diff options
Diffstat (limited to '22745.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 22745.txt | 15405 |
1 files changed, 15405 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/22745.txt b/22745.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d5be20 --- /dev/null +++ b/22745.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15405 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Fair Harbor, by Joseph Crosby Lincoln + + +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: Fair Harbor + + +Author: Joseph Crosby Lincoln + + + +Release Date: September 23, 2007 [eBook #22745] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAIR HARBOR*** + + +E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +FAIR HARBOR + + + * * * * * * + + +By JOSEPH C. LINCOLN + + FAIR HARBOR + GALUSHA THE MAGNIFICENT + THE PORTYGEE + "SHAVINGS" + MARY-'GUSTA + CAP'N DAN'S DAUGHTER + THE RISE OF ROSCOE PAINE + THE POSTMASTER + THE WOMAN HATERS + KEZIAH COFFIN + CY WHITTAKER'S PLACE + CAP'N ERI + EXTRICATING OBADIAH + THANKFUL'S INHERITANCE + MR. PRATT + MR. PRATT'S PATIENTS + KENT KNOWLES: "QUAHAUG" + CAP'N WARREN'S WARDS + THE DEPOT MASTER + OUR VILLAGE + PARTNERS OF THE TIDE + THE OLD HOME HOUSE + CAPE COD BALLADS + + + * * * * * * + + +FAIR HARBOR + +A Novel + +by + +JOSEPH C. LINCOLN + +Author of "Galusha the Magnificent," "Shavings," "Mary 'Gusta," +"Mr. Pratt," "Cap'n Eri," Etc. + + + + + + + +D. Appleton and Company +New York :: 1922 :: London + +Copyright, 1922, by D. Appleton Company +Copyright, 1922, by the Curtis Publishing Company + +Printed in the United States of America + + + + +FAIR HARBOR + +CHAPTER I + + +"Hi hum," observed Mr. Joel Macomber, putting down his knife and fork +with obvious reluctance and tilting back his chair. "Hi hum-a-day! Man, +born of woman, is of few days and full of--of somethin', I forget +what--George, what is it a man born of woman is full of?" + +George Kent, putting down his knife and fork, smiled and replied that he +didn't know. Mr. Macomber seemed shocked. + +"_Don't know?_" he repeated. "Tut, tut! Dear me, dear me! A young feller +that goes to prayer meetin' every Friday night--or at least waits +outside the meetin'-house door every Friday night--and yet he don't +remember his Scriptur' well enough to know what man born of woman is +full of? My soul and body! What's the world comin' to?" + +Nobody answered. The six Macomber children, Lemuel, Edgar, Sarah-Mary, +Bemis, Aldora and Joey, ages ranging from fourteen to two and a half, +kept on eating in silence--or, if not quite in silence, at least without +speaking. They had been taught not to talk at table; their mother had +taught them, their father playing the part of horrible example. Mrs. +Macomber, too, was silent. She was busy stacking plates and cups and +saucers preparatory to clearing away. When the clearing away was +finished she would be busy washing dishes and after that at some other +household duty. She was always busy and always behind with her work. + +Her husband turned to the only other person at the crowded table. + +"Cap'n Sears," he demanded, "you know 'most everything. What is it man +born of woman is full of besides a few days?" + +Sears Kendrick thoughtfully folded his napkin. There was a hole in the +napkin--holes were characteristic of the Macomber linen--but the napkin +was clean; this was characteristic, too. + +"Meanin' yourself, Joel?" he asked, bringing the napkin edges into line. + +"Not necessarily. Meanin' any man born of woman, I presume likely." + +"Humph! Know many that wasn't born that way?" + +Mr. Macomber's not too intellectual face creased into many wrinkles and +the low ceiling echoed with his laugh. "Not many, I don't cal'late," he +said, "that's a fact. But you ain't answered my question, Cap'n. What is +man born of woman full of?" + +Captain Kendrick placed the folded napkin carefully beside his plate. + +"Breakfast, just now, I presume likely," he said. "At least, I know two +or three that ought to be, judgin' by the amount of cargo I've seen 'em +stow aboard in the last half hour." Then, turning to Mrs. Macomber, he +added, "I'm goin' to help you with the dishes this mornin', Sarah." + +The lady of the house had her own ideas on that subject. + +"Indeed you won't do anything of the sort," she declared. "The idea! And +you just out of a crippled bed, as you might say." + +This remark seemed to amuse her husband hugely. "Ho, ho!" he shouted. +"That's a good one! I didn't know the bed was crippled, Sarah. What's +the matter with it; got a pain in the slats?" + +Sarah Macomber seldom indulged in retort. Usually she was too busy to +waste the time. But she allowed herself the luxury of a half minute on +this occasion. + +"No," she snapped, "but it's had one leg propped up on half a brick for +over a year. And at least once a week in all that time you've been +promisin' to bring home a new caster and fix it. If that bed ain't a +cripple I don't know what is." + +Joel looked a trifle taken aback. His laugh this time was not quite as +uproarious. + +"Guess you spoke the truth that time, Sarah, without knowin' it. Who is +it they say always speaks the truth? Children and fools, ain't it? Well, +you ain't a child scarcely, Sarah. Hope you ain't the other thing. Eh? +Ho, ho!" + +Mrs. Macomber was halfway to the kitchen door, a pile of plates upon her +arm. She did not stop nor turn, but she did speak. + +"Well," she observed, "I don't know. I was one once in my life, there's +precious little doubt about that." + +She left the room. Young Kent and Captain Kendrick exchanged glances. +Mr. Macomber swallowed, opened his mouth, closed it and swallowed again. +Lemuel and Sarah-Mary, the two older children, giggled. The clock on the +mantel struck seven times. The sound came, to the adults, as a timely +relief from embarrassment. + +Captain Kendrick looked at his watch. + +"What's that?" he exclaimed. "Six bells already? So 'tis. I declare I +didn't think 'twas so late." + +Joel rose to his feet, moving--for him--with marked rapidity. + +"Seven o'clock!" he cried. "My, my! We've got to get under way, George, +if we want to make port at the store afore 'Liphalet does. Come on, +George, hurry up." + +Kent lingered for a moment to speak to Sears Kendrick. Then he emerged +from the house and he and Joel walked rapidly off together. They were +employed, one as clerk and bookkeeper and the other as driver of the +delivery wagon, at Eliphalet Bassett's Grocery, Dry Goods, Boots and +Shoes and Notion Store at the corner of the main road and the depot +road. Joel's position there was fixed for eternity, at least he +considered it so, having driven that same delivery wagon at the same +wage for twenty-two years. "Me and that grocery cart," Mr. Macomber was +wont to observe, "have been doin' 'Liphalet's errands so long we've come +to be permanent fixtures. Yes, sir, permanent fixtures." When this was +repeated to Mr. Bassett the latter affirmed that it was true. "Every +time the dum fool goes out takin' orders," said Eliphalet, "he stays so +long that I begin to think he's turned _into_ a permanent fixture. Takes +an order for a quarter pound of tea and a spool of cotton and then hangs +'round and talks steady for half an hour. Permanent fixture! Permanent +gas fixture, that's what _he_ is." + +George Kent did not consider himself a permanent fixture at Bassett's. +He had been employed there for three years, or ever since the death of +his father, Captain Sylvester Kent, who had died at sea aboard his ship, +the _Ocean Ranger_, on the voyage home from Java to Philadelphia. George +remained in Bayport to study law with Judge Knowles, who was interested +in the young man and, being a lawyer of prominence on the Cape, was an +influential friend worth having. The law occupied young Kent's attention +in the evenings; he kept Mr. Bassett's books and sold Mr. Bassett's +brown sugar, calico and notions during the days, not because he loved +the work, the place, or its proprietor, but because the twelve dollars +paid him each Saturday enabled him to live. And, in order to live so +cheaply that he might save a bit toward the purchase of clothes, law +books and sundries, he boarded at Joel Macomber's. Sarah Macomber took +him to board, not because she needed company--six children and a husband +supplied a sufficiency of that--but because three dollars more a week +was three dollars more. + +Joel and George having tramped off to business and the very last crumb +of the Macomber breakfast having vanished, the Macomber children +proceeded to go through their usual morning routine. Lemuel, who did +chores for grumpy old Captain Elijah Samuels at the latter's big place +on the depot road, departed to rake hay and be sworn at. Sarah-Mary went +upstairs to make beds; when the bed-making was over she and Edgar and +Bemis would go to school. Aldora and Joey, the two youngest, went +outdoors to play. And Captain Sears Kendrick, late master of the ship +_Hawkeye_, and before that of the _Fair Wind_ and the _Far Seas_ and +goodness knows how many others, who ran away to ship as cabin boy when +he was thirteen, who fought the Malay pirates when he was eighteen, and +outwitted Semmes by outmaneuvering the _Alabama_ when he was +twenty-eight, a man once so strong and bronzed and confident, but now so +weak and shaken--Captain Sears Kendrick rose painfully and with effort +from his chair, took his cane from the corner and hobbled to the +kitchen. + +"Sarah," he said, "I'm goin' to help you with those dishes this +mornin'." + +"Sears," said Mrs. Macomber, taking the kettle of boiling dish-water +from the top of the stove, "you'll do nothin' of the kind. You'll go +outdoors and get a little sunshine this lovely day. It's the first real +good day you've had since you got up from bed, and outdoors 'll help you +more than anything else. Now you go!" + +"But look here, Sarah, for Heaven's sake----" + +"Be still, Sears, and don't be foolish. There ain't dishes enough to +worry about. I'll have 'em done in half a shake. Go outdoors, I tell +you. But don't you walk on those legs of yours. You hear me." + +Her brother--Sarah Macomber was a Kendrick before she married +Joel--smiled slightly. "How do you want me to walk, Sarah, on my hands?" +he inquired. "Never mind my legs. They're better this mornin' than they +have been since that fat woman and a train of cars fell on 'em.... Ah +hum!" with a change of tone, "it's a pity they didn't fall on my neck +and make a clean job of it, isn't it?" + +"Sears!" reproachfully. "How can you talk so? And especially now, when +the doctor says if you take care of yourself, you'll 'most likely be as +well as ever in--in a little while." + +"A little while! In a year or two was what he said. In ten years was +probably what he meant, and you'll notice he put in the 'most likely' +even at that. If you were to lash him in the fore-riggin' and keep him +there till he told the truth, he'd probably end by sayin' that I would +always be a good for nothin' hulk same as I am now." + +"Sears, don't--please don't. I hate to hear you speak so bitter. It +doesn't sound like you." + +"It's the way I feel, Sarah. Haven't I had enough to make me bitter?" + +His sister shook her head. "Yes, Sears," she admitted, "I guess likely +you have, but I don't know as that is a very good excuse. Some of the +rest of us," with a sigh, "haven't found it real smooth sailin' either; +but----" + +She did not finish the sentence, and there was no need. He understood +and turned quickly. + +"I'm sorry, Sarah," he said. "I ought to be hove overboard and towed +astern. The Almighty knows you've had more to put up with than ever I +had and you don't spend your time growlin' about it, either. I declare +I'm ashamed of myself, but--but--well, you know how it is with me. I've +never been used to bein' a loafer, spongin' on my relations." + +"Don't, Sears. You know you ain't spongin', as you call it. You've paid +your board ever since you've been here." + +"Yes, I have. But how much? Next to half of nothin' a week and you +wouldn't have let me pay that if I hadn't put my foot down. Or said I +was goin' to try to put it down," he added with a grim smile. "You're a +good woman, Sarah, a good woman, with more trials than your share. And +what makes me feel worst of all, I do believe, is that I should be +pitched in on you--to be the biggest trial of all. Well, that part's +about over, anyhow. No matter whether I can walk or not I shan't stay +and sponge on you. If I can't do anything else I'll hire a fish shanty +and open clams for a livin'." + +He smiled again and she smiled in sympathy, but there were tears in her +eyes. She was seven years older than her brother, and he had always been +her pride. When she was a young woman, helping with the housework in the +old home there in Bayport, before her father's death and the sale of +that home, she had watched with immense gratification his success in +school. When he ran away to sea she had defended him when others +condemned. Later, when tales of his "smartness," as sailor or mate, or +by and by, a full rated captain, began to drift back, she had gloried in +them. He came to see her semi-occasionally when his ship was in port, +and his yarns of foreign lands and strange people were, to her, far more +wonderful than anything she had ever found in the few books which had +come in her way. Each present he brought her she had kept and cherished. +And there was never a trace of jealousy in her certain knowledge that he +had gone on growing while she had stopped, that he was a strong, capable +man of the world--the big world--whereas she was, and would always be, +the wife and household drudge of Joel Macomber. + +Now, as she looked at him, pale, haggard and leaning on his cane, +stooping a little when he had been so erect and sturdy, the pity which +she had felt for him ever since they brought him into her sitting-room +on the day of the railway accident became keener than ever and with it +came an additional flash of insight. She realized more clearly than she +had before that it was not his bodily injuries which hurt most and were +the hardest to bear; it was his self-respect and the pride which were +wounded sorest. That he--_he_--Sears Kendrick, the independent autocrat +of the quarter deck, should be reduced to this! That it was wringing +his soul she knew. He had never complained except to her, and even to +her very, very seldom, but she knew. And she ventured to ask the +question she had wanted to ask ever since he had sufficiently recovered +to listen to conversation. + +"Sears," she said "I haven't said a word before, and you needn't tell me +now if you don't want to--it isn't any of my business--but is it true +that you've lost a whole lot of money? It isn't true, is it?" + +He had been standing by the open door, looking out into the yard. Now he +turned to look at her. + +"What isn't true, Sarah?" he asked. + +"That you've lost a lot of money in--in that--that business you went +into. It isn't true, is it, Sears? Oh, I hope it isn't! They say--why, +some of 'em say you've lost all the money you had put by. An awful sight +of money, they say. Sears, tell me it isn't true--please." + +He regarded her in silence for a moment. Then he shook his head. + +"Part of it isn't true, Sarah," he answered, with a slight smile. "I +haven't lost a big lot of money." + +"Oh, I'm _so_ glad. Now I can tell 'em a few things, I guess." + +"I wouldn't tell 'em too much, because the other part _is_ true. I have +lost about all I had put by." + +"Oh, Sears!" + +"Um--hm. And served me right, of course. You can't make a silk ear out +of a sow's purse, as old Cap'n Sam Doane used to love to say. You can't, +no matter how good a purse--or--ear--it is. I was a pretty good sea +cap'n if I do say it, but that wasn't any reason why I should have +figured I was a good enough business man to back as slippery an eel as +Jim Carpenter in the ship chandlery game ashore." + +"But--you----" Mrs. Macomber hesitated to utter the disgraceful word, +"you didn't fail up, did you, Sears?" she faltered. "You know that's +what they say you did." + +"Well, they say wrong. Carpenter failed, I didn't. I paid dollar for +dollar. That's why I've got next to no dollars now." + +"But you--you've got _some_, Sears. You must have," hopefully, "because +you've been paying me board. So you must have _some_ left." + +The triumph in her face was pathetic. He hated to disturb her faith. + +"Yes," he said dryly, "I have some left. Maybe seven hundred dollars or +some such matter. If I had my legs left it would be enough, or more than +enough. I wouldn't ask odds of anybody if I was the way I was before +that train went off the track. I'd lost every shot I had in the locker, +but I'm not very old yet--some years to leeward of forty--there was more +money to be had where that came from and I meant to have it. And +then--well, then this happened to me." + +"I know. And to think that you was comin' down here on purpose to see me +when it did happen. Seems almost as if I was to blame, somehow." + +"Nonsense! Nobody was to blame but the engineer that wrecked the train +and the three hundred pound woman that fell on my legs. And the engineer +was killed, poor fellow, and the woman was--well, she carried her own +punishment with her, I guess likely. Anyhow, I should call it a +punishment if I had to carry it. There, there, Sarah! Let's talk about +somethin' else. You do your dishes and, long as you won't let me help +you, I'll hop-and-go-fetch-it out to that settee in the front yard and +look at the scenery. Just think! I've been in Bayport almost four months +and haven't been as far as that gate yet--except when they lugged me in +past it, of course. And I don't recall much about that." + +"I guess not, you poor boy. And I saw them bringin' you in, all +stretched out, with your eyes shut, and as white as---- Oh, my soul and +body! I don't want to think about it, let alone talk about it." + +"Neither do I, Sarah, so we won't. Do you realize how little I know of +what's been goin' on in Bayport since I was here last? And do you +realize how long it has been since I _was_ here?" + +"Why, yes, I do, Sears. It's been almost six years; it will be just six +on the tenth of next September." + +The speech was illuminating. He looked at her curiously. + +"You do keep account of my goin's and comin's, don't you, old girl?" he +said. "Better than I do myself." + +"Oh, it means more to me than it does to you. You live such a busy life, +Sears, all over the world, meetin' everybody in all kinds of places. For +me, with nothin' to do but be stuck down here in Bayport--well, it's +different with me--I have to remember. Rememberin' and lookin' ahead is +about all I have to keep me interested." + +He was silent for a moment. Then he said: "It looks as if rememberin' +was all I will be likely to have. Think of it, Sarah! Four months in +Bayport and I haven't been to the post-office. That'll stand as a town +record, I'll bet." + +"And--and you'll keep up your courage, Sears? You won't let yourself get +blue and discouraged, for my sake if nobody else's?" + +He nodded. "I couldn't, Sarah," he said earnestly. "With you around I'd +be ashamed to." + +She ran to help him down the step, but he waved her away, and, leaning +upon the cane and clinging fast to the lattice with the other hand, he +managed to make the descent safely. Once on the flat level of the walk +he moved more rapidly and, so it seemed to his sister, more easily than +he had since his accident. The forty odd feet of walk he navigated in +fair time and came to anchor, as he would have expressed it, upon the +battered old bench by the Macomber gate. The gate, like the picket +fence, of which it was a part, needed paint and the bench needed slats +in its back. Almost anything which Joel Macomber owned needed something +and his wife and family needed most of all. + +An ancient cherry tree, its foliage now thickly spotted with green fruit, +for the month was June, cast a shadow upon the occupant of the bench. At +his feet grew a bed of daffodils and jonquils which Sarah Macomber had +planted when she came, a hopeful bride, to that house. Each year they +sprouted and bloomed and now, long after Sarah's hopes had ceased to +sprout, they continued to flourish. Beside the cherry tree grew a lilac +bush. Beyond the picket fence was the dusty sidewalk and beyond that the +dustier, rutted road. And beyond the road and along it upon both sides +were the houses and barns and the few shops of Bayport village, Bayport +as it was, and as some of us remember it, in the early '70's. + +In some respects it was much like the Bayport of to-day. The houses +themselves have changed but little. Then, as now, they were trim and +white and green-shuttered. Then, as now, the roses climbed upon their +lattices and the silver-leaf poplars and elms and mulberry trees waved +above them. But the fences which enclosed their trim lawns and yards +have disappeared, and the hitching posts and carriage blocks by their +front gates have gone also. Gone, too, are the horses and buggies and +carryalls which used to stand by these gates or within those barns. They +are gone, just as the ruts and dust of the roads have vanished. When +Mrs. Captain Hammond, of the lower road, used to call upon Mrs. Ryder at +West Bayport, she was wont to be driven to her destination in the +intensely respectable Hammond buggy drawn by the equally respectable +Hammond horse and piloted by the even more respectable--not to say +venerable--Hammond coachman, who was also gardener and "hired man." And +they made the little journey in the very respectable time of thirty-five +minutes. Now when Mrs. Captain Hammond's granddaughter, who winters in +Boston but summers at the old home, wishes to go to West Bayport she +skims over the hard, oiled macadam in her five thousand dollar runabout +and she finishes the skimming in eight minutes or less. + +And although the dwellings along the Bayport roads are much as they +were that morning when Captain Sears Kendrick sat upon the bench in the +Macomber yard and gazed gloomily at the section of road which lay +between the Macomber gate and the curve beyond the Orthodox +meeting-house--although the houses were much the same in external +appearance, those who occupy them at the present day are vastly +different from those who owned and lived in them then. Here is the +greatest change which time has brought to old Bayport. Now those +houses--the majority of them--are open only in summer; then they were +open all the year. They who come to them now regard them as playthings, +good-time centers for twelve or fourteen weeks. Then they were the homes +of men and women who were proud of them, loved them, meant to live in +them--while on land--as long as life was theirs; to die in them if +fortunate enough to be found by death while ashore; and at last to be +buried near them, under the pines of the Bayport cemetery. Now these +homes are used by business men or lawyers or doctors, whose real homes +are in Boston, New York, Chicago, or other cities. Then practically +every house was owned or occupied either by a sea captain, active or +retired, or by a captain's widow or near relative. + +For example, as Captain Kendrick sat in his brother-in-law's yard on +that June morning of that year in the early '70's, within his sight, +that is within the half mile from curve to curve of the lower road, were +no less than nine houses in which dwelt--or had dwelt--men who gained a +living upon a vessel's quarter deck. Directly across the road was the +large, cupola-crowned house of Captain Solomon Snow. Captain Sol was at +present somewhere between Surinam and New York, bound home. His wife was +with him, so was his youngest child. The older children were at home, in +the big house; their aunt, Captain Sol's sister, herself a captain's +widow, was with them. + +Next to Captain Solomon's was the Crowell place. Captain Bethuel Crowell +was in Hong Kong, but, so his wife reported at sewing circle, had +expected to sail from there "any day about now" bound for Melbourne. +Next to Captain Bethuel lived Mrs. Patience Foster, called "Mary Pashy" +by the townspeople to distinguish her from another Mary Foster in East +Bayport. Her husband had been drowned at sea, or at least so it was +supposed. His ship left Philadelphia eight years before and had never +been spoken or heard from since that time. Next to Mary-Pashy's was the +imposing, if ugly, residence of Captain Elkanah Wingate. Captain Elkanah +was retired, wealthy, a member of the school-committee, a selectman, an +aristocrat and an autocrat. And beyond Captain Elkanah lived Captain +Godfrey Peasley--who was not quite of the aristocracy as he commanded a +schooner instead of a square-rigger, and beyond him Mrs. Tabitha Crosby, +whose husband had died of yellow fever while aboard his ship in New +Orleans; and beyond Mrs. Crosby's was--well, the next building was the +Orthodox meeting-house, where the Reverend David Dishup preached. +Nowadays people call it the Congregationalist church. On the same side +of the road as the Macomber cottage were the homes of Captain Sylvanus +Baker and Captain Noah Baker and of Captain Orrin Eldridge. + +Bayport, in that day, was not only by the sea, it was of the sea. The +sea winds blew over it, the sea air smelled salty in its highways and +byways, its male citizens--most of them--walked with a sea roll, and +upon the tables and whatnots of their closed and shuttered "front +parlors" or in their cupboards or closets were laquered cabinets, and +whales' teeth, and alabaster images, and carved chessmen and curious +shells and scented fans and heaven knows what, brought from heaven knows +where, but all brought in sailing ships over one or more of the seas of +the world. The average better class house in Bayport was an odd +combination of home and museum, the rear two-thirds the home section and +the remaining third, that nearest the road, the museum. Bayport front +parlors looked like museums, and generally smelled like them. + +To a stranger from, let us say, the middle west, the village then must +have seemed a queer little community dozing upon its rolling hills and +by its white beaches, a community where the women had, most of them, +traveled far and seen many strange things and places, but who seldom +talked of them, preferring to chat concerning the minister's wife's new +bonnet; and whose men folk, appearing at long intervals from remote +parts of the world, spoke of the port side of a cow and compared the +three-sided clock tower of the new town hall with the peak of Teneriffe +on a foggy morning. + +All this, odd as it may have seemed to visitors from inland, were but +matters of course to Sears Kendrick. To him there was nothing strange in +the deep sea atmosphere of his native town. It had been there ever since +he knew it, he fondly imagined--being as poor a prophet as most of +us--that it would always be. And, as he sat there in the Macomber yard, +his thoughts were busy, not with Bayport's past or future, but with his +own, and neither retrospect nor forecast was cheerful. He could see +little behind him except the mistakes he had made, and before him--not +even the opportunity to make more. + +Overhead, amid the cherry branches, the bees buzzed and the robins +chirped. From the kitchen window came the click of dishes as Mrs. +Macomber washed and wiped them. Around the curve of the road by the +meeting-house came Dr. Sheldon's old horse, drawing Dr. Sheldon's +antiquated chaise, with the doctor himself leaning back comfortably upon +its worn cushions. Captain Kendrick, not being in the mood for a chat +just then even with as good a friend as his physician, made no move, and +the old chaise and its occupant passed by and disappeared around the +next curve. Sarah-Mary and Edgar and Bemis noisily trooped out of the +house and started for school. Edgar was enthusiastically carolling a +ditty which was then popular among Bayport juvenility. It was +reminiscent of a recent presidential campaign. + + "Grant and Greely were fightin' for flies, + Grant gave Greely a pair of black eyes--" + +The children, like Doctor Sheldon and the chaise, passed out of sight +around the bend of the road. Edgar's voice, more or less tunefully, +drifted back: + + "Grant said, 'Do you want any more?' + Greely said, 'No, for my eyes are too sore.'" + +Sears Kendrick crossed his knees and changed position upon the bench. +Obviously he could not hope to go to sea again for months at the very +earliest. Obviously he could not live during those months at his +sister's. She would be only too delighted to have him do so, but on that +point his mind was made up. And, quite as obviously, he could not long +exist, and pay an adequate price for the privilege of existing, with the +small sum which was left after his disastrous voyage upon the sea of +business. His immediate problems then were two: First, to find a +boarding place which was very, very cheap. Second, if possible, to find +a means of earning a little money. The first of these he might, perhaps, +solve after a fashion, but the second--and he a cripple! He groaned +aloud. + +Then he gradually became aware of a new set of sounds, sounds +approaching along the road from the direction in which the children and +the doctor's equipage had disappeared. The sounds, at first rather +confused, gradually separated themselves into two varieties, one the +sharp, irregular rattle of a springless cart, the second a hoarse +unmusical voice which, like Edgar's, was raised in song. But in this +case the rattle of the cart caused the song to be broken unexpectedly +into jerky spasms, so to speak. Nevertheless, the singer kept manfully +at his task. + + "Now the _Dreadnought's_ a-bowlin' (_Bump! Rattle_) + down the wild Irish sea + Where the pass (_Bump!_) engers are merry + with hearts full of glee, + While the sailors like lions (_Gid-dap! + What's the matter with ye_) walk the decks to and fro, + She's the Liverpool packet (_Bump! Bang! Crack!_) + Good Lord, let her go!" + +Sears Kendrick sat upright on the settee. Of course he recognized the +song, every man who had ever sailed salt water knew the old +_Dreadnought_ chantey, but much more than that, he believed he +recognized the voice of the singer. Leaning forward, he watched for the +latter to appear. + +Then, around the clump of lilacs which leaned over Captain Sol Snow's +fence at the corner, came an old white horse drawing an old +"truck-wagon," the wagon painted, as all Cape Cod truck-wagons then were +and are yet, a bright blue; and upon the high seat of the wagon sat a +chunky figure, a figure which rocked back and forth and sang: + + "Now the _Dreadnought's_ a sailin' the (_Bang! Bump!_) + Atlantic so wide, + While the (_Thump! Bump!_) dark heavy seas roll + along her black side, + With the sails neatly spread (_Crump! Jingle!_) + and the red cross to show, + She's the Liverpool packet; Good Lord, let----" + +Captain Kendrick interrupted here. + +"Ahoy, the _Dreadnought_!" he hailed. "_Dreadnought_ ahoy!" + +"Good Lord, let 'er go!" roared the man on the seat of the truck-wagon, +finishing the stanza of his chantey. Then he added "Whoa!" in a mighty +bellow. The white horse stopped in his tracks, as if he had one ear +tipped backward awaiting the invitation. His driver leaned down and +peered into the shadow of the lilac bush. + +"Who--?" he began. "Eh? _What?_ Limpin', creepin', crawlin', jumpin' +Moses and the prophets! It ain't Cap'n Sears Kendrick, is it? It is, by +Henry! Well, well, _well_, WELL, _WELL_!" + +Each succeeding "well" was louder and more emphatic than its +predecessor. They were uttered as the speaker rolled, rather than +climbed, down from the high seat. Alighting upon a pair of enormous feet +shod in heavy rubber boots, the tops of which were turned down, he +thumped up the little slope from the road to the sidewalk. Then, +thrusting over the fence pickets a red and hairy hand, the size of which +corresponded to that of the feet, he roared another string of delighted +exclamations. + +"Cap'n Sears Kendrick, on deck and all taut again! Well, by the jumpin', +creepin'! If this ain't--Cap'n Sears, sir, how be you?" + +His broad-brimmed, battered straw hat had fallen off in his descent from +the wagon seat, uncovering a partially bald head and a round, extremely +red face, two-thirds of which was hidden by a tremendously thick and +bristly tangle of short gray whiskers. The whiskers were now bisected by +a broad grin, a grin so broad and so ecstatic that its wrinkles extended +to the bulbous nose and the apple cheeks above. + +"Cap'n Sears, sir," repeated the driver of the truck-wagon, "I'm proud +to see you on deck again, sir. Darned if I ain't!" + +The captain leaned forward and shook the big red hand extended across +the fence pickets. + +"Judah Cahoon, you old salt herrin'," he cried heartily, "I'm just as +glad to see you! But _what_ in the world are you doin' here in +Bayport?" + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +Mr. Cahoon's grin vanished and the expression of his face above the +whiskers indicated extreme surprise. + +"What am I doin' here?" he repeated. "Didn't you know I was here, Cap'n +Sears?" + +"Of course I didn't. The last I heard of you you had shipped as cook +aboard the _Gallant Rover_ and was bound for Calcutta, or Singapore or +somewhere in those latitudes. And that was only a year ago. What are you +doin' on the Cape and pilotin' that kind of a craft?" indicating the +truck wagon. + +The question was ignored. "Didn't they never tell you I was here?" +demanded Judah. "Didn't that Joel Macomber tell you I been hailin' him +every time he crossed my bows, askin' about you every day since you run +on the rocks? Didn't he tell you that?" + +"No." + +"Never give you my respects nor--nor kind rememberances, nor nawthin'?" + +"Not a word. Never so much as mentioned your name." + +"The red-headed shark!" + +"There! There! Sshh! Never mind him. Come in here and sit down a minute, +can't you? Or are you in a hurry?" + +"Eh? No-o, I ain't in no 'special hurry. Just got a deck load of seaweed +aboard carting it up home, that's all." + +"Home? What home?" + +"Why, where I'm livin'. I call it home; anyhow it's all the home I got. +Eh? Why, Cap'n Sears, ain't they never told you that I'm livin' at the +Minot place?" + +"The Minot place! Why--why, man alive, you don't mean the General Minot +place, do you?" + +"Um-hm. That's what folks down here call it. There ain't no Generals +there though." + +"And _you_ are livin' in the General Minot house? Look here, Judah, are +you trying to make a fool of me?" + +Mr. Cahoon's countenance--that portion of it above the whisker tidemark, +of course--registered horror at the thought. He had been cook and +steward aboard Captain Kendrick's ships for many voyages and his feeling +for his former skipper was close kin to idolatry. + +"Eh?" he gasped. "Me try to make a fool out of _you_, Cap'n Sears? _Me?_ +No, no, I got _some_ sense left, I hope." + +Kendrick smiled. "Oh, the thing isn't impossible, Judah," he observed +dryly. "It has been done. I have been made a fool of and more than +once.... But there, never mind that. I want to know what you are doin' +at the General Minot place. Come aboard here and tell me about it. You +can leave your horse, can't you? He doesn't look as if he was liable to +run away." + +"Run away! Him?" Judah snorted disgust. "Limpin' Moses! He won't run away +for the same reason old Cap'n Eben Gould didn't say his prayers--he's +forgot how. I was out with that horse on the flats last week and the +tide pretty nigh caught us. The water in the main channel was so deep +that it was clean up to the critter's garboard strake, and still, by the +creepin', I couldn't get him out of a walk. I thought there one spell he +might _drift_ away, but I knew dum well he'd never run.... Whoa! +you--you hipponoceros you!" addressing the ancient animal, who was +placidly gnawing at the Macomber hitching post. "'Vast heavin' on that +post! _Look_ at the blasted idiot!" with huge disgust. "To home, by the +creepin', he'll turn up his nose at good hay and then he'll cruise out +here and start to swaller a wood fence. Whoa! Back! Back, or I'll--I'll +bore a hole in you and scuttle you." + +The old horse condescended to back for perhaps two feet, a proceeding +which elicited a grunt of grudging approval from Mr. Cahoon. The latter +then settled himself with a thump upon the settee beside Captain +Kendrick. + +"How's the spars splicin'?" he inquired, with a jerk of his thumb toward +the captain's legs. "Gettin' so you can navigate with 'em? Stand up +under sail, will they?" + +"Not for much of a cruise," replied Sears, using the same nautical +phraseology. "I shan't be able to run under anything but a jury rig for +a good while, I'm afraid. But never mind the spars. I want to know how +you happen to be down here in Bayport, and especially what on earth you +are doin' at the Minot place? Somebody died and left you a million?" + +Mr. Cahoon's whiskers were split again by his wide grin. + +"If I was left a million _I'd_ die," he observed with emphasis. "No, no, +nothin' like that, Cap'n. I'm there along of ... humph! You know young +Ogden Minot, don't you?" + +"No, I guess I don't. I don't seem to remember him. Ogden Minot, you +say?" + +"Sartin. Why, you must have run afoul of him, Cap'n Sears. He has a--a +sort of home moorin's at a desk in Barstow Brothers' shippin' office up +on State Street. Has some kind of berth with the firm, they tell me, +partner or somethin'. You must have seen him there." + +"Well, if I have I.... Hold on a minute! Seems to me I do remember him. +Tall fellow, dresses like a tailor's picture; speaks as if--" + +"As if the last half of every word was comin' on the next boat. That's +him. Light complected, wears his whiskers wing and wing, like a schooner +runnin' afore the wind. Same kind of side whiskers old Cap'n Spencer of +the _Farewell_ used to carry that voyage when I fust run afoul of you. +You was second mate and I was cook, remember. You recollect the +skipper's side whiskers, Cap'n Sears? Course you do! Stuck out each side +of his face pretty nigh big as old-fashioned studdin' sails. Fo'mast +hands used to call 'em the old man's 'homeward-bounders.' Ho, ho! Why, +I've seen them whiskers blowin'--" + +Kendrick interrupted. + +"Never mind Cap'n Spencer's whiskers," he said. "Stick to your course, +Judah. What about this Ogden Minot?" + +"Everythin' bout him. If 'twan't for him I wouldn't be here now. No +sir-ee, 'stead of settin' here swappin' yarns with you, Cap'n Sears, I'd +be somewheres off Cape Horn, cookin' lobscouse and doughboy over a +red-hot galley stove. Yes sir, that's where I'd be. And I'd just as soon +be here, and a dum sight juster, as the feller said. Ho, ho! Tut, tut, +tut! You can't never tell, can you? How many times I've stood in my +galley with a gale of wind blowin', and my feet braced so's I wouldn't +pitch into the salt-horse kittle every time she rolled, and thinkin'--" + +"There, there, Judah! Bring her up, bring her up. You're three points +off again." + +"Eh? So I be, so I be. I'll try and hold her nose in the notch from now +on. Well, 'twas last October, a year ago, when I'd about made up my mind +to go cook in the _Gallant Rover_, same as you said. I hadn't signed +articles, you understand, but I was cal'latin' to, and I was down on +Long Wharf where the _Rover_ was takin' cargo, and her skipper, Cap'n +Gustavus Philbrick, 'twas--he was a Cape man, one of the Ostable +Philbricks--he asked me if I wouldn't cruise up to the Barstow Brothers' +office and fetch down some papers that was there for him. So I didn't +have nawthin' to do 'special, and 'twas about time for my eleven +o'clock--when I'm in Boston I always cal'late to hist aboard one eleven +o'clock, rum and sweetenen' 'tis generally, at Jerry Crockett's saloon +on India Street and.... Aye, aye, sir! All right, all right, Cap'n +Sears. I'll keep her in the notch, don't worry. Well--er--er--what was I +sayin'? Oh, yes! Well, I had my eleven o'clock and then I cruised up to +the Barstow place, and the fust mate there, young Crosby Barstow 'twas, +he was talkin' with this Ogden Minot. And when I hove in sight young +Barstow, he sings out: 'And here's another Cape Codder, Ogden,' he says. +'You two ought to know each other. Cahoon,' says he, 'this is Mr. Ogden +Minot; his folks hailed from Bayport. That's down your way, ain't it?' + +"'You bet!' says I. 'My home port's Harniss, and that's right next door. +Minot? Minot?' I says, tryin' to recollect, you understand. 'Seems to me +I used to know a Minot down that way. Why, yes, course I did! You any +relation to old Ichabod Minot, that skippered the _Gypsy Maid_ fishin' +to the Banks? Ichabod hailed from--from--Denboro, seems to me 'twas.' + +"He said no pretty sharp. Barstow, he laughed like fury and wanted to +know if this Ogden Minot looked like Ichabod. 'Is there a family +resemblance?' he says. I told him I guessed not. 'Anyhow,' says I, 'I +couldn't tell very well. I only seen Ichabod when he was drunk.' That +tickled Barstow most to death. 'You never saw him but that once, then?' +he wanted to know. 'Oh, yes,' says I, 'I seen him about every time he +was on shore after a fishin' trip.' + +"That seemed to make him laugh more'n ever and even young Ogden laughed +some. Anyhow, we got to talkin' and I told Barstow how I was cal'latin' +to go cook on the _Gallant Rover_. 'And I'm sick of it,' I says. 'I'd +like a nice snug berth ashore.' 'You would?' says Barstow. Then he says, +'Humph!' and looks at Minot. And Minot, he says, 'Humph!' and looked at +him. And then they both says, 'Humph!' and looked at me. And afore I set +sail from that office to carry Cap'n Philbrick's papers back to him I'd +agreed not to sign on for that v'yage as cook until I'd cruised down +here to Bayport along of young Ogden Minot to see how I'd like to be +sort of--of general caretaker and stevedore, as you might call it, at +the General Minot place. You see, young Ogden was the General's grandson +and he'd had the property left him. And 'twas part of the sailin' +orders--in the old General's will, you understand--that it couldn't be +sold, but must always be took care of and kept up. Ogden could rent it +out but he couldn't sell it; that was the pickle _he_ was in. +Understand, don't you, Cap'n Sears?" + +Kendrick nodded. "Why--yes, I guess likely I do," he said. "But this +Minot boy could live in it himself, couldn't he? Why doesn't he do that? +As I remember it, it was considerable of a house. I should think he +would come here himself and live." + +Judah nodded. "You would think so, wouldn't you?" he agreed. "But _he_ +don't think so, and what's a mighty sight more account, his wife don't +think so. She's one of them kind of women that--that--well, when she +gets to heaven--course I ain't layin' no bets on her gettin' there, but +_if_ she does--the fust thing she'll do after she fetches port is to +find out which one of them golden streets has got the highest-toned gang +livin' on it and then start in tryin' to tie up to the wharf there +herself. _She_ wouldn't live in no Bayport. No sir--ee! She's got winter +moorin's up in one of them streets back of the Common, and summer times +she's down to a place called--er--er--Nahum--Nehimiah--No--jumpin' +prophets! What's the name of that place out on the rocks abaft Lynn?" + +"Nahant?" suggested his companion. + +"That's it. She and him is to Nahant summers. And what for _I_ don't +know, when right here in Bayport is a great, big, fine house and land +around it and--and flower tubs in the front yard and--and marble top +tables--and--and haircloth chairs and sofys, and--and a Rogers' statoo +in the parlor and--and.... Why, say, Cap'n Sears, you ought to _see_ +that house and the things in it. They've spent money on that house same +as if a five dollar bill wan't nawthin'. Wasted it, I call it. The +second day I was there I wanted to brush off some dust that was on the +chair seats and I was huntin' round from bow to stern lookin' for one of +them little brush brooms, you know, same as you brush clothes with. +Well, sir, I'd about give up lookin' when I happened to look on the wall +of the settin'-room and there was one hangin' up. And, say, Cap'n Sears, +I wisht you could have seen it! 'Twas triced up in a--a kind of becket, +as you might say, made out of velvet--yes, sir, by creepin', velvet! And +the velvet had posies and grass painted on it. And, I don't know as +you'll believe it, but it's a fact, the handle of that brush broom was +gilded! Yes sir, by Henry, _gilded_! 'Well,' thinks I to myself, 'if +this ain't then I don't know what is!' I did cal'late that I was +gettin' used to style, and high-toned money-slingin', but when it comes +to puttin' gold handles onto brush-brooms, that had me on my beam ends, +that did. And ain't it a sinful waste, Cap'n Sears, I ask you? Now ain't +it? And what in time is the _good_ of it? A brush-broom is just a broom, +no matter if----" + +Again the captain interrupted. "Yes, yes, of course, Judah," he agreed, +laughing; "but what do you do up there all by yourself? In that big +house?" + +"Oh, I don't live in the whole house. I could if I wanted to. Ogden, he +don't care where I live or what I do. All he wants of me, he says, is to +keep the place lookin' good, and the grass cut and one thing or 'nother. +He keeps hopin' he's goin' to rent it, you know, but they won't nobody +hire it. The only thing a place big as that would be good for is to keep +tavern. And we've got one tavern here in Bayport already." + +Kendrick seemed to be thinking. He pulled his beard. Of course he wore a +beard; in those days he would have been thought queer if he had not. +Even the Harvard students who came to Bayport occasionally on summer +tramping trips wore beards or sidewhiskers; the very callowest Freshman +sported and nourished a moustache. + +"So you don't occupy the whole house, Judah?" asked the captain. + +"No, no," replied Mr. Cahoon. "I live out in the back part. There's the +kitchen and woodshed and dinin'-room out there and a couple of bedrooms. +That's all _I_ want. There's nine more bedrooms in that house, Cap'n," +he declared solemnly. "That makes eleven altogether. Now what in tunket +do you cal'late anybody'd ever do with eleven bedrooms?" + +Kendrick shook his head. "Give it up, Judah," he said. "For the matter +of that, I don't see what you do with two. Do you sleep in one week +nights and the other on Sundays?" + +Judah grinned. "No, no, Cap'n," he said. "I don't know myself why I keep +that other bedroom fixed up. Cal'late I do it just for fun, kind of +makin' believe I'm going to have company, I guess. It gets kind of +lonesome there sometimes, 'specially meal times and evenin's. There I +set at mess, you know, grand as the skipper of the _Great Republic_, +cloth on the table, silver knife and fork, silver castor with blue glass +vinegar and pepper-sass bottles, great, big, elegant mustache cup with +'Forget Me Not' printed out on it in gold letters--everything so fine it +couldn't be no finer--but by creepin', sometimes I can't help feelin' +lonesome! Seems foolish, don't it, but I be." + +Captain Kendrick did not speak. He pulled at his beard with more +deliberation and the look in his eye was that of one watching the +brightening dawn of an idea. + +"I told Ogden so last time he was down," continued Mr. Cahoon. "He asked +me if I was comf'table and if I wanted anything more and I told him I +didn't. 'Only thing that ails me,' I says, 'is that I get kind of +lonesome bein' by myself so much. Sometimes I wisht I had comp'ny.' +'Well, why don't you _have_ comp'ny?' says he. 'You've got room enough, +lord knows.' 'Yes,' I says, 'but who'll I have?' He laughed. 'That's +your lookout,' says he. 'You can't expect me to hire a companion for +you.'" + +"Humph!" Kendrick regarded him thoughtfully. "So you would like company, +would you, Judah?" + +"Sartin sure I would, if 'twas the right kind. I got a cat and that +helps a little mite. And Cap'n Shubal Hammond's wife told me yesterday +she'd give me a young pig if I wanted one. That's what I'm cartin' home +this little mite of seaweed for, to bed down the pig sty. But cats and +hogs, they're all right enough, but they ain't human." + +"Do you keep hens?" + +This apparently harmless question seemed to arouse Mr. Cahoon's ire. His +whiskers bristled and his nose flamed. + +"Hens!" he repeated. "Don't talk to me about hens! No, sir, by the +prophets, I don't keep hens! But them everlastin' Fair Harborers keep +'em and if they'd keep 'em to home I wouldn't say a word. But they +don't. Half the time they're over my side of the fence raisin' blue hob +with my garden. Hens! Don't talk to me about 'em! I hate the sight of +the critters." + +Kendrick smiled. "And after all," he observed, "hens aren't human, +either." + +Judah snorted. "Some are," he declared, "and them's the worst kind." + +There was, doubtless, a hidden meaning in this speech, but if so Sears +Kendrick did not seek to find it. Laying a hand upon the broad shoulder +of his former sea-cook he lifted himself to his feet. + +"Judah," he asked, briskly, "is that seaweed in your cart there dry?" + +"Eh? Dry? Yes, yes, dry as a cat's back. Been layin' on the beach above +tide mark ever since last winter. Why?" + +"Do you suppose you could help me hoist myself aboard?" + +"Aboard? Aboard that truck-wagon? For the land sakes, what for?" + +"Because I want a ride. I've been in drydock here till I'm pretty nearly +crazy. I want to go on a cruise, even if it isn't but a half mile one. +Don't you want to cart me down to your anchorage and let me see how you +and General Minot and the gilt whisk broom get along? I can sprawl on +that seaweed and be as comfortable as a gull on a clam flat. Come on +now! Heave ahead! Give us a hand up!" + +"But--limpin' prophets, Cap'n Sears, I couldn't cart you up the main +road of Bayport in a seaweed cart. You, of all men! What do you cal'late +folks would say if they see me doin' it? Course I'd love to have you +ride down and see how I'm livin'. If you'd set up on the thawt there," +indicating the high seat of the truck-wagon, "I'd be proud to have you. +But to haul you along on a load of seaweed that's goin' to bed down a +hog! Cap'n, you _know_ 'twouldn't be fittin'! Course you do." + +His horror at the sacrilege was so ludicrous that Kendrick laughed +aloud. However, he insisted that there was nothing unfitting in the +idea; it was a good idea and founded upon common-sense. + +"How long do you think these sprung sticks of mine would last," he +said, referring to his legs, "if they were jouncin' up and down on that +seat aloft there? And I couldn't climb up even if I wanted to. But, you +and I between us, Judah, can get me in on that seaweed, and that's what +we're goin' to do. Come, come! Tumble up! All hands on deck now! +Lively!" + +The familiar order, given with a touch of the old familiar crispness and +authority, had its effect. Mr. Cahoon argued no more. Instead he sprang +to attention, figuratively speaking. + +"Aye, aye, sir!" he said. "Here she goes. Take it easy, Cap'n; don't +hurry. Ease yourself down that bankin'. If we was to let go and you come +down with a run there'd be the divil and all to pay, wouldn't there? So +... so.... Here we be, alongside. Now---- Aloft with ye." + +They had reached the road by the tailboard of the wagon. And now Judah +stooped, picked up his former skipper in his arms and swung him in upon +the load of dry seaweed as if he were a two year old boy instead of a +full-grown, and very much grown, man. + +"Well," he asked, as he climbed to the seat, "all ready to make sail, be +we? Any message you want to leave along with Sary? She won't know what +end you've made, will she?" + +"Oh, she'll guess I've gone buggy-ridin' with the doctor. He's been +threatenin' to take me with him 'most any day now. Sarah'll be all +right. Get under way, Judah." + +"Aye, aye, sir. Git dap! Git dap! Limpin', creepin', crawlin', hoppin', +jumpin'.... Starboard! _starboard_, you son of a Chinee! Need a tug to +haul this critter into the channel, I swan you do! Git dap! All +shipshape aft there, Cap'n Sears? Good enough! let her run." + +The old white horse--like the whisk broom and the Rogers group, a part +of the furniture of the General Minot place--plodded along the dusty +road and the blue truck-wagon rolled and rattled behind him. Captain +Kendrick, settling his invalid limbs in the most comfortable fashion, +lay back upon the seaweed and stared at the sky seen through the +branches of elms and silver-leaf poplars which arched above. He made no +attempt to look over the sides of the cart. Raising himself upon an +elbow to do so entailed a good deal of exertion and this was his first +trip abroad since his accident. Besides, seeing would probably mean +being seen and he was not in the mood to answer the questions of +curious, even if sympathetic, townsfolk. Judah made several attempts at +conversation, but the replies were not satisfactory, so he gave it up +after a little and, as was his habit, once more broke forth in song. +Judah Cahoon, besides being sea cook on many, many voyages, had been +"chantey man" on almost as many. His repertoire was, therefore, +extensive and at times astonishing. Now, as he rocked back and forth +upon the wagon seat, he caroled, not the _Dreadnought_ chantey, but +another, which told of a Yankee ship sailing down the Congo River, +evidently in the old days of the slave trade. + + "'Who do you think is the cap'n of her? + Blow, boys, blow! + Old Holy Joe, the darky lover, + Blow, my bully boys, blow! + + 'What do you think they've got for dinner? + Blow, boys, blow! + Hot water soup, but a dum sight thinner, + Blow, my bully boys, blow! + + 'Oh, blow to-day and blow to-morrer, + Blow, boys, blow! + And blow for all old salts in sorrer, + Blow, my bully----' + +"Oh, say, Cap'n Sears!" + +"Yes, Judah?" + +"They've put up the name sign on the Fair Harbor since you was in +Bayport afore, ain't they? We're right off abreast of it now. Can't you +hist yourself up and look over the side? It's some consider'ble of a +sign, that is. Lobelia she left word to have that sign painted and set +up last time she was here. She's over acrost in one of them Eyetalian +ports now, so I understand, her and that feller she married. Eh? Ain't +that quite a sign, now, Cap'n?" + +Kendrick, because his driver seemed to be so eager, sat up and looked +over the sideboard of the truck-wagon. The vehicle was just passing a +long stretch of ornate black iron fence in the center of which was a +still more ornate gate with an iron arch above it. In the curve of the +arch swung a black sign, its edges gilded, and with this legend printed +upon it in gilt letters: + + FAIR HARBOR + + For Mariners' Women + + "Without, the stormy winds increase, + Within the harbor all is peace." + +Behind the fence was a good-sized tract of lawn heavily shaded with +trees, a brick walk, and at the rear a large house. The house itself was +of the stately Colonial type and its simple dignity was in marked +contrast to the fence. + +Captain Kendrick recognized the establishment of course. It, with its +next door neighbor the General Minot place, was for so many years the +home of old Captain Sylvanus Seymour. Captain Sylvanus, during his +lifetime, was active claimant for the throne of King of Bayport. He was +the town's leading Democratic politician, its wealthiest citizen, with +possibly one exception--its most lavish entertainer--with the same +possible exception--and when the Governor came to the Cape on "Cattle +Show Day" he was sure to be a guest at the Seymour place--unless General +Ashahel Minot, who was the exception mentioned--had gotten his +invitation accepted first. For General Minot was Bayport's leading Whig, +as Captain Sylvanus was its leading Democrat, and the rivalry between +the two was intense. Nevertheless, they were, in public at least, +extremely polite and friendly, and when they did agree--as on matters +concerning the village tax rate and the kind of doctrine permitted to be +preached in the Orthodox meeting-house--their agreement was absolute and +overwhelming. In their day the Captain and the General dominated Bayport +by sea and land. + +But that day had passed. They had both been dead for some years. Captain +Seymour died first and his place and property were inherited by his +maiden daughter, Miss Lobelia Seymour. Sears Kendrick remembered Lobelia +as a dressy, romantic spinster, very much in evidence at the church +socials and at meetings of the Shakespeare Reading Society, and who sang +a somewhat shrill soprano in the choir. + +Now, as he looked over the side of Judah Cahoon's truck-wagon and saw +the sign hanging beneath the arch above the gate of the Seymour place he +began dimly to remember other things, bits of news embodied in letters +which his sister, Sarah Macomber, had written him at various times. +Lobelia Seymour had--she had done something with the family home, +something unusual. What was it? Why, yes.... + +"Judah," he said, "Lobelia Seymour turned that place into a--a sort of +home, didn't she?" + +Judah twisted on the wagon seat to stare at him. + +"What are you askin' me that for, Cap'n Sears?" he demanded. "You know +more about it than I do, I guess likely. Anyhow, you ought to; you was +brought up in Bayport; I wasn't." + +"Yes, but I've been away from it ten times longer than I've been in it. +I'd forgotten all about Lobelia. Seems to me Sarah wrote me somethin' +about her, though, and that she had turned her father's place into a +home for women." + +"For mariners' women, that's what she calls it. Didn't you see it on the +sign? Ho, ho! that's a good one, ain't it, Cap'n Sears? 'Mariners' +women!' Course what it means is sea cap'ns widders and sisters and such, +but it does sound kind of Brigham Youngy, don't it? Haw, haw! Well, +fur's that goes I have known mariners that--Hi! 'Vast heavin' there! +What in time you tryin' to do, carry away that gate post? Whoa! Jumpin' +creepin', limpin'---- Whoa! _Look_ at the critter!" in huge disgust and +referring to the white horse, who had suddenly evinced a desire to turn +in at a narrow driveway and to gallop while doing so. "Look at him!" +repeated Judah. "When I go up to the depot he'll stand right in the +middle of the railroad track and go to sleep. I have to whale the +timbers out of him to get him awake enough to step ahead so's a train of +cars won't stave in his broadside. But get him home here where he can +see the barn, the place where he knows I stow the oats, and he wants to +run right over top of a stone wall. Can't hardly hold him, I can't. +Who-a-a!... Well, Cap'n Sears, here we be at the General Minot place. +Here's where I sling my hammock these days." + +Kendrick looked about him, at the grassy back yard, with the ancient +settee beneath the locust tree, the raspberry and currant bushes along +the wall, the venerable apple and pear trees on the other side of the +wall, at the trellis over the back door and the grape vine heavily +festooning it, at the big weather-beaten barn, carriage house and +pig-pens beyond. Turning, he looked upward at the high rambling house, +its dormers and gables, its white clapboards and green window blinds. +The sunlight streamed over it, but beneath the vine-hung lattice and +under the locust tree were coolness and shadow. The wing of the big +house, projecting out to the corner of the drive, shut off the view to +or from the road. Somehow, the whole yard, with its peace and quiet and +sunshine and shadow, and above all, its retirement, made a great appeal. +It seemed so homelike, so shut away, so comforting, like a sheltered +little backwater where a storm-beaten craft might lie snug. + +Mr. Cahoon made anxious inquiry. + +"What do you think of it, Cap'n?" he asked. + +His visitor did not reply. Instead he said, "Judah, I'd like to see your +quarters inside, may I?" + +"Sartin sure you may. Right this way. Look out for the rocks in the +channel," indicating the brick floor beneath the lattice. "Two or three +of them bricks stick up more'n they ought to. Twice since I've been here +the stem of one of my boots has fetched up on them bricks and I've all +but pitch-poled. Take your time, Cap'n Sears, take your time. Here, lean +on my shoulder, I'll pilot you." + +The captain smiled. "Much obliged, Judah," he said, "but I shan't need +your shoulder. There aren't any stairs to climb, are there? Stair +climbin' is too much for me yet awhile. Perhaps it will always be. I +don't know." + +The tone in which he uttered the last sentence caused his companion to +turn his head and regard him with concern. + +"Sho, sho, sho!" he exclaimed, hastily. "What kind of talk's that, +Cap'n! I'll live to see you shin up and hang your hat on the main truck +yet.... There, here's the galley. Like it, do you?" + +The "galley" was, of course, the kitchen. It was huge and low and very +old-fashioned. Also it was, just now, spotlessly clean. From it opened +the woodshed, and toward the front, the dining room. + +"I don't eat in here much," observed Judah, referring to the dining +room. "Generally mess in the galley. Comes more natural to me. The +settin' room, and back parlor and front parlor are out for'ard yonder. +Come on, Cap'n Sears." + +The captain shook his head. "Never mind them just now," he said. "I want +to see the bedrooms, those you use, Judah. That is, unless they're up +aloft." + +"No, no. Right on the lower deck, both of 'em. Course there _is_ plenty +more up aloft, but, as I told you, I never bother 'em. Here's my berth," +opening a door from the sitting room. "And here's what I call my spare +stateroom. I keep it ready for comp'ny. Not that I ever have any, you +understand." + +Judah's bedroom was small and snug. The "spare stateroom" was a trifle +larger. In both were the old-fashioned mahogany furniture of our +great-grandfathers. Mr. Cahoon apologized for it. + +"Kind of old-timey stuff down below here," he explained. "Just common +folks used these rooms, I judge likely. But you'd ought to see them up +on the quarter deck. There's your high-toned fixin's! Marble tops to the +bureaus and tables and washstands, and fruit--peaches and pears and all +sorts--carved out on the headboards of the beds, and wreaths on the +walls all made out of shells, and--and kind of brass doodads at the tops +of the window curtains. Style, don't talk!... Sort of a pretty look-off +through that deadlight, ain't there, Cap'n Sears? Seems so to me." + +Kendrick had raised the window shade of the spare stateroom and was +looking out. The view extended across the rolling hills and little pine +groves and cranberry bogs, to the lower road with its white houses and +shade trees. And beyond the lower road were more hills and pines, a +pretty little lake--Crowell's Pond, it was called--sand dunes and then +the blue water of the Bay. The captain looked at the view for a few +moments, then, turning, looked once more at the room and its furniture. + +"So you've never had a passenger in your spare stateroom, Judah?" he +asked. + +"Nary one, not yet." + +"Expectin' any?" + +"Nary one. Don't know nobody to expect." + +"But you think it would be all right if you did have some one? Your +er--owner--young Minot, I mean, wouldn't object?" + +"Object! No, no. He told me to. 'I should think you'd die livin' here +alone,' he says. 'Why don't you take a boarder? I would if I was you.'" + +Sears Kendrick stopped looking at the room and its furniture and turned +his gaze upon his former cook. + +"Take a boarder?" he repeated. "Did Ogden Minot tell you to take a +boarder? And do you think he meant it?" + +"Sartin sure he meant it. He don't care what I do--in reason, of +course." + +"Humph!... Well, then, Judah, why don't you take one?" + +"Eh? Take one what? A boarder? Who'd I take, for thunder's sakes?" + +Captain Kendrick smiled. + +"Me," he said. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +For the half hour which followed the captain's utterance of that simple +little word, "Me," exclamation, protestation and argument heated and +unwontedly disturbed the atmosphere of the Minot spare stateroom and +when the discussion adjourned there, of the little back yard. The old +white horse, left to himself and quite forgotten, placidly meandered on +until he reached a point where he could reach the tender foliage of a +young pear tree which leaned over the wall toward him. Then, with a sigh +of content, he proceeded to devour the tree. No one paid the least +attention to him. Captain Kendrick, now seated upon the bench beneath +the locust, was quietly but persistently explaining why he desired to +become a boarder and lodger at Mr. Cahoon's quarters on the after lower +deck of the General Minot house, and Judah was vociferously and +profanely expostulating against such an idea. + +"It ain't fittin', I tell you," he declared, over and over again. "It +ain't fittin', it's the craziest notion ever I heard tell of. What'll +folks think if they know you're here--you, Cap'n Sears Kendrick, that +all hands knows is the smartest cap'n that ever sailed out of Boston +harbor? What'll they say if they know you've hove anchor along of me, +stayin' here in the--in the fo'castle of this house; eatin' the grub I +cook--" + +"I've eaten your cookin' for a good many months at a stretch, Judah. You +never heard me find any fault with it, did you?" + +"Don't make no odds. That's different, Cap'n Sears, and you know 'tis. +It's ridiculous, stark, ravin' ridiculous." + +"So you don't care for my company?" + +"Don't tuk so! Wouldn't I be proud to have ye? Wouldn't I ruther have +you aboard here than anybody else on earth? Course I would!" + +"All right. And you're goin' to have me. So that's all settled." + +"Settled! Who said 'twas settled? Course 'tain't settled. You don't +understand, Cap'n Sears. 'Tain't how I feel about it. 'Tain't even maybe +how you feel about it. But how'll your sister feel about it? How'll Joel +feel? How'll the doctor feel? How'll the folks in town feel? How'll--" + +"Oh, shh! shh! Avast, Judah! How'll the cat feel? And the pig? What do I +care? How'll your old horse feel if he eats the other half of that pear +tree? That's considerably more important." + +Judah turned, saw the combination of ancient equine and youthful tree +and rushed bellowing to the rescue of the latter. When he returned, +empty of profanity and copiously perspiring, his former skipper was +ready for him. + +"Listen, Judah," he said. "Listen, and keep your main hatch closed for +five minutes, if you can. I want to come here to board with you for a +while and I've got the best reasons on earth. Keep still and I'll tell +you again what they are." + +He proceeded to give those reasons. They were that he had little money +and must therefore live inexpensively. He would not remain at his +sister's because she had more than enough care and work in her own +family. George Kent boarded with her and one boarder was sufficient. +Then--and this was the principal reason for selecting the General Minot +spare stateroom--he wished to live somewhere away from observation, +where he could be alone, or nearly alone, where he would not be plagued +with questions. + +"You see, Judah," he said, "I've had a bump in more ways than one. My +pride was knocked flat as well as my pocket book. The doctor says I've +got to stay ashore for a good while. He says it will be months before +I'm ready for sea--if I'm ever ready--" + +"Hold on, hold on! Cap'n Sears, you mustn't talk so. Course you'll be +ready." + +"All right, we'll hope I will. But while I'm gettin' ready to be ready I +want to lie snug. I don't want to see a whole lot of people and have to +listen to--to sympathy and all that. I've made a fool of myself, and +that kind of a fool doesn't deserve sympathy. And I don't want it, +anyhow. Give me a pair of sound spars and my health once more and you +won't find me beggin' for sympathy--no, nor anything else.... But +there," he added, straightening and throwing back his shoulders in the +way Judah had seen him do so often on shipboard and which his mates had +learned to recognize as a sign that the old man's mind was made up, +"that's enough of that. Let's stick to the course. I like this place of +yours, Judah, and I'm comin' here to live. I'm weak yet and you can +throw me out, of course," he added, "but I tell you plainly you can't +_talk_ me out, so it's no use to try." + +Nevertheless, Mr. Cahoon kept on trying and, when he did give in only +gave in halfway. If Captain Sears was bound to do such a fool thing he +didn't know how he was going to stop him, but at least he did insist +that the captain should take a trial cruise before signing on for the +whole voyage. + +"I tell you what you do, Cap'n Sears," he said. "You make me a little +visit of--of two, three days, say. Then, if you cal'late you can stand +the grub--and me--and if the way Bayport folks'll be talkin' ain't +enough to send you back to Sary's again, why--why, then I suppose you +can stay right along, if you want to. _'Twould_ be fine to have you +aboard! Whew!" + +He grinned from ear to ear. The captain accepted the compromise. + +"All right, Judah," he said. "We'll call the first few days a visit and +I'll begin by stayin' to dinner now. How'll that do, eh?" + +Mr. Cahoon affirmed that it would do finely. The only drawback was that +there was nothing in the house for dinner. + +"I was cal'latin' to go down to the shore," he said, "and dig a bucket +of clams. Course they'll do well enough for me, but for you--" + +"For me they will be just the ticket," declared Kendrick. "Go ahead and +dig 'em, Judah. And on the way stop and tell Sarah I'm goin' to stay +here and help eat 'em. After dinner--well, after dinner I shall have to +go back there again, I suppose, but to-morrow I'm comin' up here to +stay." + +So, still under protest, Judah, having unloaded the seaweed, climbed +once more to the high seat of the truck-wagon and the old horse dragged +him out of the yard. After the row of trees bordering the road had +hidden him from sight Kendrick could hear the rattle of the cart and a +fragment of the _Dreadnought_ chantey. + + "Now the _Dreadnought's_ becalmed on the banks of Newfoundland, + Where the water's all green and the bottom's all sand. + Says the fish of the ocean that swim to and fro: + 'She's the Liverpool packet, good Lord, let her go.'" + +Rattle and chantey died away in the distance. Quiet, warm and lazy, +settled down upon the back yard of the General Minot place. A robin +piped occasionally and, from somewhere off to the left, hens clucked, +but these were the only sounds. Kendrick judged that the hens must +belong to neighbors; Judah had expressed detestation of all poultry. +There was not sufficient breeze to stir the branches of the locust or +the leaves of the grapevine. The captain leaned back on the settee and +yawned. He felt a strong desire to go to sleep. + +Now sleeping in the daytime had always been a trick which he despised +and against which he had railed all his life. He had declared times +without number that a man who slept in the daytime--unless of course he +had been on watch all night or something like that--was a loafer, a good +for nothing, a lubber too lazy to be allowed on earth. The day was a +period made for decent, respectable people to work in, and for a man who +did not work, and love to work, Captain Sears Kendrick had no use +whatever. Many so-called able seamen, and even first and second mates, +had received painstaking instructions in this section of their skipper's +code. + +But now--now it was different. Why shouldn't he sleep in the daytime? +There was nothing else for him to do. He had no business to transact, no +owners to report to, no vessel to load or unload or to fit for sea. He +had heard the doctor's whisper--not meant for his ears--that his legs +might never be right again, and the word "might" had, he believed, been +substituted for one of much less ambiguous meaning. No, all he was fit +for, he reflected bitterly, was to sit in the sun and sleep, like an old +dog with the rheumatism. He sighed, settled himself upon the bench and +closed his eyes. + +But he opened them again almost at once. During that very brief interval +of darkness there had flashed before his mind a picture of a small park +in New York as he had once seen it upon a summer Sunday afternoon. The +park walks had been bordered with rows of benches and upon each bench +slumbered at least one human derelict who, apparently, realized his +worthlessness and had given up the fight. Captain Kendrick sat upright +on the settee, beneath the locust tree. Was he, too, giving +up--surrendering to Fate? No, by the Lord, he was not! And he was not +going to drop off to sleep on that settee like one of those tramps on a +park bench. + +He rose to his feet, picked up his cane, and started to walk--somewhere. +Direction made little difference, so long as he kept awake and kept +going. There was a path leading off between the raspberry and currant +bushes, and slowly, but stubbornly, he limped along that path. The path +ended at a gate in a white picket fence. The gate was unlatched and +there was an orchard on the other side of it. Captain Sears opened the +gate and limped on under the apple trees. They were old trees and large +and the shade they cast was cool and pleasant. The soft green slope +beneath them tempted him strongly. He was beginning to realize that +those shaky legs of his were tiring in this, the longest walk they had +attempted since the accident. He had a mind to sit down upon the bank +beneath the apple trees and rest. Then he remembered the mental picture +of the tramps on the park benches and stubbornly refused to yield. +Leaning more heavily upon his cane, he limped on. + +The path emerged from beneath the apple trees, ascended a little rise +and disappeared around the shoulder of a high thick clump of lilacs. +Kendrick, tiring more and more rapidly, plodded on. His suffering limbs +were, so to speak, shrieking for mercy but he would not give it to them. +He set himself a "stint"; he would see what was beyond the clump of +lilacs, then he would rest, and then he would hobble back to the Minot +yard. Incidentally he realized that he had been a fool ever to leave it. + +His teeth grimly set and each step a labor, he plodded up the little +rise and turned the corner of the lilac bushes. There he stopped, not +entirely because his "stint" was done, but because what he saw surprised +him. + +Beyond the lilacs was a small garden, or rather a series of small +gardens. The divisions between them appeared to be exactly the same size +and the plots themselves precisely the same size and shape. There +were--although the captain did not learn this until later--seven of +these plots, each exactly six by nine feet. But there resemblance +ceased, for each was planted and arranged with a marked individuality. +For example, the one nearest the lilac bushes was laid out in a sort of +checkerboard pattern of squares, one square containing a certain sort of +old-fashioned flower and its neighbors other varieties. The plot +adjoining the checkerboard was arranged in diamonds and spirals; the +planting here was floral also, whereas the next was evidently +utilitarian, being given up entirely to corn, potatoes, onions, beets +and other vegetables. And the next seemed to be covered with nothing +except a triumphant growth of weeds. + +At the rear of these odd garden plots was a little octagonal building, +evidently a summer-house. Over its door, a door fronting steps leading +down to the gardens, was a sign bearing the name "The Eyrie." And behind +the summer-house was a stretch of rather shabby lawn, a half dozen +trees, and the rear of a large house. Captain Sears recognized the house +as the Seymour residence, now the "Fair Harbor." He had strayed off the +course and was trespassing upon his neighbors' premises. This fact was +immediately brought to his attention. From somewhere at the rear of the +gardens a shrill feminine voice exclaimed: + +"Mercy on us! Who's that?" + +And another feminine voice chimed in: + +"Eh! I declare it's a man, ain't it?" + +And the first voice observed sharply: + +"Of course it is. You didn't think I thought it was a cow, did you?" + +"But what's he doin' here? Is he a tramp? + +"I don't know, but I'm going to find out. Hi! Here! You--man--where are +you going?" + +Captain Sears had, by this time, located the voices as coming from the +"Eyrie," the summer-house with the poetical name. He had so far, +however, been able to see nothing of the speakers. But now the tangle of +woodbine and morning-glory which draped the front of the summer-house +was drawn aside and revealed a rustic window--or unglazed window +opening--with two heads framed in it like a double portrait. Both of +these heads were feminine, but one was thin-faced and sharp-featured, +and gray-haired, while the other was like a full moon--a full moon with +several chins--and its hair was a startlingly vivid black parted in the +middle and with a series of very regular ripples on each side. + +It was the thin face which was hailing him. The other was merely +staring, open-eyed and open-mouthed. + +"Here, you--man!" repeated the shrill voice--belonging to the thin face. +"Where are you going?" + +The captain smiled. "Why, nowhere in particular, ma'am," he replied. "I +was just figurin' that I'd gone about as far as I could this voyage." + +His smile became a chuckle, but there were no symptoms of amusement +visible upon the faces framed in the window of the Eyrie. The thin lips +merely pressed tighter and the plump ones opened wider, that was all. + +"Why don't you answer my question?" demanded the thin woman. "What are +you doing on these premises?" + +"Why, nothin' in particular, ma'am. I was just tryin' to take a little +walk and not makin' a very good job at it." + +There was an interruption here. The full moon broke in to ask a question +of its own. + +"Who is he? What's he talkin' about?" it demanded. + +"I don't know who he is--yet." + +"Well, what's he talkin' about? Make him speak louder." + +"I will, if you give me a chance. He says he is taking a walk. What are +you taking a walk in here for? Don't you know it isn't allowed?" + +"Why, no, ma'am, I didn't. In fact I didn't realize I was in here until +I--well--until I got here." + +"What is he sayin'?" demanded the moon-face again, and somewhat testily. +"I can't hear a word." + +Now the captain's tone had been at least ordinarily loud, so it was +evident that the plump woman's hearing was defective. Her curiosity, +however, was not in the least impaired. + +"What's that man talkin' about now?" she persisted. Her companion became +impatient. + +"Oh, I don't know," she snapped. "Do give me a chance, won't you? I +think he's been drinking. He says he doesn't know where he is or how he +got here." + +Kendrick thought it high time to protest. Also to raise his voice when +doing so. + +"That wasn't exactly it," he shouted. "I was takin' a little walk, +that's all. I have to navigate pretty slow for my legs aren't just +right." + +"What did he say wa'n't right?" demanded the plump female. + +"His legs." + +"Eh! Legs! What's he talkin' about his legs for?" + +"Oh, I don't know! Do be still a minute. It's his head that isn't right, +I guess he means.... Don't you know you're trespassing? What do you +mean by coming in here?" + +"Well, ma'am, I didn't mean anything in particular. I just happened in +by accident. I'm sorry." + +"Humph! You didn't come in here to run off with anything that didn't +belong to you, I hope." + +The captain looked at her for a moment. Then his lip twitched. + +"No, ma'am," he said, solemnly, "I didn't come with that idea--but--" + +"But? What do you mean by 'but'?" + +"But I didn't realize what there was in here to run off with. If I +had.... There, I guess I'd better go. Good day, ladies. Sorry I troubled +you." + +He lifted his cap, turned, and limped out of sight around the clump of +lilacs. From behind him came a series of indignant gasps and +exclamations. + +"Why--why--Well, I never in all my born days! The saucy, impudent--" + +And the voice of the moon-faced one raised in bewildered entreaty: + +"What was it? What did he say? Elviry Snowden, why don't you tell me +what 'twas he _said_?" + +Captain Kendrick hobbled back to the Minot yard. He hobbled through the +orchard gate, leaving it ajar, and reaching the bench beneath the locust +tree, collapsed upon it. For some time he was conscious of very little +except the ache in his legs and the fact that breathing was a difficult +and jerky operation. Then, as the fatigue and pain ceased to be as +insistent, the memory of his interview with the pair in the Eyrie +returned to him and he began to chuckle. After a time he fancied that he +heard a sympathetic chuckle behind him. It seemed to come from the +vegetable garden, Judah's garden, which, so Mr. Cahoon told his former +skipper, he had set out himself and was "sproutin' and comin' up +better'n ary other garden in the town of Bayport, if I do say it as +shouldn't." + +Kendrick could not imagine who could be chuckling in that garden. Also +he could not imagine where the chuckler could be hiding, unless it was +behind the rows of raspberry and currant bushes. Slowly and painfully he +rose to his feet and peered over the bushes. Then the mystery was +explained. The "chuckles" were clucks. A flock of at least a dozen +healthy and energetic hens were enthusiastically busy in the Cahoon +beds. Their feet were moving like miniature steam shovels and showers of +earth and infant vegetables were moving likewise. Judah had boasted that +the fruits of his planting were "comin' up." If he had seen them at that +moment he would have realized how fast they were coming up. + +The sight aroused Captain Kendrick's ire. He was, in a way of speaking, +guardian of that vegetable patch. Judah had not formally appointed him +to that position, but he had gone away and, by the fact of so doing, had +left it in his charge. He felt responsible for its safety. + +"Shoo!" shouted the captain and, leaning upon his cane, limped toward +the garden. + +"Shoo!" he roared again. The hens paid about as much attention to the +roar as a gang of ditch diggers might pay to the buzz of a mosquito. +Obviously something more drastic than shooing was necessary. The captain +stooped and picked up a stone. He threw the stone and hit a hen. She +rose in the air with a frightened squawk, ran around in a circle, and +then, coming to anchor in a patch of tiny beets, resumed excavating +operations. + +Kendrick picked up another stone, a bigger one, and threw that. He +missed the mark this time, but the shot was not entirely without +results; it hit one of Mr. Cahoon's cucumber frames and smashed a pane +to atoms. The crash of glass had the effect of causing some of the fowl +to stop digging and appear nervous. But these were in the minority. + +The captain was, by this time, annoyed. He was on the verge of losing +his temper. Beyond the little garden and between the raspberry and +currant bushes he caught a glimpse of the path and the gate through +which he had just come on his way back from the grounds of the Fair +Harbor. That gate he saw, with a twinge of conscience, was wide open. +Obviously he must have neglected to latch it on passing through, it had +swung open, and the hens had taken advantage of the sally port to make +their foray upon Judah's pet vegetables. They were Fair Harbor hens. +Somehow this fact did not tend to deepen Sears Kendrick's affection for +them. + +"Shoo! Clear out, you pesky nuisances!" he shouted, and waving his cane, +charged laboriously down upon the fowl. They retreated before him, but +their retreat was strategic. They moved from beets to cabbages, from +cabbages to young corn, from corn to onions. And they scratched and +pecked as they withdrew. Nevertheless, they were withdrawing and in the +direction of the open gate; in the midst of his panting and pain the +captain found a slight comfort in the fact that he was driving the +creatures toward the gate. + +At last they were almost there--that is, the main body. Kendrick noted, +with sudden uneasiness, that there were stragglers. A gaily decorated +old rooster, a fowl with a dissipated and immoral swagger and a knowing, +devil-may-care tilt of the head, was sidling off to the left. Two or +three young pullets were following the lead of this ancient pirate, +evidently fascinated by his recklessness. The captain turned to head off +the wanderers. They squawked and ran hither and thither. He succeeded in +turning them back, but, at the moment of his success, heard triumphant +cluckings at his rear. The rest of the flock had, while his attention +was diverted by the rooster and his followers, galloped joyfully back to +the garden again. Now, as Captain Sears gazed, the rooster and his +satellites flew to join them. All hands--or, more literally, all +feet--resumed excavating with the abandon of conscientious workers +striving to make up lost time. + +And now Sears Kendrick did lose his temper. Probably at another time he +might have laughed, but now he was tired, in pain, and in no mood to see +the humorous side of the situation. He expressed his opinion of the hens +and the rooster, using quarter deck idioms and withholding little. If +the objects of his wrath were disturbed they did not show it. If they +were shocked they hid their confusion in the newly turned earth of Judah +Cahoon's squash bed. + +Whether they were shocked or not Sears did not stop to consider. He +intended to shock them to the fullest extent of the word's meaning. At +his feet was a stick, almost a log, part of the limb of a pear tree. He +picked up this missile and hurled it at the marauders. It missed them +but it struck in the squash bed and tore at least six of the delicate +young squashlings from their moorings. Kendrick plunged after it--the +hens separating as he advanced and rejoining at his rear--picked up the +log and, turning, again hurled it. + +"There!" roared the captain, "take that, damn you!" + +One of the hens did "take it." So did some one else. The missile struck +just beneath the fowl as she fled, lifted her and a peck or two of soil +as well, and hurled the whole mass almost into the face of a person who, +unseen until then, had advanced along the path from the gate and had +arrived at that spot at that psychological instant. This person uttered +a little scream, the hen fled with insane yells, the log and its +accompanying shower fell back to earth, and Sears Kendrick and the young +woman--for the newcomer was a young woman--stood and looked at each +other. + +She was bareheaded and her hair was dark and abundant, and she was +wearing a gingham dress and a white apron. So much he noticed at this, +their first meeting. Afterward he became aware that she was slender and +that her age might perhaps be twenty-four or twenty-five. At that +moment, of course, he did not notice anything except that her apron and +dress--yes, even her hair and face--were plentifully besprinkled with +earth and that she was holding a hand to her eyes as if they, too, might +have received a share of the results of the terrestrial disturbance. + +"Oh!" he stammered. "I'm awfully sorry! I--I hope I didn't hurt you." + +If she heard him she did not answer, but, removing her hand, opened and +shut her eyes rapidly. The captain's alarm grew as he watched this +proceeding. + +"I--I _do_ hope I didn't hurt you," he repeated. "It--it didn't put your +eyes out, did it?" + +She smiled, although rather uncertainly. "No," she said. + +"You're sure?" + +"Yes." The smile became broader. "It's not quite as bad as that, I +guess. I seem to be able to see all right." + +He drew a relieved breath. "Well, I'm thankful for so much, then," he +announced. "But it's all over your dress--and--and in your hair--and.... +Oh, I _am_ sorry!" + +She laughed at this outburst. "It is all right," she declared. "Of +course it was an accident, and I'm not hurt a bit, really." + +"I'm glad of that. Yes, it was an accident--your part of it, I mean. I +didn't see you at all. I meant the part the hen got, though." + +Her laugh was over, but there was still a twinkle in her eye. Kendrick +was, by this time, aware that her eyes were brown. + +"Yes," she observed, demurely, "I--gathered that you did." + +"Yes, I--" It suddenly occurred to him that his language had been as +emphatic as his actions. "Good lord!" he exclaimed. "I forgot. I beg +your pardon for that, too. When I lose my temper I am liable to--to make +salt water remarks, I'm afraid. And those hens.... Eh? There they are +again, hard at it! Will you excuse me while I kill three or four of 'em? +You see, I'm in charge of that garden and.... _Get out!_" + +This last was, of course, another roar at the fowl, who, under the +leadership of the rake-helly rooster, were scratching harder than ever +in the beds. The captain reached for another missile, but his visitor +stepped forward. + +"Please don't," she begged. "Please don't kill them." + +"Eh? Why not? They ought to be killed." + +"I know it, but I don't want them killed--yet, at any rate. You see, +they are my hens." + +"Yours?" The captain straightened up and looked at her. "You don't mean +it?" he exclaimed. + +"Yes, I do. They are mine, or my mother's, which is the same thing. I am +dreadfully sorry they got in here. I'll have them out in just a minute. +Oh, yes, I will, really." + +Kendrick regarded her doubtfully. + +"Well," he said, slowly, "I know it isn't polite to contradict a lady +but if you'll tell me _how_ you are goin' to get 'em out without killin' +'em, I'll be ever so much obliged. You can't drive 'em, I know that." + +"I shan't try. Just wait, I'll be right back." + +She hurried away, down the path and through the open gate. Captain Sears +Kendrick looked after her. Behind and about him the Fair Harbor hens +clucked and scratched blissfully. + +In very little more than the promised minute the young woman returned. +She carried a round wooden receptacle--what Cape Codders used to call a +"two quart measure"--and, as she approached, she shook it. Something +within rattled. The hens, some of them, heard the rattle and ceased +their digging. + +"Come, chick, chick! Come, biddy, biddy, biddy!" called the young woman, +rattling the measure. More of the fowl gave up their labors, and looked +and listened. Some even began to follow her. She dipped a hand into the +measure, withdrew it filled with corn, and scattered a few grains in the +path. + +"Come, biddy, biddy, biddy!" she said again. + +And the biddies came. Forgetting the possibilities of Judah Cahoon's +garden, they rushed headlong upon the golden certainties of those yellow +kernels. The young woman retreated along the path, scattering corn as +she went, and after her scrambled and pecked and squawked the fowl. Even +the sophisticated rooster yielded to temptation and was among the +leaders in the rush. The corn bearer and the flock passed through the +open gate, along the path beneath the Fair Harbor apple trees, out of +sight around the bend. Sears Kendrick was left alone upon the battle +ground, amid the dead and wounded young vegetables. + +But he was not left alone long. A few minutes later his visitor +returned. She had evidently hurried, for there was a red spot on each of +her cheeks and she was breathing quickly. She passed through the gate +into the grounds of the General Minot place and closed that gate behind +her. + +"There!" she said. "Now they are locked up in the hen yard. How in the +world they ever got out of there I don't see. I suppose some one left +the gate open. I--What were you going to say?" + +The captain had been about to confess that it was he who left the gate +open, but he changed his mind. Apparently she had been on the point of +saying something more. The confession could wait. + +"What was it?" asked the young woman. + +"Oh, nothin', nothin'." + +"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter much how they got out, as long as +they did. But I am _very_ sorry they got into Mr. Cahoon's garden. I +hope they haven't completely ruined it." + +They both turned to survey the battlefield. It was--like all +battlefields after the strife is ended--a sad spectacle. + +"Oh, dear!" exclaimed the visitor. "I am afraid they have. What _will_ +Mr. Cahoon say?" + +The captain smiled slightly. + +"I hope you don't expect me to answer that," he observed. + +"Why?... Oh, I see! Well, I don't know that I should blame him much. +Have--have they left anything?" + +"Oh, yes! Yes, indeed. There are a good many--er--sprouts left. And they +dug up a lot of weeds besides. Judah ought to be thankful for the weeds, +anyhow." + +"I am afraid he won't be, under the circumstances." + +"Maybe not, but there is one thing that, under the same circumstances, +he _ought_ to be thankful for. That is, that you came when you did. You +may not know it, but I had been tryin' to get those hens out of that +garden for--for a year, I guess. It seems longer, but I presume likely +it wasn't more than a year." + +She laughed again. "No," she said, "I guess it wasn't more than that." + +"Probably not. If it had been any longer, judgin' by the way they worked, +they'd have dug out the underpinnin' and had the house down by this time. +How did you happen to come? Did you hear the--er--broadsides?" + +"Why, no, I--But that reminds me. Have you seen a tramp around here?" + +"A tramp? What sort of a tramp?" + +"I don't know. Elvira--I mean Miss Snowden--said he was a tall, dark man +and Aurora thought he was rather thick-set and sandy. But they both +agree that he was a dreadful, rough-looking creature who carried a big +club and had a queer slouchy walk. And he came in this direction, so +they thought." + +"He did, eh? Humph! Odd I didn't see him. I've been here all the time. +Where was he when they saw him first?" + +"Over on our property. In the Fair Harbor grounds, I mean. He came out +of the bushes, so Elvira and Aurora say, and spoke to them. Insulted +them, Elvira says." + +"Sho! Well, well! I wonder where he went." + +"I can't think. I supposed of course you must have seen him. It was only +a little while ago, not more than an hour. Have you been here all that +time?" + +"Yes, I've been here for the last two hours. What part of your grounds +was it? Would you like to have me go over there and look around?" + +"No, thank you. You are very kind, but I am sure it won't be necessary. +He has gone by now, of course." + +"I should be glad to try." Then, noticing her glance at his limp, he +added: "Oh, I can navigate after a fashion, well enough for a short +cruise like that. But it is funny that, if there was a tramp there such +a little while ago, I didn't run afoul of him. Why, I was over there +myself." + +"You were?" + +"Yes, you see, I----" + +He stopped short. He had been about to tell of his short walk and how he +had inadvertently trespassed within the Fair Harbor boundaries. But +before he could speak the words a sudden and amazing thought flashed +upon him. + +"Eh?" he cried. "Why--why, I wonder----" + +His visitor was leaning forward. Judging by her expression, she, too, +was experiencing a similar sensation of startled surmise. + +"Why----" repeated the captain. + +"Oh!" exclaimed the young woman. + +"You don't suppose----" + +"It couldn't possibly be that----" + +"Wait a minute, please. Just a minute." Sears held up his hand. "Where +did those folks of yours see this tramp? Were they in a--in a kind of +roundhouse--summer-house, you might call it?" + +"Why, yes. They were in the Eyrie." + +"That's it, the Eyrie. And is one of the--er--ladies rather tall and +narrow in the beam, gray-haired, and speaks quick and--school-marmy?" + +"Yes. That is Miss Elvira Snowden." + +"Of course--Elvira. That's what the other one called her. And she--the +other one--is short and broad and--and hard of hearin'?" + +"Yes. Her name is Aurora Chase. Is it possible that you----" + +"Just a second more. Has this short one got a--a queer sort of hair rig? +Black as tar and with kind of--of wrinkles in it?" + +She smiled at this description. "Yes," she said. "Do you mean that _you_ +are----" + +"The tramp? I guess likely I am. I was over on your premises just a +little while ago and met those two ladies." + +"But you can't be. They said he--the tramp--was a dreadful, rough man, +with a club and--and----" + +"Here's the club." Captain Kendrick exhibited his cane. "And these lame +legs of mine would account for that slouchy walk they told you about. I +guess there isn't much doubt that I am the tramp. But I'm sorry if they +thought I insulted 'em. I surely didn't mean to." + +He described the meeting by the Eyrie and repeated the dialogue as he +remembered it. + +"So you see," he said, in conclusion, "that's all there is to it. I +suppose that hint of mine about bein' tempted to run off with one of 'em +is the nearest to an insult of any of it. Perhaps I shouldn't have said +it, but--but it popped into my head and I couldn't hold it back. I +didn't really mean it," he added solemnly. "I wouldn't have run off with +one of 'em for the world." + +This, and the accompanying look, was too much. His visitor had been +listening and trying to appear grave, although her eyes were twinkling. +But now she burst out laughing. + +"Honest I wouldn't," reiterated Captain Sears. "And I'm sorry for that +insult." + +"Absurd! You needn't be. If there was any insult it was the other way +about. The idea of Elvira's suggesting that you came over there to +steal. Well, we've settled the tramp, at any rate, and I apologize for +the way you were treated, Mr.----" + +"Kendrick. My name is Kendrick." + +"Yes, Mr. Kendrick. And I am very sorry about the garden, too. Please +tell Mr. Cahoon so, and tell him I think I can promise that the gate +won't be left open again." + +"I'll tell him when he comes back. He'll be here pretty soon, I guess. +He and I are old shipmates. He shipped cook aboard of me for a good many +voyages." + +She was moving toward the path and the gate, but now she paused and +turned to look at him. There was a new expression on her face, an +expression of marked interest. + +"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Are you--are you Cap'n Sears Kendrick? The one who +was--hurt?" + +"Wrecked in the train smash up? Yes, I'm the one. Look like a total +wreck, don't I?" + +He laughed as he said it, but there was a taint of bitterness in the +laugh. She did not laugh. Instead she took a step toward him and +involuntarily put out her hand. + +"Oh, I'm _so_ sorry!" she said. + +"Eh? Oh, you needn't be. I'm gettin' along tip-top. Able to walk and +ride and--er--chase hens. That's doin' pretty well for one day." + +"I know. But they were my--our--hens and they must have tired you so. +Please forgive us. I won't," with a smile, "ask you to forgive them." + +"Oh, that's all right, that's all right, Miss--er----" + +"Berry. I am Elizabeth Berry. My mother is in charge here at the +Harbor." + +"Harbor? Oh, yes, over yonder. Berry? Berry? The only Berry I remember +around here was Cap'n Isaac Berry. Cap'n Ike, we young fellows used to +call him. I went to sea with him once, my first voyage second mate." + +"Did you? He was my father. But there, I _must_ go. Good-by, Cap'n +Kendrick. I hope you will get well very fast now." + +"Thanks. Good-bye. Oh, by the way, Miss Berry, what made you think I +might be Sears Kendrick? There are half a dozen Kendricks around +Bayport." + +"Yes, but--excuse me--there is only one Cap'n Sears Kendrick. You are +one of Bayport's celebrities, Cap'n." + +"Humph! Notorieties, you mean. So all hands have been talkin' about me, +eh? Humph! Well, I guessed as much." + +"Why, of course. You are one of our shining lights--sea lights, I mean. +You must expect to be talked about." + +"I do--in Bayport, and I'll be talked about more in a day or two, I +guess." + +"Why?" + +"Eh? Oh, nothin', nothin'. I was thinkin' out loud, didn't realize I +spoke. Good-by." + +"Good-by." + +The gate closed behind her. Kendrick sat down once more upon the bench +beneath the locust tree. + +When Judah returned with the bucket of clams he found his guest and +prospective boarder just where he had left him. + +"Well, by Henry, Cap'n Sears!" he exclaimed. "Still at the same old +moorin's, eh? Been anchored right there ever since I sot sail?" + +"Not exactly, Judah. Pretty nearly, though." + +"Sho! Kind of dull music for you, I'm afraid. Whoa, you lop-sided +hay-barge! Stand still till I give you orders to move, will ye! That's +what I warned you, Cap'n Sears; not much goin' on around here. You'll be +pretty lonesome, I guess likely." + +"Oh, I guess I can stand it, Judah. I haven't been lonesome so far." + +"Ain't, eh? That's good. Well, I got my clams; now I'll steer this horse +into port and come back and get to work on that chowder. Oh, say, Cap'n +Sears; I see Sary and told her you was cal'latin' to stay here for +dinner." + +"Did you? Much obliged. What did she say?" + +"Say? She said a whole lot. Wanted to know how in time you got up here. +'You didn't let him _walk_ all that great long ways, Judah Cahoon?' she +says. 'I ain't altogether a fool, be I?' says I." + +Mr. Cahoon paused to search his pockets for a match. + +"What answer did she make to that?" asked the captain. Judah grinned. + +"Wa--ll," he drawled, "she said, 'Perhaps not--altogether.' 'Twan't +much, but it was enough of the kind, as the feller said about the +tobacco in the coffee pot. Oh, say, that reminds me, Cap'n Sears; there +was somebody else talkin' about you. I--whoa, you camel, you! Creepin', +crawlin', jumpin'---- Well, go ahead, then! I'll tell you the rest in +half a shake, Cap'n. Git dap!" + +Horse, cart and driver jogged and jolted into the barn. After a brief +interval Mr. Cahoon reappeared, carrying the clam bucket. They entered +the kitchen together. Then the captain said: + +"Judah, you said some one beside Sarah was talkin' about me. Who was +it?" + +"Hey? Oh, 'twas Emeline Tidditt, her that's keepin' house for Judge +Knowles. She says the old judge is gettin' pretty feeble. Don't cal'late +he'll last out much longer, Emeline don't. Says it's nothin' but just +grit and hang-on that keeps him alive. He's a spunky old critter, Judge +Knowles is, 'cordin' to folks's tell. Course I don't know him same as +some, but I cal'late he's a good deal on the general build and lines of +a man name of George Dingo that I run afoul of one time to a place +called Semurny--over acrost. You know Semurny, don't ye, Cap'n? One of +them Med'terranean port 'tis." + +"Smyrna, do you mean?" + +"Um-hm. That's it, Semurny. I was there aboard the _William Holcomb_, +out of Philadelphy. We was loadin' with figs and truck like that. You +remember the old _Holcomb_, don't you, Cap'n Sears? Sartin sure you do. +Horncastle and Grant of Philadelphy they owned her. Old Horncastle was a +queer man as ever I see. Had a cork leg. Got the real one shot off in +the Mexican war or run over by a horse car, some said one and some said +t'other. Anyhow he had a cork one spliced on in place of it, and--ho, +ho! 'twas as funny a sight as ever I see--one time he fell off the wharf +there in Philadelphy. Yes, sir, fell right into the dock, he did. And +when they scrabbled down the ladder to haul him in there wasn't nothin' +in sight but that cork leg, stickin' up out of water. The rest of him +had gone under, but that cork leg hadn't--no, sire-ee! Haw, haw! +Well ... er ... er.... What did I start to talk about, Cap'n Sears?" + +"I don't know, Judah. It was a good while ago. You began by sayin' that +you met Judge Knowles's housekeeper." + +"Hey? Why, sure and sartin!" Mr. Cahoon slapped his leg. "Sartin sure, +Cap'n Sears, that was it. And I said she and me got to talkin' about +you. Well, well, well! I started right there and I fetched up way over +in Semurny, along of George Dingo. Well, by Henry! Ain't that queer, +now?" + +He rubbed his legs and shook his head, apparently overcome by the +queerness of it. Kendrick, judging that another Mediterranean cruise was +imminent, made a remark calculated to keep him at home. + +"What did this--what's-her-name--this Tidditt woman say about me?" he +asked. + +"Hey? Oh, she said that Judge Knowles wanted to see you. Said that he +asked about you 'most every day, wanted to know how you was gittin' +along, because just as soon as you was well enough to cruise on your own +hook he wanted you to come in and see him." + +"Judge Knowles wanted me to come in and see him? Why, that's funny! I +don't know the judge well. Haven't seen him for years, and then only two +or three times. What on earth can Judge Knowles have to say to me?.... +Humph! I can't think." + +He tried to think, nevertheless. Judah busied himself with the sloppy +process of clam opening. A little later he observed: + +"So you wan't lonesome all alone here by yourself while I was gone, +Cap'n? That's good. Glad to hear it." + +"Thanks, Judah. I wasn't alone, though." + +"You wan't? Sho! Do tell! Have company, did ye? Somebody run in?" + +"Yes. And they wouldn't run out again, not for a good while. They came +on business." + +"Business? What kind of business?" + +"Well, I suppose you might call it gardening. They were interested in +raisin' vegetables, I know that." + +Judah laid down the clam knife and regarded his former skipper. "Raisin' +vegetables?" he repeated slowly. "What--? Look here Cap'n Sears, who was +they? Where'd they come from?" + +"I believe they came from next door?" + +"Next door? From the Harbor?" He rose to his feet, suspicion dawning +upon his face above the whiskers. + +"Yes, Judah." + +"Cap'n Sears, answer me right straight out. Have those dummed +everlastin' Fair Harbor hens been in my garden again?" + +"Yes, Judah." + +"Have they--have they?----" Words failed him. He strode up the path to +the garden. Then, after a moment's comprehensive gaze upon the scene of +ruin, the words returned. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Sears Kendrick's prophecy that Bayport would, within the next day or +two, talk about him even more than it had before was a true one. As soon +as it became known that he had left the Macomber home and was boarding +and lodging with Judah Cahoon in the rear portion of the General Minot +house every tongue in the village--tongues of animals and small children +excepted--wagged his name. At the sewing-circle, at the Shakespeare +Reading Society--convening that week at Mrs. Tabitha Crosby's--after +Friday night prayer-meeting at the Orthodox meeting-house, in Eliphalet +Bassett's store at mail times, in the sitting-rooms and kitchens and +around breakfast, dinner and supper tables from West Bayport to East +Bayport Neck and from Poverty Lane to Woodchuck's Misery--the principal +topic was Captain Kendrick's surprising move. + +"Why?" that was the question. + +Various answers were offered, many reasons suggested, but none satisfied +everybody. + +At the Shakespeare Society meeting, just before the reading aloud of +"Cymbeline" began--"Cymbeline" carefully edited, censored and kalsomined +by the selective committee, Mrs. Reverend David Dishup and Miss Tryphosa +Taylor--the feelings of the genteel section of the community were +expressed by no less a personage than Mrs. Captain Elkanah Wingate. Mrs. +Wingate, speaking from the Mount Sinai of Bayport's aristocracy, made +proclamation thus: + +"Why, if the man must leave his sister's and go somewhere else to live, +_why_ in the world does he choose to go _there_? Aren't there good, +respectable, genteel boarding-houses like--well, like yours, Naomi, for +instance? _I_ should say so." + +Mrs. Naomi Newcomb, whose home sheltered a few "paying guests," smiled +and shook her head. The shake indicated not a doubt of Mrs. Wingate's +judgment, but complete loss as to Sears Kendrick's reasons for behaving +as he had. Other members shook their heads also. Mary-Pashy Foster, who +had spent a winter in France when her husband was ill with the small-pox +at Havre, shrugged her shoulders. + +"And," continued Mrs. Captain Wingate, "when you consider the place he +has gone to and the person he has gone with! Good heavens, _I_ say! Good +heavens!" + +More words and exclamations of approval. Several others declared that +they said so, too. + +"Gone to live," went on Mrs. Wingate, "not in the General Minot house +proper--there might be some explanation for _that_, perhaps--but they +tell me that this Judah Cahoon only uses the back part of the house and +that Cap'n Kendrick has got a room just off the kitchen or thereabouts." + +"And Judah himself!" broke in Miss Taylor. "He is as rough and common +as--as--I don't know what. How a man like Cap'n Kendrick can lower +himself--debase himself to such a person's level I _do_ not see. You +would as soon expect a needle to go through a camel's eye, as the saying +is." + +There was a slight interval of embarrassment after this outburst. The +majority of those present realized that the speaker had gotten her +proverb twisted, but, she being Miss Tryphosa Taylor, no one felt like +venturing to set her right. Mrs. Captain Godfrey Peasley relieved the +situation; she had a habit of relieving situations--when she did not +make them tenser. She had gotten into the Shakespeare Reading Society +purely by persistence and the possession of adamantine self-confidence. +From that shot-proof exterior snubs, hints and reproofs glanced like +blown peas from the hull of a battleship. "Heaven knows," confided Mrs. +Captain Wingate to Miss Taylor and the Reverend Mrs. Dishup, "why Amelia +Peasley ever wanted to join the Society. She doesn't know whether +Shakespeare is a man or a disease." Which may or not have been true, +the fact remaining that Mrs. Peasley _had_ wanted to join the Society +and--joined. + +Now, while others hesitated, following Miss Tryphosa's little blunder, +she spoke. + +"I think," she declared, with conviction, "that Sears Kendrick ought to +be ashamed of himself. _I_ think such actions are degradatin'--yes, +indeed, right down degradatin'." + +After that, further comments upon the captain's conduct would have +seemed like anti-climaxes. Therefore the Society proceeded to read +"Cymbeline." Mrs. Peasley had something to say about "Cymbeline," also. + +Captain Sears himself merely grinned when told of the sensation his +conduct was causing. + +"All right," he said, "let 'em talk. If they aren't talkin' about me +they will be about somebody else." + +Judah, to whom this remark was made, snorted. + +"Humph!" he growled. "They _be_ talkin' about somebody else. Don't you +make no mistake about that, Cap'n Sears." + +"That so, Judah? Who's the other lucky man?" + +"Me. Jumpin', creepin'---- Why, some of them womenfolks seem to cal'late +I lammed you over the head with a marlinspike and then towed you up here +by main strength; seems if they did, by Henry! And some of the men ain't +a whole lot better. Makes me madder'n a sore nose. I was down to the +store--down to 'Liphalet's--and there was a crew of ha'f a dozen there +and they all wanted to know how you was gittin' along. + +"'Well, he ain't dead yit,' says I. 'He was lively enough when I left +him. I ain't come to buy no spade to bury him with.' + +"You'd think that would satisfy 'em, wouldn't ye? Well, it didn't! Cap'n +Noah Baker was there and he wanted to know this, and that little runt of +a Thad Black he wanted to know that--and kept on wantin'. And that +brother-in-law of yours, Cap'n Sears, that Joel Macomber, I declare to +man if he wan't the wust of all. You'd think _he_ ought to keep quiet +about your doin's, wouldn't ye, now? But he didn't. 'Don't ask me, +boys,' he says. 'I don't know why Sears quit my house and went to +Judah's. We manage to bear up without him somehow,' says he, winkin' to +the gang, 'but if you ask me his _reasons_ for goin' _I_ can't tell ye. +I presume likely Judah can, though,' he says. 'Well, I can see _one_ +reason plain enough,' says I, lookin' right at him." + +Kendrick burst out laughing. "Did he get the idea, Judah?" he inquired. + +"Him? Nary a bit. Wanted me to tell him what the reason was. Limpin', +creepin' prophets! What did a woman like Sary ever marry him for, +anyway, Cap'n? Not that it's any of my business, you understand." + +"I understand. Well, it wasn't any of mine either, Judah." + +"No, I presume likely not. But that George Kent, he's a nice young +feller, ain't he, Cap'n?" + +"Seems to be," replied Kendrick. + +"Um--hm. Come up to me, after the gang had quit havin' their good time, +and shook hands nice and chummy and wanted to know how you was. 'Tell +the cap'n I'm goin' to come in and see him some day,' he says, 'if you +and he want callers.' 'Good land, yes,' says I, 'course we do. Don't +stop to call, come right along in.' He's a nice boy that young Kent.... +But--but some of these days I'm goin' to _hit_ that Thad Black--hit him +with somethin' soft like--like an anvil. If that critter fell overboard +I wouldn't heave him no life-preserver. No, sir, by Henry, I'd heave him +the sheet anchor. The longer he hung on to that the better 'twould suit +_me_." + +To his sister only did Sears give his reasons for leaving her home. With +her he was perfectly frank. + +"You know why I'm doin' this, Sarah," he said. "Now don't you--honest?" + +Mrs. Macomber hesitated. "Why, Sears," she faltered reluctantly, "I--I +suppose I can guess why you _think_ you're doin' it. But that doesn't +make it right for you to do it, really." + +"Oh, yes, it does. Be sensible, Sarah. Here are you with six children to +support and work for, not to mention one boarder and--a husband. The +house is crowded, aloft and alow. There isn't a bit of room for me." + +"Now, Sears, how can you talk so? You've _had_ room here, haven't you?" + +"Yes, I've had it, plenty of it. But how much room have the rest of you +had?" + +"Why--why, we've had enough. Nobody's complained that I know of." + +"Good reason why. You wouldn't let 'em, Sarah. And of course you never +would complain yourself. But that is only part of it. The real thing is +that I will not live on you." + +"But you pay board." + +"Stuff and nonsense! How much do I pay in comparison with what it costs +to keep me?" + +"You pay me all you can afford, I'm sure; and I rather guess, from what +you said about your money affairs the other day, that you pay me more +than you ought to afford. And I don't believe you're goin' to pay that +Judah Cahoon any high board for livin' in that old rats' nest of his. If +you are I shall begin to believe you've gone crazy." + +Her brother laughed. "I don't mind payin' Judah little or nothin', +Sarah," he declared. "What I get will be worth it, probably, and besides +he's a strong, healthy man. Then, too--well, I shouldn't say it to any +one but you, but there is a little obligation on his side and that keeps +me from feelin' like too much of a barnacle.... But there, what is the +use of our threshin' this all over again? As I said in the beginnin', +Sarah, you know why I'm doin' it perfectly well." + +Mrs. Macomber sighed. + +"I suppose I do," she admitted. "It's because you are Sears Kendrick and +as independent and--and proud as--as your own self." + +So the move was made and Captain Sears Kendrick's sea chest and its +owner moved into Judah Cahoon's spare stateroom at the General Minot's +place. And Bayport talked and talked more and more and then less and +less until at the end of the captain's first week in his new quarters +the move had become old news and people ceased to be interested in it, a +state of affairs which pleased Mr. Cahoon immensely. + +"There, by Henry!" he declared, on his return from what he called a +"cruise down the road along." "I honestly do believe you and me has got +so we can bat our weather eye without all hands and the ship's cat +tryin' to see us do it. I met no less than seven folks while I was down +along just now and only two of 'em hailed to ask how you liked bein' +aboard here, Cap'n Sears. Yes, sir, by creepin', only two of 'em; the +rest never said a word. What do you think of that? Some considerable +change, I call it." + +So being forgotten by the majority of Bayporters--which was what he +desired to be--the captain settled down to live, or exist, and to wait. +Just what he was waiting for he would have found hard to tell. Of course +he told his sister when she came to see him, which was at least once +every other day, that he was waiting for his legs to get whole and +strong again, and then he should, of course, go to sea. He told Doctor +Sheldon much the same thing, and the doctor said, "Why, of course, Cap'n +Kendrick. We'll have you on your own quarter deck again one of these +days." He said it with heartiness and apparent sincerity, but Sears was +skeptical. After the doctor's visits he was likely to be blue and +dejected for a time, and Judah noticed this fact but attributed it to +quite a different cause. + +"It's high time that doctor swab quit comin' here to see you," declared +Judah. "Runnin' in here and lettin' go anchor and settin' round and +sayin', 'Well, how goes it to-day?' and 'Nice spell of weather we're +havin',' and the like of that, and then goin' home and chalkin' up +another dollar on the bill. No sense to it, I say. No wonder you look +glum, Cap'n Sears. Makes _me_ glum, and 'tain't _my_ money that's bein' +talked out of me, nuther. Hear what he said just now? 'I must go,' he +says. 'And what did you say? Why, you said, 'Don't hurry, Doctor. What +do you want to go for?' All I could do to keep from bustin' out in a +laugh. _I_ know what you was sayin' to yourself, you see. 'Stead of +sayin', 'What do you want to go for?' you was thinkin', 'What in blue +blazes do you want to _come_ for?' Haw, haw! That was it, wan't it, +Cap'n?" + +"Why, no, Judah. I'm always glad to see the doctor." + +"Ye--es, you be!" with sarcasm. "Glad to see his back. Well, no use, +Cap'n, I've got to think up some notion to keep him from comin' here. +How would it do to run up a signal 'Small-pox aboard,' or somethin' like +that? Think that would keep him off?... No, he's a doctor, ain't he? All +he'd read out of that set of flags would be, 'More dollars. Come on in.' +Haw, haw! Well, I got to think up some way." + +Judah's chatter kept his lodger from being too lonely. Mr. Cahoon talked +about everybody and everything, and when he was not talking he was +singing. He sang when he turned out in the morning to get breakfast, he +sang when he turned in at bedtime. He sang while working in the garden +repairing the damages done by the Fair Harbor hens. His repertoire was +extensive, embracing not only every conceivable variety of chantey and +sea song, but also an assortment of romantic ballads, running from "The +Blue Juniata," in which: + + "Wild rowed an Indian girl, + Bright Al-fa-ra-ta," + +to the ancient ditty of twenty-odd verses describing how + + "There was a rich merchant in London did dwell, + He had for his daughter a very fine gel, + Her name it was Dinah, just sixteen years old, + With a very large fortune in silver and gold. + + "Singing Too-ral-i-ooral-i-ooral-i-ay, + Singing Too-ral-i-ooral-i-ooral-i-ay," + +and continuing to sing "Too-ral-i-ooral-i-ooral-i-ay" four times after +each of the twenty-odd verses to the tragical finish of Dinah and the +ballad. + +As some men take to drink upon almost any or no excuse, so Judah Cahoon +took to song. And if the effect upon him was not as unsteadying as an +over indulgence in alcohol, that upon his hearers was at times upsetting +and disastrous. For example, upon the occasion when Captain Sears again +encountered his acquaintances of the Fair Harbor summer-house, Mr. +Cahoon's singing completely wrecked what might possibly have been a +meeting tending to raise the captain in the estimation of those ladies. + +Sears happened to be taking what he liked to call his exercise. Judah +called it "pacin' decks." He was hobbling back and forth along the path +leading to the gate opening upon the Fair Harbor grounds. His landlord +was at work in the garden. The captain had limped as far as the gate and +was about to turn and limp back again when, behold, along the path +beyond that gate appeared two feminine figures strolling with what might +be called careful carelessness, looking up, down and on every side +except that upon which stood Captain Sears Kendrick. And the captain +recognized the pair, the one tall, slim, slender--unusually slim and +remarkably slender--the other short and plump--very decidedly plump--as +the ladies with whom he had held brief but spirited discourse the +fortnight before, the ladies who had peered forth at him from the +vine-draped window of the Eyrie--in short, for Miss Elvira Snowden and +Mrs. Aurora Chase. + +The pair came scrolling along the path. They were almost at the gate +when Miss Snowden looked up--she would have said she happened to look +up--and saw the captain standing there. She was embarrassed and +surprised--any one might have noticed the surprise and embarrassment. +She started, gasped and uttered a little exclamation. Mrs. Chase, taking +her affliction into account, could not possibly have heard the +exclamation, but no doubt there was a telepathic quality in it, for +she, too, started, looked up and was surprised and embarrassed. + +"Why--why, oh, dear!" faltered Miss Snowden. + +"Why! My soul and body!" exclaimed Mrs. Chase. + +Captain Sears raised his hat. "Good mornin'," he said politely. + +The ladies looked at each other. Then Miss Elvira, evidently the born +leader, inclined her head ever so little and said, "Good morning." Mrs. +Aurora looked up at her in order to see what she said. + +Captain Sears tried again. + +"It's a nice day for a walk," he observed. + +Miss Elvira nodded and agreed, distantly--yet not too distant. + +"I understand," said the captain, "that I gave you ladies a little bit +of a scare the other day. Understand you thought I was a tramp. I'm real +sorry. Of course I know I hadn't any business over on your premises, +but, as a matter of fact, I didn't exactly realize where I was. It was +the first cruise I'd made in these latitudes, as you might say, and I +didn't think about keepin' on my own side of the channel buoys. I beg +your pardon. I'll hope you'll excuse me." + +Miss Snowden nodded elegantly and murmured that she understood. + +"You are our new neighbor, I believe," she said. + +"Why, yes'm, I suppose I am." + +"Cap'n Kendrick, isn't it?" + +"Yes." + +"I hope, Cap'n Kendrick, that you won't think there was +any--ah--anything personal in our mistaking you for a tramp the other +day. Of course there wasn't. Oh, dear, no!" + +The captain hesitated. He was wondering just what answer he was supposed +to make to this speech. Did the lady wish him to infer that it was the +Fair Harbor custom to consider all male strangers tramps until they were +proven innocent? Or--but Mrs. Chase saved him the trouble of reply. + +"Elviry," she demanded, "what are you and him whisperin' about? Why +don't you talk so's a body can hear you? He's Cap'n Kendrick, ain't he? +Have you told him who we be, same as you said you was goin' to?" + +Miss Snowden, after looking at the rotund Aurora as if she would like to +bite her, smiled instead and began a rather tangled explanation to the +effect that she and Mrs. Chase had felt that perhaps they had been +a--ah--they might have seemed "kind of hasty--you know, Cap'n Kendrick, +in what--in speaking as we did that time, and so--and so I told her if +we ever _did_ meet you--if we ever _should_, you know---- But +we haven't really met yet, have we? Shall we introduce ourselves? I +don't see why not; neighbors, you know. Cap'n Kendrick, this is Mrs. +Aurora Chase, widow of the late Cap'n Ichabod Chase. No doubt, you knew +Cap'n Chase in the old days, Cap'n Kendrick." + +And then Aurora, who had been listening with all her ears, and hearing +with perhaps a third of them, broke in to say that her husband was not a +captain. "He was second mate when he died," she explained. "Aboard the +bark _Charles Francis_ he was, bound for New Bedford from the West +Indies with a load of guano." + +Miss Snowden, favoring the veracious Aurora with another look, hastily +introduced herself and began to speak of the beauties of the day, of the +surroundings, and particularly of the select and refined joys of life at +the Fair Harbor. + +"We have our little circle there," she said. "We live our lives, quiet, +retired, away from the world----" + +Mrs. Chase broke in once more to ask what she was talking about. When +the substance of the Snowden rhapsody was given her, she nodded--as well +as her several chins would permit her to nod--and announced that she +agreed. + +"We like livin' at the home first-rate," she declared. Elvira flushed. + +"It is _not_ a home," she said, sharply. "It is a select retreat, that +is all. It is not a home in _any_ sense of the word. Every one knows +that it is not. Aurora, I wish to goodness you---- But of course Cap'n +Kendrick doesn't want to hear about us all the time. He is interested in +his own new quarters. Do you like it here, Cap'n Kendrick? +I--ah--understand you are, so to speak, a guest of Mr. Cahoon's. He +is--ah--a relation of yours?" + +Sears explained the acquaintanceship between Judah and himself. Miss +Snowden nodded comprehension. + +"That explains it," she said. "I thought he could hardly be a relation +of _yours_, Cap'n Kendrick. He is--he is a little bit queer, isn't he? I +mean eccentric, you know. Of course I've never met him, and I'm sure +he's real good-hearted, but----" + +She paused, leaving the rest of the sentence to be inferred. Captain +Sear's answer was prompt and crisp. + +"Judah Cahoon is one of the best fellows that ever lived," he said. + +"Yes, I know. I am sure he is. I didn't mean that. I meant is he--is +he----" + +And then Judah himself, at work in the garden behind the screen of +bushes, too busy to hear or even be aware of the conversation at the +gate, chose this untoward moment to burst into song, to sing at the top +of his voice, and the top of Judah's voice was an elevation from which +sound traveled far. He sang: + + "Oh, Sally Brown was a bright mulatter, + Way, oh, roll and go! + She drinks rum and chews terbacker, + Spend my money on Sally Brown. + Whee--_yip_!" + +Miss Elvira's thin figure stiffened to an exclamation point of +disapproval. Captain Kendrick turned uneasily in the direction of the +singer. Mrs. Chase, aware that something was going on and not wishing to +miss it, cupped her ear with her hand. And Judah began the second +verse. + + "Oh, Sally Brown, I'll surely miss you, + Way, oh, roll and go! + How I'd love to hug and kiss you! + Spend my money on Sally Brown. + Whee--_yip_!" + +"Judah!" roared the captain, who was suffering acute apprehension. +"Judah!" + +"Oh, Sally Brown----" + +"_Judah!"_ + +"Eh? What is it, Cap'n Sears?" + +"Shut up." + +"Eh! Shut up what? What's open?" + +"Stop that noise." + +"What noise?" + +"That noise of yours. That singin'." + +"Eh? Oh, all right, sir. Aye, aye, Cap'n, just as you say." + +Captain Sears, relieved, turned again to his visitors. But the visitors +were rapidly retreating along the path, the lines of Miss Elvira's back +indicating disgust and outraged gentility. Mrs. Chase, however, looked +back. Obviously she still did not know what it was all about. + +Sears, although he chuckled a good deal over the affair, was a trifle +annoyed, nevertheless. It was a good joke, of course, and he certainly +cared little for the approval or disapproval of Miss Elvira Snowden. But +when he considered what the prim spinster's version of the happening was +likely to be and the reputation her story was sure to confer, inside the +Fair Harbor fences at least, upon him and his household companion, he +was tempted to wish that that companion's musical talent had been hidden +under a napkin, or, better still, a feather bed. He--Kendrick--was to +live, for a time indefinite, next door to the Fair Harborites, and it is +always pleasant to be on good terms with one's neighbors. True, those +neighbors might be, the majority of them, what Mr. Cahoon called +them--which was whatever term of approbrium he happened to think of at +the moment, "pack of old hens" being the mildest--but the captain knew +that one, at least, was not an "old hen." "That Berry girl," which was +his way of thinking of her, was attractive and kind and a lady. They had +met but once, it is true, but she had made a most favorable impression +upon him. He had caught glimpses of her on two occasions, in the Fair +Harbor grounds, and once she had waved a greeting. She was a nice girl, +he was sure of it. If she thought at all of the cripple next door he +would like her to think of him in a kindly way, as a decent sort of +hulk, so to speak. It was provoking to feel that she would next hear of +him as a dissipated ruffian, friend and defender of another ruffian who +howled ribald songs in the presence--or at least in the hearing--of +ladies. + +He questioned Judah concerning the Fair Harbor, its founder and the +dwellers within its gates. Judah told him what he knew of the story, +which was very little more than the captain already knew, his knowledge +gained from his sister's letters. Captain Sylvanus Seymour had had but +one child, his daughter Lobelia. At his death she, of course, inherited +all his property. According to Bayport gossip, as reported by Mr. +Cahoon, the old man had died worth anywhere from one half a million to +three or five millions. "Richer'n dock mud, I cal'late he was," declared +Judah. "Made a lot of money out of his Boston shippin' business and a +lot more out of stocks and city real estate and one thing or 'nother." +For years after Captain Sylvanus died Lobelia lived alone in the big +house. Then she had married. Judah could tell little about the man she +married. + +"He was a music teacher that come to town here one winter, that's about +all I can swear to," said Judah. "Down here for his health, so he said, +and taught singin' school while he was gittin' healthy. His last name +was Phillips, which is all right, but he had the craziest fust name ever +_I_ heard. Egbert 'twas. Hoppin', creepin' Henry! Did you ever _hear_ +such a name? _Egbert!_ Jumpin' prophets! Boys round town, they tell me, +used to call him 'Eg' behind his back. Some of 'em, them that didn't +like him, called him 'Soft biled.' Haw, haw! See what they meant, don't +you, Cap'n Sears? Egbert, you know, that's 'Eg' for short, and then +'Soft biled' meanin' a soft biled egg.... Hey? Yes, I cal'lated you'd +see it, you're pretty sharp at a joke, Cap'n, but there _has_ been them +I've told that to that never.... Hey? Aye, aye, sir, I was just goin' to +tell the rest of it." + +According to Judah's report, which was a second or third hand report of +course, Egbert Phillips had not been too popular among the males in +Bayport. But with the females--ah, there it was different. + +"He was one of them kind, they tell me," said Judah. "One of them +smooth, slick, buttery kind of fellers that draws womenfolks same as +molasses draws flies. Hailed from Philadelphy he did. I used to know a +good many Philadelphy folks myself once. Why, one time----" + +The captain broke in to head off the Philadelphia reminiscence. Brought +back to Bayport and Egbert and Lobelia, Judah went on to tell what more +he knew of the Fair Harbor beginnings. Sears gathered that after the +marriage Egbert who, it seemed, was not in love with the Cape as a place +of residence, would have liked his wife to sell the old house and move +away. But there was a clause in the will of Captain Sylvanus which +prevented this. Under that will the property could not be sold while his +daughter lived. It was then that Lobelia was seized with her great idea. +She, a mariner's daughter, had--until the Providential appearance of the +peerless Egbert--faced a lonely old age. But she had at least a +comfortable home. There were so many women--sea-captains' widows and +sisters--who faced their lonely future without a home. Why not turn the +Seymour property into a home for them--a limited number of them? + +"So she done it," said Judah. "And that's how the Fair Harbor got off +the ways." + +"But you called it a home," objected Captain Sears. "The other day that +Snowden woman, the thin one, gave the other, the stout one--what's her +name?--Northern lights--Aurora, that's it--she gave Aurora fits for +speakin' of the place as a home. She declared it wasn't a home." + +Mr. Caboon chuckled. "Did, eh?" he observed. "Well, you might call a +mackerel gull a canary bird, I presume likely, but 'twouldn't make the +thing sing no better. That Elviry critter likes to make believe she's +the Queen of Sheby. _She_ wouldn't live in no home--no sir-ee! 'Cordin' +to her the Fair Harbor ain't a home because they only take six or eight +passengers, or visitors, or patients, or jailbirds--whatever you might +to call 'em, and it costs four hundred dollars to pay your way in and a +hundred a year to keep you there. So 'tain't a home, you see. It's a--a +genteel henhouse, I'd say. That Elviry Snowden she----" + +Then the captain asked the question to which he had been leading since +the beginning. + +"That Berry girl's mother runs the place, doesn't she?" he asked. + +Judah snorted. "Yeah," he drawled, "she runs it about the way the +skipper's poll parrot runs the vessel. The poll parrot talks a barrel a +minute and the skipper goes right along navigatin'. That's about the way +'tis over yonder," with a jerk of the head in the general direction of +the Fair Harbor. + +His lodger was a trifle surprised. + +"Why, I understood Mrs. Berry--Cap'n Isaac Berry's widow--was manager +there," he said. + +"Um-hm. So she is, the poll parrot manager. But it's that girl of hers, +that 'Lizabeth Berry, that really handles the ropes. There's a capable +little craft, if you want to know," declared Judah, with emphasis. + +He whittled a pipe full of tobacco from the mutilated remnant of a plug, +and continued to expatiate on the capabilities of Miss Berry. According +to him whatever was as it should be within the Fair Harbor boundaries +was due to the young woman's efforts, not to those of her mother. + +"It's kind of queer, ain't it, Cap'n Sears," he observed, "how things +average up sometimes. Seems if whoever 'tis works out the course up +aloft sort of fixed 'em that way." + +"What's that got to do with the Berrys?" + +"Cause it worked that way with them. _You_ knew Cap'n Ike Berry, Cap'n +Sears. Sharp, shrewd, able and all that, but rough and hard as the +broadside of a white-oak plank. Well, he married a woman from down in +the Carolinas somewhere. Her folks was well-off and she was brought up +in cotton wool, as you might say. They wouldn't have nothin' to do with +her after she married Cap'n Ike. He fell in love with her and carried +her off by main strength, as you might say. She'd been treated like a +plaything afore he got her and he treated her that way till he died. She +is soft-spoken, and kind of good-lookin', and polite and all that--but +about as much practical use for bossin' a place like the Fair Harbor as +a--well as a paper umbrella would be in a no'theaster. But 'Lizabeth +now, she's different. She's got her mother's good looks and nice manners +and--and kind of genteelness, you understand, and with 'em she's got her +dad's sense and capableness. She's all right, that girl. Don't you think +so, Cap'n Sears?" + +The captain nodded. + +"I never met her but that once, Judah," he replied. "She was all right +then, surely." + +"I bet you! She's all right most of the time, I guess.... That young +George Kent, he thinks so, they tell me." + +"Oh ... does he?" + +"Um-hm! He's cruisin' up to the Fair Harbor 'bout every once or twice a +week, 'cordin' to tell. If it ain't to see 'Lizabeth I don't know what +'tis. It might be Queen Elviry he's after, but I have my doubts.... Oh, +say, Cap'n, speakin' of the Harbor reminds me of Judge Knowles. You +ain't been in to see him yet, same as he wanted you to." + +"That's so, Judah, I haven't. I must pretty soon, I suppose. I can't +think what the old judge wants to see me for. But why did talkin' of the +Fair Harbor and the rest of it make you think of Judge Knowles?" + +"Hey? Oh, 'cause the judge is kind of commodore of the fleet there, +looks after the money matters for 'em, I understand. He's Lobelia's +lawyer, same as he was old Cap'n Sylvanus's afore he died.... I declare +I can't guess what he wants to see you for, Cap'n Sears. Do you +s'pose----" + +Judah proceeded to suppose several things, each supposition more +far-fetched and improbable than its predecessor. Sears paid little +attention to them. He again expressed his intention of calling upon the +judge before long and changed the subject. + +The next day it rained and he did not go and the following day he did +not feel like going. On the day after that, however, further +procrastination was rendered impossible. Mrs. Tidditt, the judge's +housekeeper, visited the General Minot place with another message from +her employer. Emmeline was gray-haired, brisk and, as Judah expressed +it, "straight up and down," both in figure and manner of speaking. + +"Good mornin', Cap'n Kendrick," she said. "Judge Knowles wants to know +if 'twill be convenient for you to come over and see him this afternoon? +Says if 'tis he'll send Mike and the hoss-'n'-buggy around for you at +two o'clock." + +The captain's guilty conscience made him a trifle embarrassed. +"Why--why, yes, certainly," he stammered. "I---- Well, I'm ashamed of +myself for not goin' over there sooner. Beg Judge Knowles's pardon for +me, will you, and tell him I'll be on hand at two sharp. And tell him +not to bother to send the horse and team. I'll get there all right." + +Mrs. Tidditt sniffed. "I'll tell him the first part," she said. "And +Mike'll have the hoss-'n'-buggy here at ten minutes of. Judah Cahoon, +why in the land of Canaan don't you scrub up that back piazza floor once +in a while? It's dirty as a fish shanty." + +Judah's back fin rose. "Say, who's keepin' house aboard here, anyway?" +he demanded. Mrs. Tidditt sniffed again. "Nobody, by the looks," she +said, and departed in triumph. + +At two the Knowles horse and buggy drove into the yard. It was piloted +by Mike Callahan, an ancient, much bewhiskered Irishman who had been +employed by the judge almost as long as had Mrs. Tidditt. He and Judah +assisted Sears into the vehicle and the captain started upon his cruise, +which was a very short one, the Knowles establishment being but a few +hundred yards from the Minot place. On the way he inquired concerning +the judge's health. Mike shook his head. + +"Bad," he grunted. "It's close _to_, the ould judge is." + +"Oh, I'm sorry." + +"Sure ye are. So are we all. He is a fine man, none better--barrin' he's +a grand ould curmudgeon. Here ye are, Cap'n. Git up till I lift ye +down." + +Judge Knowles's house--Sears Kendrick had never been in it before--was a +big square mansion built in the '50's. There was the usual front door +leading to a dark front hall from which, to right and left respectively, +opened parlor and sitting rooms. Emmeline ushered the visitor into the +latter apartment. It was high studded, furnished in black walnut and +haircloth, a pair of tall walnut cases filled with books against one +wall, on the opposite wall a libellous oil portrait of the judge's wife, +who died twenty years before, and a pair of steel engravings depicting +"Sperm Whale Fishing in the Arctic"; No. 1, portraying "The Chase," No. +2, "the Capture." Beneath these stood a marble-topped table upon which +were neatly piled four gigantic volumes, bound copies of Harper's +Weekly, 1861 to '65, the Civil War period. + +At the end of the room, where two French windows opened--that is, could +have opened, they never were--upon the narrow, iron-railed veranda, sat +Judge Marcus Aurelious Knowles, in an old-fashioned walnut armchair, his +feet upon a walnut and haircloth footstool--Bayport folk in those days +called such stools "crickets"--a knitted Afghan thrown over his legs and +a pillow beneath his head. And in that dark, shadowy room, its curtains +drawn rather low, so white was the judge's hair and his face that, to +Sears Kendrick, just in from the light out of doors, it was at first +hard to distinguish where the pillow left off and the head began. + +But the head on the pillow stirred and the judge spoke. + +"Ah--good afternoon, Kendrick," he said. "Glad to see you.... Humph. +Can't see much of you, can I? Here, Emmeline, put those shades up, will +you?" + +The housekeeper moved toward the windows, but she protested as she +moved. + +"Now, Judge," she said, "I don't believe you want them winder curtains +strung way up, do you? I hauled 'em down purpose so's the sun wouldn't +get in your eyes." + +"Um--yes. Well, you haul 'em up again. And don't you haul 'em down till +I'm dead. You'll do it then, I know, and I don't want to attend my +funeral ahead of time." + +Mrs. Tidditt gasped. + +"Oh, Judge Knowles, how _can_ you talk so!" she wailed. + +"I intend to talk as I choose--while I can talk at all.... There, there, +woman, that's enough. Put the blasted things up.... Umph! That's better. +Sit down, Cap'n, sit down. I want to look at you." + +The captain took one of the walnut and haircloth chairs. The judge +looked at him and he looked at the judge. He remembered the latter as a +tall, broad-shouldered figure, with a ruddy face, black hair slightly +sprinkled with gray, and a nose and eye like an eagle's. The man in the +armchair was thin and shrunken, the face was deeply lined, and face and +hands and hair were snow white. The nose was, however, more eagle-like +than ever, and the eyes beneath the rough white brows had the old flash. + +Sears waited an instant for him to speak, but he did not. So the captain +did. + +"I beg your pardon, Judge," he began, "for not comin' over here sooner. +I got your message----" + +Knowles interrupted. "Oh, you got it, did you?" he said. "Humph! I told +Emmeline to get word to you and she said---- Oh, well, never mind that. +Can't waste time. I haven't got any too much of it, or strength either. +Sorry to hear about your accident, Cap'n. Doctor Sheldon says you had a +close call of it. How are the legs?" + +"Oh, I can navigate with 'em after a fashion, but not far. How are you, +Judge? Gettin' better fast, I hope." + +The head on the pillow gave an impatient jerk. "Your hope is lost then. +Don't waste time talking about me. I'm going to die and I know it--and +before long.... There, there," as his caller uttered a protest, "don't +bother to pretend, Kendrick. We aren't children, either of us, although +you're a good many years younger than I am; but we're both too old to +make-believe. I'm almost through. Well, it's all right. I've lived past +my three score and ten and I'm alone in the world and ought not to mind +leaving it, I suppose. I don't much. It's an interesting place and there +are two or three matters I should like to straighten up before.... +Humph! I'm the one's who's wasting the time. How are you? I don't mean +how would you like to be or how do your fool friends and the doctor tell +you you are--but how _are_ you?" + +Captain Sears smiled. It had been a long, long time since any one had +talked to him like this. Not since he relinquished a mate's rating for +that of a master. But he did not resent it; he, too, was sick of +pretending. + +"I'm in bad shape, Judge," he said. "My legs are better and I can hobble +around on 'em, as you saw when I hobbled in here. But as to whether or +not they will ever be fit for sea again I--well, I doubt it. And I +rather guess the doctor doubts it, too. I don't say so to many, haven't +said it to any one but you, but it looks to me as if I were on a lee +shore. I may get out of the breakers some day--or I may just lay there +and rot and drop to pieces.... Well, as you say, what's the use of +wastin' time talkin' about me?" + +"I've got a reason for talking about you, Cap'n. So you're not confined +to your bed. And your head is all right, eh?" + +Kendrick hesitated. He could not make out what in the world the man was +driving at. + +"Eh?" repeated the judge. + +"Yes, as right as it ever was, I presume likely. Sometimes I think that +may not be sayin' much." + +"When a man thinks that way it is a favorable symptom, according to my +experience. From what I've heard and know, Cap'n Kendrick, your head +will do very well. Now there's another question. Have you got all the +money you need?" + +The captain leaned back in his chair. He did not answer immediately. +From the head upon the pillow came a rasping chuckle. + +"Go on," observed Judge Knowles, "ask it." + +Kendrick stared at him. "Ask what?" he demanded. + +"The question you had in mind. If I hadn't been a man with one foot in +the grave you would have asked me if I considered the amount of money +you had any of my damned business. Isn't that right?" + +Sears hesitated. Then he grinned. "Just about," he said. + +"I thought so. Well, in a way it is my business, because, if you have +all the money you need, fifteen hundred a year for the next two or three +years won't tempt you any. And I want to tempt you, Cap'n." + +Again the captain was silent for an interval. + +"Fifteen hundred a year?" he repeated, slowly. + +"Yes." + +"For what?" + +"For services to be rendered. I've been looking for a man with time on +his hands, who has been used to managing, who can be firm when it's +necessary, has had enough experience of the world to judge people and +things and who won't let a slick tongue get the better of him. And he +must be honest. I think you fill the bill, Cap'n Kendrick." + +The visitor tugged at his beard. + +"Look here, Judge Knowles," he said crisply, "what are you talkin' +about? What's the joke?" + +"It isn't a joke." + +"Well, then what is it? You'll have to give me my bearin's, I'm lost in +the fog. Do I understand you to mean that you are offerin' me a berth, a +job where I can earn--no, I won't put it that way, where I will be paid +fifteen hundred a year?" + +"I am, and," with another sardonic chuckle, "I rather think you'll earn +all you get. Of course fifteen hundred dollars a year isn't a large +salary, it isn't a sea captain's wage and share--not such a captain as +you've been, Kendrick. But, as I see it, you can't go to sea for a year +or two at least. You are planning to stay right here in Bayport. Well, +while you are here this thing I am offering you will," there was another +chuckle, "keep you moderately busy, and you will be earning something. +It may be that fifteen hundred won't be enough to be worth your while. +Perhaps I shouldn't venture to offer it if I hadn't heard--hadn't +heard----" + +Sears interrupted. + +"What you heard was probably true," he said crisply. "True enough, at +any rate. Fifteen hundred a year looks like a lot to me now. But what am +I to do to get it, that's the question. I'm a cripple, don't forget +that." + +"I should remember it if I thought it necessary. You won't handle this +job with your legs. It is your head I want. Cap'n Kendrick, I want you +to take charge--take command, if you had rather we used seafaring lingo, +of that establishment next door to where you are living now. I want you +to act as--well, we'll call it captain of the Fair Harbor." + +Captain Sears's eyes and mouth opened. His chair creaked as he leaned +forward and then slowly leaned back again. + +"You--you--" he gasped, "you want me to--to manage that--that _old +women's home_?" + +"Yes." + +"_Me?_" + +"Yes.... Here! where are you going?" + +The visitor had risen. + +"Stop!" shouted Judge Knowles. "Where are you going?" + +The captain breathed heavily. + +"I'm goin' to send for the doctor," he declared. "One of us two needs +him." + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Judge Knowles's answer to his caller's assertion concerning the need of +a physician's services was another chuckle. + +"Sit down, Cap'n," he ordered. + +Kendrick shook his head. "No," he began, "I'm----" + +"Sit down." + +"Judge, look here: I don't suppose you're serious, but if you are, I +tell you----" + +"No, I'm going to tell _you_. SIT DOWN." + +This time the invalid's voice was raised to such a pitch that Mrs. +Tidditt came hurrying from the kitchen. + +"My soul and body, Judge!" she exclaimed. "What is it? What _is_ the +matter?" + +Her employer turned upon her. + +"The matter is that that confounded door is open again," he snapped. + +"Why--why, of course 'tis. I just opened it when I came in." + +"Umph! Yes. Well then, hurry up and shut it when you go out. _Shut_ it!" + +Emmeline, going, not only shut but slammed the door. The judge smiled +grimly. + +"Sit down, Kendrick," he commanded once more, panting. "Sit down, I--I'm +out of breath. Confound that woman! She seems to think I'm four years +old. Ah--ah--whew!" + +His exhaustion was so apparent that Sears was alarmed. + +"Don't you think, Judge----" he began, but was interrupted. + +"Sshh!" ordered Knowles. "Wait.... Wait.... I'll be all right in a +minute!" + +The captain waited. It took more than a minute, and even then the +judge's voice was husky and his sentences broken, but his determination +was unshaken. + +"I want you to listen to me, Cap'n Kendrick," he said. "I know it sounds +crazy, this proposal of mine, but it isn't. How much do you know about +this Fair Harbor place; its history and so on?" + +Captain Sears explained that his sister had written him some facts +concerning it and that recently Judah Cahoon had told him more details. +The judge wished to know what Judah had told. When informed he nodded. + +"That's about right, so far as it goes," he admitted. "Fairly straight, +for a Bayport yarn. It doesn't go far enough, though. Here is the +situation: + +"Lobelia, when she first conceived the fool notion," he said, "came to +me, of course, to arrange it. I was her father's lawyer for years, and +so naturally I was looking out for her affairs. I said all I could +against it, but she was determined, and had her way. She, through me, +set aside the Sylvanus Seymour house and land to be used as a home for +what she called 'mariners' women' as long as--well, as long as she +should continue to want it used for that purpose. She would have been +contented to pay the bills as they came, but, of course, there was no +business method in that, so we arranged that she was to hand over to me +fifty thousand dollars in bonds, the income from that sum, plus the +entrance fees and one hundred dollars yearly paid by each inmate, was to +run the place. That is the way it has been run. She christened it the +Fair Harbor. Heaven knows I had nothing to do with that. + +"For a year or so she lived there herself and had a beautiful time +queening it over the inmates. Then that Phillips chap drifted into +Bayport." + +The captain interrupted here. "Oh, then the Fair Harbor was off the ways +before she married Phillips?" he said. "Judah told me it was +afterwards." + +"He's wrong. No, the thing had been running two years when that +confounded.... Humph! You never met Egbert Phillips, did you, Cap'n?" + +"No." + +"You've heard about him?" + +"Only what Judah told me the other day." + +"Humph! What did he tell?" + +"Why, he--he gave me to understand that this Phillips was a pretty +smooth article." + +"Smooth! Why, Kendrick, he is.... But there, you'll meet him some day +and no feeble words of mine could do him justice. Besides all my words +are getting too feeble to waste--even on anything as beautiful as Egbert +the great.... And that condemned doctor will be here pretty soon, so we +must get on.... Ah.... Well, he came here to teach singing, Phillips +did, and he had all the women in tune before the first lesson was over. +They said he was wonderful, and he was--good God, yes! They kept on +thinking he was wonderful until he married Lobelia Seymour." + +"Then they changed their minds, eh?" + +"Humph! You don't know women, do you, Cap'n? Never mind, you've got time +enough left to learn in.... No, they didn't change their minds. They +thought Egbert was as wonderful as ever, but they agreed that Lobelia +had roped him in. _She_ had roped _him_ in! Oh, lord!... Well, they were +married and went to Boston to live. Afterwards they went to Europe. Five +years ago they came back here for a week's visit. Cahoon tell you about +that?" + +"No." + +"Probably he didn't know about it. They did, though, and stayed here +with me, of course. Lobelia settled that, I imagine--one of the times +when she settled something herself. And while she was here she and I +settled something else. She added a codicil to her will making the fifty +thousand dollars in my possession and the house and Seymour land a gift, +absolute, to the Fair Harbor. And she appointed me as sole trustee of +the fund and financial manager of the home, with authority to appoint my +own successor. And her husband didn't know a thing about it. Didn't +when they went away; I'm sure I don't know whether he does now or not, +but he didn't then. No, sir, we settled the Fair Harbor fund and +Egbert's hash, so far as it was concerned. Ha, ha! And a blessed good +job, too, Kendrick.... Hand me that glass of water, will you? Thanks." + +He drank a swallow or two of water and lay back upon the pillow. Captain +Sears was a little anxious. He suggested that, perhaps, he had better be +told the rest another time. + +"I think you had better rest now, Judge," he counseled. The judge +consigned the "rest" idea to a place where, according to tradition, +there is very little of it. + +"I want you to hear this," he snapped. "Don't bother me, but listen.... +Where was I?... Oh, yes.... Well, Lobelia and her husband went away, to +Europe again. They have been there ever since, living in Italy. Egbert +finds the climate there agrees with him, I suppose---- Humph!... I have +had letters from Lobelia. The later ones were shorter and not +encouraging. She wrote that she wasn't well and the doctors didn't seem +to help her much. After two or three of these letters I wrote one, +myself--to the American consul at Florence. He is the son of a good +friend of mine. I explained the situation and asked him to find out just +what ailed her and what the prospects were. His reply explained things. +Poor Lobelia is in my position--except that my age entitles me to be +there and hers doesn't; she has an incurable disease and she is likely +to die at any time. No hope for her. And now, it seems she has found it +out. About a month ago I had another letter from her.... Humph!... Wait +a minute, Cap'n. Give me that glass again, will you. Sorry to be such a +condemned nuisance--particularly to other people.... Wait! Hold on! When +I've finished you can talk. Hear the rest of it first. + +"Lobelia's latest--last, I shouldn't wonder--letter was a sad sort of a +thing. I'm a tough old fellow, but I declare I'm sorry for that poor +woman. Fool to marry Phillips? Of course she was, but most of us are +fools, some time or other. And, if I don't miss my guess, she has +repented of her foolishness many times and all the time. She wrote me +she knew she was going to die. And she said---- But here is the letter. +Read it, that page of it." + +He fumbled among the papers and books on the table beside him, selected +a sheet of paper, covered with closely written lines, and extended it in +a shaking hand to his caller. + +"That explains things a little," he said. "It's illuminating. Read it." + +Captain Sears read.... "And so I am _very_ anxious, dear Judge Knowles, +whatever else happens, that the Fair Harbor shall always be as it is, a +home for sisters and widows and daughters of men who went down to the +sea in ships, as father did. I know he would have liked it. And +_please_, after I'm gone, don't let it be sold or given up, or anything +like that. I am asking this of you, because I know I can trust you. You +have proved it so many times. And--I never have written you this before +but it is true--I have so little left except the Fair Harbor and its +endowment. You will wonder where the money has gone. I do not know. It +seems to have slipped away little by little and neither my husband nor I +can account for...." + +The page ended there. The captain would have handed it back to Knowles, +but the latter asked him to put it on the table. + +"Put it in the envelope and put the envelope in the drawer, will you, +Kendrick?" he said. "My housekeeper is a good housekeeper, but what is +mine is hers--including correspondence.... Well, you see? She can't +account for the disappearance of the money. I can. When you have a five +thousand dollar income and spend ten thousand you can account for a +lot.... Humph! Well, the fact is that I am expecting to hear of +Lobelia's death at any time. She may be dead to-day--or to-morrow--or +next week. And as soon as I hear of it I shall say to myself.... Humph! +Cap'n, you know how the Old Farmer's Almanac, along in November, +prophesies the weather, don't you? 'About this time look out for snow.' +Yes, well, on a date about a month after the day I hear of Lobelia +Phillips's death I should write on the calendar: 'About this time look +for Egbert.' ... Humph.... Eh? See, don't you, Cap'n Kendrick?" + +Kendrick smiled, he couldn't help it. He tugged thoughtfully at his +beard. + +"Yes," he admitted, "I guess likely I see. But I don't see where I come +in. You can handle Egbert, Judge, or I don't know much about men." + +The judge snorted. "Handle him," he repeated. "I think I could handle +him--and enjoy the job. The trouble is I shan't have the chance. I won't +be here. I'll be in the graveyard." + +He spoke of it as casually as he might of Boston or New York. Again his +listener could not help but protest. + +"Why, Judge," he began, "that's perfectly ridiculous. You----" + +The judge interrupted. "Perhaps," he said, drily. "In fact, I agree with +you. The graveyard is a ridiculous place for anybody to be, but I shall +be there--and soon. But I am not going to let it interfere with my plans +concerning the Fair Harbor. Lobelia Seymour I've known since she was a +little girl, and whether I'm dead or alive, I'm going to have her wishes +carried out. That's why I'm telling you these things, Sears Kendrick. I +am counting on you to carry them out." + +The captain leaned back in his chair. + +"Why pick on me?" he asked, drily. + +"Why? Because I've got to pick on somebody and do it while I have the +strength to pick. You and I have never been close friends, Kendrick, but +I've watched you and kept track of you for years, in a general sort of +way. Your sister and I have had a long acquaintanceship. There's another +woman who made a mistake.... Eh?" + +Sears nodded. + +"I'm afraid so," he admitted. "Joel is a good enough fellow, in his way, +but----" + +"But--that's it. Well, he's got a good wife and she's your sister. I +know you can handle this Fair Harbor job if you will and if you take it +on I shall go to--well, to that graveyard we were talking about, with an +easier mind. Look here--why----" + +"Hold on a minute, Judge. Heave to and let me say a word. If there +wasn't any other reason why I shouldn't feel like takin' the wheel of an +old woman's home there would be this one: You need a business man there +and I'm no business man." + +"How do you know you're not?" + +"Because I've just proved it. You heard somethin' of how my voyage in +business ashore turned out. I'll tell you the truth about it." + +He did, briefly, giving the facts of his disastrous sojourn in +ship-chandlery. + +"So that's how good a business man _I_ am," he said in conclusion. "And +I'm a cripple besides. Much obliged, Judge, but you'll have to ship +another skipper, I'm afraid." + +He was rising but Judge Knowles barked a profane order for him to keep +his seat. + +"I know all that," he snapped. "Knew about it just after it happened. +And I know, too, that you paid your share of the debts dollar for +dollar. I'll risk you in this job I'm offering you.... Yes, and you're +the only man I will risk--the only one in sight, that is. Come now, +don't say no. Think it over. I'll give you a week to think it over in. +I'd give you a month, but I might not be here at the end of it.... Will +you take the offer under consideration and then come back and have +another talk with me? Eh? Will you?" + +The captain hesitated. He wanted to say no, of course, should say it +sooner or later, but he hated to be too abrupt in his refusal. After +all, the offer, although absurd, was, in a way, a compliment and he +liked the old judge. So he hesitated, stammered and then asked another +question. + +"You've got a skipper aboard the Fair Harbor already, haven't you?" he +inquired. "Judah told me that Cap'n Ike Berry's widow was runnin' the +place." + +"Humph! That isn't all he told you, is it?" + +Kendrick smiled. "Why"--he hesitated, "I--" + +"Come, come, come! Of course he told you that Cordelia Berry was another +one of those mistakes we've been talking about. She is, but her husband +was one of my best friends and his daughter is another. No mistake +there, Cap'n Kendrick, I tell you.... But you've met Elizabeth, I +understand, eh?" + +He chuckled as he said it. Sears was surprised and a trifle confused. +Evidently she had told of their encounter in Judah's garden. + +"Well, yes," he admitted. "We met." + +"Ha, ha! So I heard. Handled the poultry pretty well, didn't she? She +ought to, she's had experience in handling old hens for some time." + +"I presume likely. Then I don't see why you don't let her keep on +handlin' 'em. What do you want me for?" + +"Oh, damnation, man, haven't I told you! I want you because I'm going to +die and somebody--some man--must take my place.... Look here, Kendrick. +I appoint you general manager of the Fair Harbor, take it or leave it. +But _if_ you leave it don't do it for a week, and, before you do, +promise me you'll go over there some day and look around. Meet Cordelia +and talk to her, meet Elizabeth and talk to her. Meet some of +the--er--hens and talk to them. But, this is the main thing, look +around, listen, see for yourself. Then you can come back and, if you +accept, we'll discuss details. Will you do that much?" + +Captain Sears looked troubled. "Why, yes, I suppose so," he said, +reluctantly, "to oblige you, Judge. But it's wasted time, I shan't +accept. Of course I thank you for the offer and all that, but I might as +well, seems to me, say no now as next week." + +"No such thing. And you will go there and look around?" + +"Why--yes, I guess so. But won't the Berry woman and the rest of 'em +think I'm nosin' in where I don't belong? I should, if I were they, and +I'd raise a row about it, too." + +"Nonsense. They can't object to your making a neighborly call, can they? +And if they do, let 'em. A healthy row won't do a bit of harm over +there. Give 'em the devil, it's what they need.... See here, will you +go?" + +"Yes." + +"Good! And, remember, you are appointed to this job this minute if you +want it. Or you may take it at any time during the week; don't bother to +speak to me first. Fifteen hundred a year, live with Cahoon or whoever +you like, precious little to do except be generally responsible for the +Fair Harbor--oh, how I hate that syrupy, sentimental name!--financially +and in a business way.... Easy berth, as you sailors would say, eh? Ha, +ha!... Well, good day, Cap'n. Can you find your way out? If not call +that eternally-lost woman of mine and she'll pilot you.... Ah.... +yes.... And just hand me that water glass once more.... Thanks.... I +shall hope to hear you've accepted next time I see you. We'll talk +details and sign papers then, eh?... Oh, yes, we will. You won't be fool +enough to refuse. Easy berth, you know, Kendrick. And don't forget +Egbert; eh? Ha, ha.... Umph--ah, yes.... Where's that damned +housekeeper?" + +Mike Callahan asked no questions as he drove his passenger back to the +General Minot place--no direct questions, that is--but it was quite +evident that his curiosity concerning the reasons for Captain Kendrick's +visit was intense. + +"Well, the ould judge seen you at last, Cap'n," he observed. + +"Yes." + +"I expect 'twas a great satisfaction to him, eh?" + +"Maybe so. Looks as if it was smurrin' up for rain over to the west'ard, +doesn't it?" + +Mr. Callahan delivered his passenger at the Minot back door and +departed, looking grumpy. Then Mr. Cahoon took his turn. + +"Well, Cap'n Sears," he said, eagerly, "you seen him." + +"Yes, Judah, I saw him." + +"Um-hm. Pretty glad to see you, too, wan't he?" + +"I hope so." + +"Creepin' prophets, don't you _know_ so? Ain't he been sendin' word by +Emmeline Tidditt that he wanted to see you more'n a million times?" + +"Guess not. So far as I know he only wanted to see me once." + +"No, no, no. You know what I mean, Cap'n Sears.... Well--er--er--you +seen him, anyway?" + +"Yes, I saw him." + +"Um-hm ... so you said." + +"Yes, I thought I did." + +"Oh, you did--yes, you did.... Um-hm--er--yes." + +So Judah, too, was obliged to do without authentic information +concerning Judge Knowles's reason for wishing to meet Sears Kendrick. He +hinted as far as he dared, but experience gained through years of sea +acquaintanceship with his former commander prevented his doing more than +hint. The captain would tell just exactly what he wished and no more, +Judah knew. He knew also that attempting to learn more than that was +likely to be unpleasant as well as unprofitable. It was true that his +beloved "Cap'n Sears" was no longer his commander but merely his lodger, +nevertheless discipline was discipline. Mr. Cahoon was dying to know why +the judge wished to talk to the captain, but he would have died in +reality rather than continue to work the pumps against the latter's +orders, expressed or intimated. Judah was no mutineer. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +Sears put in a disagreeable day or two after his call upon the judge. He +was dissatisfied with the ending of their interview. He felt that he had +been foolishly soft-hearted in promising to call at the Fair Harbor, or, +to consider for another hour the preposterous offer of management of +that institution. He must say no in the end. How much better to have +said it then and there. Fifteen hundred a year looked like a lot of +money to him. It tempted him, that part of the proposition. But it did +not tempt him sufficiently to overcome the absurdities of the remaining +part. How could _he_ manage an old woman's home? And what would people +say if he tried? + +Nevertheless, he had promised to visit the place and look it over and +the promise must be kept. He dreaded it about as much as he had ever +dreaded anything, but--he had promised. So on the morning of the third +day following that of his call upon Judge Knowles he hobbled painfully +and slowly up the front walk of the Fair Harbor to the formidable front +door, with its great South Sea shells at each end of the granite +step--relics of Captain Sylvanus's early voyages--and its silver-plated +name plate with "SEYMOUR" engraved upon it in Gothic lettering. To one +looking back from the view-point of to-day such a name plate may seem a +bit superfluous and unnecessary in a village where every one knew not +only where every one else lived, but how they lived and all about them. +The fact remains that in Bayport in the '70's there were many name +plates. + +Sears gave the glass knob beside the front door a pull. From the +interior of the house came the resultant "_JINGLE_; _jingle_; jingle, +jing, jing." Then a wait, then the sound of footsteps approaching the +other side of the door. Then a momentary glimpse of a reconnoitering eye +behind one of the transparent urns engraved in the ground glass pane. +Then a rattle of bolt and latch and the door opened. + +The woman who opened it was rather good looking, but also she +looked--well, if the captain had been ordered to describe her general +appearance instantly, he would have said that she looked "tousled." She +was fully dressed, of course, but there was about her a general +appearance of having just gotten out of bed. Her hair, rather +elaborately coiffured, had several loose strands sticking out here and +there. She wore a gold pin--an oval brooch with a lock of hair in it--at +her throat, but one end was unfastened. She wore cotton gloves, with +holes in them. + +"Good mornin'," said the captain. + +The woman said "Good morning." There was no "r" in the "morning" so, +remembering what he had heard concerning Mrs. Isaac Berry's rearing, +Kendrick decided that this must be she. + +"This is Mrs. Berry, isn't it?" he inquired. + +"Yes." The lady's tone was not too gracious, in fact there was a trace +of suspicion in it, as if she was expecting the man on the step to +produce a patent egg-beater or the specimen volume of a set of +encyclopedias. + +"How do you do, Mrs. Berry," went on the captain. "My name is Kendrick. +I'm your neighbor next door, and Judge Knowles asked me to be neighborly +and cruise over and call some day. So I--er--so I've cruised, you see." + +Mrs. Berry's expression changed. She seemed surprised, perhaps a little +annoyed, certainly very much confused. + +"Why--why, yes, Mr. Kendrick," she stammered. "I'm so glad you did.... I +am so glad to see you.... Ah--ah---- Won't you come in?" + +Captain Sears entered the dark front hall. It smelt like most front +halls of that day in that town, a combination smell made up of +sandal-wood and Brussels carpet and haircloth and camphor and damp +shut-up-ness. + +"Walk right in, do," urged Mrs. Berry, opening the parlor door. The +captain walked right in. The parlor was high-studded and square-pianoed +and chromoed and oil-portraited and black-walnutted and marble-topped +and hairclothed. Also it had the fullest and most satisfying assortment +of whatnot curios and alum baskets and whale ivory and shell frames and +wax fruit and pampas grass. There was a majestic black stove and window +lambrequins. Which is to say that it was a very fine specimen of a very +best parlor. + +"Do sit down, Mr. Kendrick," gushed Mrs. Berry, moving about a good deal +but not, apparently, accomplishing very much. There had been a feather +duster on the piano when they entered, but it, somehow or other, had +disappeared beneath the piano scarf--partially disappeared, that is, for +one end still protruded. The lady's cotton dusting-gloves no longer +protected her hands but now peeped coyly from behind a jig-sawed +photograph frame on the marble mantelpiece. The apron she had worn lay +on the floor in the shadow of the table cloth. These habiliments of +menial domesticity slid, one by one, out of sight--or partially so--as +she bustled and chatted. When, after a moment, she raised a window shade +and admitted a square of sunshine to the grand apartment, one would +scarcely have guessed that there was such drudgery as housework, +certainly no one would have suspected the elegant Mrs. Cordelia Berry of +being intimately connected with it. + +She swept--in those days the breadth of skirts made all feminine +progress more or less of a sweep--across the room and swished gracefully +into a chair. When she spoke she raised her eyebrows, at the end of the +sentence she lowered them and her lashes. She smiled much, and hers was +still a pretty smile. She made attractive little gestures with her +hands. + +"I am _so_ glad you dropped in, Mr. Kendrick," she declared. "So very +glad. Of course if we had known when you were coming we might have been +a little better prepared. But there, you will excuse us, I know. +Elizabeth and I--Elizabeth is my daughter, Mr. Kendrick.... But it is +_Captain_ Kendrick, isn't it? Of course, I might have known. You look +the sea--you know what I mean--I can always tell. My dear husband was a +captain. You knew that, of course. And in the old days at my girlhood +home so many, _many_ captains used to come and go. Our old home--my +girlhood home, I mean--was always open. I met my husband there.... Ah +me, those days are not these days! What my dear father would have said +if he could have known.... But we don't know what is in store for us, do +we?... Oh, dear!... It's such charming weather, isn't it, Captain +Kendrick?" + +The captain admitted the weather's charm. He had not heard a great deal +of his voluble hostess's chatter. He was there, in a way, on business +and he was wondering how he might, without giving offence, fulfill his +promise to Judge Knowles and see more of the interior of the Fair +Harbor. Of the matron of that institution he had already seen enough to +classify and appraise her in his mind. + +Mrs. Berry rambled on and on. At last, out of the tumult of words, +Captain Sears caught a fragment which seemed to him pertinent and +interesting. + +"Oh!" he broke in. "So you knew I was--er--hopeful of droppin' in some +time or other?" + +"Why, yes. Elizabeth knew. Judge Knowles told her you said you hoped to. +Of course we were delighted.... The poor dear judge! We are _so_ fond of +him, my daughter and I. He is so--so essentially aristocratic. Oh, if +you knew what that means to me, raised as I was among the people I was. +There are times when I sit here in this dreadful place in utter +despair--utter.... Oh--oh, of course, Captain Kendrick, I wouldn't have +you imagine that Elizabeth and I don't like this house. We _love_ it. +And dear 'Belia Seymour is my _closest_ friend. But, you know----" + +She paused, momentarily, and the captain seized the opportunity---- + +"So Judge Knowles told you I was liable to call, did he?" he queried. +He was somewhat surprised. He wondered if the Judge had hinted at a +reason for his visit. + +"Why, yes," replied Mrs. Berry, "he told Elizabeth. She said---- Oh, +here you are, dearie. Captain Kendrick, our next door neighbor, has run +in for a little call. Isn't it delightful of him? Captain Kendrick, this +is my daughter, Elizabeth." + +She had entered from the door behind the captain's chair. Now she came +forward as he rose from it. + +"How do you do, Cap'n Kendrick?" she said. "I am very glad to see you +again. Judge Knowles told me you were planning to call." + +She extended her hand and the captain took it. She was smiling, but it +seemed to him that the smile was an absent-minded one. In fact--of +course it might be entirely his imagination--he had a feeling that she +was troubled about something. + +However, he had no time to surmise or even reply to her greeting. Mrs. +Berry had caught a word in that greeting which to her required +explanation. + +"Again?" she repeated. "Why, Elizabeth, have you and Captain Kendrick +met before?" + +"Yes, Mother, that day when our hens got into Mr. Cahoon's garden. You +remember I told you at the time." + +"I don't remember any such thing. I remember Elvira said that she and +Aurora met him one afternoon, but I don't remember your saying anything +about it." + +"I told you. No doubt you have forgotten it." + +"Nonsense! you know I never forget. If there is one thing I can honestly +pride myself on it is a good memory. You may have thought you told me, +but---- Why, what's that noise?" + +The noise was a curious babble or chatter, almost as if the sound-proof +door--if there was such a thing--of a parrot cage had been suddenly +opened. It came from somewhere at the rear of the house and was, +apparently, produced by a number of feminine voices all speaking very +fast and simultaneously. + +Elizabeth turned, glanced through the open door behind her, and then at +Mrs. Berry. There was no doubt now concerning the troubled expression +upon her face. She was troubled. + +"Mother--" she began, quickly. "Excuse us, Cap'n Kendrick, +please--mother, have Elvira and Susan Brackett been talking to you about +buying that collection of--of what they call garden statuary at Mrs. +Seth Snowden's auction in Harniss?" + +And now Mrs. Berry, too, looked troubled. She turned red, stammered and +fidgetted. + +"Why--why, Elizabeth," she said, "I--I don't see why you want to discuss +that now. We have a visitor and I'm sure Captain Kendrick isn't +interested." + +Her daughter did not seem to care whether the visitor was interested or +not. + +"Tell me, mother, please," she urged. "_Have_ they been talking with you +about their plan to buy that--those things?" + +Mrs. Berry's confusion increased. "Why--why, yes," she admitted. "Elvira +did tell me about it, something about it. She said it was beautiful--the +fountain and the--the deer and--and how pretty they would look on the +lawn and----" + +"Mother, you didn't give them the least encouragement, did you? They +say--Elvira and Mrs. Brackett say you told them you thought it a +beautiful idea and that you were in favor of what they call their +committee going to the sale next Monday and buying those--those +cast-iron dogs and children with the Fair Harbor money? I am sure you +didn't say that, did you, mother?... I'm awfully sorry, Cap'n Kendrick, +to bring this matter into the middle of your call, but really it is very +important and it can't be postponed, because.... Tell me, Mother, they +will be here in a moment. You didn't say any such thing, did you?" + +Mrs. Berry's fine eyes--they had been called "starlike" twenty years +before, by romantic young gentlemen--filled with tears. She wrung her +hands. + +"I--I only said--" she stammered, "I---- Oh, I don't think I said +anything except--except that---- Well, they were so sure they were +lovely and a great bargain--and you know Captain Snowden's estate in +Harniss was perfectly _charming_. You know it was, Elizabeth!" + +"Mother, you didn't tell them they might buy them?" + +"Why--why, no, I--I don't think I did. I--I couldn't have because I +never do anything like that without consulting you.... Oh, Elizabeth, +_please_, don't let us have a scene here, with Captain Kendrick present. +What _will_ he think? Oh, dear, dear!" + +Her handkerchief was called into requisition. Sears Kendrick rose from +his chair. Obviously he must go and, just as obviously, he knew that in +order to fulfill his promise to the judge in spirit as well as letter he +ought to stay. This was just the sort of situation to shed light upon +the inner secrets of the Fair Harbor and its management.... +Nevertheless, he was not going to stay. His position was much too +spylike to suit him. But before he could move there were other +developments. + +While Miss Berry and her mother had been exchanging hurried questions +and answers the parrot-cage babble from the distant places somewhere at +the end of the long entry beyond the door had been continuous. Now it +suddenly grew louder. Plainly the babblers were approaching along that +entry and babbling as they came. + +A moment more and they were in the room, seven of them. In the lead was +the dignified Miss Elvira herself, an impressive figure of gentility in +black silk and a hair breast pin. Close behind her, of course, was the +rotund Mrs. Aurora Chase, and equally close--yes even a little in +advance of Aurora, was a solidly built female with gray hair, a square +chin, and a very distinct mustache. The others were in the rear, but as +they came in one of these, a little woman in a plain gingham dress, who +wore steel spectacles upon a sharp little nose, left the group and took +a stand a little apart, regarding the company with lifted chin and a +general air of determination and uncompromising defiance. Later on +Captain Sears was destined to learn that the little woman was Mrs. +Esther Tidditt, and the lady with the mustache Mrs. Susanna Brackett. +And that the others were respectively Mrs. Hattie Thomas, Miss Desire +Peasley, and Mrs. Constance Cahoon. Each of the seven was, of course, +either a captain's widow or his sister. + +Just at the moment the captain, naturally, recognized nobody except Miss +Snowden and Mrs. Chase. Nor did he notice individual peculiarities +except that something, excitement or a sudden jostle or something, had +pushed Aurora's rippling black locks to one side, with the result that +the part which divided the ripples, instead of descending plumb-line +fashion from the crown of the head to a point directly in the center of +the forehead, now had a diagonal twist and ended over the left eye. The +effect was rather astonishing, as if the upper section of the lady's +head had slipped its moorings. + +He had scarcely time to notice even this, certainly none in which to +speculate concerning its cause. Miss Snowden, who held a paper in her +hand, stepped forward and began to speak, gesticulating with the paper +as she did so. She paid absolutely no attention to the masculine +visitor. She was trembling with excitement and it is doubtful if she +even saw him. + +"Mrs. Berry," she began, "we are here--we have come here, these ladies +and I--we have come here--we---- Oh, what _is_ it?" + +This last was addressed to Mrs. Chase, who was tugging at her skirt. + +"Talk louder," cautioned Aurora, in a stage whisper. "I can't hear you." + +With an impatient movement Miss Snowden freed her garment and began +again. + +"Mrs. Berry," she repeated, "we are here, these ladies and I, to--to ask +a question and to express our opinion on a very important matter. We are +all agreed----" + +Here she was again interrupted, this time by Mrs. Esther Tidditt, the +little woman in the gingham dress. Mrs. Tidditt's tone was brisk and +sharp. + +"No, we ain't agreed neither," she announced, with a snap of her head +which threatened shipwreck to the steel spectacles. "_I_ think it's +everlastin' foolishness. Don't you say _I'm_ agreed to it, Elvira +Snowden." + +Elvira drew her thin form erect and glared. "We are practically agreed," +she proclaimed crushingly. "You are the only one who doesn't agree." + +"Humph! And I'm the only one that is practical. Of all the silly----" + +"Esther Tidditt, was you appointed to do the talking for this committee +or was I?" + +"You was, but that don't stop me from talkin' when I want to. I ain't on +the committee, thank the good lord. I'm my own committee." + +This declaration of independence was received with an outburst of +indignant exclamations, in the midst of which Mrs. Chase could be heard +demanding to be told what was the matter and who said what. Elizabeth +Berry stilled the hubbub. + +"Hush, hush!" she pleaded. "Don't, Esther, please. You can say your word +later. I want mother--and Cap'n Kendrick--to hear this, all of it." + +The captain was still standing. He had risen when the "committee" +entered the room. Its members, most of them, had been so intent upon the +business which had brought them there that they had ignored his +presence. Now, of course, they turned to look at him. There was +curiosity in their look but by no means enthusiastic approval. Miss +Snowden's nod was decidedly snippy. She looked, sniffed and turned again +to Mrs. Berry. + +"We want your mother to hear it," she declared. "We've come here so she +shall hear it--all of it. If--if _others_--who may not be 'specially +interested want to hear they can, I suppose. I don't know why not.... +_We_ haven't anything to hide. _We_ ain't ashamed--are not, I should +say. Are we?" turning to those behind and beside her. + +Mrs. Brackett announced that she certainly should say not, so did +several others. There was a general murmur of agreement. Every one +continued to look at the captain. He was embarrassed. + +"I think perhaps I had better be goin'," he said, addressing Miss Berry. +"I ought to be gettin' home, anyway." + +But the young lady would not have it. + +"Cap'n Kendrick," she said, earnestly, "I hope you won't go. Judge +Knowles told me you were going to call. I was very glad when I found you +had called now--at this time. And I should like to have you stay. You +can stay, can't you?" + +Sears hesitated. "Why--why, yes, I presume likely I can," he admitted. + +"And will you--please?" + +He looked at her and she at him. Then he nodded. + +"I'll stay," he said, and sat down in his chair. + +"Thank you," said Elizabeth. "Now, Elvira.... Wait, mother, please." + +Miss Snowden sniffed once more. "Now that that important matter is +settled I _suppose_ I may be allowed to go on," she observed, with +sarcasm. "Very good, I will do so in spite of the presence of--of those +not--ahem--intimately concerned. Mrs. Berry, on behalf of this committee +here, a committee of the whole----" + +"No such thing," this from Mrs. Tidditt. "I'm part of the whole but I +ain't part of that committee. Stick to the truth, Elviry--pays better." + +"Hush, Esther," begged Miss Berry. "Let her go on, please. Go on, +Elvira." + +The head of the committee breathed fiercely through her thin nostrils. +Then she made another attempt. + +"I address you, Mrs. Cordelia Berry," declaimed Elvira, "because you are +supposed--I say _supposed_--to be officially the managing director--or +directress, to speak correct--of this institution. Not," she added, +hastily, "that it is an institution in any sense of the word--like a +home or any such thing. We all know that, I hope and trust. Although," +with a venomous glance in the direction of Mrs. Esther, "there appear +to be _some_ that know precious little. I mention no names." + +"You don't need to," retorted the Tidditt lady promptly. "Never mind, I +know enough not to vote to buy a lot of second-handed images and +critters just because they belong to one of your relations. I know that +much, Elviry Snowden." + +This was a body blow and Elvira visibly winced. For just an instant +Captain Sears thought she was contemplating physical assault upon her +enemy. But she recovered and, white and scornful, proceeded. + +"I shan't deign to answer such low--er--insinuations," she declared, her +voice shaking. "I scorn them and her that makes them. I scorn +them--both. _BOTH!_" + +This last "Both" was fired like a shot from a "Big Bertha." It should +have annihilated the irreverent little female in the gingham gown. It +did not, however; she merely laughed. The effect of the blast was still +further impaired by Mrs. Chase, who although listening with all her +ears, such as they were, had evidently heard neither well nor wisely. + +"That's right, Elviry," proclaimed Aurora, "that's just what I say. Why, +the lion alone is worth the money." + +Mrs. Brackett touched the Snowden arm. "Never mind, Elvira," she said. +"Don't pay any attention. Go right ahead and read the resolutions." + +Elvira drew a long breath, two long breaths. "Thank you, Susanna," she +said, "I shall. I'm going to. Mrs. Berry," she added, turning to that +lady, who was quite as much agitated as any one present and was +clutching her chair arm with one hand and her daughter's arm with the +other. "Mrs. Berry," repeated Miss Snowden, "this resolution drawn up +and signed by the committee of the whole here present--signed with but +one exception, I should say, one _trifling_ exception--" this with a +glare at Mrs. Tidditt--"is, as I said, addressed to you because you are +supposed--" a glare at Elizabeth this time--"to be in charge of the Fair +Harbor and what goes on and is done within its--er--porticos. Ahem! I +will now read as follows." + +And she proceeded to read, using both elocution and gestures. The +resolutions made a rather formidable document. They were addressed to +"Mrs. Cordelia Imogene Berry, widow of the late Captain Isaac Stephens +Berry, in charge of the Fair Harbor for Mariners' Women at Bayport, +Massachusetts, United States of America. Madam: Whereas----" + +There were many "Whereases." Captain Kendrick, listening intently, found +the path of his understanding clogged by them and tangled by Miss +Elvira's flowers of rhetoric. He gathered, nevertheless, that the +"little group of ladies resident at the Fair Harbor, having been reared +amid surroundings of culture, art and refinement" were, naturally, +desirous of improving their present surroundings. Also that a "truly +remarkable opportunity" had come in their way by which the said +surroundings might be improved and beautified by the expenditure of a +nominal sum, seventy-five dollars, no more. With this seventy-five +dollars might be bought "the entire collection of lawn statuary and the +fountain which adorned the grounds of the estate of the late lamented +deceased Captain Seth Snowden at Harniss and now the property of his +widow, namely to wit, Mrs. Hannah Snowden." + +"And I'll say this," put in Elvira, before reading further, "although +hints and insinuations have been cast at me in the hearing of those +present to-day about my being a relation--relative, that is--of Captain +Seth, and he was my uncle on my father's side, nevertheless it's just +because I am a relation--relative--that we are able to buy all those +elegant things for as cheap a price as seventy-five dollars when they +cost at least five hundred and.... But there! I will proceed. + +"'The said statuary, etcetera, consisting of the following, that is to +say: + +"'No. 1. Item ... 1 Lawn Fountain. Hand painted iron. Representing two +children beneath umbrella.'" + +"And it's the cutest thing," put in the hitherto silent Desire Peasley, +with enthusiastic suddenness. "There's them two young ones standin' +natural as life under that umbrella--just same as anybody _would_ stand +under an umbrella if 'twas rainin' like fury--and the water squirts +right down over top of 'em and drips off the ribs--off the ribs of the +umbrella, I mean--and there they stand and--and---- _Well_, when I see +_that_ I says, 'My glory!' I says, 'what'll they contrive next?' That's +what I said. All hands heard me.... What's that you're mutterin', Esther +Tidditt?" + +"I wasn't mutterin', 'special. I just said I bet they heard you if they +was anywheres 'round." + +"Is that so? Do tell! Well, I'll have you to understand----" + +Elvira and Miss Berry together intervened to calm this new disturbance. +Then the former went on with the reading of the "resolutions." + +"'No. 2. Item ... 1 Hand painted lion. Iron....' Hush, Aurora!... Yes, +'lion,' that's right.... I did say 'iron.' It's an iron lion, isn't +it?... Oh, _do_ be quiet! We'll never get through if everybody keeps +interrupting. 'No. 2 ... Item ... 1 Hand painted lion iron'--iron lion, +I mean.... Oh, my soul and body! If everybody keeps talking I shan't +know what I mean.... 'A very wonderful piece of statuary. In perfect +condition. Paint needs touching up, that's all. + +"'No. 3--Item.... 1 Deer. Hand painted iron. Perfectly lovely--'" + +"Stuff!" This from the irrepressible Mrs. Tidditt, of course. "One horn +is broke off and it looks like the Old Harry. No, I'll take that back; +the Old Harry is supposed to have two horns. But that deer image is a +sight, just the same. Why, it ain't got any paint left on it." + +"Nonsense! It may need a little paint, here and there, but----" + +"Humph! A little here and a lot there and a whole lot more in between. +Elvira Snowden, that image looks as if 'twas struck with leprosy, like +Lazarus in the Bible; you know it well as I do." + +Sears Kendrick enjoyed the reading of these resolutions. If it were not +for certain elements in the situation he would have considered the +morning's performance the most amusing entertainment he had witnessed +afloat or ashore. He managed not to laugh aloud, although he was obliged +to turn his head away several times and to cough at intervals. Once or +twice he and Elizabeth Berry exchanged glances and the whimsical look of +resignation and humorous appreciation in her eyes showed that she, too, +was keenly aware of the joke. + +But at other times she was serious enough and it was her expression at +these times which prevented the captain's accepting the whole ridiculous +affair as a hilarious farce. Then she looked deeply troubled and +careworn and anxious. He began to realize that this affair, funny as it +was, was but one of a series, a series of annoyances and trials and +petty squabbles which, taken in the aggregate, were anything but funny +to her. For it was obvious, the truth of what Judah Cahoon had said and +Judge Knowles intimated, that this girl, Elizabeth Berry, was bearing +upon her young shoulders the entire burden of responsibility for the +conduct and management of affairs in the Fair Harbor for Mariners' Women +at Bayport. Her mother was supposed to bear this burden, but it was +perfectly obvious that Cordelia Berry was incapable of bearing any +responsibilities, including her own personal ones. + +Miss Snowden solemnly read the concluding paragraph of the resolutions. +It summed up those preceding it and announced that those whose names +were appended, "being guests at the Fair Harbor, the former home of our +beloved benefactress and friend Mrs. Lobelia Phillips, _nee_ Seymour, +are unanimously agreed that as a simple matter of duty to the +institution and those within its gates, not to mention the beautifying +of Bayport, the collection of lawn statuary and fountain now adorning +the estate of the late deceased Captain Seth Snowden be bought, +purchased and obtained from that estate at the very low price of +seventy-five dollars, this money to be paid from the funds in the Fair +Harbor treasury, and the said statuary and fountain to be erected and +set up on the lawns and grounds of the Fair Harbor. Signed----" + +Miss Elvira read the names of the signers. They included, as she took +pains to state, the names of every guest in the Fair Harbor with +one--ahem--exception. + +"And I'm it, praise the lord," announced Mrs. Tidditt, promptly. "I +ain't quite crazy yet, nor I ain't a niece-in-law of Seth Snowden's +widow neither." + +"Esther Tidditt, I've stood your hints and slanders long enough." + +"Nobody's payin' _me_ no commissions for gettin' rid of their old junk +for 'em." + +"Esther, be still! You shouldn't say such things. Elvira, stop--stop!" +Miss Berry stepped forward. Mrs. Tidditt was bristling like a combative +bantam and Elvira was shaking from head to feet and crooking and +uncrooking her fingers. "There mustn't be any more of this," declared +Elizabeth. "Esther, you must apologize. Stop, both of you, please. +Remember, Cap'n Kendrick is here." + +This had the effect of causing every one to look at the captain once +more. He felt unpleasantly conspicuous, but Elizabeth's next speech +transferred the general gaze from him to her. + +"There isn't any use in saying much more about this matter, it seems to +me," she said. "It comes down to this: You and the others, Elvira, think +we should buy the--the statues and the fountain because they would, you +think, make our lawns and grounds more beautiful." + +"We don't think at all--we know," declared Elvira. Mrs. Brackett said, +"Yes indeed, we do," and there was a general murmur of assent. Also a +loud sniff from the Tidditt direction. + +"And your mother thinks so, too," spoke up Miss Peasley, from the group. +"She told me herself she thought they were lovely. Didn't you, Cordelia? +You know you did." + +Before Mrs. Berry could answer--her embarrassment and distress seemed +to be bringing her again to the verge of tears--her daughter went on. + +"It doesn't make a bit of difference what mother and I think about +their--beauty--and all that," she said. "The whole thing comes down to +the matter of whether or not we can afford to buy them. And we simply +cannot. We haven't the money to spare. Spending seventy-five dollars for +anything except the running expenses of the Harbor is now absolutely +impossible. I told you that, Elvira, when you first suggested it." + +Miss Snowden, still trembling, regarded her resentfully. "Yes, _you_ +told me," she retorted. "I know you did. You are always telling us we +can't do this or that. But why should _you_ tell us? That is what we +can't understand. _You_ ain't--aren't--manager here, so far as we know. +We never heard of your appointment. _We_ always understood your mother +was the manager, duly appointed. Isn't she?" + +"Of course she is, but----" + +"Yes, and when we have spoken to _her_--two or three of us at different +times--she has said she thought buying these things was a lovely idea. I +shouldn't be surprised if she thought so now.... Cordelia, don't you +think the Fair Harbor ought to buy those statues and that fountain?" + +This pointed appeal, of course, placed Mrs. Berry directly in the +limelight and she wilted beneath its glare. She reddened and then paled. +Her fingers fidgetted with the pin at her throat. She picked up her +handkerchief and dropped it. She looked at Elvira and the committee and +then at her daughter. + +"Why--why, I don't know," she faltered. "I think--of course I think +the--the statuary is very beautiful. I--I said so. I--I am always fond +of pretty things. You know I am, Elizabeth, you----" + +"Wait a minute, Cordelia. Didn't you tell me you thought the Fair Harbor +ought to buy them? Didn't you tell Suzanna and me just that?" + +Mrs. Berry squirmed. She did not answer but, so far as Sears Kendrick +was concerned, no answer was necessary. He was as certain as if she had +sworn it that she had told them just that thing. And, looking at +Elizabeth's face, he could see that she, too, was certain of it. + +"Didn't you, Cordelia?" persisted Miss Snowden. + +"Why--why, I don't know. Perhaps I did, but--but what difference does it +make? You heard what Elizabeth said. She says we can't afford it. She +always attends to such matters, you know she does." + +"Yes," with sarcastic emphasis, "we do, but we don't know _why_ she +should. And in this case we aren't going to stand it. You are supposed +to be managing this place, Cordelia Berry, and if you are willing to +turn your duties over to a--a mere child we aren't willing to let you. +Once more I ask you----" + +Elizabeth interrupted. "There, there, Elvira," she said, "what _is_ the +use? It isn't a question of mother's opinion or what she has said +before. It is just a matter of money. We can't afford it." + +Miss Snowden ignored her. "We shall not," she repeated, "permit our +future and--and all like that to be ruined by the whims of a mere child. +_That_ is final." + +She pronounced the last sentence with solemn emphasis. The pause which +followed should have been impressive but Mrs. Tidditt spoiled the +effect. + +"Mere child!" she repeated, significantly. "Well, I presume likely she +_is_ a mere child compared to some folks. Only she just looks childish +and they act that way." + +There was another outburst of indignant exclamations from the committee. +The head of that body turned to her followers. + +"It is quite evident," she declared, furiously, "that this conference is +going to end just as the others have. But this time we are not going to +sit back and be trampled on. There are those higher up to be appealed to +and we shall appeal to them. Come!" + +She stalked majestically to the door and marched out and down the hall, +the committee following her. Only Mrs. Tidditt remained, and she but for +a moment. + +"They're goin' to the back room to have another meetin'," she whispered. +"If there's anything up that amounts to anything, 'Lizabeth, I'll come +back and let you know." + +Elizabeth did not answer, but Kendrick offered a suggestion. "You don't +belong to this committee," he observed. "Perhaps they won't let you into +the meetin'." + +The eyes behind the steel spectacles snapped sparks. "I'd like to see +'em try to keep me out," declared Mrs. Esther, and hurried after the +others. Elizabeth turned to her mother. + +"Mother," she said, earnestly, "we must be very firm in this matter. We +simply can't afford to spend any money just now except for necessities. +If they come to you again you must tell them so. You will, won't you?" + +And now Mrs. Berry's agitation reached its climax. She turned upon her +daughter. + +"Oh, I suppose so," she cried hysterically, "I suppose so! I shall have +to go through another scene and be spoken to as if--as if I were dirt +under these women's feet instead of being as far above them in--in +position and education and refinement as the clouds. Why can't I have +peace--just a little peace and quiet? Why must I _always_ have to +undergo humiliation after humiliation? I----" + +"Mother, mother, please don't----" + +But her mother was beyond reason. + +"And you--" she went on, "you, my own daughter, why must you always take +the other side, and put me in such positions, and--and humiliate me +before--before---- Oh, why can't I die? I _wish_ I were dead! I do! I +do!" + +She burst into a storm of hysterical sobs and hurried toward the door. +Elizabeth would have gone to her but she pushed her aside and rushed +into the front hall and up the stairs. They heard her sobs upon the +upper landing. + +Sears Kendrick, feeling more like an interloper than ever, looked in +embarrassment at the flowered carpet. He did not dare look at the young +woman beside him. He had never in his life felt more sorry for any one. +Judge Knowles had said he hoped that he--Kendrick--might obtain a +general idea of the condition of affairs in the Fair Harbor. The scenes +he had just witnessed had given him a better idea of that condition than +anything else could have done. And, somehow or other, it was the last of +those scenes which had affected him most. Elizabeth Berry had faced the +sarcasms and sneers of the committee, had never lost her poise or her +temper, had never attempted to shift the responsibility, had never +reproached her mother for the hesitating weakness which was at the base +of all the trouble. And, in return, her mother had accused her of--all +sorts of things. + +And yet when Elizabeth spoke it was in defence of that mother. + +"I hope, Cap'n Kendrick," she said, "that you won't misunderstand my +mother or take what she just said too seriously. She is not very well, +and very nervous, and, as you see, her position here is a trying one +sometimes." + +The captain could not keep back the speech which was at his tongue's +end. + +"_Your_ position is rather tryin', too, isn't it?" he observed. "It sort +of would seem that way--to me." + +She smiled sadly. "Why, yes--it is," she admitted. "But I am younger +and--and perhaps I can bear it better." + +It occurred to him that the greatest pity of all was the fact that she +should be obliged to bear it. He did not say so, however, and she went +on, changing the subject and speaking very earnestly. + +"Cap'n Kendrick," she said, "I am very glad you heard this--this +disagreement this morning. Judge Knowles told me you were going to call +at the Harbor here and when he said it he--well, I thought he looked +more than he said, if you know what I mean. I didn't ask any questions +and he said nothing more, but I guess perhaps he wanted you to--to +see--well, to see what he wasn't well enough to see--or something like +that." + +She paused. The captain was embarrassed. He certainly felt guilty and he +also felt as if he looked so. + +"Why--why, Miss Berry," he stammered, "I hope you--you mustn't +think----" + +She waved his protestations aside. + +"It doesn't make a bit of difference," she said. "No matter why you came +I am very glad you did. This ridiculous statuary business is just +one--well, symptom, so to speak. If it wasn't that, it might be +something else. It comes, you see, from my position here--which really +isn't any position at all--and their position, Elvira Snowden's and the +rest. They pay a certain sum to get here in the first place and a small +sum each year. There is the trouble. They think they pay for board and +lodging and are guests. Of course what they pay amounts to almost +nothing, but they don't realize that, or don't want to, and they expect +to have their own way. Mother is--well, she is nervous and high strung +and she hates scenes. They take advantage of her, some of them--no doubt +they don't consider it that, but it seems to me so--and so I have been +obliged to take charge, in a way. They don't understand that and resent +it. I don't know that I blame them much. Perhaps I should resent it if I +were in their place. Only.... But never mind that now. + +"This is only one of a good many differences of opinion we have had," +she went on. "In the old days--and not older than a year ago, for that +matter--if the differences were too acute I used to go to Judge Knowles. +He always settled everything, finally and sensibly. But now, since he +has been so sick, I--well, I simply can't go to him. He has been very +kind to us, to mother and me, and I am very fond of him. He was a great +friend of my father's and I think he likes me for father's sake. And now +I will not trouble him in his sickness with my troubles--I will _not_." + +She raised her head as she said it and Captain Sears, regarding her, was +again acutely conscious of the fact that it was a very fine head indeed. + +"I understand," he said. + +"Yes, I knew you would. And I know I could fight this out by myself. And +shall, of course. But, nevertheless, I am glad you were here as--well, +as a witness, if it ever comes to that. You heard what Elvira--Miss +Snowden--said about appealing to those higher up. I suppose she means +Mrs. Phillips, the one who founded the Harbor. If they should write to +her I---- What is it, Esther?" + +Mrs. Tidditt had rushed into the room, bristling. She waved her arms +excitedly. + +"'Lizbeth, 'Lizbeth," she whispered, "they're goin' to tell him. They're +makin' up the yarn now that they're goin' to tell him." + +"Tell him? Tell who?" + +"Judge Knowles. They've decided to go right straight over to the judge's +house and--and do what they call appeal to him about them images. Elviry +she's goin', and Susanna, and Desire Peasley, too, for what I know. What +do you want me to do? Ain't there any way I can help stop 'em?" + +For the first time in that distressing forenoon Captain Kendrick saw +Miss Berry's nerve shaken. She clasped her hands. + +"Oh dear!" she cried. "Oh, dear, that is the very thing they mustn't do! +I wouldn't have Judge Knowles worried or troubled about this for the +world. I have kept everything from him. He is _so_ ill! If those women +go to him and---- Oh, but they mustn't, they mustn't! I can't let them." + +Mrs. Tidditt, diminutive but combative, offered a suggestion. + +"Do you want me to go out and stop 'em?" she demanded. "I'll go and +stand in the kitchen doorway, if you want me to. They won't get by if +I'm there, not in a hurry, anyway." + +"Oh no, no, Esther, of course not." + +"I tell you what I'll do. I'll go and tell Emmeline not to let 'em in +the judge's house. She's my cousin and she'll do what I +ask--sometimes--if I don't ask much." + +"No, that wouldn't do any good, any permanent good. But they must not go +to the judge. They must not. He has been so kind and forbearing and he +is so very sick. The doctor told me that he.... They shan't go. They can +say anything they please to me, but they shan't torment him." + +She started toward the door through which Mrs. Tidditt had entered. At +the threshold she paused for an instant and turned. + +"Please excuse me, Cap'n Kendrick," she said. "I almost forgot that you +were here. I think I wouldn't wait if I were you. There will be another +scene and I'm sure you have had scenes enough. I have, too, but.... Oh, +well, it will be all right, I'm sure. Please don't wait. Thank you for +calling." + +She turned again but the captain stopped her. As she faced him there in +the doorway their eyes had met. Hers were moist--for the first time she +was close to the breaking point--and there was a look in them which +caused him to forget everything except one, namely, that the crowd in +the "parrot cage" at the other end of that hall should not trouble her +further. It was very seldom that Captain Sears Kendrick, master mariner, +acted solely on impulse. But he did so now. + +"Stop," he cried. "Miss Elizabeth, don't go. Stay where you are.... +Here--you--" turning to Mrs. Tidditt. "You go and tell those folks I +want to see 'em. Tell 'em to come aft here--now." + +There was a different note in his voice, a note neither Elizabeth nor +the Tidditt woman had before heard. Yet if Judah Cahoon had been present +he would have recognized it. He had heard it many times, aboard many +tall ships, upon many seas. It was the captain's quarter-deck voice and +it meant business. + +Mrs. Tidditt and Elizabeth had not heard it, and they looked at the +speaker in surprise. Captain Sears looked at them, but not for long. + +"Lively," he commanded. "Do you hear? Go for'ard and tell that crew in +the galley, or the fo'castle, or wherever they are, to lay aft here. +I've got somethin' to say to 'em." + +It was seldom that Esther Tidditt was at a loss for words. As a usual +thing her stock was unlimited. Now she merely gasped. + +"You--you--" she stammered. "You want me to ask--to ask Elviry and +Susanna and them to come in here?" + +"Ask? Who said anything about askin'? I want you to tell 'em I say for +them to come here. It's an order, and you can tell 'em so, if you want +to." + +Mrs. Tidditt gasped again. "Well!" she exclaimed. "Well, my good lordy, +if this ain't---- A-ll right, _I'll_ tell 'em." + +She hastened down the corridor. Elizabeth ventured a faint protest. + +"But, Cap'n Kendrick--" she began. He stopped her. + +"It is all right, Miss Elizabeth," he said. "I'm handlin' this matter +now. All you've got to do is look on.... Well, are they comin' or must I +go after 'em?" + +Apparently he had forgotten that his lameness made going anywhere a slow +proceeding. As a matter of fact he had. He had forgotten everything +except the business of the moment and the joy of being once more in +supreme command. + +The message borne by Mrs. Tidditt had, presumably, been delivered. The +messenger had left the dining room door open and through it came a +tremendous rattle of tongues. Obviously the captain's order had created +a sensation. + +Elizabeth listened. + +"Well?" repeated Sears, again. "Are they goin' to come?" + +Miss Berry smiled faintly. "I think they will come," she answered. "If +they are as--as curious as I am they will." + +They were. At any rate they came. Miss Snowden, Mrs. Brackett and Mrs. +Chase in the lead, the others following. Mrs. Tidditt brought up the +rear, marshaling the stragglers, as it were. + +Elvira was, of course, the spokeswoman. She was the incarnation of +dignified and somewhat resentful surprise. + +"We have been told," she began, loftily, "we have been _told_, Cap'n +Kendrick, that you wished to speak to us. We can't imagine why, but we +have came--come, I should say. _Do_ you wish to speak to us?" + +Kendrick nodded. "Yes," he said crisply, "I do. I want to tell you that +you mustn't go to Judge Knowles about buyin' those iron statues of Cap'n +Seth's or about anything else. He is sick and mustn't be worried. Miss +Berry says so, and I agree with her." + +He paused From the committee came a gasp, or concert of gasps and +muttered exclamations, indicating astonishment. Elvira voiced the +feeling. + +"You agree with her!" she exclaimed. "_You_ agree? Why--I never did!" + +"Yes. And I agree with her, too, about buyin' those--er--lions and dogs +and--hogs, or whatever they are. I don't say they aren't worth +seventy-five dollars or more--or less--I don't know. But I do say that, +until I have had time to look into things aboard here, I don't want any +money spent except for stores and other necessities. There isn't a bit +of personal feelin' in this, you must understand, it is business, that's +all." + +He paused once more, to let this sink in. It sank apparently and when it +again came to the surface an outburst of incoherent indignation came +with it. Every committee-woman said something, even Mrs. Chase, although +her observations were demands to know what was being said by the rest. +Elizabeth was the only one who remained silent. She was gazing, +wide-eyed, at the captain, and upon her face was a strange expression, +an expression of eagerness, dawning understanding, and--yes, of hope. + +Miss Snowden was so completely taken aback that she was incapable of +connected speech. Mrs. Susanna Brackett, however, was of a temperament +less easily upset. She stepped forward. + +"Cap'n Kendrick," she demanded, "what are you talkin' about? What right +have you got to say how the Fair Harbor money shall be spent? What are +you interferin' here for I'd like to know?" + +"I'm not interferin'. I'm taking charge, that's all. + +"Takin' _charge_?... My land of love!... Charge of what?" + +"Of this craft here, this Fair Harbor place. Judge Knowles offered me +the general management of it three days ago." + +Even the Brackett temperament was not proof against such a shock. +Susanna herself found difficulty in speaking. + +"You--you--" she sputtered. "My soul to heavens! Do you mean---- Are you +crazy?" + +"Um--maybe. But, anyhow, crazy or not, I'm in command aboard here from +now on. Miss Elizabeth here--and her mother, of course--will be captain +and mate, same as they've always been, but I'll be--well, commodore or +admiral, whichever you like to call it. It's a queer sort of a job for a +man like me," he added, with a grim smile, "but it looks as if it was +what we'd all have to get used to." + +For a moment there was silence, absolute silence, in the best parlor of +the Fair Harbor for Mariners' Women. Then that silence was broken. + +"What is he sayin'?" wailed Mrs. Aurora Chase. "Elviry Snowden, why +don't you tell me what he's a-sayin'?" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +The bomb had burst, the debris had fallen, the smoke had to some extent +cleared, the committee, still incoherent but by no means speechless, had +retired to the dining room to talk it over. Mrs. Tidditt had accompanied +them; and Sears Kendrick and Elizabeth Berry were saying good-by at the +front door. + +"Well," observed the captain, dubiously, "I'm glad you don't think I'm +more than nine tenths idiot. It's some comfort to know you can see one +tenth of common-sense in the thing. It's more than I can, and that's +honest. I give you my word, Miss Elizabeth, when I set sail from Judah's +back entry this mornin' I hadn't any more idea that I should undertake +the job of handlin' the Fair Harbor than--well, than that Snowden woman +had of kissin' that little spitfire that was flyin' up in her face every +minute or two while she was tryin' to read that paper.... Ha-ha! that +was awfully funny." + +Elizabeth smiled. "It was," she agreed. "And it looks so much funnier to +me now than it did then, thanks to you, Cap'n Kendrick. You have taken a +great load off my mind." + +"Um--yes, and taken it on my own, I shouldn't wonder. I do hope you'll +make it clear to your mother that all I intend doin' is to keep a sort +of weather eye on money matters, that's all. She is to have just the +same ratin' aboard here that she has always had--and so will you, of +course." + +"But I haven't had any real rating, you know. And now I will be more of +a fifth wheel than ever. You and mother can manage the Harbor. You won't +need me at all. I can take a vacation, can't I? Won't that be +wonderful!" + +He looked at her in unfeigned alarm. + +"Here, here!" he exclaimed. "Lay to! Come up into the wind! Don't talk +that way, Miss Berry, or I'll jump over the rail before I've really +climbed aboard this craft. I'm countin' on you to do three thirds of the +work, just as I guess you've been doin' for a good while. All I shall be +good for--if anything--is to be a sort of reef in the channel, as you +might say, something for committees like this one to run their bows on +if they get too far off the course." + +"And that will be the most useful thing any one can do, Cap'n Kendrick. +Oh, I shall thank Judge Knowles--in my mind--so many, many times a day +for sending you here, I know I shall. I guessed, when he told me you +were going to call, that there was something behind that call. And there +was. What a wise old dear he is, bless him." + +"Is he? Well I wish I was surer of the wisdom in trappin' me into takin' +this command. However, I have taken it, so I'll have to do the best I +can for a while, anyhow. Afterwards--well, probably I won't last _but_ a +little while, so we won't worry about more than that. And you'll have to +stand by the wheel, Miss Elizabeth. If it hadn't been for you--I mean +for the way that committee lit into you--I don't think I should ever +have taken charge." + +"I know. And I sha'n't forget. You may count on me, Cap'n Kendrick, for +anything I can do to help." + +His face brightened. "Good!" he exclaimed. "That's as good as an +insurance policy on the ship and cargo. With you to pilot and me to +handle the crew she ought to keep somewhere in deep water.... Well, I'll +be gettin' back to port. Judah's dinner will be gettin' cold and he +won't like that. And to-morrow mornin' I'll come again and we'll have a +look at the figures." + +"Yes. I'll have the books and bills and everything ready.... Oh, be +careful! Can't I help you down the step?" + +He shook his head. "I can navigate after a fashion," he said, grimly. "I +get along about as graceful as a brick sloop in a head tide, but, by the +Lord Harry, I'll get along somehow.... No, don't, please. I'd rather +you didn't help me, if you don't mind." + +Slowly, painfully, and with infinite care he lowered himself down the +step. On level ground once more, leaning heavily on his cane, he turned +to her and smiled a somewhat shame-faced apology. + +"It's silly, I know," he said, panting a little, "but I've always been +used to doin' about as I pleased and it--somehow it plagues me to think +I can't go it alone still. Just stubborn foolishness." + +She shook her head. "No, it isn't," she said, quickly. "I understand. +And I do hope you will be better soon. Of course you will." + +"Will I?... Well, maybe. Good mornin', Miss Berry. Be sure and tell your +mother she's to be just as much cap'n as she ever was." + +He hobbled along the walk to the gate. As he passed beneath the sign he +looked back. She was still standing in the doorway and when he limped in +at the entrance of the General Minot place she was there yet, watching +him. + +He said no word to Judah of his acceptance of the post of commander of +the Fair Harbor. He felt that Judge Knowles should be the first to know +of it and that he, himself, should be the one to tell him. So, after +dinner was over, and Judah had harnessed the old horse to go to the +Minot wood lot for a load of pine boughs and brush for kindling, he +asked his ex-cook to take him across to the judge's in the wagon, leave +him there, and come for him later. Mr. Cahoon, of course, was delighted +to be of service but, of course also, he was tremendously curious. + +"Hum," he observed, "goin' to see the judge again, be you, Cap'n Sears?" + +"Yes." + +"Hum.... Ain't heard that he's any sicker, nor nothin' like that, have +you?" + +"No." + +"I see.... Yus, yus.... Just goin' to make a--er--sort of--what you +might call a--er--a call, I presume likely." + +"I shouldn't wonder." + +"Um-hm.... I see.... Yus, yus, I see.... Um-hm.... Well, I suppose we +might as well--er--start now as any time, eh?" + +"Better, I should say, Judah. Whenever you and the Foam Flake are ready, +I am." + +The Foam Flake was the name with which Judah had rechristened the old +horse. The animal's name up to the time of the rechristening had been +Pet, but this, Mr. Cahoon explained, he could _not_ stand. + +"'Whatever else he is,' says I to young Minot, 'he ain't no pet--not of +mine. The only way I ever feel like pettin' that oat barrel,' I says, +'is with a rope's end.' 'Well, why don't you give him a new name?' says +he. 'What'll I call him?' says I. 'Anything you can think of,' he says. +'By Henry,' says I. 'I have called him about everything I can think of, +already.' Haw, haw! That was a pretty good one, wan't it Cap'n Sears?" + +"But where did you get 'Foam Flake' from?" the captain had wanted to +know. + +"Oh, it just come to me, as you might say, same as them things do come +sometimes. I was tellin' the Methodist minister about it one day and he +said 'twas a--er--one of them--er--inflammations. Eh? Don't seem as if +it could have been 'inflammation,' but 'twas somethin' like it." + +"Inspiration, maybe." + +"That's the ticket, inspiration's what 'twas. Well, I was kind of +draggin' a seine through my head, so to speak, tryin' to haul aboard a +likely name for the critter, and fetchin' the net in empty every time, +when one day that--er--what-d'ye-call-it?--inflammation landed on me. +I'd piloted 'Pet' and the truck wagon over to Harniss--and worked my +passage every foot of the way--and over there to Brett's store I met +Luther Wixon, who was home from a v'yage to the West Indies. Lute and me +had been to sea together half a dozen times, and we got kind of +swappin' yarns about the vessels we'd been in. + +"'Have you heard about the old _Foam Flake_?' says Lute. 'She was +wrecked on the Jersey coast off Barnegat,' he says, 'and now they've +made a barge out of her hull and she's freightin' hay in New York +harbor,' he says. + +"Well, sir, I hauled off and fetched the broadside of my leg a slap you +could have heard to Jericho. 'By the creepin', jumpin',' says I. 'I've +got it!' 'Yes,' he says, 'you act as if you had. But what do you take +for it?' 'I wouldn't take a dollar note for it right now,' I told him. +And I wouldn't have, nuther. The old _Foam Flake_--maybe you remember +her, Cap'n Sears--was the dumdest, lop-sidedest, crankiest old white tub +of a bark that ever carried sail. When I was aboard of her she wouldn't +steer fit to eat, always wanted to go to port when you tried to put her +to starboard, walloped and slopped along awkward as a cow, was the +slowest thing afloat, and all she was ever really fit for was what they +are usin' her for now, and that was to stow hay in. If that wan't that +old horse of Minot's all over then I hope I'll never smoke a five-cent +cigar again. 'You ain't "Pet" no more,' says I to the critter; 'your +name's "Foam Flake!"' Haw, haw! See now, don't you, Cap'n Sears?" + +Foam Flake and the truck-wagon landed the captain at the Knowles gate +and, a few minutes later, Kendrick was, rather shamefacedly, announcing +to the judge his acceptance of the superintendency of the Fair Harbor. +The invalid, as grimly sardonic and indomitable as ever, chuckled +between spasms of pain and weakness. + +"Good! Good!" he exclaimed. "I thought you wouldn't say no if you once +saw how things were over there. Congratulations on your good sense, +Kendrick." + +Sears shook his head. "Don't be any more sarcastic than you can help, +Judge," he said. + +"No sarcasm about it. If you hadn't stepped in to help that girl I +should have known you didn't have any sense at all. By the way, I didn't +praise her too highly when we talked before, did I? She is considerable +of a girl, Elizabeth Berry, eh, Cap'n?" + +The captain nodded. + +"She is," he admitted. "And she was so confoundedly plucky, and she +stood up against that crowd of--of----" + +"Mariners' women. Yes. Ho, ho! I should like to have been there." + +"I am glad you wasn't. But when I saw how she stood up to them, and then +when her mother----" + +"Yes. Um ... yes, I know. Isaac Berry was my friend and his daughter is +a fine girl. We'll remember that when we talk about the family, +Kendrick.... Whew! Well, I feel better. With you and Elizabeth to handle +matters over there, Lobelia's trust will be in good hands. Now I can go +to the cemetery in comfort." + +He chuckled as if the prospect was humorous. Captain Sears spoke quickly +and without considering exactly how the words sounded. + +"Indeed you can't," he protested. "Judge Knowles, I'm goin' to need you +about every minute of every day from now on." + +"Nonsense! You won't need me but a little while, fortunately. And--for +that little while, probably--I shall be here and at your disposal. Come +in whenever you want to talk matters over. If the doctor or that damned +housekeeper try to stop you, hit 'em over the head. Much obliged to you, +Cap'n Kendrick. He, he! We'll give friend Egbert a shock when he comes +to town.... Oh, he'll come. Some of these days he'll come. Be ready for +him, Kendrick, be ready for him." + +That evening the captain told Judah of his new position and Judah's +reception of the news was not encouraging. Somehow Sears felt that, with +the voice of Judah Cahoon was, in this case, speaking the opinion of +Bayport. + +Judah had been scrubbing the frying-pan. He dropped it in the sink with +a tremendous clatter. + +"_No!_" he shouted. "You're jokin', ain't you, Cap'n Sears?" + +"It's no joke, Judah." + +"My creepin' Henry! You can't mean it. You ain't really, honest to +godfreys, cal'latin' to pilot that--that Fair Harbor craft, be you?" + +"I am, Judah. Wish me luck." + +"Wish you _luck_! Jumpin', creepin', crawlin', hoppin'---- Why, there +ain't no luck _in_ it. That ain't no man's job, Cap'n Sears. That's a +woman's job, and even a woman'd have her hands full. Why, Cap'n, +they'll--that crew of--of old hens in there they'll pick your eyes out." + +"Oh, I guess not, Judah. I've handled crews before." + +"Yes--yes, you have--men crews aboard ship. But this ain't no men crew, +this is a woman crew. You can't lam _this_ crew over the head with no +handspike. When one of those fo'mast hands gives you back talk you can't +knock _her_ into the scuppers. All you can do is just stand and take it +and wait for your chance to say somethin'. And you won't _git_ no +chance. What chance'll you have along with Elviry Snowden and Desire +Peasley and them? Talk! Why, jumpin' Henry, Cap'n Sears, any one of them +Shanghais in there can talk more in a minute than the average man could +in a hour. Any one of 'em! Take that Susanna Brackett now. Oh, I've +heard about _her_! She had a half-brother one time. Where is he now? Ah +ha! Where is he? Nobody knows, that's where he is. Him and her used to +live together. Folks that lived next door used to hear her tongue +a-goin' at him all hours day or night. Wan't no 'watch and watch' in +that house--no sir-ee! She stood _all_ the watches. She----" + +"There, there, Judah. I guess I can stand the talk. If it gets too bad +I'll put cotton in my ears." + +"Huh! Cotton! Cotton won't do no good. Have to solder your ears up +like--like a leaky tea-kittle, if you wanted to keep from hearin' +Susanna Brackett's clack. Why, that brother of hers--Ebenezer Samuels, +seems to me his name was. Seems to me they told me that Susanna's name +was Samuels afore she married Brackett. Maybe twan't Samuels. Seems to +me, now I think of it, as if 'twas Schwartz. Yet it don't hardly seem +as if it could be, does it? I guess likely I'm gettin' him mixed with a +feller name of Samuel Schwartz that I knew on South Street in New York +one time. Run a pawn shop, he did. I remember _that_ Schwartz 'cause he +used to _take_ stuff, you know--er--er--same as a Chinaman. One of them +oakum eaters, that s what he was--an oakum eater. Why one time he----" + +Sears never did learn what happened to Mrs. Brackett's brother. Judah's +reminiscent fancy, once started, wandered far and wide, and in this case +it forgot entirely to return to the missing Samuels--or Schwartz. But +Mr. Cahoon expressed himself freely on the subject of his beloved +ex-captain and present lodger taking charge of the establishment next +door. Sears' explanations and excuses bore little weight. Time and time +again that evening Mr. Cahoon would come out of a dismal reverie to +exclaim: "Skipper of the Fair Harbor for Mariners' Women! You! Cap'n +Sears Kendrick, skipper of _that_ craft! Don't seem possible, somehow, +does it?" + +"Look here Judah," the captain at last said, in desperation, "if you +feel so almighty bad about it, perhaps you won't want me here. I can +move, you know." + +Judah turned a horrified face in his direction. "Move!" he repeated +"_Don't_ talk so, Cap'n Sears. That's the one comfort I see in the whole +business. Livin' right next door to 'em the way you and me do, you can +always run into port here if the weather gets too squally over yonder. +Yes, sir there'll always be a snug harbor under my lee when the Fair +Harbor's too rugged. Eh? Ha, ha!" + +Just before retiring Sears said, "There's just one thing I want you to +do, Judah. You may feel--as I know you do feel--that my takin' this job +is a foolish thing. But don't you let any one else know you feel that +way." + +Judah snorted. "Don't you worry, Cap'n Sears," he said. "If any one of +them sea lawyers down to Bassett's store gets to heavin' sass at me +about your takin' the hellum at the Harbor I'll shut their hatches for +'em. I'll tell 'em the old judge and Lobelia was ondecided between you +and Gen'ral Grant for the job, but finally they picked you. Don't +mistake me now, Cap'n. Your goin' over there is the best thing for +the--the henroost that ever was or ever will be. It's you I'm thinkin' +about. It ain't--well, by the crawlin' prophets, 'tain't the kind of +berth you've been used to. Now is it, Cap'n Sears?" + +Kendrick smiled, a one-sided smile. + +"Maybe not, Judah," he admitted. "It is a queer berth, but it's a berth, +and, unless these legs of mine get well a lot quicker than I think they +will, I may be mighty thankful to have any berth at all." + +He told his sister this when she called to learn if the rumor she had +heard was true. She shook her head. + +"Perhaps it is all right, Sears," she said. "I suppose you know best. +But, somehow, I--well, I hate to think of your doin' it." + +"I know. You're proud, Sarah. Well, I used to be proud too, before the +ship-chandlery business and the Old Colony railroad dismasted me and +left me high and dry." + +She put a hand on his arm. "Don't, Sears," she pleaded. "You know why I +hate to have you do it. It don't seem--it don't seem--you know what I +mean." + +"A man's job. I know. Judah said the same thing. I took Judge Knowles' +offer because it seemed the only way I could earn my salt. If I didn't +take it you and Joel might have had a poor relation to board and lodge. +And you've got enough on your hands already, Sarah." + +She sighed. "Of course I knew that was why you took it," she said. + +Yet, even as he said it, he realized that the statement was not the +whole truth. The fifteen hundred a year salary had tempted him, but if +he had not gone to the Fair Harbor on that forenoon and seen Elizabeth +Berry brave the committee and her mother, it is extremely doubtful if he +would have yielded. In all probability he would have declined the +judge's offer and have risked the prospect of the almost hopeless +future, for a time longer at least. + +But, having accepted, he characteristically cast doubts, misgivings and +might-have-beens over the side, as he had cast wreckage over the rails +of his ships after storms, and, while Bayport buzzed with gossip and +criticism and surmise concerning him, took up his new duties and went +ahead with them. The morning following that of his dramatic scene with +the committee he limped to the door of the Fair Harbor and, for the +first time, entered that door as general manager. + +He anticipated, and dreaded, a perhaps painful and surely embarrassing +scene with Mrs. Berry, but was pleasantly disappointed. Elizabeth, true +to her promise, had evidently broken the news to her mother and, also, +had reconciled the matron to her partial deposing. Mrs. Berry was, of +course, a trifle martyrlike, a little aggrieved, but on the whole +resigned. + +"I presume, Captain Kendrick," she said, "that I should have expected +something of the sort. Dear 'Belia is abroad and Judge Knowles is ill, +and, from what I hear, his mind is not what it was." + +Sears, repressing a smile, agreed that that might be the case. + +"But, of course, Mrs. Berry," he explained, "I did not take the position +with the least idea of interferin' with you. You will be--er--er--well, +just what you have been here, you know. I've shipped to help you and the +judge and Miss Elizabeth in any way I can, that's all." + +With the situation thus diplomatically explained Mrs. Berry brightened, +restored her handkerchief to her pocket--in the '70's ladies' gowns had +pockets--and announced that she was sure that she and the captain would +get on charmingly together. + +"And, after all, Captain Kendrick," she gushed, "a man's advice is so +often _so_ necessary in business, you know, and all that. Just as a +woman's advice helps a man at times. Why, Captain Berry--my dear +husband--used to say that without my advice he would have been +absolutely at sea, yes, absolutely." + +According to Bayport gossip, as related by Judah, Captain Isaac Berry +had been, literally, during the latter part of his life, absolutely at +sea as much as he possibly could. "And mighty thankful to be there, +too," so Mr. Cahoon was wont to add. + +Elizabeth heard a portion of Sears interview with her mother, but she +made no comment upon it, to him at least. When he announced his +intention of interviewing Miss Snowden, however, she was greatly +surprised and said so. "You want to speak with Elvira, Cap'n Kendrick?" +she repeated. "You do, really? Do you--of course I am not interfering, +please don't think I am--but do you think it a--a wise thing to do, just +now?" + +The captain nodded. "Why, yes, I do," he said. "Oh, it's all right, Miss +Elizabeth, I'm not goin' to start any rows. You wouldn't think it to +look at me, probably, but I've got an idea in my head and I'm goin' to +try it out on this Elvira." + +It was some time before he was able to catch Miss Snowden alone, but at +last he did and, as it happened, in that same summer-house, the Eyrie, +where he had first seen her. The interview began, on her part, as +frostily as a February morning in Greenland, but ended like a balmy +evening in Florida. The day following he laid his plans to meet and +speak with Mrs. Brackett and the militant Susanna thereafter became as +peaceful, so far as he was concerned, as a dovecote in spring. Elizabeth +Berry, noticing these changes, and surmising their cause, regarded him +with something like awe. + +"Really, Cap'n Kendrick," she said, "I'm beginning to be a little afraid +of you. When you first spoke of interviewing Elvira Snowden alone +I--well, I was strongly tempted to send for the constable. I didn't know +what might happen. She was saying--so Esther Tidditt told me--the most +dreadful things about you and I was frightened for your safety. And Mrs. +Brackett was just as savage. And now--why, Elvira this very morning told +me, herself, that she considered your taking the management here a +blessing. I believe she did call it a blessing in disguise, but that +doesn't make any real difference. And Susanna--three days ago--was +calling upon all our--guests here to threaten to leave in a body, as a +protest against the giving over of the management of their own Harbor to +a--excuse me--man like you. I don't know she meant by that, but it is +what she said. And now----" + +"Just a minute, Miss Elizabeth. Called me a man, did she? Well, comin' +from her that's a compliment, in a way. She ought to know she's the +nearest thing, herself, to a man that I've about ever seen in skirts. +But that's nothin'. What interests me is that idea of all the crew +aboard here threatenin' to leave. They could, I suppose, if they wanted +to same as anybody aboard a ship could jump overboard. But in both cases +the question would be the same, wouldn't it? Where would they go to +after they left?" + +Miss Berry smiled. "They have no idea of leaving," she said. "But they +like to think--or pretend to think--that they could if they wanted to +and that the Fair Harbor would go to rack and ruin if they did. It +comes, you see, of to paying that hundred dollars a year. That, to their +mind--and I imagine Mrs. Phillips had it in her mind too, when she +planned this place--prevents it being a 'home' in the ordinary sense of +the word. But Susanna's threatening to leave amounts to nothing. What I +am so much interested in is to know how you changed her attitude and +Elvira's from war to peace? How did you do it, Cap'n Kendrick?" + +The captain's left eyelid drooped. He smiled. "Well," he said, slowly, +"I tell you. I've sailed in all sorts of weather and I've come to the +conclusion that when you're in a rough sea the first thing to do, if you +can, is to smooth it down. If you can't--why, then fight it. The best +treatment I know for a rough sea is to sling a barrel of oil over the +bows. It's surprisin' what a little bit of oil will do to make things +smoother for a vessel. It's always worth tryin', anyway, and that's how +I felt in this case of Elvira and Susanna. When I started to beat up +into their neighborhood I had a barrel of oil slung over both my port +and starboard bows. I give you my word, Miss Elizabeth, I was the +oiliest craft afloat in these waters, I do believe." + +His smile broadened. Elizabeth smiled too, but her smile was a bit +uncertain. + +"I--I _think_ I understand you, Cap'n Kendrick," she said. "But I'm not +quite sure. How did you---- Would you mind being just a little more +clear? Won't you explain a little more fully?" + +"Surely. Easiest thing in the world. Take Sister Snowden. I cast anchor +under her lee--and 'twas like tyin' up to an iceberg at first. Ha, +ha!--and I began by sayin' that I had been waitin' for a chance to speak +with her alone. There were a few things I wanted to explain, I said. I +told her that of course I realized she was not like the average, common +run of females here in the Harbor. I knew that so far as brains and +refinement and--er--beauty were concerned she was far, far ahead, had +all the rest of 'em hull down, so to speak." + +"Cap'n Kendrick, you didn't!" + +"Eh! Well, maybe I left out the 'beauty,' but otherwise than that I told +her just that thing. The ice began to melt a little and when I went on +to say that I realized how much the success of the Fair Harbor depended +on her sense and brains and so on she was obliged to give in that she +agreed with me. It was what she had thought all the time, you see; so +when I told her I thought so too, we began to get on a common fishin' +ground, so to speak. And the more I hinted at how wonderful I thought +she was the smarter she began to think _I_ was. It ended in a sort of +understandin' between us. I am to do the best I can as skipper here and +she is to help along in the fo'castle, as you might say. When I need any +of her suggestions I'm to go and ask her for 'em. And we aren't either +of us goin' to tell the rest of the crew--or passengers, or whatever you +call 'em--a word. When she and I separated there was a puddle of oil all +around that Eyrie place, but there wasn't a breaker in sight. Ha, ha! +Oh, dear!" + +He laughed aloud. Miss Berry laughed, too, but she still seemed somewhat +puzzled. + +"But, Cap'n Kendrick," she said, "you're not going to ask for her +suggestions, are you?" + +"Only when I need 'em. The agreement was that I was to ask when I needed +'em. I have a pretty strong feelin' that I shan't need 'em much." + +"But it was her idea, the buying of that ridiculous statuary." + +"Yes, I know. We talked about that. I told her that I was sure the iron +menagerie that belonged to her uncle, or whoever it was, would have made +this place look as lovely as the Public Garden in Boston. I said you and +your mother thought so, too, but that the trouble was we couldn't afford +'em at present. If ever another collection hove in sight that we could +afford, I'd let her know. But, whatever happened, she must always feel +that I was dependin' on her. She said she was glad to know that and that +I _could_ depend on her. So it'll be fair weather in her latitude for a +while." + +"And Susanna--Mrs. Brackett? What did you say to her?" + +"Oh, exactly what I said to Elvira. I can depend on her, too, she said +so. And I can have _her_ advice--when I need it. The main thing, Miss +Elizabeth, was, it seemed to me, to smooth down the rough water until I +could learn a little of my new job, at least enough to be of some help +to you. Because it is plain enough that if this Fair Harbor is to keep +afloat and on an even keel, you will keep it so--just as you have been +keepin' it for the last couple of years. I called myself the admiral +here the other day, when I was talkin' to that committee. I realize that +all I really am, or ever will be, is a sort of mate to you, Miss +Elizabeth. And a good deal of a lubber even at that, I am afraid." + +The lubber mate was, at least, a diligent student. Each morning found +him hobbling to the door of the Fair Harbor--the side door now, not the +stately and seldom-used front door--and in the room which Cordelia Berry +called her "study" he and Elizabeth studied the books and accounts of +the institution. These were in good condition, surprisingly good +condition, and he of course realized that that condition was due to the +capability and care of the young woman herself. Mrs. Berry professed a +complete knowledge of everything pertaining to the Fair Harbor, but in +reality her knowledge was very superficial. In certain situations she +was of real help. When callers came during hours when Elizabeth and +Sears were busy Cordelia received and entertained them and was in her +element while doing so. At dinner--on one or two occasions the captain +dined at the Harbor instead of limping back to Judah's kitchen--she +presided at the long table and was the very pattern of the perfect +hostess. A stranger, happening in by chance, might have thought her the +owner of palaces and plantations, graciously dispensing hospitality to +those less favored. As an ornament--upon the few occasions when the Fair +Harbor required social ornamentation--Cordelia Berry left little to be +desired. But when it came--as it usually did come--to the plain duties +of housekeeping and managing, she left much. And that much was, so Sears +Kendrick discovered, left to the willing and able hands of her daughter. + +As, under Elizabeth's guidance, Captain Sears plodded through the books +and accounts, he was increasingly impressed with one thing, which was +how very close to the wind, to use his own seafaring habit of thought +and expression, the Fair Harbor for Mariners' Women was obliged to sail. +The income from the fifty thousand dollar endowment fund was small, the +seven hundred dollars paid yearly by the guests helped but a little, and +expenses, even when pared down as closely as they had been, seemed large +in comparison. Mrs. Berry's salary as matron was certainly not a big one +and Elizabeth drew no salary at all. He spoke to her about it. + +"Don't they pay you any wages for all the work you do here?" he queried. + +She shook her head. "Of course not," she replied. "How could they? Where +would the money come from?" + +"But--why, confound it, you run the whole craft. It isn't fair that you +should do it for nothin'." + +"I do it to help mother. Her salary as matron here is practically all +she has. She needs me. And, of course, the Fair Harbor is our home, just +as it is Elvira's and Esther Tidditt's, and the rest." + +He glanced at her quickly to see if there was any trace of bitterness or +resentment in her expression. He had detected none in her voice. But she +was, apparently, not resentful, not as resentful as he, for that matter. + +"Yes," he said, and if he had paused to think he would not have said it, +"it is your home now, but it isn't goin' to be always, is it? You're not +plannin' to stay here and help your mother for the rest of your life?" + +She did not reply at once, when she did the tone was decisive and final. + +"I shall stay as long as I am needed," she said. "Here are the bills for +the last month, Cap'n Kendrick." + +That evening the captain employed Judah and the Foam Flake to carry him +to and from Judge Knowles'. The call was a very brief one. Sears had +determined to trouble the judge as little as was humanly possible. + +"Judge," he said, coming to the point at once, "I've been lookin' over +the books and runnin' expenses of that Harbor place and for the life of +me I can't see how it can carry another cent and keep afloat. As it is, +that Berry girl ought to draw at least a hundred a month, and she +doesn't get a penny." + +Knowles nodded. "I know it," he agreed. "But you say yourself that the +Fair Harbor can't spare another cent. How could we pay her?" + +"I don't know. And what I don't know a whole lot more is how I'm goin' +to be paid fifteen hundred a year. Where's that comin' from; can you +tell me?" + +From the bed--the invalid was in bed most of the time now--came a +characteristic chuckle. "He, he, he," laughed the judge. "So you've got +on far enough to wonder about that, eh?" + +"I certainly have. And I want to say right here that----" + +"Hold on! Hold on, Kendrick! Don't be a fool. And don't make the +mistake of thinkin' I'm one, either. I may have let you guess that the +Fair Harbor was to pay your salary. It isn't because it can't. _I'm_ +paying it and I'm going to pay it--while I'm alive and after I'm dead. +You're my substitute and so long as you keep that job you'll get your +pay. It's all arranged for, so don't argue." + +"But, Judge, why----" + +"Shut up. I want to do it and I can afford to do it. Let a dead man have +a little fun, can't you. You'll earn your money, I tell you. And when +that Egbert comes I'll get the worth of mine--dead or alive, I'll get +it. Now go home and let me alone, I'm tired." + +But Sears still hesitated. + +"That's all right, Judge," he said. "You've got the right to spend your +own money, I presume likely, so I won't say a word; although I may have +my own opinion as to your judgment in spendin' it. But there's one more +thing I can't quite get over. Here am I, about third mate's helper +aboard that Harbor craft, bein' paid fifteen hundred a year, and that +girl--as fine, capable, sensible--er--er--nice girl as ever lived, I do +believe--workin' her head off and runnin' the whole ship, as you might +say, and bein' paid nothin' at all. It isn't right. It isn't square. I +won't stand it. I'll heave up my commission and you pay her the fifteen +hundred. _She_ earns it." + +Silence. Then another slow chuckle from the bed. + +"Humph!" grunted Judge Knowles. "'Fine, capable, sensible, nice--' +Getting pretty enthusiastic, aren't you, Kendrick? He, he, he!" + +Taken by surprise, and suddenly aware that he had spoken very +emphatically, the captain blushed, and felt, himself a fool for so +doing. + +"Why--I--I--" he stammered, then laughed, and declared stoutly, "I don't +care if I am. That girl deserves all the praise anybody's got aboard. +She's a wonder, that's what she is. And she isn't bein' treated right." + +The answer was of a kind quite unexpected. + +"Well," rasped the judge, "who said she was?" + +"Eh? What----" + +"Who said she was? Not I. Don't you suppose I know what Elizabeth Berry +is worth to Lobelia Seymour's idiot shop over yonder? And what she +gets--or doesn't get? And didn't I tell you that her father was my best +friend? Then.... Oh, well! Kendrick, you go back to your job. And don't +you fret about that girl. What she doesn't get now she.... Humph! Clear +out, and don't worry me any more. Good night." + +So the captain departed. In a way his mind was more at rest. He was +nearer to being reconciled to the fifteen hundred a year now that he +knew it was not to come from the funds of the Fair Harbor. Judge Knowles +was reputed to be rich. If he chose to pay a salary to gratify a +whim--why, let him. He, Kendrick, would do his best to earn that salary. +But, nevertheless, he did not intend to let Elizabeth Berry remain under +any misapprehension as to where the salary was coming from. He would +tell her the next time they met. A new thought occurred to him. Why not +tell her then--that very evening? It was not late, only about nine +o'clock. + +"Judah," he said, "I've got to run in to the Harbor a minute. Drive me +around to the side door, will you? And then wait there for me, that's a +good fellow." + +So, leaving the Foam Flake and its pilot to doze comfortably in the soft +silence of the summer evening, Sears--after Judah had, as was his +custom, lifted him down from the wagon seat and handed him his +cane--plodded to the side door of the Harbor and knocked. Mrs. Brackett +answered the knock. + +"Why, how d'ye do, Cap'n Kendrick?" she said, graciously. "Come right +in. We wasn't expectin' you. You don't very often call evenin's. Come +right in. I guess you know everybody here." + +He did, of course, for the group in the back sitting room was made up of +the regular guests. He shook hands with them all, including Miss +Snowden, who greeted him with queenly condescension, and little Mrs. +Tidditt, who jerked his arm up and down as if it was a pump handle, and +affirmed that she was glad to see him, adding, as an after thought, +"Even if I did see you afore to-day." + +"Now you are just in time, Cap'n Kendrick," said Miss Elvira. "We are +going to have our usual little 'sing' before we go to bed. Desire--Miss +Peasley--plays the melodeon for us and we sing a few selections, sacred +selections usually, it is our evening custom. Do join us, Cap'n +Kendrick. We should love to have you." + +The captain thanked them, but declined. He had run in only for a moment, +he said, a matter of business, and must not stop. + +"Besides, I shouldn't be any help," he added. "I can't sing a note." + +Miss Snowden would have uttered some genteel protest, but Mrs. Tidditt +spoke first. + +"Humph! _That_ won't make any difference," she announced. "Neither can +any of the rest of us--not the right notes." + +Possibly Elvira, or Susanna, might have retorted. The former looked as +if she were about to, but Mrs. Aurora Chase came forward. + +"And it wasn't more'n ha'f past six neither," she declared with +conviction. + +Just why or when it was half past six, or what had happened at that +time, or what fragment of conversation Aurora's impaired hearing had +caught which led her to think this happening was being discussed, the +captain was destined never to learn. For at that instant Miss Berry came +into the room, entering from the hall. + +"Who is it?" she asked. "Why, good evening, Cap'n Kendrick." + +She was what two thirds of Bayport would have called "dressed up." That +is to say, she was wearing a simple afternoon gown instead of the +workaday garb in which he had been accustomed to seeing her. It was +becoming, even at the first glance he was sure of that. + +"Good evening, Cap'n Kendrick," she said, again. "I wasn't expecting +you this evening. Is anything the matter?" + +"Oh no, no! I just ran over for a minute. I--um--yes, that's all." + +He scarcely knew how to explain his errand. He had referred to it as a +matter of business, but it was scarcely that. And he could not explain +it at all in the presence of the guests, each one so obviously eager to +have him do so. + +"I just ran in," he repeated. She looked a little puzzled, and it seemed +to him that she hesitated, momentarily. Then-- + +"Won't you come into the parlor?" she asked. Was it the captain's +imagination, or did Elvira and Susanna and Desire and the rest--except +Aurora, of course, who had not heard--cast significant looks at each +other? It seemed to him that they did, but why? A moment later he +understood. + +"Come right in, Cap'n," she urged. "George is here, but you know him, of +course." + +They had walked the length of the hall and were almost at the door when +she made this announcement. He paused. + +"George?" he repeated. + +"Why, yes, George Kent. But that doesn't make a bit of difference. Come +in." + +"But, Miss Elizabeth, I didn't realize you had company. I----" + +"No, no. Stop, Cap'n Kendrick. George isn't company. He is--just George. +Come in." + +So he went in and George Kent, tall and boyish and good looking, rose to +shake hands. He appeared very much at home in that parlor, more so than +Sears Kendrick did just then. The latter knew young Kent well, of +course, had met him first at Sarah Macomber's and had, during his slow +convalescence there, learned to like him. They had not seen much of each +other since the captain became Judah Cahoon's lodger, although Kent had +dropped in once for a short call. + +But Sears had not expected to find him there, that evening, in the best +parlor of the Fair Harbor. There was every reason why he should have +expected it. Judah had told him that George was a regular visitor and +had more than hinted at the reason. But, in the whirl of interest +caused by his acceptance of his new position and the added interest of +his daily labors with Elizabeth, the captain had forgotten about +everything and every one else, Kent included. + +But there he was, young, broad-shouldered, handsome, optimistic, +buoyant. And there, too, was Elizabeth, also young, and pretty and gayly +chatty and vivacious. And there, too, was he, Sears Kendrick, no longer +young, even in the actual count of years, and feeling at least twice +that count--there he was, a cripple, a derelict. + +His call was very brief. The contrast between himself and those two +young people was too great, and, to him, at least, too painful. He did +not, of course, mention the errand which had brought him there. He could +tell Elizabeth the facts concerning the payment of his wages at some +other time. He gave some more or less plausible reason for his running +in, and, at the end of fifteen minutes or so, ran out. Kent shook hands +with him at parting and declared that he was going to call at the Minot +place at an early date. + +"We've all missed you there at the Macombers', Cap'n," he said. "Your +sister says it doesn't seem like the same place. And I agree with her, +it doesn't. I'm coming to see you within a day or two, sure. May I?" + +Sears said of course he might, and tried to make his tone cordial, but +the attempt was not too successful. Elizabeth accompanied him to the +side door. This meant a return trip through the back sitting room, +where, judging by the groans of the melodeon and the accompanying vocal +wails, the "sing" had been under way for some minutes. But, when Captain +Sears and Miss Berry entered the room, there was absolute silence. +Something had stopped the sing, had stopped it completely and judging by +the facial expressions of the majority of those present, painfully. + +Miss Snowden sat erect in her chair, frigidly, icily, disgustedly erect. +Beside her Mrs. Brackett sat, scorn and mental nausea plain upon her +countenance. Every one looked angry and disgusted except Mrs. Chase, who +was eagerly whispering questions to her next neighbor, and Mrs. +Tidditt, who was grinning broadly. + +Elizabeth looked in astonishment at the group. + +"Why what is it?" she asked. "What is the matter?" + +Several began speaking, but Miss Elvira raised a silencing hand. + +"We were having our sing," she said. "I say 'we _were_'. We are not now, +because," her eyes turned to and dwelt upon the puzzled face of Captain +Sears Kendrick, "we were interrupted." + +"Interrupted?" Elizabeth repeated the word. + +"Interrupted was what I said. And _such_ interruptions! Captain +Kendrick, I presume you are not responsible for the--ahem--_manners_ of +your--ahem--friend, or landlord, or cook or whatever he may be, but +whoever _is_ responsible for them should be.... But there, listen for +yourself." + +Warned by the raised Snowden hand, every one, including the captain and +Elizabeth, listened. And, from the yard without so loud that the words +were plainly understandable although the windows were closed and locked, +came the voice of Judah Cahoon, uplifted in song. + + "'Whisky is the life of man, + Whisky, Johnny! + Whisky from an old tin can, + Whisky for my Johnny! + + "'I drink whisky and my wife drinks gin, + Whisky, Johnny! + The way we drink 'em is a sin, + Whisky for my Johnny!'" + +The singer paused, momentarily, and Elvira spoke. + +"Of course," she said, "I make no comment upon the lack of common +politeness shown by interrupting our evening sing by such--ah--_noises_ +as that. But when one considers the morals of the person who chooses +such low, disgraceful----" + + "'I had a girl, her name was Lize, + Whisky, Johnny! + She put whisky in her pies, + Whisky for my Johnny!'" + +Captain Sears hobbled, as fast as his weak legs would permit, to the +door. He flung it open. + + "'Whisky stole my brains away, + Whisky, Johnny! + Just one more pull and then belay, + Whisky for----'" + +"Judah! _Judah!_" + +"Eh? Aye, aye, Cap'n Sears. What is it?" + +"Shut up!" + +"Eh? Oh! Aye, aye, Cap'n." + +He swung his former skipper to the seat of the truck-wagon. The captain +spoke but little during the short trip home. What he did say, however, +was to the point. + +"Judah," he ordered, "the next time you sing anywhere within +speakin'-trumpet distance of that Fair Harbor place, don't you dare sing +anything but psalms." + +"Eh? But which?" + +"Never mind. What in everlastin' blazes do you mean by sittin' up aloft +here and bellowin' about--rum and women?" + +"Hold on, now, Cap'n Sears! Ho-ld on! That wan't no rum and woman song, +that was the old 'Whisky, Johnny' chantey. Why, I've heard that song +aboard your own vessels mo-ore times, Cap'n Sears. Why----" + +"All right. But don't let me ever hear it sung near the Fair Harbor +again. If you must sing, when you're over there sing--oh, sing the +doxology." + +Judah did not speak for a minute or two. Then he stirred rebelliously. + +"What's that?" asked the captain. "What are you mumblin' about?" + +"Eh? I wan't mumblin'. I was just sayin' I didn't have much time to +learn new-fangled songs, that's all.... Whoa, you--you walrus! Don't you +know enough to come up into the wind when you git to your moorin's?" + +As his boarder took his lamp from the kitchen table, preparatory to +going to his room, Mr. Cahoon spoke again. + +"George Kent was over there, wan't he?" he observed. + +"Eh? Oh ... yes." + +"Um-hm. I cal-lated he would be. This is his night--one of 'em. Comes +twice a week, Tuesdays and Fridays, they tell me, and then heaves in a +Sunday every little spell, for good measure. Gettin' to be kind of +settled thing between them two, so all hands are cal'latin'.... Hey? +Turnin' in already, be you, Cap'n? Well, good night." + +Sears Kendrick found it hard to fall asleep that night. He tossed and +tumbled and thought and thought and thought. At intervals he cursed +himself for a fool and resolved to think no more, along those lines at +least, but to forget the foolishness and get the rest he needed. And +each time he was snatched back from the brink of that rest by a vision +of George Kent, tall, young, good-looking, vigorous, with all the world, +its opportunities and rewards, before him, and of himself almost on the +verge of middle age, a legless, worthless, hopeless piece of wreckage. +He liked Kent, George was a fine young fellow, he had fancied him when +they first met. Every one liked him and prophesied his success in life +and in the legal profession. Then why in heaven's name shouldn't he call +twice a week at the Fair Harbor if he wished to? He should, of course. +That was logic, but logic has so little to do with these matters, and, +having arrived at the logical conclusion, Captain Sears Kendrick found +himself still fiercely resenting that conclusion, envying young Kent his +youth and his hopes and his future, and as stubbornly rebellious against +destiny as at the beginning. + +Nevertheless--and he swore it more than once before that wretched night +was over--no one but he should know of that envy and rebellion, least +of all the cause of it. From then on he would, he vowed, take especial +pains to be nice to George Kent and to help or befriend him in every +possible way. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +It was Kent himself who put this vow to the test. He called at the Minot +place the very next evening. It was early, only seven o'clock; Judah, +having begged permission to serve an early supper because it was "lodge +night," had departed for Liberty Hall, where the local branch of the Odd +Fellows met; and Sears Kendrick was sitting on the settee in the back +yard, beneath the locust tree, smoking. Kent came swinging in at the +gate and again the captain felt that twinge of envy and rebellion +against fate as he saw the active figure come striding toward him. + +But, and doubly so because of that very twinge, his welcome was brimming +with cordiality. Kent explained that his call must be a brief one, as he +must hurry back to his room at the Macombers' to study. It was part of +his agreement with Eliphalet Bassett that his duties as bookkeeper at +the latter's store should end at six o'clock each night. + +Sears asked how he was getting on with his law study. He replied that he +seemed to be getting on pretty well, but missed Judge Knowles' help and +advice very much indeed. + +"I read with Lawyer Bradley over at Harniss now," he said. "Go over two +evenings a week, Mondays and Thursdays. The other evenings--most of +them--I put in by myself, digging away at _Smith on Torts_ and _Chitty +on Bills_, and stuff of that kind. I suppose that sounds like pretty +dull music to you, Cap'n Kendrick." + +The captain shook his head. "I don't know about the music part," he +observed. "It's a tune I never could learn to play--or sing, either, I'm +sure of that. But you miss the judge's help, do you?" + +"Miss it like blazes. He could do more in five minutes to make me see a +point than Bradley can in an hour. Bradley's a pretty good lawyer, as +the average run of small lawyers go, but Judge Knowles is away above the +average. Bradley will hem and haw and 'rather think' this and 'it would +seem as if' that, but the judge will say a hundred words, and two of 'em +swear words, and there is the answer, complete, plain and demonstrated. +I do like Judge Knowles. I only hope he likes me half as well." + +They discussed the judge, his illness and the pity of it. This led to a +brief talk concerning Sears' hurt and his condition. Kent seemed to +consider the latter much improved. + +"Your sister says so, too," he declared. "I heard her telling Macomber +yesterday at dinner that she thought you looked and acted very much more +like a well man than when you left our house. And your legs must be +better, too, Cap'n. I'm sure you get around easier than you did." + +The captain shrugged. "I get around," he said, "but that's about all you +can say. Whether I'll ever.... But there, what's the use of talkin' +about my split timbers? Tell me some of the Bayport news. Now that it +seems to be settled I'm goin' to tie up here for a good while I ought to +know somethin' about my fellow citizens, hadn't I? What is goin' on?" + +There was not very much going on, so Kent said. Captain Lorenzo Taylor's +ship was due in New York almost any week or day now, and then the +captain would, of course, come home for a short visit. Mrs. Captain +Elkanah Wingate had a new silk dress, and, as it was the second silk +gown within a year, there was much talk at sewing circle and at the +store concerning it and Captain Elkanah's money. One of Captain Orrin +Eldridge's children was ill with scarlet fever. The young people of the +Universalist society were going to give some amateur theatricals at the +Town Hall some time in August, and the minister at the Orthodox +meeting-house had already preached a sermon upon the sin of theater +going. + +"There," concluded George Kent, with another laugh. "That's about all +the local excitement, Cap'n. It won't keep you awake to-night, I hope." + +Sears smiled. "Guess I'll drop off in spite of it," he observed. "But it +is kind of interestin', too, some of it. Hope Cap'n Lorenzo makes a good +voyage home. He's in the _Belle of the Ocean_, isn't he? Um-hm. Well, +she's a good able vessel and Lorenzo's a great hand to carry sail, so, +give him good weather, he'll bring her home flyin'. So the Universalists +have been behavin' scandalous, have they? Dear, dear! But what can you +expect of folks so wicked they don't believe in hell? Humph! I mustn't +talk that way. I forgot that you were a Universalist yourself, George." + +Kent smiled. "Oh, I'm as wicked as anybody you can think of," he +declared. "Why, I'm going to take a part in those amateur theatricals, +myself." + +"Are you? My, my! You'll be goin' to dancin'-school next, and then you +_will_ be bound for that place you don't believe in. When is this show +of yours comin' off? I'd like to see it, and shall, if Judah and the +Foam Flake will undertake to get me to the Town Hall and back." + +"I think we'll give it the second week in August. We had a great +argument trying to pick a play. For a long time we were undecided +between 'Sylvia's Soldier' or 'Down by the Sea' or 'Among the Breakers.' +At last we decided on 'Down by the Sea.' It's quite new, been out only +four or five years, and it rather fits our company. Did you ever see it, +Cap'n?" + +"No, I never did. I've been out _on_ the sea so much in my life that +when I got ashore I generally picked out the shows that hadn't anything +to do with it--'Hamlet,' or 'Lydia Thompson's British Blondes,' or +somethin' like that," with a wink. Then he added, more soberly, "The old +salt water looks mighty good to me now, though. Strange how you don't +want a thing you can have and long for it when you can't.... But I'm not +supposed to preach a sermon, at least I haven't heard anybody ask me to. +What's your part in this--what d'ye call it?--'Out on the Beach,' +George?" + +"'Down by the Sea.' Oh, I'm 'March Gale,' and when I was a baby I was +cast ashore from a wreck." + +"Humph! When you were a baby. Started your seafarin' early, I should +say. Who else is in it?" + +"Oh, Frank Crosby, he is 'Sept Gale,' my brother--only he isn't my +brother. And John Carleton--the schoolteacher, you know--he is +'Raymond,' the city man; he's good, too. And Sam Ryder, and Erastus +Snow. There was one part--'John Gale,' an old fisherman chap, we +couldn't seem to think of any one who could, or would, play it. But at +last we did, and who do you think it was? Joel Macomber, your sister's +husband." + +"What? Joel Macomber--on the stage! Oh, come now, George!" + +"It's a fact. And he's good, too. Some one told one of us that Macomber +had done some amateur acting when he was young, and, in desperation, we +asked him to try this part. And he is good. You would be surprised, +Cap'n Kendrick." + +"Um-hm, I am now. I certainly am. What sort of a part is it Joel's got? +What does this--er--Gale do; anything but blow?" + +"Why--why, he doesn't really do much, that's a fact. He is supposed to +be a fisherman, as I said, but--well, about all he does in the play is +to come on and off and talk a good deal, and scold at Frank and me--his +sons, you know--and fuss at his wife and----" + +Captain Sears held up his hand. + +"That's enough, George," he interrupted. "That'll do. Don't do much of +anything, talks a lot, and finds fault with other folks. No wonder Joel +Macomber can act that part. He ought to be as natural as life in it. +Aren't there any womenfolks in this play, though? I don't see how much +could happen without them aboard." + +"Oh, yes, of course there are women. Three of them. Mrs. Cora Bassett, +Eliphalet's brother's wife, she is 'Mrs. Gale,' my mother, only she +turns out not to be; and Fannie Wingate, she is the rich city girl; and +Elizabeth. That makes the three." + +"Yes, yes, so it does. But which Elizabeth are you talkin' about?" + +"Why, Elizabeth Berry. My--our Elizabeth, over here at the Fair Harbor." + +The quick change from "my" to "our" was so quick as to be almost +imperceptible, but the captain noticed it. He looked up and Kent, +catching his eye, colored slightly. Sears noticed the color, also, but +his tone, when he spoke, was quite casual. + +"Oh," he said. "So Elizabeth's in it, too, is she? Well, well! What part +does she take?" + +"She's 'Kitty Gale,' my sweetheart." + +"You don't say. She's good, I'll bet." + +"Wonderful!" Kent's enthusiasm was unrestrained. "You wouldn't believe +any untrained girl could act as she does. She might have been born for +the part, honestly she might." + +"Um-hm.... Well, maybe she was." + +"Eh? I beg your pardon." + +"Nothin', nothin'. I'll have to see that play, even if the Foam Flake +founders and Judah has to carry me there pig-back. And how are you +gettin' on in it yourself? You haven't told me that." + +"Oh, I'm doing well enough. Trying hard, at least. But, Cap'n Sears, you +should see Elizabeth. She is splendid. But she is a wonderful girl, +anyway. Don't you think she is?" + +"Yes." + +"You couldn't help thinking so. No one could. Why----" + +The remainder of the conversation was, for the most part, a chant, sung +as a solo by George Kent, and having as its subject, the wonders of Miss +Berry. Captain Sears joined occasionally in the chorus, and smiled +cordial and complete agreement. His caller was charmed. + +"I've had a bully good time, Cap'n," he declared, at parting. "I came +intending to stay only a few minutes and I've been here an hour and a +half. You are one of the most interesting talkers I ever heard in my +life, if you don't mind my saying so." + +Sears, whose contributions to the latter half of the conversation had +been about one word in twenty, laughed. "I'm afraid you haven't heard +many good talkers," he said. + +"Oh, yes, I have. But there are precious few of them in this town. It +does a fellow good to know a man like you, who has been everywhere and +met so many people and done so many things worth while. And, you and I +agree so on almost every point. I don't know whether you noticed it or +not, but our opinions seemed so exactly alike. It's remarkable, I think. +I like you, Cap'n Kendrick; you don't mind my saying so, do you?" + +"Oh, not a bit, not a bit. Glad of it, of course." + +"Yes. I liked you down there at your sister's, but you were so sick I +didn't have the chance to know you as well as I wanted to. But I had +seen enough of you to know I should like you a lot when I knew you +better. And Elizabeth, she was sure I would." + +"Oh, she was, eh?" + +"Yes. Oh, yes. She likes you very much. We talk about you almost every +time I call--I mean when we are together, you know. Well, good-by. I'm +coming for another talk--and soon, too. May I?" + +"Hope you do, son. Come aboard any day. The gangplank is always down for +you." + +Which was all right, except that as Sears watched his caller swinging +buoyantly to the gate, the same unreasonable twinge came back to him, +bringing with it the keen sense of depression and discouragement, the +realization of his approaching middle age and his crippled condition. It +did not last long, he would not permit it to linger, but it was acute +while it lasted. + +He heard a great deal concerning the approaching production of "Down by +the Sea" as the weeks passed and the time for that production drew +nearer. As he and Elizabeth worked and took counsel together concerning +the affairs of the Fair Harbor they spoke of it. She was enjoying the +rehearsals hugely and the captain gathered that they furnished the +opportunity for change of thought and relaxation which she had greatly +needed. They spoke of George Kent, also; Sears saw to that. He brought +the young man's name into their conversation at frequent intervals and +took pains to praise him highly and to declare repeatedly his liking for +him. All part of his own self-imposed penance, of course. And Elizabeth +seemed to enjoy these conversations and agreed with him that George was +"a nice boy" and likely to succeed in life. + +"I'm so glad you like him, Cap'n Kendrick," she said. "He likes you so +much and is so sure that you are a wise man." + +Sears turned to look at her. + +"Sure that I'm what?" he demanded. + +"A wise man. He says that, next to Judge Knowles, he had rather have +your opinion than any one else in Bayport." + +The captain shook his head. "Dear, dear!" he sighed. "And just as I had +come to the conclusion that George was so smart. Me a wise man? _Me!_ +Tut, tut! George, you disappoint me." + +But she would not be turned aside in that way. + +"There is no reason for disappointment that I can see," she said. "I +think he is quite right. You _are_ a wise man, Cap'n Kendrick. Of course +I know you must be or Judge Knowles would not have selected you to take +charge here. But since you and I have been working together I have found +it out for myself. In fact I don't see how we ever got along--mother and +I--before you came. And we didn't get on very well, that is a fact," she +added, with a rueful smile. + +"Rubbish! You got on wonderfully. And as for the worth of my +opinions--well, you ask Northern Lights what she thinks of 'em. She'll +tell you, I'll bet." + +"Northern Lights" was Captain Sears's pet name for Mrs. Aurora Chase. +Elizabeth asked why Aurora should hold his opinions lightly. The captain +chuckled. + +"Well," he explained, "she asked me yesterday what I thought of the +Orthodox minister's sermons about the Universalist folks play-actin'. I +said I hadn't heard 'em first hand, but that I understood they were hot. +I thought she sailed off with her nose pretty well aloft, but I couldn't +see why. To-day Esther Tidditt told me that she had understood me to say +the sermons were 'rot.' That's what comes of bein' hard of hearin'. Ho, +ho! But truth will out, won't it?" + +The afternoon preceding the evening when "Down by the Sea" was to be +publicly presented upon the stage of the town hall was overcast and +cloudy. Judah, with one eye upon the barometer swinging in its gimbals +in the General Minot front entry, had gloomily prophesied rain. Captain +Sears, although inwardly agreeing with the prophecy, outwardly +maintained an obstinate optimism. + +"I don't care if the glass is down so low that the mercury sticks out of +the bottom and hits the deck," he declared. "It isn't goin' to rain +to-night, Judah. You mark my words." + +"I'm a-markin' 'em, Cap'n Sears. I'm a-markin' of 'em. But what's the +use of words alongside of a fallin' glass like that? And, besides, ain't +I been watchin' the sky all the afternoon? Look how it's smurrin' up +over to the west'ard. Look at them mare's tails streakin' out up aloft. + + 'Mack'rel skies and mares' tails + Make lofty ships to douse their sails.' + +You know that's well's I do, Cap'n Sears." + +"Yes, yes, so I do, Judah. But do you know this one? + + 'Hi, diddle, diddle, + The cat and the fiddle, + The cow jumped over the moon.' + +What have you got to say to that, eh?" + +Judah stared at him. His chin quivered. + +"Wh--wh--" he stammered. "What have I got to say to that? Why, I ain't +got nawthin' to say to it. There ain't no sense to it. That's Mother +Goose talk, that's all that is, What's that got to do with the +weather?" + +"It would have somethin' to do with it if a cow jumped over the moon, +wouldn't it?" + +"Eh? But---- Oh, creepin' prophets, Cap'n Sears, what's the use of you +and me wastin' our breath over such foolishness? You're just bein' +funny, that's all." His expression changed, and he smiled broadly. "Why, +by Henry," he declared, "I ain't heard you talk that way afore since you +shipped aboard this General Minot craft along of me. That's the way you +used to poke fun at me aboard the old _Wild Ranger_ when we was makin' +port after a good v'yage. What's happened to spruce you up so? Doctor +ain't told you any special good news about them legs of yours, has he, +Cap'n? Limpin' Moses, I wisht that was it." + +Sears shook his head. "No, Judah," he replied. "No such luck as that. +It's just my natural foolishness, I guess. And I'm goin' to the theater +to-night, too, all by myself. Think of it. Do you wonder I feel like a +boy in his first pair of long trousers?" + +Mr. Cahoon's whisker-framed face expressed doubt and foreboding. "I +ain't sure yit that I'm doin' right in lettin' you pilot yourself down +to that town hall," he declared. "It ain't that I'm scart of the horse +runnin' away, or nothin' like that, you understand, but----" + +His lodger burst into a roar of laughter. + +"Runnin' away!" he repeated. "Judah, foam flakes drift away pretty often +and sometimes they blow away, but I never saw one run away yet. And if +this Foam Flake of yours ever started to run I should die of surprise +before anything else could happen to me. Don't worry about me. You'll be +here to help me aboard the buggy, when I'm ready to leave port, and +there'll be plenty of folks at the hall to help me out of it when I get +there. So I'll be all right and to spare." + +"Um--well, maybe so. But it seems to me like takin' risks just the same. +Now, Cap'n Sears, why don't you let me drive you down, same as I always +do drive you? What makes you so sot on goin' alone?" + +The captain did not answer for a moment. Then he said, "Judah, for a +good many long weeks--yes, and months--I've been havin' somebody drive +me or steer me or order me. To-night, by the Lord A'mighty, _I'm_ goin' +to drive and give my own orders." + +"But the doctor----" + +"The doctor doesn't know. And if you tell him I'll--well, you'll need +him, that's all. Every dog has its day, Judah, and this is my night." + +"But it's goin' to rain and----" + +"It isn't.... And, if it does, haven't you and I seen enough water not +to be afraid of it?" + +"Salt water--yes; but----" + +"There aren't any buts. That'll do, Judah. Go for'ard." So Mr. Cahoon, +obeying orders, went for'ard; that is, he went into the kitchen, and +Sears Kendrick was left upon the seat beneath the locust tree to smoke +and cast rebellious glances at the deepening gloom of the sky. He had +not been entirely truthful in his replies to his landlord's questions. +Although he scarcely dared admit it, even to himself, his damaged legs +were better than they had been. Doctor Sheldon told him that they were +and seemed more hopeful after each examination. And he knew that the +doctor's hope was not mere pretending, something assumed but not felt. +Yes, he knew it. And, for the first time since the accident which +wrecked the Old Colony train and his own life, he began to think that, +perhaps--some day, perhaps--he might again be a man, a whole, +able-bodied man among men. When he submitted this thought to the cold +light of reason, it was transparent and faint enough, but it was there, +and it was one cause of his high spirits. + +And there was another, a cause which was even less worthy of +reason--which was perfectly childish and absurd but not the less real on +that account. It was connected with his stubborn determination to be his +own pilot to the hall that evening. He had, when he first determined to +risk the trip in that way, refused to permit Judah to accompany him +because he knew, if he did, that the latter would be a sort of safety +valve, a life preserver--to mix similes--the real driver who would be +on hand to take charge if necessary. Under such circumstances his own +responsibility ceased to be a responsibility and his self-reliance +_nil_. No, sink or swim, survive or perish, he would make the voyage +alone. + +So, although there was plenty of room on the buggy seat, he stubbornly +refused to permit Judah to sit there. Mr. Cahoon was going to the play, +of course--the entire constabulary force of Ostable County could not +have prevented his doing so--but he was to walk, not ride behind the +Foam Flake. And Captain Sears Kendrick was supposed to be riding alone. + +Yet he was not to ride alone, although only one person, and that not +Judah Cahoon, knew of that fact. The day before, while he and Miss Berry +were busy, as usual, with the finances and managerial duties of the Fair +Harbor, she had happened to mention that there were some stage +properties, bits of costumes, and the like, which must be gotten early +to the hall on the evening of the performance and he had offered to have +Judah deliver them for her. Now he told her of his intention of driving +the Foam Flake unassisted and that he would deliver them himself. + +"Or any other light dunnage you might want taken down there," he added. +"Glad to, no trouble at all." + +She looked at him rather oddly he thought. + +"You are going all alone?" she asked. + +"Um-hm. All alone. I'm goin' to have my own way this time in spite of +the Old Harry--and the doctor--and Judah." + +"And you are sure there will be plenty of room?" + +"What? With only me in the buggy? Yes, indeed. Room enough for two sea +chests and a pork barrel, as old Cap'n Bangs Paine used to say when I +sailed with him. Room and to spare." + +"Room enough for--me?" + +"For you? Why, do you mean----" + +"I mean that if there _is_ room I should like to ride down with you very +much. I want to get to the hall early and I have these things to carry. +Mother and the rest of the Harbor people are going later, of course.... +So, if you are sure that I and my bundles won't be nuisances----" + +He was sure, emphatically and enthusiastically sure. But his surprise +was great and he voiced it involuntarily. + +"I supposed, of course," he said, "that your passage was booked long +ago. I supposed George had attended to that." + +Her answer was brief, but there was an air of finality about it which +headed off further questions. + +"I am not going with him," she said. + +So this was his second cause for good spirits, the fact that Elizabeth +Berry was to ride with him to the hall that evening. It was a very +slight inconsequential reason surely, but somehow he found it +sufficient. She was going with him merely because he and the Foam Flake +and the buggy furnished the most convenient method of transportation for +her and her packages, but she was going--and she was not going with +George Kent. There was a certain wicked pleasure in the last thought. He +was ashamed of it, but the pleasure was there in spite of the shame. +Kent had so much that he had not, but here was one little grain of +advantage to enter upon the Kendrick side of the ledger; Elizabeth Berry +was not going to the town hall with Kent, but with him. + +He made but one protest and that only because his conscience goaded him +into making it. + +"I don't know as I ought to let you, Miss Elizabeth," he said. "I'm +takin' a chance, I suppose, that perhaps you shouldn't take. This is my +first voyage under my own command since I ran on the rocks. I may strike +another reef, you can't tell." + +She looked at him and smiled. + +"I am not afraid," she said. + +So, in spite of the gathering clouds and the falling barometer, Captain +Sears was cheerful as he smoked beneath the locust tree. After a time he +rose and limped down to the gate. Doctor Sheldon's equipage was standing +by the Knowles hitching post just beyond across the road. The doctor +himself came out of the house and the captain hailed him. + +"How is the judge?" he asked. Doctor Sheldon shook his head. + +"No better," he replied. "He is weaker every day and last week he had an +attack that was so severe I was afraid it was the end. He weathered it, +though." + +"Why, yes. I saw him on Sunday and he was as full of jokes and spunk as +ever, seemed to me. His voice wasn't quite as strong, that's all. He is +a great man, Judge Knowles. Bayport will miss him tremendously when he +goes. So shall I, for that matter, and I haven't known him very long." + +"We'll all miss him." + +"There isn't a chance, I suppose? In the long run----" + +The doctor's look caused him to stop the sentence in the middle. + +"There isn't any question of long runs," said Sheldon, gravely. "The +next one of these seizures will end it. He has been a great fighter and +he never gives up; that is why he is here. But the fight is practically +over. The next attack will be the last." + +Sears was deeply concerned. "Dear, dear," he said. "I didn't realize it +was quite so bad. And that attack may come--next month, or even next +week, I presume likely?" + +"Yes." + +The captain's good spirits were dashed for the time. His regard and +admiration for the old judge had grown steadily during their brief +acquaintance. He pictured the rugged, determined face as he had seen it +Sunday, and heard again the voice, weak but drily humorous or +indomitably pugnacious. It did not seem as if a spirit like that could +be so near surrender. Doctor Sheldon must be over apprehensive. + +It was but seven o'clock when he drove the Foam Flake up to the side +door of the Fair Harbor and his passenger stowed her various bundles +about his feet in the bottom of the buggy and then climbed in herself. +The drive to the town hall was made in good time, the Foam Flake +considered, and--to the captain at any rate--it was a most pleasant +excursion. There was the unaccustomed sensation of once more being free +from orders or domination. + +There was little conversation during the drive. Sears attempted it, but +his passenger was not talkative. She seemed to be thinking of something +else and her answers were brief and absent-minded. Nevertheless Sears +Kendrick enjoyed their drive and was almost sorry when the Foam Flake +halted, snorting, or sneezing, violently, by the hall platform. The +building was as yet but dimly lighted and Asaph Tidditt, the janitor, +was the only person about. Asaph, hearing the Foam Flake's sneeze, came +to the door. + +"Well, I swan!" he exclaimed. "Is that you, 'Liz'beth? You're good and +early, ain't you? Evenin', George. Why, 'tain't George. Who is it? Well, +well, well, Cap'n Sears, this _is_ a surprise!" + +He helped the captain from the buggy and, at Sears' request, led the +Foam Flake around the corner to the hitching rail. When he returned Miss +Berry had gone upstairs to the dressing-room to leave her packages. +Asaph was still surprised. + +"Mighty glad to see you out again, Cap'n," he declared. "I heard you was +better, but I didn't hardly cal'late to see you takin' your girl to ride +so soon. Hey? He, he, he!" + +Sears-laughed long enough to seem polite. Asaph laughed longer. + +"And 'tain't _your_ girl you're takin' nuther, is it?" he said. "When I +looked in that buggy just now I don't know when I've been more sot back. +'Evenin', George,' says I. And 'twan't George Kent at all, 'twas you. +Ain't been to work and cut George out, have you, Cap'n Sears? He, he, +he! That's another good one, ain't it!" + +The captain smiled--more politeness--and inquired if he and Miss Berry +were the first ones at the hall. + +"Is any one else here?" he asked. + +"Yus," said Mr. Tidditt. + +"Who?" + +"Me. He, he, he! Kind of caught you that time, didn't I, Cap'n? Wasn't +expectin' that, was you? Except me, you and 'Liz'beth's the fust ones. +Be plenty more in half an hour, though. 'Bout all hands in Bayport's +comin' to this time, everybody but the Orthodox and the Methodists and +the Come-Outers. They cal'late goin' to a play-actin' time is same as +goin' to Tophet. I tell 'em I'd ruther go to the show, 'cause I'd have a +little fun out of it, and from what I hear there ain't much fun in +t'other place. He, he, he! But say, how'd it happen George Kent ever let +'Liz'beth Berry go anywheres without him? Where _is_ George?" + +Sears was rather glad when the arrival of Sam Ryder and Carleton, two +other members of the cast of "Down by the Sea" attracted the attention +of the garrulous Asaph and led the latter, in their company, upstairs. A +moment or so later another figure approached from the blackness to the +circle of light cast by the big ship's lantern over the hall door. + +"Why, hello, George!" hailed Sears. + +Young Kent looked up, recognized the speaker and said "Good evening." He +did not seem surprised as Mr. Tidditt had been to find the captain +there. The latter remarked upon it. + +"Why, George," he observed, "I must say you take my bein' here all alone +pretty calmly. Ase Tidditt all but capsized when he saw me bring the +Foam Flake into dock." + +Kent nodded. "I knew you were here," he said. "Elizabeth came down with +you, I suppose." + +"Why, yes. Did she tell you she was goin' to risk life and limb aboard +my vessel?" + +"No," briefly. + +"Oh. Then how did you know?" + +"I stopped at the Harbor. Her mother said she had gone with you.... +Where is she; upstairs?" + +"Up in the dressin' room, I guess. She had to come so early because +there were things to bring and some work for her to do before you and +the others got here, she said." + +"What? Did she say before _I_ got here?" + +"Eh? Why, no, didn't mention you in particular. She just said----" + +Kent interrupted. "I see," he said, shortly. "All right, never mind." + +He was walking toward the other end of the platform. His manner was so +very peculiar that Sears could not help noticing it. He looked after him +in perplexity. + +"Here ... George!" he called. + +Kent turned and came back, rather reluctantly it seemed. The older man +looked at him keenly. + +"George," he asked, "what's the matter with you?" + +"Matter? With me?" + +"Yes, with you. You're short as Aunt Nabby's pie crust. Have I done +anything you don't like? If I have I'll apologize before I know what it +is. It wasn't done on purpose, you can be sure of that." + +Kent started, colored, and was much perturbed. "I didn't realize I was +short, Cap'n Kendrick," he declared. "I beg your pardon. I am mighty +sorry. No--no, of course you haven't done anything I don't like. I don't +believe you could." + +"You never can tell. But so far I haven't tried. Not sick, are you?" + +"No ... I'm just--oh, nothing. I'm in a little trouble, that's all. My +own fault, maybe, I don't know." + +"Probably it is. Most of our troubles are our own fault, in one way or +another. Well, if there's anything I can do to help out, just give me a +hail." + +"Thanks. But I'm afraid there isn't." + +He turned and walked down the platform once more. Mrs. Captain Orrin +Eldridge, who was to sell tickets, came, and, after greeting the captain +cordially, went in to open and light the ticket-office at the foot of +the stairs. Two more members of the cast, Erastus Snow and Mrs. Bassett, +arrived and went up to prepare. Suddenly Kent, who had been standing at +the farther end of the platform, came back. + +"Captain Kendrick," he said, "would you mind answering a question?" + +"Eh? Why, not a bit, George. But perhaps yours may be one of those +questions I can't answer." + +"I think you can. Say--er--Cap'n Kendrick----" + +"Yes, George." + +"You see, I.... This sounds awfully foolish, but--but I don't know what +I ought to do." + +"Um-hm. Well, a good many of us get that way every once in a while." + +"Do you?" + +"You bet!" + +"Humph! Somehow you seem to me like a man who would know exactly what to +do at any time." + +"Yes? Well, my looks must belie me. Heave ahead, George. The folks are +beginning to come." + +"Well, I---- Oh, hang it, Cap'n, when you've made a mistake--done +something that you didn't think was wrong--that wasn't wrong, +really--and--and.... Say, I'm making an awful mess of this. And it's +such a fool thing, anyhow." + +"Um-hm. So many things are. Chuck it overboard, George; that is, if you +really want to ask me about it." + +"I do. That is, I want to ask you this: Suppose you had done something +that you thought was all right and--and somebody else had thought was +wrong--would you--would you go and tell that other person that you +_were_ wrong? Even if you weren't, you know." + +Kendrick was silent. The question was ridiculous enough, but he did not +laugh, nor feel like laughing. Nor did he want to answer. + +"Oh, I know that it's a child's question," put in Kent, disgustedly. +"Never mind answering. I am a child sometimes, feel like one, anyhow. +And I've got to fight this out with myself, I suppose, so what's the +use?" + +He turned on his heel, but the captain laid a hand on his shoulder. + +"George," he said, slowly, "of course, the way you put this thing makes +it pretty foggy navigatin' for a stranger; but--humph!--well, in cases +somethin' like yours, when I've cared anything about the--er--friendship +of the other fellow, I've generally found 'twas good business to go and +say I was sorry first, and then, if 'twas worth while, argue the point +of who was right or wrong later. You never can do much fishin' through +the ice unless somebody chops the hole." + +The young man was silent. He seemed to be reflecting and to find his +reflections not too pleasant. Before they were at an end the first group +of townspeople came up the steps. Some of them paused to greet Kendrick +and at their heels was another group. The captain was chatting with them +when he heard Kent's voice at his ear. + +"Excuse me, Cap'n," he whispered. "I'll see you by and by. I'm going to +chop the ice." + +"Eh?... Oh, all right, George. Good luck." + +George hurried up the stairs. A minute or two later Captain Sears slowly +limped after him and sought a secluded corner on one of the settees at +the rear of the hall. There was still a full half hour before the rising +of the curtain, and as yet there was but a handful of people present. He +turned his face away from the handful and hoped that he might not be +recognized. He did not feel like talking. His good spirits had left him. +He was blue and despondent and discouraged. And for no reason--that was +the worst of it--no earthly, sensible, worth while reason at all. + +Those two children--that is what they were, children--had quarreled and +that was why Elizabeth had asked to ride to the hall with him that +evening. It was not because she cared for his company; of course he knew +that all the time, or would have known it if he permitted himself to +reason. She had gone with him because she had quarreled with George. And +that young idiot's conscience had troubled him and, thanks to his +own--Kendrick's--advice, he had gone to her now to beg pardon and make +up. And they would make up. Children, both of them. + +And they ought to make up; they should, of course. He wanted them to do +so. What sort of a yellow dog in the manger would he be if he did not? +He liked them both, and they were young and well--and he was--what that +railway accident had made of him. + +The audience poured in, the settees filled, the little boys down in +front kicked the rounds, and pinched each other and giggled. Mr. Asaph +Tidditt importantly strode down the aisle and turned up the wicks of the +kerosene foot-lamps. Mrs. Sophronia Eldridge, Captain Orrin's +sister-in-law, seated herself at the piano and played the accompaniments +while Mrs. Mary Pashy Foster imparted the information that she could not +sing the old songs now. When she had finished, most people were inclined +to believe her. The delegation from the Fair Harbor, led by Mrs. Berry +and Elvira Snowden, arrived in a body. The Universalist minister and his +wife came, and looked remarkably calm for a couple leading a flock of +fellow humans to perdition. Captain Elkanah Wingate and Mrs. Wingate +came last of all and marched majestically to the seats reserved for them +by the obsequious Mr. Tidditt. The hall lights were dimmed. The curtain +rose. And George Kent, very handsome and manly as "March Gale," was seen +and heard, singing: + + "Oh, my name was Captain Kidd + As I sailed, as I sailed." + +And these were the opening lines of the play, "Down by the Sea." + +That performance was a great success, everybody said so. Mr. Tidditt +expressed the general opinion when he declared that all hands done about +as fine as the rest but some of 'em done finer. John Carleton, the +schoolteacher, shone with particular brilliancy as he delivered himself +of such natural, everyday speeches as: "I have dispatched a messenger to +town with the glad tidings," or "We will leave this barren spot and hie +to the gay scenes of city life." And Frank Crosby, as "September Gale," +the noble young fisherman, tossed the English language about as a real +gale might toss what he would have called "a cockle shell," as he +declared, "With a true heart and a stout arm, who cares for danger?... +To be upon the sea when the winds are roaring and the waves are seething +in anger; ... to have a light bark obedient to your command, braving the +fury of the tempest...." Bayport was fairly well acquainted with +fishermen, numbering at least thirty among its inhabitants, but no one +of the thirty could talk like that. + +Sam Ryder's performance of "Captain Dandelion," the city exquisite, was, +so the next issue of the _Item_ said, "remarkable"; there is little +doubt that the _Item_ selected the right word. Joel Macomber was good, +when he remembered his lines; Miss Wingate was very elegant as "a city +belle"; Mrs. Bassett made a competent fisherman's wife. But everybody +declared that Elizabeth Berry and George Kent, as "Kitty Gale" and +"March Gale," were the two brightest stars in that night's firmament. + +Captain Kendrick, between the acts, could hear whispered comments all +about him. "Isn't Elizabeth fine!" "Don't they do well!" "Ain't she a +good-lookin' girl, now--eh?" "Yes, and, my soul and body, if that George +Kent ain't a match for her then _I_ don't know!" "Oh, don't they make a +lovely couple!" And, from a seat two rows in front, the penetrating +voice of Mrs. Noah Baker made proclamations: "Lovers on the stage and +off the stage, too, I guess. Ha, ha!" And there was a general buzz of +agreement and many pleased titters. + +Sears tried very hard to enjoy the performance, but his thoughts would +wander. And, when the final curtain fell and the applause subsided, he +rose to hobble to the door, glad that the evening was over. + +He was one of the last to reach the landing and, at the top of the +stairs, Judah met him. Mr. Cahoon's manner was a combination of dismay +and triumph. + +"Oh, there you be, Cap'n Sears," he exclaimed. "Well, I told you! You +can't say I never, that's one comfort." + +"Told me what, Judah?" + +"That 'twas goin' to rain. I told you the glass was fallin'. It's a +pourin'-down rainstorm now, that's what 'tis." + +Judah, his faith rooted in the prophecy of the falling barometer, had +come to the hall with oilskins upon his arm. Now he was arrayed in them +and weather-proof. + +"I'll fetch the Foam Flake around to the platform, Cap'n," he said. +"You'll want to wait for 'Liz'beth, I presume likely, so take your time +navigatin' them stairs. No, no, I'll walk. I won't get wet. _I_ knew +what was comin'. Aye, aye, sir. I'll fetch the horse. Cal'late the +critter has gnawed off and swallowed two fathoms of fence by this time." + +The Foam Flake and the buggy were made fast by the platform when Sears +reached that point. It was raining hard. The greater part of the +audience had already started on their homeward journey, but a few still +lingered, some lamenting the absence of umbrellas and rubbers, others +awaiting the arrival of messengers who had been sent home to procure +those protections. The captain, of course, was awaiting Elizabeth, and +she having to change costume and get rid of make-up, he knew his wait +was likely to be rather lengthy. He did not mind that so much, but he +did not desire to talk or be talked to, so he walked to the dark end of +the platform--the same end, by the way, where George Kent had stood when +pondering his problem before asking advice--and stood there, staring +into the splashy blackness. + +The last group left the lighted portals of the hall and started +homeward, exclamations and little screams denoting spots where progress +had been delayed by puddles or mud holes. Mrs. Eldridge, in the ticket +office, packed up her takings, pennies and "shin-plasters," in a +pasteboard box and departed for home. Mr. Tidditt accompanying her as +guard and umbrella holder. + +"I'll be back to lock up, Cap'n Sears," called Asaph, reassuringly. +"Stay right where you be. You won't be in my way at all." + +For some minutes longer Sears stood there alone on the platform, facing +the dismal darkness and his own dismal thoughts. They were dismal, and +no less so because his common-sense kept prodding him with the certainty +that there was no more reason for discouragement now than there had been +two hours before. The obvious offset to this was the equal certainty +that there had been no more reason for optimism two hours before than at +present. So he stared into the darkness, listened to the splashing +waterspouts, and, for the millionth time at least, eternally condemned +the Old Colony railroad and his luck. + +A springy, buoyant step came down the stairs. A voice called from the +doorway: + +"Cap'n Kendrick! Cap'n, are you there?" + +Sears turned. + +"Right here, George," he said. + +Kent hastened toward him. His hand was outstretched and his face was +beaming. + +"It worked," he exclaimed, eagerly. "It worked in great shape. Cap'n, +you're a brick." + +His friend did not, momentarily, catch his meaning. + +"Glad you think so, George," he said; "but why are you so sure of it +just now?" + +"Why, because if it hadn't been for you I should have, more than likely, +not tried to chop the ice at all." + +"Chop the---- Oh, yes, yes; I remember. So you and Elizabeth have made +up, eh?" + +"Yes, I.... How on earth did you know she was the one? I didn't tell +you, did I?" + +"No. It's just another proof of my tremendous wisdom. Well, I'm glad, +George." + +"I knew you would be. Mind you, I'm not sure yet I was wrong, but I---- +Good Lord, look at the rain! I had no idea!... Well, at any rate, +Elizabeth will be all right. She's going with you in the buggy." + +There was a slight, a very slight note of regret, almost of envy, in the +young fellow's tone. The captain noticed it. + +"No, she isn't, George," he said, quietly. + +"What! She isn't?" + +"No, she's goin' with you. You take the horse and buggy and drive her up +to the Harbor. Then you can send Judah back with it after me, if you +will." + +"But, Cap'n, I wouldn't think of it. Why----" + +"No need to think. Do it. Look here, George, you know perfectly well you +haven't finished that ice-choppin' business. There are lots of things +you want to tell her yet, I know. Come now, aren't there?" + +Kent hesitated. "Why--why, yes, I suppose there are," he admitted. "But +it seems mean to take advantage of you, you know. To leave you standing +here and waiting while she and I----" + +"That's all right. I'm better fitted for waiting than I am for anything +else nowadays. Don't argue any more. She'll be here in a minute." + +"Well ... well. You're sure you don't mind, really?" + +"Not a bit. And she'd rather ride with you, of course." + +"Oh, I wouldn't say that. Of course she did tell me she came with you +because I--because we had that--that little row--and---- But she likes +you, Cap'n. Honest, she does, a lot. By George, nobody could help liking +you, you know." + +Sears' smile was gray, but his companion did not notice. He was too full +of his own happiness. + +"I'll run up and tell her," he said. "It's mighty good of you, Cap'n +Kendrick. Sure you don't care? You _are_ a brick." + +He hastened up the stairs. Sears was left once more with the black +wetness to look at. It looked blacker than ever. + +Elizabeth, accompanied by George, came down soon afterward. She was +still protesting. + +"Really, I don't think this is right at all, Cap'n Kendrick," she +declared. "Why should you wait here? If you insist upon George's going +in the buggy, why don't you come too? I'm sure there will be room +enough. Won't there, George?" + +Kent said, "Yes, of course," but there might have been more enthusiasm +in his tone. Sears spoke next. + +"I can't go now," he lied, calmly. "I want to see Ase Tidditt and he's +gone to see Cap'n Orrin's wife home. Won't be back for twenty minutes or +so. No, no, you and George heave right ahead and go, and then send Judah +and the Foam Flake back for me." + +So, after a few more protests on Elizabeth's part, it was settled in +that way. She and her packages and bags were tucked in the buggy and +George unhitched the placid Foam Flake. On his way he stopped to +whisper in the captain's ear. + +"Cap'n Kendrick," he whispered, "I shan't forget this. And, say, if ever +I get into real trouble I'll know who to come to." + +The "plash-plash" of the Foam Flake's hoofs and the squeak and grind of +buggy wheels died away along the invisible main road. Captain Sears +stared at the ropes of rain laced diagonally across the lighted window +of the town hall. + +After a time, a surprisingly short time, he heard the hoofs returning. +It seemed almost incredible that George could have driven to the Harbor, +then to the Minot place, and started Judah on the return trip so soon. + +It was not Judah. It was Mike, Judge Knowles' man, and he was driving +Doctor Sheldon's horse attached to the doctor's chaise. + +"Cap'n Kendrick," he hailed, as the equipage splashed up to the +platform, "is that you there?" + +"Yes, Mike. What's the matter?" + +"I was just after goin' to the Minot place after ye and I met Cahoon and +he tould me you was down here. Git in, git in; the doctor says you must +come." + +"Come? Come where?" + +"Home. To the judge's house. The ould man is dyin' and he wants to see +you afore he goes. Ye'll have to hurry. The doctor says it's a matter of +any time now." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Sears Kendrick never forgot that drive from the town hall. The pouring +rain, the lurch and roll and bounce of the old chaise, the alternate +thud and splash of the horse's hoofs, the black darkness--and the errand +upon which he was going. Mike told him a little concerning the seizure. +Judge Knowles had been, so Emmeline Tidditt and the doctor thought, +appreciably easier during the day. + +"He was like himself, the ould man was," said Mike. "I went in to see +him this mornin'--he sent for me, you understand--and he give me the +divil and all for not washin' the front room windows. 'Dom ye,' says he, +'I've only got a little while to look out of thim windows; don't you +suppose I want thim so I _can_ look out of thim?' And the windows clean +as clean all the time, mind ye. Sure, I didn't care: 'Twas just his way +of bein' dacint to me. He give me a five dollar bill before I left, God +rest him. And now----" + +Mike was tremendously upset. The captain learned that the attack had +developed about six, and the judge had grown steadily worse since. The +upper windows of the Knowles house were bright with lights as they drove +in at the yard gate. Mrs. Tidditt met them at the door. Her thin, hard +face was tear-streaked and haggard. + +"Oh, I'm so glad you've come, Cap'n Kendrick," she cried. "He's been +askin' for you." + +In the hall at the foot of the stairs Doctor Sheldon was waiting. They +shook hands and Sears looked a question. + +"Not a chance," whispered the doctor. "Barring miracles, he will go +before morning. He shouldn't see any one, but he insisted on seeing you. +I'll give you five minutes, no more. Don't excite him." + +The judge looked up from the pillow as Sears tiptoed into the room. His +face was flushed with fever, but otherwise he looked very much as when +the captain last visited him. It did not seem possible that this could +really be the end. + +"Hello, Kendrick," whispered Judge Knowles. "Sit down. Sorry I can't +shake hands with you." + +The voice was weak, of course, but not much weaker than when he had last +heard it. No, it did not seem possible. Captain Sears murmured something +about his sorrow at finding the judge ill again. + +"That's all right, that's all right," was the testy rejoinder. "You +didn't expect to find me any other way, did you? Kendrick, I wasn't so +far off when I talked about that graveyard trip, eh?... Umph--yes. How +much time did Sheldon say you might have with me?... Don't fool around +and waste any of it. How many minutes--come?" + +"Five." + +"Humph! He might have made it ten, blast him! Well, then listen. When +I'm gone you're going to be the head of that Fair Harbor place. You're +going to keep on being the head, I mean. I've fixed it so you'll get +your salary." + +"But, Judge----" + +"Hush! Let me do the talking. Good Lord, man," with an attempt at a +chuckle, "you wouldn't grudge me any of the little talk I have left, +would you? You are to keep on being the head of the Fair Harbor--you +_must_ for a year or so. And Elizabeth Berry is to be the manager and +head, under you--if she wants to be. Understand?" + +"Why, yes. But, Judge, how----" + +"I've fixed it, I tell you. Wait a little while and you'll know how. But +that isn't what I want to say to you. Lobelia is dead." + +"What?" + +"Don't keep asking me what. Listen. Lobelia Seymour--hanged if I'll call +her Lobelia Phillips!--is dead. She died over a month ago. I got a +letter this afternoon mailed in Florence by that husband of hers. There +it is, on that table, by the tumbler.... Yes, that's it. Don't stop to +read it now. Put it in your pocket. You will have time to read it. Time +counts with me. Now listen, Kendrick." + +He paused and asked for water. The captain put the glass to his lips. He +swallowed once or twice and then impatiently jerked his head aside. + +"There are two things you've got to promise me, Kendrick," he whispered, +earnestly. "One is that, so long as you can fight, that condemned Egbert +Phillips shan't have a cent of the Fair Harbor property, endowment fund, +land or anything else. Will you fight the scamp for me, Kendrick?" + +"Of course. The best I know how." + +"You know more than most men in this town. I shouldn't have picked you +for your job if you didn't. That's one thing--spike Egbert's guns. +Here's the other: Look out for Elizabeth Berry." + +The captain was not expecting this. He leaned back so suddenly that his +chair squeaked. The sick man did not notice, or, if he did, paid no +attention. + +"She's Isaac Berry's daughter," he went on, "and Ike Berry was my best +friend. More than that, she's a good girl, a fine girl. Her mother is +more or less of a fool, but that isn't the girl's fault. Keep an eye on +her, will you, Kendrick?" + +"Why--why, I'll do what I can, of course." + +"Like her, don't you?" + +"Yes. Very much." + +"You couldn't help it. She is pretty thick with that young Kent, I +believe. He's a bright boy." + +"Yes." + +"All right.... But there's time enough for that; they're both young.... +Watch her, Kendrick. See that she doesn't make too big mistakes. +She--she's going to have a little money of her own pretty soon--just a +little. Don't let that--that Phillips or--or anybody else get hold of +it. I.... Oh, here you are! Confound you, Sheldon, you're a nuisance!" + +The doctor opened the door and entered. He nodded significantly to +Kendrick. The latter understood. So, too, did Judge Knowles. + +"Time's up, eh?" he panted. "Well, all right, I suppose. Good luck to +you, Kendrick. And good night." + +He smiled cheerfully. One might have thought he expected to see his +caller the next morning. The captain simply could not believe this was +to be the last time. + +"Good night, Judge," he said. "I'll drop in to-morrow, early." + +The judge did not answer. His last word had to do with other things. + +"Don't you forget, Kendrick," he whispered. "I've banked on you." + +The feeling of the absolute impossibility of the situation still +remained with Sears as Mike drove him to his own door and Judah helped +him down from the chaise. It was not possible that a brain like that, a +bit of machinery capable of thinking so clearly and expressing itself so +vigorously, could be so near its final breakdown. A personality like +Judge Knowles' could not end so abruptly. He would not have it so. The +doctor must be mistaken. He was over pessimistic. + +He sat in the rocking chair until nearly half-past one thinking of the +judge's news, that Lobelia Phillips was dead, and of the charge to him. +Fight Egbert--there was an element of humor in that; Knowles certainly +did hate Phillips. But for him, Kendrick, to assume a sort of +guardianship over the fortunes of Elizabeth Berry! The fun in that was +too sardonic to be pleasant. He thought of many things before he +retired, but the way ahead looked foggy enough. And behind the fog +was--what? Why, little sunshine for him, in all human probability. +Before blowing out his lamp he peered out of the window at the Knowles +house. The lights there were still burning. + +The next morning when he came out for breakfast, Judah met him with a +solemn face. + +"Bad news for Bayport this mornin', Cap'n Sears," said Judah. "Judge +Knowles has gone. Slipped his cable about four o'clock, so Mike told +me. There's a good man gone, by Henry! Don't seem hardly as if it could +be, does it?" + +That was exactly what Bayport said when it heard the ill tidings. It did +not seem as if it could be. The judge had been so long a dominant figure +in town affairs, his strong will had so long helped to mould and lead +opinion and his shrewd common sense had so often guided the community, +and individuals, through safe channels and out of troubled waters, that +it was hard to comprehend the fact that he would lead and guide no more. +He had many enemies, no man with his determined character could avoid +that, but they were altogether of a type whose enmity was, to decent +people, preferable to their friendship. During his life it had seemed as +if he were a lonely man, but his funeral was the largest held in Bayport +since the body of Colonel Seth Foster, killed at Gettysburg, was brought +home from the front for burial. + +It was a gloomy, drizzly day when the long line of buggies and carryalls +and folk on foot followed the hearse to the cemetery amid the pines. +Captain Sears, looking back at the procession, thought of the judge's +many prophecies and grim jokes concerning this very journey, and he +wondered--well, he wondered as most of us wonder on such occasions. Also +he realized that, although their acquaintanceship had been brief, he was +going to miss Judge Knowles tremendously. + +"I wish I had been lucky enough to know him sooner," he told Judah that +evening. + +Judah pulled his nose reflectively. "It kind of surprised me," he +observed, "to hear what the minister said about him. 'Twas the Orthodox +minister, and he's pretty strict, too, but you heard him say that the +judge was one of the best men in Ostable County. Yet he never went to +meetin' what you'd call reg'lar and he did cuss consider'ble. He did +now, didn't he, Cap'n Sears?" + +Sears nodded. He was thinking and paying little attention to the Cahoon +moralizing. + +"Um-hm," went on Judah. "He sartin did. He never said 'sugar' when he +meant 'damn.' But I don't know, I cal'late I'd ruther been sworn at by +Judge Knowles than had a blessin' said over me by some others in these +latitudes. The judge's cussin' would have been honest, anyhow. And he +never put one of them swear words in the wrong place. They was always +just where they belonged; even when he swore at me I always agreed with +him." + +Feeling, somehow, that the death of the man who had chosen and employed +him for the position increased his responsibility in that position, +Captain Sears worked harder than ever to earn his salary as general +manager of the Fair Harbor. He had already made some improvements in +systematizing and thereby saving money for the institution. The +groceries, flour, tea, sugar, and the rest, had heretofore been +purchased at Bassett's store in the village. He still continued to buy +certain articles of Eliphalet, principally from motives of policy and to +retain the latter's good will, but the bulk of supplies he contracted +for in Boston at the houses from which he had so often bought stores for +his ships. He could not go to the city and negotiate by word of mouth, +more was the pity, and so was obliged to make his trades by mail, but he +got bids from several firms and the results were quite worth while. +Besides groceries he bought a hogshead of corned beef, barrels of +crackers, a barrel of salt pork, and, from one of the local fishermen, a +half dozen kegs of salt mackerel. The saving altogether was a very +appreciable amount. + +The Fair Harbor property included, besides the land upon which the house +was situated, several acres of wood lot timbered with pine and oak. Mrs. +Berry--or her daughter--had been accustomed to hire a man to cut and +haul such wood as was needed, from time to time, for the stoves and +fireplaces. Also, when repairs had to be done, they hired a carpenter to +make them. Sears, when he got around to it, devoted some consideration +to the wood and repair question and, after much haggling, affected a +sort of three-cornered swap. Benijah Black, the carpenter, was a +brother-in-law of Burgess Paine, who owned the local coal, wood, lumber +and grain shop by the railway station. The captain arranged that Black +should do whatever carpenter work might be needed at the Harbor and take +his pay in wood at the wood lot, selling the wood--or a part of it--to +Paine, for whom he was in debt for coal and lumber; and, also, for whom +he, Black, was building a new storage shed. It was a complicated +process, but it resulted in the Fair Harbor's getting its own firewood +cut, hauled and split for next to nothing, its repair costs cut in half, +its coal bills lessened, while Black and Paine seemed to be perfectly +satisfied. Altogether it was a good deal of a managerial triumph, as +even the manager himself was obliged to admit. + +Elizabeth was loud in her praises. + +"I don't see how you ever did it, Cap'n Kendrick," she declared. "And +Benijah and Mr. Paine are just as contented as we are. It is a miracle." + +Sears grinned. "I don't know quite how I did it, myself," he said. +"'Twas the most complicated piece of steerin' I ever did, and if we come +out without shipwreck it _will_ be a miracle! I'm goin' to tackle that +hay question next. There's hay enough on that lower meadow of ours to +pay for corn for the hens for quite a spell. I'll see if I can't make a +dicker there somehow. Then if I can fix up a deal with the hens to trade +corn for eggs, we'll come out pretty well, won't we?" + +This sort of thing interested him and made him a trifle more contented +with his work. His talents as a diplomat, such as they were, were needed +continually. The interior of the Fair Harbor was a sort of incubator for +petty squabbles, jealousies, prejudices and complaints, some funny, many +ridiculous, and almost all annoying. The most petty he refused to be +troubled with, bidding the complainants go to Mrs. Berry. His refusals +were good-natured but determined. + +"Well, I tell you, Miss Peasley," he said, when that lady had come to +him with a long, involved wail concerning the manner in which Mrs. +Constance Cahoon, who occupied the seat next her at table, insisted on +keeping the window open all through meals, "so's I sit there with a +draft blowin' right down my neck the whole time." "I tell you, Miss +Peasley," said the captain, "if I were you I would shut the window." + +"But I do shut it," declared Desire. "And every time I jump up and shut +it, up she bounces and opens it again." + +"Humph! I see.... Well, exercise helps digestion, so they say. You can +jump as long as she can bounce, can't you?" + +Miss Peasley was disgusted. "Well," she snapped, "I don't call that much +help. I supposed if I went to the _manager_ he'd put his foot down." + +"He's goin' to--and then take it up and put it down again. I've got to +hobble out to see to mowin' the meadow. You tell Mrs. Berry all about +it." + +As a part of his diplomacy he made it a point to spend half an hour each +morning in consultation with Cordelia Berry. The matron of the Fair +Harbor was at first rather suspicious and ready to resent any intrusion +upon her rights and prerogatives. But at each conference the captain +listened so politely to her rambling reports, seemed to receive her +suggestions so eagerly and to ask her advice upon so many points, that +her suspicions were lulled and she came to accept the new +superintendent's presence as a relief and a benefit. + +"He is so very gentlemanly, Elizabeth," she told her daughter. "And so +willing to learn. At first, as you know, I couldn't see why the poor +dear judge appointed him, but now I do. He realized that I needed an +assistant. In many ways he reminds me of your father." + +"But, mother," exclaimed her daughter, in surprise, "Cap'n Kendrick +isn't nearly as old as father was." + +"Oh it isn't the age that reminded me. It's the manner. He has the same +quick, authoritative way of making decisions and saying things. And it +is so very gratifying to see how he defers to my judgment and +experience." + +Captain Sears did defer, that is he seldom opposed. But, when each +conference was over, he went his own sweet way, using his own judgment +and doing what seemed to him best. With Elizabeth, however, he was +quite different. When she offered advice--which was seldom--he listened +and almost invariably acted upon it. He was daily growing to have a +higher opinion of her wisdom and capabilities. Whether or not it was the +wisdom and capabilities alone which influenced that opinion he did not +attempt to analyze. He enjoyed being with her and working with her, that +he knew. That the constant companionship might be, for him, a risky and +perhaps dangerous experience, he did not as yet realize. When he was +with her, and busy with Fair Harbor affairs, he could forget the +slowness with which his crippled legs were mending, and the increasing +longing--sometimes approaching desperation--for the quarter deck of his +own ship and the sea wind in his face. + +He worked hard for the Harbor and did his best to justify his +appointment as manager, but, work as he might, he knew perfectly well +that such labors would scarcely earn his salary. But, on the other hand, +he knew that the man who appointed him had not expected them to do so. +He had been put in charge of the Fair Harbor for one reason alone and +that was to be in command of the ship when the redoubtable Egbert came +alongside. Judge Knowles had as much as told him that very thing, and +more than once. Egbert Phillips had been, evidently, the judge's pet +aversion and, in his later days illness and fretfulness had magnified +and intensified that aversion. When Sears attempted to find good and +sufficient reasons for belief that the husband of Lobelia Seymour was +any such bugbear he was baffled. He asked Judah more questions and he +questioned citizens of Bayport who had known the former singing teacher +before and after his marriage. Some, like Judah, declared him "slick" or +"smooth." Others, and those the majority, seemed to like him. He was +polite and educated and a "perfect gentleman," this was the sum of +feminine opinion. Captain Sears was inclined to picture him as what he +would have called a "sissy," and not much more dangerous than that. The +judge's hatred, he came to believe, was an obsession, a sick man's +fancy. + +He had, of course, read the Phillips letter, that which Judge Knowles +bade him take away and read that night of his death. He hurriedly read +it on that occasion before going to bed; he had reread it several times +since. + +It was a well-written letter, there was no doubt of that, a polite +letter, almost excessively so, perhaps. In fact, if Sears had been +obliged to find a fault with it it would have been that it was a little +too polite, a little too polished and flowery. It was not the sort of +letter that he, himself, would have written under stress of grief, but +he realized that it was not the sort of letter he could have written at +all. Taken as a whole it was hard to pick flaws which might not be the +result of prejudice, and taken sentence by sentence it stood the test +almost as well. + +"Our life together has been so happy," wrote Phillips, "so ideal, that +the knowledge of its end leaves me stunned, speechless, wordless." + +That was exaggeration, of course. He was not wordless, for the letter +contained almost a superfluity of words; but people often said things +they did not mean literally. + +"My dear wife and I spoke of you so often, Judge, her affection for you +was so great--an affection which I share, as you know----" + +Judge Knowles had not returned the writers affection, quite the +contrary. But it was possible that Phillips did not know this and that +he was fond of the judge. Possible, even if not quite probable. + +"She and I never had a difference of opinion, never a thought which was +not shared. This, in my hour of sorrow--" Phillips had written "my +stricken hour" first, and then altered it to "hour of sorrow"--"is my +greatest, almost my only consolation." + +Yet, as Judge Knowles had expressly stated, Lobelia herself had told him +that her husband did not know of the endowment at the Fair Harbor and +she had at least hinted that her married life was not all happiness. + +But, yet again, the judge was ill and weak, he had never liked Phillips, +had always distrusted and suspected him, and might he not have fancied +unhappiness when there was none? + +The letter said nothing concerning its writer's plans. It told of Mrs. +Phillips' death, her burial at Florence, and of the widower's grief. The +only hint, or possible hint, concerning a visit to Bayport was contained +in one line, "When I see you I can tell you more." + +The captain puzzled over the letter a good deal. He showed it to +Elizabeth. He found that Judge Knowles had not discussed Egbert with her +at all. To her the ex-singing teacher was little more than a name; she +remembered him, but nothing in particular concerning him. She thought +the letter a very beautiful one--very sad, of course, but beautiful. +Plainly she did not have the feeling which Sears had, but which he was +inclined to think might be fathered by prejudice that it was a trifle +too beautiful, that its beauty was that of a painting by a master, each +stroke carefully touched in at exactly the right place for effect. + +There was no demand for money in it, no hint at straitened +circumstances; so why should there be any striving for effect? He gave +it up. If the much talked of Egbert was what Judge Knowles had declared +him to be, then neither the judge nor any one else had exaggerated his +smoothness. + +Emmeline Tidditt, for so many years the Knowles housekeeper, made one +remark which contained possible food for thought. + +"So he buried her over there amongst them foreigners, did he?" observed +Emmeline. "That seems kind of funny. When she and him was visitin' here +the last time she told me herself--and he was standin' right alongside +and heard her--that when she died she wanted to be fetched back here to +Bayport and buried in the Orthodox cemetery alongside her father and +mother and all her folks. Said, dead or alive, it wasn't really home for +her anywheres else. She must have changed her mind since, though, I +cal'late." + +Bayport talked a good deal about Lobelia Phillips and what would become +of the Fair Harbor now that its founder and patroness was dead. It was +surmised, of course, that Mrs. Phillips had provided for her pet +institution in her will, but that will had not yet been offered for +probate. Neither had the will of Judge Knowles, for that matter. Lawyer +Bradley, over at Orham, the attorney with whom George Kent was reading +law, was known to be the judge's executor. And Judge Knowles and Mr. +Bradley were co-executor's for Lobelia Phillips, having been duly named +by Lobelia on her last visit to Bayport. So, presumably, both wills were +in Bradley's possession. But why had they not been probated? + +Bradley himself made the explanation. + +"The judge had a nephew in California," he said. "He was the nearest +relative--although that isn't very near. Of course he couldn't get on +for the funeral, but he is coming pretty soon. I thought I would wait +until he came before I opened the will. As for Mrs. Phillips' will, I +expect that her husband must be on his way here now. I haven't heard +from him, but I take it for granted he is coming. I shall wait a while +for him, too. There is no pressing hurry in either case." + +So Bayport talked about the wills and the expected arrival of the heirs, +but as time passed and neither nephew nor husband arrived, began to lose +interest and to talk of other things. Sears Kendrick, remembering his +last conversation with Judge Knowles, was curious to learn exactly what +the latter meant by his hints concerning "fixing things" for the Fair +Harbor and Elizabeth having "money of her own," but he was busy and did +not allow his curiosity to interfere with his schemes and improvements. +He and Miss Berry saw each other every day, worked together and planned +together, and the captain's fits of despondency and discouragement grew +less and less frequent. He had an odd feeling at times, a feeling as if, +instead of growing older daily, he was growing younger. He mentioned it +to Elizabeth on one occasion and she did not laugh, but seemed to +understand. + +"It is true," she said. "I have noticed it. You _are_ getting younger, +Cap'n Kendrick." + +"Am I? That's good. Be better yet if I didn't have such a tremendous +long way to go." + +"Nonsense! You aren't old. When I first met you I thought--it sounds +dreadful when I say it--I thought you were fifty, at least. Now I don't +believe you are more than--well, thirty-five." + +"Oh, yes, I am. I am--humph!--let's see, I am--er--thirty-eight my next +birthday. And I suppose that sounds pretty ancient to you." + +"No, indeed it doesn't. Why, thirty-eight isn't old at all!" + +The interesting discussion of ages was interrupted just then, but Sears +found pleasure in the thought that she, too, had noticed that he looked +and acted younger. It was being at work again, he believed, which was +responsible for the rejuvenation; this and the now unmistakable fact +that, although the improvement was still provokingly slow, his legs were +better, really better. He could, as he said, navigate much more easily +now. Once, at supper time, he walked from his room to the table without +a cane. It was a laborious journey, and he was glad when it was over, +but he made it. Judah came in just in time to see the end. + +"Jumpin', creepin', hoppin' hookblocks, Cap'n Sears!" cried Judah. "Is +that you, doin' that?" + +"What's left of me, Judah. I feel just this minute as if there wasn't +much left." + +"Well, creepin' prophets! I couldn't believe it. Thinks I, 'There's fog +in my deadlights and I can't see through 'em right.' Well, by Henry! And +a little spell ago you was tellin' me you'd never be able to cruise +again except under jury rig. Humph! You'll be up to the town hall +dancin' 'Hull's Victory' and 'Smash the Windows' fust thing we know." + +After supper the captain, using the cane but whistling a sprightly air, +strolled out to the front gate, where, leaning over the fence, he looked +up and down the curving, tree-shaded road, dozing in the late summer +twilight. And up that road came George Kent, also whistling, to swing +in at the Fair Harbor gate and stride to the side door. + +Before that object lesson of real youth Sears' fictitious imitation +seemed cheap and shoddy. He leaned heavily upon his cane as he hobbled +back to the kitchen. + +The next day something happened. Sears had been busy all the forenoon +superintending the carting in and stowing of the Fair Harbor share of +oak and pine from the wood-lot. Thirteen cords of it, sawed and split in +lengths to suit the Harbor stoves and fireplaces, were to be piled in +the sheds adjoining the old Seymour barn at the rear of the premises. +Judah had been engaged to do the piling. The captain had hesitated about +employing him for several reasons, one being that he was drawing +wages--small but regular--as caretaker at the General Minot place; +another, that there might be some criticism--or opportunity for +criticism--because of the relationship, landlord and lodger, which +existed between them. Judah himself scorned the thought. + +"Mean to tell me I can't work for you just because you're boardin' along +of me, Cap'n Sears?" he protested. "I've cooked for you a good many +years and I worked for you then, didn't I?" + +"Ye--es, but you had signed up to work for me then. That's what they +paid you for." + +"Well, it's what _you_ pay me for now, ain't it? And Ogden Minot he pays +me to be stevedore aboard his house yonder. And the Fair Harbor's +cal'latin' to pay me for pilin' this wood, ain't it? You ain't payin' +for that, nor Ogden nuther. Well, then!... Oh, don't let's waste time +arguin' about it now, Cap'n Sears. Let's do the way Abe Pepper done when +the feller asked him to take a little somethin'. Abe had promised his +wife he'd sign the pledge and he was on his way to temp'rance meetin' +where he was goin' to meet her and sign it. And on the way he ran acrost +this feller--Cornelius Bassett 'twas--and Cornelius says, 'Come have a +drink with me, Abe,' he says. Well, time Abe got around to meet his wife +the temp'rance meetin' hall was all dark and Abe was all--er--lighted +up, as you might say. 'Why didn't you tell that Bassett man you was in a +hurry and couldn't stop?' his wife wanted to know. 'Didn't have time to +tell him nothin',' explains Abe. 'I knew I was late for meetin' as +'twas.' 'Then why didn't you come right on _to_ meetin'?' she wanted to +know. 'If I'd done that I'd lost the drink,' says he." + +The captain laughed, but looked doubtful. + +"I don't quite see where that yarn fits in this case, Judah," he +observed. + +"Don't ye? Well, I don't know's it does. But anyhow, don't let's waste +time arguin'. Let me pile the wood fust and then we can argue +afterwards." + +So he was piling busily, carrying the wood in huge armfuls from the +heaps where the carts had left it into the barn, and singing as he +worked. But, bearing in mind his skipper's orders concerning the kind of +song he was to sing, his chantey this time dealt neither with the +eternal feminine nor the flowing bowl. Suggested perhaps by the nature +of his task, he bellowed of "Fire Down Below." + + "'Fire in the galley, + Fire in the house, + Fire in the beef-kid + Burnin' up the scouce. + Fire, _fire_, FIRE down below! + Fetch a bucket of water! + Fire! down BELOW!'" + +Captain Sears, after watching and listening for a few minutes, turned to +limp up the hill, past the summer-house and the garden plots, to the +side entrance of the Fair Harbor. The mystery of these garden patches, +their exact equality of size and shape, had been explained to him by +Elizabeth. The previous summer the Fair Harbor guests, or a few of them, +led, as usual, by Miss Snowden and Mrs. Brackett, had suddenly been +seized with a feverish desire to practice horticulture. They had +demanded flower beds of their own. So, after much debate and +disagreement on their part Elizabeth and her mother had had the slope +beneath the Eyrie laid out in plots exactly alike, one for each guest, +and the question of ownership had been settled by drawing lots. Each +plot owner might plant and cultivate her own garden in her own way. +These ways differed widely, hence the varied color schemes and +diversifications of design noted by Sears on his first visit. The most +elaborate--not to say "whirliggy"--design was the product of Miss +Snowden's labor. The captain would have guessed it. The plot which +contained no flowers at all, but was thickly planted with beets, onions +and other vegetables, belonged to Esther Tidditt. He would have guessed +that, too. + +He had stopped for an instant to inspect the plots, when he heard a +footstep. Looking up, he saw a man descending the slope along the path +by the Eyrie. + +The man was a stranger, that was plain at first glance. The captain did +not know every one in Bayport, but he had at least a recognizing +acquaintance with most of the males, and this particular male was not +one of them. And Sears would have bet heavily that neither was he one of +the very few whom he did not know. He was not a Bayport citizen, he did +not look Bayport. + +He was very tall and noticeably slim. He wore a silk hat what Bayport +still called a "beaver" in memory of the day's when such headpieces were +really covered with beaver fur. There was nothing unusual in this fact; +most of Bayport's prosperous citizens wore beavers on Sundays or for +dress up. But there was this of the unusual about this particular hat: +it had an air about it, a something which would have distinguished it +amid fifty Bayport tiles. And yet just what that something was Sears +Kendrick could not have told he could not have defined it, but he knew +it was there. + +There was the same unusual something about the stranger's apparel in +general, and yet there was nothing loud about it or queer. He carried a +cane, but so did Captain Elkanah Wingate, for that matter, although only +on Sundays. Captain Elkanah, however, carried his as if it were a club, +or a scepter, or a--well, a marlinspike, perhaps. The stranger's cane +was a part of his arm, and when he twirled it the twirls were graceful +gestures, not vulgar flourishes. + +Sears's reflections concerning the newcomer were by no means as +analytical as this, of course. His first impressions were those of one +coming upon a beautiful work of art, a general wonder and admiration, +not detailed at all. Judah, standing behind him with an armful of wood, +must have had similar feelings, for he whispered, hoarsely, "Creepin' +Moses, Cap'n Sears, is that the Prince of Wales, or who?" + +The man, standing in the path above the gardens, stopped to look about +him. And at that moment, from the vine-covered Eyrie emerged Miss Elvira +Snowden. She had evidently been there for some time, reading--she had a +book in her hand--and as she came out she and the stranger were brought +face to face. + +Sears and Judah saw them look at each other. The man raised his hat and +said something which they could not hear. Then Miss Snowden cried "Oh!" +She seemed intensely surprised and, for her, a good deal flustered. +There was more low-toned conversation. Then Elvira and the stranger +turned and walked back up the path toward the house. He escorted her in +a manner and with a manner which made that walk a sort of royal +progress. + +"Who was that?" asked Sears, as much of himself as of Judah. + +But Mr. Cahoon had, by this time, settled the question to his own +satisfaction. + +"It's one of them slick critters peddlin' lightnin' rods," he declared, +with conviction. "When you sight somebody that looks like a cross +between a minister and one of them stuffed dummies they have outside of +the stores in Dock Square to show off clothes on, then you can 'most +generally bet he's peddlin' lightnin' rods. Either that or paintin' +signs on fences about 'Mustang Liniment' or 'Vegetine' or somethin'. +Why, a feller like that hove alongside me over in our yard one +time--'twas afore you come, Cap'n Sears--and I give you my word, the +way he was togged up I thought----" + +The captain did not wait to hear the Cahoon thought. He walked away. In +a few minutes he had forgotten the stranger, having other and more +important matters on his mind. There was a question concerning the Fair +Harbor cooking range which was perplexing him just at this time. It +looked as if they might have to buy a new one, and Sears, as +superintendent of finances, hated to spend the money that month. + +He limped up the slope and along the path to the side door. And when he +entered that door he became aware that something unusual was going on. +The atmosphere of the Fair Harbor for Mariners' Women was, so to speak, +electrified, it was vibrant with excitement and mystery. + +There was no one in the dining room, and no one in the sitting room. Yet +in each of these apartments were numerous evidences that people had been +there very recently and left in a great hurry. A cloth partially laid +and left hanging. Drawers of the buffet left open. A broom lying +directly in the middle of the floor where it had been dropped. An upset +work-basket, disgorging spools, needle packets, and an avalanche of +stockings awaiting darning. A lamp with the chimney standing beside it +on the table. These were some of the signs denoting sudden and important +interruption of a busy forenoon. + +Captain Sears, wondering much, turned from the sitting room into the +hall leading to the parlor. Then he became aware that, ahead of him, was +the center and core of excitement. From the parlor came a murmur of +voices, exclamations, giggles--the sounds as of a party, a meeting of +the sewing-circle, or a reception. He could not imagine what it was all +about. + +He reached the parlor door and stood there for an instant looking in. +Every inmate of the Harbor was in that room, including Elizabeth and her +mother and even Caroline Snow, who, because it was Monday, was there to +help with the washing. And every one--or almost every one--was talking, +and the majority were crowded about one spot, a spot where stood a man, +a man whom Sears recognized as the stranger he had seen in the garden. + +And then Mrs. Berry, who happened to be facing the door, saw him. She +broke through the ring of women and hurried over. Her face was aglow, +her eyes were shining, there were bright spots in her cheeks, and, +altogether, she looked younger and handsomer than the captain had ever +seen her, more as he would have imagined she must have looked in the +days when Cap'n Ike came South a-courting. + +"Oh, Captain Kendrick," she cried, "I am so _very_ glad you have come. +We have just had such a surprise! Such a very unexpected surprise, but a +very delightful one. Come! You must meet him." + +She took his hand and led him toward the stranger. The latter, seeing +them approach, politely pushed through the group surrounding him and +stepped forward. Sears noticed for the first time that the sleeve of his +coat was encircled by a broad band of black. His tie was black also, so +were his cuff buttons. He was in mourning. An amazing idea flashed to +the captain's brain. + +"Captain Kendrick," gushed Mrs. Berry, "I have the honor to present you +to Mr. Phillips, husband of our beloved founder." + +Mr. Phillips smiled--his teeth were very fine, his smile engaging. He +extended a hand. + +"I am delighted to meet Captain Kendrick," he said. + +The captain's stammered answer was conventional, and was not a literal +expression of his thought. The latter, put into words, would have been: + +"Egbert! I might have known it." + +But there was no real reason why he should have known it, for this +Egbert was not at all like the Egbert he had been expecting to see. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +Sears Kendrick left the Fair Harbor, perhaps fifteen minutes later, with +that thought still uppermost in his mind. This was not at all the Egbert +Phillips he had expected. From Judge Knowles' conversation, from Judah +Cahoon's stories, from fragmentary descriptions he had picked up here +and there about Bayport, he had fashioned an Egbert who had come to be +in his mind a very real individual. This Egbert of his imagining was an +oily, rather flashily dressed adventurer, a glib talker, handsome in a +stage hero sort of way, with exaggerated politeness and a toothsome +smile. There should be about this individual a general atmosphere of +brilliantine, clothes and jewelry. On the whole he might have been +expected to look a bit like the manager the captain had seen standing +beside the ticket wagon at the circus, twirling his mustache with one +hand and his cane with the other. Not quite as showy, not quite as +picturesque, but a marked resemblance nevertheless. + +And the flesh and blood Egbert Phillips was not that kind at all. One +was not conscious of his clothes, except that they were all that they +should be as to fit--and style. He wore no jewelry whatever save his +black cuff buttons and studs. His black tie was not of Bayport's +fashion, certainly. It was ample, flowing and picturesque, rather in the +foreign way. No other male in Bayport could have worn that tie and not +looked foolish, yet Mr. Phillips did not look foolish, far from it. He +did not wear a beard, another unusual bit of individuality, but his +long, drooping mustache was extraordinarily becoming and--yes, +aristocratic was the word. His smile was pleasant, his handshake was +cordial, but not overdone, and his voice low and pleasant. Above all he +had a manner, a manner which caused Sears, who had sailed pretty well +over the world and had met all sorts of people in all sorts of places, +to feel awkward and countrified. Yet one could tell that Mr. Phillips +would not have one feel that way for the world; it was his desire to put +every one at his or her ease. + +He greeted the captain with charming affability. He had heard of him, of +course. He understood they were neighbors, as one might say. He looked +forward to the pleasure of their better acquaintance. He had gotten but +little further than this when Mrs. Berry, Miss Snowden and the rest +again swooped down upon him and Sears was left forgotten on the outside +of the circle. He went home soon afterward and sat down in the Minot +kitchen to think it over. + +Egbert had come.... Well? Now what? + +He spent the greater part of the afternoon superintending the stowage of +the wood and did not go back to the Harbor at all. But he was perfectly +certain that he was not missed. The Fair Harbor for Mariners' Women +fairly perspired excitement. Caroline Snow, her washing hung upon the +lines in the back yard, found time to scurry down the hill and tell +Judah the news. The captain had limped up to his room for a forgotten +pipe, and when he returned Judah was loaded with it. He fired his first +broadside before his lodger entered the barn. + +"Say, Cap'n Sears," hailed Mr. Cahoon, breathlessly, "do you know who +that feller was me and you seen along of Elviry this forenoon? The tall +one with the beaver and--and the gloves and the cane? The one I called +the Prince of Wales or else a lightnin'-rod peddler? Do you know who he +is?" + +Sears nodded. "Yes," he said, shortly. + +Judah stared, open-mouthed. + +"You _do_?" he gasped. + +"Yes." + +"You mean to tell me you know he's that--ah--er-what's-his-name--Eg +Phillips come back?" + +"Yes, Judah." + +"My hoppin' Henry! Why didn't you say so?" + +"I didn't know it then, Judah. I found it out afterward, when I went up +to the house." + +"Yes--but--but you knew it when you and me was eatin' dinner, didn't +you? Why didn't you say somethin' about it then?" + +"Oh I don't know. It isn't important enough to interfere with our meals, +is it?" + +Judah slowly shook his head. "It's a dum good thing you wan't around +time of the flood, Cap'n Sears," he declared. "'Twould have been the +thirty-eighth day afore you'd have cal'lated 'twas sprinklin' hard +enough to notice. Afore that you'd have called it a thick fog, I presume +likely. If you don't think this Phillips man's makin' port is important +enough to talk about you take a cruise down to the store to-night. +You'll hear more cacklin' than you'd hear in a henhouse in a week--and +all account of just one Egg, too," he added, with a chuckle. + +"Caroline told you he had come, I suppose? Well, what does she think of +him?" + +Judah snorted. "She?" he repeated. "She thinks he's the Angel Gabriel +dressed up." + +He would have liked to discuss the new arrival the remainder of the +afternoon, but the captain was not in the mood to listen. Neither was he +more receptive or discussive at supper time. Judah wanted to talk of +nothing else and to speculate concerning the amount of wealth which Mr. +Phillips might have inherited, upon the probable date of the reading of +Lobelia's will, upon whether or not the fortunate legatee might take up +his residence in Bayport. + +"Say Cap'n" he observed, turning an inflamed countenance from the steam +of dishwashing, "don't you cal'late maybe he may be wantin' to--er--sort +of change things aboard the Fair Harbor? He'll be Admiral, as you might +say, now, won't he?" + +"Will he?" + +"Well--won't he?" + +"Don't know, Judah. I haven't thrown up my commission yet, you know." + +"No, course you ain't, course you ain't. I don't mean he'd think of +disrating you, Cap'n Sears. Nobody'd be fool-head enough for that.... +But, honest, I would like to look at him and hear him talk. Caroline +Snow, she says he's the finest, highest-toned man ever _she_ see." + +"Yes? Well, that's sayin' somethin'." + +"Yus, but 'tain't sayin' too much. She lives down to Woodchuck Neck and +the highest thing down there is a barrel of cod-livers. They're good and +high when the sun gets to 'em." + +When the dishes were done he announced that he guessed likely he might +as well go down to Eliphalet's and listen to the cackling. The captain +did not object, and so he put on his cap and departed. But he was back +again in less than a minute. + +"He's comin', Cap'n," he cried, excitedly. "Creepin' Moses! He's comin' +here." + +Sears remained calm. "He is, eh?" he observed. "Well, is he creepin' +now?" + +"Hey? Creepin'? What are you talkin' about?" + +"Why, Moses. You said he was comin', didn't you?" + +"I said that Egbert man was comin'. He was just onlatchin' the gate when +I see him.... Hey? That's him knockin' now. Shall I--shall I let him in, +Cap'n Sears?" + +"I would if I were you, Judah. If you don't I shall have to." + +So Judah did. Mr. Phillips entered the kitchen, removing his silk hat at +the threshold. Mr. Cahoon followed, too overcome with excitement and +curiosity to remember to take off his own cap. Sears Kendrick would have +risen from the armchair in which he was seated, but the visitor extended +a gloved hand. + +"Don't. Don't rise, I beg of you," he said, earnestly. "Pray keep your +seat, Captain Kendall. I have just learned of your most unfortunate +accident. Really, I must insist that you remain just as you are. You +will distress me greatly if you move on my account. Thank you, thank +you. I suppose I should apologize for running in in this informal way, +but I feel almost as if I had known you for a long time. Our mutual +friends, the Berrys, have told me so much concerning you since my +arrival that I did not stand upon ceremony at all." + +"That's right," declared the captain, heartily. "I'm glad you didn't. +Sit down, Mr. Phillips. Put your hat on the table there." + +Judah stepped forward. + +"Give it to me; I'll take care of it," he said, taking the shining beaver +from the visitor's hand. "I'll hang it up yonder in the back entry, then +'twon't get knocked onto the floor.... No, no, don't set in that chair, +that's got a spliced leg; it's liable to land you on your beam ends if +you ain't careful. Try this one." + +He kicked the infirm chair out of the way and pushed forward a +substitute. "There," he added, cheerfully, "that's solid's the rock of +Giberaltar. Nothin' like bein' sure of your anchorage. Set down, set +down." + +He beamed upon the caller. The latter did not beam exactly. His +expression was a queer one. Sears came to the rescue. + +"Mr. Phillips," he said, "this is Mr. Cahoon." + +Judah extended a mighty hand. + +"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. Phillips," he declared. "I've +heard tell of you considerable." + +Egbert looked at the hand. His expression was still queer. + +"Oh--ah--how d'ye do?" he murmured. + +"Mr. Cahoon and I are old friends," explained Sears. "I am boardin' here +with him." + +"Yus," put in Judah. "And afore that I shipped cook aboard Cap'n Sears's +vessels for a good many v'yages. The cap'n and I get along fust rate. +He's all right, Cap'n Sears is, _I_ tell ye!" + +Mr. Phillips murmured something to the effect that he was sure of it. He +did not seem very sure of Judah. Mr. Cahoon did not notice the +uncertainty, he pushed his hand nearer to the visitor's. + +"I'm real glad to meet you," he said. + +Egbert gingerly took the proffered hand, moved it up and down once and +then dropped it, after which he looked at his glove. Judah looked at it, +too. + +"Kind of chilly outdoor to-night, is it?" he asked. "Didn't seem so to +me." + +Again his lodger came to the rescue. + +"Well, Mr. Phillips," he said, "you gave us all a little surprise, +didn't you? Of course we expected you in a general sort of way, but we +didn't know when you would make port." + +Egbert bowed. "I scarcely knew myself," he said. "My plans were somewhat +vague and--ah--rather hurriedly made, naturally. Of course my great +sorrow, my bereavement----" + +He paused, sighed and then brushed the subject away with a wave of his +glove. + +"You won't mind, I'm sure," he said, "if I don't dwell upon that just +now. It is too recent, the shock is too great, I really cannot.... But I +am so sorry to hear of your disability. A railway wreck, I understand. +Outrageous carelessness, no doubt. Really, Captain Kendrick, one cannot +find excuses for the reckless mismanagement of your American +railways.... Why, what is it? Don't you agree with me?" + +The captain had looked up momentarily. Now he was looking down again. + +"Don't you agree with me?" repeated Egbert. "Surely you, of all people, +should not excuse their recklessness." + +Sears shook his head. "Oh, I wasn't tryin' to," he replied. "I was only +wonderin' why you spoke of 'em as 'your' railroads. They aren't mine, +you know. That is, any more than they are Judah's--or yours--or any +other American's. No such luck." + +Mr. Phillips coughed, smiled, coughed again, and then explained that he +had used the word 'your' without thinking. + +"I have been so long an--ah--shall I say exile, Captain Kendall," he +observed, "that I have, I presume, fallen somewhat into the European +habit of thinking and--ah--speaking. Habit is a peculiar thing, is it +not?" + +Mr. Cahoon, intensely interested in the conversation, evidently felt it +his duty to contribute toward it. + +"You're right there, Mr. Phillips," he announced, with emphasis. +"Don't talk to me about habits! When a man's been to sea as long's I +have he runs afoul of pretty nigh every kind of habit there is, seems +so. Why, I knew a feller one time--down to Surinam 'twas--I was cook +and steward aboard the old _Highflyer_--and this feller--he wan't +a white man, nor he wan't all nigger nuther, kind of in between, one of +them--er--er--octoreens, that's what he was--well, this feller he had +the dumdest habit. Every day of his life, about the middle of the dog +watch he'd up and----" + +"Judah." + +"Aye, aye, Cap'n Sears?" + +"You'll be late down at the store, won't you?" + +"Hey? Oh, I don't care how late I be. I don't know's I'm so dreadful +partic'lar about goin' down there to-night, anyhow. Don't know but I'd +just as live stay here." + +"I'd go." + +"Hey? Oh, I----" + +"I'd go, if I were you. You know there's likely to be a good deal goin' +on." + +"Think so, do you?" Judah was evidently on the fence. "Course, I---- +Well, maybe I had better, come to think of it. Good night, Mr. Phillips. +I'll tell you about that octoreen feller next time I see you. So long, +Cap'n Sears. I'll report about," with a wink, "the cacklin' later. +Creepin'! it's most eight now, ain't it?" + +He hurried out. Egbert looked rather relieved. He smiled tolerantly. + +"Evidently an eccentric, your--er--man," he observed. + +"He has his ways, like the majority of us, I guess," declared the +captain, crisply. "Underneath he is as square and big-hearted as they +make. And he's a good friend of mine." + +"Oh, yes; yes, I'm sure of it. Captain Kendall----" + +"Kendrick, not Kendall." + +Mr. Phillips begged pardon for the mistake. It was inexcusable, he +admitted. He had heard the captain's name mentioned so frequently since +his arrival in Bayport, especially by Mrs. Berry and her daughter, "so +favorably, even enthusiastically mentioned," that he certainly should +have remembered it. "I am not quite myself, I fear," he added. "My +recent bereavement and the added shock of the death of my dear old +friend the judge have had their effect. My nerves are--well, you +understand, I am sure." + +He made a lengthy call. He talked a great deal, and his conversation was +always interesting. He spoke much of his dear wife, of life abroad, of +Genoa and Leghorn, ports which the captain had visited, and of the +changes in Bayport since his last sojourn in the village. But he said +almost nothing concerning his plans for the future, and of the Fair +Harbor very little. In fact, Sears had the feeling that he was waiting +for him to talk concerning that institution. This the captain would not +do and, at last, Mr. Phillips himself touched lightly upon the fringes +of the subject. + +"Do you find your duties in connection with the--ah--retreat next door +arduous, Captain Kendrick?" he inquired. + +"Eh?... Oh, no, I don't know as I'd call 'em that, exactly." + +"I imagine not, I imagine not. You are--you are, I gather, a sort +of--oh---- What should I call you, captain; in your official capacity, +you know?" + +He laughed pleasantly. Sears smiled. + +"Give it up," he replied. "I told Elizabeth--Miss Berry, I mean--when I +first took the berth that I scarcely knew what it was." + +"Ha, ha! Yes, I can imagine. Miss Berry--charming girl, isn't she, +captain--intimated to me that your position was somewhat--ah--general. +You exercise a sort of supervision over the finances and management, in +a way, do you not?" + +"In a way, yes." + +"Yes. Of course, my dear sir, you understand that I am not unduly +curious. I don't mean to be. This--ah--Fair Harbor was, as you know, +very dear to the heart of Mrs. Phillips and, now that she has been taken +from me, I feel, of course, a sense of trust, of sacred responsibility. +We had understood, she and I, that our dear friend--Judge Knowles--was +in supreme charge--nominally, I mean; of course Mrs. Berry was in actual +charge--and, therefore, I confess to a natural feeling of--shall I say +surprise, on learning that the judge had appointed another person, an +understudy, as it were?" + +"Well, you couldn't be any more surprised than I was when the judge +asked me to take the job. And Elizabeth and her mother know that I +hesitated considerable before I did take it. Judge Knowles was in his +last sickness, he couldn't attend to things himself." + +Mr. Phillips raised a protesting hand. "Please don't misunderstand me," +he said. "Don't, I beg of you, think for a moment that I am objecting to +the judge's action, or even criticizing it. It was precisely the thing +he should have done, what Mrs. Phillips and I would have wished him to +do. And as for his choice of--ah--appointee----" + +Captain Sears interrupted. "As to that," he said, "you can criticize as +much as you please. You can't object any more than I did when me made me +the offer." + +The protesting hand was again raised. "Criticism or objection was the +very farthest from my mind, I assure you," Egbert declared. "I was about +to say that Judge Knowles showed his usual--ah--acumen when he selected +a man as well known and highly esteemed as yourself, sir. The mention of +the name of Captain Kendall----" + +"Kendrick." + +"Kendrick, of course. I apologize once more. But, if you will permit me +to say so, a man as well and favorably known to us all as you are, sir, +is certainly the ideal occupant of the--ah--place." + +"Thanks. You knew of me, then? I don't think you and I have ever met +before, have we?" + +"No; no, I believe I have never before had the pleasure." + +"Thanks. I was pretty sure I hadn't. I've been away from Bayport a good +deal. I wasn't here when you and your wife came back--about five years +ago, wasn't it? And, of course, I didn't know you when you used to live +here. Let's see; you used to teach singin'-school, didn't you?" + +This question was asked in the most casual fashion. Mr. Phillips did not +answer at once. He coughed, changed his position, and then smiled +graciously. + +"Yes," he said. "Yes, I--I did something of the sort, for a time. Music +has always been a--one might call it a--ah--hobby of mine. But, +regarding your duties as--well, whatever those duties are, Captain +Kendrick: You say they are not arduous. And your--ah--compensation? +That, I understand, is not large? Pardon my referring to it, but as Mrs. +Phillips was the owner and benefactress of the Fair Harbor, and as I +am--shall I say heir--to her interests, why, perhaps my excuse for +asking for information is--ah--a reasonable one." + +He paused, and with another smile and wave of the hand, awaited his +host's reply. Sears looked at him. + +"I guess you know what my wages are, Mr. Phillips," he observed. "Don't +you?" + +"Why--why--ah--ah----" + +"Didn't Cordelia tell you? She knows. So does Elizabeth." + +"Why--why, Mrs. Berry did mention a figure, I believe. I seem to +recall--ah--ah--something." + +"If you remember fifteen hundred a year, you will have it right. That is +the amount I'm paid for bein' in general command over there. As you say, +it isn't very large, but perhaps it's large enough for what I do." + +"Oh--ah, _don't_ misunderstand me, Captain Kendrick, please don't. I +was not questioning the amount of your salary." + +"Wasn't you? My mistake. I thought you was." + +"No; indeed no. My only feeling in regard to it was its--ah--trifling +size. It--pardon me, but it seemed such a small sum for you to accept, a +man of your attainments." + +"My attainments, as you call 'em, haven't got me very far I'm a poor man +and, just now at any rate, I'm a cripple, a wreck on a lee shore. +Fifteen hundred a year isn't so small to me." + +Mr Phillips apologized. He was sorry he had referred to the subject. But +the captain, he was sure, understood his motive for asking, and, now +that so much had been said, might he say just a word more. + +"Our dear Cordelia--Mrs. Berry--" he went on, "intimated that +your--ah--compensation was paid by the judge, himself." + +"Yes it was. Judge Knowles paid it with his own money. It doesn't come +out of the Fair Harbor funds." + +"Yes, yes, of course, of course. The judge's interest in my beloved +wife's--ah--whims--perhaps that is too frivolous a word--was +extraordinarily fine. But now the judge has passed on." + +"Yes. More's the pity." + +"I heartily agree with you, it is a great pity. An irreparable loss.... +But he has gone." + +"Yes." + +Just here the dialogue came to a peculiar halt. Mr. Phillips seemed to +be waiting for his companion to say something and the captain to be +waiting for Phillips himself to say it first. As a consequence neither +said it. When the conversation was resumed it was once more of a general +nature. It was not until just beyond the end of the call that the Fair +Harbor was again mentioned. And, as at first, it was the caller who led +up to it. + +"Captain Kendrick," he observed, "you are, like myself, a man of the +world, a man of wide experience." + +This was given forth as a positive statement, not a question, yet he +seemed to expect a reply. Sears obliged. + +"Oh, I don't know," he demurred. + +"Pardon me, but I do. I am accustomed to judge persons and characters, +and I think I may justly pride myself on making few mistakes. From what +I had heard I expected to find you a man of the world, a man of +experience and judgment. Judge Knowles' selection of you as +the--ah--temporary head of the Fair Harbor would have indicated that, of +course, but, if you will permit me to say so, this interview has +confirmed it." + +Again he paused, as if expecting a reply. And again the captain humored +him. + +"Much obliged," he said. + +The Phillips hand waved the thanks away. There was another perceptible +wait. Then said Egbert, "Captain Kendrick, as one man of the world to +another, what do you think of the--ah--institution next door?" + +Sears looked at him. "What do I think of it?" he repeated. + +"Yes, exactly. It was, as you know, the darling of my dear wife's heart. +When she loaned her--shall we say her ancestral home, and--ah--money to +the purpose she firmly believed the Fair Harbor for Mariners' Women to +be an inspiration for good. She believed its founding to be the +beginning of a great work. Is it doing that work, do you think? In your +opinion, sir, is it a success?" + +Captain Sears slowly stroked his close-cropped beard. What was the man +driving at? + +"Why--I don't know as I know exactly what you mean by success," he +hesitated. "It's takin' care of its--er--boarders and it's makin' a home +for 'em. That is what your wife wanted it to do, didn't she?" + +"Oh, yes, yes, quite so. But that is not precisely what I mean. Put it +this way, sir: In your opinion, as a man of affairs----" + +"Here, here, just a minute. I'm not a man of affairs. I'm a broken-down +sea cap'n on shore, that's all." + +Again the upraised hand. "_I_ know what you are, Captain Kendrick," +said Egbert. "That, if you will permit me to say so, is why I am asking +your opinion. The success of a--ah--proposition depends, as I see it, +upon the amount of success achieved in proportion to the amount of +energy, capital--ah--whatnot invested. Now, considering the sum needed +to support the Fair Harbor--paid, as doubtless you know, Captain +Kendrick, from the interest of an amount loaned and set aside by my dear +wife some years ago--considering that sum, I say, added to the amount +sunk, or invested, in the house, land, furnishings, et cetera, is it +your opinion that the institution's success is a sufficient return? Or, +might not the same sums, put into other--ah--charities, reap larger +rewards? Rewards in the shape of good to our fellow men and women, +Captain Kendrick? What do you think?" + +Sears crossed his knees. + +"I don't know," he said. + +"Of course, of course. One does not know. But it is a question to be +considered, is it not?" + +"Why--why, yes, maybe. Do I understand that you are thinkin' of givin' +up the Fair Harbor? Doin' away with it?" + +"Oh, no, no, no!" Mr. Phillips pushed the surmise deeper into the +background with each negative. "I am not considering anything of that +sort, Captain Kendrick." + +"Well--humph! My mistake again. I thought you just said you were +considerin' it." + +"Only as a question, Captain, only as a question. While my wife lived, +of course, the Fair Harbor--_her_ Fair Harbor--was a thing fixed, +immovable. Now that she has been taken from me, it devolves upon me, the +care of her trusts, her benefactions." + +"Yes. So you said, Mr. Phillips." + +"I believe I did say so. Yes. And therefore, as I see it, a part of that +trust is to make sure that every penny of her--ah--charity is doing the +greatest good to the greatest number." + +"And you think the Fair Harbor isn't gettin' its money's worth?" + +"Oh, no, no, no. I don't say that. I don't say that at all. I am sure it +must be. I am merely considering, that is all, merely considering.... +Well, Captain Kendrick, I must go. We shall see each other often, I +trust. I have-ah--a suite at the Central House and if you will do me the +honor of calling I shall greatly appreciate it. Pray drop in at any +time, sir. Don't, I beg of you, stand upon ceremony." + +Sears promised that he would not. He was finding it hard to keep from +smiling. A "suite" at the Central House, Bayport's one hostelry, tickled +him. He knew the rooms at that hit or miss tavern. + +"Good-by, Captain Kendrick," said Mr. Phillips. "Upon one thing I feel +sure you may congratulate yourself, that is that your troubles and petty +annoyances as--ah--manager of the Fair Harbor are practically over." + +"Oh," observed the captain. + +"Yes. I think I shall be able to relieve you of _that_ care very +shortly. And the sooner the better, I presume you are saying. Yes? Ha, +ha!" + +"Thanks. Goin' to appoint somebody else, eh?" + +"Oh, no, no! My _dear_ sir! Why, I--I really--I thought you understood. +I mean to say simply that, while I am here in person, and as long as I +am here, I shall endeavor to look after the matters myself and +consequently relieve you, that is all. Judge Knowles appointed you and +paid you--a very wise and characteristic thing for him to do; but he, +poor man, is dead. One could scarcely expect you to go on performing +your duties gratuitously. That is why I congratulate you upon the +lifting of the burden from your shoulders." + +"Oh, yes. Um-hm. I see. Thank you, Mr. Phillips." + +"I should thank you, sir, for all you have already done. I do +sincerely.... Oh, by the way, Captain Kendrick, perhaps it would be as +well that nothing be said concerning this little business talk of ours. +One knows how trifles are distorted, mole hills made mountains, and all +that, in communities like--well, like dear old Bayport. We love our +Bayporters, bless them, but they will talk. Ha, ha! So, captain, if you +will consider our little chat confidential----" + +"I will." + +"Thank you, sir, thank you. And we shall see each other frequently. I am +counting upon it. _Au revoir_, Captain Kendrick. Don't rise, I beg of +you." + +He was gone, the door closed behind him. Sears filled his pipe, lighted +it, and leaned back in his chair to review and appraise his impressions. + +The appraisal was not altogether satisfactory. It was easy to say that +he did not like Egbert Phillips, for it was the truth--he did not like +him. But to affirm truthfully that that dislike was founded upon +anything more substantial than prejudice due to Judge Knowles' +detestation was not so easy. The question which continually intruded was +this: Suppose he had met Mr. Phillips for the first time, never having +heard of him before--would he have disliked and distrusted him under +those circumstances? He could not be quite sure. + +For, leaving aside Egbert's airy condescension and his--to the captain's +New England mind--overdone politeness, there was not so much fault to be +found with his behavior or words during the interview just ended. He had +asked questions concerning the Fair Harbor, had hinted at the +possibility of its discontinuance, had more than hinted at the dropping +of Kendrick as its manager. Well--always bearing in mind the fact that +he was ignorant of his wife's action which gave the Seymour house and +land to the Fair Harbor and gave, not loaned, the money for its +maintenance--bearing in mind the fact that Egbert Phillips believed +himself the absolute owner of all, with undisputed authority to do as he +pleased with it--then.... Well, then Captain Sears was obliged to admit +that he, himself, might have questioned and hinted very much as his +visitor had done. And as for the condescension and the "manner"--these +were, after all, not much more than eccentricities, and developed, very +likely, during his life abroad. + +Lobelia Phillips' will would be opened and read soon, probably at once. +Whew! Sears whistled as he thought of the staggering disillusionment +which was coming to the widower. How would he take it? Was Judge Knowles +right in his belief that the rest of the Seymour inheritance had been +wasted and lost? If so, the elegant personage who had just bowed himself +out of the Minot kitchen would be in a bad way indeed. Sears was sorry +for him. + +And yet he did not like the man. No, he did not.... And he did distrust +him. + +Judah came back from his sojourn at the store brimful of talk and +chuckles. As he had prophesied, all Bayport had heard of the arrival of +the great man and all Bayport was discussing him. He had the finest +rooms at the Central House. He had three trunks--count them--three! Not +to mention bags and a leather hat box. He had given the driver of the +depot wagon a dollar over and above his regular charge. He remembered +Eliphalet Bassett the first time he saw him, and called him by name. + +There was a lot more of this, but Sears paid little attention to it. +Judah summed it all up pretty well in his final declaration, given as +his lodger was leaving the kitchen for the "spare stateroom." + +"By Henry!" declared Judah, who seemed rather disgusted, "I never heard +such a powwowin' over one man in my life. Up to 'Liphalet's 'twan't +nothin' but 'Egbert Phillips,' 'Egbert Phillips,' till you'd think 'twas +a passel of poll-parrots all mockin' each other. Simeon Ryder had been +down to deacon's meetin' in the Orthodox vestry and, nigh's I can find +out, 'twas just the same down there. 'Cordin' to Sim's tell they talked +about the Lord's affairs for ten minutes and about this Egg man's for +forty." + +"But why?" queried the captain. "He isn't the only fellow that has been +away from Bayport and come back again." + +Mr. Cahoon shook his head. "I know it," he admitted, "but none of the +rest ever had quite so much fuss made over 'em. I cal'late, maybe, it's +on account of the way he's been led up to, as you might say. I went one +time to a kind of show place in New York, Barnum's Museum 'twas. There +was a great sign outdoor sayin', 'Come on aboard and see the White +Whale,' or somethin' similar. Well, I'd seen about every kind of a whale +_but_ a white one, so I cal'lated maybe I'd might as well spend a +quarter and see that. There was a great big kind of tank place full of +water and a whole passel of folks hangin' around the edge of it with +their mouths open, gawpin' at nothin'--nothin' but the water, that's all +there was to see. And a man up on a kind of platform he was preachin' a +sort of sermon, wavin' his arms and hollerin' about how rare and scurce +white whales was, and how the museum folks had to scour all creation +afore they got this one, and about how the round heads of Europe----" + +"Crowned heads, wasn't it, Judah?" + +"Hey? I don't know, maybe so. Cabbage heads it ought to have been, +'cordin' to my notion. Well, anyhow, 'twas some kind of Europe heads, +and they had all pretty nigh broke the necks belongin' to 'em gettin' to +see this whale, and how lucky we was because we could see it for the +small sum of twenty-five cents, and so on, and so on--until all hands of +us was just kind of on tiptoe, as you might say. And then, all to once, +the water in the tank kind of riz up, you know, and somethin' +white--might have been the broadside of a barn for all we had time to +see of it--showed for a jiffy, there was a 'Woosh,' and the white thing +went under again.' And that was all. The man said we was now able to +tell our children that we'd seen a white whale and that the critter +would be up to breathe again in about an hour, or week after next, or +some such time.... Anyhow, what I'm tryin' to get at is that 'twan't the +whale itself that counted so much as 'twas the way that preachin' man +led up to him. This Egbert he's been preached about and guessed about +and looked for'ard to so long that all Bayport's been on tiptoe, like us +folks around that museum tank.... Well, this Phillips whale has made a +big 'Woosh' in town so fur. Can he keep it up? That's what I'm +wonderin'." + +The sensation kept up for the next day and the next at least, and there +were no signs of its abating. Over at the Fair Harbor Captain Sears +found himself playing a very small second fiddle. Miss Snowden, Mrs. +Brackett and their following, instead of putting themselves out to smile +upon the captain and to chat with him, ignored him almost altogether, +or, if they did speak, spoke only of Mr. Phillips. He was the most +entertaining man, _so_ genteel, his conversation was remarkable, he had +traveled everywhere. + +Mrs. Berry, of course, was in ecstasies concerning him. He was her ideal +of a gentleman, she said, _so_ aristocratic. "So like the men I +associated with in the old days," she said. "Of course," she added, "he +is an old friend. Dear 'Belia and he were my dearest friends, you know, +Captain Kendrick." + +The captain was curious to learn Elizabeth's opinion of him. He found +that opinion distinctly favorable. + +"He is different," she said. "Different, I mean, from any one I ever +met. And at first I thought him conceited. But he isn't really, he is +just--well, different. I think I shall like him." + +Sears smiled. "If you don't you will be rather lonesome here in the +Harbor, I judge," he observed. + +She looked at him quickly. "You don't like him, do you, Cap'n Kendrick?" +she said. "Why?" + +"Why--why, I don't say I don't like him, Elizabeth." + +"No, you don't say it, but you look it. I didn't think you took sudden +dislikes, Cap'n. It doesn't seem like you, somehow." + +He could not explain, and he felt that he had disappointed her. + +On the third day the news came that Mr. Phillips had left town, gone +suddenly, so Judah said. + +"He took the afternoon train and bought a ticket for Boston, so they +tell me," declared the latter. "He's left his dunnage at the Central +House, so he's comin' back, I cal'late; but nobody knows where he's +gone, nor why he went. Went over to Orham this mornin'--hired a +horse-'n'-team down to the livery stable and went--come back about one +o'clock, wouldn't speak to nobody, went up to his room, never et no +dinner, and then set sail for Boston on the up train. Cur'us, ain't it? +Where do you cal'late likely he's gone, Cap'n Sears?" + +"Give it up, Judah. And," speaking quickly in order to head off the +question he saw the Cahoon lips already forming, "I can't guess why he's +gone, either." + +But, although he did not say so, he could have guessed why Mr. Phillips +had gone to Orham. Bradley, the Orham lawyer, had written the day before +to say that the will of Lobelia Phillips would be opened and read at his +office on Thursday morning. And this was Thursday. Bradley had suggested +Sears's coming over to be present at the reading of the will. "As you +are so deeply interested in the Fair Harbor," he wrote, "I should think +you might--or ought to--be on hand. I don't believe Phillips will +object." + +But the captain had not accepted the invitation. Knowing, as he did, the +disappointment which was in store for Egbert, he had no wish to see the +blow fall. So he remained at home, but that afternoon Bradley himself +drove into the Minot yard. + +"I just stopped for a minute, Cap'n, he said. I had some other business +in town here; that brought me over, but I wanted to tell you that we +opened that will this morning." + +Sears looked a question. "Well?" he queried. + +Bradley nodded. "It was just about as we thought, and as the judge +said," he declared. "The papers were there, of course, telling of the +gift of the fifty thousand to the Harbor, of the gift of the land and +house, everything. There was one other legacy, a small one, and then she +left all the rest, 'stocks, bonds, securities, personal effects and +cash' to her beloved husband, Egbert Phillips. That's all there was to +it, Kendrick. Short but sweet, eh?" + +Sears nodded. "Sweet enough," he agreed. "And how did the beloved +husband take it?" + +"Well ... well, he was pretty nasty. In fact he was about as nasty as +anybody could be. He went white as a sheet and then red and then white +again. I didn't know, for a minute or two, what was going to happen, +didn't know but what I should have a fight on my hands. However, I +didn't. I don't think he's the fighting kind, not that kind of a fight. +He just took it out in being nasty. Said of course he should contest the +gift, hinted at undue influence, spoke of thieves and swindlers--not +naming 'em, though--and then, when I suggested that he had better think +it over before he said too much, pulled up short and walked out of the +office. Yes, he was pretty nasty. But, honestly, Cap'n Kendrick, when I +think it over, I don't know that he was any nastier than I, or any other +fellow, might have been under the circumstances. It was a smash between +the eyes for him, that's what it was. Met him, have you?" + +"Yes." + +"What do you think of him?" + +"I don't know--yet." + +"Neither do I. He's a polite chap, isn't he?" + +"No doubt about that. Say, Bradley, do you think he's got much left of +the 'stocks, bonds,' and all the rest that the will talked about?" + +"I give it up. Of course we shall talk about that by and by, I suppose, +but we haven't yet. You know what Judge Knowles declared; he was +perfectly sure that there wouldn't be anything left--that this fellow +and Lobelia had thrown away every loose penny of old Seymour's money. +And, of course, he prophesied that this Egbert man would be back here as +soon as his wife died to sell the Fair Harbor, ship and cargo, and get +the money for them. The biggest satisfaction the old judge got out of +life along toward the last of it was in knowing that he and Lobelia had +fixed things so that that couldn't be done. He certainly hated Phillips, +the judge did." + +"Um-hm. But he might have been prejudiced." + +"Yes. Sometimes I wonder if he wasn't." + +"Tell me, Bradley: Did you know this Phillips man when he was skipper of +the singin' school here in Bayport? Before he married Lobelia?" + +"No. Nor I didn't meet him when he and his wife were on here the last +time. I was up in the State House serving out my two terms as county +representative." + +"I see.... Oh! You spoke of Lobelia's leavin' another legacy. Who was +that to? If it isn't a secret." + +"It is, so far. But it won't be very long. She left five thousand, in +cash and in Judge Knowles's care, for Cordelia Berry over here at the +Harbor. She and Lobelia were close friends, you know. Cordelia is to +have it free and clear, but I am to invest it for her. She doesn't know +her good luck yet. I am going over now to tell her about it.... Oh, by +the way, Cap'n: Judge Knowles's nephew, the man from California, is +expecting to reach Bayport next Sunday. He can't stay out a little +while, and so I shall have to hurry up that will and the business +connected with it. Can you come over to my office Monday about ten?" + +"Why, I suppose likely I could, but what do you want me for?" + +"I don't, except in the general way of always wanting to see you, Cap'n. +But Judge Knowles wanted you especially." + +"He did! Wanted _me_?" + +"Yes. Seems so. He left a memorandum of those he wanted on hand when his +will was read. You are one, and Elizabeth Berry is another. Will you +come?" + +"Why--why, yes, I suppose so. But what in the world----" + +"I don't know. But I imagine we'll all know Monday. I'll look for you +then, Cap'n." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +The reading of the Knowles will, so Bradley had said, was to take place +at the lawyer's office in Orham on Monday. It was Friday when Bradley +called at the Minot place, and on Saturday morning Sears and Elizabeth +discussed the matter. + +"Mr. Bradley said your name was on the list of those the judge asked to +be on hand when the will was read," said the captain. "He asked me not +to speak about the will to outsiders, and of course I haven't, but +you're not an outsider. You're goin' over, I suppose?" + +She hesitated slightly. "Why, yes," she said. "I think I shall." + +"Yes. Yes, I thought you would." + +"I shall go because the judge seems to have wished me to be there, but +why I can't imagine. Can you, Cap'n Kendrick?" + +Remembering his last conversation with Judge Knowles, Sears thought he +might at least guess a possible reason, but he did not say so. + +"We're both interested in the Fair Harbor," he observed. "And we know +how concerned the judge was with that." + +She nodded. "Yes," she admitted. "Still I don't see why mother was not +asked if that was it. You are going over, of course?" + +"Why--yes, I shall. Bradley seemed to want me to." + +That was all, at the time. The next day, however, Elizabeth again +mentioned the subject. It was in the afternoon, church and dinner were +over, and Sears was strolling along the path below the Fair Harbor +garden plots. He could walk with less difficulty and with almost no pain +now, but he could not walk far. The Eyrie was, for a wonder, +unoccupied, so he limped up to it and sat down upon the bench inside to +rest. This was the favorite haunt of the more romantic Fair Harbor +inmates, Miss Snowden and Mrs. Chase especially, but they were not there +just then, although a book, _Barriers Burned Away_, by E. P. Roe, lay +upon the bench, a cardboard marker with the initials "E. S." in +cross-stitch, between the leaves. When the captain heard a step +approaching the summer-house, he judged that Elvira was returning to +reclaim her "Barriers." But it was not Elvira who entered the Eyrie, it +was Elizabeth Berry. + +She was surprised to see him. "Why, Cap'n Sears!" she exclaimed. "I +didn't expect to find you here. I was afraid--that is, I did rather +think I might find Elvira, but not you. I didn't know you had the Eyrie +habit." + +He smiled. "I haven't," he said. "That is, it isn't chronic yet. I +didn't know you had it, either." + +"Oh I haven't. But I was rather tired, and I wanted to be alone, and +so----" + +"And so you took a chance. Well, you came at just the right time. I was +just about gettin' under way." + +He rose, but she detained him. "Don't go," she begged. "When I said I +wanted to be alone I didn't mean it exactly. I meant I wanted to be away +from--some people. You are not one of them." + +He was pleased, and showed it. "You're sure of that?" he asked. + +"Of course. You know I am. Do sit down and talk. Talk about anything +except--well, except Bayport gossip and Fair Harbor squabbles and bills +and--oh, that sort of thing. Talk about something away from Bayport, +miles and miles away. I feel just now as if I should like to be--to be +on board a ship sailing ... sailing." + +She smiled wistfully as she said it. The captain was seized with an +intense conviction that he should like to be with her on that same ship, +to sail on and on indefinitely. The kind of ship or its destination +would not matter in the least, the only essentials were that she and he +were to be on board, and ... Humph! His brain must be softening. Who +did he think he was: a young man again?--a George Kent? He came out of +the clouds. + +"Yes," he observed, dryly, "I know. I get that same feelin' every once +in a while. I should rather like to walk a deck again, myself." + +She understood instantly. That was one of the fascinations of this girl, +she always seemed to understand. A flash of pity came into her eyes. +Impulsively she laid a hand on his coat sleeve. + +"I beg your pardon," she said. "I'm so sorry. I realize how hard it must +be for you, Cap'n Kendrick. A man who has been where you have been and +seen what you have seen.... Yes, and done what you have done." + +He shrugged. "I haven't done much," he said. + +"Oh, yes, you have. I have heard so many stories about you and your +ships and the way you have handled them. There was one story I remember, +a story about how your sailors mutinied and how you got them to go to +work again. I heard that years ago, when I was a girl at school. I have +never forgotten; it sounded so wonderful and romantic and--and far off." + +He nodded. "It was far off," he said. "Away over in the South Seas. And +it was a good while ago, too, for I was in command of my first vessel, +and that's the time of all times when a man doesn't want mutiny or any +other setback. And I never had any trouble with my crews, before or +since, except then. But the water in our butts had gone rancid and we +put in at this island to refill. It was a pretty place, lazy and +sunshiny, like most of those South Sea corals, and the fo'mast hands got +ashore amongst the natives, drinkin' palm wine and traders' gin, and +they didn't want to put to sea as soon as the mates and I did." + +"But you made them?" + +"Well, I--er--sort of coaxed 'em into it." + +"Tell me about it, please." + +"Oh, there isn't anything to----" + +"Please." + +So Sears began to spin the yarn. And from that she led him into another +and then another. They drifted through the South Seas to the East +Indies, and from there to Bombay, and then to Hong Kong, and to +Mauritious, from the beaches of which came the marvelous sea shells that +Sarah Macomber had in the box in her parlor closet. They voyaged through +the Arabian Sea, with the parched desert shores shimmering in the white +hot sun. They turned north, saw the sperm whales and the great squid and +the floating bergs.... And at last they drifted back to Bayport and the +captain looked at his watch. + +"Heavens and earth!" he exclaimed. "It's almost four o'clock. I believe +I've talked steady for pretty nearly an hour. I'm ashamed. Are you +awake, Elizabeth? I hope, for your sake, you've been takin' a nap." + +She did not answer at once. Then she breathed deeply. "I don't know what +I have been doing--really doing," she said. "I suppose I have been +sitting right here in this old summer-house. But I _feel_ as if I had +been around the world. I wanted to sail and sail.... I said so, didn't +I? Well, I have. Thank you, Cap'n Kendrick." + +He rose from the bench. + +"A man gets garrulous in his old age," he observed. "But I didn't think +I was as old as that--just yet. The talkin' disease must be catchin', +and I've lived with Judah Cahoon quite a while now." + +She laughed. "If I had as much to talk about--worth while talking +about--as you have," she declared, "I should never want to stop. Well, I +must be getting back to the Fair Harbor--and the squabbles." + +"Too bad. Can I help you with 'em?" + +"No, I'm afraid not. They're not big enough for you." + +They turned to the door. She spoke again. + +"You are going to drive to Orham to-morrow afternoon?" she asked. + +"Eh? Oh, yes. The Foam Flake and I will make the voyage--if we have +luck." + +"And you are going--alone?" + +"Yes. Judah thinks I shouldn't. Probably he thinks the Foam Flake may +fall dead, or get to walkin' in his sleep and step off the bank or +somethin'. But I'm goin' to risk it. I guess likely I can keep him in +the channel." + +She waited a moment. Then she smiled and shook her head. + +"Cap'n," she said, "you make it awfully hard for me. And this is the +second time. Really, I feel so--so brazen." + +"Brazen?" + +"Yes. Why don't you invite me to ride to Orham with you? Why must I +_always_ have to invite myself?" + +He turned to look at her. She colored a little, but she returned his +look. + +"You--you mean it?" he demanded. + +"Of course I mean it. I must get there somehow, because I promised Mr. +Bradley. And unless you don't want me, in which case I shall have to +hire from the livery stable, I----" + +But he interrupted her. "Want you!" he repeated. "_Want_ you!" + +His tone was sufficiently emphatic, perhaps more emphatic than he would +have made it if he had not been taken by surprise. She must have found +it satisfactory, for she did not ask further assurances. + +"Thank you," she said. "And when are you planning to start?" + +"Why--why, right after dinner to-morrow. If that's all right for you. +But I'm sorry you had to invite yourself. I--I thought--well, I thought +maybe George had--had planned----" + +To his further surprise she seemed a trifle annoyed. + +"George works at the store," she said. "Besides, I--well, really, Cap'n +Kendrick, there is no compelling reason why George Kent should take me +everywhere I want to go." + +Now Sears had imagined there was--and rumor and surmise in Bayport had +long supported his imagining--but he did not tell her that. What he did +say was inane enough. + +"Oh--er--yes, of course," he stammered. + +"No, there isn't. He and I are friends, good friends, and have been for +a long time, but that doesn't---- Well, Cap'n, I shall look for you and +the Foam Flake--oh, that _is_ a wonderful name--about one to-morrow. And +I'll promise not to keep you waiting." + +"If the Foam Flake doesn't die in the meantime I'll be on hand. He'll be +asleep probably, but Judah declares he walks in his sleep, so that---- +Oh, heavens and earth!" + +This exclamation, although but a mutter, was fervent indeed. The captain +and Elizabeth had turned to the vine-shaded doorway of the Eyrie, and +there, in that doorway, was Miss Snowden and, peering around her thin +shoulder, the moon face of Mrs. Chase. Sears looked annoyed, Miss Berry +looked more so, and Elvira looked--well, she looked all sorts of things. +As for Aurora, her expression was, as always, unfathomable. Judah Cahoon +once compared her countenance to a pink china dish-cover, and it is hard +to read the emotions behind a dish-cover. + +Miss Snowden spoke first. + +"Oh!" she observed; and much may be expressed in that monosyllable. + +Elizabeth spoke next. "Your book is there on the seat, Elvira," she +said, carelessly. "At least I suppose it is yours. It has your bookmark +in it." + +Elvira simpered. "Yes," she affirmed, "it is mine. But I'm not in a +hurry, not a single bit of hurry. I _do_ hope we haven't _disturbed_ +you." + +"Not a bit, not a bit," said Sears, crisply. "Miss Elizabeth and I were +havin' a business talk, but we had finished. The coast is clear for you +now. Good afternoon." + +"You're _sure_, Cap'n Kendrick? Aurora and I wouldn't interrupt a +_business_ talk for the _world_. And in such a romantic place, too." + +As Sears and Elizabeth walked up the path from the summer-house the +voice of Mrs. Chase was audible--as usual very audible indeed. + +"Elviry," begged Aurora, eagerly, "Elviry, what did he say to you? He +looked awful kind of put out when he said it." + +The captain was "put out," so was Elizabeth apparently. The latter said, +"Oh, dear!" and laughed, but there was less humor than irritation in the +laugh. Sears's remark was brief but pointed. + +"I like four-legged cats first-rate," he declared. + +The next day at one o'clock he and his passenger, with the placid Foam +Flake as motor power, left the Fair Harbor together. And, as they drove +out of the yard, both were conscious that behind the shades of the +dining-room windows were at least six eager faces, and whispering +tongues were commenting, exclaiming and surmising. + +The captain, for his part, forgot the faces and tongues very quickly. It +was a pleasant afternoon, the early fall days on the Cape are so often +glorious; the rain of a few days before had laid the dust, at least the +upper layer of it, and the woods were beginning to show the first +sprinklings of crimson and purple and yellow. The old horse walked or +jogged or rambled on along the narrow winding ways, the ancient buggy +rocked and rattled and swung in the deep ruts. They met almost no one +for the eight miles between Bayport and Orham--there were no roaring, +shrieking processions of automobiles in those days--and when Abial +Gould, of North Harniss, encountered them at the narrowest section of +highway, he steered his placid ox team into the huckleberry bushes and +waited for them to pass, waving a whip-handle greeting from his perch on +top of his load of fragrant pitch pine. The little ponds and lakes shone +deeply blue as they glimpsed them in the hollows or over the tree tops +and, occasionally, a startled partridge boomed from the thicket, or a +flock of quail scurried along the roadside. + +They talked of all sorts of things, mostly of ships and seas and +countries far away, subjects to which Elizabeth led the conversation and +then abandoned it to her companion. They spoke little of the Fair Harbor +or its picayune problems, and of the errand upon which they were +going--the judge's will, its reading and its possible surprises--none at +all. + +"Don't," pleaded Elizabeth, when Sears once mentioned the will; "don't, +please. Judge Knowles was such a good friend of mine that I can't bear +to think he has gone and that some one else is to speak his thoughts and +carry out his plans. Tell me another sea story, Cap'n Kendrick. There +aren't any Elvira Snowdens off Cape Horn, I'm sure." + +So Sears spun his yarns and enjoyed the spinning because she seemed to +so enjoy listening to them. And he did not once mention his crippled +limbs, or his despondency concerning the future; in fact, he pretty well +forgot them for the time. And he did not mention George Kent, a person +whom he had meant to mention and praise highly, for his unreasonable +conscience had pestered him since the talk in the summer-house and, as +usual, he had determined to do penance. But he forgot Kent for the time, +forgot him altogether. + +Bradley's law offices occupied a one-story building on Orham's main road +near the center of the village. There were several rigs standing at the +row of hitching posts by the steps as they drove up. Sears climbed from +the buggy--he did it much easier than had been possible a month +before--and moored the Foam Flake beside them. Then they entered the +building. + +Bradley's office boy told them that his employer and the others were in +the private room beyond. The captain inquired who the others were. + +"Well" said the boy, "there's that Mr. Barnes--he's the one from +California, you know, Judge Knowles' nephew. And Mike--Mr. Callahan, I +mean--him that took care of the judge's horse and team and things; and +that Tidditt woman that kept his house. And there's Mr. Dishup, the +Orthodox minister from over to Bayport, and another man, I don't know +his name. Walk right in, Cap'n Kendrick. Mr. Bradley told me to tell you +and Miss Berry to walk right in when you came." + +So they walked right in. Bradley greeted them and introduced them to +Knowles Barnes, the long-looked-for nephew from California. Barnes was a +keen-eyed, healthy-looking business man and the captain liked him at +once. The person whom the office boy did not know turned out to be +Captain Noah Baker, a retired master mariner, who was Grand Master of +the Bayport lodge of Masons. + +"And now that you and Miss Berry are here, Cap'n Kendrick," said +Bradley, "we will go ahead. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the will of +our late good friend, Judge Knowles. He asked you all to be here when it +was opened and read. Mr. Barnes is obliged to go West again in a week or +so, so the sooner we get to business the better. Ahem!" + +Then followed the reading of the will. One by one the various legacies +and bequests were read. Some of them Sears Kendrick had expected and +foreseen. Others came as surprises. He was rather astonished to find +that the judge had been, according to Cape Cod standards of that day, +such a rich man. The estate, so the lawyer said, would, according to +Knowles' own figures, total in the neighborhood of one hundred and fifty +thousand dollars. + +Judge Knowles bequeathed: + + To the Endowment Fund of the Fair Harbor for + Mariners' Women $50,000 + + To the Bayport Congregational Church 5,000 + + To the Building Fund of the Bayport Lodge of + Masons 5,000 + + To Emmeline Tidditt (his housekeeper) 5,000 + + To Michael Callahan (his hired man) 5,000 + + To Elizabeth Berry--in trust until she should be + thirty years of age 20,000 + + Other small bequests, about 7,000 + +The balance, the residue of the estate, amounting to a sum approximating +fifty-five thousand, to Henry Knowles Barnes, of San Francisco, +California. + +There were several pages of carefully worded directions and +instructions. The fifty thousand for the Fair Harbor was already +invested in good securities and, from the interest of these, Sears +Kendrick's salary of fifteen hundred a year was to be paid as long as +he wished to retain his present position as general manager. If the time +should come when he wished to relinquish that position he was given +authority to appoint his successor at the same salary. Or should +Cordelia Berry, at any time, decide to give up her position as matron, +Kendrick and Bradley, acting together, might, if they saw fit, appoint a +suitable person to act as manager _and_ matron at a suitable salary. In +this event, of course, Kendrick would no longer continue to draw his +fifteen hundred a year. + +The reading was not without interruptions. Mr. Callahan's was the most +dramatic. When announcement was made of his five thousand dollar +windfall his Celtic fervor got the better of him and he broke loose with +a tangled mass of tearful ejaculations and prayers, a curious mixture of +glories to the saints and demands for blessings upon the soul of his +benefactor. Mrs. Tidditt was as greatly moved as he, but she had her +emotions under firmer control. The Reverend Mr. Dishup was happy and +grateful on behalf of his parish, so too was Captain Baker as +representative of the Masonic Lodge. But each of these had been in a +measure prepared, they had been led to expect some gift or remembrance. +It was Elizabeth Berry who had, apparently, expected nothing--nothing +for herself, that is. When the lawyer announced the generous bequest to +the Fair Harbor she caught her breath and turned to look at Sears with +an almost incredulous joy in her eyes. But when he read of the twenty +thousand which was hers--the income beginning at once and the principal +when she was thirty--she was so tremendously taken aback that, for an +instant, the captain thought she was going to faint. "Oh!" she +exclaimed, and that was all, but the color left her face entirely. + +Sears rose, so did the minister, but she waved them back. "Don't," she +begged. "I--I am all right.... No, please don't speak to me for--for a +little while." + +So they did not speak, but the captain, watching her, saw that the color +came back very slowly to her cheeks and that her eyes, when she opened +them, were wet. Her hands, clasped in her lap, were trembling. Sears, +although rejoicing for her, felt a pang of hot resentment at the manner +of the announcement. It should not have been so public. She should not +have had to face such a surprise before those staring spectators. Why +had not the judge--or Bradley, if he knew--have prepared her in some +measure? + +But when it was over and he hastened to congratulate her, she was more +composed. She received his congratulations, and those of the others, if +not quite calmly at least with dignity and simplicity. To Mr. Dishup and +Bradley and Captain Baker she said little except thanks. To Barnes, +whose congratulations were sincere and hearty, and, to all appearances +at least, quite ungrudging, she expressed herself as too astonished to +be very coherent. + +"I--I can scarcely believe it yet," she faltered. "I can't understand--I +can't think why he did it.... And you are all so very kind. You won't +mind if I don't say any more now, will you?" + +But to Sears when he came, once more, to add another word and to shake +her hand, she expressed a little of the uncertainty which she felt. + +"Oh," she whispered; "oh, Cap'n Kendrick, do you think it is right? Do +you think he really meant to do it? You are sure he did?" + +His tone should have carried conviction. "You bet he meant it!" he +declared, fervently. "He never meant anything any more truly; I know +it." + +"Do you? Do you really?... Did--did you know? Did he tell you he was +going to?" + +"Not exactly, but he hinted. He----" + +"Wait. Wait, please. Don't tell me any more now. By and by, on the way +home, perhaps. I--I want to know all about it. I want to be sure. And," +with a tremulous smile, "I doubt if I could really understand just yet." + +The group in the lawyer's office did not break up for another hour. +There were many matters for discussion, matters upon which Bradley and +Barnes wished the advice of the others. Mike and Mrs. Tidditt were sent +home early, and departed, volubly, though tearfully rejoicing. The +minister and Captain Noah stayed on to answer questions concerning the +church and the lodge, the former's pressing needs and the new building +which the latter had hoped for and which was now a certainty. Sears and +Elizabeth remained longest. Bradley whispered to the captain that he +wished them to do so. + +When they were alone with him, and with Barnes of course, he took from +his pocket two sealed letters. + +"The judge gave me these along with the will," he said. "That was about +three weeks before he died. I don't know what is in them and he gave me +to understand that I wasn't supposed to know. They are for you two and +no one else, so he said. You are to read yours when you are alone, Cap'n +Kendrick, and Elizabeth is to read hers when she is by herself. And he +particularly asked me to tell you both not to make your decision too +quickly. Think it over, he said." + +He handed Sears an envelope addressed in Judge Knowles' hand-writing, +and to Elizabeth another bearing her name. + +"There!" he exclaimed, with a sigh of relief. "That is done. Ever since +the old judge left us I have been feeling as if he were standing at my +elbow and nudging me not to forget. He had a will of his own, Judge +Knowles had, and I don't mean the will we have just read, either. But, +take him by and large, as you sailors say, Cap'n, I honestly believe he +was the biggest and squarest man this county has seen for years. Some of +us are going to be surer of that fact every day that passes." + +It was after four when Elizabeth and Sears climbed aboard the buggy and +the captain, tugging heavily on what he termed the port rein, coaxed the +unwilling Foam Flake into the channel--or the road. Heavy clouds had +risen in the west since their arrival in Orham, the sky was covered with +them, and it was already beginning to grow dark. When they turned from +the main road into the wood road leading across the Cape there were +lighted lamps in the kitchens of the scattered houses on the outskirts +of the town. + +"Is it going to rain, do you think?" asked Elizabeth, peering at the +troubled brown masses above the tree tops. + +Sears shook his head. "Hardly think so," he replied. "Looks more like +wind to me. Pretty heavy squall, I shouldn't wonder, and maybe rain +to-morrow. Come, come; get under way, Old Hundred," addressing the +meandering Foam Flake. "If you don't travel faster than this in fair +weather and a smooth sea, what will you do when we have to reef? Well," +with a chuckle, "even if it comes on a livin' gale the old horse won't +blow off the course. Judah feeds him too well. Nothin' short of a +typhoon could heel _him_ down." + +The prophesied gale held off, but the darkness shut in rapidly. In the +long stretches of thick woods through which they were passing it was +soon hard to see clearly. Not that that made any difference. Sears knew +the Orham road pretty well and the placid Foam Flake seemed to know it +absolutely. His ancient hoofs plodded up and down in the worn "horse +path" between the grass-grown and sometimes bush-grown ridges which +separated it from the deep ruts on either side. Sometimes those ruts +were so deep that the tops of the blueberry bushes and weeds on those +ridges scratched the bottom of the buggy. + +Beside his orders to the horse the captain had said very little since +their departure. He had been thinking, though, thinking hard. It was +just beginning to dawn upon him, the question as to what this good +fortune which had befallen the girl beside him might mean, what effect +it might have upon her, upon her future--and upon her relations with +him, Sears Kendrick. + +Hitherto those relations had been those of comrades, fellow workers, +partners, so to speak, in an enterprise the success of which involved +continuous planning and fighting against obstacles. A difficult but +fascinating game of itself, but one which also meant a means of +livelihood for them both. Elizabeth had drawn no salary, it is true, but +without her help her mother could not have held her position as matron, +not for a month could she have done so. It was Elizabeth who was the +real matron, who really earned the wages Cordelia received and upon +which they both lived. And Elizabeth had told the captain that she +should remain at the Fair Harbor and work with and for her mother as +long as the latter needed her. + +And now Sears was realizing that the necessity for either of them to +remain there no longer existed. Cordelia, thanks to Mrs. Phillips' +bequest, had five thousand dollars of her own. Elizabeth had, for the +six or seven years before her thirtieth birthday, an income of at least +twelve hundred yearly. Cordelia's legacy would add several hundred to +that. If they wished it was quite possible for them to retire from the +Fair Harbor and live somewhere in a modest fashion upon that income. +Many couples--couples esteemed by Bayporters as being in comfortable +circumstances--were living upon incomes quite as small. Sears was +suddenly brought face to face with this possibility, and was forced to +admit it even a probability. + +And he--he had no income worth mentioning. He could not go to sea again +for a long time; he did not add "if ever," because even conservative +Doctor Sheldon now admitted that his complete recovery was but a matter +of time, but it would be a year--perhaps years. And for that year, or +those years, he must live--and he had practically nothing to live upon +except his Fair Harbor salary. And then again, as an additional +obligation, there was his promise to Judge Knowles to stick it out. But +to stick it out alone--without her! + +For Elizabeth was under no obligation. She might not stay--probably +would not. She was a young woman of fortune now. She could do what she +liked, in reason. She might--why, she might even decide to marry. There +was Kent---- + +At the thought Sears choked and swallowed hard. A tingling, freezing +shiver ran down his spine. She would marry George Kent and he would be +left to--to face--to face---- She would marry--_she_---- + +The shiver lasted but a moment. He shut his teeth, blinked and came +back to the buggy seat and reality--and shame. Overwhelming, humiliating +shame. He glanced fearfully at her, afraid that she might have seen his +face and read upon it the secret which he himself had learned for the +first time. No, she did not read it, she was not looking at him, she too +seemed to be thinking. There was a chance for him yet. He must be a man, +a decent man, not a fool and a selfish beast. She did not know--and she +should not. Then, or at any future time. + +He spoke now and hurriedly. "Well," he began, "I suppose----" + +But she had looked up and now she spoke. Apparently she had not heard +him, for she said: + +"Tell me about it, Cap'n Kendrick, please. I want to hear all about it. +You said you knew? You say Judge Knowles hinted that he was going to do +this--for me? Tell me all about it, please. Please." + +So he told her, all that he could remember of the judge's words +concerning his regard for her, of his high opinion of her abilities, of +his friendship for her father, and of his intention to see that she was +"provided for." + +"I didn't know just what he meant, of course," he said, in conclusion, +"but I guessed, some of it. I do want you to know, Elizabeth," he added, +stammering a little in his earnestness, "how glad I am for you, how +_very_ glad." + +"Yes," she said, "I do know." + +"Well, I--I haven't said much, but I _am_. I don't think I ever was more +glad, or could be. You believe that, don't you?" + +She looked at him in surprise. "Why, of course I believe it," she said. +"Why do you ask that?" + +"Oh, I--I don't know. I hadn't said much about it." + +"But it wasn't necessary. I knew you were glad. I know you by this time, +Cap'n Kendrick, through and through." + +The same guilty shiver ran down his spine and he glanced sharply at her +to see if there was any hidden meaning behind her words. But there was +not. She was looking down again, and when she again spoke it was to +repeat the question she had asked at the lawyer's office. + +"I wonder if I ought to take it?" she murmured. "Do you think it is +right for me to accept--so much? + +"Right!" he repeated. "Right? Of course its right. And because it is +enough to amount to somethin' makes it all the more right. Judge Knowles +knew what he was doin', trust his long head for that. A little would +only have made things easier where you were.... Now," he forced himself +to say it, "now you can be independent." + +"Independent?" + +"Why, yes. Do what you like--in reason. Steer your own course. Live as +you want to ... and where ... and _how_ you want to." + +They were simple sentences these, but he found them hard to say. She +turned again to look at him. + +"Why do you speak like that?" she asked. "How should I want to live? +What do you mean?" + +"I mean--er--you can think of your own happiness and--plans, and--all +that. You won't be anchored to the Fair Harbor, unless you want to be. +You.... Eh? Hi! Standby! Whoa! _Whoa!_" + +The last commands were roars at the horse, for, at that moment, the +squall struck. + +It came out of the blackness to the left and ahead like some enormous +living creature springing over the pine tops and pouncing upon them. +There was a rumble, a roar and then a shrieking rush. The sand of the +road leaped up like the smoke from an explosion, showers of leaves and +twigs pattered sharply upon the buggy top or were thrown smartly into +their faces. From all about came the squeaks and groans of branches +rubbing against each other, with an occasional sharp crack as a limb +gave way under the pressure. + +Captain Kendrick and his passenger had been so occupied with their +thoughts and conversation that both had forgotten the heavy clouds they +had noticed when they left Bradley's office, rolling up from the west. +Then, too, the increasing darkness had hidden the sky. So the swoop of +the squall took them completely by surprise. + +And not only them but that genuine antique the Foam Flake. This +phlegmatic animal had been enjoying himself for the last half hour. No +one had shouted orders at him, he had not been slapped with the ends of +the reins, no whip had been cracked in his vicinity. He had been +permitted to amble and to walk and had availed himself of the +permission. For the most recent mile he had been, practically, a +somnambulist. Now out of his dreams, whatever they may have been, came +this howling terror. He jumped and snorted. Then the wind, tearing a +prickly dead branch from a scrub oak by the roadside, cast it full into +his dignified countenance. For the first time in ten years at least, the +Foam Flake ran away. + +He did not run far, of course; he was not in training for distance +events. But his sprint, although short, was lively and erratic. He +jumped to one side, the side opposite to that from which the branch had +come, jerking the buggy out of the ruts and setting it to rocking like a +dory amid breakers. He jumped again, and this brought his ancient +broadside into contact with the bushes by the edge of the road. They +were ragged, and prickly, and in violent commotion. So he jumped the +other way. + +Sears, yelling Whoas and compliments, stood erect upon his newly-mended +legs and leaned his weight backward upon the reins. If the skipper of a +Hudson River canal boat had suddenly found his craft deserting the +waterway and starting to climb Bear Mountain, he might have experienced +something of Sears' feelings at that moment. Canal boats should not +climb; it isn't done; and horses of the Foam Flake age, build and +reputation should not run away. + +"Whoa! Whoa! What in thunder--?" roared the captain. "Port! Port, you +lubber!" + +He jerked violently on the left rein. That rein was, like the horse and +the buggy, of more than middle age. Leather of that age must be +persuaded, not jerked. The rein broke just beyond Sears' hand, flew over +the dashboard and dragged in the road. The driver's weight came solidly +upon the right hand rein. The Foam Flake dashed across the highway +again, head-first into the woods this time. + +Then followed a few long--very long minutes of scratching and rocking +and pounding. Sears heard himself shouting something about the Broken +rein he must get that rein. + +"It's all right! It's all right, Elizabeth!" he shouted. "I'm goin' to +lean out over his back, if I can and--O--oh!" + +The last was a groan, involuntarily wrung from him by the pain in his +knees. He had put an unaccustomed strain upon them and they were +remonstrating. He shut his teeth, swallowed another groan, and leaned +out over the dash, his hand clutching for the harness of the rocketing, +bumping Foam Flake. + +Then he realized that some one else was leaning over that dashboard, was +in fact almost out of the buggy and swinging by the harness and the +shaft. + +"Elizabeth!" he shouted, in wild alarm. "Elizabeth, what are you doin'? +Stop!" + +But she was back, panting a little, but safe. + +"I have the rein," she panted. "Give me the other, Cap'n Kendrick. I can +handle him, I know. Give me the rein. Sit down! Oh, please! You will +hurt yourself again!" + +But he was in no mood to sit down. He snatched the end of the broken +rein from her hand, taking it and the command again simultaneously. + +"Get back, back on the seat," he ordered. "Now then," addressing the +horse, "we'll see who's what! Whoa! Whoa! Steady! Come into that +channel, you old idiot! Come _on_!" + +The Foam Flake was pretty nearly ready to come by this time. And +Kendrick's not too gentle coaxing helped. The buggy settled into the +ruts with a series of bumps. The horse's gallop became a trot, then a +walk; then he stopped and stood still. + +The captain subsided on the seat beside his passenger. He relaxed his +tension upon the reins and the situation. + +"Whew!" he exclaimed. "That was sweet while it lasted. All right, are +you?" + +She answered, still rather breathlessly, "Yes, I am all right," she +declared. "But you? Aren't you hurt?" + +"Me? Not a bit." + +"You're sure? I was so afraid. Your--your legs, you know." + +"My legs are all serene." They weren't, by any means, and were at that +moment proclaiming the fact, but he did not mean she should know. +"They're first-rate.... Well, I'm much obliged." + +"Obliged for what?" + +"For that rein. But you shouldn't have climbed out that way. You might +have broken your neck. 'Twas an awful risk." + +"You were going to take the same risk. And _I_ am not in the doctor's +care." + +"Well, you shouldn't have done it, just the same. And it was a spunky +thing to do.... But what a numbskull I was not to be on the lookout for +that squall. Humph!" with a grin, "I believe I told you even a typhoon +couldn't move this horse. I was wrong, wasn't I?" + +The squall had passed on, but a steady gale was behind it. And there was +a marked hint of dampness in the air. Sears sniffed. + +"And I'm afraid, too," he said, "that I was wrong about that rain comin' +to-morrow. I think it's comin' this evenin' and pretty soon, at that." + +It came within fifteen minutes, in showery gusts at first. The captain +urged the Foam Flake onward as fast as possible, but that quadruped had +already over-expended his stock of energy and shouts and slaps meant +nothing to him. For a short time Sears chatted and laughed, but then he +relapsed into silence. Elizabeth, watching him fearfully, caught, as the +buggy bounced over a loose stone, a smothered exclamation, first cousin +to a groan. + +"I knew it!" she cried. "You _are_ hurt, Cap'n Kendrick." + +"No, no, I'm not," hastily. "It's--it's those confounded spliced spars +of mine. They're a little weak yet, I presume likely." + +"Of course they are. Oh, I'm _so_ sorry. Won't you let me drive?" + +"I should say not. I'm not quite ready for the scrap heap yet. And if I +couldn't steer this Noah's ark I should be.... Hello! here's another +craft at sea." + +Another vehicle was ahead of them in the road, coming toward them. Sears +pulled out to permit it to pass. But the driver of the other buggy +hailed as the horses' heads came abreast. + +"Elizabeth," he shouted, "is that you?" + +Miss Berry's surprise showed in her voice. + +"Why, George!" she cried. "Where in the world are you going?" + +The horses stopped. Kent leaned forward. + +"Going?" he repeated. "Why, I was going after you, of course. Are you +wet through?" + +He seemed somewhat irritated, so the captain thought. + +"No, indeed," replied Elizabeth. "I am all right. But why did you come +after me? Didn't they tell you I was with Cap'n Kendrick?" + +"_They_ told me--yes. But why didn't _you_ tell me you were going to +Orham? I would have driven you over; you know I would." + +"You were at work at the store." + +"Well, I could have taken the afternoon off.... But there! no use +talking about it out here in this rain. Come on.... Oh, wait until I +turn around. Drive ahead a little, will you?" + +This was the first time he had spoken to Sears, and even then his tone +was not too gracious. The captain drove on a few steps, as requested, +and, a moment later, Kent's equipage, now headed in their direction, was +alongside once more. + +"Whoa!" he shouted, and both horses stopped. "Come on, Elizabeth," urged +the young man, briskly. "Wait, I'll help you." + +He sprang out of his buggy and approached theirs. "Come on," he said, +again. "Quick! It is going to rain harder." + +Elizabeth did not move. "But I'm not going with you, George," she said +quietly. + +He stared at her. + +"Not going with me?" he repeated. "Why, of course you are. I've come on +purpose for you." + +"I'm sorry. You shouldn't have done it. You knew I would be all right +with Cap'n Kendrick." + +"I didn't even know you were going with him. You didn't say you were +going at all. If you had I----" + +"You would have taken another afternoon's holiday. And you know what Mr. +Bassett said about the last one." + +"I don't care a--I don't care what he says. I shan't be working very +long for him, I hope.... But there, Elizabeth! Come on, come on! I can +get you home for supper while that old horse of Cahoon's is thinking +about it." + +But still she did not move. Sears thought that, perhaps, he should take +a hand. + +"Go right ahead, Elizabeth," he said. "George is right about the +horses." + +"Of course I am. Come, Elizabeth." + +"No, I shall stay with Cap'n Kendrick. He has been kind enough to take +me so far and we are almost home. You can follow, George, and we'll get +there together." + +"Well, I like that!" exclaimed Kent. But he did not speak as if he liked +it. "After I have taken the trouble----" + +"Hush! Don't be silly. The cap'n has taken a great deal of trouble, +too.... No," as Sears began to protest, "you can't get rid of me, Cap'n +Kendrick." + +"But, Elizabeth----" + +"No. Do you suppose I am going to leave you--in pain--and.... Drive on, +please. George can follow us." + +"But I'm all right, good land knows! The Foam Flake won't try to fly +again. And really, I----" + +"Drive on, please." + +So he drove on; there seemed to be nothing else to do. It did not help +his feelings to hear, as George Kent was left standing in the road, a +disgusted and profane ejaculation from that young gentleman. + +The remainder of the journey was quickly made. There was little +conversation. The rain, the wind, and the sounds of the horses' hoofs +and the rattle of the buggies--for Kent's was close behind all the +way--furnished most of the noise. + +Judah was waiting when they came into the yard of the Minot place. He +and Elizabeth helped Sears from the buggy. The captain, in spite of his +protestations, could scarcely stand. Kent, because Elizabeth asked him +to, assisted in getting him into the kitchen and the biggest rocking +chair. + +"Now go ... go," urged Sears. "I'm just a little lame, that's all, and +I'll be all right by to-morrow. Go, Elizabeth please. Your supper is +waitin' as it is. Now go." + +She went, but rather reluctantly. "I shall run over after supper to see +how you are," she declared. "Thank you very much for taking me to Orham, +Cap'n." + +"Thank you for--for a whole lot of things. And don't you dream of comin' +over again to-night. There's no sense in it, is there, George?" + +If Kent heard he did not answer. His "good night" was brief. Sears did +not like it, nor the expression on his face. This was a new side of the +young fellow's character, a side the captain had not seen before. And +yet--well, he was young, very young. Sears was troubled about the +affair. Had he been to blame? He had not meant to be. Ah-hum! the world +was full of misunderstandings and foolishness. And was there, in all +that world, any being more foolish than himself? + +Just here, Judah, having returned from stabling the Foam Flake, rushed +into the kitchen to demand answers to a thousand questions. For the next +hour there was no opportunity for moralizing or melancholy. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +Elizabeth did not visit the Minot place that evening, as she had said +she meant to do. It may be that Sears was a trifle disappointed, but +even he would have been obliged to confess that that particular evening +was not the time for him to receive callers. He ate his supper--a very +small portion of the meal which Judah had provided for him--and, soon +afterward, retired to the spare stateroom and bed. Undressing was a +martyrdom, and he had hard work to keep back the groans which the pain +in his legs tempted him to utter. There was no doubt that he had twisted +those shaky limbs of his more than he realized. He had wrenched them +severely, how severely he scarcely dared think. But they forced him to +think all that night, and the next morning Judah insisted on going for +the doctor. + +Doctor Sheldon examined the "spliced timbers," fumed and scolded a good +deal, but at last grudgingly admitted that no irreparable harm had been +done. + +"You're luckier than you deserve, Cap'n," he declared. "It's a wonder +you aren't ruined altogether. Now you stay right in that bed until I +tell you to get up. And that won't be to-day, or to-morrow either. +Perhaps the day after that--well, we'll see. But those legs of yours +need absolute rest. Judah, you see that they get it, will you? If he +tries to get up you knock him back again. Those are orders. Understand?" + +"Aye, aye, sir," replied Judah, promptly. "I'll have a handspike handy. +He won't turn out, I'll see to it." + +Sears' protestations that he couldn't waste time in bed, that he had too +many important things to attend to, went for nothing. According to +Sheldon and Judah his legs were the only things of real importance just +then and they needed absolute rest. Down inside him the captain realized +that this was true, and so grumblingly resigned himself to the two days +of imprisonment. With the most recent issues of the _Cape Cod Item_ and +one or two books from the shelves in the sitting room closet, books of +the vintage of the '40's and '50's, but fortunately of a strong sea +flavor, he endeavored to console himself, while Judah attended to the +household duties or went down town on errands. + +Elizabeth called that first forenoon, but did not see him. The doctor +had warned Judah to head off visitors. "They may not do any harm, but +they certainly won't do any good, and I want him to have absolute rest," +said Sheldon. So Judah guarded the outer portal, and, when he went out, +hung up a warning placard. "OUT. NO ADMITENTS. DOORS LOKED. KEY UNDER +MAT." The information concerning the key was for the doctor's benefit. + +But Elizabeth sent her good wishes and sympathy. So did her mother. So, +too, did Esther Tidditt, and Miss Snowden, and Miss Peasley, and in fact +all the Fair Harbor inmates. For the first day Mr. Cahoon was kept busy +transmitting messages to the spare stateroom. + +But about this time Bayport began to rock with a new series of +sensations and, except by the very few, Captain Kendrick was forgotten. +The news of Judge Knowles' various legacies became known and spread +through the village like fire in a patch of dead weeds. The Fair Harbor +sat up nearly all of one night discussing and commenting upon the good +fortune which had befallen the Berrys. And by no means all of the time +was used in congratulations. + +"Humph!" sniffed Susanna Brackett, her lips squeezed so tightly together +that her mustache stood on end. "Humph!" + +Miss Snowden nodded. "Of course," she said, "I'm not a person to hint, +or anything of that sort. But--_but_ if somebody'll tell me _why_ the +judge left all that money to her I should like to hear 'em." + +Mrs. Brackett opened her lips sufficiently to observe that so should +she. "Of course," she added, "the five thousand that Lobelia left +Cordelia might have been expected, they was real friendly always. But +why did Judge Knowles leave it all to Elizabeth and not one cent to her +mother? _That_ I _can't_ understand." + +Miss Peasley smiled. "We used to wonder why Elizabeth kept runnin' to +the judge's all the time," she said. "He was sick and feeble and we +thought 'twas queer her pesterin' him so. _Now_--well, it pays to hang +around sick folks, don't it? They're easier to coax, maybe, than the +well kind.... Course I ain't sayin' there was any coaxin' done." + +Little Mrs. Tidditt's feathers had begun to rise. "Oh, no!" she snapped. +"You ain't _sayin'_ anything, any of you. Judge Knowles was business +head of this--this old cats' home afore he app'inted Cap'n Kendrick to +the job, and you know that. Elizabeth _had_ to go to him about all sorts +of money matters, and you know that, too. As for her tryin' to coax him +to leave her money, that's just rubbish. He always liked her, thought +the world of her ever since she was a little girl, and he left her the +twenty thousand because of that and for no other reason. That's why _I_ +think he left it to her; but, if some of the rest of you would be better +satisfied, I'll tell her what you say--or _ain't_ sayin', Desire--and +let her answer it herself." + +This not being at all what Miss Peasley and the others wished, no more +was said about undue influence at the time. But much was said at times +when the pugnacious Esther was not present, and there was marked +speculation concerning what Miss Berry would do with her money, what Mr. +Phillips would do when he returned to Bayport, whether or not Cordelia +Berry would continue to be matron at the Harbor, and what Sears +Kendrick's plans for the future might be. + +"Of course," said Mrs. Brackett, "the judge fixed it so he would get his +fifteen hundred so long as he stays manager. But will he stay long? +There's Mr. Phillips to be considered now, I should think. _He'll_ have +somethin' to say about the--er--retreat his wife founded, won't he?" + +Mrs. Constance Cahoon made a remark. + +"George Kent'll come in for a nice windfall some of these days, it looks +like," she observed, significantly. "What makes you look so funny, +Elviry?" + +Miss Snowden smiled. "Will he?" she inquired. + +"Well, won't he? When he marries Elizabeth----" + +"Yes. Yes, _when_ he does." + +"Well, he's goin' to, ain't he? Why, he's been keepin' comp'ny with her +for two years. Everybody cal'lates they're engaged." + +"Yes. But _they_ don't say they are.... Oh, what is it Aurora?" + +Mrs. Chase, who had been listening with her hand at her ears, had caught +a little of the conversation. + +"If you mean her and George Kent is engaged, Constance," she declared, +"they ain't. I asked Elizabeth if they was, myself, asked her much as a +month ago, and she said no. Pretty nigh took my head off, too." + +Elvira's smile broadened. She nodded, slowly and with mysterious +significance. "I'm not so sure about that engagement," she observed. +"Some things I've seen lately have set me to thinking. To thinking a +good deal.... Um ... yes. It looks to me as if somebody--_somebody_, I +mention no names--may have had a hint of what was coming and began to +lay plans according.... No, I shan't say any more--now. And I give in +that it seems too perfectly ridiculous to believe. But things like that +sometimes do happen, and ... Well, we'll wait and see." + +Happy in the knowledge that she had aroused curiosity as well as envy of +her superior knowledge, she subsided. Mrs. Tidditt concluded that +portion of the discussion. + +"Well," she remarked, crisply, "I don't see why we need to sit here +talkin' about engagements or folks' gettin' married. Nobody has shown +any symptoms of wantin' to marry any of _this_ crowd, so far as I can +make out." + +While the town was at the very height of its agitation concerning the +Knowles will, there came another earthquake. Egbert Phillips returned. +He alighted from the train at the Bayport depot on the second morning of +Sears's imprisonment in the spare stateroom and before night the +information that he imparted--confidentially, of course--and the hints +he gave concerning his plans for the future, made the Berry legacies and +all the other legacies take second place as gossip kindlers. + +Judah came rushing into the house later that afternoon, his arms full of +bundles--purchases at Eliphalet's store--and his mouth full of words. He +dropped everything, eggs, salt fish, tea and shoe laces, on the kitchen +table and tore pell-mell into his lodger's bedroom. Captain Kendrick, +propped up with pillows, was of course stretched out in bed. There was +what appeared to be a letter in his hand, a letter apparently just +received, for a recently opened envelope lay on the comforter beside +him, and upon his face was an expression of bewilderment, surprise and +marked concern. Judah was too intent upon his news to notice anything +else and Sears hastily gathered up letter and envelope and thrust them +beneath the pillow. Then Judah broke loose. + +Egbert had come back, had come back to Bayport to live, for good. He had +come on the morning train. Lots of folks saw him; some of them had +talked with him. "And what do you cal'late, Cap'n Sears? You'll never +guess in _this_ world! By the crawlin' prophets, he swears he ain't +rich, the way all hands figured out he was. No, sir, he ain't! 'Cordin' +to his tell he ain't got no money at all, scarcely. All them stocks +and--and bonds and--and securitums and such like have gone on the rocks. +They was unfort'nate infestments, he says. He says he's in straightened +out circumstances, whatever they be, but he's come back here to spend +his declinin' days--that's what Joe Macomber says he called 'em, his +declinin' days--in Bayport, 'cause he loves the old place, 'count of +Lobelia, his wife, lovin' it so, and he can maybe scratch along here on +what income he's got, and--and----" + +And so on, for sentence after sentence. Sears heard some of it, but not +all. The letter he had just read--the letter from Judge Knowles which +Bradley had handed him before he left Orham--was of itself too startling +and disturbing to be dismissed from his thoughts; but he heard some, +enough to make him realize that there might be, in all probability was, +trouble ahead. Just why Phillips had returned to Bayport, to take up his +abode there permanently, was hard to understand, but there certainly +must be some reason beside his "love" for the place and its people. +Neither place nor people should, so it seemed to the captain, appeal +strongly to a citizen of the world, of the fashionable world, like Mr. +Egbert Phillips. It is true that he might perhaps live cheaper there +than in most communities, but still.... No, Sears was sure that the +former singing teacher had returned to the Cape in pursuance of a plan. +What that plan might be he could not guess, unless the widower +contemplated contesting his wife's gift to the Fair Harbor. That would +be a losing fight, was certain to be, for Judge Knowles had seen to +that. But if not that--what? + +He gave very little thought to the matter at the time, for Judge +Knowles' letter and its astounding proposition were monopolizing his +mental machinery. That letter would have, as he might have expressed it, +knocked him on his beam ends even if the Foam Flake's unexpected +outbreak had not knocked him there already. The letter was rather long, +but it was to the point, nevertheless. Judge Knowles begged him--him, +Sears Kendrick--to accept the appointment of trustee in charge of +Elizabeth Berry's twenty thousand dollar inheritance. The latter was +hers in trust until she was thirty. + +"I have seen enough of you to believe in you, Kendrick," so the judge +had written. "Besides, you know the Berrys, mother and daughter, by this +time, better than any one else--even Bradley--and you know my opinion of +Cordelia's headpiece. I don't want her soft-headedness or foolishness to +get any of Elizabeth's money away from her. Elizabeth is a dutiful +daughter and an unselfish girl and she may feel--or be led to +feel--that her mother ought to have this money or a large part of it. I +don't want this to happen. Of course I expect Elizabeth to share her +income with her mother, but I don't want the principal disturbed. After +she is thirty she can, of course, do what she likes with it, but that +time isn't now by some years. And then there is that Egbert. Look out +for him. I say again, look out for him. If _he_ ever got a penny of this +money I should turn over in my grave. Perhaps you think I am an old fool +and am treating him with more seriousness than he deserves. You won't +think so when you know him as well as I do, mark my words. And I think +you are the one man around here that has had worldly experience enough, +backed by brains and common-sense, to see through him and handle him. I +don't mean that there aren't other smart men in town, but most of the +smartest are in active service and at sea a good share of the time. You +will be right here for a few years at least. And you are honest, and you +like Elizabeth Berry, and will look out for her interests.... Of course +I can't compel you to take this trusteeship, but I hope you will, as a +favor to her and to me. I have written her a letter similar to this, but +I have left her a free choice in the matter. If she does not want you +for her trustee then that ends it. Being the kind of girl she is, I +think she will be mighty glad to have you...." + +And this was the proposition which was causing the captain so much +anxiety and perplexity. It interfered with the sleep which Doctor +Sheldon seemed to feel necessary to his patient's complete recovery from +the setback. It prevented his keeping those damaged legs of his +absolutely quiet. Time and time again Judah, at work in what he always +referred to as the "galley," heard his lodger tossing about in the spare +stateroom and occasionally muttering to himself. + +For Sears, facing the problem of accepting or declining the trust, was +quite aware that the dilemma upon which the judge had perched him had +two very sharp horns. If he declined--always of course supposing that +Elizabeth Berry asked him to accept--if he declined he would be acting +contrary to her wishes and Judge Knowles'. If he did decline, then +Bradley would be the trustee. Knowles, in a part of the letter not +quoted, had said that he imagined that would have to be the alternative. +And Bradley--a good man, an honest and capable man--was not a resident +of Bayport and could not, as he could, keep an eye upon the Berrys nor +upon those who might try to influence them. And Bradley did not know +Bayport as he, Kendrick, did. + +But on the other hand, suppose Elizabeth begged him to take the +trusteeship and he did take it? To begin with, he dreaded the added +responsibility and distrusted his ability to handle investments. His +record as a business man ashore was brief enough and not of a kind to +inspire self-confidence. And what would people say concerning it and +him? He and Elizabeth were in daily contact. Their association in the +management of the Fair Harbor was close already. If he should be given +charge of her fortune--for it was a fortune, in Bayport eyes--would not +his every action be liable to misconstruction? Would not malicious +gossip begin to whisper all sorts of things? To misconstrue motives and +...? Perhaps they were already whispering. He had seen Elvira Snowden +but once since she and Mrs. Chase surprised him and Elizabeth in the +Eyrie, but on that one occasion Elvira had, so it seemed to him, looked +queer--and knowing. It was foolish, of course; it was ridiculous, and +wicked. He and Elizabeth were friendly, had come to be very good friends +indeed, but---- + +And here his train of thought stopped dead, while the same guilty shiver +he had before felt ran up and down his spine.... Good Lord above! _what_ +was he thinking of? What could be the matter with him? Why, even if +things were as they had been he would be crazy to.... And now she was a +rich woman, rich compared to him, at least. + +No! And over and over again, No! He would decline the trusteeship. And +he would make it his business to get well and to sea again as soon as +possible. As soon as she came to him to mention the judge's letter and +its insane request he would settle that proposal once and for all. + +But she did not come. On the third day the doctor refused to permit him +to leave the bed. + +"You stay where you are for another two days," commanded Sheldon. "It +will do you good, and while I'm boss you shan't take chances. Cahoon and +I have got you where we want you now and we'll keep you there till we +pipe you on deck. Eh, Judah?" + +Judah grinned. "Aye, aye," was his rejoinder. "Got the handspike ready +to my fist, Doctor. He'll stay put if I have to lash him to the bunk +with a chain cable. It's all for your good, Cap'n Sears. That's what my +ma used to tell me when she dosed me up every spring with brimstone and +molasses." + +So, reluctantly realizing that it was for his good, Sears "stayed put." +He had a few callers, although Judah saw to it that their calls were +brief. Elizabeth was not one of these. She came at least once a day to +inquire about him, but she did not ask to see him. The captain, trying +not to be disappointed, endeavored to console himself with the idea that +she was following Judge Knowles' advice, as repeated by Bradley, and +meant to take plenty of time before making up her mind concerning the +trusteeship. + +One of his visitors was George Kent. On the fourth day, on his way to +the Macombers for dinner, the young fellow called at the Minot place. +Judah was out, but Sears heard his visitor's voice and step through the +open doors of the dining room and kitchen and shouted to him to come in. +His manner when he entered was, so it seemed to the captain, a trifle +constrained, but his inquiries concerning the latter's health were +cordial enough. As for Sears, he, of course, made it a point to be +especially cordial. + +They talked of many things, but not of their recent encounter on the +Orham road. Sears did not like to be the first to mention it and it +appeared as if Kent wished to avoid it altogether. But at last, after a +short interval of silence, a break in the conversation, he did refer to +it. + +"Cap'n Kendrick," he said, reddening and looking rather nervous and +uncomfortable, "I--I suppose you thought I was--was pretty disagreeable +the other evening. I mean when we met in the rain and Elizabeth was with +you." + +"Eh? Disagreeable?" + +"Yes. I wasn't very pleasant, I know. I'm sorry. That--that was one of +the things I came to say. I lost my temper, I guess." + +"Well, if you did I don't know as I blame you, George. A night like that +is enough to lose any one's temper. I lost mine. The Foam Flake ran away +with it. But he's repentin' in sackcloth and ashes, I guess. Judah says +the old horse is lamer than I am." + +He laughed heartily. Kent's laugh was short. His uneasiness seemed to +increase. + +"Yes," he said, returning to the subject which was evidently uppermost +in his mind. "Yes, I did--er--lose my temper, perhaps. But--but it seems +almost as if I had a--er--well, some excuse. You see--well, you see, +Cap'n Kendrick, I didn't like it very much, the idea of Elizabeth's +going over to Orham with--with you, you know." + +Sears looked at him in surprise. "Why, she went with me because it was +the simplest way to get there," he explained. "I was goin' anyhow, and +Bradley had asked her to be there, too. So, it was natural enough that +we should go together." + +"Well--well, I don't see why she didn't tell me she was going." + +"Perhaps she didn't think to tell you." + +"Nonsense!... I mean.... Well, anyhow, if she had told me I should have +looked out for her, of course. I could have hired a rig and driven her +over." + +"But she knew you were at work down at the store. She said that, didn't +she? Seems to me I remember hearin' her say that she didn't want you +to--to feel that you must take the afternoon off on her account." + +The young man stirred impatiently. "That's foolishness," he declared. +"She seems to think Bassett has a mortgage on my life. He hasn't, not by +a long shot. I don't mean to keep his books much longer; I've got other +things to attend to. My law is getting on pretty well." + +"Glad to hear it, George." + +"Yes. I shall read with Bradley for a while longer, of course, but after +that--well, I don't know. I was talking with--with a man who has had a +good deal of experience with lawyers--real city lawyers, not the +one-horse sort--and he says the thing for an ambitious young fellow to +do is to get into one of those city offices. Then you have a chance." + +"Oh--I see. But isn't it kind of hard to get in, unless you have some +acquaintance or influence?" + +"I don't know as it is. And I guess this man will help me if I want him +to." + +"So? That's good. Did he say he would?" + +"No-o, not exactly, but I think he will. And he's got the acquaintances, +all right enough. He knows almost everybody that's worth while." + +"That's the kind to tie to. Who is he? Somebody up in Boston?" + +George shifted again. "I'd rather not mention his name just now," he +said. "Our talks have been rather--er--confidential and I don't know +that I should have said anything about them. But I've got plans, you +see. Then there is my aunt's estate. I am the administrator of that." + +"Oh? I didn't know. Your aunt, eh?" + +"Yes, my Aunt Charlotte, mother's sister. She was single and lived up in +Meriden, Connecticut. She died about a month ago and left everything to +my half-sister and me--my married sister in Springfield, you know. I +have charge of--of the estate, settling it and all that." + +Sears smiled inwardly at the self-satisfaction with which the word +"estate" was uttered. But outwardly he was serious enough. + +"Good for you, George!" he exclaimed. "Congratulations. I hope you've +come in for a big thing." + +His visitor colored slightly. "Well--well, of course," he admitted, "the +estate isn't very large, but----" + +"But it's an estate. I'm glad for you, son." + +"Yes--er--yes.... But really, Cap'n, I didn't mean to talk about that. +I--I just wanted to say that--that I was sorry if I--er--wasn't as +polite as I might have been the other night, and--well, I thought--it +seemed as if I--I ought to say--to say----" + +Whatever it was it seemed to be hard to say. The captain tried to help. + +"Yes, of course, George," he prompted. "Heave ahead and say it." + +"Well--well, it's just this, Cap'n Kendrick: Elizabeth and you are--are +together a good deal, in the Fair Harbor affairs, you know, +and--and--she doesn't think, of course--and you _are_ a lot older than +she is--but all the same----" + +Sears interrupted. + +"Here! Hold on, George!" he put in, sharply. "What's all this?" + +Kent's embarrassment increased. "Why--why, nothing," he stammered. +"Nothing, of course. But you see, Cap'n, people are silly--they don't +stop to count ages and things like that. They see you with her so +much.... And when they see you taking her to ride--alone----" + +"Here! That'll do!" All the cordiality had left the captain's voice. +"George," he said, after a moment, "I guess you'd better not say any +more. I don't think I had better hear it. Miss Elizabeth is a friend of +mine. She is, as you say, years younger than I am. I _am_ with her a +good deal, have to be because of our Fair Harbor work together. I took +her to Orham with me just as I'd take her mother, or you, or any other +friend who had to go and wanted a lift. But--_but_ if you or any one +else is hintin' that.... There, there! George, don't be foolish. Maybe +you'd better run along now. The doctor says I mustn't get excited." + +His visitor looked remarkably foolish, but the stubbornness had not +altogether left his face or tone as he said: "Well, that's all right, +Cap'n. I knew you would understand. _I_ didn't mean anything, but--but, +you see, in Elizabeth's case I feel a--a sort of responsibility. +You--you understand." + +Even irritated and angry as he was, Sears could not help smiling at the +last sentence. + +"George," he observed, "you've been fairly open and aboveboard in your +remarks to me. Suppose I ask you a question. Just what _is_ your +responsibility in the case? I have heard said, and more than once, that +you and Elizabeth Berry are engaged to be married. Is it so?" + +The young man grew redder yet, hesitated, and turned to the door. + +"I--I'm not at liberty to say," he declared. + +"Wait! Hold on! There is this responsibility business. If you're not +engaged--well, honestly, George, I don't quite see where your +responsibility comes in." + +Kent hesitated a moment longer. Then he seemed to make up his mind. + +"Well, then, we are--er--er--practically," he said. + +"Practically?... Oh! Well, I--I certainly do congratulate you." + +George had his hand on the latch, but turned back. + +"Don't--please don't tell any one of it," he said earnestly. "It--it +mustn't be known yet.... You see, though, why I--I feel as if you--as if +we all ought to be very careful of--of appearances--and--and such +things." + +"Yes.... Yes, of course. Well, all right, George. Good-by. Call again." + +Judah, who had been over at the Fair Harbor doing some general chores +around the place, came in a little later. His lodger called to him. + +"Judah," he commanded, "come in here. I want to talk to you." When Mr. +Cahoon obeyed the order, he was told to sit down a moment. + +"I want to ask you some questions," said the captain. "What is the +latest news of Egbert Phillips? Where is he nowadays? And what is he +doin'?" + +Judah was quite ready to give the information, even eager, but he +hesitated momentarily. + +"Sure you want me to talk about him, Cap'n?" he asked. "Last time I said +anything about him--day afore yesterday 'twas--you told me to shut up. +Said you had somethin' more important to think about." + +"Did I, Judah? Well, 'twas true then, I guess." + +"Um-hm. And you ordered me not to mention his name again till you +h'isted signals, or somethin' like that." + +"Yes, seems to me I did. Well, the signals are up. What is he doin'?" + +"Doin'? He ain't doin' nothin'--much. He's roomin' up to the Central +House yet, but from what I hear tell he ain't goin' to stay there. He's +cal'latin', so the folks down to the store say, to find some nice home +place where he can board. He don't call it boardin'. Thoph Black says he +said what he wanted was a snug little den where him and his few +remainin' household gods could be together. Thoph said he couldn't make +out what household gods was, and I'm plaguey sure _I_ can't. Sounds +heathenish to me. And I told Thoph, says I, 'That ain't no way to hunt a +boardin' house, goin' round hollerin' for a den. If I was takin' in +boarders and a feller hove alongside and says, "Can I hire one of them +dens of yours?" he'd get somethin' that he wan't lookin' for.' Huh! Den! +Sounds like a circus menagerie, don't it? Not but what I've seen +boardin'-house rooms that was like dens. Why, one time, over in +Liverpool 'twas, me and a feller named----" + +"Yes, yes, all right, Judah. I've heard about it. But what else is he +doin'? Where does he go? Is he makin' friends? Is he talkin' much about +his plans? What do folks say about him?" + +Judah answered the last question first. + +"They like him," he declared. "All hands are so kind of sorry for him, +you see. Course we all cal'lated he was rich, but he ain't. And them +bonds and such that him and his wife had all went to nawthin' and he +come back here after she died, figgerin', I presume likely, same as +anybody would, that he owned the Fair Harbor property and that the fifty +thousand was just a sort of--er--loan, as you might say. He told Joe +Macomber--or George Kent, I forget which 'twas--he's with George +consider'ble; I guess likely 'twas him--that, of course, he wouldn't +have disturbed the property or the fifty thousand for the world, not for +a long spell anyhow, but ownin' it give him a feelin' of security, like +an anchor to wind'ard, you understand, and----" + +"So folks like him, do they?" + +"You bet you they do. He don't complain a mite, that's one reason they +like him. Says at first, of course, he was kind of took all aback with +his canvas flappin', but now he's thought it over and realizes 'twas his +dear wife's notion and her wishes is law and gospel to him, so he's +resigned." + +"And he doesn't blame anybody, then?" + +Mr. Cahoon hesitated. "Why--er--no, not really, fur's I hear. Anyhow, if +there was any influence used same as it shouldn't be, he says, he +forgives them that used it. And, so far as that goes, he don't repute no +evil motives to nobody, livin' or dead." + +"Repute? Oh, impute, you mean." + +"I guess so, some kind of 'pute'. He uses them old-fashioned kind of +words all the time. That's why he's so pop'lar amongst the Shakespeare +Readin' Society and the rest. _They've_ took him up, I tell ye! Minister +Dishup and his wife they've had him to dinner, and Cap'n Elkanah and his +wife have had him to supper and yesterday noon he was up here to the +Harbor for dinner." + +"Oh, was he?" + +"Yus. He made 'em a little speech, too. All hands came into the parlor +after dinner and he kind of--of preached to 'em. Told about his +travelin' in foreign lands and a lot about Lobelia and how she loved the +Harbor and everybody in it, and how him and her used to plan for it, and +the like of that. Desire Peasley told me that 'twas the most movin' talk +ever _she_ listened to. Said about everybody was cryin' some. 'Twas a +leaky session, I judged. Oh, they love him over to the Harbor, I tell +you!" + +The captain was silent for a moment. Then he asked, "Did I understand +you to say he and young Kent were friendly?" + +"Yes, indeed. He seems to have took quite a fancy to George. Drops in to +see him at the store and last night he went home along with him to your +sister's--to Sary's. Had supper and spent the evenin', I believe." + +Judah was dismissed then and the talk ended, but Sears had now something +else to think about. There was little doubt in his mind who the "man of +experience" was, the person who had advised Kent concerning the getting +of a position with a law firm in the city. He wondered what other +advice might have been given. Was it Mr. Phillips who had suggested +to Kent the impropriety of Elizabeth's being seen so much in +his--Kendrick's--company? If so, why had he done it? What was Egbert's +little plan? + +Of course it was possible that there was no plan of any kind. Sears had +taken a dislike to Phillips when they met and that fact, and Judge +Knowles' hatred of the man, might, he realized, have set him to hunting +mares' nests. Well, he would not hunt any more at present. He would +await developments. But he would not lie in that bed and wait for them. +He had been there long enough. In spite of Judah's protests and with the +latter's help, commandeered and insisted upon, he got up, dressed, and +spent the rest of that afternoon and evening in the rocking chair in the +kitchen. + +And that evening Elizabeth came to see him. He was almost sure why she +had come, and as soon as she entered, sent Judah down town after smoking +tobacco. Judah declared there was "up'ards of ha'f a plug aboard the +ship somewheres" and wanted to stay and hunt for it, but the captain, +who had the plug in his pocket, insisted on his going. So he went and +Sears and Elizabeth were alone. He was ready for the interview. If she +asked him to accept the trusteeship of her twenty thousand dollars he +meant to refuse, absolutely. + +And she did ask him that very thing. After inquiries concerning his +injured limbs and repeated cautions concerning his never taking such +risks again, "even with the old Foam Flakes," she came directly to the +subject. She spoke of Judge Knowles' letter to her, the letter which +Bradley had handed her at the time when he gave Sears his. She had read +it over and over again, she said. + +"You know what he wrote me, Cap'n Kendrick," she went on. "I can't show +you the letter, it is too personal, too--too.... Oh, I can't show it to +any one--now, not even to mother. But you must know what he asked--or +suggested, because he says he has written you a letter asking you to +take charge of my money for me, to be my trustee. I suppose you must +think it queer that I have let all these days go by without coming to +speak with you about it. I hope----" + +He interrupted. "Now, Elizabeth, before we go any further," he said, +earnestly, "don't you suppose any such thing. The judge wrote me he had +asked us both not to decide in a hurry, but to take plenty of time to +think it over. I have thought it over, in fact, I haven't thought of +much else since I opened that letter, and I have made up my mind----" + +"Wait. Please wait a minute. I haven't been taking time to think over +that at all. I have been thinking about the whole matter; whether I +should accept the money--so very, very, very much money----" + +"What! Not accept it? Of course you'll take it. He wanted you to take +it. It was what he wanted as much as anybody could want anything. Why, +don't you dare----" + +"Hush! hush! You mustn't be so excited. And you mustn't move from that +chair. If you do I shall go home this minute. I am going to accept the +money." + +"Good! Of course you are." + +"Yes, I am. Because I do believe that he wanted me to have it so much. I +know people will say--perhaps they are already saying all sorts of +wicked, mean things. I don't--I won't let myself think what some of them +may be saying about my influencing the judge, or things like that. But I +don't care--that is, I care ever so much more for what _he_ said and +what he wished. And he wanted you to take care of the money for me. You +will, won't you, Cap'n Kendrick?" + +Now it was Sears' turn. He had gone over a scene like this, the scene +which he had foreseen, many times. He was kind, but he was firm. He told +her that he should not accept the trusteeship. He could not. It was too +great a responsibility for a man with as little--and that little +unfortunate--business experience as he had had. + +"It needs a banker or a lawyer for that job, Elizabeth," he declared. +"What does a sailor know about handlin' money? You go to Bradley; +Bradley's the man." + +But she did not want Bradley. The judge only mentioned Bradley as second +choice. + +"He wanted you, Cap'n Kendrick. He had every confidence in you. You +should see what he says about your ability and common-sense and--and +honesty in the letter. Please." + +"No, Elizabeth. As far as honesty goes I guess he's right. I am honest, +at least I hope I should be. But for the rest--he's partial there. He +seemed to take a fancy to me, and goodness knows I liked him. But you +mustn't feel you've got to do this thing. He wrote me it was only a +suggestion. You are absolutely free--he wrote me so--to go to Bradley +or----" + +"No." She rose to her feet. "I shan't go to Bradley or anybody but you. +I am like him, Cap'n Kendrick; I trust you. I have come to know you and +to believe in you. I like you. Why, you don't know how glad I was to +find that he wanted you to do this for me. Glad! I--I felt----" + +"Why, Elizabeth!" + +He had not meant to speak. The words were forced from him involuntarily. +Her tone, her eyes, the eager earnestness in her voice.... He did not +say any more, nor did he look at her. Instead he looked at the patchwork +comforter which had fallen from his knees to the floor, and fervently +hoped that he had not already said too much. He stooped and picked up +the comforter. + +"And you will do it for me, won't you?" she pleaded. + +"I can't. It wouldn't be right." + +"Then I shall not take the money at all. _He_ gave it to me, _he_ asked +me--the very last thing he asked was that you should do it. He put the +trust in your hands. And you won't do it--for him--or for me?" + +"Well, but--but---- Oh, good Lord! how can I?" + +"Why can't you?" + +The real reason he could not tell her. According to Kent--whether +inspired by Phillips or not made little difference--people were already +whispering and hinting. How much more would they hint and whisper if +they knew that he had taken charge of her money? The thought had not +occurred to her, of course; the very idea was too ridiculous for her to +imagine; but that made but one more reason why he must think for her. + +"No," he said, again. "No, I can't." + +"But why? You haven't told me why." + +He tried to tell her why, but his words were merely repetitions of what +he had said before. He was not a good business man, he did not know how +to handle money, even his own money. The judge had been very ill when he +wrote those letters, if he had been well and himself he never would have +thought of him as trustee. She listened for a time, her impatience +growing. Then she rose. + +"Very well," she said. "Then I shall not accept the twenty thousand. To +me one wish of Judge Knowles' is as sacred as the other. He wanted you +to take that trust just as much as he wanted me to have the money. If +you won't respect one wish I shall not respect the other." + +He could not believe she meant it, but she certainly looked and spoke as +if she did. He faltered and hesitated, and she pressed her advantage. +And at last he yielded. + +"All right," he said desperately. "All right--or all wrong, whichever it +turns out to be. I'll take the trustee job--try it for a time anyhow. +But, I tell you, Elizabeth, I'm afraid we're both makin' a big mistake." + +She was not in the least afraid, and said so. + +"You have made me very happy, Cap'n Kendrick," she declared. "I can't +thank you enough." + +He shook his head, but before he could reply there came a sharp knock on +the outer door, the back door of the house. + +"Who on earth is that?" exclaimed Sears. Then he shouted, "Come in." + +The person who came in was George Kent. + +"Why, George!" said Elizabeth. Then she added. "What is it? What is the +matter?" + +The young man looked as if something was the matter. His expression was +not at all pleasant. + +"Evenin', George," said the captain. "Glad to see you. Sit down." + +Kent ignored both the invitation and the speaker. + +"Look here," he demanded, addressing Miss Berry: "do you know what time +it is? It is ten o'clock." + +His tone was so rude--so boyishly rude--that Sears looked up quickly and +Elizabeth drew back. + +"It's nearly ten o'clock," repeated Kent. "And you are over here." + +"George!" exclaimed Sears, sharply. + +"You are over here--with him--again." + +It was Elizabeth who spoke now. She said but one word. + +"Well?" she asked. + +There was an icy chill about that "Well?" which a more cautious person +that George Kent might have noticed and taken as a warning. But the +young man was far from cautious at that moment. + +"_Well?_" he repeated hotly. "I don't think it's well at all. I come see +you and--I find you over here. And I find that every one else knows you +are here. And they think it queer, too; I could see that they did.... Of +course, I don't say----" + +"I think you have said enough. I came here to talk with Cap'n Kendrick +on a business matter. I told mother where I was going when I left the +house. The others heard me, I suppose; I certainly did not try to +conceal it. Why should I?" + +"Why should you? Why, you should because--because---- Well, if you don't +know why you shouldn't be here, he does." + +"He? Cap'n Kendrick?" + +"Yes. I--I told him why, myself. Only this noon I told him. I was here +and I told him people were beginning to talk about you and he being +together so much and--and his taking you to ride, and all that sort of +thing. I told him he ought to be more careful of appearances. I said of +course you didn't think, but he ought to. I explained that----" + +"Stop!" Her face was crimson and she was breathing quickly. "Do you mean +to say that--that people are talking--are saying things about--about.... +What people?" + +"Oh--oh, different ones. Of course they don't say anything much--er--not +yet. But if we aren't careful they will. You see----" + +"Wait. Are they--are they saying that--that---- Oh, it is _too_ wicked +and foolish to speak! Are they saying that Cap'n Kendrick and I----" + +Sears spoke. "Hush, hush, Elizabeth!" he begged. "They aren't sayin' +anything, of course. George is--is just a little excited over nothin', +that's all. He has heard Elvira or some other cat over there at the +Harbor, probably. They're jealous because you have had this money left +you." + +"It is nothing to do with the money," Kent asserted. "Didn't I tell you +this noon that you--that we had to be careful of appearances? Didn't I +say----" + +Again Elizabeth broke in. + +"You have said all I want to hear--in this room, now," she declared. +"There are a good many things for us both to say--and listen to, but not +here.... Good night, Cap'n Kendrick. I am sorry I kept you up so late, +and I hope all this--I hope you won't let this wicked nonsense trouble +you. It isn't worth worrying about. Good night." + +"But, Elizabeth," urged Sears, anxiously, "don't you think----" + +"Good night. George, you had better come with me. I have some things to +say to you." + +She went out. Kent hesitated, paused for a moment, and then followed +her. When Judah returned with the tobacco and a fresh cargo of rumors +concerning Egbert Phillips he found his lodger not the least interested +in either smoke or gossip. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +So Judah was obliged to postpone the telling of his most important news +item. But the following morning when, looking heavy-eyed and haggard, as +if he had slept but little, Captain Kendrick limped into the kitchen for +breakfast, Mr. Cahoon served that item with the salt mackerel and fried +potatoes. It was surprising, too--at least Sears found it so. Egbert +Phillips, so Judah declared, had given up his rooms at the Central House +and had gone, household goods and all, to board and lodge at Joel +Macomber's. He was occupying, so Judah said, the very room that Sears +himself had occupied when he was taken to his sister's home after the +railway accident. + +The captain could scarcely believe it. He had not seen Sarah Macomber +since the day following the Foam Flake's amazing cut-up on the Orham +road, when she had come, in much worriment and anxiety, to learn how +badly he was hurt. Her call had been brief, and, as he had succeeded in +convincing her that the extra twist to his legs would have no serious +effect, she had not called since. But Sarah-Mary, the eldest girl, had +brought a basket containing a cranberry pie, a half-peck, more or less, +of molasses cookies, and two tumblers of beach-plum jelly, and +Sarah-Mary had said nothing to her Uncle Sears about the magnificent Mr. +Phillips coming to live with them. + +"I guess not, Judah," said the captain. "Probably you've got it snarled +some way. He may have gone there to supper with George Kent and the rest +of the yarn sprouted from that." + +But Judah shook his head. "No snarl about it, Cap'n Sears," he declared. +"Come straight this did, straight as a spare topmast. Joe Macomber told +me so himself. Proud of it, too, Joe was; all kind of swelled up with +it, like a pizened shark." + +"But why on earth should he pick out Sarah's? Why didn't he go to Naomi +Newcomb's; she keeps a regular boardin'-house? Sarah can't take any more +boarders. Her house is overloaded as it is. That was why I didn't stay +there. No, I don't believe it, Judah. Joel was just comin' up to blow, +that's all. He's a regular puffin'-pig for blowin'." + +But Sarah called that very forenoon and confirmed the news. She had +agreed to take Mr. Phillips into her home. Not only that, but he was +already there. + +"I know you must think it's sort of funny, Sears," she said, looking +rather embarrassed and avoiding her brother's eye. "If anybody had told +me a week ago that I should ever take another boarder I should have felt +like askin' 'em if they thought I was crazy. I suppose you think I am, +don't you?" + +"Not exactly, Sarah--not yet." + +"But you think I most likely will be before I'm through? Well, maybe, +but I'm goin' to risk it. You see, I--well, we need the money, for one +thing." + +Sears stirred in his chair. + +"I could have let you have a little money every once in a while, Sarah," +he said. "It's a shame that it would have to be so little. If those legs +ever do get shipshape and I get to sea again----" + +She stopped him. "I haven't got so yet awhile that I have to take +anybody's money for nothin'," she said sharply. "There, there, Sears! I +know you'd give me every cent you had if I'd let you. I'll tell you why +I took Mr. Phillips. He came to supper with George the other night and +stayed all the evenin'. He's one of the most interestin' men I ever met +in my life. Not any more interestin' than you are, of course," she +added, loyally, "but in--in a different way." + +"Um ... yes. I shouldn't wonder." + +"Yes, he is. And he liked my supper, and said so. Ate some of everything +and praised it, and was just as--as common and everyday and sociable, +not a mite proud or--like that." + +"Why in the devil should he be?" + +"Why--why, I don't know why he shouldn't. Lots of folks who know as much +as he does and have been everywhere and known the kind of people he +knows--they would be stuck up--yes, and are. Look at Cap'n Elkhanah +Wingate and his wife." + +"I don't want to look at 'em. How do you know how much this Phillips +knows?" + +"How do I _know_? Why, Sears, you ought to hear him talk. I never heard +such talk. The children just--just hung on his words, as they say. And +he was so nice to them. And Joel and George Kent they think he's the +greatest man they ever saw. Oh, all hands in Bayport like him." + +"Humph! When he was here before, teachin' singin' school, he wasn't such +a Grand Panjandrum. At least, I never heard that he was." + +"Sears, you don't like him, do you? I'm real surprised. Yes, and--and +sorry. Why don't you like him?" + +Her brother laughed. "I didn't say I didn't like him, Sarah," he +replied. "Besides, what difference would one like more or less make? I +don't know him very well." + +"But he likes you. Why, he said he didn't know when he had met a man who +gave him such an impression of--of strength and character as you did. He +said that right at our supper table. I tell you I was proud when he said +it about my brother." + +So Sears had not the heart to utter more skepticism. He encouraged Sarah +to tell more of her arrangements with the great man. He was, it +appeared, to have not only the bedroom which Sears had occupied, but +also the room adjoining. + +"One will be his bedroom," explained Mrs. Macomber, "and the other his +sittin' room, sort of. His little suite, he calls 'em. He is movin' the +rest of his things in to-day." + +Seers looked at her. "Two rooms!" he exclaimed. "He's to have _two_ +rooms in your house! For heaven sakes, Sarah, where do the rest of you +live; in the cellar? Goin' to let the children sleep in the cistern?" + +She explained. It was a complicated process, but she had worked it out. +Lemuel and Edgar had always had a room together, but now Bemis was to +have a cot there also. "And Joey, of course, is only a baby, his bed is +in our room, Joel's and mine. And Sarah-Mary and Aldora, they are same +as they have been." + +"Yes, yes, but that doesn't explain the extra room, his sitting room. +Where does that come from?" + +She hesitated a moment. "Well--well, you see," she said, "there wasn't +any other bedroom except the one George hires, and he is goin' to stay +for a while longer anyway. At first it didn't seem as if I could let Mr. +Phillips have the sittin' room he wanted. But at last Joel and I thought +it out. We don't use the front parlor hardly any, and there is the +regular sittin' room left for us anyway, so----" + +"Sarah Kendrick Macomber, do you mean to tell me you've let this fellow +have your _front parlor_?" + +"Why--why, yes. We don't hardly ever use it, Sears. I don't believe +we've used that parlor--really opened the blinds and used it, I +mean--since Father Macomber's funeral, and that was--let me see--over +six years ago." + +Her brother slowly shook his head. "The judge was right," he declared. +"He certainly was right. Smoothness isn't any name for it." + +"Sears, what are you talkin' about? I can't understand you. I thought +you would be glad to think such a splendid man as he is was goin' to +live with us. To say nothin' of my makin' all this extra money. Of +course, if you don't want me to do it, I won't. I wouldn't oppose you, +Sears, for anything in this world. But I--I must say----" + +He laid his hand on hers. "There, Sarah," he broke in. "Don't pay too +much attention to me. I'm crochetty these days, have a good deal on my +mind. If you think takin' this Phillips man aboard is a good thing for +you, I'm glad. How much does he pay you a week?" + +She told him. It was more than fair rate for those days. + +"Humph!" he observed. "Well, Sarah, good luck to you. I hope you get +it." + +"Get it! Why, of course I'll get it, Sears. Its all arranged. And I want +you and Mr. Phillips to know each other real well. I'm goin' to tell him +he must call again to see you." + +"Eh?... Oh, all right, Sarah. You can tell him, if you want to." + +After she had gone he thought the matter over. Surely Mr. Egbert +Phillips was a gentleman of ability along certain lines. His sister +Sarah was a sensible woman, she was far far from being a susceptible +sentimentalist. Yet she was already under the Phillips spell. Either +Judge Knowles was right--very, very much right--or he was overwhelmingly +wrong. If left to Bayport opinion as a jury there was no question +concerning the verdict. Egbert would be triumphantly acquitted. + +Sears, however, did not, at this time, spare much thought to the +Phillips riddle. He had other, and, it seemed to him, more disturbing +matters to deal with. The quarrel between Elizabeth Berry and young Kent +was one of those, for he felt that, in a way, he was the cause of it. +George had, of course, behaved like a foolish boy and had been about as +tactless as even a jealous youth could be, but there was always the +chance that some one else had sowed the seeds of jealousy in his mind. +He determined to see Kent, explain, have a frank and friendly talk, and, +if possible, set everything right--everything between the two young +people, that is. But when, on his first short walk along the road, he +happened to meet Kent, the latter paid no attention to his hail and +strode past without speaking. Sears shouted after him, but the shout was +unheeded. + +Elizabeth was almost as contrary. When he attempted to lead the +conversation to George, she would not follow. When he mentioned the +young man's name she changed the subject. At last when, his sense of +guilt becoming too much for him, he began to defend Kent, she +interrupted the defense. + +"Cap'n Kendrick," she said, "I understand why you take his part. And it +is like you to do it. But when you begin to blame yourself or me then I +shan't listen." + +"Blame _you_! Why, Elizabeth, I had no idea of blamin' you. The whole +thing is just a--a misunderstandin' between you and George, and I want +to straighten it out, that's all. If anybody is to blame I really think +I am. I should have thought more about--about, what he calls +appearances; that is, perhaps I should." + +She lost patience. "Oh, do stop!" she cried. "You know you are talking +nonsense." + +"Well but, Elizabeth, I feel--wicked. I wouldn't for the world be the +cause of a break between you two. If that should happen because of me I +couldn't rest easy." + +This conversation took place in the smaller sitting room of the Fair +Harbor, the room which she and her mother used as a sort of office. She +had been standing by the window looking out. Now she turned and faced +him. + +"Cap'n Kendrick," she asked, "just what do you mean by a 'break' between +George Kent and me? Are you under the impression that he and I +were--were engaged?" + +"Why--why, weren't you?" + +"No. Why should you think we were?" + +"Well--why, there seemed to be a sort of general idea that--that you +were. People--Bayport folks seemed to think--seemed to think----" + +She stamped her foot. "They don't think, most of them, they only talk," +she declared. "_I_ certainly never said we were. And he didn't either, +did he?" + +Kent had said that he and Elizabeth were engaged--practically--whatever +that might mean. But the captain thought it wisest just then to forget. + +"Why--no, I guess not," he answered. + +"Of course he didn't ... Cap'n Kendrick. I--oh, you might as well +understand this clearly. I have known George for a long time. I liked +him. For a time I thought--well I thought perhaps I liked him enough +to--to like him a lot more But I was mistaken. He--he kept doing things +that I didn't like. Oh, they had nothing to do with me. They were things +that didn't seem--what you would call square and aboveboard. Little +things that.... It was about one of these that we disagreed just before +the 'Down by the Sea' theatricals. But he explained that and--and--well, +he can be so nice and likable, that I forgave him. But lately there have +been others. He has changed. And now all this foolishness, and.... +There, Cap'n Kendrick, I didn't mean to say so much. But I want you to +understand, and to tell every one else who talks about George Kent and +me being engaged, that there never was any such engagement." + +It would be rather difficult to catalogue all of Sears Kendrick's +feelings as he listened to this long speech. They were mixed feelings, +embarrassment, sorrow, relief--and a most unwarranted and unreasonable +joy. But he repressed the relief and joy and characteristically returned +to self-chastisement. + +"Yes--oh--I see," he faltered. "I guess likely I didn't understand +exactly. But just the same I don't know but George was right in some +things he said. I shouldn't wonder if I had been careless about--about +appearances. I don't know but--but my seein' you so much--and our goin' +to Orham together might set some folks talkin'. Of course it doesn't +seem hardly possible that anybody could be such fools, considerin' +you--and then considerin' me--but----" + +She would not hear any more. "I don't propose to consider _them_," she +declared with fierce indignation. "I shall see you or any one else just +as often as I please. Now that you are to take care of my money for me I +have no doubt I shall see you a great deal oftener than I ever did. And +if those--those talkative persons don't like it, they may do the next +best thing.... No, that is enough, Cap'n Kendrick. It is settled." + +And it did appear to be. If anything, she saw him oftener than before, +seemed to take a mischievous delight in being seen with him, in running +to the Minot place on errands connected with the Harbor business, and +in every way defying the gossips. + +And gossip accepted the challenge. From the time when it became known +that Sears Kendrick was to be the trustee of Elizabeth Berry's +twenty-thousand dollar legacy the tide of public opinion, already on the +turn, set more and more strongly against him. And, as it ebbed for +Captain Sears, it rose higher and higher for that genteel martyr, Mr. +Egbert Phillips. + +Sears could not help noticing the change. It was gradual, but it was +marked. He had never had many visitors, but occasionally some of the +retired sea dogs among the town-folk would drop in to swap yarns, or a +younger captain, home from a voyage, would call on him at the Minot +place. The number of those calls became smaller, then they ceased. +Doctor Sheldon was, of course, as jolly and friendly as ever, and +Bradley, when he drove over from Orham on a legal errand, made it a +point to come and see him. But, aside from those, and Sarah Macomber, +and, of course, Elizabeth Berry, no one came. + +When he walked, as he did occasionally now that his legs were +stronger--they had quite recovered from the strain put upon them by the +Foam Flake's outbreak--up and down the sidewalk from Judge Knowles' +corner to the end of the Fair Harbor fence, the people whom he met +seldom stopped to chat with him. Or, if they did, the chat was always +brief and, on their part, uneasy. They acted, so it seemed to him, +guilty, as if they were doing something they should not do, something +they were not at all anxious to have people see them do. And when he +drove with Judah down to the store the group there no longer hailed him +with shouts of welcome. They spoke to him, mentioned the weather +perhaps, grinned in embarrassed fashion, but they did not ask him to sit +down and join them. And when his back was turned, when he left the +store, he had the feeling that there were whispered comments--and +sneers. + +It was all impalpable, there was nothing openly hostile, no one said +anything to which he could take exception--he only wished they would; +but he felt the hostility nevertheless. + +And among the feminine element it was even more evident. When he went to +church, as he did semi-occasionally, as he walked down the aisle he felt +that the rustle of Sunday black silks and bonnet strings which preceded +and followed him was a whisper of respectable and self-righteous +disapproval. It was not all imagination, he caught glimpses of sidelong +looks and headshakes which meant something, and that something not +applause. Once the Reverend Mr. Dishup took for his text Psalm xxxix, +the sixth verse, "He heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather +them." The sermon dealt with, among others, the individual who in his +lifetime amassed wealth, not knowing that, after his death, other +individuals scheming and unscrupulous would strive to divert that wealth +from the rightful heirs for their own benefit. It was a rather dull +sermon and Sears, his attention wandering, happened to turn his head +suddenly and look at the rest of the congregation. It seemed to him that +at least a quarter of the heads in that congregation were turned in his +direction. Now, meeting his gaze, they swung back, to stare with +noticeable rigidity at the minister. + +Over at the Fair Harbor his comings and goings were no longer events to +cause pleasurable interest and excitement. The change there was quite as +evident. Miss Snowden and Mrs. Brackett, leaders of their clique, always +greeted him politely enough, but they did not, individually or +collectively, ask his advice or offer theirs. There were smiles, +significant nods, knowing looks exchanged, especially, he thought or +imagined, when he and Miss Berry were together. Cordelia Berry was +almost cold toward him. Yet, so far as he knew, he had done nothing to +offend her. + +He spoke to Elizabeth about her mother's attitude toward him. She said +it was his imagination. + +"It may be," she said, "that you don't consult her quite enough about +Fair Harbor matters, Cap'n Kendrick. Mother is sensitive, she is matron +here, you know; perhaps we haven't paid as much deference to her opinion +as we should. Poor mother, she does try so hard, but she isn't fitted +for business, and knows it." + +That Sunday, after his return from church, the captain asked Judah a +point blank question. + +"Judah," he said, "I want you to tell me the truth. What is the matter +with me, nowadays? The whole ship's company here in Bayport are givin' +me the cold shoulder. Don't tell me you haven't noticed it; a blind man +could notice it. What's wrong with me? What have I done? Or what do they +say I've done?" + +Judah was very much embarrassed. His trouble showed in his face above +the whiskers. He had been bending over the cookstove singing at the top +of his lungs the interminable chantey dealing with the fortunes of one +Reuben Ranzo. + + "'Ranzo was no sailor, + Ranzo, boys, Ranzo! + Ranzo was a tailor, + Ranzo, boys, Ranzo! + + "'Oh, poor Reuben Ranzo! + _Ranzo_, boys, Ranzo! + Hurrah for Reuben Ranzo! + _Ranzo_, boys, _Ranzo_! + + "'Ranzo was no sailor, + Ranzo, boys, Ranzo! + He shipped on board a whaler, + Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!'" + +And so on, forever and forever. Judah had reached the point where: + + "They set him holy-stonin', + Ranzo, boys, Ranzo! + And cared not for his groanin', + Ranzo, boys, Ranzo! + + "_'Oh_, poor Reuben Ranzo! + _Ranzo_, boys, Ranzo! + Hurrah for----' + +"Eh? Did you say somethin', Cap'n Sears?" + +Sears repeated his question, and then, as no answer seemed to be +forthcoming, repeated it once more, with an order to "step lively." +Judah groaned and shook his head. + +"I've been sort of afraid you might think somethin' was queer, Cap'n +Sears," he admitted. "I was hopin' you wouldn't, though, not till it +begun to blow over. All them kind of things do blow over, give 'em time. +One voyage I took--to Shanghai, seems to me 'twas, either that or Rooshy +somewheres--there was a ship's carpenter aboard and word got spread +around that he had a wooden leg. Now he didn't, you know; matter of fact, +all he had out of the way with him was a kind of--er--er--sheet-iron +stove lid, as you might call it, riveted onto the top of his head. He +was in the Mexican war, seemed so, and one of them cannon balls had caved +in his upper deck, you understand, and them doctors they----" + +"Here, here, Judah! I didn't ask you about any iron-headed carpenters, +did I?" + +"No; no, you never, Cap'n Sears. But what I started to say was that----" + +"All right, but you stick to what I want you to say. Tell me what's the +matter with me in Bayport?" + +Judah groaned again. "It 'tain't so much that there's any great that's +wrong along of you, Cap'n," he said, "as 'tis that there ain't nothin' +but what's so everlastin' right with another feller. That's the way I +size it up, and I've been takin' observations for quite a spell. Bayport +folks are spendin' seven days in the week lovin' this Egbert Phillips. +Consequentially they ain't got much time left to love you in. Fools? +Course they be, and I've told some of 'em so till I've got a sore throat +hollerin'. But, by the creepin'----" + +"Judah! Has Phillips been saying things about me?" + +"Hey? Him? No, no, no! He don't say nothin' about nobody no time, +nothin' out of the way, that is. He's always praisin' of you up, so they +tell me, and excusin' you and forgivin' you." + +"Forgivin' me? What do you mean by that?" + +"Hold on! don't get mad at _me_, Cap'n Sears. I mean when they say what +a pity 'tis that he, the man whose wife owned all this Seymour property +and the fifty thousand dollars and such--when they go to poorin' him and +heavin' overboard hints about how other folks have the spendin' of that +money and all--he just smiles, sad but sort of sweet, and says it's all +right, his dear Lobelia done what seemed to her proper, and if he has to +suffer a little grain, why, never mind.... That's the way he talks." + +"But where do I come in on that?" + +"Well--well, you don't really, Cap'n Sears. Course you don't. But +you--you have got the handlin' of that money, you know. And you are +gettin' wages for skipperin' the Fair Harbor. I've heard it said--not by +him, oh, creepin', no!--but by others, that _he_ ought to have that +skipper's job, if anybody had. Lots of folks seem to cal'late he'd ought +to _own_ the Harbor. But instead of that he don't own nothin', they say, +and scratches along in two rooms, down to Joe Macomber's, and, +underneath all his sufferin', he's just as sweet and uncomplainin' and +long-endurin' and--and high-toned and sociable and--and----" + +"Yes, yes. I see. Do they say anything more? What about my bein' +Elizabeth Berry's trustee?" + +Mr. Cahoon paused before replying. "Well, they do seem to hold that +against you some, I'm afraid," he admitted reluctantly. "I don't know +why they do. And they don't say much in front of me no more, 'cause, +they realize, I cal'late, that I'm about ready to knock a few of 'em +into the scuppers. But it--it just don't help you none, Cap'n, takin' +care of that money of Elizabeth's don't. And it does help that Eg +man.... Why? Don't ask me. I--I'm sick and disgusted. _I_ shan't go to +no church vestry to hear him lecture on Eyetalian paintin' or--or +glazin', or whatever 'tis. And have you noticed how they bow down and +worship him over to the Fair Harbor? Have you noticed Cordelia Berry? +She's makin' a dum fool of herself, ain't she? Not that that's a very +hard job." + +Judah's explanations did not explain much, but they did help to increase +Sears' vague suspicions. He had noticed--no one could help noticing--the +ever-growing popularity of Mr. Phillips. It was quite as evident as the +decline of his own. What he suspected was that the two were connected +and that, somehow or other, the smooth gentleman who boarded and lodged +with the Macombers was responsible, knowingly, calculatingly responsible +for the change. + +Yet it seemed so absurd, that suspicion. He and Phillips met frequently, +sometimes at church, or oftenest at the Harbor--Egbert's visits there +were daily now, and he dined or supped with the Berrys and the "inmates" +at least twice a week. And always the Phillips manner was kind and +gracious and urbane. Always he inquired solicitously concerning the +captain's health. There was never a hint of hostility, never a trace of +resentment or envy. And always, too, Sears emerged from one of those +encounters with a feeling that he had had a little the worst of it, that +his seafaring manners and blunt habit of speech made him appear at a +marked disadvantage in comparison with this easy, suave, gracefully +elegant personage. And so many of those meetings took place in the +presence of Elizabeth Berry. + +Elizabeth liked Egbert, there was no doubt of that. Once when she and +the captain were together in the Fair Harbor office Phillips entered. +Sears and Elizabeth were bending over the ledger and Egbert opened the +door. Sears and the young lady were not in the least embarrassed--of +course there was not the slightest reason why they should be--but, oddly +enough, Phillips seemed to be. He stepped back, coughed, fidgeted with +the latch, and then began to apologize. + +"I--I really beg your pardon," he said. "I am sorry.... I didn't know--I +didn't realize--I'm _so_ sorry." + +Elizabeth looked at him in surprise. "But there is nothing for you to be +sorry about," she declared. "What is it? I don't understand." + +Egbert still retained his hold upon the latch with one hand. His hat, +gloves and cane were in the other. It is perhaps the best indication of +his standing in the community, the fact that, having lived in Bayport +for some weeks and being by his own confession a poor man, he could +still go gloved and caned on week days as well as Sundays and not be +subject to ridicule even by the Saturday night gang in Eliphalet +Bassett's store. + +He fidgeted with the latch and turned as if to go. + +"I should have knocked, of course," he protested. "It was most careless +of me. I do hope you understand. I will come--ah--later." + +"But I don't understand," repeated the puzzled Elizabeth. "It was +perfectly all right, your coming in. There is no reason why you should +knock. The cap'n and I were going over the bills, that's all." + +Mr. Phillips looked--well, he looked queer. + +"Oh!" he said. "Yes--yes, of course. But one doesn't always care to be +interrupted in--even in business matters--ah--sometimes." + +Elizabeth laughed. "I'm sure I don't mind," she said. "Those business +matters weren't so frightfully important." + +"I'm so glad. You ease my conscience, Elizabeth. Thank you.... But I am +afraid the captain minds more than you do. He looks as if he didn't like +interruptions. Now do you, Captain Kendrick?" + +Sears was ruffled. The man always did rub him the wrong way, and now, +for the first time, he heard him address Miss Berry by her Christian +name. There was no real reason why he should not, almost every one in +Bayport did, but Sears did not like it nevertheless. + +"You don't fancy interruptions, Captain," repeated the smiling Egbert. +"Now do you? Ha, ha! Confess." + +For the moment Sears forgot to be diplomatic. + +"That depends, I guess," he answered shortly. + +"Depends? You see, I told you, Elizabeth. Depends upon what? We must +make him tell us the whole truth, mustn't we, Elizabeth? What does it +depend upon, Captain Kendrick; the--ah--situation--the nature of the +business--or the companion? Now which? Ha, ha!" + +Sears answered without taking time to consider. + +"Upon who interrupts, maybe," he snapped. Then he would have given +something to have recalled the words, for Elizabeth turned and looked at +him. She flushed. + +Egbert's serenity, however, was quite undented. + +"Oh, dear me!" he exclaimed, in mock alarm. "After that I shall _have_ +to go. And I shall take great pains to close the door behind me. Ha, ha! +_Au revoir_, Elizabeth. Good-by, Captain." + +He went out, keeping his promise concerning the closing of the door. +Elizabeth continued to look at her companion. + +"Now why in the world," she asked, "did you speak to him like that?" + +Sears frowned. "Oh, I don't know," he answered. "He--he riles me +sometimes." + +"Yes.... Yes, I should judge so. I have noticed it before. You don't +like him for some reason or other. What is the reason?" + +He hesitated. Aside from Judge Knowles' distrust and dislike--which he +could not mention to her--there was no very valid reason, nothing but +what she would have called prejudice. So he hesitated and reddened. + +She went on. "_I_ like him," she declared. "He is a gentleman. He is +always polite and considerate--as he was just now about breaking in on +our business talk. What did you dislike about that?" + +"Well, I--well--oh, nothin', perhaps." + +"I think nothing certainly. He is an old friend of mother's and of the +people here in the Harbor. They all like him very much. I am sorry that +you don't and that you spoke to him as you did. I didn't think you took +unreasonable dislikes. It doesn't seem like you, Cap'n Kendrick." + +So once more Sears felt himself to have been put in a bad position and +to have lost ground while Phillips gained it. And, brooding over the +affair, he decided that he must be more careful. If he were not so much +in Elizabeth's company there would be no opportunity for +insinuations--by Egbert Phillips, or any one else. So he put a strong +check upon his inclination to see the young woman, and, +overconscientious as he was so likely to be, began almost to avoid her. +Except when business of one kind or another made it necessary he did not +visit the Harbor. It cost him many pangs and made him miserable, but he +stuck to his resolution. She should not be talked about in connection +with him if he could help it. + +He had had several talks with Bradley and with her about her legacy from +Judge Knowles. The twenty-thousand was, so he discovered, already well +invested in good securities and it was Bradley's opinion, as well as his +own, that it should not be disturbed. The bonds were deposited in the +vaults of the Harniss bank, and were perfectly safe. On dividend dates +he and Miss Berry could cut and check up the coupons together. So far +his duties as trustee were not burdensome. Bradley had invested +Cordelia's five thousand for her, so the Berry family's finances were +stable. In Bayport they were now regarded as "well off." Cordelia was +invited to supper at Captain Elkhanah Wingate's, a sure sign that the +hall-mark of wealth and aristocracy had been stamped upon her. At that +supper, to which Elizabeth also was invited but did not attend, Mr. +Egbert Phillips shone resplendent. Egbert was not wealthy, a fact which +he took pains to let every one know, but when he talked, as he did most +of the evening, Mrs. Wingate and her feminine guests sat in an adoring +trance and, after these guests had gone, the hostess stood by the parlor +window gazing wistfully after them. + +Her husband was unlocking the door of a certain closet upon the shelf of +which was kept a certain bottle and accompanying glasses. The closet had +not been opened before that evening, as the Reverend and Mrs. Dishup had +been among the dinner guests. + +"Elkhanah," observed Mrs. Wingate, dreamily, "I do think Mr. Phillips is +the most elegant man I ever saw in my life. His language--and his +manners--they are perfect." + +Captain Elkhanah nodded. "He's pretty slick," he agreed. + +If he expected by thus agreeing to please his wife, he must have been +disappointed. + +"Oh, _don't_ say 'slick'!" she snapped. "I do wish you wouldn't use such +countrified words." + +"Eh?" indignantly. "Countrified! Well, I am country, ain't I? So are +you, so far as that goes. So was he once--when he was teachin' a +one-horse singin' school in this very town." + +"Well, perhaps. But he has got over it. And it would pay you to take +lessons from him, and learn not to say 'slick' and 'ain't'." + +Her husband grunted. "Pay!" he repeated. "I'll wait till he pays me the +twenty dollars he borrowed of me two weeks ago. He wasn't too citified +to do that." + +Mrs. Wingate stalked to the stairs. "I'm ashamed of you," she declared. +"You know what a struggle he is having, and how splendid and +uncomplaining he is. And you a rich man! Any one would think you never +saw twenty dollars before." + +Captain Elkhanah poured himself a judicious dose from the bottle. + +"Maybe I never _will_ see _that_ twenty again," he observed with a +chuckle. + +"Oh, you--you disgust me!" + +"Oh, go----" + +"_What?_ What are you trying to say to me?" + +"Go to bed," said the captain, and took his dose. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +If Elizabeth noticed that Sears was not as frequent a visitor at the +Fair Harbor as he had formerly been she said nothing about it. She +herself had ceased to run in at the Minot place to ask this question or +that. Since the occasion when Mr. Phillips interrupted the business talk +in the office and his apologies had brought about the slight +disagreement--if it may be called that--between the captain and Miss +Berry, the latter had, so Sears imagined, been a trifle less cordial to +him than before. She was not coldly formal or curt and disagreeable--her +mother was all of these things to the captain now, and quite without +reason so far as he could see--Elizabeth was not like that, but she was +less talkative, less cheerful, and certainly less confidentially +communicative. At times he caught her looking at him as if doubtful or +troubled. When he asked her what was the matter she said "Nothing," and +began to speak of the bills they had been considering. + +On one occasion she asked him a point blank question, one quite +irrelevant to the subject at hand. + +"Cap'n Kendrick," she asked, "how do you think Judge Knowles came to +appoint you to be manager here at the Harbor?" + +He was taken by surprise, of course. "Why," he stammered, "I--why, I +don't know. That is, all I know about it is what he told me. He said he +felt he ought to have some one, and I was near at home, and--and so he +thought of me, I suppose." + +"Yes, I know. You told me that.... But--but how did he know you wanted +the position?" + +"Wanted it? Good heavens and earth, I didn't want it! I fought as hard +as I could not to take it. Why, I told you--you remember, that day when +I first came over here; that time when Elvira and the rest wanted to buy +the cast-iron menagerie; I told you then----" + +"Yes," she interrupted again. "Yes, I know you did. But.... And the +judge had never heard from you--had never...." + +"Heard from me! Do you mean had I sent in an application for the job?" + +"Oh, no, no! Not that. But you and he had never been--er--close friends +in the old days, when you were here before?" + +He could not guess what she was driving at. "Look here, Elizabeth," he +said, "I've told you that I scarcely knew Judge Knowles before he sent +for me and offered me this place. No man alive was ever more surprised +than I was then. Why, I gathered that the judge had talked about me to +you before he sent for me. Not as manager here, of course, but as--well, +as a man. He told you that I was goin' to call, you said so, and I +_know_ you and he had talked and laughed together about my fight with +the hens in Judah's garden." + +The trouble, whatever its cause, seemed to vanish. She smiled. "Yes, +yes," she said. "Of course we had. He did like you, Judge Knowles did, +and that was all--of course it was." + +"All what?" + +"Oh, nothing, nothing. How is Judah? I haven't seen him for two days." + +She would not mention Judge Knowles again, but for the remainder of +their session with the accounts she was more like her old self than she +had been for at least a week, or so it seemed to him. + +This was but one of those queer and disconcerting flare-ups of hers. One +day, a week or so after she had questioned him concerning his +appointment, he happened to be in the Harbor kitchen, and alone--of +itself a surprising thing. Elvira Snowden and her group were holding +some sort of committee meeting in the sitting room. Elvira was +continually forming committees or circles for this purpose or that, +purposes which fizzled out at about the third meeting of each group. +Esther Tidditt was supposed to be in charge of the kitchen on this +particular morning, but she had gone into the committee meeting in order +to torment Elvira and Mrs. Brackett, a favorite amusement with her. + +So Sears, wandering into the kitchen, happened to notice that the door +of the store closet had been left open, and he was standing in front of +it idly looking in. He was brought out of his day dream, which had +nothing to do with the closet or its contents, by Elizabeth's voice. She +had entered from the dining room and he had not heard her. + +"Well," she asked, "I trust you find everything present or accounted +for?" + +Her tone was so crisply sarcastic that he turned in astonishment. + +"Why--what?" he faltered. + +"I said I trusted that you found everything in that closet as it should +be. Have you measured the flour? My mother is matron here, Cap'n +Kendrick, and she will be glad to have you take any precautions of that +kind, I am sure. So shall I. But don't you think it might as well be +done while she or I are here?" + +He was bewildered. + +"I don't know what you mean, Elizabeth," he said. + +"Don't you?" + +"No, I don't. I came in just now by the back door, and there was no one +in the kitchen, so--so I waited for a minute." + +"Why did you come by the back door? You didn't use to. Mother and I are +usually in the office, or, at least, we are always glad to come there +when you call." + +He was still bewildered, but irritated, too. + +"Why did I come by the back door?" he repeated. "Why, I've come that way +a dozen times in the last fortnight. Don't you want me to come that +way?" + +Now she looked a trifle confused, but the flush was still on her cheeks +and the sparkle in her eye. + +"I'm sure I don't care how often you come that way," she said. +"But--well, mother is matron here, Cap'n Kendrick. She may not +be--perhaps she isn't--the most businesslike and orderly person in the +world, but she is my mother. If you have any complaints to make, if you +want to find out how things are kept, or managed, or----" + +"Here!" he broke in. "Wait! What do you mean? Do you suppose I sneaked +into this kitchen by myself to peek into that closet, and--and spy on +your mother's managin'?... You don't believe anything of that kind. You +can't." + +She was more embarrassed now. "Why--why, no, I don't, Cap'n Kendrick," +she admitted. "Of course I know you wouldn't sneak anywhere. But--but I +have been given to understand that you and--well, Mr. Bradley--have not +been--are not quite satisfied with the management--with mother's +management. And----" + +"Wait! Heave to!" Sears was excited now, and, as usual when excited, +drifted into nautical phraseology. "What do you mean by sayin' I am not +satisfied? Who told you that?" + +"Why--well, you are not, are you? You questioned her about the coal a +week ago, about how much she used in a week. And then you asked her +about keeping the fires overnight, if she saw how many were kept, and if +there was much waste. And two or three times you have been seen standing +by the bins--figuring." + +"Good Lord!" His exclamation this time was one of sheer amazement. "Good +Lord!" he said again. "Why, I have been tryin', now winter is comin' on, +to figure out how to save coal cost for this craft--for the Fair Harbor. +You know I have. I asked your mother about the fires because I know how +much waste there is likely to be when a fire is kept carelessly. And as +for Bradley and I not bein' satisfied with your mother that is the +wildest idea of all. I never talked with Bradley about the management +here. It isn't his business, for one reason." + +She was silent. Her expression had changed. Then she said, impulsively, +"I'm sorry. Please don't mind what I said, Cap'n Kendrick. I--I am +rather nervous and--and troubled just now. Of course, you are not +obliged to come over here as--as often as you used.... But things I have +heard---- Oh, I shouldn't pay attention to them, I suppose. I--I am very +sorry." + +But he was not quite in the mood to forgive. And one sentence in +particular occupied his attention. + +"Things you have heard," he repeated. "Yes.... I should judge you must +have heard a good deal. But who did you hear it from?... Look here, +Elizabeth; how did you know I was here in the kitchen now? Did you just +happen to come out and find me by accident?" + +She reddened. "Why--why----" she stammered. + +"Or did some one tell you I was out here--spyin' on the pickles?" + +His tone was a most unusual one from him to her. She resented it. + +"No one told me you were 'spying'," she replied; coldly. "I have never +thought of you as--a spy, Cap'n Kendrick. I have always considered you a +friend, a disinterested friend of mother's and mine." + +"Well?... What does that 'disinterested' mean?" + +"Why, nothing in particular." + +"It must mean somethin' or you wouldn't have said it. Does it mean that +you are beginnin' to doubt the disinterested part?... I'd like to have +you tell me, if you don't mind, how you knew I was alone here in the +kitchen? Who took the pains to tell you that?" + +Her answer now was prompt enough. + +"No one took particular pains, I should imagine," she said, crisply. +"Mr. Phillips told me, as it happened. Or rather, he told mother and +mother told me. He is to speak to the--to Elvira's 'travel-study' +committee in the sitting room, and, as he often does, he walked around +by the garden path. When he passed the window he saw you standing by the +closet, that was all." + +Sears did not speak. He turned to the door. + +She called to him. "Wait--wait, please," she cried. "Mr. Phillips did +not say anything, so far as I know, except to mention that you were +here." + +The captain turned back again. "Somebody said somethin'," he declared. +"Somebody said enough to send you out here and make you speak to me +like--like that. And somebody has been startin' you to think about how I +got the appointment as manager. Somebody has been whisperin' that I am +not satisfied with your mother's way of doin' things and am schemin' +against her. Somebody has been droppin' a hint here and a hint there +until even you have begun to believe 'em.... Well, I can't stop your +belief, I suppose, but maybe some day I shall stop Commodore Egbert, and +when I do he'll stop hard." + +"You have no right to say I believe anything against you. I have always +refused to believe that. Do you suppose if I hadn't believed in and +trusted you absolutely I should have.... But there! You know I did--and +do. It is only when--when----" + +"When Egbert hints." + +"_Oh!_ ... How you do hate Mr. Phillips, don't you?" + +"Hate him?... Why, I--I don't know as you'd call it hate." + +"I know. It is plain to see. You have hated him ever since he came. But +why? He has never--you won't believe this, but it is true--he has never, +to me at least, said one word except in your praise. He likes and +admires you. He has told me so." + +"Does he tell your mother the same thing?" + +She looked at him. "Why do you couple my mother's name with his?" she +demanded quickly. "Why should he tell her anything that he doesn't tell +me?" + +It was a question which Sears could not answer. For some time he had +noticed and guessed and feared, but he could not tell her. So he was +silent, and to remain silent was perhaps the worst thing he could have +done. + +"What do you know against Mr. Phillips?" she asked. "Tell me. Do you +know _anything_ to his discredit?" + +Again he did not answer. She turned away. + +"I thought not," she said. "Oh, envy is such a _mean_ trait. Well, I +suppose I shouldn't expect to have many friends--lasting friends." + +"Here! hold on, Elizabeth. Don't say that." + +"What else can I say? I am sorry I spoke to you as I did, but--I think +you have more than paid the debt.... Yes, mother, I am coming." + +She went out of the room and Sears limped moodily home, reflecting, as +most of mankind has reflected at one time or another, upon the +unaccountableness of the feminine character. So far as he could see he +had said much less than he would have been justified in saying. She had +goaded him into saying even that. He pondered and puzzled over it the +greater part of the night and then reached the conclusion which the male +usually reaches under such circumstances, namely, that he had better ask +her pardon. + +So when they next met he did that very thing and she accepted the +apology. And at that meeting, and others immediately following it, no +word was said by either concerning "spying" or Mr. Egbert Phillips. Yet +the wall between them was left a little higher than it had been before, +their friendship was not quite the same, and an experienced person, not +much of a prophet at that, could have foretold that the time was coming +when that friendship was to end. + +It was little Esther Tidditt who laid the coping of the dividing wall. +Elvira Snowden built some of the upper tiers, but Esther finished the +job. Almost unbelievable as it may seem, she did not like Mr. Phillips. +Of course with her tendency to take the off side in all arguments and to +be almost invariably "agin the government," the fact that the rest of +feminine Bayport adored the glittering Egbert might have been of itself +sufficient to set up her opposition. But he had, or she considered that +he had, snubbed her on several occasions and she was a dangerous person +to snub. Judah expressed it characteristically when he declared that +anybody who "set out" to impose on Esther Tidditt would have as lively +a time as a bare-footed man trying to dance a hornpipe on a wasp's nest. +"She'll keep 'em hoppin' high, _I_ tell ye," proclaimed Judah. + +Little Mrs. Tidditt would have liked to keep Mr. Phillips hopping high, +and did administer sly digs to his grandeur whenever she could. In the +praise services among the "inmates" which were almost sure to follow a +call of the great man at the Fair Harbor it was disconcerting and +provoking to the worshipers to have Esther refer to the idol as "that +Eg." Mrs. Brackett took her to task for it. + +"You ought to have more respect for his wife's memory, if nothin' else," +snapped Susanna. "If it hadn't been for her and her generosity you +wouldn't be here, Esther Tidditt." + +"Yes, and if it hadn't been for her _he_ wouldn't be here. He'd have +been teachin' singin' school yet--if he wasn't in jail. _You_ can call +him Po-or de-ar Mr. Phillips,' if you want to; _I_ call him 'Old Eg.' +And he is a bad egg, too, 'cordin' to my notion. Prob'ly that's why his +wife and Judge Knowles hove him out of the nest." + +And, as Egbert climbed in popularity while Captain Sears Kendrick +slipped back, it followed naturally that Mrs. Tidditt became more and +more the friend and champion of the latter. She went out of her way to +do him favors and she made it her business to keep him posted on the +happenings and gossip at the Fair Harbor. He did not encourage her in +this, in fact he attempted tactfully to discourage her, but Esther was +not easily discouraged. + +It was she who first called his attention to Miss Snowden's fondness for +the Phillips society. + +"Elviry's set her cap for him," declared Mrs. Tidditt. "The way she sets +and looks mushy at him when he's preachin' about Portygee pictures and +such is enough to keep a body from relishin' their meals." + +But of late, according to Esther, Elvira was no longer the first violin +in the Phillips orchestra. + +"She's second fiddle," announced the little woman. "There's another +craft cut acrost her bows. If you ask me who 'tis I can tell you, too, +Cap'n Sears." + +And Sears made it a point not to ask. Once it was Elvira herself who +more than hinted, and in the presence of Elizabeth and the captain. The +latter pair were at the desk together when Miss Snowden passed through +the room. + +"Where is mother?" asked Elizabeth. "Have you seen her, Elvira?" + +Elvira's thin lips were shut tight. + +"Don't ask _me_," she snapped, viciously. "She's out trapping, I +suppose." + +"Trapping!" Elizabeth stared at her. "What are you talking about? +Trapping what?" + +"I don't know. _I'm_ not layin' traps to catch anything--or any_body_ +either." + +She sailed out of the room. Miss Berry turned to Sears. + +"Do you know what she means, Cap'n Kendrick?" she asked. + +Sears did know, or would have bet heavily on his guess. But he shook his +head. Elizabeth was not satisfied. + +"Why do you look like that?" she persisted. "_Do_ you know?" + +"Eh?... Oh, no, no; of course not.... I--I think I saw your mother goin' +out of the gate as I came across lots. She--I presume likely she was +goin' to the store or somewhere." + +"She didn't tell me she was going. Was she alone?" + +"Why--why, no; I think--seems to me Mr. Phillips was with her." + +For the next few minutes the captain devoted his entire attention to the +letter he was writing. He did not look up, but he was quite conscious +that her eyes were boring him through and through. During the rest of +his stay she was curt and cool. When he went she did not bid him +good-by. + +So the fuse was burning merrily and the inevitable explosion came three +days later. The scene was this time not the Fair Harbor office, but the +Minot kitchen. Judah was out and the captain was alone, reading the +_Item_. The fire in the range was a new one and the kitchen was very +warm, so Sears had opened the outer door in order to cool off a bit. It +was a beautiful late October forenoon. + +The captain was deep in the _Item's_ account of the recent wreck on +Peaked Hill Bars. A British bark had gone ashore there and the crew had +been rescued with difficulty. He was himself dragged, metaphorically +speaking, from the undertow by a voice just behind him. + +"Well, you're takin' it easy, ain't you, Cap'n Sears?" observed Mrs. +Tidditt. "I wish _I_ didn't have nothin' to do but set and read the +news." + +"Oh, good mornin', Esther," said the captain. He was not particularly +glad to see her. "What's wrong; anything?" + +"Nothin' but my batch of gingerbread, and a quart of molasses'll save +that. Can you spare it? Oh, don't get up. I know where Judah keeps it; +I've been here afore." + +She went to the closet, found the molasses jug, and filled her pitcher. +Then she came back and sat down. She had not been invited to sit, but +Esther scorned ceremony. + +"No, sir," she observed, as if carrying on an uninterrupted +conversation, "_I_ can't set and read the newspapers. And I can't go to +walk neither, even if 'tis such weather as 'tis to-day. Some folks can, +though, and they've gone." + +Sears turned the page of the _Item_. He made no comment. His silence did +not in the least disturb his caller. + +"Yes, they've gone," she repeated. "Right in the middle of the forenoon, +too.... Oh, well! when the Admiral of all creation comes to get you to +go cruisin' along with him, you go, I suppose. That is, some folks do. +I'd like to see the man _I'd_ make such a fool of myself over." + +The captain was reading the "Local Jottings" now. Mrs. Tidditt kept +serenely on. + +"I wouldn't let any man make such a soft-headed fool of me," she +declared. "'Twould take more than a mustache and a slick tongue to get +_my_ money away from me--if I had any." + +Sears was obliged to give up the Jottings. He sighed and put down the +paper. + +"What's the matter, Esther?" he asked. "Who's after your money?" + +"Nobody, and good reason why, too. And I ain't out cruisin' 'round the +fields with an Eg neither." + +"With an egg? Who is?" + +"Who do you think? Cordelia Berry, of course. Him and her have gone for +what he calls a little stroll. He said she was workin' her poor brain +too hard and a little fresh air would do her good. Pity about her poor +brain, ain't it? Well, if 'twan't a poor one he'd never coax her into +marryin' _him_, that's sartin." + +"Esther, don't talk foolish." + +"Nothin' foolish about it. If them two ain't keepin' company then I +never saw anybody that was. He's callin' on her, and squirin' her +'round, and waitin' on her mornin', noon and night. And she--my +patience! she might as well hang out a sign, 'Ready and Willin'.' She +says he's the one real aristocrat she has seen since she left her +father's home. Poor Cap'n Ike, he's all forgotten." + +Sears stirred uneasily. Barring Tidditt exaggeration, he was inclined to +believe all this very near the truth. It merely confirmed his own +suspicions. + +His visitor went gayly on. "I'm sorry for Elizabeth," she said. "I don't +know whether the poor girl realizes how soon she's liable to have that +Eg for a step-pa. I shouldn't wonder if she suspected a little. I don't +see how she can help it. But, Elviry Snowden--oh, dear, dear! If _she_ +ain't the sourest mortal these days. I do get consider'ble fun out of +Elviry. She's the one thing that keeps me reconciled to life." + +The captain thought he saw an opportunity to shift Mrs. Berry from the +limelight and substitute some one else. + +"I thought Elvira Snowden was the one you said meant to get Egbert," he +suggested. + +"So I did, and so she was. But she don't count nowadays." + +"Why doesn't she?" + +"Well, if you ask me I shall give you an answer. Elviry Snowden ain't +fell heir to five thousand dollars and Cordelia Berry has. That's why." + +Sears uneasily shifted again. This conversation was following much too +closely his own line of reasoning. + +"Five thousand isn't any great fortune," he observed, "to a man like +Phillips." + +The little woman nodded. "It's five thousand dollars to a man just +_like_ Phillips--now," she said, significantly. "And, more'n that, +Cordelia's matron at the Harbor. The Fair Harbor ain't a Eyetalian +palace maybe, but it's a nice, comf'table place where the matron's +husband might live easy and not pay board.... That's _my_ guess. Other +folks can have theirs and welcome." + +"But----" + +"There ain't no buts about it, Cap'n Kendrick. You know it's so. Eg +Phillips is goin' to marry Cordelia Berry. My name ain't Elijah nor +Jeremiah--no, nor Deuteronomy nuther--but I can prophesy that much." + +She rose with a triumphant bounce, turned to the open door behind her, +and saw Elizabeth Berry standing there. Sears Kendrick saw her at the +same time. + +There are periods in the life of each individual when it seems as if +Fate was holding a hammer above that individual's head and, at +intervals, as the head ventures to lift itself, knocking it down again. +Each successive tap seems a bit harder, and the victim, during the +interval of its falling, wonders if it is to be the final and finishing +thump. + +Sears did not wonder this time, he knew. His thought, as he saw her +there, saw the expression upon her face and realized what she must have +heard, was: "Here it is! This is the end." + +Yet he was the first of the two to speak. Elizabeth, white and rigid, +said nothing, and even Mrs. Tidditt's talking machinery seemed to be +temporarily thrown out of gear. So the captain made the attempt, a +feeble one. + +"Why, Elizabeth," he faltered, "is that you?... Come in, won't you?" + +She did come in, that is, she came as far as the door mat. Then she +turned, not to him, but to his companion. + +"What do you mean by speaking in that way of my mother?" she demanded. + +Esther was still a trifle off balance. Her answer was rather incoherent. + +"I--I don't know's I--as I said--as I said much of anything--much," she +stammered. + +"I heard you. How dare you tell such--such _lies_?" + +"Lies?" + +"Yes; mean, miserable lies. What else are they? How dare you run to--to +_him_ with them?" + +Mrs. Tidditt's hand, that grasping the handle of the molasses pitcher, +began to quiver. Her eyes, behind her steel-rimmed spectacles, winked +rapidly. + +"Elizabeth Berry," she snapped, with ominous emphasis, "don't you talk +to me like that!" + +"I shall talk to you as--as.... Oh, I should be ashamed to talk to you +at all. My mother--my kind, trustful, unsuspecting mother! And you--you +and he _dare_----" + +Kendrick, in desperation, tried to put in a word. + +"Elizabeth," he begged, "don't misunderstand. Esther hasn't been runnin' +here to tell me things. She came over to borrow some molasses from +Judah, that's all." + +"Oh, stop! I tell you I heard what she said. And you were listening. +Listening! Without a word of protest. I suppose you encouraged her. Of +course you did. No doubt this isn't the first time. This may be her +usual report. Not content with--with prying into closets and--and coal +bins and--and----" + +"Elizabeth!" + +"Doing these things for yourself was not enough, I suppose. You must +encourage her--pay her, perhaps--to listen and whisper scandal and to +spy----" + +"Stop! Stop right there!" The captain was not begging now. Even in the +midst of her impassioned outburst the young woman paused, halted +momentarily by the compelling force of that order. But she halted +unwillingly. + +"I shall not stop," she declared. "I shall say----" + +"You have said a whole lot too much already. And you don't mean what you +have said." + +"I do! I do! Oh, I can't tell you what I think of you." + +"Well," dryly, "you have made a pretty fair try at tellin' it. If it is +what you really think of me it'll do--it will be quite enough. I shan't +need any more." + +He was looking at her gravely and steadily and before his look her own +gaze wavered. If they had been alone it is barely possible that ... but +they were not alone. Mrs. Tidditt was there and, by this time, as Judah +would have said, "her neck-feathers were on end" and her spurs sharpened +for battle. She hopped into the pit forthwith. + +"_I_ need consider'ble more," she cackled, defiantly. "I've been called +a spy and a scandal whisperer and the Lord knows what else. Now I'll say +somethin'." + +"Esther, be still." + +"I shan't be still till I'm ready, not for you, Sears Kendrick, nor for +her nor nobody else. I ain't a spy, 'Liz'beth Berry, and I ain't paid by +no livin' soul. But I see what I see with the eyes the Almighty give me +to see with, and after I've seen it--not alone once but forty dozen +times--I'll talk about it if I want to, when I want to, to anybody I +want to. Now that's that much." + +Elizabeth, scornfully silent, was turning to the door, but the little +woman hopped--that seems the only word which describes it--in her way. + +"You ain't goin'," she declared, "till I've finished. 'Twon't take me +long to say it, but it's goin' to be said. I told Cap'n Sears that Eg +Phillips was chasin' 'round with your mother. He is. And if she ain't +glad to have him chase her then I never see anybody that was. I said +them two was cal'latin' to get married. Well ... well, if they ain't +then they'd ought to be, that's all I'll say about _that_. And don't you +ever call me a spy again as long as you live, 'Liz'beth Berry." + +She hopped again, to the doorway this time. There she turned for a +farewell cackle. + +"One thing more," she said. "I told the cap'n I believed the reason that +that Eg man wanted to marry Cordelia was on account of her bein' able to +give him five thousand dollars and the Fair Harbor to live in. I do +believe it. And you can tell her so--or him so. But afore I told anybody +I'd think it over, if I was you, 'Liz'beth Berry. And I'd think _him_ +over a whole lot afore I'd let him and his 'ily tongue make trouble +between you and your _real_ friends.... There! Good-by." + +She went away. Kendrick pulled at his beard. + +"Elizabeth," he began, hastily, "I'm awfully sorry that this happened. +Of course you know that I----" + +She interrupted him. "I know," she said, "that if I ever speak to you +again it will be because I am obliged to, not because I want to." + +She followed Mrs. Tidditt. Sears Kendrick sat down once more in the +rocking chair. + +He did a great deal of hard and unpleasant thinking before he rose from +it. When he did rise it was to go to the drawer in the bureau of the +spare stateroom where he kept his writing materials, take therefrom pen, +ink and paper and sit down at the table to write a letter. The letter +was not long of itself, but composing it was a rather lengthy process. +It was addressed to Elizabeth Berry and embodied his resignation as +trustee and guardian of her inheritance from Judge Knowles. + + * * * * * + +"As I see it [he wrote] I am not the one to have charge of that money. I +took the job, as you know, because the judge asked me to and because you +asked me. I took it with a good deal of doubt. Now, considering the way +you feel towards me, I haven't any doubt that I should give it up. I +don't want you to make the mistake of thinking that I feel guilty. So +far as I know I have not done anything which was not square and honest +and aboveboard, either where you were concerned, or your mother, or what +I believed to be the best interests of the Fair Harbor. And I am not +giving up my regular berth as general manager of the Harbor itself. +Judge Knowles asked me to keep that as long as I thought it was +necessary for the good of the institution. I honestly believe it is more +necessary now than it ever was. And I shall stay right on deck until I +feel the need is over. I shan't bother you with my company any more than +I can help, but you will have to put up with it about every once in so +often while we go over business affairs. So much for that. The +trusteeship is different and I resign it to Mr. Bradley, who was the +judge's second choice." + + * * * * * + +He paused here, deliberated for a time, and then added another +paragraph. + + * * * * * + +"I feel sure Bradley will take it [he wrote]. If he should refuse I will +not give it up to any one else. At least not unless I am perfectly +satisfied with the person chosen. This is for your safety and for no +other reason." + + * * * * * + +He sent the letter over by Judah. Two days later he received a reply. +It, too, was brief and to the point. + + * * * * * + +"I accept your resignation [wrote Elizabeth]. It was Judge Knowles' wish +that you be my trustee, and, as you know, it was mine also. Apparently +you no longer feel bound by either wish, and of course I shall not beg +you to change your mind. I have no right to influence you in any way. I +have seen Mr. Bradley and he has consented to act as trustee for me. He +will see you in a day or two. As for the other matters I have nothing to +say. Whenever you wish to consult with me on business affairs I shall be +ready." + + * * * * * + +There was a postscript. It read: + +"I feel that I should thank you for what you have already done. I do +thank you sincerely." + + * * * * * + +So that ended it, and ended also what had been a happy period for Sears +Kendrick. He made no more informal daily visits to the Fair Harbor. +Twice a week, at stated times, he and Elizabeth met in the office and +conferred concerning bills, letters and accounts. She was calm and +impersonal during these interviews, and he tried to be so. There was no +reference to other matters and no more cheerful and delightful chats, no +more confidences between them. It did seem to him that she was more +absent-minded, less alert and attentive to the business details than she +had been, and at times he thought that she looked troubled and careworn. +Perhaps, however, this was but his imagining, a sort of reflection of +his own misery. For he was miserable--miserable, pessimistic and pretty +thoroughly disgusted with life. His health and strength were gaining +always, but he found little consolation in this. He could not go to sea +just yet. He had promised Judge Knowles to stick it out and stick he +would. But he longed--oh, how he longed!--for the blue water and a deck +beneath his feet. Perhaps, a thousand miles from land, with a gale +blowing and a ship to handle, as a real deep-sea skipper he could +forget--forget a face and a voice and a succession of silly fancies +which could not, apparently, be wholly forgotten by the middle-aged +skipper of an old women's home. + +One morning, after a troubled night, on his way to a conference with +Elizabeth at the Fair Harbor office, he met Mr. Egbert Phillips. The +latter, serene, benign, elegant, was entering at the gateway beneath the +swinging sign which proclaimed to the other world that within the Harbor +all was peace. Of late Captain Kendrick had found a certain flavor of +irony in the wording of that sign. + +Kendrick and Phillips reached the gate at the same moment. They +exchanged good mornings. Egbert's was sweetly and condescendingly +gracious, the captain's rather short and brusque. Since the encounter in +the office where, in the presence of Elizabeth, Phillips' polite +inuendoes had goaded Sears into an indiscreet revelation of his real +feeling toward the elegant widower--since that day relations between +the two had been maintained on a basis of armed neutrality. They bowed, +they smiled, they even spoke, although seldom at length. Kendrick had +made up his mind not to lose his temper again. His adversary should not +have that advantage over him. + +But this morning to save his life he could not have appeared as +unruffled as usual. The night had been uncomfortable, his waking +thoughts disturbing. His position was a hard one, he was feeling +rebellious against Fate and even against Judge Knowles, who, as Fate's +agent, had gotten him into that position. And the sight of the tall +figure, genteelly swinging its cane and beaming patronage upon the world +in general, was a little too much for him. So his good morning was more +of a grunt than a greeting. + +It may be that Egbert noticed this. Or it may be that with his triumph +so closely approaching a certainty he could not resist a slight gloat. +At all events he paused for an instant, a demure gleam in his eye and +the corner of his lip beneath the drooping mustache lifting in an amused +smile. + +"A beautiful day, Captain," he said. + +Kendrick admitted the day's beauty. He would have passed through the +gateway, but Mr. Phillips' figure and Mr. Phillips' cane blocked the +way. + +"It seems to me that we do not see as much of you here at the Harbor as +we used, Captain Kendrick," observed Egbert. "Or is that my fancy +merely?" + +The captain's answer was noncommittal. Again he attempted to pass and +again the Phillips' walking-stick casually prevented. + +"I trust that nothing serious has occurred to deprive us of your +society, Captain?" queried the owner of the stick, solicitously. "No +accident, no further accident, or anything of that sort?" + +"No." + +"And you are quite well? Pardon me, but I fancied that you +looked--ah--shall I say disturbed--or worried, perhaps?" + +"No. I'm all right." + +"I am so glad to hear it. I gathered--that is, I feared that perhaps the +cares incidental to your--" again the slight smile--"your labors as +general supervisor of the Harbor might be undermining your health. I am +charmed to have you tell me that that is not the case." + +"Thanks." + +"Of course--" Mr. Phillips drew a geometrical figure with the +cane in the earth of the flower bed by the path--"of course," he +said, "speaking as one who has had some sad experience with illness +and that sort of thing, it has always seemed to me that one should +not take chances with one's health. If the cares of a particular +avocation--situation--position--whatever it may be--if the cares +and--ah--disappointments incidental to it are affecting one's physical +condition it has always seemed to me wiser to sacrifice the first for +the second. And make the sacrifice in time. You see what I mean?" + +Kendrick, standing by the post of the gateway, looked at him. + +"Why, no," he said, slowly, "I don't know that I do. What do you mean?" + +The cane was drawn through the first figure in the flower bed and began +to trace another. Again Mr. Phillips smiled. + +"Why, nothing in particular, my dear sir," he replied. "Perhaps nothing +at all.... I had heard--mere rumor, no doubt--that you contemplated +giving up your position as superintendent here. I trust it is not true?" + +"It isn't." + +"I am delighted to hear you say so. We--we of the Harbor--should miss +you greatly." + +"Thanks. Do you mind telling me who told you I was goin' to give up the +superintendent's position?" + +"Why, I don't remember. It came to my ears, it seemed to be a sort of +general impression. Of course, now that you tell me it is not true I +shall take pains to deny it. And permit me to express my gratification." + +"Just a minute. Did they say--did this general impression say why I was +givin' up the job?" + +"No-o, no, I think not. I believe it was hinted that you were not well +and--perhaps somewhat tired--a little discouraged--that sort of thing. +As I say, it was mere rumor." + +Sears smiled now--that is, his lips smiled, his eyes were grave enough. + +"Well," he observed, deliberately, "if you have a chance, Mr. Phillips, +you can tell those mere rumorers that I'm not tired at all. My health is +better than it has been for months. So far from bein' discouraged, you +can tell 'em that--well, you know what Commodore Paul Jones told the +British cap'n who asked him to surrender; he told him that he had just +begun to fight. That's the way it is with me, Mr. Phillips, I've just +begun to fight." + +The cane was lifted from the flower bed. Egbert nodded in polite +appreciation. + +"Really?" he said. "How interesting, Captain!" + +Kendrick nodded, also. "Yes, isn't it?" he agreed. "Were you goin' into +the Harbor, Phillips? So am I. We'll walk along together." + +But that night he went to his bed in better spirits. Egbert's little dig +had been the very thing he needed, and now he knew it. He had been +discouraged; in spite of his declaration in his letter to Elizabeth +Berry, he had wished that it were possible to run away from the Fair +Harbor and everything connected with it. But now--now he had no wish of +that kind. If Judge Knowles could rise from the grave and bid him quit +he would not do it. + +Quit? Not much! Like Paul Jones, he had just begun to fight. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +But there was so little that was tangible to fight, that was the +trouble. If Mr. Egbert Phillips was the villain of the piece he was such +a light and airy villain that it was hard to take him seriously enough. +Even when Kendrick was most thoroughly angry with him and most +completely convinced that he was responsible for all his own troubles, +including the loss of Elizabeth Berry's friendship--even then he found +it hard to sit down and deliberately plan a campaign against him. It +seemed like campaigning against a butterfly. The captain disliked him +extremely, but he never felt a desire to knock him down. To kick +him--yes. Perhaps to thump the beaver hat over his eyes and help him +down the brick path of the Harbor with the judicious application of a +boot, grinning broadly during the process--that was Sears Kendrick's +idea of a fitting treatment for King Egbert the Great. + +The captain had done his share of fighting during an adventurous +lifetime, but his opponents had always been men. Somehow Phillips did +not seem to him like a man. A creature so very ornamental, with so much +flourish, so superlatively elegant, so overwhelmingly correct, so +altogether and all the time the teacher of singing school or dancing +school--how could one seriously set about fighting such a bundle of +fluff? A feather-duster seemed a more fitting weapon than a shotgun. + +But the fluff was flying high and in the sunshine and was already far +out of reach of the duster. Soon it would be out of reach of the +shotgun. Unless the fight was made serious and deadly at once there +would be none at all. Unless having already lost about all that made +life worth living, Sears Kendrick wished to be driven from Bayport in +inglorious rout, he had better campaign in earnest. Passive resistance +must end. + +As a beginning he questioned Judah once more concerning Phillips' +standing in the community. It was unchanged, so Judah said. He was quite +as popular, still the brave and uncomplaining martyr, always the idol of +the women and a large proportion of the men. + +"Did you hear about him down to the Orthodox church fair last week?" +asked Mr. Cahoon. "You didn't! Creepin'! I thought everybody aboard had +heard about that. Seems they'd sold about everything there was to sell, +but of course there was a few things left, same as there always is, and +amongst 'em was a patchwork comforter that old Mrs. Jarvis--Capn' +Azariah Jarvis's second wife she was--you remember Cap'n Azariah, don't +ye, Cap'n Sears? He was the one that used to swear so like fury. Didn't +mean nothin' by it, just a habit 'twas, same as usin' tobacco or rum is +with some folks. Didn't know when---- Eh? Oh, yes, about that comforter. +Why, old Mrs. Jarvis she made it for the fair and it wan't sold. 'Twas +one of them log-cabin quilts, you know. I don't know why they call 'em +log cabins, they don't look no more like a log cabin than my head does. +I cal'late they have to call 'em somethin' so's to tell 'em from the +risin' sun quilts and the mornin'-glory quilts and--and the +Lord-knows-what quilts. The womenfolks make mo-ore kinds of them quilts +and comforters, seems so, than---- + +"Eh? Oh, yes, I'm beatin' up to Egbert, Cap'n Sears; I'll be alongside +him in a minute, give me steerage way. Well, the log-cabin quilt wan't +sold and they wanted to sell it, partly because old Mrs. Jarvis would +feel bad if nobody bought it, and partly because the meetin'-house folks +would feel worse if any money got away from 'em at a fair. So Mr. Dishup +he says, 'We'll auction of it off,' he says, 'and our honored and +beloved friend, Mr. Phillips, will maybe so be kind enough to act as +auctioneer.' So Eg, he got up and apologized for bein' chose, and went +on to say what a all-'round no-good auctioneer he'd be but how he +couldn't say no to the folks of the church where his dear diseased wife +had worshiped so long, and then he started in to sell that comforter. +Did he _sell_ it? Why, creepin', crawlin', hoppin' ... Cap'n Sears, he +could have sold a shipload of them log-cabins if he'd had 'em handy. He +held the thing up in front of 'em, so they tell me, and he just praised +it up same as John B. Gough praises up cold water at a temp'rance +lecture. He told how the old woman had worked over it, and set up nights +over it, and got her nerves all into a titter and her finger ends all +rags, as you might say, and how she had done it just to do somethin' for +the meetin'-house she thought so much of, the church that her loved and +lost husband used to come to so reg'lar. _That_ was all fiddlesticks, +'cause Cap'n Az never went to church except for the six weeks after he +was married, and pretty scattern' 'long the last three of _them_. + +"Well, he hadn't talked that way very long afore he had that whole +vestry as damp as a fishin' schooner's deck in a Banks fog. All +hands--even the men that had been spendin' money for the fair things, +tidies and aprons and splint work picture-frames and such, even they was +cryin'. And then old Mrs. Jarvis--and she was cryin', too--she went and +whispered to the minister and he whispered to Phillips and Phillips, he +says: 'Ladies and gentlemen,' he says, 'I have just learned that a part +of this quilt was made from a suit of clothes worn by Cap'n Jarvis on +his last v'yage,' he says. '_Just_ think of it,' says he, 'this blue +strip here is a part of the coat worn by him as he trod the deck of his +ship homeward bound--bound home to his wife, bound home to die.' + +"Well, all hands cried more'n ever at that, and Mrs. Jarvis got up, with +the tears a-runnin', and says she: 'It wan't his coat,' she says. 'I +sold the coat and vest to a peddler. 'Twas his----' But Egbert cut in +afore she could tell what 'twas, and then he got 'em to biddin'. +Creepin' Henry, Cap'n Sears! that log-cabin quilt sold for nine dollars +and a half, and the man that bought it was Philander Comstock, the +tailor over to Denboro. And Philander told me himself that he didn't +know why he bought it. '_I_ made that suit of clothes for Cap'n Azariah, +myself,' he says, 'and he died afore I got half my pay for it. But that +Phillips man,' he says, 'could sell a spyglass to a blind man.'" + +The captain asked Judah if he had heard any testimony on the other side; +were there any people in Bayport who did not like Mr. Phillips. Judah +thought it over. + +"We-ll," he said, reflectively, "I don't know as I've ever heard anybody +come right out and call him names. Anybody but Esther Tidditt, that is; +she's down on him like a sheet anchor on a crab. Sometimes Elviry snaps +out somethin' spiteful, but most of that's jealousy, I cal'late. You +see, Elviry had her cap all set for this Egbert widower--that is, all +hands seems to cal'late she had--and then she began to find her nose was +bein' put out of j'int. You know who they're sayin' put it out, Cap'n +Sears? There seems to be a general notion around town that----" + +Kendrick interrupted; this was a matter he did not care to discuss with +Judah or any one else. There had been quite enough said on that subject. + +"Yes, yes, all right, Judah," he said, hastily. "But the men? Do the men +like him as well as the women?" + +"Why--why, yes, I guess so. Not quite so well, of course. That wouldn't +be natural, would it, Cap'n Sears?" + +"Perhaps not. But have you ever heard any man say anything against him, +anything definite? Does he pay his bills?" + +"Eh? Why, I don't know. I ain't never----" + +"All right. Who does he chum around with mostly? Who are his best +friends?" + +Mr. Cahoon gave a list of them, beginning of course with the Wingates +and the Dishups and the members of the Shakespeare Reading Society and +ending with George Kent. + +"He cruises along with George a whole lot," declared Judah. "Them two +are together about half the time. George don't work to the store no +more. You knew that, didn't you?" + +If Sears had heard it, he had forgotten. Judah went on to explain. + +"He hove up his job at Eliphalet's quite a spell ago," he said "He's +studyin' law along with Bradley same as ever, but 'he's busy lawin' here +in Bayport, too. Some of his relations died and left a lot of money, so +folks tell, and George is what they call administer of the estate. It's +an awful good thing for him, all hands cal'late. Some say he's rich." + +The captain vaguely remembered Kent's disclosure to him concerning his +appointment as administrator of his aunt's estate. He had not exchanged +a word with the young man since the evening of the latter's call and +Elizabeth's interruption. It seemed a long while ago. Much--and so much +that was unpleasant--had happened since then. Kent and he had met, of +course, and on the first two or three occasions, Kendrick had spoken. +The young fellow had not replied. Now, at the mention of his name, +Kendrick felt an uneasy pang, almost of guilt. He had done nothing +wrong, of course yet if it had not been for him perhaps the two young +people might still have been friends or even more than friends. It was +true that Elizabeth had told him but there, what difference did it make +what she told him? She had told him other things since, things that he +could not forget. + +"Well, all right, Judah," he said. "It wasn't important. Run along." + +Judah did not run along. He remained, looking at his lodger with a +troubled expression. The latter noticed it. + +"What is it, Judah?" he asked. "Anything wrong?" + +Mr. Cahoon's fingers moved uneasily through the heavy foliage upon his +chin. "Why--why, Cap'n Sears," he stammered, "can I ask you somethin'?" + +"Certain. Fire away." + +"Well--well--it--it ain't true, is it, that you done anything to set +Elizabeth Berry against that young Kent feller? You never told her +nothin'--or did nothin'--or--or----" + +He seemed to find it hard to finish his sentence. The captain did not +wait, but asked a question of his own. + +"Who said I did, Judah?" he asked. + +"Hey?... Oh, I--I don't know. Why--why, some of them sculpin'-mouths +down to the store they say that you--that you told Elizabeth a lot of +things--or did somethin' or 'nother to spite George with her. Of course +_I_ knew 'twan't so, but--but----" + +"But they said it was, eh? Well, it isn't true. I haven't done anything +of that kind, Judah." + +The Cahoon fist descended upon the kitchen table with a thump. "I knew +it!" roared Judah. "I knew dum well 'twas a cargo of lies. Now just +wait. Let one of them swabs just open his main hatch and start to unload +another passel of that cargo. If I don't----" + +"Shh, shh! Don't do that. I tell you what to do. If you want to help me, +Judah, you say nothin', but try and find out who told them these things. +Some one has been pretty busy tellin' things to my discredit for some +time. Don't let any one know what you're after, but see if you can find +out who is responsible. Will you?" + +"Sartin sure I will. And when I do find out----" + +"When you do, let me know. And Judah, one thing more: Find out all that +you can find out about this Phillips man. See if he owes anybody money. +See if he pays his debts. See if he--well, find out all you can about +him; but don't let any one know you're tryin' to find out, that's all. +Do you understand?" + +"Eh?... Why, I guess likely I do.... But--but.... Eh? Cap'n Sears, do +you mean to say you cal'late that that Eg Phillips is at the back of all +this talk against you in Bayport? Do you mean that?" + +"Humph! So there is talk against me; a lot of it, I suppose?" + +Judah forgot to be discreet. "Talk!" he shouted. "There's more +underhand, sneakin' lies about you goin' around this flat-bottomed, +leaky, gurry-and-bilgewater tub of a town than there is fiddlers in +Tophet. I've denied 'em and contradicted 'em till I'm hoarse from +hollerin'. I've offered to fight anybody who dast to say they was true, +but, by the hoppin' Henry, nobody ever said any more than that they'd +heard they was. And I never could find out who started 'em. And do you +mean to say you believe that long-legged critter with the beaver hat and +the--the mustache like a drowned cat's tail is responsible?" + +Captain Kendrick hesitated for an instant. Then he nodded. "I think he +is, Judah," he said, solemnly. + +"Then, by the creepin', crawlin'----" + +"Wait! I don't know that he is. I don't know much about him. But I mean +to find out all about him, if I can. And I want you to help me." + +"I'll help. And when you find out, Cap'n?" + +"Well, that depends. If I find out anything that will give me the +chance, I'll--I'll smash him as flat as that." + +_He_ struck the table now, with his open palm. Mr. Cahoon grinned +delightedly. + +"I bet you will, Cap'n Sears!" he vowed. "And if he ain't flat enough +then I'll come and jump on him. And I ain't no West Injy hummin'-bird +neither." + +Kendrick's next move was to talk with his sister. Her visits at the +Minot place had not been quite as frequent of late. She came, of course, +but not as often, or so it seemed to the captain, and when she came she +carefully avoided all reference to her new boarder. Sears knew the +reason, or thought he did. He had hurt her feelings by intimating that +Mr. Phillips might not be as altogether speckless as she thought him. He +had not enthused over her giving up the best parlor to his Egbertship +and Sarah was disappointed. But, loyal and loving soul that she was, she +would not risk even the slightest disagreement with her brother, and so +when she called, spoke of everything or everybody but the possible cause +of such disagreement. Yet the cause was there and between brother and +sister, as between Elizabeth and Sears, lay the slim, lengthy, +gracefully undulating shadow of Judge Knowles' pet bugbear, who was +rapidly becoming Sears Kendrick's bugbear as well. + +The captain had not visited the Macomber home more than twice since +Judah carted him away from it in the blue truck-wagon. One fine day, +however, he and the Foam Flake made the journey again, although with the +buggy, not the wagon. He chose a time when he knew Kent was almost +certain to be over at Bradley's office in Orham and when Phillips was +not likely to be in his rooms. Of course there was a chance that he +might encounter the latter, but he thought it unlikely. His guess was a +good one and Egbert was out, had gone for a ride, so Mrs. Macomber said. +Mrs. Cap'n Elkanah Wingate had furnished the necessary wherewithal for +riding. "The Wingates let him use their horse and team real often," said +Sarah. "They're awful fond of him, Mrs. Wingate especial. I don't know +as Cap'n Elkanah is so much; he is kind of cross-grained sometimes and +it's hard for him to like anybody very long." + +She was hard at work, ironing this time, but she would have put the +flatiron back on the stove and taken her brother to the sitting room if +he had permitted. "The idea of a man like you, Sears, havin' to sit on +an old broken-down chair out here in the wash-shed," she exclaimed. "It +ain't fittin'." + +The captain sniffed. "I guess if it's fittin' for you to be workin' out +here I shouldn't complain at sittin' here," he observed. "Is that Joel's +shirt? He's gettin' awfully high-toned--and high collared, seems to me." + +Mrs. Macomber was slightly confused. "Why, no," she said, "this isn't +Joe's shirt. It's Mr. Phillips's. Ain't it lovely linen? I don't know as +I ever saw any finer." + +Her brother leaned back in the broken chair. "Do you do his washin' for +him, Sarah?" he demanded. + +"Why--why, yes, Sears. You see, he's real particular about how it's +done, and of course you can't blame him, he has such lovely things. He +tried two of the regular washwomen, Elsie Doyle and Peleg Carpenter's +wife, and they did 'em up just dreadful. So, just to help him out one +time, I tried 'em myself. And they came out real nice, if I do say it, +and he was so pleased. So ever since then I have been doin' 'em for +him. It's hardly any trouble--any extra trouble. I have to do our own +washin', you know." + +Sears did know, also he knew the size of that washing. + +"Does he pay you for it?" he asked, sharply. "Pay you enough, I mean?" + +"Why--why, yes. Of course he doesn't pay a whole lot. Not as much maybe +as if he was a stranger, somebody who didn't pay me regular board, you +know." + +"Humph! Do you get your money?" + +"Why, yes. Of course I do." + +"He doesn't owe you anything, then, for board or lodgin' or anything?" + +Mrs. Macomber hesitated. "Nothin' much," she replied, after a moment. +"Of course he gets a little behind sometimes, everybody does that, you +know. But then his dividend payments or somethin' come to him and he +pays right up in a lump. It's kind of nice havin' it come that way, +seems more, you know." + +"Yes. So long as it keeps on comin'. His dividends, you say? I thought +the story was that he hadn't any stocks left to get dividends from. I +thought he told all hands that he was poverty-stricken, that when he was +cut out of the Harbor property and the fifty thousand he hadn't a +copper." + +"Oh no not as bad as that. He had some stocks and bonds, of course. Why, +if he hadn't where would he get _any_ money from? How could he live?" + +"I don't know. He seems to be livin', though, and pretty well. Has he +got the parlor yet?" + +"Yes, and it's fixed up so pretty. He's got his pictures and things +around. Wouldn't you like to see it? He's out, you know." + +They went into the parlor and the bedroom adjoining, that which the +captain had occupied during his stay. Both rooms were as neat as +wax--Sears expected that, knowing his sister's housekeeping--but he had +scarcely expected to find the rooms so changed. The furniture was the +same, but the wall decorations were not. + +"What's become of the alum basket and the wax wreath and the Rock of +Ages chromo?" he asked. + +"Oh, he took 'em down. That is, he didn't do it himself, of course, but +he had Joel do it. They're up attic. Mr. Phillips said they was so like +the things that his wife used to have in the dear old home that he +couldn't bear to see 'em. They reminded him so of her. He asked if we +would mind if they was removed and we said no, of course." + +"Humph! And the Macomber family coffin plates, those you had set out on +black velvet with all Joel's dead relations names on 'em, in the plush +and gilt frame? Are those up attic, too?" + +"Yes." + +"I should have thought 'twould have broken Joel's heart to part with +_them_!" + +"Sears, you're makin' fun. I don't blame you much. I always did hate +those coffin plates, but Joel seemed to like 'em. They were in his +folks' front parlor, he says." + +"Yes. That 'Death of Washin'ton' picture and the rounder-case thing with +the locks of hair in it were there, too, you told me once. That must +have been a lively room. Those--er--horse pictures are Egbert's, I +suppose?" + +"Yes. He is real fond of horses." + +The "horse pictures" were colored plates of racers. + +"That's a portrait of his wife over there," explained Sarah. "She had it +painted in Italy on purpose for him." + +"Is that so? Well, I'm glad it was for him. I shouldn't think it was +hardly fittin' for anybody outside the family. Of course Italy's a warm +climate, but----" + +"_Sears!_" Mrs. Macomber blushed. "Of course I didn't mean _that_ +picture," she protested. "And you know I didn't. I wouldn't have that +one up at all if I had _my_ way. But he says it's an old master and very +famous and all like that. Maybe so, but I'm thankful the children ain't +allowed in here. That's Lobelia over there." + +In the bedroom were other pictures, photographs for the most part. Many +of them were autographed. + +"They're girl friends of his wife's," said Sarah. "She met 'em over +abroad. Real pretty, some of them, ain't they?" + +They were, and the inscriptions were delightfully informal and friendly. +Lobelia Phillips' name was not inscribed, but her husband's was +occasionally. Upon the table, by a half-emptied cigar box, lay a Boston +paper of the day before. It was folded with the page of stock market +quotations uppermost. Sears picked it up. One item was underscored with +a pencil. It was the record of the day's sales of "C. M.," a stock with +which the captain was quite unfamiliar. His unfamiliarity was not +surprising; he had little acquaintance with the stock market. + +Back in the wash-shed, brother and sister chatted while the ironing +continued. Sears led the conversation around until it touched upon +George Kent. George was still boarding with them, so Sarah said. Yes, he +had given up his place as bookkeeper at Bassett's store. + +"He's administrator of his aunt's estate," she went on. "You knew that, +Sears? It's a pretty responsible position for such a young man, I guess. +I'm afraid it's a good deal of worry for him. He's seemed to me kind of +troubled lately. I thought at first it might be on account of Elizabeth +Berry--everybody knows they've had some quarrel or somethin'--but I'm +beginnin' to be afraid it may be somethin' else. He and Mr. Phillips are +together about all the time. They're great friends, and I'm so glad, +because if George _should_ be in any trouble--about business or +anything--a man of Mr. Phillips' experience would be a wonderful friend +to have." + +"What makes you think it may be a business trouble?" asked the captain, +casually. + +Mrs. Macomber hesitated. "Why," she said, "I heard somethin' yesterday +that made me think so. It wasn't meant for me to hear, but I just +happened to. I don't know as I'd ought to say anything about it--I +shouldn't to anybody but you, Sears--yet it has worried me a good deal. +Mr. Phillips and George were standin' together in the hall as I went by. +They didn't see me, and I heard George say, 'Somethin' _must_ be done +about it,' he says. 'It can't go on for another week.' And Mr. Phillips +said, kind and comfortin'--nice as he always is, but still it did seem +to me a little mite impatient--'I tell you it is all right,' he said. +'Wait a while and it will be all right.' Then George said somethin' that +I didn't catch, and Mr. Phillips said, 'But I can't, I tell you. I'm in +exactly the same boat.' And George said, 'You've _got_ to! you've got +to! If you don't it'll be the end of me.' That was what he said--'It +will be the end of me.' And oh, Sears, he did sound _so_ distressed. It +has troubled me ever since. What do you suppose it could be that would +be the end of him?" + +Her brother shook his head. "Give it up," he said. "Humph!... And Egbert +said he was in the same boat, did he? That's interestin'. It must be a +pretty swell liner; he wouldn't be aboard anything else." + +But Mrs. Macomber declined to joke. "You wouldn't laugh," she declared, +"if you had heard George talk. He's just a boy, Sears, a real +kind-hearted, well-meanin' boy, and I hate to think of him as in any +more trouble." + +"Any more? What do you mean by more?" + +"Why--why--oh, well, everybody knows he and Elizabeth ain't keepin' +company any longer. And--and----" + +"And everybody thinks I am to blame. Well, I'm not, Sarah. Not +intentionally, anyhow. And, if George would let me, I should be glad to +be a friend of his. Not as grand and top-lofty a friend as Admiral +Egbert, of course, but as good as my rank and ratin' in life will let me +be." + +"Sears," reproachfully, "I hate to hear you speak in that sarcastic way. +And I can't see why you mistrust Mr. Phillips so." + +"Can't you? Well, I don't know as I can, myself; but if I live long +enough I may find a reason.... As for Kent--well, I tell you, Sarah: You +keep an eye on the boy. If he still seems worried, or more worried, and +you think it advisable, you might give him a message from me. You remind +him that one time he told me if he ever got into real trouble he should +come to me for help. You can say--if you think it advisable--that I am +just as willin' to give that help now as ever I was." + +"Oh, Sears, do you mean it? Why, I thought--I was afraid that you and +he----" + +"That's all right. I am the young fellow's friend--if he wants me to be. +And, although I'm a thousand sea miles from guaranteein' to be able to +help him, I'm willin' to try my hardest.... But there! the chances are +he won't listen if you do tell him, so use your own judgment in the +matter. But, Sarah, will you do me a favor?" + +"Sears! How can you! As if I wouldn't do anything for you!" + +"I know you would. And this isn't so very much, either. I'm kind of +interested in this Phillips man's dividends and things. I'd like to know +how he makes his money. I noticed that that newspaper in his room was +folded with the stock price page on top. Is he interested in stock and +such things?" + +"Why, yes, he is. I've heard him and George talkin' about what they call +the 'market.' That means stocks, doesn't it?" + +"Um-hm, usually. Well, Sarah, if he happens to mention any particular +stock he owns, or anything like that, try and remember and let me know, +will you?" + +"Yes, of course, if you want me to. But why, Sears? There's nothing +wrong in a man like Mr. Phillips bein' interested in such things, is +there? I should think it would be--well, sort of natural for a person +who has been rich as he used to be to keep up his interest." + +"I presume likely it is." + +"Then why do you want to know about it?" + +The captain picked up his hat. "Oh, for no particular reason, maybe, +Sarah," he replied. "Perhaps _I_ shall be rich sometime--if I live to be +a hundred and eighty and save a dollar a day as I go along--and then I +shall want to know how to invest my money. Let me know if you hear +anything worth while, won't you, Sarah?" + +"Yes, Sears. And if I get a chance I am goin' to tell George what you +said about bein' his friend and willin' to help him. Good-by, Sears. I'm +_so_ glad you came down. Come again soon, won't you? You're the only +brother I've got, you know." + +Kendrick drove the Foam Flake back to the Minot place, reflecting during +the journey upon what he had seen and heard while visiting his sister. +It amounted to very little in the way of tangible evidence against +Egbert Phillips. Sporting prints and dashing photographs were +interesting perhaps, and in a way they illuminated the past; but they +did not illumine the present, they shed no light upon their owner's +means of living, nor the extent of those means. Egbert occupied the best +rooms at the Macomber's, but, apparently, he paid for his board and +lodging--yes, and his washing. He might be interested in stocks, but +there was nothing criminal in that, of itself. The Kendrick campaign +was, so far, an utter failure. + +Another week dragged by with no developments worth while. Judah, much +inflated with the importance of his commission as a member of the +Kendrick secret service, made voluminous and wordy reports, but they +amounted to nothing. Mr. Phillips had borrowed five dollars of Caleb +Snow. Had he paid the debt? Oh, yes, he had paid it. He smoked +"consider'ble many" cigars, "real good cigars, too; cost over ten cents +a piece by the box," so he told Thoph Black. But, so far as Black or +Judah knew, he had paid for them. He owed a fair-sized bill at the +livery-stable, but the stable owner "wan't worried none." There was +little of interest here. No criminal record, rather the contrary. + +Esther Tidditt dropped in from time to time, loaded, as Judah said, "to +the guards" with Fair Harbor gossip. Captain Sears did not encourage her +visits. Aside from learning what he could concerning the doings of +Egbert Phillips, he was little interested in petty squabbles and +whispers among the "mariners' women." Except by Esther he was almost +entirely ignored by the inmates. Elizabeth he saw daily for a short +time, but for her sake he made those times as brief as he could. Her +mother he saw occasionally; she spoke to him only when necessary. +Elvira, Mrs. Brackett, Desire Peasly and the rest gave him the snippiest +of bows when they met and whispered and giggled behind his back. + +It had seemed to him that Elizabeth looked more careworn of late. He did +not mention it to her, of course, but it troubled him. He speculated +concerning the cause and was inclined, entirely without good reason, to +suspect Egbert, just as he was inclined to suspect him of being the +cause of most unpleasantness. Something that Mrs. Tidditt said during +one of her evening "dropping-ins" supplied a possible base for suspicion +in this particular case. + +"Elizabeth and her mother has had some sort of a rumpus," declared +Esther. "They ain't hardly on speakin' terms with one another these +days. That is," she added, "Cordelia ain't. I guess likely Elizabeth +would be as nice as she always is if her ma would give her the chance. +Cordelia goes around all divided up between tears and joy, as you might +say. When she's nigh her daughter she looks as if she was just about +ready to cry--lee scuppers all awash, as my husband used to say when I +was in the same condition; which wan't often, for cryin' ain't much in +my line. Yes, when Elizabeth's lookin' at her she's right on the ragged +edge of tears. But you let that dratted Eg heave in sight with all sail +sot and signals flyin' and she's all smiles in a minute. Oh, what a fool +a fool woman can be when she sets out to be!... Hey? What did you say, +Cap'n Kendrick?" + +"I didn't say anything, Esther." + +"Oh, didn't you? I thought you did. There's one ray of comfort over +acrost, anyhow. Elizabeth ain't in love with old Eggie, even if her +mother is. She and he have had a run-in or I miss my guess." + +The captain was interested now. "What makes you think that?" he asked. + +"Oh, from things I've seen. He's all soft soap and sweet ile to her same +as he always was--little more so, if anything--but she is cold as the +bottom of a well to him. No, they've had a row and of course the +reason's plain enough. That night over here when she called me a spy and +a lot more names I told her a few things for her own good. I told her +she had better think over what I said about that Eg's schemin' to get +her mother and the five thousand dollars. I told her to think that over +and think Eg over, too. She was terribly high and mighty then, but I bet +you she's done some thinkin' since. Yes, and come to the conclusion +that, spy or no spy, I was tellin' the plain truth.... Hey, Cap'n +Kendrick?" + +"Eh?... Oh, yes, yes; I shouldn't wonder, Esther." + +"I shouldn't wonder, neither. But it won't have no effect on Cordelia. +She'd put her best Sunday bonnet on the ground and let that Eg dance the +grand fandango on it if he asked her to. Poor, soft-headed critter." + +"Yes, yes.... Humph! Any other news? How is Elvira?" + +"Oh, she's full of spite and jealousy as a yeast jug is full of pop. She +pretends that the idea of anything serious between Cordelia and Phillips +is just silliness. Might as well talk about King Solomon in all his +glory marryin' the woman that done his washin'--that's what she pretends +to believe. It's all Cordelia and not Eg at all, that's what she says. +But she knows better, just the same. She's got somethin' else to think +about now. That aunt of hers over to Ostable, the one that owns them +iron images she wanted the Harbor to buy--she's sick, the aunt is. +Elviry's pretty worried about her; she's the old woman's only relation." + +Kendrick had heard nothing further from his sister in the matter of +young Kent and his trouble, whatever the latter might be. Sears had +pondered a good deal concerning it and tried to guess in what possible +way the boy could be "in the same boat" with Egbert. There was little +use in guessing, however, and he had given up trying. And another week +passed, another fruitless, dreary, hopeless week. + +Judah's lodge night came around again and Mr. Cahoon, after asking his +skipper's permission, departed for the meeting, leaving Sears Kendrick +alone. It was a beastly November evening, cold and with a heavy rain +beating against the windows of the Minot kitchen, and a wind which +shrieked and howled about the corners and gables of the old house, +rattled every loose shingle, and set the dry bones of the wisteria vine +scratching and thumping against the walls. The water was thrown in +bucketfuls against the ancient panes and poured from the sashes as if +the latter were miniature dams in flood time. + +Sears sat by the kitchen stove, smoking and trying to read. He could +make a success of the smoking, but the attempt at reading was a failure. +It was so much easier to think, so much easier to let his thoughts dwell +upon his own dismal, wretched, discouraging story than to follow the +fortunes of Thaddeus of Warsaw through the long succession of printed +pages. And he had read Thaddeus's story before. He knew exactly how it +would end. But how would his own story end? He might speculate much, but +nowhere in all his speculations was there a sign of a happy ending. + +His pipe went out, he tossed the book upon the table among the supper +dishes--Judah had been in too great a hurry to clear away--and leaned +back in his chair. Then he rose and walked--he could walk pretty well +now, the limp was but slight--to the window and, lifting the shade, +peered out. + +He could see nothing, or almost nothing. The illumined windows made +yellow pools of light upon the wet bricks below them, and across the +darkness above were shining ribbons of rain. Against the black sky +shapes of deeper blackness were moving rapidly, the bare thrashing +branches of the locust tree. It was a beastly night, so he thought as he +looked out at it; a beastly night in a wretched world. + +Then above the noises of screeching wind and splashing water he heard +other sounds, sounds growing louder, approaching footsteps. Some one was +coming up the walk from the road. + +He thought of course that it was Judah returning. He could not imagine +why he should return, but it was more impossible to imagine any one +else being out and coming to the Minot place on such a night. A figure, +bent to the storm, passed across the light from the window. Captain +Kendrick dropped the shade and strode through the little entry to the +back door. He threw it open. + +"Come in, Judah," he ordered. "Come in quick, before we both drown." + +But the man who came in was not Judah Cahoon. He was George Kent. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +The young man plunged across the threshold, the skirts of his dripping +overcoat flapping about his knees and the water pouring from the brim of +his hat. He carried the ruin of what had been an umbrella in his hand. +It had been blown inside out, and was now but a crumpled tangle of wet +fabric and bent and bristling wire. He stumbled over the sill, halted, +and turning, addressed the man who had opened the door. + +"Cap'n," he stammered, breathlessly, "I--I--I've come to see you. I--I +know you must think--I don't know what you can think--but--but----" + +Kendrick interrupted. He was surprised, but he did not permit his +astonishment to loosen his grip on realities. + +"Go in the other room," he ordered. "In the kitchen there by the fire. +I'll be with you soon as I shut this door. Go on. Don't wait!" + +Kent did not seem to hear him. + +"Cap'n," he began, again, "I----" + +"Do as I tell you. Go in there by the stove." + +He seized his visitor by the shoulder and pushed him out of the entry. +Then he closed and fastened the outer door. This was a matter of main +strength, for the gale was fighting mad. When the latch clicked and the +hook dropped into the staple he, too, entered the kitchen. Kent had +obeyed orders to the extent of going over to the stove, but he had not +removed his hat or coat and seemed to be quite oblivious of them or the +fire or anything except the words he was trying to utter. + +"Cap'n Kendrick," he began again, "I----" + +"Sshh! Hush! Take off your things. Man alive, you're sheddin' water +like a whistlin' buoy. Give me that coat. And that umbrella, what there +is left of it. That's the ticket. Now sit down in that rocker and put +your feet up on the hearth.... Whew! Are you wet through?" + +"No. No, I guess not. I----" + +"Haven't got a chill, have you? Can't I get you somethin' hot to drink? +Judah generally has a bottle of some sort of life-saver hid around in +the locker somewhere. A hot toddy now?... Eh? Well, all right, all +right. No, don't talk yet. Get warm first." + +Kent refused the hot toddy and would have persisted in talking at once +if his host had permitted. The latter refused to listen, and so the +young man sat silent in the rocking chair, his soaked trouser legs and +boots steaming in the heat from the open door of the oven, while the +captain bustled about, hanging the wet overcoat on a nail in the corner, +tossing the wrecked umbrella behind the stove and pretending not to look +at his caller. + +He did look, however, and what he saw was interesting certainly and +might have been alarming had he been a person easily frightened or +unduly apprehensive. Kent's wet cheeks had dried and they were flushed +now from the warmth, but they were haggard, his eyes were underscored +with dark semicircles, and his hands as he held them over the red-hot +stove lids were trembling. He looked almost as if he were sick, but a +sick man would scarcely be out of doors in such a storm. He had, +apparently, forgotten his desire to talk, and was now silent, his gaze +fixed upon the wall behind the stove. + +Kendrick quietly placed a chair beside him and sat down. + +"Well, George?" he asked. + +Kent started. "Oh!" he exclaimed. And then, "Oh, yes! Cap'n Kendrick, +I--I know you must think my coming here is queer, after--after----" + +He hesitated. The captain helped him on. + +"Not a bit, George," he said. "Not a bit. I'm mighty glad to see you. I +told you to come any time, you remember. Well, you've come, haven't you? +Now what is it?" + +Kent's gaze left the wall and turned toward his companion. "Cap'n +Kendrick," he began, then stopped. "Cap'n Kendrick," he repeated, +"I--Mrs. Macomber said--she told me you said that--that----" + +"All right, George, all right. I told her to remind you that one time +you promised to come to me if you was in any--er--well, trouble, or if +you had anything on your mind. I judge that's what you've come for, +isn't it?" + +Kent started violently. His feet slipped from the hearth and struck the +floor with a thump. + +"How did you know I was in trouble?" he demanded. "Who told you? Did +they tell you what----" + +"No, no, no. Nobody told me anything especial. Sarah did say you hadn't +looked well lately and she was afraid you was worried about somethin'. +That's all. I've been worried myself durin' my lifetime and I've +generally found it helped a little to tell my worries to somebody else. +At any rate it didn't do any harm. What's wrong, George? Nothin' +serious, I hope." + +Kent breathed heavily. "Serious!" he repeated. "I--I...." Then in a +sudden outburst: "Oh, my God, Cap'n Kendrick, I think they'll put me in +jail." + +Sears looked at him. Then, leaning forward, he laid a hand on the boy's +knee. + +"Nonsense, George," he exclaimed, heartily. "Stuff and nonsense! They +don't put fellows like you in jail. You're scared, that's all. Tell me +about it." + +"But they will, they will. You don't know Ed Stedman. He doesn't like +me. He always has had it in for me. He's prejudiced Clara against me and +she hates me, too. They're pressing me for the money now. The last +letter I had from them Stedman said he wouldn't wait another fortnight. +And a week is gone already. He'll----" + +"Hold on. Who's Stedman?" + +"Oh, I thought you knew. He's my half-sister's husband up in +Springfield. When my aunt died.... But I told you I was administrator of +her estate. I remember I told you. That day when----" + +"Yes, yes, I remember; that is, I remember a little. Tell me the whole +of it. What's happened?" + +"Yes--yes, I want to. I'm going to. Oh, if you _can_ help me I'll--I'll +never forget it. I'll do anything for you, Cap'n Kendrick. I know I +shouldn't have done it. I had no right to take the risk. But Mr. +Phillips said--he said----" + +"Eh?" Sears' interruption this time was quite unpremeditated. +"Phillips?" he repeated, sharply. "Egbert, you mean? Oh, yes.... +Humph.... Is he mixed up in this?" + +"Why--why, yes. If it hadn't been for him it wouldn't have happened. I +don't mean that he is to blame, exactly. I guess nobody is to blame but +myself. But when I think---- Oh, Cap'n Kendrick, do you suppose you can +help me out of it? If you can, I----" + +Here followed another outburst of agonized entreaty. The boy's nerves +were close to breaking, he was almost hysterical. Slowly and with the +exercise of much patience and tact the captain drew from him the details +of his trouble. It was, as he told it, a long and complicated story, +but, boiled down, it amounted to something like this: + +Kent and Phillips had been very friendly for some time, their intimacy +beginning even before the latter came to board at Sarah Macomber's. +Egbert's polished manners, his stories of life abroad, his easy +condescending geniality, had from the first made a great impression upon +George. The latter, already esteeming himself above the average of +mentality and enterprise in what he considered the "slow-poke" town of +Bayport, found in the brilliant arrival from foreign parts the +personification of his ideals, a satisfying specimen of that much read +of _genus_, "the complete man of the world." He fell on his knees before +that specimen and worshiped. Such idolatry could not but have some +effect, even upon as _blase_ an idol as Mr. Phillips, so the latter at +first tolerated and then even encouraged the acquaintanceship. He began +to take this young follower more and more into his confidence, to speak +with him concerning matters more intimate and personal. + +George soon gathered that Egbert had been much in moneyed circles. He +spoke casually of the "market" and referred to friends who had made and +remade fortunes in stocks, as well as of others whose horses had brought +them riches, or who had brought off what he called _coups_ at foreign +gaming tables. The young man, who had been brought up in a strict +Puritanical household, was at first rather shocked at the thought of +gambling or racing, but Mr. Phillips treated his prejudices in a +condescendingly joking way, and Kent gradually grew ashamed of his +"insularity" and _bourgeois_ ideas. Egbert habitually read the stock +quotations in the Boston _Advertiser_ and the mails brought him brokers' +circulars and letters. Kent was led to infer that he still took a small +"flyer" occasionally. "Nothing of consequence, my boy, nothing to get +excited about; haven't the wherewithal since our dear friend Knowles and +his--ah--satellites took to drawing wills and that sort of thing. But if +my friends in the Street send me a bit of judicious advice--as they do +occasionally, for old times' sake--why, I try to cast a few crumbs upon +the waters, trusting that they may be returned, in the shape of a small +loaf, after not too many days. Ha, ha! Yes. And sometimes they do +return--yes, sometimes they do. Otherwise how could I rejoice in the +good, but sometimes tiresome, Mrs. Macomber's luxurious hospitality?" + +It seemed an easy way to turn one's crumbs into loaves. Kent, now the +possessor of the little legacy left him by his aunt, wished that the +eight hundred dollars, the amount of that legacy, might be raised to +eight thousand. He was executor of the small estate, which was to be +equally divided between his half-sister and himself. There had been a +little land involved, that had been sold and the money, most of it, paid +him. So he had in his possession about sixteen hundred dollars, half his +and half Mrs. Stedman's. If he could do no better than double his own +eight hundred it would not be so bad. He wished that _he_ had friends +in the Street. + +He hinted as much to Phillips. The latter was, as always, generously +kind. "If I get the word of another good thing, my boy, I shall +be glad to let you in. Mind, I shan't advise. I shall take no +responsibility--one mustn't do that. I shall only pass on the good word +and tell you what I intend doing myself." George, very grateful, felt +that this was indeed true friendship. + +The chance at the good thing came along in due season. The New York +brokerage firm wrote Phillips concerning it. It appeared that there was +a certain railway stock named Central Midland Common. According to the +gossip on the street, Central Midland--called C. M. for short--was just +about due for a big rise. Certain eminent financiers and manipulators +were quietly buying and the road was to be developed and exploited. Only +a few, a select few, knew of this and so, obviously, now was the time to +get aboard. Kent asked questions. Was Egbert going to get aboard? Egbert +smilingly intimated that he was thinking of it. Would it be possible for +him, Kent, to get aboard at the same time? Well, it might be; Egbert +would think about that, too. + +He did think about it and, as a result of his thinking, he and Kent +bought C. M. Common together. Of course to buy any amount worth while +would be impossible because of the small amount of ready cash possessed +by either. "But," said Phillips, "I seldom buy outright. The latest +quotation of C. M. is at 40, or thereabouts. I intend buying about two +hundred shares. That would be eight thousand dollars if I paid cash, but +of course I can't do that. I shall buy on a ten per cent margin, putting +up eight hundred. If it goes up twenty points I make two thousand +dollars. If it goes up fifty points, as they say it will, why----" And +so on. + +It ended--or began--by Phillips and Kent buying, as partners, four +hundred shares of C. M. on a ten per cent margin. George turned over to +Egbert the eight hundred dollars in cash, and Egbert sent to the brokers +six hundred of those dollars and a bond, which he had in his +possession, for one thousand dollars. Yes, Kent, had seen the broker's +receipt. Yes, the bond was a good one; at least the brokers were +perfectly satisfied. Where did Egbert get the bond? Kent did not know. +It was one he owned, that is all he knew about it. + +For a week or so after the purchase was made C. M. Common did continue +to rise in price. At one time they had a joint profit of nearly two +thousand dollars. Of course that seemed trifling compared with the +thousands they expected, and so they waited. Then the market slumped. In +two days their profit had gone and C. M. Common was selling several +points below the figure at which they purchased. By the end of the +fourth day, unless they wished to be wiped out altogether, additional +margin--another ten per cent--must be deposited immediately. + +And to George Kent this seemed an impossibility because he had not +another eight hundred, or anything like it, of his own. + +Why, oh, why, had he been such a fool? In his chagrin, disappointment +and discouragement he asked himself that question a great many times. +But when he asked it of his partner in the deal that partner laughed at +him. According to Phillips he had not been a fool at all. The slump was +only temporary; the stock was just as good as it had ever been; all this +was but a part of the manipulation, the insiders were driving down the +price in order to buy at lower figures. And letters from the brokers +seemed to bear this out. Nevertheless the fact remained that more margin +must be deposited and where was Kent's share of that margin coming from? + +The rest of the story was exactly like fifty thousand similar stories. +In order to save the eight hundred dollars of his own George put up as +margin with the New York brokers the eight hundred dollars belonging to +Mrs. Stedman, his half sister. Again he paid the eight hundred to +Phillips, who sent to New York another one thousand dollar bond and six +hundred in cash. And C. M. Common continued to go down, went down until +once more the partners were in imminent danger of being wiped out. Then +it rose a point or so, and there the price remained. All at once every +one seemed to lose interest in the stock; instead of thousands of shares +bought and sold daily, the sales dropped to a few odd lots. And instead +of the profits which were to have been theirs by this time, the firm of +Phillips and Kent owned together a precarious interest in four hundred +shares of Central Midland Common which if sold at present prices would +return them only a minimum of their investment, practically nothing when +brokerage commissions should be deducted. + +And then Edward Stedman, Kent's brother-in-law, demanded an immediate +settlement of the estate. The land had been sold, the estate had been +settled--he knew it--now he and his wife wanted their share. + +So that was the situation which was driving the young fellow to +desperation. _What_ could he do? He could not satisfy Stedman because he +had not eight hundred dollars and he could not confess it, at least not +without answering questions which he did not dare answer. As matters +stood he was a thief; he had taken money which did not belong to him. He +and Stedman had not been friendly for a long time. According to George +his brother-in-law would put him in jail without the slightest +compunction. And, even if he managed--which he was certain he could +not--to avoid imprisonment, there was the disgrace and its effect upon +his future. Why, if the affair became known, at the very least his +career as a lawyer would be ruined. Who would trust him after this? He +would have to go away; but where could he go? He had counted on his +little legacy to help him get a start, to--to help him to all sorts of +things. Now---- Oh, what _should_ he do? Suicide seemed to be the sole +solution. He had a good mind to kill himself. He should--yes, he was +almost sure that he should do that very thing. + +It was pitiful and distressing enough, and Kendrick, although he did not +take the threat of self-destruction very seriously--somehow he could +scarcely fancy George Kent in the role of a suicide--was sincerely +sorry for the boy. He did his best to comfort. + +"There, there, George," he said, "we won't talk about killin' ourselves +yet awhile. Time enough to hop overboard when the last gun's fired, and +we haven't begun to take aim yet. Brace up, George. You'll get through +the breakers somehow." + +"But, Cap'n Kendrick, I can't--I can't. I've got only a week or so left, +and I haven't got the money." + +"Sshh! Sshh! Because you haven't got it now doesn't mean you won't have +it before the week's out--not necessarily it doesn't.... Humph! Let's +take an observation now, and get our bearin's, if we can. You've talked +this over with Egbert--with Phillips, of course. After all, he was the +fellow that got you into it. What does he say?" + +It appeared that Mr. Phillips said little which was of immediate solace. +He professed confidence unbounded. C. M. was a good stock, it was going +higher, all they had to do was wait until it did. + +"Yes," put in Sears, "that's good advice, maybe, but it's too much like +tellin' a man who can't swim to keep up till the tide goes out and he'll +be in shallow water. The trouble is neither that man nor you could keep +afloat so long. Is that all he said? He understands your position, +doesn't he, George?" + +Yes, Mr. Phillips understood, but he could do nothing to help. He had no +money to lend--had practically nothing except the two one thousand +dollar bonds, and those were deposited as collateral with the brokers. + +"Um--ye-es," drawled Kendrick. "Those bonds are interestin' of +themselves. We'll come to those pretty soon. But hasn't he got _any_ +ready money? Seems as if he must have a little. Why, you paid him +sixteen hundred in cash and, accordin' to your story, he sent only +twelve hundred along with the bonds. He must have four hundred left, at +least. That is, unless he's been heavin' overboard more 'crumbs' that +you don't know about." + +Kent knew nothing of his partner's resources beyond what the latter had +told him. And, at any rate, what good would four hundred be to him? +Unless he could raise eight hundred within the week---- + +"Yes, yes, yes, I know. But four hundred is half of eight hundred and +seems to me if I was in his shoes and had been responsible for gettin' +you into a clove hitch like this I'd do what I could to get you out. And +he couldn't--or wouldn't--do anything; eh?" + +"He can't, Cap'n Kendrick. He can't. Don't you see, he hasn't got it. +He's poor, himself. Of course he came here to Bayport, after his wife's +death, thinking that he owned the Fair Harbor property and--and a lot +more. Why, he thought he was rich. _He_ didn't know that old Knowles had +used his influence with Mrs. Phillips when she was half sick and tricked +her into----" + +"Here, here!" The captain's tone was rather sharp this time. "Never mind +that. Old Knowles, as you call him, was a friend of mine.... I thought +he was your friend, too, George, for the matter of that." + +George was embarrassed. "Well, he was," he admitted. "I haven't got +anything against him; in fact he was very good to me. But that is what +Mr. Phillips says, you know, and everybody--or about everybody--seems to +believe it. At least they are awfully sorry for Phillips." + +"So I judged. But about you, now. Do _you_ believe in--er--Saint Egbert +as much as you did?" + +"Why--why, I don't know. I---- Of course it seems almost as if he ought +to do something to help me, but if he can't he can't, I suppose." + +"I suppose not. Look here, he won't tell anybody about your scrape, will +he?" + +The junior partner in the firm of Phillips and Kent was indignant. + +"Of course not," he declared. "He told me he should not breathe a word. +And he is really very much disturbed about it all. He told me himself +that he felt almost guilty. Mr. Phillips is a gentleman." + +"Is that so? Must be nice to be that way. But tell me a little more +about those bonds, George. There were two of 'em, you say, a thousand +dollars each." + +"Yes." + +"And you don't know what sort of bonds they were?" + +His visitor's pride was touched. "Why, of course I know," he declared. +"What sort of a business man would I be if I didn't know that, for +heaven's sake?" + +Sears did not answer the question. For a moment it seemed that he was +going to, but if so, he changed his mind. However, there was an odd look +in his eye when he spoke. + +"Beg your pardon, George," he said. "I must have misunderstood you. What +bonds were they?" + +"They were City of Boston bonds. Seems to me they were--er--er--well, I +forget just what--er--issue, you know, but that's what they were, City +of Boston bonds." + +"I see ... I see.... Humph! Seems kind of odd, doesn't it?" + +"What?" + +"Oh, nothin'. Only Phillips, accordin' to his tell, is pretty close to +poverty. Yet he hung on to those two bonds all this time." + +"Well, he had to hang on to something, didn't he? And he probably has a +_little_ more; if he hasn't what has he been living on?" + +"Yes, that's so--that's so. Still.... However, we won't worry about +that. Now, George, sit still a minute and let me think." + +"But, Cap'n Kendrick, do you think there is a chance? I'm almost crazy. +I--I----" + +"Sshh! shh! I guess likely we'll get you off the rocks somehow. Let me +think a minute or two." + +So Kent possessed his soul in such patience as it could muster, while +the wind howled about the old house, the wistaria vine rattled and +scraped, the shutters groaned and whined, and the rain dashed and poured +and dripped outside. At length the captain sat up straight in his chair. + +"George," he said, briskly, "as I see it, first of all we want to find +out just how this affair of yours stands. You write to those New York +brokers and get from them a statement of your account--yours and +Egbert's. Just what you've bought, how much margin has been put up, how +much is left, about those bonds--kind, ratin', numbers and all that. Ask +'em to send you that by return mail. Will you?" + +"Why--why, yes, I suppose so. But I have seen all that. Mr. +Phillips----" + +"We aren't helpin' out Phillips now. He isn't askin' help, at least I +gather he's satisfied to wait. You get this statement on your own hook, +and don't tell him you're gettin' it. Will you?" + +"I'll write for it to-night." + +"Good! That'll get things started, anyhow. Now is there anything else +you want to tell me?" + +"No--no, I guess not. But, Cap'n Kendrick, do you honestly think there +is a chance for me?" + +For an instant his companion lost patience. "Don't ask that again," he +ordered. "There is a chance--yes. How much of a chance we can't tell +yet. You go home and stop worryin'. You've turned the wheel over to me, +haven't you? Yes; well, then let me do the steerin' for a spell." + +Kent rose from his chair. He drew a long breath. He looked at the +captain, who had risen also, and it was evident that there was still +something on his mind. He fidgeted, hesitated, and then hurried forth a +labored apology. + +"I--I am awfully ashamed of myself, Cap'n Kendrick," he began. + +"That's all right, George. We all make mistakes--business mistakes +especially. If I hadn't made one, and a bad one, I might not be stranded +here in Judah's galley to-night." + +"I didn't mean business. I meant I was ashamed of treating you as I +have. Ever since that time when--when Elizabeth was here and I came over +and--and said all those fool things to you, I--I've been ashamed. I +_was_ a fool. I am a fool most of the time, I guess." + +"Oh, I guess not, George. We're all taken with the foolish disease once +in a while." + +"But I was such a fool. The idea of my being jealous of you--a man +pretty nearly old enough to be my father. No, not so old as that, of +course, but--older. I don't know what ailed me, but whatever it was, +I've paid for it.... She--she has hardly spoken to me since." + +"I'm sorry, George." + +"Yes.... Has she--has she said anything about me to you, Cap'n?" + +"Why--er--no, George, not much. She and I are not--well, not very +confidential, outside of business matters, that is." + +"No, I suppose not. Mr. Phillips told me she had--well, that she and you +were not--not as----" + +"Yes, all right, all right, George; I understand. Outside of Fair Harbor +managin' we don't talk of many things." + +"No, that's what he said. He seemed to think you two had had some sort +of quarrel--or disagreement, you know. But I never took much stock in +that. After all, why should you and she be interested in the same sort +of things? She isn't much older than I am, about my age really, and of +course you----" + +"Yes, yes," hastily. "All right.... Well, I guess your coat is middlin' +dry, George. Here it is." + +"Thanks. But that wasn't all I meant to say. You see, Cap'n Kendrick, I +did treat you so badly and yet all the time I've had such confidence in +you. Ever since you gave me that advice the night of the theatricals +I've--well, somehow I've felt as if a fellow could depend on you, you +know--always, in spite of everything. Eh, why, by George, _she_ said +that very thing about you once, said it to me. She said you were so +dependable. Say, that's queer, that she and I should both think the very +same thing about you." + +"Um-m. Yes, isn't it?" + +"Yes. It shows, after all, how closely alike our minds, hers and mine, +work. We"--he hesitated, reddened, and then continued, with a fresh +outburst of confidence: "You see, Cap'n," he said, "I have felt all the +time that this--this trouble between Elizabeth and me, wasn't going to +last. I was to blame--at least, I guess I probably was, and I meant to +go to her and tell her so. But I waited until--until I had pulled off +this stock deal. I meant to go to her with two or three thousand dollars +that I had made myself, you see, and--and ask her pardon and--well, then +I hoped she would--would.... You understand, don't you, Cap'n Kendrick?" + +"Why--er--yes, I guess likely, George, in a way." + +"Yes. I wanted to show her that I _was_ good for something, and +then--and then, maybe it would be all right again. You see?" + +"Surely, George. Yes, yes.... Ready for your coat?" + +Kent ignored the coat. He did not seem to realize that his companion was +holding it. "Yes," he stammered, eagerly. "I think if I went to her in +that way it would be all right again. I was hasty and--and silly maybe, +but perhaps I had some excuse. And, Cap'n Kendrick, I'm sure she +does--er--like me, you know. I'm sure of it.... But now--" as reality +came once more crashing through his dream, "I--I---- Oh, think of me +now! I may be put in prison. And then.... Oh, but Cap'n Kendrick, that's +why I came to you. I knew you'd stand by me, I knew you would. I treated +you damnably, but--but you know, it was on account of her, really. I +knew you'd understand that. You won't hold a grudge against me? You +really will help me? If you don't----" + +Kendrick seized his arm. "Shut up, George," he commanded brusquely. +"Shut up. I'll get you out of this, I promise it." + +"You will? You promise?" + +"Yes. That is, I'll see that you don't go to jail. If we can't get the +eight hundred of your sister's from these brokers I'll get it +somehow--even if I have to borrow it." + +"Oh, Great Scott, that's great! That's wonderful. I can hardly believe +it. I'll make it up to you somehow, you know. You're the best man I ever +knew. And--and--if she and I--that is, when she and I are--are as we +used to be--well, then I shall tell her and she'll be as grateful as I +am, I know she will." + +"All right, George, all right. Run along. The rain's easin' up a little, +so now's your time. Don't forget to write to those brokers.... Good +night." + +"Good night, Cap'n. I shall tell your sister how good you've been to me. +She told me to come to you. Of course she doesn't know why I came, +but----" + +"No, and she mustn't know. Don't you tell her or anybody else. Don't you +do it." + +"I--why, I won't if you say so, of course. Good night." + +Kendrick closed the door. Then he came back to his seat before the +stove. When Judah returned home he found that his lodger had gone to the +spare stateroom, but he could hear his footsteps moving back and forth. + +"Ahoy, there, Cap'n Sears!" hailed Judah. "What you doin', up and pacin' +decks this time of night? It's pretty nigh eight bells, didn't you know +it?" + +The pacing ceased. "Why, no, is it?" replied the captain's voice. "Guess +I'd better be turnin' in, hadn't I? How's the weather outside?" + +"Fairin' off fast. Rain stopped and it's clear as a bell over to the +west'ard. Clear day and a fair wind to-morrer, I cal'late." + +Kendrick made no further comment and Judah prepared for bed, singing as +he did so. He sang, not a chantey this time, but portions of a revival +hymn which he had recently heard and which, because of its nautical +nature, had stuck in his memory. The chorus commanded some one or other +to + + "Pull for the shore, sailor, + Pull for the shore. + Leave that poor old stranded wreck + And pull for the shore." + +Mr. Cahoon sang the chorus over and over. Then he ventured to tackle one +of the verses. + + "Light in the darkness, sailor, + Day is at hand." + +"Judah!" This from the spare stateroom. + +"Aye, aye, Cap'n Sears." + +"Better save the rest of that till the day gets here, hadn't you?" + +"Eh? Oh, all right, Cap'n. Just goin' to douse the glim this minute. +Good night." + +Three days after this interview in the Minot kitchen George Kent again +came to call. He came after dark, of course, and his visit was brief. He +had received from the New York brokers a detailed statement of his and +Phillips' joint account. The statement bore out what he had already told +Sears. Four hundred shares of Central Midland Common had been purchased +at 40. Against this the partners deposited sixteen hundred dollars. +Later they had deposited another sixteen hundred. The New York firm were +as confident as ever that the stock was perfectly good and the +speculation a good one. They advised waiting and, if possible, buying +more at the present low figure. + +All this was of little help. The only information of any possible value +was that concerning the bonds which Egbert had contributed as his share +of the margin. Those, according to the brokers, were two City of Boston +4-1/2s, of one thousand dollars each, numbered A610,312 and A610,313. + +Kent would have stayed and talked for hours if Kendrick had permitted. +He was as nervous as ever, even more so, because the days were passing +and the time drawing near when his brother-in-law would demand +settlement. The captain comforted him as well as he could, bade him +write his sister or her husband that he would remit early in the +following week, and sent him home again more hopeful, but still very +anxious. + +"I don't see how I'm going to get the money, Cap'n Kendrick," he kept +repeating. "I don't see how all this helps us a bit. I don't see----" + +Kendrick interrupted at last. + +"You don't have to see," he declared. "You've left it to me, now let me +see if _I_ can see. I told you that, somehow or other, I'd tow you into +deep water. Well, give me a chance to get up steam. You write that +letter to your brother-in-law and hold him off till the middle of next +week. That's all you've got to do. I'll do the rest." + +So Kent had to be satisfied with that. He departed, professing over and +over again his deathless gratitude. "If you do this, Cap'n Kendrick," he +proclaimed, "I never, never will forget it. And when I think how I +treated you I can't see why you do it. I never heard of such----" + +"Sshh! shhh!" The captain waved him to silence. "I don't know why I am +doin' it exactly, George," he said. + +"I do. You're doing it for my sake, of course, and----" + +"Sshh! I don't know as I am--not altogether. Maybe I'm doin' it to try +and justify my own judgment of human nature--mine and Judge Knowles'. If +that judgment isn't right then I'm no more use than a child in arms, and +I need a guardian as much as--as----" + +"As I do, you mean, I suppose. Well, I do need one, I guess. But I don't +understand what you mean by your judgment of human nature. Who have you +been judging?" + +"Never mind. Now go home. Judah's out again and that's a mercy. I don't +want him or any one else to know you come here to see me." + +George went, satisfied for the time, but Sears Kendrick, left face to +face with his own thoughts, knew that he had told the young man but a +part of the truth. It was not for Kent's sake alone that he had made the +rash promise to get back eight hundred of the sixteen hundred, or +another eight hundred to take its place. Neither was it entirely because +he hoped to confirm his judgment in the case of Egbert Phillips. The +real reason lay deeper than that. Kent had declared that he still loved +Elizabeth Berry and that he had reason to think she returned that love. +Perhaps she did; in spite of some things she had said after their +quarrel, it was possible--yes, probable that she did. If, by saving her +lover from disgrace, he might insure her future and her happiness, +then--then--Sears would have made rasher promises still and have +undertaken to carry them out. + +The brokers' letter helped but little, if any. He entered the names and +numbers of the bonds in his memorandum book. Those bonds still perplexed +him. He could not explain them, satisfactorily. It might be that Egbert +had more left from his wife's estate than Judge Knowles expected him to +have or that Bradley was inclined to think he had. Lobelia's will +bequeathed to her beloved husband "all stocks, bonds, securities, etc.," +remaining. But Knowles had more than intimated that none remained. The +pictures of the horses and the ladies in Egbert's room at Sarah +Macomber's confirmed the captain's belief that the Phillips past had +been a hectic one. It seemed queer that, out of the ruin, there should +have been preserved at least two thousand dollars in good American--yes, +City of Boston--bonds. + +In the back of the Kendrick head was a theory--or the ghost of a +theory--concerning those bonds. He did not like to believe it, he would +not believe it yet, but it was a possibility. Elizabeth had been +bequeathed twenty thousand dollars. She and Egbert had been close +friends for a time. She had liked him, had trusted him. Of late, so +Esther Tidditt said, that friendship had been somewhat strained. Was it +possible that.... Humph! Well, Bradley might know. He was Elizabeth's +guardian, he would know if her investments had been disturbed. + +Then, too, if worst came to the worst and he had to raise the eight +hundred, which he had promised Kent, by borrowing it, he could, he +thought, arrange to get from Bradley an advance of that amount, or a +part of it, against his salary as manager of the Fair Harbor. + +So he determined, as the next move, to go to Orham and visit the lawyer. +On Saturday morning, therefore, he and the Foam Flake once more +journeyed along the wood road to Orham. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +The trip was cold and long and tedious. The oaks and birches were bare +of leaves and the lakes and little ponds looked chill and forbidding. +Judah's prophecy of a clear day was only partially fulfilled, for there +were great patches of clouds driving before the wind and when those +obscured the sun all creation looked dismal enough, especially to +Kendrick, who was in the mood where any additional gloom was distinctly +superfluous. But the Foam Flake jogged on and at last drew up beside the +Bradley office. + +Another horse and buggy were standing there and the captain was somewhat +surprised to recognize the outfit as one belonging to the Bayport livery +man. A gangling youth in the latter's employ was on the buggy seat and +he recognized the Foam Flake first and his driver next. + +"Why, good mornin', Cap'n," hailed the youth. "You over here, too?" + +Sears, performing the purely perfunctory task of hitching the Foam Flake +to a post, smiled grimly. + +"No, Josiah," he replied. "I'm not here. I'm over in South Harniss all +this week. Where are you?" + +"Eh?... Where be I?... Say, what----" + +"Yes, yes, Josiah, all right. Just keep a weather eye on this post, will +you, like a good fellow?" + +"On the post? On the horse, you mean?" + +"No, I mean on the post. If you don't this--er--camel of mine will eat +it. Thanks. Do as much for you some time, Josiah." + +He went into the building, leaving the bewildered Josiah in what might +be described as a state of mind. + +"Is the commodore busy?" he asked of the boy at the desk. + +"Yes, he is," replied the boy. "But he won't be very long, I don't +think." + +"Humph! That's what you don't think, eh? Well, now just between us, what +do you think?... Never mind, son, never mind, I'm satisfied if you are. +I'll wait. By the way, somebody from my home port is in there with him, +I judge." + +"Um--hm. Miss Berry, she's there." + +"Miss Berry! Elizabeth Berry?... Is she there now?" + +The boy nodded. "Um-hm," he declared, "she's there, but I guess they're +'most done. I heard her chair scrape a minute or two ago, so I think +she's comin' right out." + +Kendrick rose from his own chair. "I'll wait outside," he said, and went +out to the platform again. Josiah, evidently lonely and seeking +conversation, hailed him at once. + +"Say, that old horse of yours _is_ a cribbler, ain't he," he observed. +"He's took one chaw out of that post already." + +Sears paid no attention. He walked around to the rear of the little +building and, leaning against its shingled side, waited, gazing absently +across the fields to the spires and roofs of Orham village. + +He was sorry that Elizabeth was there just at this time. True they met +almost daily at the Fair Harbor office, but those meetings were +obligatory, this was not. And meeting her at all, relations between them +being what they were, was very hard for him. Since George Kent's +disclosure of his feelings and hopes those meetings were harder still. +Each one made his task, that of helping the boy toward the realization +of those hopes, so much more difficult. He was ashamed of himself, but +so it was. No, in his present frame of mind he did not want to meet her. +He would wait there, out of sight, until she had gone. + +But he was not allowed to do so. He heard the office door open, heard +her step--he would have recognized it, he believed, anyway--upon the +platform. He heard her speak to Josiah. And then that pest of an office +boy began shouting his name. + +"Cap'n Kendrick," yelled the boy. "Cap'n Kendrick, where are you?" + +He did not answer, but the other imbecile, Josiah, answered for him. + +"There he is, out alongside the buildin'," volunteered Josiah. "Cap'n +Kendrick, they want ye." + +Then both began shrieking "Cap'n Kendrick" at the top of their voices. + +To pretend not to hear would have been too ridiculous. There was but +thing to do and he did it. + +"Aye, aye," he answered, impatiently. "I'm comin'!" + +When he reached the platform Elizabeth was still there. She was +surprised to see him, evidently, but there was another expression on her +face, an expression which he did not understand. He bowed gravely. + +"Good mornin'," he said. She returned his greeting, but still she +continued to look at him with that odd expression. + +"Mr. Bradley's all ready for you," announced the office boy, who was +holding the door open. Sears' foot was at the 'threshold when Elizabeth +spoke his name. He turned to her in surprise. + +"Yes?" he replied. + +For an instant she was silent. Then, as if obeying an uncontrollable +impulse, she came toward him. + +"Cap'n Kendrick," she said. "May I speak with you? In private? I won't +keep you but a moment." + +"Why--why, yes, of course," he stammered. He turned to the office boy. +"Go and tell Mr. Bradley I'll be right there," he commanded. The boy +went. + +Elizabeth spoke to her charioteer, who was leaning forward on the buggy +seat, his small eyes fixed upon the pair and his large mouth open. + +"Drive over to that corner, Josiah," she said. "To that store +there--yes, that's it. And wait there for me. I'll come at once." + +Josiah reluctantly drove away. Elizabeth turned again to Kendrick. + +"Cap'n Kendrick," she began. "I shan't keep you long. I realize that +you must be surprised at my asking to speak with you--after everything. +And, of course, I realize still more than you can't possibly wish to +speak with me." + +He attempted to say something, to protest, but she did not give him the +chance. + +"No, don't, don't," she said, hurriedly. "Don't pretend. I know how you +feel, of course. But I have been wanting to tell you this for a long +time. I hadn't the courage, or I was too much ashamed, or something. And +this is a strange place to say it--and time. But when I saw you just now +I--I felt as if I must say it. I couldn't wait another minute. Cap'n +Kendrick, I want to beg your pardon." + +To add to his amazement and embarrassed distress he saw that she was +very close to tears. + +"Why--why--" he stammered. + +"Don't say anything. There isn't anything for _you_ to say. I don't ask +you to forgive me--you couldn't, of course. But I--I just had to tell +you that I am so ashamed of myself, of my misjudging you, and the things +I said to you. I know that you were right and I was all wrong." + +"Why--why, here, hold on!" he broke in. "I don't understand." + +"Of course you don't. And I can't explain. Probably I never can and you +mustn't ask me to. But--but--I had to say this. I had to beg your pardon +and tell you how ashamed I am.... That's all.... Thank you." + +She turned and almost ran from the platform, down the steps and across +the street to the waiting buggy. Sears Kendrick stared after her, stared +until that buggy disappeared around the bend in the road. Then he +breathed heavily, straightened his cap, slowly shook his head, and +entered the lawyer's office. He was still in a sort of trance when he +sat down in the chair in the inner room and heard Bradley bid him good +morning. He returned the good morning, but he heard, or understood, very +little of what the lawyer said immediately afterward. When he did begin +vaguely to comprehend he found the latter was speaking of Elizabeth +Berry. + +"I wish I knew what her trouble is," Bradley was saying. "She won't tell +me, won't even admit that there is any trouble, but that doesn't need +telling. The last half dozen times I have seen her she has seemed and +looked worried and absent-minded. And this morning she drove way over +here to ask me some almost childish questions about her investments, the +money the judge left her. Wanted to know if it was safe, or something +like that. She didn't admit that was it, exactly, but that was as near +as I could get to what she was driving at. Do you know what's troubling +her, Kendrick?" + +Sears shook his head. "No-o," he replied. "I've heard--but no, I don't +know. She wanted to be sure her money was safe, you say?" + +"Why, not safely invested, I don't think that was it. She seemed to want +to know what I'd done with the bonds themselves and the other securities +of hers. I told her they were in the deposit vaults over at the Bayport +bank; that is, some of them were there and some of them were in the bank +at Harniss. Then she asked if any one could get them, anybody except she +or I. Of course I told her no, and not even I without an order from her. +She seemed a little relieved, I thought, but when _I_ asked questions +she shut up like a quahaug. But that seemed a silly errand to come away +over here on. Don't you think so, Cap'n? ... Eh? What's the matter? What +are you looking at me like that for?" + +The captain _was_ looking at him, was looking with an expression of +intense and eager interest. He did not answer Bradley's question, but +asked one, himself. + +"Did she ask anything more about--well, about her bonds?" he demanded. +"Think now; I'll tell you why by and by." + +The lawyer considered. "No-o," he said. "Nothing of importance, surely. +She asked--she seemed to want to know particularly if it was possible +for any one except the owner or a duly accredited representative to get +at securities in the vaults of those banks. That seemed to be the +information she was after.... Now what have you got up your sleeve?" + +"Nothin'--nothin'. I guess. Or somethin', maybe; I don't know. Bradley, +would you mind tellin' me this much: Of course I'm not Elizabeth's +trustee any more, but would it be out of the way if you told me whether +or not you reinvested any of her twenty thousand in City of Boston +bonds? City of Boston 4-1/2s; say?" + +Bradley did not answer for a moment. Then from a pigeon hole in his desk +he took a packet of papers and selected one. + +"Yes," he said, gravely. "I put ten thousand of her money in those very +bonds. My brokers up in Boston recommended them strongly as being a safe +and good investment.... And now perhaps you'll tell us why you asked +about that?" + +Sears' brows drew together. Here was his vague theory on the way, at +least, to confirmation. + +"You tell me somethin' more first," he said. "'Tisn't likely you've got +the numbers of those bonds on that piece of paper, is it?" + +"Likely enough. I've got the numbers and the price I paid for 'em. Why?" + +Kendrick took his memorandum book from his pocket. "Were two of those +numbers A610,312 and A610,313?" he asked. + +Bradley consulted his slip of paper. "No," he replied. "Nothing like +it." + +"Eh? You're sure?" + +"Of course I'm sure. Say, what sort of a trustee do you think I am?" + +Sears did not answer. If the lawyer was sure, then his "theory," instead +of being confirmed, was smashed flat. + +"Humph!" he grunted, after a moment. "Do you mind my lookin' at that +paper of yours?" + +Bradley pushed the slip across the desk. The captain looked at it +carefully. "Humph!" he said again. "You're right. And those are five +hundred dollar bonds, all of 'em. Well, that settles that. And now it's +all fog again.... Humph! In a way I'm glad--but---- Pshaw!" + +"Yes. And _now_ maybe you'll tell me what you're after? Don't you think +it's pretty nearly time?" + +"Why, perhaps, but I'm afraid that's what I can't tell--you or anybody +else.... Bradley, just one more thing. Do you happen to know whether +there was any of those Boston bonds in Lobelia Phillips' estate? That +is, did any of 'em come to her husband from her?" + +The lawyer's answer was emphatic enough. + +"Yes, I do know," he said. "There wasn't any. Those bonds are a brand +new issue. They have been put out since her death." + +Here was another gun spiked. Kendrick whistled. Bradley regarded him +keenly. + +"Cap'n," he demanded, "are you on the trail of that Eg Phillips? Do you +really think you've got anything on him? Because if you have and you +don't let me into the game I'll never forgive you. Of all the slick, +smooth, stuck-up nothings that---- Say, have you?" + +Kendrick shook his head. "I'm afraid not, Squire," he observed. "And, at +any rate, I couldn't tell you, if I had. ... Eh? And _now_ what?" + +For the lawyer had suddenly struck the desk a blow with his hand. He was +fumbling in another pigeon-hole and extracting therefrom another packet +of papers. + +"Cap'n Kendrick," he said, "I know where there are--or were, +anyhow--more of those Boston 4-1/2s." + +"Eh? You do?" + +"Yes. And they were thousand dollar bonds, too.... Yes, and.... Give me +those numbers again." + +Sears gave them. Bradley grinned, triumphantly. + +"Here you are," he exclaimed. "Five one thousand dollar City of Boston +4-1/2s, bought at so and so much, on such and such a date, numbered +A610,309 to A610,313 inclusive. Cap'n Sears, those bonds are--or were, +the last I knew--in the vault of the Bayport National Bank." + +Kendrick rose to his feet. "You don't tell me!" he cried. "Who put 'em +there?" + +"I put 'em there. And I bought 'em. But they don't belong to me. There +was somebody else had money left to them, and I, on request, invested it +for the owner. Now you can guess, can't you?" + +Cap'n Sears sat down heavily. "Cordelia?" he exclaimed. "Cordelia Berry, +of course!... Bradley, what an everlastin' fool I was not to guess it +in the first place! _There's_ the answer I've been hunting for." + +But, as he pondered over it during the long drive home he realized that, +after all, it was not by any means a completely satisfying answer. True +it confirmed his previous belief that the bonds which Phillips had +deposited with the New York brokers were not a part of the residue of +his wife's estate. He had obtained them from Cordelia Berry. But the +question as to how and why he had obtained them still remained. Did he +get them by fraud? Did she lend them to him? If she lent them was it a +loan without restrictions? Did she know what he meant to do with them; +that is, was Cordelia a silent partner in Egbert's stock speculations? +Or, and this was by no means impossible considering her infatuation, had +she given them to him outright? + +Unless there was an element of fraud or false pretense in the +transference of those bonds, the mere knowledge of whence they came was +not likely to help in regaining George Kent's sixteen hundred dollars. +For the matter of that, even if they had been obtained by fraud, if they +were not Phillips' property, but Cordelia's, still the return of Kent's +money might be just as impossible provided Phillips had nothing of his +own to levy upon. He--Kendrick--might compel the brokers to return Mrs. +Berry's City of Boston 4-1/2s to their rightful owner, but how would +that help Kent? + +Well, never mind that now. If the worst came to the worst he could still +borrow the eight hundred which would save George from public disgrace. +And the fact remained that his campaign against the redoubtable Egbert +had made, for the first time, a forward movement, however slight. + +His thoughts turned to Elizabeth. The causes of her worry and trouble +were plain enough now. Esther Tidditt had declared that she and Phillips +were by no means as friendly as they had been. Of course not. She, too, +had been forced to realize what almost every one else had seen before, +the influence which the fellow had obtained over her mother. Her visit +to Bradley and her questions concerning the safety of securities in the +bank's vaults were almost proof positive that she knew Egbert had those +bonds and perhaps feared he might get the others. He should not get them +if Sears Kendrick could help it. She had asked his pardon, she had +confessed that he was right and that she had been wrong. She believed in +him again. Well, in return he would fight his battle--and hers--and +George's--harder than ever. The fight had been worth while of itself, +now it was more than ever a fight for her happiness. And Egbert--by the +living jingo, Egbert was in for a licking. + +So, to the mild astonishment of the placid Foam Flake, who had been +meandering on in a sort of walking doze, Captain Kendrick tugged briskly +at the reins and broke out in song, the hymn which Judah Cahoon had sung +a few nights before: + + "Light in the darkness, sailor, + Day is at hand." + +Judah himself was singing when his lodger entered the kitchen, but his +was no joyful ditty. It was a dirge, which he was intoning as he bent +over the cookstove. A slow and solemn and mournful wail dealing with +death and burial of one "Old Storm Along," whoever he may have been. + + "'Old Storm Along is dead and gone + To my way, oh, Storm Along. + Old Storm Along is dead and gone + Ay--ay--ay, Mister Storm A-long. + + "'When Stormy died I dug his grave + To my way, oh, Storm Along, + I dug his grave with a silver spade. + Ay--ay--ay, Mister Storm A-long. + + "'I hove him up with an iron crane, + To my way, oh, Storm Along, + And lowered him down with----'" + +Kendrick broke in upon the flow of misery. + +"Sshh! All hands to the pumps!" he shouted. "Heavens, what a wail! +Sounds like the groans of the dyin'. Didn't your breakfast set well, +Judah?" + +Judah turned, looked at him, and grinned sheepishly. "'Tis kind of a +lonesome song, ain't it?" he admitted. "Still we used to sing it +consider'ble aboard ship. Don't you know we did, Cap'n?" + +The captain grunted. "Maybe so," he observed, "but it's one of the +things that would keep the average man from going to sea. What's the +news since I've been gone--anything?" + +Judah nodded. "Um-hm," he said. "I cal'late 'twas the news that set me +goin' about old Storm Along. Esther Tidditt's been over here half the +forenoon, seemed so, tellin' about Elviry Snowden's aunt over to +Ostable. She's dead, the old woman is, and she died slow and agonizin', +'cordin' to Esther. Elviry was all struck of a heap about it. And now +she's gone." + +"Gone! Elvira? Dead, you mean?" + +"Hey? No, no! The aunt's dead, but Elviry ain't. She's gone over to +Ostable to stay till after the funeral. She's about the only relation to +the remains there is left, so Esther tells me. There was a reg'lar young +typhoon over to the Harbor when the news struck. 'Twas too late for the +up train so they had to hire a horse and team and then somebody had to +be got to pilot it, 'cause Elviry wouldn't no more undertake to drive a +horse than I would to eat one. And the trouble was that the livery +stable boy--that Josiah Ellis--was off drivin' somebody else +somewheres." + +"Yes, I saw him." + +"Hey? You did? Where? Who was he drivin'?" + +"Never mind that. Heave ahead with your yarn." + +"Well, the next thing they done was to come cruisin' over here to see if +_I_ wouldn't take the job. Hoppin', creepin', jumpin' Henry! I shut down +on _that_ notion almost afore they got their hatches open to tell me +about it. Suppose likely I'd set in a buggy alongside of Elviry Snowden +and listen to her clack from here to Ostable? Not by a two-gallon +jugful! Creepin'! She'd have another corpse on her hands time we got +there. So I said I was sick." + +"Sick! Ha, ha! You're a healthy lookin' sick man, Judah." + +"Um-hm. Mine must be one of them kind of diseases that don't show on the +outside. But I was sick then, all right--at the very notion. And, Cap'n +Sears, who do you cal'late finally did invite himself to drive that +Snowden woman to Ostable? You'll never guess in _this_ world." + +"Well, I don't intend to wait until the next world to find out; so +you'll have to tell me, Judah. Who was it?" + +"Old Henfruit." + +"_Who?_" + +"Old Henfruit, that's what I call him. That Eg thing" + +"What? Phillips?" + +"Yus. That's the feller." + +"But why should he do it?" + +"Oh, just to show off how polite and obligin' he is, I presume likely. +Elviry she was snifflin' around and swabbin' her deadlights with her +handkercher and heavin' overboard lamentations about her poor dear Aunt +So-and-so layin' all alone over there and she couldn't get to her--as if +'twould make any difference to a dead person whether she got to 'em or +not, and anyhow I'd _want_ to be dead afore Elviry Snowden got to +me--and---- Oh, yes, well, pretty soon here comes Eg, beaver hat and +mustache and all, purrin' and wantin' to know what was the matter. And, +of course all hands of 'em started to tell him, 'specially that Aurora +Chase, who is so everlastin' deaf she hadn't heard the yarn more'n half +straight and wan't sure yet whether 'twas a funeral or a fire. And +so----" + +"There, there, Judah! Get back on the course. So Egbert drove Elvira +over to Ostable, did he?" + +"Sartin sure. When Elviry saw him she kind of flew at him same as a +chicken flies to the old hen. And he kind of spread out his wings, as +you might say, and comforted her and, next thing you know, he'd offered +to be pilot and she and him had started on the trip. So that's the +news.... Esther said 'twas good as a town hall to see Cordelia Berry +when them two went away together. You see, Cordelia is so dreadful gone +on that Eg man that she can't bear to see another female within hailin' +distance of him. Been just the same if 'twas old Northern Lights Chase +he'd gone with. Haw, haw!" + +The Fair Harbor was still buzzing with the news of Miss Snowden's +bereavement when Kendrick visited there next day. The funeral was to +take place the day after that and Mrs. Brackett was going and so was +Aurora. As Miss Peasley and some of the others would have liked to go, +but could not afford the railway fare, there was some jealousy manifest +and a few ill-natured remarks made in the captain's hearing. Elvira, it +seemed, had sent for her trunk, as she was to remain in Ostable for a +week or two at least. + +The captain and Elizabeth had their customary conference in the office +concerning the Harbor's bills and finances. Kendrick's greeting was a +trifle embarrassed--recollection of the interview at Orham was fresh in +his mind. Elizabeth colored slightly when they met, but she did not +mention that interview and, although pleasant and kind, kept the +conversation strictly confined to business matters. + +That afternoon Sears encountered Egbert for the first time in a week or +so. The captain was on his way to the barn at the rear of the Harbor +grounds. He was about to turn the bend in the path, the bend which he +had rounded on the day of his first excursion in those grounds, and +which had afforded him the vision of Miss Snowden and Mrs. Chase framed +in the ivy-draped window of The Eyrie. As he passed the clump of lilacs, +now bare and scrawny, he came suddenly upon Phillips. The latter was +standing there, deep in conversation with Mrs. Berry. Theirs should, it +would seem, have been a pleasant conversation, but neither looked happy; +in fact, Cordelia looked as if she had been crying. + +Sears raised his cap and Egbert lifted the tall hat with the flourish +all his own. Cordelia did not bow nor even nod. Kendrick, as he walked +on toward the barn, was inclined to believe he could guess the cause of +Mrs. Berry's distress and her companion's annoyance; he believed that +City of Boston 4-1/2s might be the subject of their talk. If so, then +perhaps those bonds had come into the gentleman's possession in a manner +not strictly within the law. Or, at all events, the lady might not know +what had become of them and be requesting their return. He certainly +hoped that such was the case. It was the one thing he yearned to find +out before making the next strategic advance in his and Egbert's private +war. + +But a note from Bradley which he received next day helped him not at +all. It was a distinct disappointment. Bradley had, at his request, made +some inquiries at the Bayport bank. The lawyer was a director in that +institution and he could obtain information without arousing undue +curiosity or answering troublesome questions. The two one thousand +dollar bonds had been removed from the vaults by Cordelia Berry herself. +She had come alone, and on two occasions, taking one bond at each visit. +She did not state why she wanted them and the bank authorities had not +considered it their business to ask. + +So that avenue of hope was closed. Egbert had not taken the bonds, and +how they came into his possession was still as great a puzzle as ever. +And the time--the time was growing so short. On Wednesday Kent had +promised to send his brother-in-law eight hundred dollars. It was +Saturday when Bradley's letter came. Each evening George stopped at the +Minot place to ask what progress had been made. The young man's +nervousness was contagious; the captain's own nerves became affected. + +"George," he ordered, at last, "don't ask me another question. I +promised you once, and now I promise you again, that by Wednesday night +you shall have enough cash in hand to satisfy your sister and her +husband. Don't you come nigh me until then." + +On Monday, the situation remaining unchanged, Sears determined upon a +desperate move. He would see Egbert alone and have a talk with him. He +had, after careful consideration, decided what his share in that talk +was to be. It must be two-thirds "bluff." He knew very little, but he +intended to pretend to much greater knowledge. He might trap his +adversary into a damaging admission. He might gain something and he +could lose almost nothing. The attack was risky, a sort of forlorn +hope--but he would take the risk. + +That afternoon he drove down to the Macomber house. There he was +confronted with another disappointment. Egbert was not there. Sarah said +he had been away almost all day and would not be back until late in the +evening. + +"He's been away consider'ble the last two or three days," she said. "No, +I'm sure I don't know where he's gone. He told Joel somethin' about +bein' out of town on business. Joel sort of gathered 'twas in Trumet +where the business was, but he never told either of us really. He wasn't +here for dinner yesterday or supper either, and not for supper the day +before that." + +"Humph! Will he be here to-morrow, think?" + +"I don't know, but I should think likely he would, in the forenoon, +anyhow. He's almost always here in the forenoon; he doesn't get up very +early, hardly ever." + +"Oh, he doesn't. How about his breakfast?" + +Mrs. Macomber looked a bit guilty. + +"Well," she admitted, "I usually keep his breakfast hot for him, +and--and he has it in his room." + +"You take it in to him, I suppose?" + +"We-ll, he's always been used to breakfastin' that way, he says. It's +the way they do over abroad, accordin' to his tell." + +"Oh, Sarah, Sarah!" mused her brother. "To think _you_ could slip so +easy on that sort of soft-soap. Tut, tut! I'm surprised.... Well, +good-by. Oh, by the way, how about his majesty's board bill? Paid up to +date, is it?" + +His sister looked even more embarrassed, and, for her, a trifle +irritated. + +"He owes me for three weeks, if you must know," she said, "but he'll pay +it, same as he always does." + +"Look out, look out! Can't be too sure.... There, there, Sarah, don't be +cross. I won't torment you." + +He laughed and Mrs. Macomber, after a moment, laughed too. + +"You are a tease, Sears," she declared, "and always was. Shall I tell +Mr. Phillips you came to see him?" + +"Eh? No, indeed you shan't. Don't you mention my name to him. He loves +me so much that he might cry all night at the thought of not bein' at +home when I called. Don't tell him a word. I'll try again." + +The next forenoon he did try again. Judah had some trucking to do in the +western part of the village and the captain rode with him on the seat of +the truck wagon as far as the store. From there he intended to walk to +his sister's, for walking, even as long a distance as a mile, was no +longer an impossibility. As he alighted by the store platform Captain +Elkanah Wingate came out of the Bassett emporium. + +"Mornin', Kendrick," he hailed. + +Sears did not share Bayport's awe of the prosperous Elkanah. He returned +the greeting as casually as if the latter had been an everyday citizen. + +"Been spendin' your money on Eliphalet's bargains?" he inquired. + +The great man did not resent the flippancy. He seemed to be in a +particularly pleasant humor. + +"Got a little extra to spend to-day," he declared, with a chuckle. +"Picked up twenty dollars this mornin' that I never expected to see +again." + +"So? You're lucky." + +"That's what I thought. Say, Kendrick, have you had any--hum--business +dealings with that man Phillips? No," with another chuckle, "I suppose +you haven't. He doesn't love you over and above, I understand. My wife +and the rest of the women folks seem to think he's first mate to Saint +Peter, but, between ourselves, he's always been a little too much of a +walkin' oil barrel to suit me. He borrowed twenty of me a good while ago +and I'd about decided to write it down as a dead loss. But an hour or so +ago he ran afoul of me and, without my saying a word, paid up like a +man, every cent. Had a roll of bills as thick as a skys'l yard, he did. +Must have had a lucky voyage, I guess. Eh? Ha, ha!" + +He moved off, still chuckling. Kendrick walked down the lower road +pondering on what he had heard. Egbert, the professed pauper, in +possession of money and voluntarily paying his debts. What might that +mean? + +Sarah met him at the door. She seemed distressed. + +"There!" she cried, as he approached. "If this isn't too bad! And I was +afraid of it, too. You've walked way down here, Sears, on those poor +legs of yours, and Mr. Phillips has gone again. And I don't think he'll +be back before night, if he is then. He said not to worry if he wasn't, +because he might have to go to Trumet. Isn't it a shame?" + +It was a shame and a rather desperate shame. This was Tuesday. If the +interview with Egbert was to take place at all, it should be that day, +or the next. He looked at his sister's face and something in her +expression caused him to ask a question. + +"What is it, Sarah?" he demanded. "What's the rest of it?" + +She hesitated. "Sears," she said, after looking over her shoulder to +make sure none of the children was within hearing, "there's somethin' +else. I--I don't know, but--but I'm almost _sure_ Mr. Phillips won't be +back to-night. I think he's gone to stay." + +"Stay? What do you mean? Did he take his dunnage--his things--with him?" + +"No. His trunk is in his room. And he didn't have a satchel or a valise +in his hand. But, Sears, I can't understand it--they're gone--his +valises are gone." + +"Gone! Gone where?" + +"I don't know. That's the funny part of it. He's always kept two valises +in his room, a big one and a little one. I went into his room just now +to make the beds and clean up and I didn't see those valises anywhere. I +thought that was funny and then I noticed that the things on his bureau, +his brushes and comb and things, weren't there. Then I looked in his +bureau drawers and everything was gone, the drawers were empty.... +Sears, what _do_ you suppose it means?" + +Her brother did not answer at once. He tugged at his beard and frowned. +Then he asked: + +"Didn't he say a word more than you've told me? Or do anything?" + +"No. He had his breakfast out here with us this mornin'. Then he went +back to his room and, about nine or so, he came out to me and paid his +board bill---- Oh, I told you he'd pay it, Sears; he always does +pay--and then----" + +"Here! Heave to! Hold on, Sarah! He paid his bill, all of it?" + +"Yes. Right up to now. That was kind of funny, bein' the middle of the +week instead of the end, but he said we might as well start with a clean +ledger, or somethin' nice and pleasant like that. Then he took a bundle +of money from his pocketbook--a great, _big_ bundle it was, and--Why, +why, Sears, what is it? Where are you goin'?" + +The captain had pushed by her and was on his way to the front of the +house. + +"Goin'?" he repeated. "I'm goin' to have a look at those rooms of his. +You'd better come with me, Sarah." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +The keeper of the livery stable was surprised. "Why, yes," he said, "Mr. +Phillips was here a spell ago. He said he was cal'latin' to go to Trumet +to-day on a business cruise, and he hired Josiah and the bay horse and +buggy to get him over there. They left about ten o'clock, I should say +'twas. I had a mind to ask him why he didn't take the train, but then I +thought 'twould be poor business for a fellow that let teams, so I kept +still. Hey? Ho, ho!" + +The captain, somewhat out of breath after his hurried walk from the +Macomber home to the stable, pondered a moment "Did he have a valise or +satchel or anything with him?" he asked. + +"No. Nothin' but his cane. Couldn't navigate a yard without his cane +that feller couldn't, seemed so. Looked kind of spruced up, too. Dressed +in his best bib and tucker, he was, beaver hat and all. Cal'late he must +be goin' to see his best girl, eh. Ho, ho! Guess not though; from what I +hear his best girl's down to the Fair Harbor." + +Kendrick pondered a moment longer. + +"Did he pay for the team?" he inquired. + +"Hey? Yus, paid in advance, spot cash. But what you askin' all this for, +Cap'n? Wanted to see him afore he went, did you?" + +Sears nodded. "Just a business matter," he explained, and walked away. +He did not walk far, only to the corner. There on the low stone wall +bordering on the east the property of Captain Orrin Eldridge, he seated +himself to rest and cogitate. + +His cogitations were most unsatisfactory. They got him nowhere. He and +his sister had pretty thoroughly inspected Egbert's quarters at the +Macomber house. The Phillips trunk was still there, and the "horse +pictures" and the photographs of Lobelia's charming lady friends! but +there was precious little else. Toilet articles, collars, ties and more +intimate articles of wearing apparel were missing and, except for a +light coat and a summer suit of clothes, the closets were empty. And, as +Sarah had said, the two valises had vanished. Egbert had told his +landlady he was going to Trumet; he had told the livery man the same +thing. But by far the easiest way to reach Trumet was by train. Why had +he chosen to be driven there over a long and very bad road? And _what_ +had become of the valises? + +And then occurred the second of a series of incidents which had a marked +and helpful bearing up Captain Kendrick's actions that day. He said +afterwards that, for the first time since his railway accident, he +really began to believe the tide of luck was turning in his direction. +The first of those incidents had been his meeting and talk with Captain +Elkanah. That had sent him hurrying to the Macombers' earlier than he +intended. The second incident was that now, as he sat there on the +Eldridge wall, down the road came the Minot truck wagon with the Foam +Flake in the shafts and Judah Cahoon swinging and jolting on the seat. + +Judah spied him and hailed. + +"Ahoy, there, Cap'n Sears!" he shouted, pulling the old horse to a +standstill. "Thought you was down to Sary's long ago. What you doin' on +that wall--gone to roost so early in the day?" + +The captain smiled. "Not exactly, Judah," he replied. "But what are you +doin' 'way back here? I thought you were haulin' Seth Bangs's wood for +him." + +"Huh!" in disgust; "I thought I was, too, but there was some kind of +mix-up in the time. Cal'late 'twas that Hannah Bangs that muddled +it--she could muddle a cake of ice, that woman. Kind of born with a +knack for makin' mistakes, she is; and she's the biggest mistake +herself, 'cordin' to my notion. Seems 'twas to-morrow, not to-day, Seth +expected me to come." + +"Humph! So you had your cruise up there for nothin'?" + +"Yus. Creepin', jumpin'! Think of it, Cap'n. I navigated this +old--er--er--spavin-rack 'way up to where them folks live, three mile on +the Denboro road 'tis, and then had to come about and beat for home +again. I ... Oh, say I sighted a chum of ours up along that way. Who do +you cal'late 'twas, Cap'n Sears? Old Eg, that's who. Togged out from +truck to keelson as usual, beaver and all, and----" + +"Here! Hold up! What's that, Judah? You saw Phillips up on the Denboro +road, you say? What was he doin' there? When did you see him?" + +"'Bout an hour ago, or such matter. He was aboard one of the livery +stable teams and that Josiah Ellis was pilotin' him. I sung out to +Josiah, but he never answered. Says I----" + +"Sshh! Where were they bound; do you know?" + +"Denboro, I presume likely. That's the only place there is to be bound +to, on that road; 'less you're goin' perchin' up to Seabury's Pond, and +folks don't do much perchin' in December. Not with beaver hats on, +anyhow. Haw, haw! Eg and Josiah was all jammed up together on the buggy +seat, with two big valises crammed in alongside of 'em, and ... Hi! +What's the matter, Cap'n Sears? What's your hurry?" + +The captain did not answer. He _was_ hurrying--hurrying back to the +livery stable. Half an hour later he, too, was on the seat of a hired +buggy, driving the best horse the stable afforded up the lonely road +leading to Denboro. + +He met no one on that road--which winds and twists over the hills and +through the wooded hollows from one side of the Cape to the other--until +he was within a mile of Denboro village. Then he saw another horse and +buggy approaching his. He recognized the occupant of that buggy long +before he himself was recognized. + +"Hi!" he shouted, as the two vehicles came near each other. "Hi! Josiah! +Josiah Ellis!" + +Josiah, serenely dozing, his feet propped against the dash and his cap +over his eyes, came slowly to life. + +"Hey?" he murmured, drowsily. "Yes; here I be.... Eh! What's the matter? +Why, hello, Cap'n Kendrick, that you?" + +"Whoa!" ordered the captain, addressing his own horse, who came to a +standstill beside that driven by the other. "Stop, Josiah! Come up into +the wind a minute, I want to speak to you. What have you done with +Phillips?" + +Josiah was surprised. "Why, how did you know I had Mr. Phillips aboard?" +he asked. "Oh, I presume likely they told you at the stable. But how did +you know he was goin' to Denboro? _I_ never knew it till after we +started. When we left port I supposed 'twas Trumet we was bound for, but +we hadn't much more'n got under way when Mr. Phillips says he's changed +his mind and wants to come over here. Didn't make no difference to _me_, +of course. I get my wages, Saturday nights, just the same whether----" + +"Where is Phillips now?" + +"I was tellin' you. So we came about and headed for Denboro. Next thing +we had to haul up abreast of that old tumbledown shed at the end of +Tabby Crosby's lot there by the meetin'-house while Mr. Phillips hopped +out and got a couple of great big satchels he'd left there. Big as +trunks they was, pretty nigh, and time he got them stowed in here there +wan't no room for knees nor feet nor nawthin' else seurcely. But, +finally----" + +"Hold on! Why did he have his dunnage in Tabitha Crosby's shed?" + +"That's what _I_ couldn't make out. He said he left 'em there so's not +to have to go out of our way to get 'em at Joe Macomber's. But it's +about as nigh to Joe's as 'tis to Tabby's, seems to me. Seemed funny +enough, that did, but 'twan't no funnier than comin' way over to the +Denboro depot to take the same train he might have took just as well at +Bayport. _I_ couldn't make it out. Can you, Cap'n Kendrick?" + +"Did you leave him at the Denboro depot?" + +"Yus. 'Bout an hour ago, or such matter. And the up train ain't due till +four, and it's only half-past twelve now. I stopped at the Denboro House +to get some diner. A feller has to eat once in a while, even if he ain't +rich. And talk about chargin' high prices! All I had was some chowder +and a piece of pie and tea, and I swan if they didn't stick me +thirty-five cents! Yes, sir, thirty-five cents! And the pie was +dried-apple at that. Don't talk to me no more about that Denboro House! +If I ever----" + +Kendrick heard no more. He was on his way to the railway station at +Denboro. The mystery of the valises was, in one way, explained; in +another it was more mysterious than ever. Evidently Phillips must have +taken them from his rooms either early that morning or during the +night--probably the latter--and hidden them in the Crosby shed. But why? + +Denboro was a sleepy little village and at that hour on that raw +December day the railway station was as sleepy as the rest of it. The +station agent, who was also the telegraph operator, was locking his door +preparatory to going home for dinner. He and the captain were old +acquaintances. In days gone by he had sailed as second mate aboard a +bark which Kendrick commanded. Now, retired from the sea, he was depot +master and pound-keeper and constable in his native town. And, like most +of Sears' shipmates, he was glad to see his former skipper. + +They shook hands, exchanged observations concerning the weather, and +then the depot master asked what he could do for his friend. + +"I'm lookin' for a man named Phillips," explained Kendrick. "Josiah +Ellis--fellow that drives for the livery stable over home--told me he +left him here at your depot, Jim. About an hour ago, Josiah said it was. +He doesn't seem to be here now; do you know where he's gone?" + +Jim rubbed his chin. "Tall feller, thin, long mustache, beaver hat, +talks important and patronizin' like a combination of Admiral Farragut +and the Angel Gabriel?" he inquired. + +"That's the man." + +"He was here. Left them two valises yonder in my care. He's comin' back +in time to take the three-fifteen." + +"Three-fifteen? I thought the up train left here at half-past four or +somethin' like that." + +"The reg'lar train does. But there's a kind of combination, three or +four freight and one passenger car, that comes up from Hyannis and goes +on ahead of the other. It don't go only to Middleboro. He said he was +cal'latin' to take that. I had a notion he was goin' to change at +Middleboro and go somewheres else from there." + +"I see. Yes, yes. And you don't know where he is now?" + +"Well, he asked where was the best place to eat and I told him some went +to the hotel and some to Amanda Warren's boardin'-house. 'Most of 'em +only go to the hotel once, though,' says I. I guess likely you'll find +him at Amanda's." + +So to Mrs. Warren's boarding-house the captain drove. The lady herself +opened the door for him. Yes, the gentleman described had been there. +Yes, he had eaten dinner and gone. + +"Do you know where he has gone?" asked Kendrick. + +Mrs. Warren nodded. "He asked me where Mr. Backus, the Methodist +minister, lived," she said. "He was real particular to find out how to +get there, so I guess that's where he was bound." + +The Methodist minister! Why on earth Egbert Phillips should go to the +home of a minister was another mystery beyond Sears Kendrick's power of +surmise. However, he too inquired the way to the Backus domicile and +once more took up the chase. + +The Methodist parsonage was a neat little white house, green-shuttered, +and with a white picket fence inclosing its little front yard. It being +the home of a clergyman, Sears ventured to knock at the front door; +otherwise he would, of course, have gone around to the side entrance. + +A white-haired little woman answered the knock. No, Mr. Backus was out, +but he was expected back very soon. He had an appointment at two, so she +was sure he would be in by that time. Would the captain come in and +wait? There was another gentleman now in the parlor waiting. Yes, a tall +gentleman with a mustache. + +At last! Another minute, and Captain Kendrick, entering the Backus +parlor, came face to face with the elusive object of his search, Mr. +Egbert Phillips. + +Egbert was sitting in a rocking chair by the marble-topped center table. +A plush-covered photograph album was on that table and he was languidly +turning its pages and inspecting, with a smile of tolerant amusement, +the likenesses of the Backus friends and relatives. As the door opened +he turned, his smile changing to one of greeting. + +"Ah, Mr. Backus----" he began. And then he stopped. It was the captain +who smiled now. His smile was as genial as a summer morn. + +"Good afternoon, Mr. Phillips," he said. "How are you, sir?" + +He stepped forward with extended hand. Still Egbert stood and stared. +The photograph album, imperfectly balanced on the edge of the table, +slipped to the floor. + +The clergyman's wife seemed a trifle puzzled and perturbed by the +Phillips expression and attitude. + +"This gentleman said----" she began. "He said you and he----" + +Kendrick helped her to finish: "I told the lady," he put in cheerfully, +"that I had come 'way over from Bayport to see you about a little +matter. I said we knew each other pretty well and I was sure you'd be +glad to see me, even if I was kind of unexpected.... Excuse me, but +you've dropped your picture book." + +He stooped, picked up the album and replaced it on the table. This +action occupied but a moment of time, nevertheless in that moment a +portion at least of Egbert's poise returned. His smile might have been +a bit uncertain, but it was a smile. And when Sears again extended his +hand his own came to meet it. + +"Of course, of course," he said. "Yes--ah--yes, indeed. How do you do, +Kendrick?" + +The captain beamed. "Oh, I'm feelin' tip-top," he declared. "The sight +of you is enough to make me well, even if I was sick--which I'm not. Now +if you and I might have a little talk?" + +Mrs. Backus was anxious to oblige. + +"You make yourselves right at home in here," she said. "If my husband +comes I'll tell him to wait until you're through. Take all the time you +want." + +She was at the threshold, but Phillips detained her. + +"Pardon me," he said, hastily, "but we mustn't abuse your hospitality to +that extent. This--ah--gentleman and I can talk just as well out of +doors. Really, I----" + +"Oh, no! You must stay right here. Please do. It isn't the least +trouble." + +She went and the door closed behind her. Egbert glanced at the clock on +the mantel and frowned. Captain Kendrick continued to smile. + +"And here we are at last," he observed. "Quiet and sociable as you +please. Sit down, Mr. Phillips, sit down." + +But Egbert did not sit. He glanced at the clock once more and then at +his watch. + +"Sit down," repeated the captain. "I've been cruisin' so much this +forenoon that I'm glad of the chance to sit. From what I've been able to +learn you've been movin' pretty lively, too. A little rest won't do +either of us any harm. Sit down, Mr. Phillips. Take the rocker." + +Phillips walked to the front window, looked out, hesitated, and then, +returning, did take the rocker. He looked at his fellow-townsman. + +"Well?" he asked. + +Kendrick nodded. "Yes," he agreed, "it is well, real well, now that I've +caught up with you. I'll say this for you, you're as good a craft for +leavin' a crooked wake as any I ever chased. For a while there you had +me hull down. But I'm here now--and so are you." + +Egbert's slim hand slowly stroked his mustache. + +"There appears to be some truth in that remark," he declared. "We do +seem to be here--yes.... But----" + +"But you are wonderin' why _I_ am here? Well, to be honest, I came to +find you. I judged that you were thinkin' of leavin' us--for a spell, +anyhow--and before you went I wanted to talk with you, that's all." + +A pause, and more mustache stroking. The two men regarded each other; +the captain blandly beaming, Phillips evidently pondering. + +"I don't know," he said, at last, "what you may mean by my thinking of +leaving you. However, that is not material, and I am always delighted to +see you, of course. But as I am rather busy this afternoon perhaps +you'll be good enough to come to the point.... If there is a point." + +"Yes, there is. Oh, yes, there's a point. Two or three points." + +"Indeed! How interesting. And what are they? Please be as--ah--brief as +you can." + +Sears crossed his legs. All this had been but preliminary maneuvering. +Here now was the real beginning of the fight; and he realized only too +keenly that his side in that fight was tremendously short of ammunition. +But he did not mean that his adversary should guess that fact, and with +the smiling serenity of absolute confidence he fired the opening gun. + +"Egbert," he began--"you don't mind my callin' you Egbert? Knowin' you +as well as I do, it seems foolish to stand on ceremony, don't you think? +You don't mind?" + +"Not at all. Charmed, I'm sure.... Well?" + +"Well--yes. We've got a good many mutual friends--you and I, Egbert. One +of 'em is named George Kent. He's a great friend of both of us. Nice +boy, too." + +At the mention of the name the Phillips hand, caressing the Phillips +mustache, paused momentarily. But it resumed operations almost at once. +Other than this there was no sign of perturbation on its owner's part. +He slowly shook his head. + +"My _dear_ Captain Kendrick----" he drawled. + +"Oh, call me Sears. _Don't_ be formal." + +"My dear man, if it is possible for you to come to the point? Without +too great a strain on your--ah--intellect?" + +"I'm comin', Egbert. Right abreast there now. George--our mutual +friend--is in trouble. He has used some money that he can't spare, used +it in a stock deal. I won't go into the particulars because you know 'em +just as well as I do. You got him into the trouble in the first place, I +understand. Now, to a man up a tree, as the boys say, it would seem as +if you ought to be the one to get him out. Particularly as you are his +very best friend. Don't you think so?" + +Egbert sighed before answering, a sigh of utter weariness. + +"And may I ask if _this_ is the--ah--point?" he inquired. + +"Why, yes--I guess so. In a way." + +"And you are acting as our young friend's representative? He has seen +fit to take you into his confidence concerning a matter which was +supposed to be a business secret between--ah--gentlemen?" + +"I could see he was in trouble and I offered to do what I could to help. +Then he told me the whole thing." + +"Indeed? A changeable youth. When I last heard him mention your name it +was not--pardon me--in a--shall we say strictly affectionate tone?" + +"That so? Too bad. But we are all liable to be mistaken in our +judgments. Men--and women, too." + +Again there was a slight pause; Egbert was regarding the speaker +intently. The latter's countenance was about as expressive as that of a +wooden idol, a good-natured one. Mr. Phillips glanced once more at the +clock, languidly closed his eyes, opened them, sighed for the third +time, and then spoke. + +"So I am to understand that our--ah--juvenile acquaintance has turned +his business affairs over to you," he said. "I congratulate him, I'm +sure. The marked success which you have attained in the--ah--management +of--ah--other business affairs has inspired him with perfect trust, +doubtless." + +"That must be it. The average man has to trust somebody and I gathered +that _some_ trusts of his were beginnin' to slip their moorin's. +However, here's the situation. You got him to buy some stock on margin. +The stock, instead of goin' up, as you prophesied, went down. You +suggested his puttin' up more margin. He'd used all his own money, so he +used some belonging to some one else. Now he's in trouble, bad trouble. +What are you goin' to do about it?" + +"I? My dear man, what should I do about it? What can I do? I have +explained my situation to him. I am, owing to circumstances and +the--ah--machinations of certain individuals--both circumstances and +individuals of your acquaintance, I believe--in a most unfortunate +position financially. I have no money, or very little. Our--your young +protege wished to risk some of his money in a certain speculation. I did +the same. The speculation was considered good at the time. I still +consider it good, although profit may be deferred. He took the risk with +his eyes open. He is of age. He is not a child, although--pardon +me--this new action of his might lead one to think him such. I am sorry +for him, but I do not consider myself at all responsible." + +"I see. But he has used money which wasn't his to speculate with." + +"I am sorry, deeply sorry. But--is that my fault? + +"Well, that might be a question, mightn't it? You knew he was usin' that +money?" + +"Pardon me--pardon me, Kendrick; but is that--ah--strictly true?" + +"Well, he says it is. However, the question is just this: Will you help +him out by buyin' up his share in this C. M. deal? Pay him back his +sixteen hundred and take the whole thing over yourself?" + +Mr. Phillips for the first time permitted himself the luxury of a real +smile. + +"My _dear_ man," he observed, "you're not seriously offering such a +proposition as that, are you? You must be joking." + +"It's no joke to poor George. And he's only a boy, after all. You +wouldn't want him to go to jail." + +The smile disappeared. "I should be pained," protested Egbert, and +proved it by looking pained. "It would grieve me deeply. But I can't +think such a contingency possible. No, no; not possible. And in time--my +brokers assure me a very short time--the stock will advance." + +"And you won't take over his share and get all that profit yourself?" + +"I can't. It is impossible. I am so sorry. In former days--" with a +gesture of resignation--"it would have been quite possible. Then I +should have been delighted. But now.... However, you must, as a man of +the world, see that all this is quite absurd. And it is painful to me, +as a friend--still a friend of young Kent's. Pardon me again, but I am +busy this afternoon and----" + +He rose. Sears did not rise. He remained seated. + +"Jail's a mean place," he remarked, with apparent irrelevance. "I'd hate +to go there myself. So would you, I'll bet." + +Another pause on Phillips' part. Then another wearied smile. + +"Do you--ah--foresee any likelihood of either of us arriving at that +destination?" he inquired. + +"Well, _I'm_ hopin' to stay out, for a spell anyway. Mr. +Phillips--Egbert--yes, yes, Egbert, of course; we're gettin' better +acquainted all the time, so we just mustn't stand on ceremony. Egbert, +how about those City of Boston 4-1/2s you put up as security over there +in New York? What are you goin' to do about _them_?" + +Egbert had strolled to the window and was looking out. He continued to +look out. The captain, his gaze fixed upon the beautifully draped, even +though the least bit shiny, shoulders of the Phillips' coat, watched +eagerly for some shiver, some sign of agitation, however slight. But +there was none. The sole indication that the shot just fired had had +any effect was the length of time Egbert took before turning. When he +did turn he was still blandly smiling. He walked back to the rocker and +settled himself upon its patchwork cushion. + +"Yes?" he queried. "You were saying----" + +"I was speakin' of those two one thousand dollar City of Boston bonds +you sent your brokers, you know. Would you mind tellin' me how you got +those bonds?" + +Mr Phillips lifted one slim leg over the other. He lifted two slim hands +and placed their finger tips together. + +"Kendrick," he asked, "you will pardon me for speaking plainly? Thank +you so much. I have already listened to you for some time--more time +than I should have spared. For some reason you have--ah--seen fit +to--shall we say pursue me here. Having found me, you make a +most--pardon me again--unreasonable and childish demand on the part of +young Kent. I cannot grant it. Now is there any use wasting more time by +asking--pardon me once more--impertinent questions concerning my +affairs? You can scarcely--well, even you, my dear Kendrick, can hardly +expect me to answer them. Don't you think this--ah--extremely pleasant +interview had better end pleasantly--by ending now?" + +He would have risen once more, but Sears motioned him to remain in the +rocker. The captain leaned forward. + +"Egbert," he said briskly, "I'm busy, too; but I have spent a good many +hours and some dollars to get at you and I shan't leave you until I get +at least a part of what I came after. Those Boston bonds----" + +"Are my property, sir." + +"Well, I don't know. The last anybody heard they were the property of +Mrs. Cordelia Berry. Now you say they're yours. That's one of the +matters to be settled before you and I part company, Egbert." + +Mr. Phillips' aristocratic form stiffened. Slowly he rose to his feet. + +"You are insulting," he proclaimed. "That will do. There is the door." + +"Yes, I see it. It's a nice door; the grainin' on it seems to be pretty +well done. How did you get hold of those bonds, Egbert?" + +"If you don't go, I shall." + +"All right. Then I'll go with you. You shan't take the three-fifteen or +any other train till we've settled this and some other questions. Oh, +it's a fact. No hard feelin', you know; just business, that's all." + +Egbert moved toward the door. His caller rose to follow him. The captain +often wondered afterward whether or not Phillips would really have left +the room if there had been no interruption. The question remained a +question because at that moment there was a knock on the other side of +the door. It had a marked effect upon Egbert. He started, frowned and +shot another glance at the clock. + +"Excuse me," said Mrs. Backus, opening the door a crack, "but my husband +has come." + +Phillips seemed relieved, yet troubled, too. + +"Yes--ah--yes," he said. "Will you kindly ask him to wait? Thank you." + +The lady closed the door again. Egbert took a turn across the room and +back. Kendrick smiled cheerfully. + +"About those bonds?" he observed. + +Phillips faced him. + +"The bonds," he declared, "are mine. How I got them is not your business +in the least." + +"Just a minute, just a minute. Cordelia Berry----" + +"Did Mrs. Berry tell you that I had them?" + +"No need to bother with that part of it now. I know." + +"But she did not give you authority to come to me about them? Don't +pretend she did; I know better." + +"I'm not goin' to pretend--that. She didn't." + +"Humph!" with a sneer; "perhaps your authority comes from some one else. +Her daughter, maybe? You and she are--or shall we say _were_--quite +touchingly confidential at one time, I believe." + +The tone and the remark were mistakes; it would have been much better +for the Phillips cause if the speaker had continued to be loftily +condescending. Sears kept a grip on his temper, but his own tone changed +as he replied. + +"Egbert," he said sharply, "look here. The facts, as far as a man +without a spyglass can sight 'em through the fog, are just these: You +got George Kent into a stock trade. He put up money--real money. You put +up two thousand dollars in bonds and, because that was more than your +share, he paid you four hundred dollars in cash. The last anybody knew +the two bonds you put up were the property of Cordelia Berry. I want to +know how you got hold of 'em." + +"Am I to understand that you are accusing me of _stealing_ those bonds?" + +"I'm not accusin' you of anything in particular. George has put this +affair of his in my hands; I've got what amounts to his signed power of +attorney in my pocket. If those bonds are yours, and you can prove it, +then I shan't say any more about 'em. If they still belong to +Cordelia--well, that's another question, one I mean to have the answer +to before you and I part company." + +"Kendrick, I---- Do you realize that I can have you arrested for this?" + +"I don't know. But it does seem to me that if those bonds aren't your +property then you had no right to pledge 'em in that stock deal. And +that your takin' Kent's four hundred dollars in part payment for 'em +comes pretty nigh to what a lawyer would call gettin' money under false +pretenses. So the arrests might be even-Stephen, so far as that goes." + +This was the sheerest "bluff," but it was delivered with all the +assurance in the world. It had not precisely the effect Sears had hoped +for. Egbert did not seem so much frightened as annoyed by it. He +frowned, walked across the room and back, looked at the clock, then out +of the window, and finally turned to his opponent. + +"Recognizing, of course," he sneered, "the fact that all this is +absolutely none of your business, Kendrick; may I ask why you didn't +come to me in Bayport instead of here?" + +The captain's smile returned. "I did try to come, Egbert," he answered. +"But you had gone and so had the things in your room. You told Sarah and +the stable folks you were goin' to Trumet. When I found you hadn't gone +there, but were bound for here--after hidin' your valises over night in +Tabby Crosby's shed--I decided you might be goin' even farther than +Denboro, and that if I wanted to see you pretty soon--or ever, +maybe--I'd better hoist sail and travel fast. When the depot folks told +me you were askin' about the three-fifteen I felt confirmed in my +judgments, as the fellow said. Now if you'll tell me about those bonds?" + +Another turn by Phillips across the parlor and back. Then he asked, with +sarcasm, "If I were to tell you that those bonds were given me by Mrs. +Berry, you wouldn't believe it, I presume?" + +"We-ll, I'd like to hear a little testimony from Cordelia first." + +"May I ask why you did not go to her instead of to me?" + +"I didn't have a chance. You got away too soon." + +"Possibly you may have thought that she, too, would consider it none of +your business. And, since you won't take my word, how do you expect me +to prove--here in Denboro that those bonds are mine?" + +"I don't know. But if it can't be proved in Denboro, then I'm afraid, +Egbert, that you'll have to go back to Bayport with me and prove it +there.... Oh, I know you'd hate to go, but----" + +"Go! I flatly refuse to go, of course." + +"I was afraid you would. Well, then I'd have to call in the constable to +help get you under way. Jim Baker, the depot master, is constable here +in Denboro. He and I were shipmates. He'd arrest the prophet Elijah if I +asked him to, and not ask why, either." + +"Kendrick----" + +"Egbert, a spell ago you and I had a little chat together and I told you +I had just begun to fight.... Well, I haven't really begun yet, but I'm +gettin' up steam.... Think it over." + +Phillips stopped and, standing by the window, stared fixedly at the +captain. The latter met the stare with a look of the blandest serenity. +Behind the look, however, were feelings vastly different. If ever a +forlorn hope skated upon thin ice, his and George Kent's was doing so at +that moment. If Egbert _should_ agree to return to Bayport, and if his +statement concerning the ownership of the Boston bonds _was_ true, +then--well, then it would not be Mr. Phillips who might receive the +attentions of the constable. + +Egbert stopped staring and once more looked at the clock. Quarter past +two! He turned again quickly. + +"Kendrick," he snapped, "what _is_ your proposition?" + +"My proposition? I want you to pay me the sixteen hundred dollars Kent +put into that C. M. stock deal. If you do that I'll give you his signed +paper turnin' over to you all interest in the deal. You can make all the +profit on it yourself--when it comes. Then in matter of Cordelia's +bonds----" + +Phillips lifted a hand. + +"The bonds are not to be considered," he said, decisively. "If they are +mine, as I say they are, you have no claim on them. If they are Mrs. +Berry's, as you absurdly pretend to think they are, again you have no +claim. If she says I have stolen them--which she won't--she may +prosecute; but, again, my dear sir, she--ah--won't." + +The slight smile accompanying the last sentence troubled the captain. It +was not the smile of a frightened man. Before he could reply Egbert +continued. + +"But the bond matter may be settled later," he went on. "So far as I am +concerned it is settled now. For our--ah--foolish young friend, Kent, +however, I feel a certain sense of--shall we say pity?--and am inclined +to make certain confessions. Silly sentimentalism on my part, +doubtless--but pity, nevertheless. If you will give me the paper signed +by him, which you claim to have, relinquishing all share in the stock at +the New York brokers, I will--well, yes, I will pay you the sixteen +hundred dollars." + +It was Sears Kendrick who was staggered now. It was his turn to stare. + +"You will pay me sixteen hundred dollars--_now_?" he gasped. + +"Yes." + +"But--but.... Humph! Well, thanks, Egbert--but your check, you know----" + +"I have no time to waste in drawing checks. I will pay you in cash." + +And, as Sears's already wide-open eyes opened wider and wider, he calmly +took from his coat a pocketbook hugely obese and extracted from that +pocketbook a mammoth roll of bank notes. + +Ten minutes later the captain was again moving along the road between +Denboro and Bayport, bound home this time. He was driving mechanically; +the horse was acting as his own pilot, for the man who held the reins +was too much engrossed in thought to pay attention to such +inconsequential matters as ruts or even roads. Sears was doing his best +to find the answer to a riddle and, so far, the answer was as deeply +shrouded in mist as ever a ship of his had been on any sea. + +He was satisfied in one way, more than satisfied. His demand for the +full sixteen hundred had been made with no real hope. Had Phillips +consented to return eight hundred dollars of the amount, the offer would +in the end have been accepted with outward reluctance but inward joy. +Had he refused to return a penny Kendrick would not have been surprised. +But Egbert, after making up his mind, had paid the entire sum without a +whimper, had paid it almost casually and with the air of one obliging a +well-meaning, if somewhat annoying, inferior. Inspecting and pocketing +Kent's power of attorney and the captain's receipt he had dismissed his +visitor at the parsonage door as King Solomon in all his glory might +have graciously dismissed a beggar whose petition had been granted. And +the look in his eye and the half smile beneath the long mustache were +not those of one beaten at a game--no, they were not. + +The recollection of that look and that smile bothered Sears Kendrick. He +could not guess what was behind them. One thing seemed to be certain, +his threats of prosecution and his bluffs concerning the Boston bonds +had not alarmed Phillips greatly. He had not given in because he was +afraid of imprisonment. No; no, the only symptoms of nervousness he had +shown were his repeated glances at the clock, at his watch, and when he +looked out of the parsonage window. More and more the captain was forced +to the conclusion that Egbert had paid him to get rid of him, that he +did not wish to be detained or to have Kendrick remain there, and his +reasons must have been so important that he was willing to part with +sixteen hundred dollars to get his visitor out of the way. + +But what possible reason could be as important as that? Why had he run +away from Bayport? Why was he taking the three-fifteen train--at +Denboro? Why was he spending the time before the departure of that train +in the parlor of the Methodist parsonage? And he had made an appointment +with the minister himself. Was he expecting some one else at that +parsonage? + +Eh? The captain straightened on the buggy seat. He spoke aloud one word, +a name. + +"Cordelia!" he cried. + +For another five minutes Captain Sears Kendrick, his frown growing +deeper and deeper as the conviction was forced upon him, sat motionless +in the buggy. Then he spoke sharply to his horse, turned the latter +about, and drove rapidly back to Denboro. He could do nothing worth +while, he could prevent nothing, but he could answer that riddle. He +believed he had answered it already. + +It was half-past three when he again knocked at the parsonage door. The +Reverend Backus himself answered the knock. + +"Why, no," he said, "Mr. Phillips has gone. Yes, I think--I am sure he +took the train. You are his friend, aren't you? I am sorry you missed +the--er--happy event. Mrs. Phillips--the new Mrs. Phillips--is a +charmingly refined lady, isn't she? And Mr. Phillips himself is _such_ a +gentleman. I don't know when I have had the pleasure of--er--officiating +at a pleasanter ceremony. I shall always remember it." + +Mrs. Backus looked over her husband's shoulder. + +"The bride came just after you left," she explained. "She was just a +little late, she said; but it was all right, there was plenty of time. +And she did look _so_ happy!" + +Captain Kendrick did not look happy. He had answered the riddle +correctly. An elopement, of course. It was plain enough now. Oh, if he +might have been there when that poor, silly, misguided woman arrived! He +might not have been able to stop the marriage, but at least he +could--and would--have told the bride a few pointed truths concerning +the groom. + +Mrs. Backus, all smiles, asked her husband a question. "What did you say +her name was, dear?" she asked. + +The minister hesitated. "Why--why--" he stammered, "it was---- Dear me, +how forgetful I am!" + +Sears supplied the information. + +"Berry," he said, gloomily. "Cordelia Berry." + +Mr. Backus seemed surprised. "Why, no," he declared. "That doesn't sound +like the name.... It wasn't. No, it wasn't. It was--I have it--Snowden. +Miss Elvira Snowden--of Ostable, I believe." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +Not until Captain Kendrick entered the Minot kitchen late that afternoon +did he get the full and complete answer to his puzzle. Judah supplied +the missing details, supplied them with a rush, had evidently been +bursting with them for hours. + +"My hoppin', creepin', jumpin' prophets, Cap'n Sears," he roared, before +his lodger could speak a word, "if I ain't got the dumdest news to tell +you now, then nobody ever had none!... You ain't heard it, Cap'n, have +you? _Don't_ tell me you've heard it already! Have you?" + +Sears shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, Judah," he replied. "Have +I?" + +"Hoppin' Henry! I _hope_ you ain't, 'cause I wanted to tell you myself. +It's about Elviry Snowden. Have you heard anything about her?" + +"Why--well, what have _you_ heard?" + +"Heard! They heard it fust over to the Harbor about a couple of hours +ago. Bradley, the Orham lawyer feller, he'd heard it and he come over to +see Elizabeth about somethin' or 'nother and he told it to all hands. +You know that aunt of Elviry's over to Ostable, the one that died last +week? Well all hands had cal'lated she was kind of on her beam +ends--poor, I mean. When her husband died, don't you recollect some +property they owned over to Harniss was goin' to be sold to auction? All +them iron images Elviry wanted to buy was part of 'em; don't you +remember?" + +"Yes, I remember. + +"Sartin sure you do. Well, so fur as that goes them images wan't sold +because the widow changed her mind about 'em and had 'em all carted +over to another little place she owned in Ostable, and set up in the +yard there. She's been livin' on this place in Ostable and everybody +figgered she didn't have much money else she'd stayed in the big house +in Harniss. But, by Henry, since she's died it's come out that she was +rich. Yes, sir, rich! She'd saved every cent, you see; never spent +nothin'. A reg'lar mouser, she was--miser, I mean. And who do you +suppose she's left it all to? Elviry, by the creepin'! Yes, sir, every +last cent to Elviry Snowden." + +"_No!!_" + +"Yes. Elviry's rich. 'Cordin' to Bradley's tell there's a lot of land +and a house and barn, and all them iron images, and--wait; let me tell +you--stocks, and things like that, and over ten thousand dollars cash in +the bank, by Henry! In _cash_, where Elviry can get right aholt of it if +she wants to. Much as thirty thousand, altogether, land and all. And.... +What in tunket are you laughin' at?" + +For Captain Kendrick had thrown himself into the rocking chair and was +shaking the pans on the stove with peal after peal of laughter. + +It was so simple, so complete, and so wonderfully, gorgeously Egbertian. +A little matter of arithmetic, that was all. Merely the substitution of +twenty or thirty thousand dollars and a landed estate for five--no, +three--thousand dollars and a somewhat cramped future at the Fair +Harbor. The ladies in the case were incidental. When the choice was +offered him the businesslike Phillips hesitated not a moment. He was on +with the new love even before he was off with the old. And, in order to +avoid the unpleasantness which was sure to ensue when the old found it +out, he had arranged to be married at Denboro and to be far afield upon +his wedding tour before the news reached Bayport. + +Everything was clear now. Elvira's windfall explained it all. It was her +money which had paid Captain Elkanah, and Sarah Macomber, and the livery +man, and no doubt many another of Egbert's little bills. It was her +money that was paying the honeymoon expenses. And, of course, it was +her sixteen hundred dollars which had just been handed to Sears Kendrick +in the parlor of the parsonage. + +No wonder that, under the circumstances, Egbert had chosen to pay. It +must have been a nerve-racking session for him, that interview with the +captain. Each minute might bring his bride-to-be to the parsonage door, +and if she learned before marriage of Cordelia's bonds and the +Kent-Phillips stock speculation, not to mention the threatened arrest +and consequent scandal, why--well, Elvira was fatuously smitten, but the +chances were that the wedding would have been postponed, if nothing +worse. No wonder Egbert preferred parting with a portion of his +lady-love's fortune to the risk of parting with the lady herself--and +the remainder of it. + +Sears did not tell Judah of the elopement. He did not feel like it, +then. His had been a tiring day and the strain upon his own nerves not +slight. He wanted to rest, he wanted to think, and he did not want to +talk. Judah spared him the trouble; he did talking enough for two. + +After supper George Kent came hurrying into the yard. Sears had expected +him and, when he came, led him into the "spare stateroom" and closed the +door. Then, without any preliminaries, he took the sixteen hundred +dollars from his wallet and gave them to him. + +"There's your money, George," he said. + +Kent could not believe it. He had come here, in the last stages of +despair. This was practically his final day of grace. The afternoon mail +had brought him another letter from his brother-in-law, making immediate +demand and threatening drastic action within the week. He had come, +haggard, nervous and trembling, ready to proclaim again his intention of +self-destruction. + +He sat there, staring at the money in his hand, saying nothing. His face +was as white as the clean towels on the captain's washstand. Kendrick, +leaning forward, laid a hand on his knee. + +"Brace up, George," he ordered, sharply. "Don't let go of the wheel." + +Kent slowly lifted his gaze from the roll of bills to his friend's face. + +"You--you _got_ it!" he faltered. + +"_I_ got it--all of it. There's the whole sixteen hundred there. Count +it." + +"But--but, oh, my God! I--I----" + +"Sshh! Steady as she is, George. Count your money. Put it on the table +here by the lamp." + +He took the bills from Kent's shaking fingers, arranged them on the +table and, at last, coaxed or drove the young man into beginning to +count them. Of course it was Kendrick himself who really counted; his +companion did little but pick up the bank notes and drop them again. +Suddenly, in the midst of the performance, he stopped, put his hands to +his face and burst into hysterical sobs. + +Sears let him cry for a time, merely stepping across to make sure that +the bedroom door was tightly closed, and then standing above him with +his hands on the bowed shoulders. After a little the sobs ceased. A +moment later and George raised his head. + +"Oh!" he exclaimed. "What a--a kid I am!" + +Sears, who had been thinking pretty nearly that very thing, patted the +shoulder beneath his hand. + +"All right, George," he said. "Bein' a kid is no crime. In fact, it has +some advantages." + +"But--but, you see--I--I have been through purgatory this week, I----" + +"I know. But you're all through and out now." + +"Yes, I--I am. By George, I am, aren't I!... And you did it for me. +_You_ did!" + +"Never mind that. I enjoyed doin' it. Yes," with a slight smile, "I had +a pretty good time, take it by and large." + +"And you got the--the whole of it! The whole!" + +"Yes." + +"But I can't understand.... Did--Cap'n Kendrick, did you borrow it for +me?" + +"No. I talked things over with your--er--side-partner and he decided to +give it back." + +"To give it back! Mr. Phillips did, you mean? But he wouldn't give it to +me. I begged him to. I should have been satisfied with half of it--my +sister's half. Indeed I should! But he said he couldn't give it to me, +he didn't have it to give. And--and you got him to give me the whole! +Cap'n Kendrick, I--I can't understand." + +"You don't have to. There's your sixteen hundred. Now take it, and +before you turn in this night you get ready to send your brother-in-law +his half, and the papers that go with it, on the first mail. That's all +I ask of you, George." + +"I'll have it in the post office as soon as it opens to-morrow morning. +You bet I will!" + +"That's what I want to be able to bet. You send a money-order, that's +safest. And--well, yes, George, you might show me the receipt." + +"I'll show it to you. You can keep it for me, if you want to." + +"Seein' it will do. And one thing more: you promise me now, on your word +of honor, not to take any more of those stock market fliers for--well, +for ten years, anyhow." + +Kent promised; he would have promised anything. His color had come back, +his spirits were now as high as they had been low, and he was striding +up and down the room like a mad thing. + +"But how did you get it for me?" he kept demanding. The captain bade him +stop. + +"Never mind how I got it," he declared. "I got it, and you've got it, +and you'll have to be satisfied with that. Don't ask me again, George." + +"I won't, but--but I can't understand Mr. Phillips giving it back. He +didn't have to, you know. Say, I think it was mighty generous of him, +after all. Don't you?" + +Sears's lip twitched. "It looks as if somebody was generous," he +observed. "Now run along, George, and fix up that letter to your +brother-in-law." + +"I'm going to. I'm going now. But, Cap'n Kendrick, I don't know what to +say to you. I--why, great Scott, I can't begin to tell you how I feel +about what you've done! I'd cut off my head for you; honest I would." + +"Cuttin' off your own head would be consider'ble of a job. Better keep +your head on, George.... And use it once in a while." + +"You know what this means to me, Cap'n Kendrick. To my future and--and +maybe some one else's future, too. Why, _now_ I can go--I can say---- +Oh, great Scott!" + +Kendrick opened the bedroom door. "Come now, George," he said. "Good +night--and good luck." + +Kent would have said more, much more, even though Judah Cahoon was +sitting, with ears and mouth open, in the kitchen. But the captain would +not let him linger or speak. He helped him on with his coat and hat, +and, with a slap on the back, literally pushed him out into the yard. +Then he turned on his heel and striding again through the kitchen +reentered the spare stateroom and closed the door behind him. Judah +shouted something about its being "not much more'n two bells"--meaning +nine o'clock--but he received no answer. + +Judah did not retire until nearly eleven that night, but when, at last, +he did go to his own room, there was a light still shining under the +door of the spare stateroom and he could hear the captain's footsteps +moving back and forth, back and forth, within. For two hours he had so +heard them. Obviously the "old man" was pacing the deck, a pretty sure +sign of rough weather present or expected. Mr. Cahoon was troubled, also +disappointed. He would have liked to talk interminably concerning the +sensational news of Miss Snowden's inheritance; he had not begun to +exhaust the possibilities of that subject. Then, too, he was very +anxious to learn where Captain Sears had been all day, and why. He tried +in various ways to secure attention. But when, after singing eight +verses of the most doleful ditty in his repertoire, he was not ordered +to "shut up," was in fact ignored altogether, he quit disgusted. But, as +he closed the door of his own bedchamber, he could still hear the +regular footfalls in the spare stateroom. + +Had he listened for another hour or more he would have heard them. Sears +Kendrick was tramping back and forth, his hands jammed in his pockets, +and upon his spirit the blackest and deepest and densest of clouds. It +was the reaction, of course. He was tired physically, but more tired +mentally. All day long he had been under a sharp strain, now he was +experiencing the let-down. But there was more than that. His campaign +against Egbert Phillips had kept him interested. Now the fight was over +and, although superficially he was the victor, in reality it was a +question which side had won. He had saved George Kent's money and his +good name. And Cordelia Berry's future was safe, too, although her two +thousand dollars might be, and probably were, lost. But, after all, his +was a poor sort of victory. Egbert was, doubtless, congratulating +himself and chuckling over the outcome of the battle; with thirty +thousand dollars and ease and comfort for the rest of his life, he could +afford to chuckle. Kent's happiness was sure. He could go to Elizabeth +now with clean hands and youth and hope. Perhaps he had gone to her +already. That very evening he and she might be together once more. + +And for the man who had made this possible, what remained? Where were +those silly hopes with which, at one time, he had deluded himself? He +had dared to dream romance. Where was that romance now? Face to face +with reality, what was to be _his_ future? More days and weeks and years +of puttering with the penny-paring finances of a home for old women? + +He dressed next morning with a mind made up. He had dallied and +deliberated and wished long enough. Now he _knew_. His stay in Bayport +was practically ended. Give him a little time and luck enough to find a +competent manager for the Fair Harbor, one with whom he believed Judge +Knowles would have been satisfied, and he was through for good. He must +play fair with the judge and then--then for the shipping offices of +Boston or New York and a berth at sea. His health was almost normal; +his battered limbs were nearly as sound as ever. He could handle a ship +and he could handle men. His fights and sacrifices for others were +finished, over and done with. Now he would fight for himself. + +His breakfast appetite was poor. Judah, aghast at the sight of his +untouched plate, demanded to know if he was sick. The answer to the +question was illuminating. + +"No," snapped the captain, "I'm not sick.... Yes, I am, too. I'm sick to +death of this town and this place and this landlubber's job. Judah, are +you goin' to spend the rest of your days playin' hired boy for Ogden +Minot? Or are you comin' to sea again with me? Because to sea is where +I'm goin'--and mighty quick." + +Judah's mouth opened. "Hoppin' Henry!" he gasped. "Why, Cap'n Sears----" + +"You don't _like_ this job, do you? Hadn't you rather have your own +galley on board a decent ship? Are you a sea-man--or a washwoman? Don't +you want to ship with me again?" + +"_Want_ to! Cap'n Sears, you know I'd rather go to sea along with you +than--than be King of Rooshy. But you ain't fit to go to sea yet." + +"Shut up! Don't you dare say that again. And stand by to pack your sea +chest when I give the order.... No, I don't want to argue. I won't +argue. Clear out!" + +Mr. Cahoon, bewildered but obedient, cleared out. Not long afterward he +drove away on the seat of the truck wagon to haul the Bangs wood, the +task postponed from the previous day. Kendrick, left alone, lit a pipe +and resumed his pacing up and down. Later on he took pen, ink and paper +and seated himself at the table to write some letters to shipping +merchants whose vessels he had commanded in the old days, the happy days +before he gave up seafaring to become a poor imitation of a business man +on shore. + +He composed these letters with care. Two were completed and the third +was under way, when some one knocked at the other door. He laid down his +pen impatiently. He did not want to be interrupted. If the visitor was +Kent he did not feel like listening to more thanks. If it was Esther +Tidditt she could unload her cargo of gossip at some other port. + +But the caller was neither George nor Esther. It was Elizabeth who +entered the kitchen in answer to his command to "Come in." He rose to +greet her. She looked pale--yes, and tired, but she smiled faintly as +she bade him good morning. + +"Cap'n Kendrick," she said, "are you very busy? I suppose you are, +but--but if you are not too busy I should like to talk with you for a +few minutes. May I?" + +He nodded. "Of course," he said. "My business can wait a little longer; +it has waited a good while, this particular business has. Sit down." + +She took the rocker. He sat at the other side of the table, waiting for +her to speak. It came to him, the thought that, the last time she had +visited that kitchen, she had left it vowing never to speak to him +again. Well, at least that was over; she no longer believed him a spy, +and all the rest of it. There was, or should be, some comfort for him in +knowing that. + +Suddenly, just as she had done on the platform of the lawyer's office at +Orham, she put out her hand. + +"Don't!" she pleaded. + +He started, confusedly. "Don't?" he stammered. "What?" + +"Don't think of--of what you were thinking. If you knew--oh, Cap'n +Kendrick, if you could only realize how wicked I feel. Even when I said +those dreadful things to you I didn't mean them. And now---- Oh, +_please_ forget them, if you can." + +He drew a long breath. "I never saw any one like you," he declared. "How +did you know what I was thinkin'? ... Of course I wasn't thinkin' it, +but----" + +She interrupted. "Of course you were, you mean," she said, with a faint +smile. "It isn't hard to know what you think. You don't hide your +thoughts very well, Cap'n Kendrick. They aren't the kind one needs to +hide." + +He stared at her in guilty amazement. "Good land!" he ejaculated, +involuntarily. "Don't talk that way. What do you mean by that?" + +"I mean that your thoughts are always straightforward and--well, honest, +like yourself.... But we mustn't waste time. I don't know when we shall +have another opportunity to be together like this, and there are some +things I must say to you. Cap'n Kendrick, you know--you have heard the +news?" + +"News?... Oh, you mean about Elvira's inheritin' all that money?" + +"That, of course. But that wasn't the news I meant. I mean about her +eloping with--with that man." + +Troubled even as Sears was at the sight of her evident distress, he +could not but feel a thrill of satisfaction at the tone in which she +referred to "that man." He nodded. + +"I've heard it," he said. "I guess likely I was about the first +Bayporter that did hear it. When did you hear?" + +"A little while ago. He wrote--he wrote my mother a letter. It was at +the post office this morning." + +"He did? He _didn't_! The low-lived scamp!" + +"Hush! Don't talk about him. Yes, he wrote her. _Such_ a letter! She +showed it to me. So full of hypocrisy, and lies and--oh, can't you +imagine what it was?" + +Kendrick's right fist tapped the table gently. "I guess likely I can," +he said, grimly. "Well, some of these days I may run afoul of Egbert +again. When I do----" The fist closed a little tighter. + +"You won't touch him. Promise me you won't. If you should, I---- Oh, +dear! I think I should be afraid to touch your hands afterwards." + +Sears smiled. "It might be safer to use my boot," he admitted. "Your +mother--how is she?" + +"Can't you imagine? I think--I hope it is her pride that is hurt more +than anything. For some little time--well, ever since I found out that +she was lending him money--I have done my best to make her see what he +really is. But before that--oh, there is no use pretending, for you +know--she was insane about him. And now, with the shock and the +disillusionment and the shame, she is---- Oh, it is dreadful!" + +"Do the--er--rest of 'em over there know it yet?" + +"No, but they will very soon. And when they do! You know what some of +them are, what they will say. We can't stay there, mother and I. We must +go away--and we will." + +She was crying, and if ever a man yearned for the role of comforter, +Sears Kendrick was that man. He tried to say something, but he was +afraid to trust his own tongue; it might run away with him. And before +his attempt was at all coherent, she went on. + +"Don't mind me," she said, hastily wiping her eyes. "I am nervous, and I +have been through a bad hour, and--and I am acting foolishly, of course. +I know that this is, in a way, the very best thing that could happen. +This ends it, so far as mother is concerned. Oh, it might have been _so_ +much worse! It looked as if it were going to be. Now she _knows_ what he +is. I have known it, or been almost sure of it, for a long time. And you +must have known it always, from the beginning. That is a part of what I +came here for this morning. Please tell me how you knew and--and all +about everything." + +So he told her, beginning with what Judge Knowles had said concerning +Lobelia's husband, and continuing on to the end. She listened intently. + +"Yes," she said. "I see. I wish you could have told me at first. I think +if I had known exactly how Judge Knowles felt I might not have been so +foolish. But I should have known--I should have seen for myself. Of +course I should. To think that I ever believed in such a creature, and +trusted him, and permitted him to influence me against--against a friend +like you. Oh, I must have been crazy!" + +Kendrick shook his head. "No craziness about that," he declared. "I've +seen some smooth articles in my time, seen 'em afloat and ashore, from +one end of this world to the other, but of all the slick ones he was +the slickest. It's a good thing the judge warned me before Egbert +crossed my bows. If he hadn't--well, I don't know; _I_ might have been +lendin' him my last dollar, and proud of the chance--you can't tell.... +I'm sorry, though," he added, "that he got those bonds of your mother's. +Borrowed 'em of her, you say?" + +"Yes. He was going to make better investments for her, I believe he +said. But that doesn't make any difference. She has no receipts or +anything to show. And of course if she should try to get them again +there would be dreadful gossip, all sorts of things said. No, the bonds +are gone and ... But how did you know about the bonds, Cap'n Kendrick?" + +Sears had momentarily forgotten. He had, during his story of his war +with Phillips, carefully avoided mentioning Kent's trouble. He had told +of chasing Egbert to Denboro, but the particular reason for the pursuit +he had not told. He was taken aback and embarrassed. + +"Why--why----" he stammered. + +But she answered her own question. "Of course!" she cried. "I know how +you knew. George said that--that that man had used some bonds as a part +of their stock speculation. I didn't think then of mother's bonds. That +is what he did with them. I see." + +The captain looked at her. Kent had told her of the C. M. deal. That +meant that he had seen her, that already he had gone to her, to confess, +to beg her pardon, to ... He sighed. Well, he should be glad, of course. +He must pretend to be very glad. + +"So--so you've seen George?" he stammered. + +She colored slightly. "Yes," she answered. "He came to see me last +evening.... Cap'n Kendrick you should hear him speak of you. You saved +him from disgrace--and worse, he says. It was a wonderful thing to do. +But I think you must be in the habit of doing wonderful things for other +people." + +He shrugged his shoulders. "Nothin' very wonderful about it," he said. +"George is a good boy. He hadn't bumped into any Egberts before, that's +all. He'll be on the lookout for 'em now. I'm glad for him--and for +you." + +If she understood what he meant she did not show any embarrassment. + +"I don't know that you need be so glad for me," she said. "Yet in a way +I am glad. The problem is settled now, mother's and mine. She and I will +go away." + +"Go away? From the Fair Harbor?" + +"Yes, and from Bayport. She has a little money left. Thanks to Judge +Knowles, I have some of my own. She and I can live on the interest for a +time, or until I can find a way to earn more." + +"But--but--George?" + +"I think George is going away, too. He spoke of Boston. But there is +another thing I meant to say to you. I hate to leave you with the entire +care of the Fair Harbor on your hands. I shall try and help you to find +another matron before we go." + +Sears rose from his chair. "That's all right," he said, "that part of +it. We'll try and find another outside manager at the same time. You +see, you and your mother aren't the only ones who are quittin' Bayport. +I'm goin', too." + +She turned to look at him. "_You_ are going?" she repeated, slowly. +"Where?" + +"I don't know exactly. To sea, I hope. I'm well again, or next door to +it. I mean to command another ship, if such a thing's possible." + +"But you are leaving the Fair Harbor. Why?" + +He turned on her almost fiercely. "Why?" he cried. "Don't you know why? +Because I'm a man--or I was one--and I want to be a man again. On shore, +I'm--well, I'm a good deal of a failure, I guess; but on salt water I +count for somethin'. I'm goin' to sea where I belong." + +He strode to the window and stood there, looking out. He heard her rise, +heard her step beside him. Then he felt her hand upon his. + +"I'm glad for you," she said, simply. "Very, very glad. I wish I were a +man and could go, too." + +He did not look at her, he did not dare. + +"It's a rough life," he said, "but I like it." + +"I know.... So you will soon be really seeing again those things you +told me about, the foreign cities and the people and those islands--and +all the wonderful, wonderful places. And you won't have to fret about +the grocery bills, or the mean little Fair Harbor gossip, or anything of +the kind. You can just sail away and forget it all." + +"I shan't forget it all. There's a lot I never want to forget." + +There was an interval of silence here, an interval that, to the captain, +seemed to last for ages. It must be broken, it must be or.... + +"I shall think of you and George often enough," he announced, briskly. +"Yes, indeed. And--and if it isn't too soon--that is, if you don't mind +my bein' the first one--I'd like to congratulate you and wish you a +smooth passage and a long one." + +She did not answer and he mustered courage to turn and look at her. She +was looking at him and her expression was odd. + +"A smooth passage?" she repeated. "Why, Cap'n Kendrick, I'm not going to +sea. What do you mean?" + +"I mean--well, I meant--er--oh, I was speakin' in parables, like a +minister, you know. I was wishin' you and George a happy voyage through +life, that's all." + +"George! Why, I am going away with my mother. George isn't.... Why, +Cap'n Kendrick, you don't think--you can't think that George and I +are--are----" + +"Eh? Aren't you? I thought----" + +She shook her head. "I told you once," she said. "I mean it. I like +George well enough--sometimes I like him better than at others. But--oh, +why can't you believe me?" + +He was staring at her with a gaze so intent, an expression so strange +that she could not meet it. She turned away. + +"Please don't say any more about it," she begged. + +"But--but George is--he has counted on it. He told me----" + +"Don't. I don't know what he told you. I hope nothing foolish. He and I +understand each other. Last night, when he came, I told him ... There, I +must go, Cap'n Kendrick. I have left mother alone too long already." + +"Wait!" he shouted it. "You mean ... You aren't goin' to marry George +Kent--_ever_?" + +"Why, no, of course not!" + +"Elizabeth--oh, my soul, I--I'm crazy, I guess--but--Elizabeth, could +you---- No, you couldn't, I know.... But _am_ I crazy? Could you--do +you--Elizabeth, if you ... _Stop_!" + +She was on her way to the door. + +He sprang after her, caught her hand. + +"Elizabeth," he cried, the words tumbling over each other, "I'm +thirty-eight years old. I'm a sailor, that's all. I'm not much of a man, +as men go maybe, sort of a failure so far. But--with you to work for and +live for, I--I guess I could be--I feel as if I could be almost +anything. Could you give me that chance? Could you?" + +She did not answer; did not even look at him. He dropped her hand. + +"Of course not," he sighed. "Just craziness was what it was. Forgive me, +my girl. And--forget it, if you can." + +She did not speak. Slowly, and still without looking at him, she walked +out of the kitchen. The outer door closed behind her. He put his hand to +his eyes, breathed deeply, and returning to the chair by the table, sat +heavily down. + +"A failure," he groaned aloud. "Lord Almighty, _what_ a failure!" + +He had not heard the door open, but he did hear her step, and felt her +arms about his neck and her kiss upon his cheek. + +"Don't, don't, don't!" she sobbed. "Oh, my dear, don't say that. Don't +ever say it again. Oh, you mustn't." + +And he did not. For the next half hour he said many other things, and +so did she, and when at last she did go away, he stood in the doorway, +looking after her, knowing himself to be not a failure, but the one real +overwhelming success in all this gloriously successful world. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +It was April and one of those beautiful early spring days with which New +England is sometimes favored. The first buds were showing on the trees, +the first patches of new green were sprinkling the sheltered slopes of +the little hills, and under the dead leaves by the edges of the woods +boys had been rummaging for the first mayflowers. + +It was supper time at the Fair Harbor and the "guests"--quoting Mrs. +Susannah Brackett--or the "inmates"--quoting Mr. Judah Cahoon--were +seated about the table. There were some notable vacancies in the roster. +At the head, where Mrs. Cordelia Berry had so graciously and for so long +presided, there was now an empty chair. That chair would soon be filled, +however; the new matron of the Harbor was at that moment in the office +discussing business matters with Mr. Bradley, the new "outside manager." +She had told the others not to wait for her; she would come to supper as +soon as she could. So Mrs. Brackett, who had moved up to the seat once +glorified by the dignity of Miss Elvira Snowden, was serving the cold +corned beef; while opposite her, in the chair where Elizabeth Berry used +to sit, Mrs. Aurora Chase was ladling forth the preserved pears. And, in +the absence of the matron, it was of course natural that conversation +should turn to subjects which could not be discussed as freely or +pointedly in her presence. + +Miss Desire Peasley began the discussion. She looked at the ancient +clock on the mantel. The time was a quarter to six. + +"H'm," sniffed Miss Peasley, with a one-sided smile. "I suppose likely +the great event's took place long afore this. They're married and off on +their honeymoon by now.... If you can call a cruise on board a ship +bound to an outlandish place like Singapore a honeymoon. I took one +voyage to Bombay with my brother, and 'twan't the honeymoon trip I'd +pick out. _Such_ a place! And such folks! The clothes those poor +heathens wore--or didn't wear! Shameful! Don't talk!" + +The order not to talk was plainly not considered binding, for every one +immediately began to talk. + +"I should like to have seen the weddin'," proclaimed Mrs. Hattis Thomas, +with a giggle. "Must have looked more like an adoptin' ceremony than a +marryin'. I've always been thankful for one thing, I married a man +somewheres nigh my own age, anyhow." + +"Wonder how Cordelia likes bein' left alone?" observed Mrs. Constance +Cahoon. "She's been used to havin' a daughter to wait on her hand and +foot. Now she'll have to wait on herself for a spell. But I presume +likely she won't mind that. Livin' up to Boston, with the interest of +twenty-five thousand dollars to live on, will suit her down to the +ground. She'll be airy enough now. Won't speak to common folks, I +suppose. Well, she won't have to put herself out to speak to _me_. _I_ +shan't go a-visitin' her, even if she begs me to." + +There was no immediate symptom of Mrs. Berry's begging for visitors, at +least none present had so far received an invitation. But all nodded, +indicating that they, too, would scorn the plea when it came. + +"That poor man!" sighed Mrs. Brackett, pityingly. "How those two, mother +and daughter, did pull the wool over his eyes. I suppose he thinks we +all believe he wouldn't take a cent of Elizabeth's money. Humph! Good +reason why Jack wouldn't eat his supper--he didn't have a chance. Ha, +ha! I cal'late he'd taken it if he could have got it. But his wife knew +a trick worth two of that. She'll keep him afloat and hard at work +earnin' more for her to spend. Well, I hope his poor lame legs won't +give out on him. If he has to give up goin' to sea _again_, I pity him, +that's all I've got to say." + +Mrs. Chase, her jet black locks a trifle askew as usual, was listening, +the hand holding the preserve spoon cupped behind her ear and the spoon +itself sticking out like a Fiji Islander's head ornament. As usual she +had heard next to nothing. + +"That's what _I_ say!" she declared. "Why, Mr. Bradley, or whoever was +responsible, let Sears Kendrick put a woman with six children in as +matron of this place, I can't understand. Of course it's plain enough +why Cap'n Sears wanted her to have the job. Joel Macomber's wages ain't +more than twelve dollars a week and the salary here'll give 'em all the +luxuries and doodads they want. Fust thing you know that Sary-Mary of +hers'll be goin' to the Middleboro Academy to school. I wouldn't put it +past her.... Hey? What did you say, Susanna?" + +Mrs. Brackett had not said anything. She and some of the others were +glancing uneasily in the direction of the hall door. All agreed that the +appointment of Sarah Macomber as matron of the Fair Harbor was an +outrage, but no one cared to have Mrs. Macomber know of that agreement. +It was an experiment, that appointment, and Sarah herself was by no +means confident of its success, although she had at last agreed to give +it three months' trial. Half of that time was over and so far all was +well. Bradley expressed huge satisfaction. Mrs. Macomber came to the +Harbor early each morning and went home again after supper. Sarah-Mary +and a hired girl, wages three dollars a week, were doing the Macomber +housework. + +"Hey?" shouted Aurora once more. "What did you say, Susanna?" + +Mrs. Brackett, after another uneasy glance at the hall door, nodded and +smiled. Mrs. Cahoon spoke quickly, in order to change the subject. + +"What do you suppose I heard to-day?" she answered. "I met Josiah Ellis +down to 'Liphalet's store and he told me he see Mr. Phillips yesterday. +Josiah drove one of the livery hoss-'n'-teams over to Denboro--had a +Boston notion drummer to cart over there, he did--and who should come +drivin' along but Mr. Phillips. Josiah said he was dressed just as +elegant as ever was, and the hoss-'n'-team he was drivin' was styled-up +to match. Josiah hailed him and Mr. Phillips stopped and talked for a +few minutes. Nice as always, not a bit of airs. No, Elviry wan't with +him. Mr. Phillips said she was to home gettin' him ready to go away for +a little vacation. Seems he's cal'latin' to go to New York for a +fortni't. Mr. Phillips told Josiah that Elviry was kind of tired out, +they'd done so much entertainin' this winter, and he was goin' away so's +she could have a little rest. Ain't that just like him? +Self-sacrificin'--my sakes! Elviry's a lucky woman, that's all I've got +to say. I don't say so much about _his_ luck; but when she got him she +done well." + +There was a general buzz of agreement about the table. Then from the +kitchen, where she had gone to get a fresh supply of cream-of-tartar +biscuit, came little Mrs. Tidditt. She put the plate of biscuits on the +table and sat down. + +"What's that, Constance?" she demanded. + +Mrs. Cahoon repeated the news of the Phillips family. Aurora put in a +word. + +"There's one thing I've always been sorry for," she said. "Of course I +wouldn't take anything away from Elviry, she and I have always been good +friends. But she's got enough as 'tis, and I _do_ wish--I do wish that +Sears Kendrick had stayed away from this place until we'd had a chance +to buy them lovely lawn statues. We'll never have another chance like +that again." + +Esther Tidditt smiled. "Yes, you will, Aurora," she snapped. "Yes, you +will. Give him time and about two or three more New York trips, and +those images will be up at auction again. Thirty thousand don't last +some folks long, and Elviry and her Eg will be needin' money to pay +grocery bills. You can't eat an iron lion. Just wait, Aurora. We may +have that menagerie in the yard here yet. Possess your soul in +patience." + +There was another buzz about the table, this time of scornful +disapproval. Mrs. Chase leaned forward. + +"What's she sayin', Susanna?" she demanded, querulously. "Susanna +Brackett, why don't you or the rest tell me what she's sayin'?" + + * * * * * + +At that moment the ship _Gold Finder_, of Boston, Winthrop and +Hunniwell, owners, Sears Kendrick, master, was sailing out over the +waters of Massachusetts Bay. Astern, a diamond point against the +darkening sky, Minot's Light shone. The vessel was heeling slightly in +the crisp evening wind, her full, rounded sails rustling overhead, her +cordage creaking, foam at her forefoot and her wake stretching backward +toward the land she was leaving. Her skipper stood aft by the binnacle, +feeling, with a joy quite indescribable, the lift of the deck beneath +him and the rush of the breeze across his face. + +From the open door of the galley lamplight streamed. Within Judah Cahoon +sang as he worked over the stove. Judah had had a glorious afternoon. +His chanteys had cast off the hawsers, had walked away with the ropes, +had hoisted the sails, had bade the tug good-by. Now his voice was a +thought frayed, but he sang on. + +Elizabeth--now Elizabeth Berry no more forever--came up the companion +ladder. She joined her husband by the after rail. The sea air was chill +and she was wearing one of the captain's pea jackets, the collar turned +up; a feathery strand of her brown hair blew out to leeward. She stood +beside him. The man at the wheel was looking down into the binnacle and +Sears took her hand. + +"Well?" he said, after a moment. + +She looked up at him. "Well?" she said. + +Neither spoke immediately. Then Kendrick breathed a sigh, a sigh +expressive of many things. + +She understood. As always she knew what he was thinking. + +"Yes," she said, "it is glorious. Glorious for me; but for you, +Sears----" + +"Yes. It's pretty fine. I really never expected to make sail out of +Boston harbor again. And if anybody had told me that I was to--" with +another look at the helmsman, and lowering his voice--"to leave port +this way--with you----" + +He laughed aloud. + +She laughed, too. "And just think," she said; "no more little worries or +pettinesses, no more whispers, or faultfinding, or----" + +"Or Fair Harbors. You're right, my girl. We're off, clean away from it +all, bound out." + +From the galley Judah's voice came, beginning the second verse of his +song, + + "'Aloft! Aloft!' our jolly bos'n cries. + Blow high! blow low! and so sailed we. + 'Look ahead, look astern, look a-weather and a-lee, + Look along down the coast of the High Bar-ba-ree.' + + "'There's none upon the starn, there's none upon the lee.' + Blow high! blow low! and so sailed we. + 'There's a lofty ship to wind'ard a-sailin' fast and free, + Sailin' down along the coast of the High Bar-ba-ree.'" + + +THE END + + + * * * * * * + + +NOVELS FOR CHEERFUL ENTERTAINMENT + +GALUSHA THE MAGNIFICENT + +By Joseph C. Lincoln + +Author of "Shavings," "The Portygee," etc. + +The whole family will laugh over this deliriously humorous novel, that +pictures the sunny side of small-town life, and contains love-making, a +dash of mystery, an epidemic of spook-chasing--and laughable, lovable +Galusha. + +THESE YOUNG REBELS + +By Frances R. Sterrett + +Author of "Nancy Goes to Town," "Up the Road with Sally," etc. + +A sprightly novel that hits off to perfection the present antagonism +between the rebellious younger generation and their disapproving elders. + +PLAY THE GAME + +By Ruth Comfort Mitchell + +A happy story about American young people. The appealing qualities of a +brave young girl stand out in the strife between two young fellows, the +one by fair the other by foul means, to win her. + +IN BLESSED CYRUS + +By Laura E. Richards + +Author of "A Daughter of Jehu," etc. + +The quaint, quiet village of Cyrus, with its whimsical villagers, is +abruptly turned topsy-turvy by the arrival in its midst of an actress, +distractingly feminine, Lila Laughter; and, at the same time, an +epidemic of small-pox. + +HELEN OF THE OLD HOUSE + +By Harold Bell Wright + +Wright's greatest novel, that presents the life of industry to-day, the +laughter, the tears, the strivings of those who live about the smoky +chimneys of an American industrial town. + +New York +D. APPLETON & COMPANY +London + + * * * * * * + +AMONG THE NEWEST NOVELS + +THE HOUSE OF MOHUN + +By GEORGE GIBBS, Author of "Youth Triumphant," etc. + +A distinguished novel depicting present day society and its most +striking feature, the "flapper." A story of splendid dramatic qualities. + +THE COVERED WAGON + +By EMERSON HOUGH, Author of "The Magnificent Adventure," "The Story of +the Cowboy," etc. + +A novel of the first water, clear and clean, is this thrilling story of +the pioneers, the men and women who laid the foundation of the great +west. + +HOMESTEAD RANCH + +By ELIZABETH G. YOUNG + +The _New York Times_ says that "Homestead Ranch" is one of the season's +"two best real wild and woolly western yarns." The _Boston Herald_ says, +"So delightful that we recommend it as one of the best western stories +of the year." + +SACRIFICE + +By STEPHEN FRENCH WHITMAN, Author of "Predestined," etc. + +How a woman, spoiled child of New York society, faced the dangers of the +African jungle trail. "One feels ever the white heat of emotional +conflict."--_Philadelphia Public Ledger._ + +DOUBLE-CROSSED + +By W. DOUGLAS NEWTON, Author of "Low Ceilings," etc. + +"An excellently written and handled tale of adventure and thrills in the +dark spruce valleys of Canada."--_New York Times._ + +JANE JOURNEYS ON + +By RUTH COMFORT MITCHELL, Author of "Play the Game," etc. + +The cheerful story of a delightful heroine's adventures from Vermont to +Mexico. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY +New York London + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAIR HARBOR*** + + +******* This file should be named 22745.txt or 22745.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/7/4/22745 + + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +http://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + |