. + +"Why are you so sure there is one?" he hedged teasingly. + +"My dear boy, how absurd of you!" returned the sharp-eyed old lady with +a twinkle of merriment. "In the first place, all the motor-boats in +the world couldn't keep a young man like you chained up indefinitely in +a sleepy little Cape Cod village. Besides, Cynthia told me." + +"Cynthia? She doesn't know anything about it." + +"That is precisely how I knew," piped Madam Lee triumphantly. + +"What did she tell you?" + +"She did not tell me anything," was the reply. "She simply came back +from Wilton in a wretched humor and when I inquired of her whether she +had her buckle back again, she answered with such spirit that there was +no mistaking its cause. Of course she had the wit to know you were not +wearing a belt of that pattern; nor your aunt nor Mr. Spence, either." + +"The belt and buckle belong to a girl--" + +"A girl! You surprise me," she murmured derisively. + +Robert Morton waited a moment, then, without heeding her mischievous +comment, added gravely: + +"A friend of Mr. Spence's." + +"I see." + +The old lady smoothed the satin folds of her gown thoughtfully before +she spoke, then continued with extreme gentleness: + +"Tell me all about her." + +"I couldn't do that," declared Robert Morton. "There aren't words +enough to give you any idea how lovely she is or how good." + +Nevertheless, because he had so eager and sympathetic a listener, he at +length began shyly to unfold the story of Delight Hathaway's strange +life. He told it reverently and with a lover's tenderness, touching on +the girl's tragic advent into the hamlet of Wilton, on her beauty, and +on her poverty. + +"What a romance!" exclaimed Madam Lee meditatively, when the tale was +done. "And they know nothing of the child's previous history?" + +"Next to nothing. The girl's mother died when she was born and the +little tot lived all her life aboard ship with her father." + +"Had neither the father nor mother any relatives?" + +"Apparently not. The mate of the ship said he had never heard the +Captain mention any." + +"Poor little waif! And these people who took her in have been kind to +her? She is fond of them?" + +"She adores them!" + +The old lady stirred her tea absently. + +"But, Bob dear, has the girl any education?" she inquired presently. + +"That is the miracle of it!" ejaculated he. "When she was small, one +of the summer residents, a Mrs. Farwell, who had a tutor for her son, +suggested the two children have their lessons together. As a +consequence the girl is a fine French scholar; has read broadly both +foreign and English literature; is familiar with ancient and modern +history and mathematics; and recently a professor from Harvard, who has +boarded summers with the family, has instructed her in the natural +sciences. She is much better educated than most of the society girls +I've met." + +"Than my granddaughter Cynthia, I dare say," was the quick comment. + +"Oh--eh--" + +"You need not try to be polite, Bob. I am not proud of Cynthia's +education," asserted Madam Lee. "For all her wealth and all her +opportunity to make herself accomplished she has never mastered one +thing. If she could even sew well or keep house I should rejoice. But +she can't. As for languages, music, art--bah! She is as ignorant as +if she had been brought up in a home in the slums. A thin society +veneer such as the typical fashionable boarding-school washes over the +outside and a little helter-skelter reading and travel is all Cynthia +has acquired. A real education entailed too much effort. So she is +what we see her,--a thoughtless, extravagant, pleasure-seeking +creature. She is a great disappointment to me, a great disappointment!" + +Robert Morton did not reply. + +"Come now, Bob. Why don't you agree with me?" + +"I am fond of Cynthia," said the young man in a low tone. + +"I know you are. Sometimes I have worried lest you were too fond of +her." + +There was no response. + +"Cynthia is not the wife for you, my dear boy, and never was. I am +older than you and I know life. Moreover, I love you very dearly. +Were you of my own blood I believe I could not care more deeply for you +than I do. It would break my heart to see you make a foolish +marriage--to see you married to a girl like Cynthia. You never would +be happy with her in the world. Why, it takes a small fortune even to +keep her contented. It is money, money, money, all the time. She +cares for little else, and unless a man kept her supplied with that +there would be no peace in the house." + +"Aren't you a little hard on her?" + +"Not too hard," came firmly from Madam Lee. "You think precisely as I +do, too, only you are too loyal and too chivalrous to own it." + +There was a pause broken only by the tinkle of the teacups. + +"No, Bob, you let Cynthia alone. She will get over it. And if you +have found the jewel that you think you have, be brave enough to assert +your freedom and marry her. You are not pledged to Cynthia," went on +the musical voice. "Just because you two chanced to grow up together +there is no reason any one should assume that the affair is settled. I +suppose you are afraid of disappointing the family. Then there is your +friendship for Roger--that worries you too. And of course there is +Cynthia herself! Being a gentleman you shrink from tossing a girl's +heart back into her lap. Isn't it so?" + +"To some extent, yes." + +"Would it help matters, do you think, for you to marry Cynthia if you +did not love her?" + +"But I care a lot for her." + +"Not as you do for this other girl," said the shrewd old lady, with +eyes fixed intently on his face. + +"Oh, no!" was the instant reply. + +"Then, as I said before, you much better let Cynthia alone," declared +Madam Lee emphatically. "At her age disappointments are not fatal, and +she will probably live to thank you for it. In any case it is better +to blight one life than three." + +Robert stared moodily down at the floor. + +"This other girl is attractive, you say." + +"She is very beautiful." + +"You don't say so!" was the incredulous rejoinder. + +"But she really is--she is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." + +"And she has all these other virtues as well?" + +She took the teacup from his passive hand and set it on the table. + +"I want to see her and judge for myself," affirmed she. "I know +something of beauty--and of girls, too. Why don't you bring her over +here?" + +"_Here_?" + +"Why not?" + +"But--but--it would look so strange, so pointed," gasped the young man. +"You see she doesn't even guess yet that I--" + +He heard a low, infectious laugh. + +"She knew it, you goose, from the first moment you looked at her," +cried the old lady, "or she isn't the girl I think her. What do you +imagine we women are--blind?" + +"No, of course not," Robert Morton said, joining in the laugh. "What I +meant was that I never had said anything that would--" + +"You wouldn't need to, dear boy." His hostess put a hand caressingly +on his arm. "All you would have to do would be to look as foolish as +you do now, and she would understand just as I did." Then, resuming a +more serious manner, she continued: "It is a perfectly simple matter +for you to bring one friend to meet another, isn't it? Tell the girl I +have heard her story and have become interested in her. She will +overlook an old lady's whims and be quite willing enough to come, I'm +sure, if you wish it." + +"I should like to have her meet you," admitted Bob, with a blush. + +"You mean you would like me to meet her," answered Madam Lee, with a +confiding pat on his arm. "It is sweet of you, Bob, whichever way you +put it. And after I have met the charmer you shall know exactly what I +think of her, too. Then if you marry her against my judgment, you will +have only yourself to thank for the consequences. Now leave it all to +me. I will arrange everything. In a day or two I will send the car +over to Wilton to fetch you, your aunt, Mr. Spence and this Miss--what +did you say her name was?" + +"Hathaway." + +"Hathaway! _Hathaway_!" echoed Madam Lee in an unsteady voice. + +"Yes. Why?" + +"Oh, nothing," quavered the old lady, making a tremulous attempt to +regain her poise. "Only it is not a common name. I--I--knew a +Hathaway once--very long ago--in the South." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +ROBERT MORTON MAKES A RESOLVE + +Robert Morton returned from Belleport in a mood bordering on ecstasy, +his path now clear before him. He would woo Delight Hathaway and win +her, and with a strong mutual love and hope they would set forth in +life together. He had, to be sure, no capital but his youth, his +strength, and his education, but he did not shrink from hard work and +felt certain that he would be able not only to keep want in abeyance +but place happiness within the reach of the woman he loved. + +Until Madam Lee, with her keen-visioned knowledge of human nature, had +ranged in perspective all the tangled circumstances that had so +insidiously woven themselves about him, he had been unable to see his +way. The fetters that held him were so delicate and intangible that +with an exaggerated sense of honor he had magnified them into bonds of +steel, never daring to believe that they might be snapped and leave no +scar. But now the facts stood lucidly forth. There was no actual +engagement between himself and Cynthia, nor had there ever been any +talk of one. He simply had been thrown constantly into her society and +had drifted, at first thoughtlessly and afterward indifferently, until +there had been created not only in the mind of the girl but also in the +minds of all her family a tacit expectation that ultimately their +permanent union would be consummated. + +From the Galbraiths' point of view such a marriage would have been a +very gratifying one, for although Robert Morton was without money, in +his sterling character and his potentalities for success they had every +faith. A span of years of intimacy had tested his worth, and had this +not been the case his friendship with Roger had proved the tough fiber +of his manliness. Of all their son's college acquaintances there was +none who had been welcomed into the Galbraith home with the cordiality +that had greeted Robert Morton. At first they had received him +graciously for their boy's sake, but later this initial sufferance had +been supplanted by an affectionate regard existing purely because of +his own merits. They had loaded him with favors, pressed their +hospitality upon him, and but for a certain pride and independence that +restrained them would have smoothed his financial difficulties with the +same lavishness they had those of their son. + +Many a time Mr. Galbraith, unable to endure the sight of Bob's rigid +self-denial, had delicately hinted at assistance, only to have the +offer as delicately declined. It hurt and piqued the financier to be +so firmly kept at a distance and be obliged to witness privations which +a small gift of money might have alleviated; moreover he liked his own +way and did not enjoy being balked in it by a schoolboy. Yet beneath +his irritation he paid tribute to the self-respecting determination +that had prompted the rebuff. The world in which he moved held few men +of such ideals. Rather he had repeatedly been courted by the grafter, +the promoter, the social climber, each beneath a thinly disguised +friendship working for his own selfish ends. But here at last was the +novel phenomena of one who scorned pelf, who would not even allow his +gratitude to be bought. The sight was refreshing. It rejuvenated the +New Yorker's jaded belief in human nature. + +Forced to withdraw his bounty, he had sat back and watched while the +academic career of the two young men wore on and at its close had seen +the roads of the classmates divide, his own boy entering the law +school, while Robert Morton, whose mind had always been of scientific +trend, enrolled at Technology, there to take up post-graduate work in +naval architecture. The choice of this subject reflected largely the +capitalist's influence, for his own great fortune had been amassed in +an extensive shipbuilding enterprise in which he saw the opportunity of +placing advantageously a young man of Robert Morton's exceptional +ability. The promised position was a variety of favor that Bob, proud +though he was, saw no reason for declining. The opening, to be sure, +would be his as a consequence of Mr. Galbraith's kindness, but the +retention of the position would rest on his personal worth and hard +work, a very satisfactory condition to one who demanded that he remain +captain of his soul. Hence he had deliberately trained for the post +and it was understood that the following October he would assume it. +It was a flattering beginning for a novice, the salary guaranteed being +generous and the chances for advancement alluring. Nor did the great +man who had founded the business conceal from the ambitious neophyte +that later he might be called upon to fill the niche left vacant by +Roger's flight into professional life. + +Such was the nicety with which Robert Morton had been dovetailed into +the Galbraith plans, his welcome in every direction assured him. And +now here he stood confronted by the probable overthrow of the whole +delicately balanced structure. If he did not marry Cynthia and +selected instead another bride, he risked forfeiting the regard of +those who had become dear to him, imperilling his friendship with +Roger, and sacrificing the brilliant and gratifying future for which he +had so patiently labored. Never again, he knew beyond a question, +would such an opportunity come within his grasp. He would be obliged +to start out unheralded and painfully fight his way to recognition. +That recognition would be his he did not doubt, for he never yet had +failed in that to which he had set his hand. But, alas, the weary +years before he would be able to make a hurrying universe sense that he +was alive! He knew what struggle meant when stripped of its illusions, +for had he not toiled for his education in the sweat of his brow? The +triumph of the achievement had been sweet, but for the moment the +courage to resume the weary, up-hill plodding deserted him. Why, it +would be years before he could marry a girl who was accustomed to even +as few luxuries as was Delight Hathaway! + +And suppose a miracle happened and Mr. Galbraith was large-minded +enough still to hold out to him the former offer? Should he wish to +accept it? Would it not be almost charity? No, if he refused +Cynthia's hand--and that was what, in bald terms, it would amount +to--he must decline the other favor as well and be independent of the +Galbraiths for good and all. Otherwise his position would be +unendurable. It was an odious situation, the one in which he found +himself. Only a cad cast a woman's heart back at her feet. The +unchivalrousness of the act grated upon every fiber of his sensitively +attuned, high-minded nature. Yet, as Madam Lee had reminded him, +would he not be doing Cynthia a greater injustice if he married her +without love. Friendship and brotherly affection were all he could +honestly bestow, and although these he gave with all sincerity, as he +now examined his heart in the light of the revelations real love had +brought, he realized that beyond their confines existed a realm into +which Cynthia Galbraith, fair though she was, had never set foot. No +woman had crossed that magic threshold until now, when her presence +stirred all the blended emotions of his manhood. Humility, tenderness, +reverence possessed him; self descended from its throne of egoism and +yielded its scepter to another; the hot blood of the primitive, untamed +Viking raced in his veins. Soul, mind, heart, body were all awakened. +He was a dolt who confused genuine passion with the milder preferences +of callow youth. + +Delight Hathaway was his mate, created for him before the hills in +order stood. It was as inevitable that they should come together as +that the river should sweep out to meet the sea, or the lily open to +the kiss of the sunlight. All that this woman was in purity, in +graciousness of heart, in brilliancy of intellect he loved, adored, +approved; all that she was in physical beauty he reverenced and +coveted. Her lot had been strangely cast and the scope of it limited +to a very narrow vista. Oh, for success to place at her feet the +riches of the earth! With such a goal to lure one on what was toil! +Faugh! He laughed aloud at the word. + +Madam Lee, with her unerring intuition, had probed his heart and read +his destiny aright. + +His future lay not with this pampered daughter of a great house whose +selfishness he had repeatedly excused and refused to recognize; nor +would he purchase worldly prosperity at the price of his soul. Casting +aside the easier way, he would follow the rough path that mounted +upward to the star of his desire. Before the waning of another moon +both of these women who had come into his world should know his +intentions and have the opportunity to accept or reject that which he +had to offer them. He hoped Cynthia would understand and forgive; he +was fond of Cynthia. And he hoped, prayed, implored Heaven that +Delight Hathaway would not turn a deaf ear to his entreaties, for +without the prize on which his hopes were set life's race would not be +worth the running. + +Well, he would not allow the thought of failure any place in his mind. +Victory should be his--it would be, _must_ be! See how all the world +smiled on the vow he registered. The sky had never stretched more +cloudlessly above his head; the air had never been sweeter, the dancing +ripples of the bay gladder in their golden scintillations. The whole +universe throbbed with youth and its dauntless supremacy. Something +told him he would conquer and with a high heart he alighted at the door +of the dear, familiar gray cottage. + +Willie came to meet him. + +"Well, son," said he, reaching forth his hands, "If I ain't glad to see +you flitting home again! I've missed you like as if the two days was +two weeks. I reckon your aunt has, too. Anyhow, she took to her bed +quick as you was out of sight an' ain't been seen since." + +"Aunt Tiny ill!" + +"No, not sick exactly," explained Willie, as arm in arm they proceeded +up the walk. "She's just struck of a heap with a lame shoulder such as +she has sometimes. She can't move a peg, poor soul!" + +"Great Scott! That's hard luck! Then since you're short-handed, I +shall be more bother than I'm worth round here. I'd better have stayed +where I was. You won't want any extra people to look out for and feed +now, I fancy." + +"Oh, law, I ain't doin' the cookin'!" grinned the little inventor, as +if the bare notion of such a thing amused him vastly. "Why, I could no +more cook a dish that was fit to eat than a mariner could run a pink +tea. I'd die of starvation if the victuals was left to me. Let alone +the cookin', we'd 'a' had to have help anyhow, 'cause Tiny's too +miserable to do much for herself. So we've got in one of the +neighbors." + +"It's a shame!" + +"Oh, we'll pull through alive," smiled Willie, cheerfully. "We've +piloted our way through many a worse channel. This spell of Tiny's +ain't nothin' she's goin' to die of, thank the Lord! She takes cold +sudden sometimes, an' it always makes straight for that shoulder of +hers, stiffenin' up every muscle in it. She'll admire to see you home +again, I know. The sight of you will probably make her better right +away. You can run up to her room now if you choose to. I'll be round +in the shop when you want me." + +With a beaming countenance the old man turned away. + +Robert Morton opened the screen door diffidently, speculating as to +whom he would confront in the kitchen; then he stopped, arrested on the +doorsill. + +At the wooden table near the pantry window stood Delight Hathaway, her +sleeves rolled to the elbow, and her slender figure enveloped in a +voluminous gingham pinafore that covered her from chin to ankle and was +tied in place at the back by a pert bow. She was sifting flour into a +mammoth yellow bowl, and as she stirred the mixture the sweep of her +round white arm brought a flood of color into her cheeks and wreathed +her brow with tiny, damp ringlets. + +Bob held his breath, hungrily devouring her with his eyes, but a quick +breeze brought the door to with a bang and the girl glanced over her +shoulder. + +"All hail!" she cried, the dimple darting out of hiding with her smile. +"You have a new cook, monsieur." + +"My word!" was all the young man could stammer. + +"Is it as bad as all that?" she laughed. + +"No--but--Great Hat--this is--is awful, you know." + +"What is awful?" returned she, turning to face him. + +"Why, having you come here and cook for us two men." + +"Oh, I'm always cooking for somebody," was the matter-of-fact retort. +"Why not you?" + +"Well, it makes me feel like a--it doesn't seem right, somehow." + +"It's as right as possible. I rather like it," said she, darting him a +roguish look, then bending over the bowl before her. + +"Well, you must let me help you, anyway. Can't I--I butter something?" + +"Butter something!" + +"Yes, things are always having to be buttered, aren't they--pans, and +dishes, and cups--" he paused vaguely. + +Her laugh echoed like a chime of miniature bells. + +"I am sorry to say the pan is already buttered," replied she. "What +other accomplishments have you?" + +"Oh, I can do anything I am told," came eagerly from Bob. + +"That's something, anyway. Then fetch me some flour, please." + +"Flour?" + +"It's in the barrel. No, that's the sugar bowl. The barrel under the +shelf." + +"The barrel! To be sure. Barrel ahoy! How could I have mistaken its +sylph-like form? How much flour do you want?" + +"Just a little." + +She passed the sieve to him and went to inspect the oven. + +Bob caught up the sifter, filled it to the brim, and came toward her, +turning the handle as he approached. + +"I say, this is great, isn't it?" he observed, so intent on the +mechanism of the device that he did not notice the track of whiteness +which he was leaving behind him. "It is like winding up a victrola." + +Whistling a random strain from _Faust_ he turned the handle faster. + +"Oh, Bob!" burst out Delight. "Look what you're doing." + +Obediently he looked but did not comprehend. Her slip of the tongue +had banished every other idea from his mind. + +"Say it again, please." + +"What?" + +"Say _Bob_ again as you did just now." + +"I--didn't know I did," faltered the girl. "I--I--forgot." + +"Forgot." + +He dropped the sifter into the bowl and his hand closed firmly over the +one that now rested on its yellow rim. + +"Oh, see what you've done!" cried she. "You have spilled all that +flour into the cake." + +"No matter." His eyes were on hers. + +"But it does matter. Willie's cake will be spoiled." + +She tried vainly to draw away from the grip that imprisoned her. + +"Please let me go." + +He bent across the table until he could almost feel the blood beating +in her cheeks. + +"Say it once more," he pleaded. + +Again her hand fluttered in his strong grasp. + +"Please!" + +"Please what?" persisted Robert Morton. + +"Please--please--Bob," she murmured. + +He was at the other side of the table now, but she was no longer there. +Instead she stood at the screen door, shaking the flour from her apron. + +"Don't move!" she cried severely. "You've walked all through that +flour and are tracking it about every step you take. Look at the +pantry! I shall have to sweep it all up." + +"I'll do it," he answered with instant penitence. + +"No. You sit right down there in that chair and don't you stir. I +will go and get the dustpan and brush." + +"I'm awfully sorry," called Bob, plunged into the depths of despair. +"I didn't realize that when you turned the handle of the darn thing the +stuff went through." + +"What did you think a flour-sifter was for?" asked she, dimpling. + +"I wasn't thinking of flour-sifters," declared he significantly. + +He saw her blush. + +"Mayn't I please get up?" + +"No. Not until your shoes are brushed off," she replied provokingly. + +"Let me take the brush then." + +"Don't you see I am using it?" + +"You could let me take it a second." + +"I have been taught to complete one task before I began another," was +the tantalizing reply, as she went on with her sweeping. + +"The deuce!" + +"You must not swear in my presence," she commanded, attempting to +conceal a smile. + +"Then stop dimpling that dimple." + +"Don't you like dimples?" inquired she demurely. "Now Billy Farwell +thinks that my dimples--" + +"Hang Billy Farwell!" + +"How rude of you! Billy never consigns you to such a fate." She +waited, then added, "All he ever says is '_Confound Morton_.'" + +"I thought he had more spirit," was the ungrateful rejoinder. + +"Oh, he has spirit enough," she explained. "He would say much more if +he were allowed." + +She saw Robert start forward. + +"Of course," she went on in an even tone, "I shouldn't permit him to +abuse a friend of Willie's." + +"Oh, that's the reason you put the check on him, is it?" + +"Aren't you Willie's friend?" she questioned evasively. + +"Yes, but--" + +"You don't seem to appreciate your luck. Now I adore Willie and +believe that any one who has his friendship is the most fortunate +person in the world." + +He saw a grave and tender light creep into her wonderful eyes. + +"I'm not arguing about Willie," said he. "You know how much I care for +him. But I can't think of him now. It's you I'm thinking +of--you--you." + +She did not answer but bent her head lower over her sweeping. + +"I don't believe there is any flour on my shoes, any way," grumbled the +culprit presently, stooping to examine his feet with the air of a +guilty child. He thought he heard her laugh. + +"How much longer are you going to keep me in this infernal chair?" he +fumed. + +"Bob!" called a voice from upstairs. + +"It's your aunt; she must have heard you come in." + +He sprang up only to come into collision with the dustpan full of flour +which lay near his chair. A second more and the fruits of the sweeping +drifted broadcast in a powdery cloud. + +"Delight! Dearest!" he cried, bending over the kneeling figure. + +"You must go upstairs and see your aunt--please!" she begged. "She +will think it so strange." + +"All right, sweetheart. I'm coming, Aunt Tiny." + +When Willie entered a few moments later in search of his co-laborer, +Delight was alone. He glanced questioningly about the room,--at the +girl's flushed cheeks, the half-made cake, the snowy floor. + +"Bob--Mr. Morton spilled some flour," the young woman explained, +evading his eye. + +The little old man made no response. He studied the burning face, the +drooping lashes; he also looked meditatively at some footprints on the +floor. They may not have been as startling in their significance as +were the famous marks Crusoe discovered in the sand, but they were +quite as illuminating. + +A trail of small ones led about the room and beside them, as if echoing +to their light tread, was a series of larger ones. The inventor's gaze +pursued them curiously to a spot before the stove where they became +very much confused and afterward branched apart, the larger set +trailing off toward the stairs, and the smaller moving back into the +pantry. + +The detective stroked his chin for an interval. + +"U--m!" observed he thoughtfully. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A NEWCOMER ENTERS + +The next day Mr. Howard Snelling made his appearance at the Spence +workshop. + +Bob was fitting wire netting to some metal uprights and struggling to +focus his mind on what he was doing enough to forget that Delight +Hathaway was on the other side of the partition when from the window +above the bench he saw Cynthia Galbraith come rolling up to the gate in +her runabout, accompanied by a strikingly handsome stranger. + +He hurried out to meet them. + +Her father and Roger, the girl said, had gone to a yacht race at +Hyannis, so she had brought Mr. Snelling over. She introduced the two +men but refused somewhat curtly to come in, explaining that she would +be back, or some one else would, to fetch the guest home to Belleport +for luncheon. Then, without a backward glance, she started the engine +and disappeared around the curve of the Harbor Road. + +Perhaps it was just as well, Robert Morton reflected, that she had not +accepted his invitation to come in, for to bring her and Delight +together at this delicate juncture might result in awkwardness; +nevertheless, it certainly was something unprecedented for Cynthia to +be so brusque and be in such a hurry. The enigma puzzled him, and he +found it recurring to his mind persistently. However, he resolutely +shook it off and turned his attention instead to his new acquaintance. + +He was, he could not but admit, quite unprepared to find Mr. Howard +Snelling, his future chief, possessed of so attractive a personality. +Mr. Galbraith, when alluding to the expert craftsman, had never +mentioned his age, and Bob had gleaned the impression that the man +before whose ability the entire Galbraith shipbuilding plant bowed down +was middle-aged, possibly even elderly. Therefore to be confronted by +some one in the early forties was a distinct shock. + +Snelling's hair was, to be sure, sprinkled lightly with gray, but this +hint of maturity was given the lie by his ruddy, unlined countenance +and the youthfulness with which he wore his clothes. A good tailor had +evidently found a model worthy of his skill and had tried to live up to +the task set him, for everything in the stranger's attitude and +appearance proclaimed smartness and the _savoir faire_ of the man about +town. Yet Howard Snelling was something far better than either a +fashion plate or a society darling. He was energy personified. It +spoke in every motion of his strong, fine hands, in the quick turn of +his head, in the alert attention with which he listened. Nothing +escaped his well-trained eye. One's very thoughts seemed to be at his +mercy. Mingling, however, with these more astute qualities and +counterbalancing them was a winning tact and courtesy which instantly +put another at his ease. Without these characteristics Mr. Snelling +would have been unbearable; but with them he was thoroughly charming. + +"Well, Morton, I am glad to have a chance to meet you in the flesh," he +said, as they still loitered at the gate. "The Galbraiths have sung +your praises until I began to think you a sort of myth. You certainly +have something to live up to if you are to reach the reputation they +have painted of your virtues. Mr. Galbraith, in particular, thinks +there is no obstacle that you cannot conquer." + +He swept his eye curiously over the young man before him. + +"You mustn't believe a word of what they've told you, Mr. Snelling," +laughed Robert Morton. "Our friends are always over-indulgent to our +faults. When I begin work under you, a thing I am greatly +anticipating, you will find out what a duffer I really am." + +The elder man smiled. + +"I'm ready to take the chance," said he. + +"Besides," Bob went on, "Mr. Galbraith has given you something of a +character too. He has frightened me clean out of my life with his +tales of your--" + +"Pooh! Nonsense!" broke in Mr. Snelling deprecatingly. "I like my +job, that's all; and Mr. Galbraith and I happen to hit it off." +Nevertheless Bob could see that he was pleased by the flattery. + +It was on his tongue's end to voice his thought and add that the man +who could not get on with a person of Mr. Snelling's adroitness and +diplomacy would be hard to please; but although he did not utter the +words he felt them to be true. + +"Now," began the New Yorker with a swift change of subject, "let us get +down to business. How are we going to work this thing? You must coach +me. I gather I am being employed on quite a delicate mission. My +instructions are to come in here as a friend of yours and the +Galbraiths, and without raising the suspicion that I have much of any +knowledge about boats, I am to help get this invention into workable +shape. Any parts we lack, any drawings we wish made, any materials we +need I have authority to procure from our Long Island plant. There is +to be no stint as to expense. The enterprise is to be carried through +to the finish properly." + +Robert Morton gasped. + +"I had no idea Mr. Galbraith meant to go into it to such lengths," he +murmured. + +"Oh, Mr. Galbraith never does things by halves when once he is +interested," was the reply. "Besides, he has a hunter's scent for the +commercial. He says there is a live idea here that has money in it, +and that's enough for him. Anyway, whether there is or not," Snelling +added hurriedly, "we are to humor the old gentleman's whims and get his +idea so he can handle it." + +"It is tremendously generous of Mr. Galbraith." + +Howard Snelling regarded his companion quizzically for a moment, then +remarked with gravity: + +"Oh, there is a kind heart in Mr. Galbraith, in spite of all his +business instincts." + +"Had you ever met the rest of the family before now?" questioned Bob +more with a desire to turn the channel of conversation than because he +had any interest in the matter. + +The inquiry, idly made, produced an unexpected result, visibly throwing +the expert out of his imperturbable composure; he flushed, stammered, +and bit his lip before he successfully conquered his confusion: + +"I--eh--oh, yes," was his reply. "I've been a dinner guest at the New +York house several times; been sent for on a pinch to help out. Then +Mr. Galbraith summons me there occasionally for consultation on +business matters. The Belleport place is attractive, isn't it?" + +"It's corking!" + +"I suppose you spend a lot of time over there," ventured Snelling, +lighting a gold-tipped Egyptian cigarette and offering Bob one. + +Something in the question, he could not have told what, caused Robert +Morton to dart a quick, furtive glance at the speaker. + +Mr. Snelling was smoking and blowing indifferently into the air filmy +rings of smoke, but through it the disconcerted young man encountered +his penetrating gaze. + +"I don't get over there very often," said Bob. "This invention keeps +me rather busy." + +"Of course, of course!" was the cordial response. "And now as to our +policy on this deal. I shall follow your lead, understand. Any +assertion you see fit to make you can trust me to swear to. You may +introduce me to the old chap as your college pal, even your long-lost +brother, if you choose." + +"I hardly think that will be necessary," Robert Morton answered, a hint +of coldness in his voice. "I shall simply introduce you for what you +are, Mr. Galbraith's friend--" + +"And yours," smiled Mr. Snelling, graciously placing a hand on the +young man's shoulder. + +It was unaccountable, absurd, that Bob should have shrunk at the touch; +nevertheless he did so. + +"Don't you think," he replied abruptly, "that the sooner we go in and +get to work the better? How long do you expect to be able to stay +here?" + +Again the color crept into Snelling's cheek, but this time he was quite +master of himself. + +"I cannot tell yet. It will depend to some extent on how we get on." + +"I suppose you really can't be spared from the Long Island plant a +great while." + +"As to that, Mr. Galbraith is all-powerful," was his smiling answer. +"What he wills must be arranged. Fortunately just now business is +running slack, at least my part of it is. Most of our contracts are +well on the way to completion and others can carry them out, so I can +stay down here as long as is necessary. It can go as my vacation, if +worst comes to worst. Hence you see," concluded he, pulling a spray of +honeysuckle to pieces, "we don't need to rush things." + +They entered the gate, passed the low, silvered house now almost buried +in blossoming roses, and following the clam-shell path that led to the +workshop found Willie, his spectacles pushed back from his forehead, +dragging a pile of new boards down from the shelf. + +"We have a visitor, Mr. Spence," Bob said. "Mr. Snelling, a friend of +Mr. Galbraith's and--" he paused the fraction of a second, "and of +mine. He has come over to spend the morning and wants to see what +we're doing." + +The little old inventor reached out a horny palm. + +"I'm glad to see you, sir," affirmed he simply. "Any friend of Bob's +won't want for a welcome here. Set right down an' make yourself to +home, or stand up an' poke found, if it suits you better. That's what +Mr. Galbraith did. I reckon there warn't a corner of this whole place +he didn't fish into. 'Twas amusin' to see him. He said it took him +back to the days when he was a boy. I couldn't but smile to watch him +fussin' with the plane an' saw an' hammer like as if they was old +friends he hadn't clapped eyes on for years." + +"It does feel good to handle tools when you haven't done so for a long +time," assented Mr. Snelling. + +"Likely you yourself, sir, ain't had a hammer nor nothin' in your hands +for quite a spell," went on Willie, with a benign smile. "They don't +look as if you ever had had." + +Howard Snelling glanced down at his slender, well-modelled hands with +their carefully manicured nails. + +"I haven't done much carpentry of late years," he confessed. "It would +be quite a novelty were I to be turned loose in a place like this. I +should like nothing better." + +"You don't say so!" responded Willie, with pleased surprise. "Well, +well! Ain't that queer now? I'd much sooner 'a' put you down as a +gentleman who wouldn't want to get into no dirt or clutter." + +"You don't know me." + +"Evidently not," the old man rejoined. "Well, you can have your wish +fur's carpenterin' goes. You can putter round here much as you like." + +Mr. Snelling moved toward the long workbench. + +"This is a neat thing," remarked he, regarding the unfinished invention +quite as if he had never heard of it before. "What are you doing here?" + +A glow of satisfaction spread over the little fellow's kindly face. + +"Why, me an' Bob," he explained, "are tinkerin' with a notion I got +into my head a while ago. The idee kitched me in the night, an' I come +downstairs an' commenced tacklin' it right away. But I didn't see my +course ahead, an' 'twarn't 'til Bob hove in sight an' lent a helpin' +hand that the contraption begun to take shape. But for him 'twould +never have amounted to a darn thing, I reckon. I ain't much on the +puttin' together, anyhow, an' this was such a whale of a scheme it had +me floored. But it didn't seem to strike Bob abeam. He went at it +like a dogfish for bait, an' he's beginnin' to tow the thing out of the +fog now into clear water." + +"It's quite a scheme," observed Snelling, with an assumed nonchalance. +"How did you happen on it?" + +"Them idees just come to me," was the ingenuous reply. "Some brains, +like some gardens, grow one thing, some another. Mine seems to turn +out stuff like this." + +"It's pretty good stuff." + +"It's a lot of bother to me sometimes," said the old man simply. +"Still, I enjoy it. I'd be badly off if it warn't for the thinkin' I +do. What a marvel thinkin' is, ain't it? You can think all sorts of +things; can travel in your mind to 'most every corner of the globe. +You can think yourself rich, think yourself poor, think yourself young, +think yourself happy. There's nothin' you want you can't think you +have, an' dreamin' about it is 'most as good as gettin' it." + +Mr. Snelling nodded. + +"Sometimes I think myself an artist, sometimes a musician," went on the +wistful voice. "Then again I think myself a great man an' doin' +somethin' worth while in the world. Then there's times I've thought +myself with a family of children an' planned how they should learn +mor'n ever I did." He mused, then banishing the seriousness of his +tone by an embarrassed laugh added, "I've waked up afterward to think +how much less it cost just to imagine 'em." + +The heart that would not have been won by the naivete of the speaker +would have been stony indeed! + +Howard Snelling flashed a tribute of honest admiration into the gentle +old face. + +"Dreams are cheap things," rambled on the little inventor. "Sometimes +I figger the Lord gave 'em to those who didn't have much else, so'st to +make 'em think they are kings. If you can dream there ain't a thing in +all the world ain't yours." + +The conversation had furnished Snelling with the opportunity to study +more minutely the object on the table, and he now said with a motion of +his hand toward it: + +"Wouldn't it be rather nice if you had some netting of coarser mesh and +which wouldn't corrode?" + +"Oh, this screenin' ain't what I'd choose," returned Willie, "but 'twas +all I had. I ripped it off the front door. Tiny didn't fancy my doin' +it very well. 'Tain't often she's ruffled, an' even this time she +didn't say much; still, I could see it didn't altogether please her." + +"Tiny?" interpolated Mr. Snelling. + +"My aunt, Miss Morton, who keeps house for Mr. Spence," explained Bob +with proud directness. + +"I wasn't aware you had relatives down here," the boat-builder +observed, turning toward Robert Morton with interest. "I imagined you +came to the Cape because of the Galbraiths." + +"Oh, no. I didn't know the Galbraith's were here until the other day." + +"Really!" + +The single word was weighted with incredulousness. + +"'Twas the funniest thing you ever knew how it happened," put in Willie. + +Robert Morton tried to cut him short. + +"A package for the Galbraiths was sent to me by mistake; that was how I +secured their address," he said. + +Snelling looked puzzled. + +"That warn't it at all, Bob," persisted Willie. "You ain't tellin' it +half as queer as 'twas." + +It was useless to attempt to check the little old man now. Artlessly +he babbled the story, and Howard Snelling, listening, constructed a +good part of the romance interwoven with it from the young man's color +and irritation. + +"So there were two beauties in the case!" commented he, when the tale +was finished. + +"There were two silver buckles," came sharply from Bob. + +"Which amounts to the same thing," smiled the New Yorker. + +Robert Morton vouchsafed no reply. + +"Have your friends the Galbraiths met this--other lady?" asked Snelling +insinuatingly. + +"No, not yet." + +"I see." + +There was something offensive in the observation; something, too, that +compelled Robert Morton even against his will to add with dignity: + +"I am expecting to take Miss Hathaway over to see them some day soon." + +He told himself, as he uttered the words, that he owed Howard Snelling +no explanation and that it was ridiculous of him to make one; +nevertheless he felt impelled to do so. + +Mr. Snelling smiled superciliously. + +"That will be very pleasant, won't it?" he remarked. + +One could not have quarreled with the sentiment, but its blandness +conveyed an exasperating disbelief. + +The young man bit his lip angrily. + +At the same instant there was a sound at the door. + +"Aunt Tiny wants to know--" + +The three men glanced up simultaneously, and Mr. Snelling's jaw dropped +with amazement. + +"I beg your pardon," murmured Delight. "I did not know there was any +one here." + +"It's only Mr. Snelling, a friend of Bob's," Willie hastened to say. + +"Mr. Snelling is also a friend of Mr. Galbraith's," interrupted Robert +Morton, enraged that it fell to him to perform the introduction. "This +is Miss Hathaway, Mr. Snelling." + +"I am charmed to meet you, Miss Hathaway," Howard Snelling declared, +bending low over the girl's outstretched hand. "I did not realize you +were an inmate of the house." Then with a sidelong glance at Bob he +added: "Wilton certainly abounds in beautiful surprises." + +As with unveiled wonder he scanned the exquisite face, Robert Morton, +looking on, could have strangled him with a relish. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE SPENCES ENTER SOCIETY + +For a week Howard Snelling came and went from the small, vine-covered +cottage on the bay, making himself so useful and so delightful that the +charm of his personality gradually obliterated the first unpleasant +impression Bob had gained of him. He worked hard but worked with such +unobtrusiveness that unless one scrutinized him closely the subtle +power that lay behind his hand and brain might have passed unsuspected. +Ever mindful that his role was that of the casual visitor, he listened +with appreciation to Willie's harmless gossip and whenever the little +old man advanced a theory as to the enterprise in which they were +engaged he greeted it not only with respect but with cordiality. Now +and then as the undertaking progressed, he ventured a tactful, almost +diffident suggestion, the value of which the inventor was quick to +detect. Also, in the same nonchalant fashion, he produced from time to +time the necessary materials, weaving a fairy web of prevarication when +questioned too closely as to their source. + +"Oh, I have a friend in the boat-building business," said he, "who lets +me have any small things I want. I have done some favors for him in +the past and he is only too glad to square up the balance by sending me +whatever I ask him for." + +The explanation, given with off-hand candor, quite satisfied the +artless Willie, who imagined all the world as truthful as himself and +inquired no further, accepting with unfeigned joy the gifts the gods +provided. His face glowed with almost beatific light as he saw his +dream slowly take form. Nothing he had ever done equalled this +masterpiece. The project was his first thought at waking, the last +before closing his eyes at night. Sometimes, even, when all but the +sea slept, he would tiptoe downstairs, candle in hand, just to steal a +glance at the child of his fancy. So absorbed was he in its growth and +progress that it never crossed his mind to marvel that two men of +Howard Snelling's and Robert Morton's ability should sacrifice to the +invention the golden hours of the rare June days. Their interest was +nothing miraculous. Who wouldn't have been interested in such a +wonderful undertaking? + +Indeed, Mr. Snelling's concern for the venture was almost as keen as +his own. From morning until late noon he toiled. Occasionally the +Galbraiths' chauffeur brought him over from Belleport, but more often +it was Cynthia who made the trip with him. Mr. Galbraith, it appeared, +had been called back to New York on urgent business; Roger had gone +with friends on a yachting cruise; and Mrs. Galbraith was devoting her +time to her mother who was still indisposed. Hence Cynthia was forced +to fill the gaps and serve both as host and hostess. It was a natural +situation, and Bob thought nothing about it except selfishly to exult +that under the conditions Cynthia was kept too busy to invade the +Spence home or bother him with invitations. And that was not the only +boon that came with Snelling's presence, for with three workers in the +shop Robert Morton found not infrequent chances to steal into the +kitchen, where Delight was busy with household tasks, and enjoy the +rapture of a word or two with her. + +Never were there such days of enchantment as these! He might, he often +said to himself, have remained in Wilton an entire summer and his +acquaintance with the lady of his heart never have reached the degree +of intimacy that it attained during Celestina's illness. To behold the +girl, fair as the new-blown rose, presiding at the wee breakfast table +was to forget all else. How dainty she looked in her trim cotton gown, +with its demure cuffs and collar of white, and how deftly her hands +moved among the simple fittings of the table! The worn agate +coffee-pot seemed transformed to classic outline, and the nectar it +contained to ambrosia. And what a famous little cook she was! Surely +such flaky biscuit could never have been made by other hands. Bob +suddenly became surprisingly interested in kitchens and all that they +contained. The glint of tin pans, the dull ebony of the stove, +iridescent suds foaming fresh and hot,--all these took on a strange and +homely beauty quite novel in its charm. He had never dreamed before +what an incomparable Eden a kitchen was! + +To slip in and fill the wood-box; to creep into the pantry and watch +the beloved head as it bent over the baking table; to be permitted to +wipe the dishes while _She_ washed them made of the simple duties tasks +for gods and goddesses. He loved the pretty way her fringed lashes +lifted, the wave of color that swept her cheek when she was startled by +his step; and there was something ravishingly confidential in her +caution: + +"Be careful, Bob, not to drop Aunt Tiny's china teacups." + +It was all foolish and inconsequential--the sighs, the smiles, the +silences--but they made a paradise of the grim old universe. Many a +time he longed to press his lips to the white arm, to kiss the warm +curve of her neck where soft curls clustered. But he did none of these +things. By a gentle reserve the girl kept him at his distance, and +although there was only Jezebel to see, he did not transgress the +bounds Delight's sweet womanliness reared between them. Of course she +knew he loved her. She could not but know. Even Jezebel from her +round blue eyes proclaimed a complete understanding of the romance and +drawing herself into a fluffy ball in Willie's great chair feigned +sleep that she might not embarrass the lovers. The canary knew, and so +did the impertinent crimson rambler that clambered up the window frame +and spied in through the pane. It was no secret. The whole dazzling +world shared in the exquisite mystery. + +Were the tale to have been put into words half its delicate beauty +would have been shattered. It was now a thing of clouds, of perfume, +of sunshine. The waves whispered together of it; the birds trilled the +story. A glance, a half-uttered sentence, the meeting of hands carried +with them great throbbing reaches of emotion that went to make up the +reality of the ephemeral drama. And then there was the tormenting, +bewitching, wretched, alluring uncertainty of it all. One could never +be sure, and in the spell of this disquietude lay half the magic. + +Robert Morton speculated as to whether Willie, along with Jezebel and +the canary, had fathomed the idyl. He wondered, too, how much Snelling +suspected. The New Yorker had an irritating habit of waylaying Delight +and making pretty speeches to her, as if for the wanton pleasure of +watching the blush rise in her cheek. When it came to women there was +no denying Howard Snelling was as great an authority as at building +ships. He understood the sex and knew what pleased them, and with the +subtle art of a courtier he breathed into their ears a flattery too +delicate to be resented. Beside such an expert Bob, floundering in his +first real love affair, felt but a blunderer. Perhaps Mr. Snelling +realized this and rather enjoyed the amateur's chagrin. However that +may have been, he certainly let no opportunity slip for the display of +his proficiency. The discomfited lover fumed with jealous rage; yet on +analyzing the causes of his wrath he discovered he actually had but +scant ground for complaint. He was not engaged to Delight, and until +he was he had no claim upon her and not the smallest right in the world +to grumble if another man chose to pay her a compliment. And what were +compliments anyway? Only empty words. Yet reason as he would, he +wished Snelling twenty fathoms deep in the sea before ever he had come +to Wilton, there to haunt Willie's shop and make of himself a menace to +all tranquillity. + +So the days passed in a delirious alternation of ecstasy and despair +until one morning when Mr. Snelling came bringing from Madam Lee the +long-delayed note which she had promised Bob she would send. She was +now quite strong again, she wrote, and she wished him to arrange for +his aunt, Mr. Spence and Miss Hathaway to come and have tea with the +Belleport family on the following afternoon, when both Roger and Mr. +Galbraith would be at home. With beating heart Robert Morton took the +letter into the house and showed it to Delight. + +"How nice of them!" she exclaimed. "Oh, I do wish we could go! Willie +would love it. He liked Mr. Galbraith and his son so much! And Aunt +Tiny would be in the seventh heaven if only she were able to accept. +She so seldom has an invitation out, poor dear!" + +"And you?" + +"Oh, I couldn't go anyway." + +"Why not?" + +"Well, in the first place, I have nothing to wear to a place like that." + +"Delight!" + +"And besides," she hurried on, "they are only asking me because I +happen to be here in the house." + +"Indeed they're not!" + +"But I know they are," persisted the girl. "Everybody doesn't want to +see me just because you--" + +"Because I what?" demanded Bob, with an ominous stride in her direction. + +"Because you--and Mr. Snelling like me," concluded she tranquilly. + +"Confound Snelling!" + +"Indeed, no. He is a charming gentleman, and I won't have him +confounded." + +"Hang him then." + +"Nor hanged either," she protested. + +"Of course if you prefer Mr. Snelling--" began Robert Morton stiffly. + +She broke into a teasing laugh. + +"I may not prefer him, but nevertheless I will own he is the most +wonderful specimen of masculinity that my eyes have ever beheld. +Remember Wilton is a small place, pitifully limited in its outlook, and +that I have not traveled the wide world to view the wonders it +contains. Hence Mr. Snelling is to me like the Eiffel Tower, the +Matterhorn, the tomb of Napoleon, or Fifth Avenue at Easter--something +illustrious and novel." + +"He is nothing so fine as any of those," snapped Bob. + +"Oh, I don't know," was the provoking answer. + +Robert Morton bit his lip and moved toward the door, but he had not got +further than the sill before she whispered: + +"Bob!" + +Resolutely he held his peace. + +"Please be nice, Bob," she cooed. + +Ah, he was back again, but she had retreated behind the tall rocker. + +"I suppose," she observed, hurtling the words over Jezebel's sleeping +form, "that your aunt will be heartbroken to miss this party. Why +don't you run upstairs and let her read the note? Then we can send our +regrets when Mr. Snelling goes back to Belleport this noon." + +Obediently the young man sped to do her bidding, and soon Delight heard +his voice calling from the upper hall. + +"She won't send her regrets. She says she's going. I tell her they +will ask her another time, but she insists she feels lots better and +was thinking of getting up, anyway. She wants to start putting fresh +cuffs on her black cashmere this minute, and do I don't know what. +You'd better come up and stop her." + +But Celestina was not to be stopped. Go she would! + +"My shoulder's 'most well anyhow," she affirmed, "an' I had planned to +go down to supper. Do you think for one minute I'd miss a junket like +this? Why, I'd go if it killed me! The Galbraiths are nice folks an' +have been good to Bob and Willie. Besides," she added with +ingratiating candor, "I want to see where they live. An' they're goin' +to send the automobile for us, that great red one--imagine it! I ain't +been in an automobile more'n six times in my whole life. Do you think +I'd send my regrets? I'd go if I had to be carried on a stretcher!" + +Delight and Robert Morton laughed at her enthusiasm. + +"Now you trot straight down stairs, Bob," went on Celestina +energetically, "an' write Mis' Lee we'll admire to come, all of us." + +"But Aunt Tiny," put in Delight, "I'm not going. Somebody must stay +here and look after the house." + +"What for?" Celestina demanded. "The house won't run away, an' if +thieves was to ransack it from attic to cellar they'd find nothin' +worth carryin' away. Ridiculous!" + +"She says she hasn't anything to wear," interrupted Bob. + +"Delight Hathaway! For shame!" said the elder woman, raising a +reproving finger. "You always look pretty as a picture in anything. +Some folks need fine clothes to set 'em off but you don't. Don't be +silly! Why, half the pleasure of Willie an' me would be wiped out if +you didn't go, an' likely Bob would be disappointed, too." + +"You bet I would!" + +"W--e--ll," the girl yielded. + +"There, that's right, my dear." Celestina reached out and patted the +slender hand. "Now, Bob, you go along an' write your letter," +commanded she. "An' Delight, you bring me up some hot water an' fetch +my clean print dress from the hall closet. I kinder think, come to +mull it over, that there's fresh cuffs on my cashmere already, but you +might look an' see. An' hadn't we better furbish up my bonnet this +afternoon? It ain't been touched this season." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A REVELATION + +The morning of the pilgrimage to Belleport was a hectic one in the gray +cottage on the bluff. Before breakfast Celestina began preparations, +appearing in the kitchen without trace of invalidism and helping +Delight hurry the housework out of the way, that the precious hours +might be spent in retrimming the hat of black straw which already had +done duty four seasons. + +"Ain't it too vexatious," complained the irritated convalescent, "that +I don't wear out nothin'? This hat, now--it's as good as the day it +was bought, despite my havin' had it so long. I can't in conscience +throw it away an' get another, much as I'd like to. The trimmin' was +on the front the first summer, don't you remember? Then we tried it on +behind a year; an' there was two seasons I wore it trimmed on the side. +What are we goin' to do with it now, Delight? I've blacked it up an' +can see no way for it this time but to turn it round hindside-before. +What do you think?" + +The amateur milliner shook her head. + +"I've a plan," she smiled mysteriously. "Don't you worry, Aunt Tiny." + +"Oh, I shan't worry, child, if you take it in hand. I know that when +you get through with it it's goin' to look as if it had come straight +out of Mis' Gates's store over at the Junction. It does beat all what +a knack you have for such things. You could make your fortune bein' a +milliner. I s'pose you wouldn't want to face it in with red, would +you? Willie likes red, an' there's a scrap of silk in the trunk under +the eaves that could be stretched into a facin' with some piecin'." + +"I'm afraid you wouldn't like red, Aunt Tiny," the girl replied gently. + +"Mebbe I wouldn't," was the prompt answer. "Well, do it as you think +best. You never put me into anything yet that warn't becomin', an' I +reckon I can risk leavin' it to you." + +"Wouldn't you rather I helped you clear up the kitchen before I began +hat trimming?" + +"Mercy, no! Don't waste precious time sweepin' up an' washin' dishes; +I can do that. Like as not 'twill take some of the stiffness out of +me. Besides, the work an' the millinery ain't the worst ahead of us. +There's Willie to get ready. To coax him out of that shop an' into his +Sunday suit is goin' to take some maneuverin'. I know, 'cause I have +it to do once in a while when there's a funeral or somethin'. It's +like pullin' teeth. There's times when I wish all his jumpers was +burned to ashes. An' as for his hair, he rumples it up on end 'till +there's no makin' it stay down smooth an' spread round like other +folks's." + +"Oh, we mustn't try to dress Willie up too much," protested Delight. +"I like him best just as he is." + +"Mebbe you do," the elder woman grumbled, "but the Galbraiths ain't +goin' to feel that way. Why, what do you s'pose they'd think if Willie +was to come prancin' over there for a dish of tea lookin' as he does at +home? They'd be scandalized! Besides, ain't you an' me goin' to be +dressed up? Ain't I got my new hat?" + +"Not yet," was the mischievous retort. + +"But I am goin' to have. No, sir! If I begin indulgin' Willie by +lettin' him go all wild to this party in his old clothes, the next time +there's a funeral there'll be no reinin' him in. He'll hold it up +forevermore that he went to the Galbraiths in his jumper. I know him +better'n you do." + +"I suppose so." + +"An' I'm firmer with him, too," went on Celestina. "You'd have him +clean spoiled. I ain't sure but you've spoilt him already past all +help durin' these last ten days. Did you hear him at breakfast askin' +me to open his egg? He knows perfectly well I never take off the +shell. All I ever do for him is to put in the butter, pepper, an' +salt; an' I only do that 'cause he's squizzlin' so to get out in that +shop that he ain't a notion whether there's fixin's on his egg or not. +Let him get one of these ideas on his mind an' it's a wonder he don't +eat the egg, shells an' all." + +"Poor dear!" The girl's face softened. + +"You pet him too much," said Celestina accusingly. + +"Don't you pet Willie a little yourself, Aunt Tiny?" teased Delight. +"You know you do. Everybody does. We can't help it. People just love +him and like to see him happy." + +"I know it," the woman admitted. "Why, there's folks in Wilton (I +could name 'em right now) who would run their legs off for Willie. +Look at Bob an' this Mr. Snellin' sweatin' in that shop like beavers +over somethin' that ain't never goin' to do 'em an ounce of good--mebbe +ain't never goin' to do anybody no good. There's somethin' in him that +sorter compels people to stand on their heads for him like that. I +often try to figger out just what it is," she mused. Then in a brisker +tone she asked: "How's the hat comin'?" + +"Beautifully." + +"That's good. Hurry it right along, for I'm plannin' to have dinner at +twelve an' get it out of the way." + +"But the car isn't coming for us until three o'clock." + +"'Twill take that time to wash up the dishes an' rig Willie up." + +"Not three hours!" + +"You don't know him. We'll have our hands full to head him away from +that thing he's makin'. All I pray is no new scheme ketches him while +he's dressin', for 'twill be all day with the party if it does." + +Fortunately no such misadventure befell. Willie was corralled, his +protests smothered, and he was led placidly away by Bob, to emerge +after an interval resigned as a lamb for the slaughter. Even the +homespun suit could not wholly banish his native charm, for after it +was once on he forgot its existence and wore it with an ease almost too +oblivious to suit Celestina. + +Not so she! On the contrary she issued from her chamber conscious of +every article of finery adorning her plump person. She settled, +unsettled, resettled her hat a dozen times, and tried no less than a +score of locations for her large cameo pin. Her freshly washed lisle +gloves had unfortunately shrunk in the drying and refused to go on at +the finger tips, and from each digit projected a sharply defined glove +end which kept her busy pushing and pulling most of the afternoon. So +occupied was Delight with tying Willie's cravat and rearranging the +spray of flowers on Celestina's bonnet that she had not a moment to +consider her own toilet which was hastily made after everything else +was done. Yet as Robert Morton looked at her, he thought that nothing +could have graced her more completely than did her simple gown of +muslin. There was in the frock a demureness almost Quaker-like which +as a foil for her beauty breathed the very essence of coquetry. What +lover could have failed to feel proud of such a treasure? + +Nevertheless, Bob had his qualms about the prospective visit. He was +not concerned for Willie or Celestina. They were what they were and +any one of discrimination would recognize their worth. Nor did he +entertain fears for Delight or the Galbraiths. All of them could be +relied upon to meet the situation with ease and dignity. But +Cynthia--what would be her attitude? Of late, when she had come over +in the car with Mr. Snelling, she had maintained a distant politeness +which would have been amusing had it not been ominous. He wondered how +she would conduct herself today, not alone toward him but toward the +girl whom she could not but regard as her rival. How much did she +guess, he speculated, of the romance that was taking place in the +rose-covered cottage on the bluff. And if she had guessed nothing, +might not Snelling, leaping at conclusions, have gone back to Belleport +there to spread idle gossip of the love-story? What would Howard +Snelling know of the delicate situation 'twixt himself and Mr. +Galbraith's daughter? And even though no rumors of the affair reached +Cynthia at all, Robert Morton was old enough to sense the hazard of +introducing one woman to another. + +Well, the risk must be taken; there was no escape from it now. Even as +these disquieting imaginings chased themselves through his mind, the +car stopped before the door and Roger Galbraith, who had come to meet +the guests, entered at the gate. No courtesy that would add to their +comfort had been omitted. There were rugs and extra wraps, and a drive +along the shore road had been planned as an added pleasure. + +Willie, his back actually turned on his beloved workshop, was in the +seventh heaven. + +"What you settin' on the peaked edge of the seat for, Celestina?" he +asked when once they were in the automobile. "The thing ain't goin' to +blow up or break down. Let your whole heft sink into the cushions an' +enjoy yourself. 'Tain't often you get the chance to go a-ridin'." + +His joy in the novel experience was as unalloyed and as transparent as +a child's. + +"My soul!" he ejaculated as the vehicle turned at last into the broad +avenue leading to the Galbraith estate. "Ain't this a big place! +Big's a hotel an' some to spare." + +Even after the introductions had been performed and he had sunk into a +wicker chair beside his host, with a great pillow behind him to keep +him from being swallowed up and lost entirely, he abated not a whit of +his gladness, admiring the flowers, the smoothly cut lawns, and the +ocean view until he radiated good humor on all sides. But it was when +the tea wagon was rolled out and placed before Madam Lee that his +interest was not to be curbed. + +"Ain't that cute now?" he commented, his eyes following the +unaccustomed sight with alertness. "The feller that got a-holt of that +idee found a good one. Trundles along like a little baby carriage, +don't it?" + +Nothing would satisfy him until he had examined every part of the +invention, and Celestina trembled lest then and there his brain be +stimulated to action and he make a bolt for home to complete without +delay some sudden scheme the novelty had engendered. However, no such +calamity occurred. He drank his tea with satisfaction and was +presently borne off by Mr. Galbraith to inspect a recently purchased +barometer. After he had gone the company broke up into little groups. +Mrs. Galbraith and Celestina betook themselves to a shaded corner, +there to exchange felicitations on Miss Morton's nephew; Roger, +Cynthia, and Bob perched on the broad piazza rail and discussed the +recent boat race; and Madam Lee was left alone with Delight. Robert +Morton looked in vain for Mr. Snelling but he was nowhere to be seen, +and presently he learned that that gentleman had taken one of the cars +and gone for an afternoon's spin to Sawyer's Falls. Whether his +absence was a contributory cause or not, certain it was that for the +time being at least Cynthia lapsed into her customary friendly manner +and quite outdid herself in graciousness. + +Bob relaxed his tension. The afternoon was moving on with more +serenity than he had dared hope, and inwardly he began to congratulate +himself on the success of it. To judge from appearance every one was +in the serenest frame of mind. Willie was beaming into his host's +face, and both men were laughing immoderately; Celestina, from the +snatches of conversation that reached him, was relating for Mrs. +Galbraith's benefit the symptoms of her late illness; and Madam Lee was +chatting with Delight as with an old-time friend. Bob longed to join +them, but prudence forbade his leaving Cynthia's side. Moreover he +suspected the tete-a-tete was of the old lady's arranging and he dared +not break in on it. If Madam Lee desired his presence, she was quite +capable of commanding it by one of those characteristically imperious +waves of her hand. But she did not summon him. Instead she sat with +her keen little eyes fixed on the girl opposite as if fascinated by her +beauty. Once Bob heard her ask Delight of the Brewsters and caught +fragments that indicated they were talking of the child's early life in +the village. + +It was Celestina who at length broke in on the conversation. + +"I guess we must be thinkin' of goin', Delight, don't you? We have a +long ride back, you know." + +"Delight!" echoed Madam Lee, repeating the word with surprise. + +"A queer name, ain't it?" Celestina put in. "So old-fashioned an' +uncommon! When the child first come here folks couldn't believe but +'twas a pet name her dad had given her; but the little thing insisted +'twas what she was christened." + +"Father said I was named for my mother and my grandmother, Delight Lee." + +There was a gasp from the stately old lady in the chair. With +convulsive grasp she caught and held the girl's wrist. + +"Your father was Ralph Hathaway?" + +"Yes," was the wondering reply. "How did you know?" + +No answer came. + +"Mother!" cried Mrs. Galbraith, coming swiftly to her side and bending +over the form crumpled against the pillows. + +Her face, too, was pale, and even Mr. Galbraith looked startled. + +"Don't take on so, mother," her daughter whispered. "Control yourself +if you can. There may be some mistake. It is unlikely that--" + +"There is no mistake," came in a hollow voice from the woman huddled in +the chair, who regarded Delight with frightened eyes. "She is my +daughter's child, sent by the mercy of heaven that I might make amends +before I went down into the grave." + +Tense silence followed the assertion. + +"Did your father never tell you anything, my dear, of his marriage?" +went on Madam Lee in a tone that although firmer still trembled. + +"No." + +"Then I can tell you--I, who drove your mother from my house when she +refused to wed a man she did not love." + +Delight's great eyes widened with wonder. + +"Yes," went on the elder woman with impetuous haste, "look at me. I +have grown older and wiser since those days. But I was proud when I +was young, and self-willed, and determined to have my way. I had three +daughters: Maida, whom you see here, Delight and Muriel. We lived in +Virginia and my children's beauty was the talk of the county. Maida +married Richard Galbraith, a descendant of one of our oldest families, +and I rejoiced in the alliance. For Delight, my second daughter, I +chose as husband the son of one of my oldest friends, a rich young +landholder who although older than she I knew would bring her name and +fortune. But the girl, high-spirited like myself but lacking my +ambition, would have none of him. All unbeknown to any of us, she had +fallen in love with Ralph Hathaway, a handsome, penniless adventurer +from the West. There was nothing against the man save that he was +young, headstrong, and had his way to make, but he balked me in my +plans and I hated him for it. In vain did I try to break off the +match. It was useless. The pair loved one another devotedly and +refused to be separated." + +Madam Lee ceased speaking for an instant; then went on resolutely. + +"When I say my daughter had all the Lee determination, you will guess +the rest. She fled from home and although I spared no money to trace +her, I never saw or heard of her again. The next year, as if in +judgment upon me, Muriel, my youngest child, died and I had but one +daughter remaining. It was then that, saddened and chastened by +sorrow, I regretted my narrowness and injustice and prayed to God for +the chance to wipe out my cruelty. But my prayers went unanswered, and +all these years forgiveness has been denied me. Now I am old but God +is merciful. He has not let me die with this weight upon my soul." + +She bowed her head on Delight's shoulder and wept. + +"Your mother?" she whispered, when she was able to enunciate the words. + +"My mother died in California when I was born. Then my father took to +the sea and carried me with him. We sailed until I was ten years old, +when his ship--" + +"I know," interrupted Madam Lee gently. She gave a long sigh. "We--we +must speak more of this later," murmured she. "I am tired now." + +As she dropped back against the cushions, Celestina rose softly and +motioned the others to follow her; but when Delight attempted to slip +away the hand resting on hers tightened. + +"You are not leaving me!" pleaded the old lady faintly. + +"I will come back again," answered the girl in a soothing tone. + +"When? To-morrow?" + +"If you wish it, Madam L--" + +"Call me grandmother, my child," said the woman, a smile rare in its +peace and beauty breaking over her drawn countenance. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +ANOTHER BLOW DESCENDS + +The ride home from Belleport was a subdued one, bringing to an +afternoon that had been rich in sunshine a climax of shadow. The +Galbraiths were far too stunned by the startling revelations of the day +to wish to prolong a meeting that had lapsed into awkwardness, and +until they had had opportunity to readjust themselves they were eager +to be alone; nor did their delicacy of perception fail to detect a +similar craving in the minds of their guests. Therefore they did not +press their visitors to remain and tactfully arranged that one of the +servants instead of Roger should drive the Spences back over the Harbor +Road. + +As the motor purred its way along, there was little conversation. Even +had not the chauffeur's presence acted as a restraint, none of the +party would have had the heart to make perfunctory conversation; the +tragedy of the moment had touched them too deeply. What a strange, +wonderful unraveling of life's tangled skeins had come with the few +fleeting hours. Each turned the drama over in his mind, trying to make +a reality of it and spin into the warp and woof of the tapestry time +had already woven this thread of new color. But so startling was it in +hue that it refused to blend, standing out against the duller tones of +the past with appalling distinctness; and never was it more +irreconcilable than when the familiar confines of the little fishing +hamlet by the sea were reached and those who struggled to harmonize it +saw it in contrast with this background of simplicity. + +Each silently reconstructed Delight's life, now linking it with its +ancestry and its romantic beginnings. She had, then, sprung from +aristocratic stock; riches had been her right, and culture her +heritage. She had been the single flower of a passionate love, and the +hot-headed young father to whom she had been bequeathed when bereft of +the woman he had adored had taken her with him when he had sought the +sea's balm to assuage his sorrow. She was all that remained of that +tender, throbbing memory of his youth. Where he went she followed, all +unconscious of peril and with youth's God-given faith; and when the +great moment came and the supreme sacrifice was demanded, the man +voluntarily severed the bonds that bound them, leaving her to life +while he himself went forth into the Beyond. What must not that heroic +soul have suffered when he cast his child into the ocean's arms and +upon the mercies of an unknown future! What blind trust led him; what +unselfishness and courage lay in the choice he made! A smaller mind +would have followed the easier path and kept them united to the end, +happy in the thought that in their death they were not divided, and +that no years stretched ahead when she would be without his protection. +Might he not be performing a kinder act to let her go down into the sea +than to entrust her to the charity of strangers? He must have wrestled +with all these problems and temptations as he stood lashed to the mast +out there in the fateful storm. + +Ah, his confidence in a fatherhood more omniscient than his own had not +been misplaced. Loving hands had borne his darling safely through the +waves to a home where, in an atmosphere of devotion, the beauty that +had been in her from the beginning had perfected in its maturity. Even +the homely surroundings of the environment into which she drifted could +not stifle her native fineness of soul. Bred up a fisherman's daughter +she had lived and moved among plain, kindly people, whom she had +learned to cherish and revere as if they were of her blood, and to whom +she had endeared herself to a corresponding degree. + +And now what was her future to be? Was she suddenly to be snatched +back into her rightful sphere, the ties that linked her with the +present snapped asunder, and a new world with the myriad opportunities +she had until now been denied placed within her reach? That was the +query that agitated the minds of the silent thinkers who sped along the +Harbor Road. + +Sunset was gilding the water, kissing the sands into rosy warmth and +casting glints of vermilion over the low buildings at the mouth of the +bay, where windows flashed forth a flaming reflection of fire. The +peace of approaching twilight brooded over the village. Little boats, +like homing doves, came flying across the vast expanse of waves, their +sails a splendor of copper in the fading light. With the hush of night +the breeze died into stillness until scarce a leaf of the +weather-beaten poplars stirred. From the tangle of roses, sweet fern +and bayberry that overgrew the fields the note of a thrush rose clear +on the quiet air. A whirling bevy of gulls circled the bar, left naked +and opalescent by the receding tide. Peace was everywhere, divine +peace, save in the breasts of those who gazed only to find a mockery in +the surrounding tranquillity. + +Robert Morton's face was stern in meditation. How was this mighty +transformation in Delight's fortunes to affect the hopes he fostered? +To wed the daughter of a humble fisherman was a different matter from +offering a penniless future to the grand-daughter of the stately Madam +Lee. Even when the possibility of marriage with Cynthia had loomed in +his path, his pride had rebelled at the financial inequality of the +match. He did not wish to be patronized, to come empty-handed to a +princess whose hands were full. The thought had been a galling one. +And now once again he was in a similar position. Of course, Madam Lee +and the Galbraiths would desire to make good the past; he knew them +well enough for that. Delight would be elevated to the same plane with +Cynthia, and he would be faced with the old irritating inferiority of +fortune. Moreover, in her recently acquired station, the lady of his +dreams might scorn such a humble suitor. Who could tell? Wealth +worked great changes in individuals sometimes, and at best human nature +was a frail, assailable, and incalculable factor. Furthermore the girl +had never pledged him her love. There had been no spoken word between +them. The vision that had made a Utopia of his world had been, he +reflected, of his own creating. + +He glanced at Delight, but she did not meet his eye. + +Her gaze was vacantly following the rapidly shifting landscape. + +Although the glory from the sky shone on her face the radiance that +glowed there came only from without and was the result of no inward +exultation. Even the gray cottage had assumed a false splendor in the +rosy twilight and was lighted with a beauty not its own. + +When the car stopped, Willie clambered stiffly out and he and Bob +helped the women to alight. Then the motor rolled away and they were +alone. + +"Well!" burst out Celestina, her pent-up feeling taking vent, "did you +ever know of such a to-do? I've been stiflin' to talk all the way +home! Why, you're goin' to be rich, Delight! You'll be aunts, an' +uncles, an' cousins with them Galbraiths--picture it! Likely they'll +take you to New York with 'em an' to goodness knows where!" + +The girl did not answer but moved to Willie's side and slipped her hand +into his, as if certain of his understanding and sympathy. + +"You don't seem much set up by your good luck," went on the breathless +Celestina. + +"Delight's kinder bowled over by surprise, Tiny," Willie explained +gently. "It's took all our breaths away, I guess." + +Tenderly he pressed the trembling fingers that clung to his. + +"You ain't got to worry about it, dearie," whispered he in a caressing +tone. "No power can make you do anything you don't choose to; an' +what's more, nobody'll want to force you into what won't be for your +happiness." + +"I shall never leave Zenas Henry," Delight said with determination. + +"An' nobody'll urge you to, dear heart. Don't fret, child, don't fret. +To-morrow we'll straighten this snarl all out an' 'til then you've got +nothin' to fear. Them as love you shall stay by, I give you my word on +it." + +"Hadn't I better go home to-night and tell them?" + +The old inventor considered a moment. + +"I don't believe I would," he answered at last. "They ain't expectin' +you, an' if you was to go lookin' so white an' frightened as you do +now, 'twould anger Zenas Henry an' upset 'em all. Wait an' see what +happens to-morrow. 'Twill be time enough then. You're tired, +sweetheart. Stay here an' rest to-night. What do you say, Bob?" + +"I think it would be much wiser." + +"Course 'twould," nodded Willie. "You stay right here, like as if +nothin' had happened, an' think calmly about it a little while, child. +You ain't got to decide a thing at present; furthermore, there may not +be anything for you to decide. We've no way of figgerin' what +your--your--relations mean to do. Just trust 'em a bit. They're Bob's +friends an' I guess we can count on 'em to act as is fair an' right." + +"They _are_ Bob's friends, aren't they?" repeated the girl, her face +brightening as if the fact, hitherto forgotten, gave her confidence. + +"And splendidly loyal friends too," the young man put in eagerly. + +"Then I will trust them," she said. "It isn't as if they were +strangers." + +How Robert Morton longed to go to her, to tell her in her sweet +dependence how eager he was for the day when no friend of his should be +a stranger to her; when their lives would be so closely intertwined +that every interest, every hope, every thought of his should be hers +also. Perhaps the unuttered wish that trembled on his lips was +reflected in his eyes, for after looking up at him she suddenly dropped +her lashes and, turning away, followed Tiny into the house. + +"I've cautioned Celestina not to go talkin' to her any more just now," +announced the little old man when she had gone. "Your aunt's an awful +good woman; no better lives. But there's times like today when things +don't strike her as they do me an' Delight. She's so fond of the girl +that her first thought would be for the money an' all that; but that +would be the last consideration in the world in Delight's mind. She's +awful loyal an' affectionate. Things go deep with her, an' she sets a +heap of store by the folks she cares for. Why, Zenas Henry is like her +own father. Since she was a wee tot she ain't known no other. While +this old lady, her grandmother--what is she? Why, she don't mean +nothin'--not a thing!" + +They walked on toward the shop door, each occupied with his own +reveries; then suddenly Willie roused himself. + +"Why, if here ain't Janoah!" he exclaimed. + +"What you doin', Jan? Was you after somethin'? I reckon you found the +place pretty well deserted an' were wonderin' what had become of us +all." + +"I warn't doin' no wonderin', Willie Spence," the man replied. "I +knowed where you'd gone 'cause I saw you ridin' away like a sheep bein' +led to the sacrifice." + +"Like a what?" repeated the inventor with a grin. + +"An innocent lamb, or a rat in a trap," Janoah said with solemn +emphasis. + +"What are you drivin' at, anyhow?" questioned Willie. + +"You didn't suspect nothin'?" + +"Suspect anything? No, of course not. Why?" + +"You hadn't a suspicion the whole thing was a decoy?" + +"What whole thing?" + +"The trip an' all." + +Willie studied his friend's face in puzzled silence. + +"Whatever are you tryin' to say?" demanded he at last. + +Janoah swept his hand dramatically round the shop. + +"You've been betrayed, Willie!" he announced with tragic intensity. +"Betrayed by them as you thought was your friends, an' who you've +trusted. I warned you, but you wouldn't listen, an' now the thing I +told you would happen has happened." Triumphant pleasure gleamed in +the sinister smile. "They tricked you into leavin'," went on the +malicious voice, "an' then they came here an' stole what was +yours--your invention. I caught 'em doin' it. I hid outside an' +overheard 'em tell how they'd been waitin' days for the chance when +everybody should be gone. 'Twas that Snelling an' another like him, a +draughtsman. They laughed an' said that now the old man was out of the +way they could do as they pleased. Then they took all the measurements +of your invention, made some sketches, an' took its picter." + +Willie listened, open-mouthed. + +"You must be crazy, Janoah," he slowly observed. + +"I ain't crazy," Janoah replied, with stinging sharpness. "The whole +thing was just as I say. It was part of a plot that Snellin' an' +Galbraith have been plannin' all along; an' either they've used this +young feller here [he motioned toward Robert Morton] as a tool, or else +he's in it with 'em." + +Bob started forward, but Willie's hand was on his arm. + +"Gently, son," he murmured. Then addressing Janoah he asked: "An' what +earthly use could Mr. Galbraith have for--" + +"'Cause he sees money in it," was the prompt response. + +A thrill of uneasiness passed through Robert Morton's frame. Had not +those very words been spoken both by the capitalist and Howard +Snelling? They had uttered them as a laughing prediction, but might +they not have rated them as true? With sudden chagrin he looked from +Willie to Janoah and from Janoah back to Willie again. + +"I've been inquirin' up this Galbraith," went on Janoah. "It 'pears +he's a big New York shipbuilder--that's what he is--an' Snellin' is one +of his head men." + +If the mischief-maker derived pleasure from dealing out the fruit of +his investigations he certainly reaped it now, for he was rewarded by +seeing an electrical shock stiffen Willie's figure. + +"It ain't true!" cried the little inventor. "It ain't true! Is it, +Bob?" + +Robert Morton's eyes fell before his piercing scrutiny. + +"Yes," was his reluctant answer. + +"You knew it all along?" + +"Yes." + +"An' Snellin'?" + +"He is in Mr. Galbraith's employ, yes." + +"An'--an'--you let 'em come here--" began the old man bewildered. + +"You let 'em come here to steal Willie's idee," interrupted Janoah, +wheeling on Bob. "You helped 'em to come, after his takin' you into +his home an' all!" + +"I didn't know what they meant to do," Robert Morton stammered. "I +just thought they were going to lend us a hand at working up the thing." + +"A likely story!" sniffed Janoah with scorn. "No siree! You came here +as a tool--you were paid for it, I'll bet a hat!" + +"You lie." + +"Prove it," was the taunting response. + +"I--I--can't prove it," confessed the young man wretchedly, "but Willie +knows that what you accuse me of isn't so." + +With face alight with hope he turned toward the old man at his elbow; +but no denial came from the expected source. Willie had sunk down on a +pile of boards and buried his face in his hands. + +"An' I thought they were my friends," they heard him moan. + +Robert Morton hesitated, then bent over the bowed figure, and as he did +so Janoah, casting one last look of gloating delight at the ruin he had +wrought, slipped softly from the room. + +As he went out he heard a broken murmur from the inventor: + +"I'll--I'll--not--believe it," asserted he feebly. + +But despite the brave words, the seed of suspicion had taken root, and +Robert Morton knew that Willie's confidence in him had been shaken. +Still the little old man clung with dogged persistence to his sanguine +declaration: + +"_I'll not believe it_!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A GRIM HAND INTERVENES + +The next morning saw a grave change in the household on the bluff. +Delight, with violet-circled eyes and cheeks whose rose tints had faded +to pallor, listened with dread for the sound of the Galbraith's motor. +What the day would bring forth she feared to speculate. Willie and Bob +also showed traces of a sleepless night. Although they had guarded +from the others the happenings of the previous evening, between them +loomed a barrier of mutual amazement and reproach. Beneath his +attempted optimism Willie was wounded and indignant that he should have +been deceived by those in whose kindness he had believed so +whole-heartedly. He fought the facts with loyalty, obstinately +trusting that some satisfactory explanation would be forthcoming, but +he did not understand, and the dumb question that spoke in his eyes +hurt Robert Morton more than any formulated reproach could have done. +It was human, the young man owned, that the inventor should resent +having been tricked. He himself, throughout the weary watches of the +night, had twisted and turned Janoah's damning testimony, struggling to +explain it away by some simple and harmless interpretation; yet he was +compelled to admit that the facts pointed in but one direction. And if +he was baffled in his search for a way out, how much more so must +Willie be? Why, he would be almost superman if he did not surrender +his faith before such convincing evidence. + +To the grief he experienced at forfeiting the little old man's trust, +Robert Morton was also compelled to add the bitterness of discovering +that those whose friendship was dearest to him had betrayed it and used +him as a stool pigeon in a contemptible plot that he would have scorned +to further had he been cognizant of it. He wondered, as he turned +restlessly on his pillow, whether it was Mr. Galbraith with whom the +duplicity originated or whether the conspiracy of yesterday was one of +Snelling's hatching. Was it not possible the employee desired the +invention for his own profit? That, to be sure, would be calamity +enough, but it would at least clear Mr. Galbraith of theft and +reinstate him in the young man's confidence. If only that could be the +answer to the riddle, how thankful he would be! + +Well, until he could be brought face to face with the capitalist, it +was futile to attempt to unravel the enigma. How he longed in his +bewilderment for the sympathy and counsel of a fresh perspective! But +on Tiny's discretion he could place no reliance and even had he been +able to do so, everything within him shrank from the disloyalty of +voicing evil against his friends until he had proof. Delight was also +an impossible confidant because of her recently discovered relationship +to the Galbraith family. To breathe a word which might at this +delicate juncture prejudice her against her new relatives would be +contemptible. No, there was nothing to be done but be patient and +maintain in the meantime as close a semblance to a normal attitude as +was possible. + +Fortunately the silence that settled down upon the silvered cottage +caused no surprise to any of its occupants. Having been warned not to +chatter, Celestina observed a welcome quietness perfectly understood. +Nor was it strange that in view of the shock Delight had received she +should be more thoughtful than usual. Nobody commented either on +Willie's abandonment of his inventing, or gave heed that he and Robert +Morton spoke little together. How could the Galbraiths, Bob's best +friends, be discussed in his presence? There was abundant explanation, +therefore, why a strained atmosphere should prevail and pass unnoticed +without either Celestina or Delight suspecting that its cause was other +than the disclosures made by Madam Lee on the previous afternoon. + +Nevertheless, eager as was each of the household to have speculation +satisfied and the future with whatever it might contain unfold, there +was a simultaneous start of apprehension when the Galbraiths' familiar +red car stopped at the gate of the cottage. From it alighted neither +Mr. Snelling nor any member of the family, but instead the chauffeur +gravely delivered to Robert Morton a hastily scrawled note written in +Mr. Galbraith's spreading hand. Marveling a little that it was he to +whom the communication should be addressed, the young man broke the +seal of the letter. + +Madam Lee, he read, weary with excitement, had retired almost +immediately after their departure, the maid attending her having left +her sleeping like a tired child; but when they had gone to arouse her +in the morning, it had been only to find that she had passed quietly +away in her sleep without struggle or suffering. Snelling had gone +over to New York to make the necessary funeral arrangements, and the +family were to follow the next day. There was nothing Bob could do, +but if he and Delight wished to accompany them, Mrs. Galbraith would be +glad to have them. Madam Lee had been devoted to Bob, and it was +Delight's unchallenged right to share in the final obsequies to her +grandmother. + +Awed, and in a low voice, Robert Morton read the communication aloud. + +"I shall go, of course," he said, with a catch in his voice. "Madam +Lee--was very dear to me. Had she been of my own people I could not +have cared for her more deeply." + +"And I--what shall I do?" questioned Delight. The appeal was to Bob, +and the sense of dependence vibrating in it thrilled him with tender +gladness. + +"I suppose," he answered gently, "it would make your grandmother happy +to know you were there. Wouldn't it be a token of forgiveness?" + +"What do you think, Willie?" the girl asked. + +"I agree with Bob that you should go, my dear," the old man replied. +"Somehow it seems as if your grandmother would rest the sweeter for +feelin' you were near by. An' anyhow, it's a mark of respect to the +dead. You're bound to show that, no matter how you feel. I'm pretty +sure that if you an' your grandmother had had the chance to get better +acquainted, you would have loved one another dearly. It was only that +it all came too late for you to feel toward her the same as Bob does." + +"Perhaps!" Delight returned with half-dazed seriousness. + +So it was decided the two young persons would go with the Galbraiths to +New York, and the next day they joined the Belleport family and +followed the body of the fine, stately old Southern woman to its last +resting place. There were no outside friends among the small group of +mourners, and the two days of constant and intimate companionship drew +them together with a closeness very vital in its results. Delight was +received into the circle with a tact and affection that not only put +her at her ease but won her heart; and Robert Morton, as Madam Lee's +favorite, was as much a part of the family as if he had been born into +it. For the time being, the common grief banished from his mind every +other thought, and once again he and his old-time friends met without a +shadow of distrust between them. Even Cynthia was in her most +appealing mood, casting all caprice and artificiality aside and +centering most of her attention on her newly acquired cousin. The +silent benediction of peace the presence of the dead brought brooded +over them all, and it was with no perfunctory tenderness that Delight +bent and gently kissed her grandmother's cold forehead. + +Then came the journey back to Belleport, and as Mr. Galbraith, Roger, +and Howard Snelling were all detained in New York, it was Bob who +brought the party home. In the meantime no opportunity had presented +itself for broaching to the financier the subject of Willie's +invention. The interval during the funeral rites was too inopportune, +and Robert Morton had lacked both the inclination and the courage to +break in upon such an occasion with an affair so sordid and unpleasant. +He had hoped that during the return to the Cape some chance for a talk +with the capitalist would be afforded him. But now there was no help +for it but to go back to Willie Spence's with the weight still heavy on +his heart. Mr. Galbraith, he learned, would have to remain in the city +two weeks or more; and an important business deal would keep Mr. +Snelling at the Long Island plant indefinitely. Hence for the present +there was not a possibility of clearing up the mystery. It was, +however, significant that Snelling evidently considered his part of the +work done; and if Janoah's accusations were founded on fact, as they +appeared to be, it was not surprising that he seized upon the confusion +of the present as a fortunate cover for his exit from Wilton. + +The more Robert Morton pondered on the train of events, the less +willing he became to connect Mr. Galbraith with the purloining of +Willie's idea. The financier had intended to do precisely what he had +specified, lend a friendly hand to the old man's scheme. It was +Snelling who had seen in the circumstance something too promising to +let pass and who, without his employer's knowledge, had made bold to +secure the device for his personal profit. In the meanwhile, ignorant +that Robert Morton was cognizant of his cupidity, he was as debonair as +if he had nothing on his conscience. He made himself useful in every +possible direction, and on parting from Bob at the train declared he +should look forward with the greatest anticipation to their future +business association together. How the young man longed to confront +the knave with his crime! It seemed almost imperative that before the +mischief proceeded farther steps should be taken to stop it. But what +proofs had he to present? + +No, a middle course was the only thing possible, Bob decided. He must +return to Willie's roof with the atmosphere uncleared and finish the +little that still remained to be done on the invention as if no shadow +clouded his sky. He could not leave Willie in the lurch. Furthermore, +it was out of the question for him to depart from Wilton until he had +come to an understanding with Delight Hathaway. The intimacy of the +past week, with its lights and shadows, had only served to render +stronger the bonds that bound him to her. In every issue the network +of strange events had developed her character, and displayed facets of +such unsuspected force and splendor that where beauty had at first +fascinated it was now the soul behind it that called to him. Truly +Madam Lee had in this grandchild a worthy descendant, and it brought an +added joy to his heart to thus link together the two beings he loved +most deeply. + +Therefore he made the journey back to Wilton, bravely resolved to bear +Janoah's taunts and Willie's silent reproaches until the moment came +when he could acquaint Mr. Galbraith with Snelling's perfidy and see +the injustice righted. It was not an enviable position, the one in +which he stood. He felt it to be only human that in the face of this +acid test the old inventor's affection and allegiance toward him should +waver, and that Janoah would detect and rejoice in its unsteadiness. +But as Bob relied upon ultimately solving the conundrum, he felt he +could endure a short interval of unmerited distrust. It was in Delight +and Tiny, who were unconscious of any false note in his relation to the +household, that he placed his hopes for aid. Hence it was with no +small degree of consternation that on reaching Wilton he learned that +the girl had resolved now to return to her own home. + +"I have been here over two weeks already," she said to Bob, "and I +really am needed by my own family. They miss me dreadfully when I am +gone. Zenas Henry goes down like a plummet, Abbie says. And then I +have so much to tell them! Besides, now that Aunt Tiny is well again, +there is no use in my remaining." + +"There is a great deal of use in it for me!" asserted the young man +moodily. + +"Nonsense! You and Willie have your work, and in a day or two you will +be so buried in it you won't know whether I am here or not." + +"Delight!" + +A warning echo in the word and a quick forward movement caused her to +add hurriedly: + +"And--and--anyway, you can come up to our house and see me there. You +will like the three captains and Abbie, you simply can't help it; they +are dears! And you will worship Zenas Henry--at least you will if he +is--I mean sometimes he doesn't--well, you know how older men feel when +younger ones appear. He is very devoted to me and he is always +afraid-- But I am sure he will understand, and that you and he will +get on beautifully together," she concluded with scarlet cheeks. + +The clumsy explanation had a dubious ring and Bob frowned. + +"You see, your being Aunt Tiny's nephew will help some; he likes her +very much. And of course any friend of Willie's and--and--of mine--" + +With every word the formidable Zenas Henry increased in formidableness. +She saw the scowl deepen. + +"You will come and see me, won't you?" she pleaded timidly. "I should +be sorry if--" + +Robert Morton caught the slender hand and held it firmly. + +"I'll come were there a thousand Zenas Henrys!" + +"That's nice!" she answered with a nervous laugh. "There won't be a +thousand, though. There never can be but one as good and as dear as he +is! Only remember, you mustn't come right away. I shall have a great +deal to tell them at home, and it won't be easy for Zenas Henry to face +the fact that the Galbraiths have any claims on me. It has always been +his pride that I had no relatives and belonged entirely to him. And I +do, you know," she went on quickly. "Nothing on earth shall take me +from Zenas Henry! I worried a good deal lest Madam L--lest my +grandmother should insist that I spend part of my time with her. But +that is all settled now. I can keep up my friendship with the +Galbraith family by calls and short visits, and everything will go on +as before. I don't want anything changed." + +The young man saw her draw in her chin proudly. "Of course I have +forgiven my grandmother," she went on, "but I never can forget that she +made my mother's life unhappy and that she was unkind to my father. So +I never wish to accept any favors from any of them." + +"But the Galbraiths are not to blame for the past," ventured Bob, his +loyalty instantly in arms. + +"No. But they are Lees." + +"Your grandmother was sorry--bitterly sorry," urged the young man in a +persuasive tone. "It was probably her regret that caused her death." + +The girl nodded sadly. + +"I know," she said. "I realize she lived to regret what she had done. +I am not blaming her. But for all that, she never can mean to me what +she might have meant. Rather I shall always think of her as a +handsome, stately old lady who was your friend and loved you." + +She turned to leave him, but he refused to let her go. + +"Delight," he cried, drawing her closer, "will your grandmother be +dearer to you because she loved me? Tell me, sweetheart! Do I mean +anything in your life? You are the only thing that matters in mine." + +He saw a radiance flash into her wonderful eyes, and in another instant +her head was against his breast. + +"It is only because of you, Bob," she whispered, clinging to him, "that +I can forgive the Lees at all." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE PROGRESS OF ANOTHER ROMANCE + +The ecstasy that came to Robert Morton with his new-found happiness +swept before it the clouds that had overcast his sky, until his horizon +was almost as radiant as it had been on the day of his arrival at +Wilton. Janoah Eldridge came no more to the Spence cottage; Snelling +had vanished; the Galbraiths were occupied with their own affairs; and +the barrier between Bob and Willie began slowly to wear away. The +little old man was of far too believing and charitable a nature to hold +out long against his own optimism; moreover, he detested strife and was +much more willing to endure a wrong than to harbor ill feeling; hence +he was only too ready to reconstruct Janoah's venomous story into terms +of his native blind faith. He did not, to be sure, understand, and for +days and nights he puzzled ceaselessly over the problem events +presented; but as no light was forthcoming, his zest in the enigma +cooled until the mystery took on the unfathomable quality of various +other mysteries he had wrestled with and finally shelved as +unanswerable. There was the invention to finish, and so eager was he +to see it completed that to this interest every other thought was +subordinated. Therefore, although misgivings assailed him, they +gradually receded into his subconsciousness, leaving behind them much +of the good will he had formerly cherished toward Robert Morton. + +The olive branch Willie tacitly extended Bob seized with avidity. Had +not the world suddenly become too perfect to be marred by discord? +Why, in the exuberance of his joy he would have forgiven anybody +anything! He did own to bruised feelings, but time is a great healer +of both mental and of physical pain, and the hurts he had received soon +dimmed into scars that carried with them no acute sensation. His mind +was too much occupied with Delight Hathaway and the wonder of their +love for him to think to any great extent of himself. The romance +still remained a secret between them, for so vehement had been the +turmoil into which Zenas Henry had been thrown by the tidings of the +girl's past history that it seemed unwise to follow blow with blow and +acquaint him just at present with the news of the lovers' engagement. +Moreover, there was Cynthia Galbraith to consider. Robert Morton was +too chivalrous to be brutal to any woman, much less an old friend like +Cynthia. + +Hence he and Delight moved in a dream, the full beauty of which they +alone sensed. Their secret was all the more delicious for being a +secret, and with all life before them they agreed they could afford to +wait. Nevertheless concealment was at variance with the character of +either, and although they derived a certain exhilaration from their +clandestine happiness they longed for the time when their path should +lie entirely in the open, when Zenas Henry's consent should be +obtained, and their betrothal acknowledged before all the world. Until +such a moment came an irksome deception colored their love and left +them in constant danger of discovery. Indeed, had the observer been +keen enough to interpret psychic phenomena, there was betrayal in the +soft light of Delight's eyes and in the grave tenderness of her face; +and as for Bob, he felt his great good-fortune must be emblazoned on +every feature of his countenance. + +In point of fact, no such condition prevailed. The girl returned to +her home and took her place there, bringing with her her customary +buoyancy of spirit; and if her light-heartedness was more exaggerated +than was her wont, those who loved her attributed it to her joy at +being once more beneath her own roof-tree. Zenas Henry and the three +captains fluttered about her as if her absence had been one of years +rather than of days; and even Abbie, less demonstrative than the +others, showed by a quiet satisfaction her deep contentment at having +the girl back again. + +Of course Robert Morton let no great length of time elapse before he +climbed the hill and invaded the Brewster home. As Celestina's nephew +and Willie's guest he had credentials enough to assure him of a +welcome, and for an interval these sufficed to give him an enviable +entree; but after a few calls, his winning personality secured for him +a place of his own. He inspected Captain Phineas Taylor's broken +compass and set it right; he discussed rheumatism and its woes with +Captain Benjamin Todd; he lent an attentive ear to the nautical +adventures of Captain Jonas Baker. Abbie, who was a systematic +housekeeper, approved of his habit of wiping his feet before he entered +the door and the careful fashion he had of replacing any chair he +moved; most men, she averred, were so thoughtless and untidy. But it +was with Zenas Henry that the young man won his greatest triumph, the +two immediately coming into harmony on the common ground of +motor-boating. Most of the male visitors who dropped in at the white +cottage came only to see Delight, but here was one who came to call on +the entire family. How charming it was! They liked him one and all; +how could they help it? And soon, so eagerly did they anticipate his +coming, any lapse in his visits caused keen disappointment. + +"I kinder thought that Morton feller might be round this evenin'," +Captain Phineas would yawn in a dispirited tone, when twilight had +deepened and the familiar figure failed to make its appearance above +the crest of the hill. "Ain't it Tuesday? He most always comes +Tuesdays." + +"Tuesdays, Thursdays, an' Saturdays you can pretty mortal sure bank on +him," Captain Benjamin would reply. "If he's comin' to-night, he +better be heavin' into sight, for it's damp an' I'll have to be turnin' +in soon." + +"Mebbe he was delayed by somethin'," suggested Captain Jonas. "We'll +not give him up fur a spell longer. He told me he'd fetch me some +tobacco, an' he always does as he promises." + +Zenas Henry smoked in silence. + +"I sorter wish he would appear," he presently put in, between puffs at +his pipe. "There was somethin' I wanted to ask him about that durn +motor-boat." + +"You don't mean to say that boat's out of order again, do you, Zenas +Henry?" questioned Abbie. + +"No, oh, no! 'Tain't out of order exactly. But the pesky propeller is +kickin' up worse'n ordinary. It's awful taxin' on the patience. I'd +give a man everything I possess if he'd think up some plan to rid me of +that eel grass." + +"Why don't you set Willie on the job?" asked Captain Benjamin. + +"Ain't I told Willie over an' over again about it?" Zenas Henry +replied, turning with exasperation on the speaker. "Ain't I hinted to +him plain as day--thrown the bait to him times without number? An' +ain't he just swum round the hook an' gone off without so much as +nibblin' it? The thing don't interest him, it's easy enough to see +that. He don't like motor-boats an' ain't got no sympathy with 'em, +an' he don't give a hang if they do come to grief. In fact, I think he +rather relishes hearin' they're snagged. I gave up expectin' any help +from him long ago." + +With a frown he resumed his smoking. + +"Where's Delight?" Captain Phineas asked, scenting his friend's mood +and veering tactfully to a less irritating topic. + +"That's so! Where is the child?" rejoined Captain Jonas. "She was +round here fussin' with them roses a minute ago." + +"That ain't her over toward the pine grove, is it?" queried Captain +Benjamin. "I thought I saw somethin' pink a-movin' among the trees." + +"Yes, that's her an' Bob Morton with her, sure's you're alive!" Captain +Phineas ejaculated with pleasure. "You'll get your tobacco now, Jonas, +an' Zenas Henry can ask him about the boat." + +"Can you see has he got a bundle?" piped the short-sighted Captain +Jonas anxiously. + +"Yep!" + +"Then he ain't forgot the tobacco," was the contented comment. "He +don't generally forget. He's a mighty likely youngster, that boy!" + +"An' friendly too, ain't he?" put in Captain Benjamin. "There's +nothin' he wouldn't do for you." + +"He's the nicest chap ever I see!" Captain Phineas echoed. "Don't you +think so, Zenas Henry?" + +The answer was some time in coming, and when it did it was deliberate +and was weighted with telling impressiveness: + +"There's few young fry can boast Bob Morton's common sense," he said. +"His headpiece is on frontside-to, an' the brains inside it are tickin' +strong an' steady." + +Abbie failed to join in the laugh that followed this announcement. +Either she did not catch the remark, or she was too deeply engrossed +with her own thoughts to heed it. Her eyes were fixed wistfully on the +two figures that were approaching,--the girl exquisite with youth and +happiness and the man who leaned protectingly over her. Yet whatever +the reveries that clouded her pensive face, she kept them to herself, +and if a shadow of dread mingled with her scrutiny no one noticed it. + +Perhaps it was only Willie Spence who actually guessed the great +secret,--Willie, who having been starved for romance of his own, was +all the quicker to hear the heart-throbs of others. It chanced that +just now he was deeply involved in several amorous affairs and because +of them was experiencing no small degree of worry. The tangle between +Bob, Delight, and Cynthia Galbraith kept him in a state of constant +speculation and disquietude; then Bart Coffin and Minnie were +perilously near a rupture because of another rejuvenation of the +time-honored black satin; and although weeks had passed, Jack Nickerson +had not yet mustered up nerve enough to offer his heart and hand to +Sarah Libbie Lewis. + +"Next you know, both you an' Sarah Libbie will be under the sod," +Willie had tauntingly called after the lagging swain, as he passed the +house one afternoon on his way from the village. "What on earth you're +waitin' for is mor'n I can see." + +The discomfited coast guard hung his head sheepishly. + +"It's all right for you to talk, Willie Spence," he replied over his +shoulder. "You ain't got the speakin' to do. It's I that's got to ask +her." + +Then as he sped out of sight, he added as an afterthought: + +"By the way, Bart an' Minnie Coffin have come to a split at last over +that 'ere dress. After gettin' it fixed, an' promisin' him 'twas fur +the last time, she's ripped it all up again 'cause she's seen some +picter in a book she liked better. Bart's that mad he's took his sea +chest in the wheelbarrow an' set out for his mother's. I met him goin' +just now." + +"Bless my soul!" gasped Willie in consternation. "How far had he got?" + +"He was about quarter way to the Junction," was the response. "He sung +out he was headed where he'd be sure of gettin' three meals a day, an' +where somebody'd pay some attention to him." + +"H--m!" Willie reflected, scratching his thin locks. "Sorter looks as +if it was time I took a hand, don't it?" + +"I figger if anybody's goin' to interfere, now's the minute. Bart's +got his sails set an' is clearin' port fur good an' all this time, no +mistake. 'Twas sure to come sooner or later." + +Their roads parted and Willie turned toward the town, while Jack +Nickerson, with rolling gait, pursued his way to the beach where at the +tip of a slender bar of sand jutting out into the ocean the low roofs +of the life-saving station lay outlined against a somber sky. Great +banks of leaden clouds sagging over the horizon had dulled the water to +blackness, and a stiff gale was whistling inshore. Already the billows +were mounting angrily into caps of snarling foam and dashing themselves +on the sands with threatening echo. It promised to be a nasty night, +and Jack remembered as he looked that he was on patrol duty. Yet +although the muscles of his jaw tightened into grimness, it was not the +prospective tramp along a lonely beach in the darkness and wind that +caused the stern tensity of his countenance. Storms and their perils +were all in the day's work, and he faced their possible catastrophes +without a tremor. It would have been hard to find anywhere along the +Massachusetts coast a braver man than Jack Nickerson. Not only was he +ready to lead a crew of rescuers to succor the perishing, fearlessly +directing the surfboat in its plunge through a seething tide, but many +a time he had dashed bodily into the breakers, despite the hazard of a +powerful undertow, and dragged some drowning creature to a place of +safety. The fame of his many deeds of heroism had spread from one end +of the Cape to the other, and as he was native-born the community never +tired of relating his feats to any sojourner who strayed into the +locality. + +Yet courageous as was Jack Nickerson, there was one thing he was afraid +of and that was a woman. Not that he trembled in the presence of all +women--no, indeed! He had brought far too many of them to land for +that. Women as a class did not appall him in the least. He had seen +them in the agony of terror, in the throes of despair, and undismayed +had offered them sympathy and cheer. It was one woman only who +disconcerted him, the woman who for years had routed him out of his +habitual poise and left him as discomfited as a guilty schoolboy caught +in raiding the jam-pot. + +Yes, he who inspired his associates with both respect and admiration +was forced to acknowledge to himself that when face to face with Sarah +Libbie Lewis he was nothing better than a faltering ten-year-old whose +collar is too tight for him, and whose hands and feet are sizes too +large. The paradox was too humiliating to be endured! Nevertheless, +he had endured the ignominy of it for five-and-twenty years, and there +seemed to be every prospect that he would continue to endure it. +Periodically, it is true, he would rise in his wrath, resolving that +another sun should not go down on his vacillation and timidity; nay, +more, he would even stride forth to Sarah Libbie's home, vowing as he +went that before he slept he would speak the decisive words that had +for so long trembled on his tongue. + +Confronted by the lady of his choice, however, his courage, like that +of the immortal Bob Acres, would ooze away, and after basking for a +wretched interval in the glory of her smile, he would retrace his steps +with the declaration still unuttered. As far back as Jack could +remember, this woman had tyrannized over him and humbled his +self-esteem. In childhood she had leveled with a blow the sand castles +he built on the beach for her delight, and ever since she had contrived +to raze to the ground his less tangible castles,--dream-castles where +he saw her the mistress of his lonely fireside. Yet despite her +exasperating capriciousness, Jack had never wavered in his allegiance, +not a whit. Long ago he had made up his mind that Sarah Libbie was the +one woman in the world for him, and he had never seen cause to alter +that verdict. Nor did he entertain any doubt that Sarah Libbie's +sentiments coincided with his own, even though she did cloak her +preference beneath so many intricate and misleading devices of +femininity. It was not fear of the thundering _No_ that hindered Jack +from proclaiming his affection; it was merely the physical +impossibility of putting his heart into intelligible and coherent +phraseology when Sarah Libbie's bewitching gaze was upon him. He could +meet all comers in a political argument, could hold his own against the +banter of the village gossips; he could even defy Willie and his +counsel; but to address Sarah Libbie on a matter so tender and of such +vital import was an ordeal so overwhelming that it caused his tongue to +cleave to the roof of his mouth, and his pulse almost to cease to beat. +Unlucky Jack! + +Many were the evenings he tramped the dunes, rehearsing in the darkness +the momentous declaration that was to work a miracle in his solitary +life. Like an actor committing his lines, he would repeat the words, +hurling them upon the blackness of the night where, to the +accompaniment of the booming surf, they echoed with a majesty and +dignity astonishingly impressive. But in the light of day and Sarah +Libbie's presence, his sonorous philippic would dwindle away into a +jargon of garbled phrases too disjointed and meaningless to carry +weight with any woman, let alone the peerless Sarah Libbie Lewis. + +Thus for more than a quarter of a century Jack Nickerson had silently +worshiped at the shrine of his divinity, and in the meantime the roses +in Sarah Libbie's cheeks had grown fainter, and tendrils of silver had +found their way into the soft curls that shadowed her brow. Still Jack +could not speak the words that were on his lips. Of course the little +woman could not do it for him, although she did venture by many a +subtle device to aid him in his dilemma. She baked for him pies, +cookies, and doughnuts of a delicious russet tint and sent them to the +station, that their aroma might gently prod into action her lover's +faintness of heart; these visible tokens of her devotion would +disappear, however, leaving behind them only a tranquil sense of +enjoyment; and as this lessened the fervor of her admirer's +determination would evaporate. Then Sarah Libbie would resort to less +ephemeral offerings,--scarves, wristers, mittens, patiently knitted +from blue wool and representing such an endless number of stitches that +Jack never viewed them without elation. + +And as if these proofs of her regard were not sufficient, every evening +just at sundown she would light a lantern and flash a good-night to him +across the waters that estranged them. It was a pretty custom that had +had its beginning when the boy and girl had lived as neighbors on the +deserted highway that followed the horseshoe curve of the Belleport +shore. They had evolved a code whereby, with much labor it must be +admitted, they were able to spell out messages that flickered their way +through the night with the beauty of a firefly's revel; but when Jack +had taken up work with the coast guard, this old-time substitute for +speech had been abandoned, giving place to the briefer method of three +nightly flashes. Neither toil nor illness, rain, snow or tempest had +in all the years prevented Sarah Libbie from being at her post at +twilight, there to watch for the gleam of Jack's lantern, whose rays +she answered with the light from her own. Even when fogs obscured the +Bar so that the distant headland was cut off from view, Sarah Libbie +would go through the little ceremony and after it was over return to +her knitting with a quiet gladness, although the presence of the other +factor in the drama was a mere matter of conjecture. + +Thus the romance had drifted on, and Jack Nickerson now faced his +fiftieth year and was no nearer bringing the love story to a +culmination than he had been when as a boy in his teens he had gazed +into Sarah Libbie's blue eyes and registered the vows he had never yet +dared utter. Nevertheless lonely and disappointed as was Sarah Libbie, +Jack was a thousand times more miserable. To-night, especially, as he +tramped the coast in the teeth of the gale, he thought of Willie +Spence's ridicule and one of his periodic moods of self-abasement came +upon him. What a wretched cur he was! How lacking in nerve! Any +woman, he muttered to himself, was better off without such a +feeble-willed, spineless husband! + +The fierce winds and whirling sands that stung his cheeks and buffeted +him seemed a merited castigation, a castigation that amounted to a +penance. He welcomed their punishment. As he stumbled on through the +pitch black of the night, he asked himself what he was going to do. +Was he always to go on loving Sarah Libbie and letting her love him and +never in manly fashion bring the affair to a climax? If he did not +mean to make her his wife, had he the right to stand in the way and +prevent her from marrying some one else? The baldness of the question +brought him up with a turn, and as he paused breathlessly awaiting his +own verdict, his eye was caught by the lantern dangling from his hand. +He regarded it with slow wonder as if he had never seen it before. Why +had he never thought until now of this method of communication? Not +only was it simple and direct, but it also obviated the difficulty that +had always been the stumbling-block in his path,--the necessity of +confronting Sarah Libbie in the flesh. He grasped the inspiration with +zeal. Fate was with him. His watch was up, and he was free to make +his way back to the station, if he so willed, and put his remarkable +scheme into execution. + +Away he sped through the howling tempest. + +As he flew up the steps of the lookout tower, he could detect the +twinkling lights from his lady's home gemmed against the background of +velvet darkness. Perhaps her fluttering little heart was uneasy about +her lover, and she was peering out into the gale. However that may be, +he had no difficulty in summoning her to the window when he raised his +lantern. Then, with the talisman held high, he paused. What should he +say? Of course he could send no lengthy message. Even a few words +meant a laborious amount of spelling. Perhaps _Will You Marry Me?_ was +as simple and direct a way as he could put it. Firmly he gripped the +lantern. Then, instead of the customary three flashes, he began the +involved liftings, dippings, and circlings which in luminous waves were +to spell out his destiny. + +_Will You Marry_-- + +Ah, there was no need for him to go on! Sarah Libbie had waited too +long for those magic words to doubt their purport. Nor did she +hesitate for an answer. In an instant she caught up the unique avowal, +and across the turbulent waters signalled to her beloved the three +mystic letters that should make her his forever. With the faint, +blinking flashes, the weight of years fell away from Jack Nickerson. +No longer was he a trembling, tongue-tied captive, scorning himself for +his want of will. He was a free man, the affianced husband of the most +wonderful creature in the world. In his exultation he raised his +lantern aloft and swung it round and round with the abandon of a boy +who tosses his cap in the air. Then he bounded down the iron staircase +like a child let out of school, dashing round their spiral windings +with reckless velocity. + +The deed was done! Sarah Libbie was his! + + +It might have been half an hour later, as he sat smoking in blissful +meditation in the living room of the station, that the door was +wrenched open and Willie Spence burst into the room. Every hair on the +old inventor's head was upright with anxiety, and he puffed +breathlessly: + +"What's ashore? I saw your signal an' knew straight off somethin' +terrible was up, for you've never called for help from the town before. +I've raised all the folks I could get a-holt of an' Bob Morton's gone +to get more. They'll be here on the double quick!" + +The boast was no idle one. Even as he spoke there was a tramping, a +rush of feet, and a babel of confused, frightened voices, and into the +room flocked the dwellers of the hamlet,--men, women, and children, all +with wind-tossed hair and strained, terrified faces. + +"What is it?" + +"What's the matter?" + +"Where's the wreck?" + +As they stood there tragic in the dim light, there was a stir near the +door and Sarah Libbie Lewis pushed her way through the crowd. + +She had stopped only to toss a black shawl over her head and in +contrast to its sable folds her cheeks and lips were ashen. + +"They told me there was a wreck," she cried, rushing to Jack's side and +seizing his arm wildly. "Oh, you won't go--you won't go and leave me +now, Jack--not so soon--not after to-night!" + +Already sobs were choking the words and her hands were clinging to his. + +With the supreme defiance of a man prepared to defend his dearest +possession against the universe, Jack Nickerson circled her in his +embrace and faced the throng. No longer was he the shrinking, timorous +supplicant. Victorious love had set her crown upon his brows, +bestowing dignity upon his years and glory upon his manhood. His +explanation came fearlessly to his lips. + +"There ain't no wreck," he said quietly. "All the same I'm glad you +saw my lantern an' came, 'cause I've got somethin' to tell you all. Me +an' Sarah Libbie are goin' to get married." + +For a moment there was an incredulous hush. Then Willie Spence came to +the rescue. + +"Well, I will say, Jack," he drawled, "you had a pretty good nerve to +get us out on a night like this to tell us that! You might at least +have waited 'til mornin'. Still, I reckon if I'd been nigh on to a +quarter of a century gettin' my spunk together to ask a woman to marry +me an' had finally done it, I'd a-wanted somebody to know it." + +The words were not unkindly spoken and Jack joined in the general +laugh. Nothing mattered to him now. Oblivious to the spectators, he +was bending down over the woman he loved and murmuring: + +"I love you, Sarah Libbie. I've always loved you." + +The little old inventor watched the radiant pair a moment then motioned +to the villagers to slip away. But Bartley Coffin could not be +restrained from lagging behind and whispering confidentially in Jack's +ear: + +"If you want to be truly happy, mate, an' live clear of a life of +pesterin', don't you never buy Sarah Libbie a satin dress! Minnie an' +I have made it up, thanks to Willie Spence, but 'twas a tussle. I'd +come to the jumpin'-off place." + +The statement was but too true. Willie had indeed intervened and +averted a tragedy, but the feat had demanded ruthless measures, and he +had trudged home from the Coffins with the bone of contention clutched +rigidly beneath his arm. + +That night Celestina heard muffled sounds in the workshop. + +"Oh, my land!" she murmured. "If Willie ain't hitched again! I did +hope nothin' new would come to him 'til he got rested up from this +other idee." + +But Willie's inspiration was not of the inventive type. Instead the +little old man was standing before the stove, kindling a fire, and into +its crackling blaze he was bundling the last remnants of Minnie +Coffin's far-famed black satin. The light played on his face which was +set in grim earnestness. + +"It seems a wicked shame," he observed in a whisper, as he viewed the +funeral pyre, "but it's the only way. Long's that dress remained on +earth there'd be no peace for Bart nor his wife either. It had to go." + +The flames danced higher, flashing in and out of the trimmings of jet +and charring the beads to dullness. In the morning only a heap of gray +ashes marked the flight of Minnie Coffin's social ambitions. + +"_Requiescat in pace_!" murmured Willie as with lips firm with Puritan +stoicism he passed by the stove. There he added gently: "Poor Minnie! +Poor foolish Minnie!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +WILLIE AS PILOT + +The invention was finished! The last rivet was in place, the last +screw secure, and before the fulfilment of his dream the little old man +stood with glowing face. It was a gentle, happy face with misty blue +eyes that carried at the moment a serene contentment. + +"I couldn't 'a' done it but for you, Bob," he was saying. "The idea +was all well enough, but 'twould 'a' been of no use without other +brains to carry it out. So you must remember a big slice of the credit +is yours." + +Robert Morton shook his head. + +"Oh, the thing is yours, Willie--every bit yours," protested he. "I +only did some of the mechanical part, and that any fool could do." + +"The mechanical part, as you call it, is full as important as the +notion," Willie persisted. "I shall tell Zenas Henry it's our +invention when I turn it over to him." + +The pronoun thrilled Bob with pleasure. It meant the sweeping aside of +the last film of distrust and the restoration of the old man's former +confidence and friendship. For days Willie had slowly been reaching +the conviction that if fraud had been practised Tiny's nephew had been +only an innocent party to it--the tool of more designing hands. How +was the lad to know he was being so artfully made use of? And anyway, +perhaps there may have been no conspiracy at all. Might not Janoah +have been mistaken about Snelling raiding the workshop? Why, a score +of reasons might have brought him there! He might have left behind him +something he needed; or there might have been something he wanted to +do. It was absurd to accuse him of a secret and deliberately planned +visit. + +Willie was a simple, single-minded soul and now that Janoah and his +malicious influence had been removed, he dropped comfortably back into +a tranquillity from which, when viewed in perspective, his former +suspicions seemed both unjust and ridiculous. Suppose Mr. Galbraith +did happen to be a boat-builder? Was he not Bob's friend and Delight's +uncle, a gentleman of honor who had money enough without stooping to +secure more by treachery? And did it not follow that since Mr. +Snelling was in his employ he must be a person of reputable character? +A fig for Janoah Spence's accusations! + +Willie blew a contemptuous whiff of smoke into the air. How had he +ever dropped to being so base as to credit them for an instant? He was +ashamed for having done so. + +Therefore whole-heartedly he gave his hand to Robert Morton, and if the +act were a mute petition for forgiveness it was none the less sincere +in its intent and was met with an equal spirit of good will. + +"I suppose now that everything is complete, there is no reason why we +can't present the thing to Zenas Henry right away, is there?" +questioned Bob, who with hands thrust deep in his trousers' pockets +contemplated with satisfaction the product of their joint toil. + +"Not the least in the world," Willie answered. "If we was to keep it +here a week there ain't nothin' more we could do to it, an' since +you've tried it out over at Galbraith's we know it works." + +"Oh, it works all right!" laughed Bob. + +The eyes of the little inventor softened and into them crept a glint of +pensiveness. + +"Yes," he repeated, "we can deliver it up to Zenas Henry 'most anytime +now." He paused. "Queer, ain't it, how kinder attached you get to +anything you've fussed over so long? It gets to be 'most a part of +you. You'll think it funny, I guess, but do you know I'll be sorter +sorry to see this thing goin'." + +It was the regret of the parent compelled to part from his child and +with an effort at comfort Robert Morton said cheerfully: + +"Oh, you'll be having a new scheme before long." + +"Mebbe I will," Willie answered, brightening. "I never can tell when +the sun rises in the mornin' what idee will kitch me before night. +Still, I somehow feel there'll be no idee like this one. You know they +say every artist creates one masterpiece," he smiled shyly. "This, I +reckon, is my masterpiece." + +"It is a bully one, anyhow!" ejaculated Bob. "Aren't you curious to +hear what Zenas Henry will say when he sees it?" + +"I am sorter itchin' to," admitted Willie in less meditative tone. +"Only last night I was thinkin' after I got to bed how would be the +best way of givin' it to him. I've sorter set my heart on springin' it +on him as a surprise. What's your notion?" + +"I think that would be a fine plan," replied Bob, eager to humor the +gentle dreamer. "If we could get him and the captains out of the way, +it would be good sport simply to fasten the attachment to the boat and +wait and see what happened." + +"Wouldn't that be the beateree!" chimed in Willie excitedly. His face +glowed and he rubbed his hands with honest pleasure. "Wouldn't it, +though? We could manage it, too, for Delight could arrange to get +Zenas Henry an' the three captains out of the way. She's an almighty +good one at keepin' a secret, as I reckon you've found out already." + +He stole a sly glance at the young man at his elbow who flushed +uncomfortably. + +"Yes," he rambled on, "Delight can shut her mouth on occasions like as +if it was a scallop shell. The only trouble is she'd oughter close her +eyes too, for they talk 'most as well as her tongue does. Likely +you've noticed that," he added innocently. + +"I--eh--" + +"Fur's that goes, your own eyes do somethin' in the speakin' line," +affirmed Willie, bending to fleck a bit of dust from the appliance +before them. + +"What!" Robert Morton exclaimed with alarm. + +The old inventor nodded gravely. + +"Yes," continued he, "now I come to think of it, you've got among the +most speakin' eyes I ever see. They kinder bawl things right out." + +"What--what--have they--" stammered Bob, crumpling weakly down upon the +rickety chair before the stove. + +"Bawled? Oh, a lot of things," was the provokingly ambiguous retort. + +His companion eyed him narrowly. + +"I'm--I'm--in a horrible mess, Willie," he suddenly blurted out quite +irrelevently. + +"I know it." + +Robert Morton gasped, then lapsed into stunned silence. + +"Without goin' into any details or discussin' any ladies we know, my +advice would be to make a clean breast of the whole thing," the little +old man announced, avoiding Robert Morton's eyes and blowing a ring of +smoke from his pipe impersonally toward the low ceiling. "Have it out +with Zenas Henry an' set yourself right with the Belleport folks. You +don't want to do nothin' under cover." + +"No, I don't," rejoined the younger man quickly. "The reason I didn't +do so in the first place was because Zenas Henry was so upset when he +heard about Madam Lee that we--I thought--" + +"He's calmed down now, ain't he?" + +"Yes, he seems to have accepted the facts, especially as the Galbraiths +have not been near him and have let the whole matter drop. Of course +that is only a temporary condition, however. Mr. Galbraith has been in +New York attending to important matters ever since Madam Lee's death. +What will be done when he returns I do not know; but he will do +something--you may be sure of that." + +"That ain't no special business of yours or mine, is it?" Willie +remarked. "All that concerns you is to let both those men know where +you stand--Zenas Henry first, 'cause he's been like a father to +Delight; an' Mr. Galbraith afterwards, 'cause--" he hesitated for the +fraction of a second, "'cause the Galbraiths are the girl's nearest of +kin an' legally, I s'pose, have a right--" + +"Yes," interrupted Robert Morton hastily. + +"When you get things all squared up, we'll talk more about it," +continued Willie. "But 'til you do the affair ain't open an' above +board, an' I don't want nothin' to do with it. The top of the ocean is +good enough for me; I never was much on swimmin' under water." + +He broke off abruptly to refill his pipe. + +"Now about this motor-boat," he went on crisply, veering to a less +delicate subject. "S'pose you fix it up with Delight to keep Zenas +Henry an' the three captains away from the beach for a couple of days +so'st to give us time to get our invention securely rigged to the _Sea +Gull_. She could find somethin' for 'em to do up at the house for that +long, couldn't she?" + +"I guess so." + +"If she can't, Abbie can," chuckled Willie, with a grin. "Abbie +Brewster's the most famous woman in the world for settin' folks to +work. She's made Zenas Henry clean over since his marriage. Why, I +remember the time when you could no more have got him to do a day's +work than you could have lined up the fish of the sea in a +Sunday-school. But with trainin', Zenas Henry now does his plowin', +plantin' an' harvestin' in somethin' approachin' alarm-clock fashion. +Of course, he backslides if he ain't constantly held to it; but knowin' +his past it's a miracle what Abbie's made of him. She ain't never +wholly reformed his temper, though. There's plenty of cayenne in that +still. I reckon if you was to amputate Zenas Henry's temper you'd find +you had took away the most interestin' part of him." + +His listener smiled. + +"Now you go ahead an' arrange things with Delight, Bob," continued +Willie. "An interview with her won't be no great hardship for you, +will it? I thought not. An' any fillin' in I can do, I'll do--any +fillin' in," he repeated significantly. "You can count on me to plug +any gaps that come anywheres--remember that." + +"It's bully of you, Willie!" cried Bob, seizing his hand. + +"Not a mite," protested the little man, with a deprecating gesture. +"Now that I've got Bart Coffin an' Minnie livin' like turtle doves, an' +Jack Nickerson as good as married to Sarah Libbie Lewis, two of my +ships seem to have dropped anchor safe an' sound. I reckon I shan't +need to do no more pilotin' there." + +The little old inventor stopped a moment, then added: + +"Sometimes I figger what I was put in the world for was to do pilot +duty. You know there's folks that never own a ship of their own but +just spend their days towin' other people's ships into port. They +ain't so bad off neither," he went on in a merrier tone, "'cause +there's a heap of joy in helpin' some other vessel to make a landin'." + +More moved by the words than he would have confessed, Robert Morton +watched the bent figure move through the door and out into the +sunshine; and afterward, banishing the seriousness of his mood, he +climbed the hill to the white cottage, there to evolve with Delight a +plot that should hold the men of the Brewster household captive long +enough for Willie and himself to attach to Zenas Henry's motor-boat the +new invention. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +ONE MORE OF WILLIE'S SHIPS REACHES PORT + +Three feverish days passed, days of constant hard work and myriad +trivial annoyances. A train of misadventures had attended the +transference of Willie's "idee" to Zenas Henry's boat. Parts had +failed to fit, and much wearisome toil had been demanded before the +device was actually in place. At last, however, all was ready, and +Abbie Brewster, a party to the conspiracy, had on a sunny morning urged +her reluctant spouse and the three captains to make a trip out to the +Bar for clams. They were none too keen about the proposed expedition, +for the weather was warm and their course lay through shallow waters +which after the recent storm were turbid with seaweed. Nevertheless, +ignoring their unwillingness, Abbie declared she must have the clams, +and was not her word law? + +Therefore, without enthusiasm, the four fishermen had set forth with +their buckets and their clam forks, and it was now a full three hours +since the motor-boat that carried them had disappeared around the point +of sand jutting into the sparkling waters of the bay. + +Bob and Willie, secreted in the workshop, had breathlessly watched the +_Sea Gull_ thread her way through the channel and make the curving +shelter of the dunes, and ever since the old inventor had sat alert on +an overturned nail keg, his binoculars in one hand and his great silver +watch in the other, counting the moments until the little craft should +return from its momentous cruise. The vigil had been long and tedious, +with only the ticking of the mammoth timepiece and the far-off rumble +of the surf to break the stillness. + +Presently Celestina came from the kitchen into the shop. + +"I'm bringin' you a dish of hot doughnuts," she said, a kindly sympathy +in her face. "Oughtn't them men to be comin' pretty soon now?" + +For the hundredth time Willie raised the glasses and scanned the +shimmering golden waters. + +"We should sight 'em before long," he nodded. + +"You don't see nothin' of 'em?" + +"Not yet." + +There was an anxious frown on his forehead. + +"Why don't you eat somethin'?" suggested she. "It might take your mind +off worryin'." + +"I ain't worryin', Tiny," was the confident reply. "The boat's all +right." + +"S'pose it should be snagged or somethin' outside the bay?" she +ventured. "I wish to goodness they'd come back. Look, here's Delight +an' Abbie comin' through the grove. Likely they've been gettin' +uneasy, too." + +Sure enough, moving among the low pines that shaded the slope between +the Spence and Brewster houses they saw the two women. + +Abbie was stouter now than when she had come as a bride to Zenas +Henry's white cottage, but there was a serenity in her mien that +softened her expression into charming womanliness. As she neared the +shed she glanced at Willie with an uneasiness she could not wholly +conceal. + +"Don't it seem to you, Willie, that it's gettin' most time for 'em to +be gettin' home?" + +"You ain't nervous, Abbie," smiled the little old man. + +"N--o, not really. Of course, I know they're all right. Still, they +ain't never stayed clammin' so long before." + +"I wouldn't worry, Auntie," Delight put in, taking her hand +reassuringly. "A thousand things may have delayed them. I am sure--" + +"They're comin'!" broke in Willie with sudden excitement. "The boat's +comin'. Ain't that her makin' the point, Bob? She's clippin' along +like a race horse, too. Lord! Watch her go." + +"That's the _Sea Gull_!" cried Abbie. "I don't need no glasses to make +her out. That's her! How foolish I was to go fussin'. Still, I +always have a kind of dread--" + +"I know, I know," interrupted the inventor gently. "But there warn't +no call for worry this time. I felt mortal certain they'd be heavin' +into sight pretty soon." + +"I guess likely now we know they're on the way, we'd better slip home +again," Abbie smiled. "I'd feel silly enough to have 'em find us here." + +"Nonsense, Abbie!" said Celestina. "They needn't know you was worried. +Ain't it possible you might have come down here on an errand? Wait +'til they pass and walk back with 'em. What difference does it make if +your dinner is late?" + +Abbie hesitated. Her dinner never was late; yet, for that matter, she +never was out visiting her neighbors in the middle of the day, either. +Perhaps, as she had followed one demoralizing impulse and transgressed +all her domestic traditions, the breaking of another did not matter. + +"I--s'pose I might wait," she answered. "I'd love dearly to hear what +they'll have to say." + +"Oh, do wait, Auntie!" Delight begged. "It won't be long now before +they get here." + +"Better stay, Abbie," put in Willie. "Bob an' I won't be inventin' +every day." + +"Well," was the half unwilling answer. + +"Don't you wonder how it worked?" cried Delight, addressing Bob, her +cheeks scarlet with excitement. "See, here they come! Did you ever +hear such a chatter! Zenas Henry is swinging that clam bucket as if +there wasn't a thing in it. He will spill them all out if he isn't +careful." + +On strode the four men. With a bound they cleared the bank before the +Spence cottage and crowded in at the narrow gate. + +"Whar is he? Whar's Willie?" demanded Zenas Henry. Then, catching +sight of the old inventor half concealed behind his workbench, he +shouted: + +"Here, Willie, you rascal, out with you! Don't go hidin' there behind +that table. Man alive, why didn't you tell us what you was up to?" + +"Did it work, Zenas Henry?" queried the little fellow eagerly. + +"Did it work!" mimicked Zenas Henry with a guffaw. "Say, Phineas, did +it?" + +The fishermen gave an exuberant roar of laughter. + +"Did it work?" repeated Zenas Henry so out of breath that he could +scarcely articulate the words. "Good Lord, don't it just! Why, we +clipped along through that seaweed as if it warn't there." + +"You didn't get snagged then?" + +"Snagged? Not much! Ain't we been ridin' in an' out every little eel +grass cove along the shore just for the sheer deviltry of seein' if we +could get snagged?" piped Captain Benjamin. "There'll be no more +rockin' in the channel for us. My eye! Think of that!" + +"How ever did you manage it, Willie?" Zenas Henry questioned. + +"What makes you so sure it was me?" + +"Oh, Lord! Who else would it be?" + +"Well, it warn't all me," protested the little inventor modestly. +"Most of it was Bob. I got the idee an' he did the rest--him an' Mr. +Galbraith's friend, Mr. Snellin'." + +"Well, I'm clean beat--that's all I can say," observed Zenas Henry, +mopping his brow. "I tell you what, it's made a new thing of that +motor-boat. There's no thankin' you. All is, Willie, if you want +anything of mine it's yours for the askin'. Just speak up an' you can +have it." + +A radiant smile spread over the face of the spinner of cobwebs. + +"You ain't got nothin' I covet, Zenas Henry," he answered slowly, "but +you've got somethin' Bob Morton wants powerful bad." + +He saw a mystified expression steal into Zenas Henry's face. + +"Happiness didn't come to you early in life, Zenas Henry," went on +Willie, his voice taking on a note of gentle persuasion, "an' often +I've heard you lament you was cheated out of spendin' your youth with +Abbie. Of course, marryin' late is better than not marryin' at all, +though. Some of the rest of us--" he motioned toward the three +captains and Celestina, "have got passed by altogether. But Delight +an' Bob have found love early, while the bloom is still on it. You +wouldn't wish to keep 'em from their birthright, would you, Zenas +Henry?" + +In the hush that followed the plea, Abbie crept up to her husband and +slipped her hand into his. + +"The child loves him, dear," she said, looking up into the man's stern +face. "I read it in her eyes long ago. You want her to be happy, +don't you?" + +Her voice trembled. Only the mother instinct, supreme in its +selflessness, gave her the strength to continue: "We must not think of +ourselves. Real love is heaven-sent. It is ours neither to give nor +to deny." + +How still the room was. Suddenly it had been transformed into a battle +ground on which a soul waged mortal combat. There was no question in +the minds of those who viewed the struggle that the issue presented had +come as a shock, and that to meet it taxed every ounce of forbearance +and control that the man possessed. He looked as one stricken, his +face a turmoil of jealousy, grief, despair, and disappointment. But +gradually a gentler light shone in his eyes,--a light radiant, and +triumphant; love was conqueror and raising his head he murmured: + +"Where is the child?" + +She sped to his side. + +"So you love him, do you, little girl?" he asked, smiling faintly down +at her as he encircled her with his great arm. + +"Yes, Zenas Henry," she whispered. + +For a moment he held her close as if he could never let her go. + +"Well, Tiny," he said, "I don't know as we have anything to say against +it. He's your nephew an' she's my daughter--yes, my daughter," he +added fiercely, "in spite of the Lees and the Galbraiths." With a +swift gesture he turned toward Robert Morton. "Young man, I am payin' +you a heavy fee for that motor-boat. I'm handin' over to you the most +precious thing I have in the world. See you value it as you should or, +by God, your life won't be worth a straw to Willie, the three captains, +or me." + +They saw him wheel abruptly and stride alone into the shadow of the low +pines. Silently the others drifted from the room and Delight was left +alone with her lover. + +As Bob caught the girl in his arms, a great wave of passion surged +through his body, causing its every fiber to vibrate in tune with the +mad beating of his heart. He kissed her hair, her cheeks, the white +curve of her exquisite throat; he buried his face in her hair and let +his hands wander over its silky ripples. + +"I love you," he panted,--"I love you with all my heart. Tell me you +love me, Delight." + +"You know I do," was the shy answer. + +Again he kissed her soft lips. + +"I mustn't stay, Bob," she said at last, trying to draw herself from +his embrace. "Zenas Henry is alone somewhere, almost broken-hearted; I +must find and comfort him." + +But the arms that held her did not loosen their hold. + +"Please let me go, Bob dear," she coaxed. "We mustn't be selfish." + +Her request struck the right note and instantly she was free. + +Robert Morton followed her to the door and stood watching as she +hurried along the copper-matted path of the woods sunflecked and +mottled with shadow. + +What a sweet miracle it was, he mused! She was his now before all the +world, thanks to Willie's skilful pilotage. Where was the little old +man--that dreamer of dreams, who with Midas-like touch left upon +everything with which he came in contact the golden impress of his +heart? He must seek him out and thank him for his aid. + +Perhaps the thought carried with it a potent charm of magic, for no +sooner had Robert Morton framed it than the inventor himself appeared +on the threshold. + +"Well, another of my ships has made port!" cried he triumphantly. + +His delicate face was illumined with a joy so transcendent that one +might easily have believed that it was to him love's touchstone had +been given. + +"I never can thank you, Willie!" burst out the young man. + +"Be good to Delight, my boy, an' make her happy; that's all the thanks +I want," was the grave response. + +A pause fell between them. Perhaps Willie was thinking of the days +that must inevitably come when the girl he had loved since childhood +would be far away. How dull the gray house would be when she no longer +flitted in and out its doors! Try as he would to banish the selfish +reflection, it returned persistently. Then suddenly something quite +outside himself put the reverie to rout. + +It was the querulous voice of Janoah Eldridge. + +"I was right about them Galbraiths," he cried exultantly, standing in +the doorway and hurling the words into the room where the two men +lingered. "'Twas exactly as I said. Lyman Bearse's boy went up on the +Boston train one afternoon in front of Snelling an' that other feller +who was here, an' he heard every word they uttered. He said they +talked the whole way about gettin' a patent out on your invention. +Now, Willie Spence, was I right or warn't I? Mebbe you'll believe me +the next time I warn you against folks." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +SURPRISES + +The next morning Robert Morton awoke with the fixed determination that +another sun should not go down until he had acquainted Mr. Galbraith +with Janoah's accusations. The misgivings, the suspicions, the fears +he entertained must be cleared up at any cost or further residence +beneath Willie's roof would be impossible. If necessary he would go to +New York to see the financier. But he must know where the blame for +Snelling's treachery lay, whether with the capitalist or with his +employee. Accordingly he arose early, and having breakfasted went down +to the store where the nearest telephone was and called up the +Belleport residence. He was fortunate in getting Parker, the old +butler, on the wire. + +"Mr. Galbraith, Mr. Bob?" came the voice of the servant. "Yes, sir, he +arrived home last night. I think he is going over to Wilton to-day to +see you. I heard him saying something about it. Wait a minute. I +hear him on the stairs now." + +There was a pause; then after a delay another voice that Bob instantly +recognized to be that of the master of the house called: + +"Bob? Well, hello, boy! I guess you thought we had all left you and +your affairs high and dry, didn't you? I've been in New York, you +know--am just back. I want to see you as soon as I can about several +important matters. Suppose I run over in the car this morning? Will +you be there? Good! I'll see you later, then." + +Robert Morton hung up the receiver and walked meditatively along the +sandy road to the gray cottage. The die was cast. Whatever happened, +it could not be worse than had been the days of suspense and anxiety +that he had endured. + +The morning was close and humid, a land breeze wafting across the +fields perfumes of sun-scorched pine and blossoming roses. Scarce a +ripple marred the glittering surface of the bay that stretched like a +sheet of burnished brass as far as one could see. Now and then a faint +zephyr, rising from the wooded slopes, swept down the hill, swirling +into billows of vivid emerald the coarse salt grass that swayed on the +marshes. So still it was that every whisper of the surf lapping the +edge of the bar could be heard; over and over the waters stole up on +the shore, fretted into foam and receded, each wave creeping +rhythmically back into the deep to a song of shifting sand and pebbles. +How silvery the tiny houses of the hamlet looked against the azure of +the sky! The few scattered trees that had braved the onslaughts of +repeated gales listed landward, but the pines sheltered in the hollows +of the dunes stood erect and darkly mysterious, their plumes bending +idly in the soft wind. + +It was all a part of the idyl, the daydream, Robert Morton +thought,--too flawless a thing to last. Willie, so childlike and +simple, his kindly aunt, Delight with her rare beauty, and even the +romance of his love seemed a part of its unreality. Was it not to be +expected that sooner or later man with his blundering touch would +destroy the loveliness, making prose of the poem? The Galbraiths, +Snelling, the greed for money, Janoah's jealousy and evil +suspicions--ah, it did not take long for such influences to mar the +peace of a heaven and smear the grime of earth upon its fairness! Only +glimpses of perfection were granted the dwellers of this +planet,--quick, transient flashes that mirrored a future free from +finite limitations. He who expected to remain on the heights in this +world was doomed to disappointment. + +Slowly he skirted the curving beach and reached the weathered cottage +where the sun beat hotly down, kissing into flower every bud of the +clinging roses that festooned its gray doorway. Willie welcomed him +but a glory had passed from the old man's face since the conversation +of the night before. How could it be otherwise? Sleepless hours had +left behind them weary, careworn lines; and in the troubled depths of +the blue eyes the old interrogation had once more awakened. Bob knew +not how to meet its silent combat between hope and disappointment, and +he hailed as a glad relief the beating echo of the Galbraiths' +motor-car as it swept the horseshoe outline of the harbor and came to a +stop before the gate. + +Mr. Galbraith, who was alone, beckoned to him, and as the younger man +climbed to the seat beside him said: + +"I thought perhaps you might like to go for a spin along the shore. It +is warm to-day and we shall get more breeze; besides, we can talk more +freely in the automobile than here or at the Belleport house. Roger +has just arrived and also Howard Snelling." + +In spite of himself, Robert Morton betrayed his surprise. + +"Mr. Snelling back again!" he exclaimed. + +"Yes, he is down," was the laconic answer. + +For all his boasted eagerness to talk, however, Richard Galbraith did +not immediately avail himself of the privilege of conversation. On the +contrary, as Bob shot a questioning glance toward him, he thought he +detected for the first time in his life a strange uneasiness in the +capitalist's habitually self-contained manner. He seemed to be framing +an introduction for what he wished to say. + +"I have several matters to talk over with you, Bob," he began at last +in a resolute tone. "Some of them are pleasant and some of them may +not, I fear, prove to be so. But we must take them as they come, and +pleasant or unpleasant, I want you to believe that I have no choice but +to place them before you. I have always felt for you a warm +friendship, my boy, and that friendship has in no way lessened. +Therefore if any word I speak causes you unhappiness, I want you to +remember that I only say it because I must. We are not always +permitted to readjust life according to our inclinations. Duty maps +out many of our paths and we must close our lips and travel them." + +He stopped as if considering how to proceed. + +"While in New York," he presently resumed, "I probated Madam Lee's +will. She was possessed of a large estate and knew very definitely +what she wanted done with it. The will was made several years ago, and +no document that I have ever seen was more specifically and +conscientiously drawn up. Although she left jewels and heirlooms to my +family, she left none of her other property to the Galbraiths, +explaining that her daughter had all she needed and that both Cynthia +and Roger had more already than was good for them." He smiled +humorously. "I guessed pretty accurately what she intended to do, as +some time ago we talked the matter over, and I heartily approved of her +proposed bequest." + +He cleared his throat and in wondering silence Robert Morton waited. + +"The property was left in bulk to an old friend whom Madam Lee had +known for years--some one entirely outside the family." + +Bob did not speak. + +"I would gladly see the Lee money administered as its owner desired to +have it," Mr. Galbraith went on. "Her ideas were wise, kind, and just, +and the fulfilment of her wishes would have brought to me--to us +all--the greatest happiness. But since that will was made a new +condition has arisen. Delight Hathaway, the child of her favorite +daughter, has appeared. Had the old lady lived, I feel certain that in +view of this fact she would have altered the document that this girl +might inherit at least a portion of the fortune in which her mother +never had any share. You knew Madam Lee very intimately, Bob--probably +better than any of the rest of us. What do you think?" + +The reply came without hesitation. + +"I am certain Madam Lee would have seen to it that her granddaughter +was provided for." + +"So it seems to me," rejoined Mr. Galbraith with evident relief. "I am +glad that our code of ethics agrees thus far. Now the question is, +Bob, how strong are you for the right? If honorable action meant +sacrifice, would you be ready to meet it?" + +"I hope so," was the modest response. + +"I know so," Mr. Galbraith declared earnestly, "and it is because I am +so sure of it that I came to you to-day. Bob, it was to you that Madam +Lee left her fortune. It was to be used for the furthering of your +dearest wish because--to quote her own words--_because I love the boy +as if he were of my own blood_." + +As he listened, Robert Morton's eyes grew cloudy, and emotion choked +his utterance until he could not speak. + +Apparently Mr. Galbraith either expected no reply or tactfully +interpreted his silence, for without waiting he continued: + +"You can understand now, Bob, feeling toward you as we all do, that +this recent family development has not been easy for us to confront. +Delight Hathaway is a beautiful girl who possesses, no doubt, admirable +qualities. We expect to become warmly attached to her in time. But +for all her kinship she is a stranger to us while you are of our own--a +brother, friend." For the first time the kind voice faltered. "I have +even cherished a hope," it went on in a lower tone, "that perhaps in +the future a closer bond might bind you to us. Nothing in the world +would have given me greater satisfaction." + +Bob suddenly felt the blood leap to his face in a crimson flood. He +gasped out an incoherent word or two, hoping to check Mr. Galbraith's +speech, but no intelligible phrases came to his tongue. + +"Life is a strangely perverse game, isn't it?"' mused the capitalist. +"We build our castles, build them not alone for ourselves but for +others, and those we love shatter the structure we have so +painstakingly reared and on its ruined site make for themselves castles +of their own." + +His eyes were fixed on the narrowing ribbon of sand over which the car +sped. + +"I--I--have another surprise for you, Bob," he said in a lower tone, +without lifting his gaze from the reach of highway ahead. "Cynthia is +to be married." + +"Cynthia!" A chaos of emotions mingled in the word. + +"Her engagement has been an overwhelming shock to her mother and me," +the elder man continued steadily, still without shifting his eyes from +the road over which he guided the car, "I don't know why the +possibility never occurred to us; but it never did. She is to marry +Howard Snelling." + +A quick wave of revulsion swept over Robert Morton. This, then, was +the reason Snelling had filched from Willie his invention,--that he +might have greater riches to lay at the feet of his fiancee, and +perhaps reach more nearly a financial equality with her family. He saw +it all now. And probably it was Snelling's jealousy of himself that +had led him to retaliate by heaping his unwelcome attentions on +Delight. At last it was clear as day,--Cynthia's growing coldness and +her continual trips to and from Belleport in the boatbuilder's company. +Robert Morton could have laughed aloud at his own stupidity. The +engagement explained, too, Mr. Snelling's confusion and embarrassment +at every mention of the Galbraith family. Why, a child might have +fathomed the romance! + +Again Mr. Galbraith was speaking. + +"And now, Bob, for the last surprise of all. At first, I thought I +would delay telling you until the papers were all in shape and ready +for signature; but on second thought it seemed a pity to shut you out +of the fun. We have all the data prepared to take out a patent on Mr. +Spence's motor-boat." + +Bob felt a sudden sinking of his heart, a stifling of his breath. + +"The afternoon you all came over to Belleport," explained the +financier, "I got Snelling and a draughtsman from our company to go to +the shop and in the old gentleman's absence secure measurements and the +necessary information. These we took to New York and put into proper +hands, and when the affidavits are sworn to and everything is in legal +form I see no reason why the government should not grant the patent. +If it does, there should be a little fortune in the appliance." + +Robert Morton did not move. He felt as if he had been turned to stone. + +"I thought you would be interested," observed Mr. Galbraith, a +suggestion of disappointment in his voice. "I did not consult you at +first because I felt so sure that the idea would please you. I'm sorry +if it doesn't. It seemed to me that if we could help Mr. Spence to +patent his device, he might do quite a little with it. I thought he +might not know how to go at the matter himself. So we are preparing +all the papers for him to file an application in his own name. +Afterward I propose either to purchase from him the rights to use it, +or to buy the thing outright at a reasonable figure. In either case, +the deal will net him quite an income and place him beyond the +possibility of financial worry so long as he lives." + +Oh, the relief that surged over Robert Morton! Joy rioted with shame, +happiness with self-reproach. How feeble his faith had been. He hoped +Mr. Galbraith did not read in his eyes the suspicions he had cherished. + +Apparently he did not, for in the same kindly manner he asked: + +"Do you think it would be better to keep the secret from the little old +chap a bit longer or tell him now?" + +"Oh, tell him now! Tell him now!" cried Bob. "Tell him right away +when we get back!" + +His companion laughed at his eagerness and for the first time their +eyes met. + +"And now, sir," began Robert Morton, a ring of buoyancy and +light-heartedness in his voice such as had not sounded in it for weeks, +"I have a surprise for you. I, too, am going to be married." + +The car swerved suddenly as if a tremor had passed through the hands on +the wheel. + +"I am engaged to your niece, Mr. Galbraith." + +"To my--my niece!" repeated the great man blankly. "I don't think I +quite--" + +"To Delight Hathaway." + +Bob saw a dull brick-red flush color the neck of the capitalist and +steal up into his face. For a moment he seemed at a loss for words. +Then presently, as if he had succeeded in readjusting his ideas, he +ejaculated: + +"My word, Bob! Well, you young people have mixed yourselves up nicely! +However, if you all are happy, that is the main thing; you are the ones +to be suited. We shall still have you in the family, anyway." He +laughed. "And about the property," he went on thoughtfully,--"this +simplifies matters greatly, for it won't make much difference now which +of you has it--you or the girl." + +But Bob stopped him with a quick protest. + +"I don't want Delight to know Madam Lee's money has previously been +willed to me," he said. "If she suspected that, she would never take +it. You are not to tell her--promise me you will see to that." + +"Of course I will arrange the affair any way you wish," Mr. Galbraith +agreed, with a dubious frown. "But if you are to marry her, I really +can't see what difference it would make." + +"It will make a great deal of difference," declared the younger man. +"In the one case the fortune will be hers to use as she pleases. She +will have the independent right to hand it over to the Brewsters if she +so desires. Our entire relation will be placed on another basis; for +if I marry her under those conditions I marry an heiress, not the ward +of a poor fisherman." + +"I hadn't thought of that." + +"On the other hand, if she refuses the money, it will be mine to lay at +her feet. Can't you see what a vast contrast there will be in my +position?" + +Mr. Galbraith nodded thoughtfully as if considering the matter from a +new angle. + +"That's the only reason the fortune would mean anything to me--that I +might have something to offer her," continued Robert Morton. "Of +course, as you said, she would have the benefit of the money in either +case; but it makes a difference whether it comes to her by the mere +right of inheritance, or whether she takes it from her--husband." + +"There is a distinction," admitted the elder man. "Now that you call +my attention to it, I can see that readily. It is a delicate one, but +its consequences are far-reaching. Well, you shall have your way! A +proportion of the legacy shall be offered to Delight, and the secret +regarding it shall be yours to keep or divulge as you see fit. You are +a noble fellow, Bob. I only wish--" He checked the impulsive phrase +that rose to his lips but not before the listener had caught its import. + +"Mr. Snelling is a fine man, Mr. Galbraith," broke in Bob instantly, +dreading the words that might follow. + +"Oh, I know it--there is no question about that," the capitalist +assented with haste. "Success is written all over his future, and I +know he will be a son-in-law to be proud of. He and Cynthia are +royally happy too, and no doubt know better than I what they want. +After all, none of us can live other people's lives; each must work out +his own." + +"You've said it, Mr. Galbraith." + +The financier smiled and his eyes twinkled beneath the shaggy brows +that arched them. + +"You will have to be getting used to calling me by another name, young +man," he said. "Remember I am to be your uncle." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +DELIGHT MAKES HER DECISION + +Zenas Henry Brewster sat on the edge of his veranda, his long legs +crossed before him with a certain angular grace and his corncob pipe +held rigidly between his teeth. Beside him, ranged like sparrows on a +telegraph wire, were Captain Phineas Taylor, Captain Jonas Baker, and +Captain Benjamin Todd. From the row of pipes a miniature cloud of +smoke ascended, but save for the distant pulsing of the sea and the +murmur of the wind in the linden near the door not a sound was to be +heard through the afternoon stillness. Yet in spite of the +tranquillity of the day and the apparent peace of the four figures that +gazed so immovably out upon the reach of blue, an electrical current of +suspense was evident in the four tense forms. They were not looking at +the bay, exquisite as it was in its cerulean beauty. Instead, the head +of each man was turned toward the road that skirted the harbor and +wound its way between the pines at the foot of the hill where the white +cottage stood. + +"He'd oughter be comin' pretty soon, hadn't he?" Captain Phineas +ventured at last, unable longer to restrain his impatience. "He said +four o'clock in his letter. It must be 'most that, don't you think?" + +"Mighty nigh unto it," replied Captain Benjamin. "As I reckon it, +havin' made the necessary allowances for my watch losin' +three-an'-a-quarter minutes an hour, it should be about four now." + +"It ain't but a quarter of four," sniffed Captain Jonas with an air of +superiority. "That timepiece of yours, Benjamin, ain't worth the +silver that was put into it. What's the use of havin' a watch that +keeps you figgerin' backwards an' forards, an' doin' sums all day? I +wouldn't be bothered with it." + +Captain Benjamin bridled with indignation. + +"I don't see but my watch is good as yours," retorted he. "The only +difference is I'm addin' from mornin' 'til night while you're +substractin'." + +The discomfited Captain Baker frowned. + +"Mine comes out even minutes, anyhow," announced he. "If it does shoot +ahead some, it don't keep me reckonin' in fractions like yours does. +I'd see myself in Davie Jones's locker 'fore I'd go addin' +three-quarter minutes together from sunrise to sunset." + +"Oh, addin' fractions is mighty good trainin' for Benjamin," put in the +peace-loving Captain Phineas, with a chuckle. "It keeps his arithmetic +brushed up. I'll bet you he could beat you at a sum, Jonas." + +The triumphant Captain Benjamin observed a complacent silence. + +"Let Benjamin an' his watch alone, Jonas," drawled Zenas Henry, +speaking for the first time. "Somebody in the house has got to be up +on mathematics, an' it may as well be Benjamin as another. I'm only +sorry his ticker holds him just to addin'; if it would only make him +multiply an' divide some, an' take him into square root 'twould give +him a liberal all-round education. Still, there's always hopes it may +take a new turn. The last time it went overboard there was indications +that 'twouldn't be long before 'twould be leadin' him into algebra an' +the fourth dimension." + +Captain Benjamin grinned at the sally. + +"It won't be goin' overboard no more now, Zenas Henry," responded he +serenely, "'cause since the _Sea Gull's_ got that eel-grass-proof +contrivance hitched to her, there won't be no call for me to be lyin' +head down'ards astern. I'll be settin' up like a Christian in +future--all of us will. My soul, but Bob Morton an' Willie Spence did +a good job on that boat! It's somethin' to have a young chap with +brains like that marryin' into the family! I'll bet there's 'most +nothin' on earth he couldn't tackle." + +"You're right!" Captain Phineas chimed in. "If Delight's got to get +married--an' we'd be a lot of selfish brutes not to want her to--she +certainly has picked a promisin' husband. You can lose money--fling it +away or have it stolen from you--but you can't lose brains." + +"That's so, Phineas! That's so!" Zenas Henry said. "Besides, 'tain't +as if he was takin' her to Indiana. New York ain't fur. Why, I'll +stake a catch of mackerel we could fetch up at that Long Island place +in the _Sea Gull_." + +"Of course we could, Zenas Henry," agreed Captain Jonas, flashing a +glance of affection into his friend's face. "There's no question about +it. Take a good clear day an' the sea runnin' right, we could make it +without a mite of trouble. Long Island wouldn't be anything of a +cruise. No place that we can sail to in our own boat is fur away." + +A listener of discrimination might have detected in the dialogue a note +of assumed optimism and suspected that the four old men seated like +images on the piazza rail were trying to buoy up one another's courage, +and in the assumption he would not, perhaps, have been far wrong. + +"What do you s'pose this Galbraith has up his sleeve, Zenas Henry, that +he should be comin' over here?" Captain Benjamin Todd speculated, +during a lapse in the conversation. "He has some scheme in mind, you +can be sure of that." + +"Why do you always go rootin' up evil like as if you was diggin' fur +clams, Benjamin?" inquired Captain Phineas impatiently, "All Mr. +Galbraith said was he wanted to see Zenas Henry. There surely is no +harm in that. Delight bein' his niece, it's only to be expected he'd +want to get sight of the folks she is livin' with. Most natural thing +in the world, it seems to me. 'Twould be queerer if he didn't show no +interest in the people who have brought her up." + +"That's so, Phineas," Captain Jonas echoed. "Nothin's likelier than +that he's comin' to sorter thank Zenas Henry." + +"Thank us!" Zenas Henry burst out. "Thank us for bringin' up our own +child! What business is it of his? Do we go traipsin' to Belleport to +thank him for bein' good to his children?" + +"No, no, Zenas Henry," Captain Phineas replied soothingly. "Of course +he ain't comin' here to thank us. That would be plumb ridiculous. +More probable he's comin' as I said, to make a friendly call since he's +a relative." + +But in spite of this reassurance, the ripple of misgiving had not +entirely died away before the well-known touring-car with the New York +financier in its tonneau made its appearance at the foot of the hill. + +"He's comin', Zenas Henry!" + +"There he is!" + +"That's him!" was the excited comment. + +But Zenas Henry maintained a grim silence. He had risen to his full +height and now stood braced to meet an ordeal which he dreaded far more +than he would have been willing to admit. His gaunt figure was stiff +with resolution, his jaw set, his lips compressed. It was the same +expression his countenance had worn the night he had gone forth into +the storm to rescue the sinking crew of the _Michleen_ from probable +death; it was the expression his companions dreaded and feared,--the +fighter ready for combat. Yet his antagonist, as he alighted from the +motor-car and crossed the grass in leisurely fashion, appeared to be +anything but a formidable adversary. He came toward Delight, who had +hurried out to meet him, with easy friendliness, his hands extended and +a smile of genuine affection on his face. + +"I am glad to see you, my dear," he said, "--and in your own home, too. +I fancy you must have thought me a great while in coming. I was +detained in New York much longer than I expected; otherwise you would +have seen me days ago." + +She smiled up into the kindly gray eyes. + +"And my, my, my! What a lot of mischief you and Bob have been getting +into in my absence! You sly little puss! You may well blush. The +bare idea of your springing a surprise like that on your new uncle! +Bob has told me all about it," he suddenly became grave, "and I am very +glad for you both. You could not have chosen a finer husband, little +girl. Robert Morton is one man in a thousand. We'll talk more of him +by and by. Just now I wish to meet all your family. You must present +each one, so that I shall not get all these many captains confused." + +How simply and naturally he bridged the awkwardness of the moment! +Before they realized it, Abbie and the three veteran seafarers were +chatting gaily with the visitor, and even Zenas Henry was venturing out +of his reserve and unbending into geniality when the words "_and now to +business_" chilled the warmth of his mood and sent him back into his +shell, thrilling with vague forebodings. + +With every eye fixed expectantly upon him, Mr. Galbraith took off his +Panama and fanned himself. + +"Now that we have put together a few of the links that bind our two +families," he began, "and laid the foundation for a friendship which I +hope the future will foster, there are a few intimate matters of which +I wish to speak. First there is Bob Morton, and if you want any +reassuring as to his character, I can give it to you. Your own wise +and shrewd discrimination has led you to accept him at his face value +and your estimate of him has not been a mistaken one. I do not think +there is a young man in the world of greater sterling worth than the +one your daughter has chosen for a husband." + +At the firm emphasis on the word _daughter_, Zenas Henry's jaw relaxed. + +"Of course, you feel the same anxiety for your child that I feel for +mine, and realize how much a woman's happiness depends on the man into +whose hands she puts her life. In giving up Cynthia I know what it +means to you to give up Delight. We parents cannot expect to have all +the joy and none of the suffering that comes with having children, +however." He looked at Zenas Henry and a quiet sympathy passed from +one man to the other. "But we should be selfish indeed were we to deny +to those we love the best gift heaven has to bestow. It is making +others happy in their way, not in ours, that tests our real affection +for them. And so I know that underneath all your personal regrets you +rejoice in the prospect of Delight's marriage as I rejoice in +Cynthia's. We shall not always be in this world to safeguard our +daughters. How much better to see their future in the protection of +younger and stronger men than ourselves!" + +"Yes, yes!" murmured Zenas Henry. + +"And now I want to speak to Delight, although I am sure she will wish +you to hear what I have to say to her. It is a matter of business +about which she alone can decide. When Madam Lee, her grandmother, +died, she left a large property in real estate and securities which she +willed outright to an old friend of whom she was devotedly fond. She +felt the Galbraiths were amply provided for and therefore, with the +exception of certain jewels and heirlooms that were to be retained in +the family, she bequeathed them nothing. We understood the motives +that governed her in thus disposing of her property and were in full +accord with them. The document, however, was drawn up before she knew +of the existence of this other granddaughter, and in view of this fact, +the person to whom the property is willed feels that it is only just +that the whole or a part of it should be relinquished in Delight's +favor." + +There was an instant's pause. + +"This the beneficiary does of his own accord, not alone as a matter of +duty or as a matter of honor, but because his affection was so deep for +Madam Lee that it is a pleasure to him to act as he thinks she would +have desired. Had not her end come so suddenly, she would without +doubt have made a new will and done this herself." + +"You mean that without courts or lawyers askin' him to, this man just +wants to hand over the money?" gasped Captain Jonas. + +"Yes." + +"Well, I dunno who he is, but I'll say this much for him--he's an +honest cuss!" ejaculated the fisherman. + +In spite of his earnestness Mr. Galbraith smiled. + +Delight, however, had risen during the interval of silence and with +nervously clasped hands had gone to Zenas Henry's side, where she now +stood, her eyes large with thought. + +Her uncle turned toward her. + +"Well, my dear, what have you to say?" he asked. + +"It is--is very kind of a stranger to be so noble, so generous," she +declared gently. "He mustn't think that I do not appreciate it. But I +couldn't take a cent of the money," she went on with quick decision. +"Even had it been willed to me in the first place, it would have made +no difference. I don't want to be unkind or to hurt anybody's +feelings. But can't you see that Madam Lee was really nothing in my +life? She came in and went out of it like a phantom, and she did not +begin to mean to me what she did to this old friend of hers. Just +because at the close of her days it was discovered that I was of her +kin, it established no bond of affection between us--nothing but a +legal claim. If she had lived and we had grown dear to one another, +and she had given the fortune to me out of her heart, then I should +have accepted it gladly. But to have it bestowed on me merely by right +of succession--I couldn't think of touching a penny of it!" + +She caught her breath, and her chin rose a trifle higher. + +"And besides," she continued, "I would rather just be indebted to Zenas +Henry and my own family. My grandmother was unjust to my parents, +unkind. Although she lived to be sorry for it and would, doubtless, +have done differently when she was older, she was harsh and cruel to +them. I have forgiven but I never can forget it. I don't want the Lee +money. Zenas Henry and the three captains give me all I need, and I +have no fears but that in the future Bob can look out for me." + +There was something in the proudly poised figure, so slender and erect, +so firm and self-respecting in its calm decision, that roused every +hearer's admiration and drew from the New York financier an involuntary +homage. Nevertheless with a fear that impulse might have prompted the +girl's verdict, he felt impelled to explain: + +"But you are tossing away a large sum--thousands, child! You and your +people would be rich." + +"We don't want to be rich!" cried Delight, with quivering nostril. "Do +we, Zenas Henry?" she slipped an arm about his neck as he collapsed +into his seat on the piazza rail. "We are happy just as we are! You +don't want me to take the Lee money, do you?" she asked, putting her +cheek against his. + +"No, honey, no! You shan't be beholden to any one but me," he +answered. "I hoped you'd decide as you have. 'Twould take half the +pleasure out of my life if it warn't us that was to do for you. Just +the same, Mr. Galbraith, we thank you kindly for bringin' the offer, +an' your friend for makin' it; an' though we refuse it, 'tain't done in +no unfriendly spirit." + +"I understand that," nodded the financier. + +Nevertheless he gazed with no small amount of awe and respect at these +poor fisherfolk who could so lightly fling aside a fortune. + +"Mebbe," resumed Zenas Henry, "you'll tell this friend of Madam Lee's +that we've took note of his squareness." + +"Oh, yes, do tell him that it was splendid of him, splendid!" +interrupted Delight. + +"He's a gentleman, whoever he is," Captain Phineas added. "Tell him so +from all of us." + +"You might like to tell him so yourselves," returned Mr. Galbraith +slowly. + +"Eh?" Zenas Henry questioned. "Oh, we might write him, you mean. +That's so. Likely it would be more decent. We'd be surer of his +knowin' how we felt if 'twas put down in black an' white. What's his +name?" + +"Robert Morton." + +"Robert Morton! Robert Mor--not our--not _Bob_!" + +"Yes." + +He saw Delight flush, and her eyes suddenly fill with tears. + +"Bob!" she whispered half-aloud. "Bob!" + +Zenas Henry drew her closer. + +"What does the girl want with money," he demanded, "when she's got a +man like that? He's better than all the money on earth." + +"But she'll get the money just the same, Zenas Henry," piped Captain +Jonas. "She'll get it. Have you thought of that?" + +"It will be Bob's money, not mine," returned Delight with shy dignity. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +FAME COMES TO THE DREAMER OF DREAMS + +Richard Galbraith returned thoughtfully over the Harbor Road not sorry +at the turn affairs had taken. The honorable and magnanimous thing had +been done with the Lee fortune, and it had been firmly and proudly +refused. Now it could go unreservedly to Robert Morton for whom the +financier had a particular regard and in whose wisdom to make a +sensible use of it he felt every confidence. The money would not only +place the young man in a position to marry without delay, but +indirectly its benefits would reach the two individuals that Madam Lee +would most earnestly have desired to help. Nor did the capitalist's +regard for Delight, which had steadily been growing, decrease when +viewed from this new angle. The Lees were a proud race and the girl +came justly by the attribute. He was not sure, now that he reflected +on the matter, but that he himself would have scorned the legacy in the +same high-handed fashion. Nevertheless he had not expected this +termination of the interview, had not expected it at all. His recently +acquired relatives were proving themselves interesting persons. Who +would have dreamed that a penniless fisherman's daughter would have +tossed the Lee ducats back into his face? + +He laughed to himself when he thought of the paradox. He had always +admired spirit in a woman. + +The car rolled on, flashing past swamps of swaying iris bedded deep in +the salt marsh-grass, past tangles of fragrant honeysuckle and garlands +of clinging clematis, and presently shot out into the sunny stretch of +road that like a white ribbon bound the blue waters of the bay. When +it reached the bluff where the sand mounted into green-capped dunes, +patched in their hollows with shadows of violet, it slowed down and +came to a stop before Willie Spence's weathered cottage. + +The old inventor and Bob were seated idly on the workshop steps. No +longer did the vibrant hammer and purring plane blend their metallic +notes with the music of the surf. Their work was done, and until he +was "kitched with a new idee" Willie had nothing to do but smoke +beneath the shade of the grapevine and rambler rose and watch the vast +reach of water to the line where it melted into the blue of the sky. + +Since his interview with Mr. Galbraith, Robert Morton had had all he +could do to keep from Willie the assurance that Janoah's accusations +were false and that instead of misfortune good luck was winging its way +toward the low gray house on the bay. Bob was a generous fellow and it +added tenfold to his present happiness to know that joy was also coming +to one toward whom he cherished an abiding affection. The secret, +however, was Mr. Galbraith's, and until the New Yorker saw fit to +impart it he must maintain silence. Therefore, with smiles wreathing +his face and the wonderful story locked tightly in his possession, he +tried to be patient until the final revelation should be made. + +And now with the approach of the capitalist he knew that at last the +great moment had arrived. The dream of years was to come true and the +darling of Willie's brain, his greatest and most ambitious idea, was to +be made a potent factor in the broad universe. So perfectly did he +understand the quaint, half-shrinking inventor that he knew well no +money, no fame, no praise could mean to him what this recognition +would. Persons were to use the thing he had thought out,--to use it +neither because of friendship nor interest, but because it was a +practical, indispensable article which no mind had previously given to +the world. In the days and weeks Bob had spent in the Spence cottage +it was impossible not to read all this and more in the sensitive, +hungering nature of the man who had worked beside him. Love and +parenthood in its smaller and more specific sense had passed Willie +Spence by, but in their place there had sprung into life a broader +altruism and a larger creative impulse. The children his mind begot +were as much of his blood and marrow as if they had actually been born +of his own flesh; and to have one of them go victoriously forth into +that moving current that reached so far beyond his own humble door +would be like sending a child into battle. It transformed the father +to one of the elect. + +Surely, thought Robert Morton, great and unexpected issues had centered +about his visit to Wilton. When confronted by the present unfoldings, +who would have the temerity to boast that one's destinies were matters +of chance? + +"Well," called Mr. Galbraith as he came up the walk, "you two people +look comfortable. Is there room on that doorstep for one more?" + +"Certainly, sir! Certainly!" Willie replied. "But wouldn't you rather +we heaved a box or something out of the shop for you to set on? You'll +find these steps a good way down, I'm afraid." + +"Not a bit of it," the New Yorker answered, dropping into the welcome +shade of the trellis. "You have deserted the shop, I see. Does that +mean your work is done?" + +"Done an' delivered," smiled Willie. "We've discharged our cargo an' +ain't took nothin' else aboard yet. We're just kinder ridin' at +anchor." + +"How did your friend, Mr. Brewster, like your handiwork?" + +In spite of his native modesty Willie's bronzed face lighted with pride. + +"Say, you'd oughter seen him!" exclaimed he, forgetting everything else +in his pleasure. "He was struck clean abeam! He never suspected +nothin' about it an' the surprise took him broadside. An' it works!" +continued the little man with enthusiasm. "Yes, siree! It works! +That cockleshell of a _Sea Gull_ goes rippin' along through the eel +grass, her propeller clear and free as if she had twenty fathoms of +water under her. It's as pretty a sight as you'd care to look on." + +Mr. Galbraith watched the shining eyes of the inventor. + +"Mr. Spence," he said, "that idea of yours is going to be a very useful +and valuable one. Have you thought of that?" + +Willie flushed. + +"Well," replied he with hesitation, "yesterday when I was shuckin' +clams it did come to me that mebbe there'd be other folks besides Zenas +Henry would like it." + +"A great many folks!" rejoined the capitalist. "I am in a position to +know, because shipbuilding chances to be my business." + +"So I was told," his listener remarked quietly. An expression of quick +surprise passed over the other's countenance. + +"Yes," he went on, "both Mr. Snelling and I are interested in boats in +our way." + +"It's a fine job," Willie observed evasively. + +"Yes, it is. Not only is shipbuilding a fascinating occupation but it +is a patriotic one as well, for I believe the resurrection of our +merchant marine to be one of the most important duties of our nation. +Everything that works toward that end is a service to the country, in +my estimation." + +"You're right, sir," was the rejoinder. "I'm terrible fond of ships +myself. They're human as people an' as different. You can turn 'em +out from the same model, but no two of 'em will ever be alike. I've +got a little yawl down on the shore I wouldn't take a thousand dollars +for. She's knowin' as if she was alive. I can tell to an inch how +much sail she'll stand an' how much water she'll draw. She answers to +the tiller quick as a child to your voice, too--quicker'n most +children. I've had her for years, an' smooth weather or foul she ain't +never gone back on me. Folks disappoint you sometimes; but a boat +never does." As if sensing that he was venturing on dangerous ground, +he stopped abruptly. "So you build boats, do you?" he commented to +change the subject. + +Richard Galbraith nodded. + +"That's my calling," he assented. "And since it is, I am in a position +to handle things that have to do with boats of all kinds. That is why +your motor-boat idea has interested me so deeply. I saw its +possibilities from the moment I first laid eyes on it, and I wish to +congratulate you on having given the public such a useful invention." + +"It ain't got far toward the public," objected Willie, with a +deprecating shrug of his shoulders. + +"But it is going to," Mr. Galbraith declared with promptness. "Bob, +Mr. Snelling and I have taken matters into our own hands and have +ventured to have an application for a patent prepared--description, +claims and all; and after you have sworn to the affidavit and affixed +your signature, we will send it off to Washington, where I haven't a +doubt it will be granted. I thought this would save you the bother of +attending to it yourself." + +Poor Willie was too amazed to speak. + +"Now Galbraith and Company will want the monopoly of that patent, Mr. +Spence," hurried on the financier. "We are going to make you a +proposition either for the purchase of it outright, or for its use on a +royalty basis." + +With a supreme disregard for business, Willie wheeled on him before he +could go further and said simply: + +"Law, Mr. Galbraith, you can use the thing an' welcome. Turn out as +many of 'em as you like. It won't make no odds to me. But the +patent--think of havin' a real patent on somethin' I've thought out! +Just you picture it!" + +He repeated the words in a soft, musing voice that hushed his hearers +into stillness. + +"I never thought to live to see the day anything of mine would be +patented. That means that nobody else anywhere in the world ever was +kitched by that same idee before, don't it? It's sorter--sorter +wonderful an' gratifyin'. But if it hadn't been for the rest of you +that's helped me, the claptraption would never have been in any kind of +shape. 'Twould 'a' been just a hit-or-miss contrivance like the rest +of the idees I've got indoors. You see, I never had the schoolin' to +manage my notions, even when once I'd got 'em. I know that well +enough. So if I should get a patent on this thing, 'twould be mostly +due to you that's helped me, an' I thank you most humble." His voice +trembled with feeling. "After all you've done--the three of you--you +wouldn't expect me to take money from you for usin' the scheme, would +you? Take it an' welcome, an' may it bring luck to your business! But +there's one thing I would like," he added timidly. "If we should get +them patent papers from the government an' they ain't no particular use +to you, I'd like to keep 'em by me to read over now an' again. 'Twould +sorter make it all seem more real some way, an' less as if I'd dreamed +it. I've imagined this happenin' so many times an' woke up to find +'twas only imaginin's." + +The blue eyes softened into mistiness. + +"To think of gettin' a patent! To think of it! Celestina will be +glad. I'm afraid, by an' large, I've bothered her quite considerable +with my strings, an' spools, an' tacks, an' such. She'll like to know +some of 'em went for somethin', after all. The Brewsters an' Delight +will be pleased, too. An' there's Janoah! Oh, Janoah must be told +right away, Bob, quick's ever we can fetch it. 'Twill clear the air +'twixt him an' me, an' make us both happier. I ain't never been able +to convince him that if you put your trust in folks they seldom betray +it. Who knows but when he finds out what's happened he'll kitch _that_ +idee? If he should, 'twould be worth all the inventions and patents in +the world put together. Look for the best, I say, an' you get it every +time," continued the little old man, with a smile of exquisite +serenity. "The universe is full of kindly souls with hearts a-beatin' +inside 'em same's yours. Meet 'em with your hands out, an' their hands +will come the other halfway." + +"It is a pity you can't take out a patent on that notion, Mr. Spence, +and sow it broadcast," returned the New Yorker soberly. + +Willie's gaze traveled with wistful and reverent faith across the +other's face to the sky above him. + +"Somehow," he murmured, "I like to believe that idee was patented +centuries ago by One who put it right to work by believin' the best of +all us poor sinners. Folks ain't used the notion yet, much as they +might, but they're gettin' round to, an' the day'll come when not to +believe in the other feller's soul will be like--well, like havin' a +motor-boat without our attachment," concluded he whimsically. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FLOOD TIDE*** + + +******* This file should be named 18902.txt or 18902.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/9/0/18902 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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