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 |CW. DF GALIF. LBBRARY. LOS ANGEL1S
 
 By 
 
 Elizabeth Lincoln Gould 
 
 Author of "Grandma" 
 
 Illustrated by 
 
 Ralph L. Boyer 
 
 The Penn Publishing 
 
 Company 
 
 1916
 
 COPYRIGHT 
 1916 BY 
 THE PENN 
 PUBLISHING 
 COMPANY 
 
 Cap'n Old
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 CHAPTEK I 
 
 A ROARING March wind tore along the 
 road, but old Asa Dean in his sun-parlor 
 rejoiced at the sight of dry leaves and twigs 
 and stray bits of paper whirling and rattling 
 past while he sat safe and warm behind the 
 sheltering glass. 
 
 " Just the kind o' day to blow folks' heads 
 clear o' nonsense," he muttered. " Town Meet- 
 ing work is two days old now, and it's high 
 time those that have been yappin' like dogs at 
 one another for weeks should begin acting like 
 5 
 
 2129691
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 human bein's. I suspect it's taken Cap'n Gid 
 most o' the time to get calmed down, though 
 he's never one o' the yappin' kind." 
 
 On a small table at Mr. Dean's elbow lay a 
 backgammon board with the men set out in 
 proper order, ready for the first move. The 
 old man looked at it longingly, and then con- 
 sulted a big silver watch that lay beside it. 
 
 " Gid's a full half hour later'n he's been any 
 Thursday morning for the last five years since 
 he began coming to play," he said reproach- 
 fully to his daughter who stepped out from the 
 house to see if he had everything he wished at 
 hand. " Do you suppose that Widow Mason 
 has waylaid him ? " 
 
 " Marilla says he steers clear of her house," 
 said Mrs. Gaynes. "Maybe he isn't coming 
 to-day. You know, father, he got real worked 
 up at Town Meeting and he spoke pretty sharp 
 to Henry about the drinking fountain." 
 
 "What o' that?" demanded her father. 
 
 " Supposin' he does think Henry and the others 
 
 have been short-sighted not to take the advice 
 
 of a man fifty-two years old that's had wide 
 
 6
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 experience, what's that to do with our rubber 
 o' gammon ? " 
 
 "Oh, nothing," said Mrs. Gaynes hastily, 
 wishing she had held her tongue. " Look, 
 father ! Here comes Eddy Foss running down 
 the hill. Maybe he's been up there ; the cap'n 
 makes a lot of him, and he's at the house more 
 than half the time, his mother says. Marilla 
 sends him on errands." 
 
 " Hail him, won't ye ? " besought Mr. Dean. 
 " Like as not he'll tear right past to the post- 
 office if you don't. They may talk all they 
 like about that boy's being delicate and being 
 kept out of school on that account, but he beats 
 any other child ever I saw for running. Hail 
 him!" 
 
 Mrs. Gaynes obediently waved her apron 
 and called from the end of the piazza while 
 her father rapped as sharply as he dared on 
 the glass. The boy turned and ran up the 
 path, beginning to talk before he was fairly 
 admitted to the sun-parlor. 
 
 " I was coming anyway," he gasped. 
 " You needn't have screeched so loud ! " 
 7
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 " Here, catch your breath, sonny," counseled 
 Asa Dean, although his curiosity had mounted 
 high. " Your news'll keep a minute or two. 
 I don't see anybody on the horizon that can 
 get here an' tell it before ye. There now, 
 what is it ? " 
 
 "Cap'n Gid has gone!" said little Eddy 
 Foss, his voice still breathless, but apparently 
 because of his weight of importance rather than 
 his recent haste. " Yes, s'r, he's gone, an' his 
 trunk's gone the same train, an' he took his big 
 valise, an' he'd gone when I got there, an' Miss 
 Marilla she don't know when he's coming back 
 nor whether he ever is, an' " 
 
 " Hold on ! " roared old Asa Dean. " Where's 
 he gone? "What kind o' tomfoolery is this 
 you're talking, boy ? " 
 
 "She said he'd gone to the city." Eddy 
 Foss was delighted with the effect of his an- 
 nouncement, eyeing the old man's crimson face 
 with great satisfaction ; it had seldom been his 
 privilege to impart news of much importance 
 to any one. " She said he was ' snapping mad, 
 an' wouldn't brook any questioning,' " quoted 
 8
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 the boy glibly. " He left the jack-knife he'd 
 promised me wrapped up in a piece o' paper 
 with my name on it. Want to see it ? " 
 
 The crimson in the old face so close to his 
 was fading to a purplish tint, and the sight of 
 the knife aroused no gleam of interest in the 
 eyes that gazed so dully at it. 
 
 " They went too far, that's what they did," 
 muttered Asa Dean. " An' your Henry was to 
 blame, much as anybody," he added, turning 
 on his daughter who had lingered, unwisely as 
 she now discovered. " You've driven him away 
 from the town that owes him more'n anybody 
 else, that's what you've done, amongst ye," he 
 said bitterly. 
 
 "Now, father," began Mrs. Gaynes, "you 
 know I never went near the Town Meeting. 
 You can't blame me, anyway " 
 
 The old man brushed aside her words with a 
 wave of his trembling hand. Eddy Foss was 
 listening, wide-eyed. Here would be some- 
 thing more to tell at home ; it was a morning 
 rich in promise. 
 
 " Where's anybody that wants to write him 
 9
 
 CAFN OLD 
 
 going to direct letters ? " asked Mr. Dean im- 
 patiently. " Did Murilly tell ye that ? " 
 
 " She gave me a slip o' paper for you," said 
 Eddy Foss, reluctantly, for now he knew that 
 his hour of importance was drawing to its 
 close. " It's in one o' my pockets. He took 
 the back road to the station, Mr. Dean, so's 
 he wouldn't meet folks, Miss Marilla said, 
 an* it's awful muddy there. She said he 
 must've got his shoes all sploshed with it 
 before he'd got down to the turn, but he 
 wouldn't hear to anything she said, an' they 
 were his second best shoes, too ; nor she 
 couldn't prevail on him to put on his arctics, 
 neither. She said she went just as far as she 
 dared, an' a mite farther." 
 
 " I'll warrant she did," and in the midst of 
 his trouble a grim smile widened the old man's 
 mouth. " How many more pockets have you 
 got, sonny? You're taking pretty good care 
 not to strike the right one too soon." 
 
 " Here 'tis, Mr. Dean," and having reached 
 the last of his nine pockets, Eddy Foss slowly 
 produced the slip of paper, much crumpled and 
 10
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 bearing the marks of its recent companionship 
 with a ginger 'nut cooky, quite fresh and still 
 delightfully rich. 
 
 The old man spread it, smoothing its many 
 wrinkles, on his knee, and put on his reading 
 glasses. The writing was unmistakably that 
 of Captain Gideon Bold. 
 
 " ' Till further notice address me at 385 
 Walnut Street, Middleton. Good-bye,' " read 
 Asa Dean ; he paused and read the words a 
 second time while Eddy Foss made certain that 
 the address was firmly enough fixed in his mind 
 to insure its correct transmission to his mother ; 
 after that, he could afford to forget it. 
 
 "Well," said old Asa Dean, " well he's 
 done it. Times enough he's said he would, 
 but I never really believed him. Now he's 
 done it, sure and certain. We'll see how 
 they'll get on without him, these smart young 
 folks that think they know so much better'n 
 he does. Old fellers like me expect to be laid 
 on the shelf, but Gid's right in his prime; a 
 man that went 'round the world, 'most, fol- 
 lerin' the sea when he wasn't more'n a young- 
 11
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 ster ; made cap'n in his twenties ; coming home 
 to settle down in this dead 'n' alive place on 
 account of his old mother ; seeing her through 
 and ever since then keeping on here so's Marilly 
 can feel she has folks, 'cause she helped out 
 with his mother those five years when her 
 head wa'n't quite right. There's a cousin for 
 you ! And generous to a fault with his money 
 to the town. They're a parcel o' young fools, 
 that's what they are! I reckon the Widow 
 Mason and half a dozen others'll wear the 
 willow. Come spring time they all have hopes 
 of him every year. Let's see how this town'll 
 get on now. Let's see ! " 
 
 Eddy Foss waited, fearful lest by a hasty 
 departure he might lose some plum of knowl- 
 edge ; at last seeing that the old man had quite 
 forgotten him he slid out of his chair, and 
 through the door which led to the kitchen. A 
 few moments later he fared joyfully on his 
 way, a hot cooky in each hand, the crumbs of 
 a third decorating the corners of his mouth. 
 
 " I'll bet ye they'll beseech him back before 
 a month's gone," muttered Asa Dean. " And 
 12
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 they'll get Marilly to intercede for 'em, that's 
 what they'll do. I'd like to hear her remarks 
 when they do. Yes, sir, a month's all I'll give 
 'em, an' I'll bet ye it's more than they'll take ! " 
 
 13
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 IT was three o'clock in the afternoon, and 
 Mrs. Rose Tippett, wiping the dust from the 
 window sills on which the March wind, tearing 
 by, had thrown it, gave a little sigh. 
 
 "I am thankful Mrs. Hitchings is not at 
 home," she said. " If she were she would be 
 sure to come in here and tell me the furniture 
 covering will fade if I'm not more careful about 
 pulling down the shades. She little knows how 
 careful I am. If I only could fade that flaming 
 red ! but I imagine that shade never fades. If 
 she hadn't made me buy it ! I don't believe it 
 was a bargain ; I believe nobody would take it
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 off their hands. Ugh ! More than a year and 
 a half I've looked at it, and it is worse than 
 ever." 
 
 As she stood with her back to the windows, 
 surveying the long parlor, her gaze fixed on 
 one serviceable chair after another and linger- 
 ing though with evident lack of joy on the 
 large sofa with its five plump cushions, her 
 figure struck a note quite out of harmony, for 
 Mrs. Kose Tippett was Southern born and so far 
 from serviceable in appearance that the solid 
 chairs and above all the great sofa seemed to 
 cast reproach upon her. In addition to her 
 slender figure and her delicate face with its ap- 
 pealing eyes and vivid, sensitive mouth, Mrs. 
 Tippett was further endowed with a crown of 
 red-gold hair. 
 
 " When I sit in one of those dreadful chairs 
 to talk to a possible boarder I shall look a per- 
 fect fright," she had said to herself on the day 
 Mrs. Hitchings bargained for the flaming red. 
 " But I suppose I needn't sit ; standing would 
 doubtless be more fitting for one in my posi- 
 tion. I shall have to stand in the middle of 
 15
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 the room to get out of range of that awful sofa. 
 After all, I suppose it matters very little how I 
 look," and she sighed, but so softly that Mrs. 
 Hitchings, bringing the bargain to a triumphant 
 close, did not hear. 
 
 Now as she stood looking about her, Mrs. 
 Tippett sighed again and then, inconsistently, 
 she smiled ; it was a wistful little smile, but it 
 touched her lips with humor, giving them an 
 upward curve. 
 
 " Probably that biggest chair will just suit 
 Captain Gideon Bold," she murmured. " I'm 
 sure he must be a large, masterful man ; his 
 two letters had such a firm sound, and yester- 
 day's telegram was so commanding ' Make 
 preparations for arrival to-morrow afternoon. 
 G. Bold.' And his card with ' Captain Gideon 
 Bold ' on it has a stern, uncompromising look. 
 I'm sure he will be an exacting person, but he 
 may be kind-hearted, as so many military men 
 are. I suppose he must be military." 
 
 There came the sound of carriage wheels 
 stopping at the house. She looked out and 
 saw a cab, the door of which was closed, while 
 16
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 on the box the driver sat talking volubly to a 
 small, mud-bespattered man. 
 
 " If Captain Gideon Bold is in that cab the 
 driver would better stop talking to his friend and 
 get down before the door bursts open to let out 
 the captain and his wrath," thought Mrs. Tippett. 
 " If he is angry when he comes in, he probably 
 won't like anything. Don't I remember how it 
 was with Mr. Farnham that first week, all be- 
 cause he tripped on the door-mat ? Why 
 why ! " 
 
 The small man had shaken hands with the 
 cab-driver and leaped nimbly down to the side- 
 walk. He opened the cab-door and brought to 
 light a large valise and an umbrella. Closing 
 the door with a sharp slam he briskly mounted 
 the steps and rang the bell. 
 
 Unmindful of the instructions of Mrs. Hitch- 
 ings, remembering only how long it took the 
 maid to answer the bell except when the post- 
 man rang, Mrs. Tippett hurried to the door. 
 Opening it she looked straight into a pair of 
 merry blue eyes which twinkled at her from a 
 brown, humorous face, combining with a gener- 
 17
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 ous mouth to offset the effect of a high-bridged 
 autocratic nose. 
 
 " Cap'n Gideon Bold, miss," and by a quick 
 manceuvre the umbrella was made to share the 
 hand which held the large valise, while the 
 other hand swept the captain's hat from his 
 head. " I presume Mrs. Tippett may have told 
 you she expected me." 
 
 " Come in, please," said Mrs. Tippett, a tinge 
 of pink creeping into her cheeks. " The rather 
 dim light of the hall has deceived you. I am 
 Mrs. Rose Tippett, and very glad to see you, 
 Captain Bold." 
 
 Hat in hand the captain followed her into 
 the parlor. There he set his valise on the floor 
 and placing against a chair his umbrella with 
 his hat balanced on its silver knob, he held out 
 his hand. 
 
 " You'll pardon me," he said with twinkling 
 eyes, " if I state that the light had nothing to 
 do with my mistake, Mrs. Tippett. I hope 
 you're as pleased to have me here as I am to 
 come, and that you'll count on me from a to z 
 for anything I can do for you while I'm here. 
 18
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 I can't say just how long that will be. If you 
 have a few minutes to spare I can give you a 
 brief outline of the cause of my coming, or we 
 can let it go till later ; any way you say will 
 suit me." 
 
 In the year and a half that Mrs. Kose Tippett 
 had kept her " select boarding-house " she had 
 seen many sorts of people ; she had been inter- 
 viewed by the harsh and the bland, the con- 
 ciliatory and the domineering, but never had 
 she encountered any one resembling this man 
 with his instant friendliness and his offers of 
 help. 
 
 "You surely are too good to be true," she 
 told him in her soft drawl. "I mean you're 
 too kind and thoughtful to be a real boarder, 
 Captain Bold. I'm afraid you've come out of 
 a fairy tale." 
 
 " I'm plain flesh and blood," and the cap- 
 tain's eyes twinkled at her again. "And I'm 
 pretty well spattered from my walk down to 
 the station. Three miles down the back road 
 I walked, and I was so mad when I started I 
 didn't pick my steps. It eased my feelings to 
 19
 
 CAFK GID 
 
 walk right through the puddles, and I set my 
 feet down harder than I need for the first half 
 of the way. After that I'd begun to cool off a 
 bit and chose my way more carefully, but the 
 mud had got in its work before that. Mighty 
 powers ! I hope none of it's come off on this 
 handsome chair ! " and the captain jumped 
 from his seat and bent his head to examine the 
 rep. " I'd better stand," he said firmly, after 
 discovering a few specks of dried mud. " Yes, 
 I'll stand." 
 
 " Please don't," said Mrs. Tippett whose 
 mind was in a whirl. " If the chair should 
 need to be washed the color might fade a little, 
 and I'd be so glad." 
 
 " Thank you," said the captain. " It's very 
 polite of you, but 'twould be a pity to dim that 
 splendid color ; I can stand as well as not. As 
 I was saying, you naturally want to know the 
 reason of my leaving home and coming here." 
 
 " Oh, no," said Mrs. Tippett, " no indeed ! 
 
 That is no affair of mine, Captain Bold. My 
 
 boarders' private concerns are not confided to 
 
 me, of course. I'm very glad you wished to 
 
 20
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 come, whatever the reason. You have written 
 so liberally about the price. I hate to charge 
 so much for the room, but you see, it is the 
 largest in the house and it requires a coal fire 
 always on cool days, because the furnace " 
 
 " There, never mind that," and the captain 
 nodded at her genially. " Don't pucker your 
 forehead over that, please. I know how fur- 
 naces act. Haven't I got one in my own 
 house ? and can I keep my north room warm 
 except when I can't get it cool ? Never. Well, 
 to make a long matter short I've lived for 
 thirty-five years in one town fifteen of them 
 when I was a boy and the other twenty since I 
 gave up the sea because it seemed on the whole 
 best to do it and I've only just found out that 
 I'm not needed at all. I've been flattering my- 
 self I was of some use, but it seems I'm not." 
 
 There was no twinkle left in the blue eyes ; 
 the nose held sway over the face and the mouth 
 was no longer humorous. Mrs. Tippett caught 
 her lower lip between her teeth. It had been 
 a hard day and she was tired. Could it be that 
 after the promise of his opening speech this 
 21
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 new boarder would disappoint her ? But while 
 she looked at him wistfully his face cleared. 
 
 " I've come away to teach 'em a lesson, Mrs. 
 Tippett," he said with a quick return to cheer- 
 fulness. u I've learned one myself, now let's 
 see what they'll learn. They're planning to 
 plant the new drinking fountain right down in 
 front of the tavern in the blinding sun, instead 
 of setting it the other side of the green under 
 the shade trees. They claim it'll look better 
 out there, and they haven't one of them got 
 imagination enough to think how it'll feel to 
 the horses and the travelers. Well, I wish 
 them joy of it, that's all. I wish them joy of 
 it, and of raising the money for it, what's more. 
 Not a penny of mine will they get. They've 
 appointed Henry Gaynes, son-in-law of my old 
 friend Asa Dean, collector of funds, and a poor 
 choice they've made," he added. 
 
 " I'm sure they have, if you say so," mur- 
 mured Mrs. Tippett, beginning to like her new 
 boarder again, for after all he was evidently not 
 given to long-standing rage. " And now I think 
 you'd like to go to your room, Captain Bold." 
 22
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 " Maybe I'd better," and catching up his 
 valise as if it were a toy, putting his umbrella 
 under one arm and his hat under the other, the 
 captain stood aside for Mrs. Tippett to lead the 
 way. 
 
 He was feeling a little tired and a good 
 deal excited. He had expected to find in 
 Mrs. Eose Tippett a woman resembling in a 
 general way Mrs. Hannah Gorham, who kept 
 the only boarding-house in Felling. He had 
 thought of her a$ a type quite sure to be found 
 under given circumstances. But instead of sharp 
 eyes he had looked into soft brown ones, in- 
 stead of a long determined jaw he had seen a 
 delicately rounded chin, and in place of a mouth 
 so thin-lipped and straight that it always re- 
 minded him of the slit in Eddy Foss's penny 
 savings-bank he had gazed at a scarlet witchery 
 of curves. Mrs. Hannah Gorham was rigid as 
 one of her own gate-posts, Mrs. Kose Tippett 
 was like the captain was not able to decide 
 just what she was like, but it surely was not a 
 gate-post. 
 
 He was thinking about it as they went up 
 23
 
 CAFN G1D 
 
 the stairs ; still thinking about it as he followed 
 Mrs. Tippett around the room, looking obedi- 
 ently at everything she pointed out. 
 
 " See here," he said, " are you sure you're 
 charging me enough? Hot water coming 
 right up into my room is worth considerable, 
 and a closet that size. I shall have to hang up 
 everything I own, handkerchiefs and all, to 
 cover those nails. Whew ! I wish Cousin Ma- 
 rilla could see this closet. She's the one who 
 keeps house for me, and for all she hasn't any 
 great array of garments, she's forever mourn- 
 ing about the lack of closet room in my old 
 home." 
 
 " You see I've put in half a dozen coat-hang- 
 ers and half a dozen trousers hangers, in case 
 you might not have remembered to bring them, 
 coming away in haste," said Mrs. Tippett, her 
 heart greatly cheered by this liberal encourage- 
 ment. "I know gentlemen do forget, some- 
 times." 
 
 The captain threw back his head and laughed. 
 At the sound Mrs. Tippett heard a soft stir from 
 the landing above, and through the crack of the 
 24
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 door she saw on the landing a figure poised in 
 a listening attitude. 
 
 "I'm thinking about the string Manila's 
 stretched across my closet up home," said the 
 captain, "and how my winter suit sagged it 
 down. I'm intending to buy a spring overcoat 
 and an extra pair of trousers, now I'm in the 
 city ; and I may get something in the line of 
 a dressy suit," he added thoughtfully. " The 
 hooks and everything will come in very handy, 
 thank you." 
 
 " Dinner is at half -past six," said Mrs. Tippett, 
 smiling back at him from the door. " I hope 
 you will enjoy meeting the other boarders." 
 
 "Of course I shall," said the captain. "I 
 like folks, always have liked 'em. I'll be on 
 hand at the time appointed." 
 
 As Mrs. Tippett softly closed the door he 
 stood in the middle of the room looking about 
 him, his lips pursed for a whistle ; he breathed 
 " The Girl I Left Behind Me," with the least 
 possible sound, nodding in time. 
 
 " "Wonder how it's going to be," he mused. 
 " This is the beginning of it, however it turns 
 25
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 out. I've got all the creature comforts, that's 
 certain. She's a pretty little woman, Mrs. Rose 
 Tippett. There's something grows in the woods 
 in the spring that's what she puts me in mind 
 of. What's the name of it? Kind of sways 
 when she talks to you. And that voice of hers 
 certainly is sweet. It made me feel as if mine 
 were all jagged on the edges. Well, well ! 
 Two hours and over before dinner time, and 
 I'm used to twelve o'clock. I shall relish food 
 by the time I get it. Now let's see how much 
 of this ornamental dried work I can get off my 
 clothes. There's a ring at the bell ; maybe my 
 trunk's come." 
 
 The captain was in his shirt-sleeves, one sus- 
 pender slipped from its place, as he opened his 
 door and stepped out into the hall ; but as he 
 leaned over the stair rail a slight sound caused 
 him to look up, and, suddenly conscious of his 
 appearance as reflected in the gaze of a very 
 sharp pair of feminine eyes, he beat a hasty re- 
 treat, closing the door on his confusion. 
 
 " See here, Gid Bold," he said sternly, as he 
 waited by his inner door-knob, listening for the
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 welcome thump on the stairs which came at 
 last, " I reckon you've got to remember where 
 you are. You're not in your own home at 
 Felling, Vermont, you're in Mrs. Rose Tippett's 
 Select Boarding-House. Now don't you forget 
 it again." 
 
 27
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 WITH a good deal of trepidation Captain 
 Bold made his toilet for his first dinner 
 at 385 "Walnut Street. Before it was com- 
 pleted his entire wardrobe was spread upon 
 the bed and he had viewed each separate 
 article with a disapproving eye. 
 
 " I'm no dandy," said the captain to himself, 
 " but there's nothing select about my clothes. 
 They don't seem to go right with this house 
 and all its fine fixings. Take that pepper V 
 salt suit, now. Get me into that up home and 
 Marilla felt as if I was 'most too dressed up 
 for anything except the minister's coming to 
 tea ; and she searched me so with her eyes, 
 28
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 looking for spots, after a meal, that I never 
 took much real comfort in wearing it. But 
 here ! put me in that suit and set me down in 
 one of those handsome chairs, and I'll look like 
 an old Plymouth Rock strayed in from the hen- 
 yard. I know my points ; nobody need tell me 
 what they are. I know that a man of my size 
 has to derive most of his advantages of appear- 
 ance from his outfit ; if his clothes don't assist 
 him he's nowhere, that is when he goes among 
 strangers. My black suit is the best I can do." 
 
 He hung everything else in the closet and 
 put on the black suit, having first donned a 
 white shirt. The shirt had a plaited bosom, 
 and there was something curious about it, to 
 the captain's mind. At last he turned sidewise 
 to get a different view of himself, and hastily 
 removed his waistcoat. 
 
 " I never saw anything to beat that," he said, 
 his face growing crimson as he looked again in 
 the mirror. " Marilla'd been ironing her own 
 clothes, and when I told her about coming off 
 she was so upset she didn't sense what she was 
 doing. Ironed every one of those plaits stand- 
 29
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 ing up ridgewise, as I live ! the only white shirt 
 I've got to my name that wasn't too much worn 
 to bring. Well, sir, what's to be done about it ? 
 I wonder if I were to put " 
 
 There was little time for delay. A glance at 
 his watch showed the captain that dinner was 
 only half an hour distant. Stepping briskly 
 over to the chiffonier to the drawers of which 
 he had consigned all his possessions which could 
 not well be hung in the closet, he brought from 
 the upper drawer two large silk handkerchiefs, 
 one red, the other plum-colored ; these he un- 
 folded and tied across his chest in hard knots, 
 making each handkerchief cover as many of the 
 upstart plaits as could be pressed under its folds. 
 
 " That ought to do something," he said, sur- 
 veying himself doubtfully. " 'Twould do more 
 if silk didn't slip so. Now for a necktie. Better 
 make that kind of cheerful, seems to me, when 
 there are ladies in the party. Here's the one 
 Asa Dean gave me Christmas ; that's a tasty 
 tie. Those rosebuds on a blue ground make 
 me think of a dressing gown grandsire used to 
 wear when I was a boy, but I guess they're all 
 30
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 right. Wonder who selected it. If I thought 
 'twas Henry Gaynes 'twould never go 'round 
 my neck, but probably 'twas that meek sister, 
 his wife. Then, when I get off these silk iron- 
 ing-boards, that'll look first rate." 
 
 When the sound of a Japanese gong reached 
 the captain's ears, his fingers were engaged in 
 untying the knots which had tightened under 
 their strain and proved unexpectedly obstinate. 
 He pulled and picked at them alternately ; at 
 last the red one allowed itself to loosen slightly 
 and its knot gave way. The plum-colored 
 handkerchief, however, seemed possessed of the 
 devil. The captain was growing desperate 
 when there came a tap at his door. 
 
 " Come in ! " he called, and turned to see a 
 rosy Celtic face from which two eyes as merry 
 as his own laughed at him, and to hear a soft 
 Irish voice say : 
 
 " Would you be coming to dinner, Captain 
 Bowld ? 'Tis ready." 
 
 " For the love of peace, girl, come here and 
 get this contrivance off me," said the captain. 
 " What's your name ? " 
 31
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 " Maggie Shannon is me name," said the girl 
 as she stepped close to him and began a vigor- 
 ous attack upon the knot. " Sure, 'tis a kind 
 of a haarrness you've got on, Captain Bowld. 
 What were you afther doin' to yourself, sir ? " 
 
 " Look at those tucks, girl, and don't ask 
 foolish questions," came the answer after the 
 captain had drawn in his breath to make his 
 chest as narrow as possible, and between 
 Maggie's work and his own the plum-colored 
 handkerchief at last succumbed. " I believe to 
 my soul they stand up worse than ever. I'm a 
 pretty sight to go down-stairs and meet a parcel 
 of strange folks ! " 
 
 He looked ruefully at his image in the pier 
 glass, but Maggie, hands on her hips, stood 
 surveying him with a pleased smile. 
 
 "Never fear," she said with a bob of her 
 head, " 'tis your face they'll be looking at, not 
 your shirt. If anny one gives a glance to that 
 'twill be Miss Rawson, her that has the room 
 above you. There's nothing escapes her ; she 
 has eyes like gimlets, punching here, punching 
 there ; but pay no heed to her. To-morrow 
 32
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 morning I'll show an iron to the front o' that 
 shirt, and flatten out the plaits. Come now, 
 sir ; gazing at it will make no difference. " 
 
 Firmly though respectfully Maggie propelled 
 him out of his own room and followed him 
 along the hall to the head of the stairs. 
 
 " If Mrs. Hitchings has at you give her as 
 good as she sends," she whispered, and with an- 
 other bob of her head she left him. 
 
 The captain heard her feet clattering down a 
 flight of stairs in the region beyond the door 
 through which she had vanished. He straight- 
 ened himself, drew in his chin, threw out his 
 chest and descended the stairs. His ears were 
 assailed by a feminine voice of strident quality, 
 proclaiming something which he failed to catch 
 but which evidently stirred up contention, as a 
 babel of dissent followed. 
 
 " Sounds a good deal like Town Meeting," 
 thought the captain, and the remembrance stiff- 
 ened his wavering courage. He entered the 
 parlor calmly and without haste and bore the 
 introductions which followed with dignity and 
 confidence. Four women and three men there 
 33
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 were, beside his hostess, who performed the in- 
 troductions, and the captain looked each and 
 every one of them straight in the eye. 
 
 It was not a severe ordeal for a man who had 
 many times been chairman of the reception 
 committee for Memorial Day visitors. In his 
 official capacity the captain had more than once 
 received and presented to an audience the 
 governor of his native state. 
 
 " Folks are only folks, no matter if they have 
 on precious stones and all manner of trappings," 
 he told himself, as he looked from the green 
 glitter of a swaying ornament attached to the 
 person of Mrs. Damon to the cold sheen of 
 Mrs. Hitchings' gown. " Don't hide the 
 wrinkles, nor the creases in their necks either," 
 and his greeting to the two stout women was 
 especially cordial as he felt rather sorry for 
 them. 
 
 His rampant tucks had not escaped the eyes 
 of Miss Rawson ; he knew that, but smiled 
 genially at her, recognizing them as the eyes 
 which had seen him in his disarray. 
 
 " Here's a pretty piece of goods ! " he thought 
 34
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 as he was passed on to a slight, fair-haired girl, 
 mentioned as Miss Temple, " and I'm not the 
 only one to know it," as turning he saw the gaze 
 of a pair of dark eyes riveted on Miss Temple's 
 charming face. 
 
 " He's all gone over her," the captain told 
 himself with glee, as after a brisk hand-shake 
 from Mr. Corcoran and a limp clasp from Mr. 
 Farnham he met the dark eyes of young Sever- 
 ance withdrawn from their late occupation so 
 hastily that they seemed still to hold an image 
 of rosy cheeks and wavy gold hair. " By 
 George, there's love-making afoot, and I'm 
 going to see it ! " 
 
 " Shall we go in to dinner ? " suggested Mrs. 
 Tippett, as if it were not quite within her 
 province to decide the matter. 
 
 " It is time more than time," announced a 
 voice which the captain recognized as having 
 aroused opposition just before his entrance ; it 
 was the voice of Mrs. Hitchings, who now pre- 
 ceded Mrs. Tippett through the door and along 
 the hall to the dining-room. 
 
 The captain found himself assigned to a seat 
 35
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 between Miss Kawson and little Miss Temple. 
 The delight which filled him at being next to 
 the pretty young thing at his left was tempered 
 by the presence of his neighbor on the right, 
 and the fact that the massive and commanding 
 Mrs. Hitchings occupied the seat directly op- 
 posite. He turned deliberately to Miss Temple 
 with his second spoonful of soup. 
 
 " If you see me getting into trouble with the 
 silverware, just give me a word, young lady," 
 he said confidentially. "I'm left-handed, ab- 
 sent-minded and otherwise hampered by igno- 
 rance, and I'm liable to make mistakes. I shall 
 depend on you to look out for me, now and 
 then." 
 
 The steady gray eyes were most reassuring, 
 the captain thought, as Miss Temple turned to 
 him, half-smiling. They had a level, tranquil 
 gaze which surprised as much as it pleased him. 
 
 " Pretty young to look like that," he said to 
 himself. " The way you'd feel if a little pinky- 
 white rosebud were to take the responsibility of 
 the whole garden blooms, weeds and all." 
 
 " You won't have a bit of trouble, I'm sure," 
 36
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 said the frank young voice that matched the 
 gray eyes. " Things are very simple. But if 
 you ever have any doubts, just watch Mrs. 
 Hitchings. She stands for the Medes and Per- 
 sians here." 
 
 " Does she now ? " and the captain's mouth 
 twitched in response to the demure half-smile 
 on Miss Temple's lips. " Well, that's all right, 
 I reckon, if Mrs. Tippett chooses to have it so." 
 
 " Chooses ! " the word was softly spoken, but 
 the captain had no difficulty in catching the 
 tone, or the pitying glance that was sent to the 
 head of the table where sat Mrs. Eose Tippett 
 with the lean and sallow Mr. Farnham at her 
 right, the stout and hungry Mrs. Damon at her 
 left. 
 
 She looked sweet and gentle and very tired. 
 She drooped in her chair as she cast first an 
 anxious glance at Mr. Farnham, who seemed to 
 find nothing to his taste, then at Mrs. Damon 
 whose plate was heaped, but whose watchful 
 eye never allowed the waitress to pass by until 
 a liberal toll had been taken of whatever was 
 in hand. 
 
 37
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 " I bet she ate the late Damon out of house 
 and home, and that Hitchings woman bossed 
 her man out o' the world," thought the captain, 
 but on the instant he was forced to readjust his 
 views of the Damon household. 
 
 " What do you hear from your husband, Mrs. 
 Damon ? " inquired Miss Rawson. " I suppose 
 you will feel that you must go out to him 
 another fall. It must be very lonely for him 
 out in that rough mining town." 
 
 Mrs. Damon's gaze was lowered, apparently 
 fixed on the gem which swung just above her 
 plate. She turned it carefully so that it caught 
 and held a gleam from the chandelier which 
 hung in dim splendor over the table. When 
 she had adjusted the pendant to her satisfaction 
 she raised her eyes and looked across at Miss 
 Rawson. 
 
 " Another autumn is far away, my dear Miss 
 Rawson," she said indifferently. "No one of 
 us knows where she, or he, may be by that 
 time." 
 
 " I'm glad you added the ' he,' " and Mr. 
 Farnham pushed his plate from him. " If my 
 38
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 digestion doesn't improve and my diet has to 
 be cut closer and closer, the time will come 
 when I shall find life isn't worth living ; and it 
 may come soon. Mrs. Tippett, will you kindly 
 ring for Amanda to remove this lamb ; the 
 
 mint sauce " Mr. Farnham made a gesture 
 
 which clearly indicated his distaste for what 
 had been set before him, and pushed back his 
 chair. 
 
 " If you will excuse me, I will take myself 
 off to the smoking-room," he said, and rose. 
 
 "But I thought you particularly liked the 
 mint sauce," said Mrs. Tippett, dismay vibrating 
 through her soft voice. " I'm so sorry ! I told 
 Amanda to give you a special helping of it, for 
 you eat so few things. Won't you stay for the 
 salad ? It's your " 
 
 Mr. Farnham waved away the mention of 
 salad, and left the room hastily as if the very 
 thought of it had been too much. 
 
 " He's a hateful man," said Miss Temple's 
 
 voice, low but clear at the captain's elbow. 
 
 " Nobody, not even an archangel, could tell 
 
 what he'll like from one day to the next. Mrs. 
 
 39
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 Tippett is a sweet thing, and she tries to please 
 him, but she might as well give it up. Look 
 at her now, worrying her heart out over that 
 old dyspeptic." 
 
 The captain looked as bidden ; indeed, he 
 had not waited for the bidding. Why did 
 not some one of the others speak, he wondered. 
 They were eating on as if nothing unpleasant 
 had occurred. 
 
 "The trouble with him, Mrs. Tippett," said 
 the captain, and then having secured her atten- 
 tion he began again, " trouble with him is he 
 smokes too much. I can see that right away. 
 Men of that thin, sallow make-up would be 
 better off if they never touched tobacco. I'm 
 something of a doctor myself, and I know the 
 signs. If he doesn't use common sense he'll 
 get his stomach all out of commission." 
 
 Mrs. Hitchings gave a deep, dry cough, 
 patently manufactured to meet what she felt 
 was a demand. 
 
 " What is going on in the financial world to- 
 day, Mr. Corcoran ? " she asked, bending a 
 compelling gaze on her right-hand neighbor. 
 40
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 The captain twisted his mouth and inserted a 
 finger in his collar, running it around under his 
 chin which he lifted twice. Then for the 
 second time he heard the low clear voice at 
 his elbow. 
 
 "May I trouble you for the salt, Captain 
 Bold? Thank you so much;" and as he 
 looked into the gray eyes, the lips of his 
 neighbor formed another sentence. 
 
 " Don't let her scare you," read the captain. 
 " Please don't." 
 
 "Scare me," said the captain in a low 
 rumble, meant for a whisper ; " let her scare 
 me! "Well, I guess not. You just wait a 
 minute till I get my second wind." 
 
 But the talk had gone so far afield in the 
 required minute that the captain sat listening 
 with no chance to put in his valiant words. It 
 seemed to him that he had much to learn in 
 order to make himself a part of this new house- 
 hold and that little of it was worth learning. 
 
 " The stock-market ? That's a pretty subject 
 for ladies' talk," he thought as he listened to 
 the sharp questions put to Mr. Corcoran by 
 41
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 Mrs. Hitchings and Mrs. Damon. "And 
 politics ! " as Miss Rawson shot a remark 
 across the table at Mr. Severance, whom it 
 evidently hit in a sensitive spot. "And they're 
 all so glib." 
 
 " I begin to feel as if I were tongue-tied," he 
 said, turning for consolation to his pretty neigh- 
 bor. " How does it happen you aren't engag- 
 ing in these conversations, one or the other of 
 them ? Mrs. Tippett looks tired out, but you 
 haven't that excuse," and the merry eyes twin- 
 kled at her. 
 
 " Why, it's like this," and little Miss Temple 
 gave a soft laugh. " I haven't a share of stock 
 or a bond to my name : all I know about is sav- 
 ings-banks, and not much about them. And as 
 for politics sh ! " she laid her finger on her 
 lips, and shook her head at him. "Mrs. Tip- 
 pett and I are weak sisters we aren't suf- 
 fragists ; the other three are, and Mrs. Hitch- 
 ings and Miss Rawson are militant, that is, 
 they're ready to be. Mrs. Damon hasn't 
 quite decided whether she'd go as far as that." 
 
 " You don't mean to tell me ! " said the cap- 
 42
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 tain. " To think I've got right in amongst that 
 kind of trouble when I came here for a quiet 
 time. Will they try to draw me into it ? " 
 
 Before Miss Temple could respond the cap- 
 tain heard the voice of his other neighbor at 
 his ear, and turning hastily saw that Miss 
 Rawson was looking at him with an eager 
 air. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, ma'am," said the captain. 
 " I'm afraid you've asked me something that I 
 didn't hear." 
 
 " I'm glad it was only that," boomed Mrs. 
 Hitchings from across the table. " So many 
 men try to hedge themselves about, and decline 
 to express any opinion. Ask him again, Miss 
 Rawson." 
 
 " I asked you, Captain Bold, where you stand 
 on the question of equal suffrage ? " and again 
 Miss Rawson waited with her eager air. 
 
 " Well now, as to that," the captain paused, 
 and his eyes sought the face of his hostess ; a 
 delicately troubled face it was for the moment, 
 slightly flushed and with lifted eyebrows ; he 
 smiled at it, reassuringly, without regard to on- 
 
 4:3
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 lookers. " As to that," he repeated, " I can't 
 exactly say, ma'am." 
 
 " Why not ? " asked Miss Rawson crisply. 
 " It isn't possible that the burning question of 
 the day has not been discussed in your home." 
 
 The captain faced her challenging gaze with 
 a calmness more apparent than real. It was 
 one thing to take the floor in Felling, Vermont, 
 where he was known and respected ; quite an- 
 other to take it here where he was yet to be 
 weighed and measured, and that by standards 
 for which he had no precedent. It was, how- 
 ever, not the time to falter, and he could see 
 that little hedging would be allowed by his in- 
 quisitors. He might temporize for a moment. 
 
 " Well no, ma'am," he said, returning Miss 
 Rawson's gaze with disarming frankness. 
 " You see my Cousin Marilla, who keeps house 
 for me, is a real home body ; of course she reads 
 our local sheet, The Felling Banner, every day, 
 but when the ladies come to see her the talk 
 seems to be mostly connected with cooking 
 receipts or dressmaking or what's going on in 
 town ; that is, to judge from the scraps I hear. 
 44
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 Generally speaking, I clear out when there's a 
 sewing circle on hand, or any such work. They 
 don't want any men folks around, I know that." 
 
 Long before the captain had finished this in- 
 nocent speech he knew it had failed to serve his 
 purpose. Miss Rawson's lips opened before his 
 own were fairly closed. 
 
 " I didn't refer to your house, Captain Bold," 
 she said in a tone which brooked no trifling. 
 " I referred to your town. Are there no women 
 of public spirit in Felling ? If not, it is time 
 they were awakened. I will send your cousin 
 some literature at once." 
 
 " She's not much of a reader, ma'am," began 
 the captain, but immediately he saw that jok- 
 ing was not in order, and subdued the twinkle 
 in his eyes. " We've had one woman suffragist 
 in our town," he said gravely, " but we haven't 
 got her now." 
 
 " Ah ! " breathed Mrs. Hitchings, across the 
 table, and at his side Miss Rawson breathed an- 
 other thinner but equally indignant " Ah ! " 
 
 " A case of persecution, no doubt," said Mrs. 
 Hitchings in her deepest tone. 
 45
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 " No, ma'am," said the captain respectfully, 
 " 'twas a case of measles ; five cases, in fact ; the 
 children caught 'era while she was down here 
 attending some meetings, and their father was 
 at home looking after them. They didn't have 
 'em all at once, but one after another, as some- 
 times happens; the whole run lasted pretty 
 nearly three months. The father hadn't watched 
 'em quite as close as a woman would, and they'd 
 gone about wherever they pleased ; the youngest 
 boy came pretty near dying, he was so sick ; 
 they struck in with him." 
 
 " Do you mean to say that measles sufficed to 
 
 / / 
 
 make that woman change her belief in her own 
 sex and its rights ? " demanded Mrs. Hitchings, 
 while Miss Eawson breathed sharply, awaiting 
 the answer. 
 
 " Well, I wouldn't put it that way exactly, 
 ma'am," said the captain apologetically. " No, 
 that wasn't the way of it. As I heard it, she 
 said that 'twas very evident to her no man was 
 capable of doing a woman's work, and as no 
 day was long enough for a woman to do both his 
 and her own, she thought on the whole he'd 
 46
 
 better be allowed to do what little he could by 
 himself." 
 
 " Say now, that woman has the right idea," 
 spluttered Mr. Corcoran who had nearly choked 
 during the captain's recital. " You agree with 
 me, don't you, Miss Temple ? I don't need to 
 ask Mrs. Tippett. I know her opinion." 
 
 " Mrs. Tippett's opinion is not yet fully 
 formed," said Mrs. Hitchings, diverted for a 
 moment from the captain. " As for Miss 
 Temple, her position is incomprehensible to 
 me. One would naturally suppose that as a 
 teacher she would wish some breadth of view, 
 some idea of progress, some " 
 
 "Oh, come, Mrs. Hitchings!" said young 
 Severance, the blood mounting to his fore- 
 head. " That's a little too much, you know ! 
 Why, I met one of Miss Temple's " 
 
 " Please please don't, Mr. Severance ! " the 
 clear young voice was low, but decided. " I'd 
 much rather you wouldn't try to help me out. 
 It isn't a bit necessary." 
 
 The crimson in his face deepened and he 
 seized his glass of water, taking a long draught. 
 47
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 "Very well," he said as he set down his 
 glass, but although his tone was submissive 
 enough the captain smiled, noting the angle at 
 which the firm young jaw was held. 
 
 " She won't be able to shut him up that way 
 many times, not if I'm any judge," and the 
 captain hugged the thought. " Looks pretty 
 sulky over it now. He'd like to draw his 
 sword and slash that Hitchings woman into 
 ribbons ; that's the way he's feeling now, I can 
 tell by the cut of his jib." 
 
 As the company left the table young Sever- 
 ance veered from his direct course to the door 
 to intercept Miss Temple. 
 
 " Could you couldn't you go with me to see 
 ' As You like It ' to-night ? " he asked the girl. 
 " It's my turn to have the seats, and I'd I'd 
 like your help in making my criticism on Miss 
 Vernon's * Rosalind.' I'll have to write as dis- 
 criminatingly as Gregory does, or they'll give 
 my chance to that young Stimson who's just 
 come on the paper. He has a sister, a corking 
 girl they say, and last week when I was away 
 he had the tickets and wrote a mighty clever 
 48 -
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 notice of * The Stragglers.' Can't you go and 
 help me out ? " 
 
 A little smile ran across the girl's face before 
 she answered. Then she shook her head, slowly. 
 
 " I can't," she said. " Examination papers 
 are my doom to-night. It's too bad I'm so 
 valuable in two directions. Can't you" she 
 hesitated, and again the little smile ran across 
 her face " if you don't know a corking girl, 
 and can't get me, why don't you ask our new 
 boarder?" she half whispered. "You'd get 
 some fresh ideas about Rosalind, unless I'm 
 very much mistaken. And I like him, don't 
 you ? " 
 
 With the gray eyes raised to his, young 
 Severance was quite prepared to like every- 
 thing and everybody. 
 
 " I'll do it," he said. " And may I tell you 
 about it to-morrow evening ? That's my free 
 night, you know. It can't be examination 
 papers again ; don't tell me anything so unfair." 
 
 " Oh, no, it isn't examination papers," said 
 Miss Temple demurely. " It's the Parent- 
 Teachers' Association." 
 49
 
 CAFN GED 
 
 " Where does it meet ? " he demanded, " and 
 how long does it last ? I shall take you to it, 
 and while it is in session I shall play billiards 
 at the Foley House, and if you don't say the 
 meeting will be over in an hour and a half at 
 the outside, I shall hire a messenger boy to 
 summon you with a telegram which I shall 
 write. So now you know what to look for." 
 
 " Dear me," murmured Miss Temple as she 
 stepped out into the hall and turned toward 
 the stairs. " What a very determined young 
 man you are." 
 
 "That's nothing to what I can be if I'm 
 driven to it," said Jack Severance, nodding 
 his head at her. "You needn't laugh!" 
 
 And then, inconsequently, he laughed with 
 her.
 
 CHAPTEK IY 
 
 THE smoking-room was not large, but it 
 had the advantage of being shut off from 
 the hall by heavy sliding doors. As Mr. Cor- 
 coran opened these doors and ushered Captain 
 Bold into the room, Mr. Farnham hastily pushed 
 up both windows and the heavy blue air in 
 which he had been sitting moved slowly out 
 into the street. 
 
 " Man alive, you're killing yourself, that's 
 what you're doing ! " cried the captain. " What 
 d'you think lungs are made of that they can 
 take in such an atmosphere as you've been 
 sitting in and not rebel? 'Tis more than 
 likely this is the whole root of the trouble 
 51
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 with your stomach. Do you try this every 
 evening ? " 
 
 Mr. Farnham's sallow face was slightly 
 tinged with green and the look he turned on 
 this unwelcome questioner was a sour one. 
 
 " I seldom have the opportunity," he said. 
 " The other two gentlemen who are members 
 of our delightful household are fresh-air cranks. 
 It seemed to me this evening that I might grant 
 myself the indulgence of a few moments' smoke 
 with the mercury at a decent height. It will 
 run down fast enough, you'll find. I will 
 leave you to enjoy its rapid descent without 
 the incubus of my society." 
 
 " Why, see here," cried the captain, distressed 
 at the result of his words, " you're taking it all 
 
 wrong! You Look here, does he often 
 
 go off at half-cock like that ? " he demanded of 
 the broker, as the doors were sharply closed be- 
 hind Mr. Farnham's departing figure. " I 
 
 Why, he acted as if I'd insulted him, sir. I 
 reckon I'd better go after him." 
 
 " And I ' reckon ' you'd better stay exactly 
 where you are," counseled Mr. Corcoran, as he 
 52
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 lighted his cigar and laid his case open on the 
 table. " Help yourself to one of those cigars, 
 and tell me how you like it. It's a new brand 
 I'm trying out. Take that armchair and make 
 yourself comfortable; don't worry your head 
 over that old dyspeptic who's had the sense 
 to remove himself. Going to like our little 
 town ? " 
 
 " I spoke too quickly, as I often do," said the 
 captain regretfully. He turned to the table 
 and lifting the cigar case surveyed it with some 
 doubt. "I'm more used to a pipe," he ad- 
 mitted, "and the barn is the only place Ma- 
 rilla lets me smoke it, but I'd like to try one of 
 these, and will. This certainly is an easy chair. 
 Mrs. Tippett's provided everything for com- 
 fort, hasn't she ? " 
 
 Mr. Corcoran took his cigar from his mouth 
 and sent a ring of smoke curling across the 
 room. 
 
 " She's a sweet little woman," he said medi- 
 tatively, " but she never was cut out for a 
 boarding-house mistress. She doesn't know 
 how to stand out against Grenadier Hitchings ; 
 53
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 you noticed her, of course. She keeps that 
 mighty brain of hers at Mrs. Tippett's disposal ; 
 and Miss Rawson, the one next you with eyes 
 that could bore right through cast iron, pokes 
 and pries and interferes from morning till 
 night. Poor little Mrs. Tippett is Southern 
 born, bred to hospitality and gentleness and 
 pleasure. The first is eating up her possible 
 profits, the second is making her easy game for 
 those who are ready to take advantage of her, 
 and she doesn't get any of the third. 
 
 "She was married right out of the school- 
 room to a smooth rascal, the black sheep of a 
 fine family. He kept fairly straight while her 
 father lived, but when he died Tippett used 
 up all her money, ill-treated her and finally 
 cleared out. I've been told on good authority 
 that he died in a sanitorium two or three years 
 ago, a while before she came North. But Miss 
 Rawson seems to have doubts on that point. 
 She's thrown out several hints to me on stair 
 landings and other likely spots for imparting 
 dark secrets, but I've always got away from 
 her as soon as I could, and I've never told her 
 54
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 that I know a man who came from Mrs. Tip- 
 pett's home town. That Rawson has too much 
 time on her hands ; that's what plays the deuce 
 with people Leisure ! Look at Farnham ; 
 would he have dyspepsia -if he had to hike 
 around the way I do and always have from a 
 boy ? Not much, he wouldn't. How do you 
 like that cigar ? " 
 
 In Felling, Vermont, deliberation in speech 
 was counted a sign of wisdom, and headlong 
 utterance was discouraged. " Catch your breath 
 and speak slow so I can understand what you're 
 saying," the children heard again and again. 
 The captain himself, who had never quite out- 
 grown his youthful impetuosity, was neverthe- 
 less incapable of such leaping from point to 
 point as his companion had just exhibited. 
 
 " See here," he said with a slowness which 
 would have amazed his Cousin Marilla, " how 
 d'you expect anybody's going to get in a word 
 edgewise ? You just bear in mind that I come 
 from up state in Vermont. I haven't even dared 
 take time to bite off the end of this cigar for 
 fear I'd lose the thread of your discourse. If 
 55
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 there was anything particular you wanted me 
 to answer you'll have to go back to the begin- 
 ning and start all over again. No offense, you 
 understand," and the captain's eyes twinkled. 
 
 " I expect I do hit it off pretty lively," said 
 Mr. Corcoran grinning; "comes of the Stock 
 Exchange, and my business in general. May 
 have noticed that I clip my words. Little old 
 aunt I go to see every week says I do; says I'm 
 getting worse and worse at it. She's one of the 
 old school ; pro-nounces ev-er-y syl-la-ble about 
 like that. Wouldn't do for me. But I like to 
 hear her." 
 
 "Now look here," the captain leaned for- 
 ward ; " there's something I've always wanted 
 to know. "What's the need of all this hurry in 
 your business? If every one of you should 
 agree to go slow, why wouldn't it work out all 
 right?" 
 
 " Go slow ! " echoed the broker. " Go slow ! 
 on the Stock Exchange ! Well, I guess you'd 
 find yourself at the bottom of the heap inside 
 of twenty-four hours, and fixed so you couldn't 
 move to get anywhere else, what's more." 
 56
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 " I was saying, how would it be if everybody 
 went a mite slower," stated the captain pa- 
 tiently ; " if they all agreed to, I mean." 
 
 The broker stared at him, then again he 
 grinned. 
 
 "Say, you had too much dinner or some- 
 thing," he offered. " You ought to have 
 moved 'round a bit instead of coming in here. 
 Hullo, Severance, our new boarder would like 
 to have the Stock Exchange conducted on a 
 different plan. He'd like to have bids limited 
 to about one a minute. How does that strike 
 you ? " 
 
 " Excellent idea," said the young man who 
 had just entered the smoking-room. " I'd like 
 to talk it over with you, Captain Bold, on the 
 way to the theatre. I have tickets for 'As 
 You Like It,' and Miss er it has been sug- 
 gested that perhaps you would favor me with 
 your company." 
 
 "I'd like to go first-rate," said the captain 
 
 briskly. " The drama is one of the things I've 
 
 planned to study somewhat during my stay in 
 
 the city, so that when I go home I can help 
 
 57
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 out the Felling Dramatic League by a few sug- 
 gestions that is if they're willing to take 
 them. I'd like to be able to tell Potter Greene 
 of some other attitudes he could strike and 
 Nellie Dakin wants to introduce some new 
 songs into her parts. She's our leading lady, 
 and has a sweet pretty voice that works into 
 most every play by a little altering here and 
 there." 
 
 " You are evidently the very person who 
 ought to go with me to-night," said young 
 Severance, " and it is time we started, a little 
 more than time if anything." 
 
 " I'll be with you in a minute," said the 
 captain, bounding up the stairs. " I'm used to 
 
 hurrying, being a member of the fire-company. 
 j 
 
 For a moment he stopped and then, bound- 
 ing on again, he reached the head of the stairs 
 and ran along the hall to his own door. As he 
 opened it he was hailed from above by the 
 voice of Miss Kawson. 
 
 " Is there a fire ? " she cried. " I'm sure 
 
 that's what you said. Will you please " 
 
 58
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 The captain flung open his door and from the 
 chair nearest it seized the hat and coat which 
 he had deposited there on his first entrance into 
 the room. Without waiting for Miss Rawson 
 to complete her sentence he roared a hearty 
 answer as he gathered up his belongings. 
 
 " There's nothing the matter here, ma'am," 
 he called. " I was speaking of my home." 
 
 "And have you heard there's a fire up in 
 Felling? Have you received a telegram?" 
 cried Miss Rawson, and as the captain emerged 
 from his room he saw that she had come half- 
 way down the stairs. 
 
 " No, ma'am, nothing of the sort," he hastily 
 vouchsafed her as he hurried along the hall, 
 one arm inserted in its coat sleeve while the 
 other searched frantically for its proper open- 
 ing. "You'll have to excuse me. I'm in a 
 great rush." 
 
 Before he had reached the lower hall Miss 
 Rawson had descended to the second story and 
 with an imperative wave of her hand over the 
 stair railing she summoned Mr. Severance from 
 his stand by the front door. 
 59
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 "I know something is wrong," she said. 
 " Where is the fire, Mr. Severance ? I must 
 know at once, for I have valuable papers. 
 I am perfectly calm. Is it in the base- 
 ment ? " 
 
 " There is no fire, so far as I know," said 
 Jack Severance. "Ready, captain? That's 
 good," and the door closed behind them with 
 something very near a slam. 
 
 " Banged it a little, didn't you ? " inquired 
 the captain as they set off at a brisk pace. 
 " Does that woman live on the stairs ? That 
 seems to be where she spends considerable time, 
 anyway." 
 
 " She's the sort I can't stand," said young 
 Severance. " Hanging around to catch a word 
 here and a look there, piecing things together, 
 and making up a lot more to fill out. Old cat ! 
 Tell me if I'm walking too fast for you, captain. 
 We have time enough now we're clear of the 
 house." 
 
 " I can clip it along with the spryest of 
 them," said the captain. " You needn't worry 
 about me. But look here," and he stole a 
 60
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 quick, sidelong glance up at his tall companion's 
 face, " aren't you 'most too hard on Miss Eaw- 
 son ? Isn't she kind of lonely, and just trying 
 to fill up with other people's stories, so long as 
 she hasn't any of her own ? " 
 
 " She fills up all right," said the young man. 
 " Oh, well, let's forget her. Nice night, isn't 
 it ? You can't see quite as much sky at once 
 here as up in your home, I suppose, but it's 
 pretty, all the same. See that patch in be- 
 tween those two chimneys ; that's thick enough 
 with stars, isn't it? " 
 
 " By George, there's the Dipper ! " cried the 
 captain. " Now I've got my bearings, and know 
 where I am. I've been all turned around ever 
 since I got to the house this afternoon. If I'd 
 walked from the depot I'd have been all right, 
 but the man that drove the cab wanted to show 
 me some new buildings, and he took a round- 
 about course. "Well, well, I'm glad enough to 
 see the Dipper. I feel at home now." 
 
 " So you rode with the cab-driver," said 
 young Severance. " Good enough. I hope Miss 
 Rawson saw you." 
 
 61
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 " Now that I think of it, I'll wager she did," 
 chuckled the captain ; " for there was somebody 
 peeking out between the curtains of the front 
 room on the third story. That's the room 
 over mine, sure enough. Why, that's the same 
 trick they play up in Felling, when company's 
 expected." 
 
 " You'll find there are more tricks than one 
 common to the city and country," laughed the 
 young man. " Have you ever seen a Shake- 
 speare play well acted, captain ? Because that's 
 what you'll see to-night." 
 
 " I've never seen one acted any way, well or 
 not," said the captain. " Up in Felling there's 
 one of our summer residents, Mrs. Gorham- 
 Watts spelled with a hyphen, you understand 
 well, she has suggested more than half a 
 dozen times to the Dramatic League that they 
 should tackle one of Shakespeare's plays 
 ' Hamlet.' She claimed it would give great 
 scope for the town talent, but Nellie Dakin de- 
 clared she wouldn't play Ophelia for anybody. 
 She said Ophelia was crossed in love and went 
 crazy, and for her part she had no patience with 
 62
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 such goings on. So there we were ; Nellie's our 
 leading lady, and we had to give it up." 
 
 " Silly thing ! " laughed young Severance. 
 " Her own head needs looking after, I should 
 say." 
 
 " Well now, there's some excuse for her," said 
 the captain. " You see everybody thought she 
 liked the young man who married her cousin ; 
 he went 'round with Nellie for a couple of years 
 and our folks thought they'd make a match of 
 it, till the cousin came on a visit, with one of 
 those floppy embroidered hats pink, hers was. 
 "Well, sir, after she'd looked up at that young 
 man from under the brim of her hat just once, 
 Nellie's chance was nowhere. And she did lose 
 flesh, there's no denying it. So you can see 
 why she'd be sensitive about taking such a part 
 as Ophelia. Why, are we here already ? This 
 isn't any part of a walk ! And I was going to 
 tell you about the Felling Fire Company and 
 how I'd come off without giving them any 
 notice, and I'm supposed to be chief. I'll have 
 to leave that for the walk home." 
 
 But on the way home Captain Bold had so 
 63
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 much to say about " As You Like It " that the 
 matter of the Felling Fire Company was not 
 even mentioned. In the theatre he had been 
 silent most of the time, at intermissions wait- 
 ing impatiently for the next act; breathing 
 hard at exciting moments during the play and 
 clapping till the palms of his hands tingled. 
 
 " Those two, Rosalind and Celia, are as nice 
 girls as you'd want to see," he said at the end of 
 the first act. " Just as nice as they can be, both 
 of them. Yes, sir, there's mighty little choice 
 between 'em, now is there ? " 
 
 Later on he slightly modified his views and 
 again turned to his companion. 
 
 " Two nice girls as ever were," he said, " but 
 that Rosalind's the leader. She has more go to 
 her than Celia when you come to sift it. Celia's 
 more of a clinging vine but they're a mighty 
 nice pair." 
 
 On the way home Jack Severance drew from 
 his companion various comments on the rest of 
 the company. 
 
 " They were all good, of course," said the 
 captain. " I shouldn't dare criticize them. I 
 64
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 
 
 must say I didn't think much of the way Orlando 
 kept one eye on the audience ; made it seem as 
 if he was thinking all the time, ' This is nothing 
 but a play ; let's see how they like the way I'm 
 doing my part.' Now our Dramatic Leaguers 
 know better than that. The Duke was good, 
 although it did ^em to me he needn't have 
 moved around quite so much ; he wouldn't in 
 real life. Touchstone suited me best, next to 
 the two girls. I see they're going to give sev- 
 eral more Shakespeare plays in the next few 
 weeks and I mean to see them all. You've in- 
 troduced me to a great pleasure, young man, 
 and I thank you." 
 
 65
 
 CHAPTER Y 
 
 night the dreams of Captain Bold 
 JL were wild and adventurous beyond any 
 other dreams that had visited him for many 
 years. He woke several times and sat up, lis- 
 tening to the ceaseless murmur of the city. 
 
 " Never stops for a minute, day or night," he 
 said each time as he lay down again ; " up home 
 if I heard that old blind that always fetches 
 loose about this time of year, it's the most I'd 
 hear. Well it takes all kinds of places to 
 make up the world, just as it takes all kinds of 
 folks." 
 
 When morning had fairly come he lay awake, 
 wondering what he should do with the day be- 
 fore him, and all the days after it. He had 
 not made any definite plan as to the length of 
 his stay or what measure of urging from the 
 citizens of Felling would be sufficient to call 
 66
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 him home. On only one thing he had deter, 
 mined ; his visit to the city, begun in haste 
 and wrath, must be made to justify itself in 
 some way. 
 
 " There are things I can learn, anyhow," he 
 told himself, rather wistfully ; " and there are 
 things I can do, too, plenty of them ; and I'll 
 make a friend or two, maybe. That pretty 
 little teacher, and the young man who's in 
 love with her ; she told him to take me to the 
 play; don't you suppose I knew that? And 
 then there's Mrs. Tippett. I'd like to be 
 friends with her. She needs somebody to 
 look after her; she and Miss Temple both 
 ought to be looked after, and not allowed to 
 get tired out. This big house is an awful care 
 for a little woman ; she hasn't color enough in 
 her cheeks. I'll wager she doesn't get out- 
 doors enough." 
 
 Not long after breakfast the captain set out 
 for a walk and was overtaken by Jack Sever- 
 ance. 
 
 " Well, how does this happen ? " asked the 
 captain, much pleased. "Miss Temple and I 
 67
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 had breakfast together, and I concluded you'd 
 had yours earlier and gone to work. I've been 
 looking around in my room, but the chamber- 
 maid came in to tidy up, so I stepped down. I 
 met Miss Eawson in the hall, but we only 
 passed the time of day, for I put on the ap- 
 pearance of being in great haste ; and now I 
 haven't one single thing to do," and the cap- 
 tain looked hopefully at his new friend. " Are 
 you in the same case ? " 
 
 "No, it's about the hour I'm due at the 
 office," said young Severance. " They'll give 
 me some kind of assignment, but I don't know 
 what." 
 
 He hesitated, looking down at the captain, 
 then he said, rather slowly : 
 
 " Would you like to go along with me, if it's 
 any place where I could take you ? " 
 
 The captain smiled and shook his head. He 
 had noticed both the hesitation and the slow 
 speech, nevertheless he was grateful. 
 
 " Not this morning, thank you," he answered 
 cheerfully. "I can find my way around in 
 most places, and if I get lost there will be 
 68
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 plenty of people to set me on the right track. 
 First of all I must find a stationer's shop. 
 Cousin Marilla would remember it against me 
 the rest of her life if I didn't write her to-day, 
 so she can tell the neighbors I'm safe and sound." 
 
 " I'll start you for the stationer's," said Jack 
 Severance so promptly that the captain laughed. 
 
 " Took a load off your mind, didn't I ? " he 
 said. " I don't believe your little friend meant 
 to have you tow me right along all the time. 
 Land o' love, don't you suppose I see how 'tis 
 with you ? Don't waste your time playing at 
 cross-purposes," he added, suddenly grave. 
 " Don't let that pretty child get all tired 
 out and a line between her eyebrows ; make a 
 home, no matter how small, and put her in it. 
 She's one that's meant for a home." 
 
 " See here, Captain Bold," blurted Jack 
 
 Severance, " you have no er " he looked 
 
 at his companion with indignation which less- 
 ened as the blue eyes met his own. 
 
 " I shouldn't have spoken," said the captain 
 quietly. " I beg your pardon. I've had no 
 personal experience in matters of this kind, but 
 69
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 I've seen years slip by and folks grow old wait- 
 ing, and " 
 
 " It isn't any case of her waiting," inter- 
 rupted Jack Severance. " It's You've 
 
 got it all wrong ! " 
 
 The captain held out his hand with his dis- 
 arming smile. 
 
 " You'll excuse me, I know," he said. " And 
 don't you let me keep you a minute more. This 
 may be the very day appointed for you to show 
 how well fitted you are to be head of a house- 
 hold. I see the stationer's ahead. Thank you 
 and good-bye." 
 
 " What in the world made me answer him ? " 
 fumed young Severance as he went his way. 
 " He's all right, but why didn't I hold my 
 tongue and let him talk on, ass that I am ! 
 He's a good sort, but I needn't have turned 
 myself inside out for his inspection." 
 
 Meanwhile Captain Bold with a smile linger- 
 ing on his face walked slowly along toward the 
 stationer's. Just before he reached it he saw a 
 flight of steps which led to a little basement 
 shop, the window of which was filled with an 
 70
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 assortment of toys, picture books, neck-wear, 
 ribbons and veils, and bore in gold letters the 
 sign : " Miss Letty's Thread and Needle Shop." 
 
 The captain stopped and read the sign twice, 
 aloud, the smile on his face broadening. 
 
 " Sounds kind of homey, doesn't it ? " he said 
 to a little girl who had paused beside him and 
 was searching the window with eager eyes. 
 She had a charming, dimpled face and spoke 
 with an occasional lisp. 
 
 "It'th a lovely place," she confided to the 
 captain. " My mother buyth all her thread and 
 thingth here. Mith Letty keepth candy too. 
 When she hath peanut candy there'th a placard 
 in the window. It'th perfectly thplendidc&ndy." 
 
 " Bless my heart, let's go down and see if 
 there isn't some to-day," said the captain. 
 " Miss Letty might have forgotten the placard 
 for once, or the candy may have just arrived. 
 She may be opening the box this very minute. 
 You and I might be the first to get it." 
 
 " Let'th hurry ! " cried the little girl and clat- 
 tered down the steps, closely followed by the 
 captain. 
 
 71
 
 CAJ*N GID 
 
 A bell tinkled over their heads as they opened 
 the door and entered the shop ; at its sound an 
 elderly woman, tall and thin, with a gentle face 
 and large, short-sighted eyes came toward them 
 from the back of the shop, first carefully put- 
 ting a strip of paper in the book she had been 
 reading which it seemed to the captain she 
 closed with reluctance. Her greeting, however, 
 was cordial. The little girl was evidently a 
 well-known customer. 
 
 " What can I do for you this morning, sir ? " 
 she asked courteously, " or have you just come 
 with Peggy to see the toys? The peanut 
 candy has not come to-day, Peggy. I'm sorry 
 if you were counting on it." 
 
 " I'm thorry, too," said the little girl frankly. 
 "But oh, Mith Letty, might I look at the 
 thquirrel once more ? " 
 
 " Surely you may," assented Miss Letty. 
 "Perhaps your uncle would know of a pur- 
 chaser for it." 
 
 Peggy turned, regarding the captain with a 
 friendly smile. 
 
 " He'th not my uncle," she said. " He we 
 72
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 jutht looked in the window together, and then 
 we came down to ask about the peanut candy." 
 
 " But we're friends, aren't we ? " inquired the 
 captain with an appearance of great anxiety. 
 " We must all three be friends from this time 
 on. I know your names, you see, Miss Letty 
 and Peggy, and my name is Gideon Bold ; Cap- 
 tain Gid, the folks up home call me. I'm a 
 stranger here, and in need of friends ; I hope 
 you'll both adopt me right off." 
 
 Miss Letty was amused and a little bewildered, 
 but small Peggy saw nothing unusual or in the 
 least amiss in this suggestion. She laughed 
 up at the captain, all her dimples in full play. 
 
 " Courth we will, won't we, Mith Letty ? " she 
 said and held out her little right hand which 
 the captain gravely shook, afterward clasping 
 Miss Letty's slender fingers across the counter. 
 
 " Now for the squirrel," said the captain ; 
 " but couldn't we watch him better if we were 
 eating some of those chocolate candies ? Sup- 
 pose you put me up a pound of those in a box 
 and leave the cover off for the present. That's 
 right. But you don't charge enough for it, 
 73
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 seems to me; I expected to pay city prices. 
 How does it come to be so cheap ? " 
 
 " It's home-made," said Miss Letty, " and I 
 shouldn't feel right to charge any more ; my 
 niece makes it, and she hasn't great facilities. 
 You see I have only a little shop, and I deal in 
 small things in a small way. The squirrel is 
 the only costly article I have, and I was over- 
 persuaded by the man from whom I buy all my 
 toys. I really believe he thought I'd be able to 
 sell it right away, for he's a kind man and he 
 knows how I'm situated with my mother an 
 invalid. He wouldn't have urged me to put so 
 much money into a single toy if he hadn't 
 thought I'd make a good per cent. And I was 
 fascinated with it ; I'll admit that." 
 
 Miss Letty sighed as she went to her safe ; 
 she unlocked it and brought out an oblong box. 
 With careful fingers she lifted from the box 
 something wrapped in jeweler's cotton. Peggy's 
 eyes grew larger and larger as she watched the 
 unfolding and Captain Bold was conscious of a 
 pleasant thrill of curiosity as a miniature stone 
 wall was at last disclosed. 
 74
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 " Jutht wait ! " breathed Peggy at his side ; 
 " jutht wait a minute ! " 
 
 Miss Letty spread a square of green felt on 
 the counter, and placed the little stone wall 
 upon it. Then, taking a queerly shaped key 
 from the box, she inserted it cautiously at the 
 back of the toy and turned it slowly around. 
 She did not speak, and her face wore a solemn 
 look as if she were the priestess of some wonder- 
 ful mystery. As she withdrew the key she 
 gave one glance at the captain, then folded her 
 arms and stood, her head bent forward, listen- 
 ing. 
 
 There was a soft whirr, and then to the 
 sound of faint and fairy music there came out 
 from one end of the miniature wall a tiny 
 squirrel. He ran up the side of the little stones 
 and along to the middle of the wall ; there he 
 stopped, sat up, moved his head back and forth, 
 nibbled at a nut, dropped again, turned on the 
 wall and ran back to his hiding place. Two 
 minutes more and the wonderful toy was motion- 
 less and silent as when Miss Letty lifted it from 
 the box. 
 
 75
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 "I vum," said the captain, to whom the 
 others had turned. " That beats anything ever 
 I saw. I can't believe the little critter isn't 
 alive. What do you suppose he's doing in there, 
 hidden away ? Eating ? " 
 
 " There, that'th what I'm wondering all the 
 time ! " cried Peggy. 
 
 "What's the price, ma'am?" asked the 
 captain. "There's a boy up country I'd like 
 to have see that mighty well. 'Twould tickle 
 him to pieces." 
 
 " I should be willing to sell it for just what 
 it cost me, fifteen dollars," said Miss Letty. 
 "I had hoped to sell it for a dollar or two 
 more to some rich customers of mine who have 
 a little lame daughter ; but they suddenly went 
 abroad to see if a famous German specialist 
 can help the little girl, so she never saw the 
 squirrel." 
 
 "Why don't you buy it? "asked Peggy of 
 the captain with an engaging smile. " Then I 
 could go to your houthe and see it, if it'th not 
 too far away." 
 
 " I'm afraid it wouldn't be quite a sensible 
 
 re
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 thing," said the captain, "for me to put so 
 much money into a toy for a boy that doesn't 
 always know where his next suit of clothes is 
 coming from. But I'd like to get it, ma'am, 
 first-rate. If I should hear of a customer for 
 it, I'll send him here, or what's still surer, I'll 
 bring him myself. And I thank you very 
 much for the pleasure you've given me. I 
 suppose you aren't coming my way ? " he asked 
 Peggy who showed her dimples, shook her 
 curly head, and settled herself more firmly on 
 her high stool. 
 
 "I'm going to thtay a while longer," she 
 told him. " Prob'ly I'll be here again to- 
 morrow." 
 
 " That's a good hearing," said the captain ; 
 " 'twouldn't surprise me a bit if I stopped in 
 here to-morrow about this time. I may have 
 found the very person who needs that squirrel. 
 Good-bye." 
 
 " I like him," announced Peggy as the cap- 
 tain sprang up the steps, hat in hand until he 
 reached the sidewalk. 
 
 " So do I," said Miss Letty, but as she carried 
 77
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 her treasure back to the safe she sighed 
 again. ' 
 
 "I wish I knew how many people have 
 offered to find purchasers for you," she said 
 apostrophizing the squirrel as she locked the 
 safe. " You're a wonderful little creature, but 
 'twas a great piece of folly on my part to buy 
 you. A great piece of folly. I ought to have 
 put that money into homely old tape and 
 elastic and bone hairpins. I've learned my 
 lesson, but I've paid more than I could afford 
 to for learning it, ten times over ! "
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THERE was nothing to detain the captain 
 at the stationer's beyond the time needed 
 to make his modest purchases. The languid 
 young woman who waited on him did not even 
 feign an interest in the selection of pens and a 
 penholder. She scarcely vouchsafed her cus- 
 tomer a look when he said : 
 
 " I'm well supplied at home, of course, but I 
 want to patronize the city while I'm in it." 
 
 "Not much conversation to be got out of 
 her," said the captain as he stowed the package 
 79
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 in a capacious pocket and stood irresolutely in 
 the doorway. 
 
 " I've got plenty of time to go anywhere," he 
 thought, as he walked slowly along, looking in 
 the shop windows. " Catch me going back for 
 luncheon with none of the other men there! 
 Between the Hitchings woman and Miss Raw- 
 son, everything I know would be pried out o' 
 me. I'm not proposing to tell my affairs to 
 any one of them." 
 
 He stopped to look in at a florist's window 
 where among other spring beauties two great 
 bunches of many colored anemones were dis- 
 played. 
 
 " I don't know but I could let out a bit to 
 Mrs. Rose Tippett," he thought, smiling to 
 himself at the remembrance of her as she had 
 sat at the breakfast table in a cool gown of 
 lilac cotton. "Looks like the palest of those 
 anemones, Mrs. Tippett does. Her hair's too 
 heavy for her little head and makes it droop ; 
 but it's pretty, for all that." 
 
 He moved on, from one shop window to 
 another, his hands clasped behind him, 
 80
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 thoroughly enjoying all that he saw. Once a 
 newsboy insinuated a morning paper into the 
 clasped hands and then saucily demanded three 
 cents. 
 
 " Three ! " and the captain turned his keen 
 though friendly gaze on the boy. " How long 
 since you charged three cents for this, sonny ? " 
 and he brought the paper forward to look at it. 
 
 " Aw ! I was only kiddin' ! " cried the boy. 
 " I thought you were asleep, and dreamin', 
 mister. D' you want the p'yper ? " 
 
 " I don't know but I'll take it, seeing you've 
 had so much trouble," said the captain, draw- 
 ing two pennies from a pocket which jingled 
 whenever his finger touched it. " Is this your 
 corner ? I'm a stranger here, and bent on en- 
 larging my acquaintance." 
 
 " Sure, this is my reg'lar place," said the boy. 
 " You're a professor or something, ain't you ? " 
 
 " I reckon I'm something," said Captain 
 Bold, " but you see if you can't make a better 
 guess next time. There's a man across the 
 street trying to hail you." 
 
 The boy ran to his next customer and the 
 81
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 captain moved on, but his hand went up to his 
 jaw and lingered there, while an expression of 
 discomfort crossed his face. 
 
 " My old silver tooth's setting in for a grum- 
 bling spell, true as you live!" he muttered. 
 " And I swore next time she began to act I'd 
 have the old filling hauled out and see where 
 the trouble is. I'll wager 'twas those good 
 chocolate creams that played the mischief with 
 her. Well, now what's to be done ? If she 
 doesn't quiet down inside of five minutes I'll go 
 to the nearest dentist ; yes, sir, that's what I'll 
 do. I'm not intending to have my visit spoiled 
 right from the start by any lack of courage on 
 my partj and if Doc Ransom wanted to keep 
 my mouth work he ought to have used his in- 
 fluence on the drinking fountain vote. Ugh ! 
 there she goes, tuning up livelier than ever." 
 
 In a few minutes the captain's expression had 
 altered so that little Peggy, his latest friend, 
 would scarcely have recognized him. He 
 walked disconsolately along, trying to imagine 
 that the trouble grew less, but knowing full 
 well that it rather waxed than waned. 
 82
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 " Whew ! " he muttered at last, his optimism 
 conquered and overthrown by a pain which 
 seemed to dance along his jaw, stabbing more 
 deeply with every step. " I can't stand this 1 " 
 
 He stood for a moment perfectly still, his 
 gaze fixed, unseeing, on a row of gilt names on 
 a big black board at the entrance of a tall 
 building. Suddenly, in the midst of a vicious 
 stab of pain, he became aware that he was star- 
 ing straight at a name which might help him to 
 the comfort he sorely needed. 
 
 " Dental Studio, Kobert Warner, D. M. D.," 
 he read twice, and then throwing back his head 
 he entered the building and crossed to the 
 elevator. 
 
 " Business seems to be pretty slack with you," 
 he said to the elevator boy, who rose in a 
 leisurely manner from the seat on which he had 
 been lounging, a newspaper in his hand. " I'm 
 thinking of making a visit to Kobert Warner 
 D. M. D.'s Dental Studio, to let him take a look 
 at one of my teeth. Do you know anything 
 about him ? Does he have much practice ? " 
 
 " Couldn't tell you," said the boy, his hand on 
 83
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 the door as if, having been disturbed, he was 
 eager to be off. " He's been here only a few 
 days. Better take a look at him yourself. 
 Got a nice office." 
 
 " I don't care what kind of an office he has," 
 growled the captain, rendered savage by inces- 
 sant stabbing at his jaw. " Take me up there, 
 quick as you can." 
 
 The boy slammed the door, and the car shot 
 up, coming to a stop with a jar just before the 
 roof was reached. 
 
 " Third door to your left," said the boy and 
 the captain staggered out, clasping his anguished 
 jaw. 
 
 The third door to the left proved to be ajar, 
 and facing it sat a young man with a boyish, 
 good-humored face. He sprang to his feet as 
 the captain crossed the threshold, and the suf- 
 ferer noted with a measure of satisfaction even 
 in his pain that the dentist did not smile. 
 
 " What can I do for you, sir ? " he asked 
 solicitously. 
 
 " I don't know yet," mumbled the captain, 
 as if afraid really to open his mouth. " My old 
 84
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 silver tooth has tuned up within fifteen minutes 
 and she's going it Ouch ! " 
 
 His face twisted with pain, and his eyes in- 
 voluntarily closed. 
 
 " This way, sir, please," said the kind young 
 voice, and the captain found himself relieved of 
 his hat and coat, guided toward a chair and 
 tilted backward with a gentle request to open 
 his mouth. 
 
 " I see," remarked Koger Warner, D. M. D., 
 as the captain's right index finger pointed out 
 the source of his anguish. " And yes, I think 
 we can relieve that pressure without much 
 trouble." 
 
 A moment's search for the right instrument 
 while the captain held tight to the arms of the 
 chair, another moment of pain and then re- 
 lief. 
 
 " Jiminy ! " cried the captain. " You've 
 stopped her ! What have you done ? You're 
 a wizard, man ! " 
 
 "No," said Dr. Warner, and that time he 
 permitted himself a smile with which his grate- 
 ful patient was in no mood to find fault. " I've 
 85
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 only chipped off an edge of the silver which 
 had worked away from the gum just enough to 
 make a neat niche for such a bit of sweet as 
 this little sliver of chocolate," and he displayed 
 the mischief maker to the captain. " That was 
 pressing on a sensitive spot." 
 
 " Well, is she safe now, or is there more that 
 needs doing to make her all right ? " questioned 
 the captain. 
 
 The young man hesitated and colored. 
 
 " Why I think your dentist will probably 
 suggest a new filling when you go to him, and 
 I'd go before very long if I were you," he said 
 turning to his case of instruments. " I suppose 
 you don't live here, from your coming to me 
 to-day." 
 
 The captain's relief was so great that his face 
 fairly beamed. 
 
 "I guess there are other ways you'd have 
 known I don't belong in the city," he said. 
 " But I'm going to be here some time, I don't 
 know just how long. I came away from home 
 dissatisfied with things and folks there, and 
 I'm trying city ways and folks for a while. If 
 86
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 you'd like to tackle my mouth work, do what- 
 ever needs to be done, why, go ahead. Look 
 me over this morning I don't know as I'd 
 want anything done to-day, but you can start 
 in to-morrow if you like. I'll have plenty of 
 time on my hands. My name is Gideon Bold, 
 Captain Gideon Bold, if you want it all, and 
 I'm boarding at Mrs. Kose Tippett's, 385 Wal- 
 nut Street. I came yesterday." 
 
 " I happen to know two people who live 
 there," said Dr. Warner. " One is Jack Sever- 
 ance, a classmate in college. Have you seen 
 him ? " 
 
 " Seen him ? Why, we walked along together 
 this morning," said the captain, " and last night 
 we went to one of Shakespeare's plays 'As 
 You Like It.' Have you ever happened to see 
 it ? Have ? Well, aren't there two as nice 
 girls as ever you laid your eyes on in that 
 play ? But Rosalind is the one I'd choose 
 every time." 
 
 The young man laughed and agreed with him. 
 
 " But you and Jack must have made great 
 strides in friendship," he said, evidently 
 87
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 amused. "He's apt to be slow in starting 
 out with people." 
 
 The captain put his head on one side and 
 looked at the young man with much the air 
 of a wise, bright-eyed robin. 
 
 "There's more to that than just what ap- 
 pears," he said cautiously. " Did you ever 
 have you ever heard Mr. Severance speak of 
 any young ladies he knows ? " 
 
 " Dozens of them," said Dr. "Warner promptly. 
 " But I suppose you mean Kuth Temple, don't 
 you ? She's my cousin." 
 
 " I want to know ! " and the captain held 
 out his hand and wrung the young man's 
 fingers. " Well, she's as pretty a little piece of 
 goods as you'd see in a day's journey, and 
 she's got that friend o' yours so he hardly 
 knows which end he's walking on. He set 
 out to take her to the play last night, but she 
 fixed it so I was the one he took. She and I 
 sit next each other at table, and I reckon we're 
 going to be the best o' friends before we get 
 through. We shall be if I have my way." 
 
 "You'll be friends," said the young man 
 88
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 with conviction. " And you and Jack will be, 
 too. He's a fine fellow. I've been engaged to 
 his cousin, Jean Severance, for about a year." 
 
 " Engaged a year ! Why in the world 
 haven't you got married?" and then, remem- 
 bering he was not at home in Felling, Vermont, 
 the captain clapped a hand over his mouth. 
 " Excuse me. It's none of my business," he 
 muttered from behind his fingers. 
 
 But although young Warner's brows were 
 drawn together it seemed that he had no 
 quarrel with the captain's words, only impa- 
 tience with the circumstances that had beset his 
 wooing and now delayed his marriage. 
 
 " The Severances all have money," he said, 
 " and Jean and I both think I ought to prove 
 we can live independently, not fall back on our 
 fathers. But we couldn't live on what I've 
 earned since I graduated from the Dental 
 School last year so we're waiting." 
 
 " I see," said the captain. " Well, that's all 
 right." 
 
 " It's all right in theory," and Dr. Warner 
 frowned thoughtfully, " but it isn't working 
 89
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 out well. I can't drag people in here by the 
 hair. I moved here because this building is in 
 the centre of the shopping district, and women 
 with children like to leave them at the dentist's 
 while they shop. I had pretty good luck with 
 children at the school charity patients, but 
 I've had just exactly two youngsters over my 
 threshold since I set up practice for myself." 
 
 " So-o," said the captain, rubbing his chin as 
 his gaze traveled the room. " I see you have 
 some picture books for the children to look at. 
 "While they wait ? Oh, I should have supposed 
 you propped 'em up on that window ledge, 
 open, while you worked and turned a page 
 now and again. You try it." 
 
 The young man looked at him with growing 
 interest. 
 
 "That's a first-rate idea," he said. "You 
 like children, don't you ? " 
 
 "Doesn't everybody like 'em?" challenged 
 the captain. " I pity anybody that doesn't, if 
 there are any such. I like 'em all sizes and 
 kinds, clean or dirty. That's the way they 
 run in Felling, Yermont and everywhere else." 
 90
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 The captain's " mouth -work " had been 
 mapped out, and he was bidding the young 
 dentist good-bye when another idea came to him. 
 
 " There's something I'd like to have you 
 see," he said eagerly. " When I get through 
 my appointment to-morrow could you spare a 
 few minutes to go with me to a little shop 
 quite near to see a a kind of a device that 
 might interest you ? " 
 
 For answer Dr. Warner turned toward his 
 new patient a page perfectly blank save for a 
 space on which was inscribed, " Captain Gideon 
 Bold, 10 to 11 A. M." 
 
 "Looks as if you could," said the captain 
 gravely. " Good ! And I'll write Cousin Ma- 
 rilla about shipping down some of my maple- 
 sugar as soon as it's ready. There never was 
 a child born that didn't love Vermont maple- 
 sugar. Good-day to you."
 
 -5^ 
 
 CHAPTER VII Vj 
 
 WHEN the company met at dinner that 
 night it seemed natural to the captain 
 to expect that every one of Mrs. Rose Tippett's 
 boarders would be as eager to hear the story 
 of his first day in the city as he was to tell it. 
 In Polling, Vermont, the first impressions of 
 a newcomer were sought and valued. "No 
 doubt," thought the captain, "they'll all be 
 waiting to hear what I have to say." 
 
 But his high hopes were doomed to perish. 
 His long letter to Cousin Marilla containing 
 original abbreviations which after causing her 
 a blinding headache still remained riddles had 
 been written and dispatched ; he dressed for 
 dinner in the shirt over the front of which 
 Maggie had labored with a heavy and practiced 
 92
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 hand, and descended the stairs to the sound of 
 feminine voices interspersed with mutterings 
 which he rightly surmised to be issuing from 
 the throat of the irate Mr. Farnham. As the 
 captain entered the dining-room these mutter- 
 ings changed to an articulate growl. 
 
 " They ought to be spanked and put to bed, 
 every one of them," were the words which 
 greeted the captain, and as Mr. Farnham ut- 
 tered them he glared first at Miss Rawson sit- 
 ting beside him, very erect with a brilliant spot 
 on each cheek-bone, and then across the table 
 and down to Mrs. Hitchings' martial figure ; on 
 its way his gaze took in Mrs. Damon, who ap- 
 peared to be on the verge of tears. 
 
 " May I ask, sir, if you would have the same 
 rule apply to men who were endeavoring to 
 obtain their just rights ? " inquired Mrs. Hitch- 
 ings in an ominous tone. 
 
 " Men never, to my knowledge, have shown 
 themselves to be that particular kind of fool," 
 growled Mr. Farnham, transferring his atten- 
 tion to his soup, which he regarded with a 
 blighting gaze. 
 
 93
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 The captain slipped into his seat, his cheer- 
 ful " Good-evening, friends," unanswered save 
 by Mrs. Tippett who smiled and murmured 
 some words which were drowned in a burst of 
 eloquence from Mrs. Hitchings. 
 
 " What's happened now, ma'am ? " the captain 
 asked desperately, at last, of Miss Kawson, for 
 Ruth Temple was not in her seat. " I haven't read 
 the papers to-day, I've been so busy otherwise." 
 
 " I can hardly conceive of such a thing in 
 these days when events are crowding so thick 
 and fast upon us," and Miss Rawson turned a 
 condemnatory look upon her genial neighbor. 
 " I feel that two papers a day are scarcely suf- 
 ficient to keep me in touch with affairs here 
 and in England. Mr. Farnham is pleased to 
 refer in terms of contempt to the latest won- 
 derful demonstration of our militant sisters 
 across the water." 
 
 " Oh, well now, that's too bad," said the cap- 
 tain, trying to maintain a serious air in spite of 
 his remembrance of Mr. Farnham's words. " I 
 think, ma'am, it's 'most all the fault of the men, 
 when you come right down to it." 
 94
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 " Ah ! " breathed Miss Kawson, with an air 
 of triumph. " You see that point, man though 
 you are." 
 
 " Why, yes," said the captain apologetically, 
 " I can't help seeing it, ma'am. If the fathers 
 and husbands and brothers and so on of those 
 poor deluded ladies had treated them right, 
 made home pleasant for them, given them a 
 good share of their earnings and, generally 
 speaking, cosseted them up, they wouldn't be 
 out smashing windows and setting fire to mail- 
 boxes and so on ; stands to reason they don't 
 lilce doing that kind of thing. Women are 
 meant to be more gentle and clinging, and so 
 they generally are if treated right." 
 
 "What!" boomed Mrs. Hitchings. "Do I 
 strike you as a clinging person, Captain Bold ? " 
 
 " No, ma'am," returned the captain promptly. 
 " You certainly do not. But there are excep- 
 tions to that rule as well as all others. And 
 even you, ma'am," gaining courage as he spoke, 
 " even you don't look to me as if you'd set fire 
 to a mail-box not on purpose, that is." 
 
 There was a moment of silence, at the end of 
 95
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 which Mrs. Hitchings removed her gaze from 
 the captain and spoke, not to him. 
 
 " May I ask what you have to offer us in the 
 way of meat this evening, Mrs. Tippett ? " 
 
 The captain noted that her eyes were fastened 
 on the waitress, who had stood open-mouthed 
 listening to the conversation with which later 
 on she would be expected to regale her asso- 
 ciates below stairs. At Mrs. Hitchings' ques- 
 tion she hastily advanced on that lady, seized 
 the plate on which was left no scrap to show 
 that it had held a noble portion of fish, and 
 bore it to the butler's pantry. 
 
 " I think it will be necessary for you to speak 
 to Amanda," Mrs. Hitchings said sepulchrally, 
 turning toward Mrs. Tippett, but her voice 
 carried its message to Amanda, whose back at 
 once became aggressive. 
 
 "Yes, yes, I will." Mrs. Tippett's delicate 
 eyebrows lifted and she looked distressed. 
 
 It was evident that Amanda's belligerence 
 
 was all for Mrs. Hitchings, for the captain 
 
 noted that when she served his mistress, last 
 
 of all, the girl's big hard hand touched the 
 
 96
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 slender one, and, as if by chance, gave it a 
 little pat. 
 
 "Plague take that Hitchings woman; she 
 ought to be the head of a reformatory instead 
 of set down in the midst of a place like this," 
 and the captain's wrath began to rise. " Tak- 
 ing away the poor little lady's appetite, remind- 
 ing her of all the unpleasant things she's got to 
 do ; and stirring up the other boarders till they 
 get almost violent in their talk. I don't know 
 but I'll have to tackle her myself." 
 
 The captain's digestion was perfect ; had it 
 not been he might well have deemed it wise to 
 eat little that evening. The talk ran from one 
 troubled channel into another, and no one 
 seemed to be in the best humor or disposed to 
 make allowances for the opinion of any one 
 else. Miss Rawson fought with Mr. Corcoran 
 over the recent failure of a banker of whom 
 she had never even heard previous to her 
 perusal of the evening paper, but with the 
 details of whose career she felt herself much 
 better fitted to deal than Mr. Corcoran, who 
 had known him since boyhood. 
 97
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 Mr. Farnham attacked Mrs. Damon on the 
 subject of equal suffrage, beating her best argu- 
 ments to the ground with sledge-hammer state- 
 ments which caused her glittering pendant to 
 vibrate wildly more than once, and ended in 
 her leaving the table with the murmured ex- 
 cuse of a headache. Thereupon Mrs. Hitch- 
 ings moved up to her place and began a series 
 of whispered commands to Mrs. Tippett which 
 quickly put an end to whatever joy she might 
 have been taking in a delicious pudding. 
 
 Young Severance came in late, glanced across 
 the table at Miss Temple's vacant place, and 
 after a nod to the captain, attended strictly to 
 what was set before him. 
 
 "Looks almost savage with his jaw that 
 way," reflected the captain who, while war 
 was being waged across him between Miss 
 Rawson and the banker, had no chance to 
 speak. " And there goes Farnham, looking as 
 if all his milk had been spilt and there wasn't 
 another drop ever coming his way. Well, 
 Gid Bold, I reckon the sooner you get out of 
 this and connect with William Shakespeare's 
 98
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 'Romeo and Juliet,' the better it'll be for 
 you." 
 
 Whether it was partly the lack of compan- 
 ionship or entirely owing to the difference be- 
 tween the two plays, the captain was not quite 
 equal to determine, but at all events he much 
 preferred " As You Like It " to the story of 
 the luckless lovers. As he walked home alone 
 he shook himself half a dozen times as if he would 
 rid his shoulders of an unwelcome burden. 
 
 "Think of that pretty, gay little Rosalind 
 turning into that Juliet ! " he muttered. " I'd go 
 to-morrow night, just to take the taste out o' 
 my mouth if for nothing else. ' Winter's Tale ' 
 is another cheerful one. You're getting too 
 old for tragedies, Gid." 
 
 The next morning when he went down to 
 breakfast Jack Severance was already there 
 so full of good spirits that the captain cast a 
 side glance toward the chair at his left, empty, 
 but slightly pushed back, showing that it had 
 been lately occupied. 
 
 " Miss Temple was awfully early this morn- 
 ing," volunteered young Severance, ingenuously, 
 99
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 his eyes meeting the captain's which had re- 
 turned from their quizzical inspection of the 
 empty chair. " She told me last evening she'd 
 have to be off in good season, to meet one of 
 her mothers." 
 
 " One of her mothers ? " repeated the captain. 
 
 " I mean the mother of one of her pupils," 
 laughed young Severance, to whose lips laughter 
 was ready to come at a moment's notice that 
 morning. " She told me about it last evening. 
 She wasn't at dinner, perhaps you noticed." 
 
 " Yes," assented the captain drily, " I noticed 
 that and a number of other things." 
 
 The young man glanced at him, colored and 
 lowered his voice, although Mrs. Tippett was 
 talking to Mrs. Damon, and there was no one 
 else in the room. 
 
 " I was surprised at first," he said, " because 
 we had a tentative engagement for the evening, 
 and I thought she'd forgotten it. But she 
 hadn't. She had to take home one of her 
 pupils who was ill, and the parents made her 
 stay to dinner, and she went from their house to 
 a meeting she'd told me about." 
 100
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 "Too bad," said the captain. "I knew 
 something had gone wrong." 
 
 "But she telephoned me," Jack Severance 
 went on, " and I met her and brought her home, 
 and then she played to me up in her little sit- 
 ting-room. She plays like well, I don't know 
 a thing about the piano, really, I can just drum 
 with one finger but I'd rather hear her play 
 than Paderewski. She doesn't like to have me 
 say so, but it's the truth." 
 
 " Does she play any of the old songs ? " asked 
 the captain. 
 
 " Indeed she does, and all the new ones if 
 you ask her to," said Jack Severance. " And 
 you take her to an opera and she can play you 
 all the airs next day." 
 
 " I'll be delighted to," said the captain in- 
 genuously. " I'd like nothing better." 
 
 " Oh, well, what I meant was " stammered the 
 young man while the captain bent a grave face on 
 the smelt which seemed loth to part from its bones 
 "what I meant was when anybody takes her." 
 
 " Why, yes," the captain's tone was innocence 
 itself, " that's what I supposed you meant. 
 101
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 Well, I'm anybody, and I'll take her the very 
 first night she'll go, when I've finished with 
 William Shakespeare ; and I'll ask Mrs. Tippett 
 to go along. 'Twouldn't do her a bit of harm. If 
 you didn't happen to have anything special to do 
 you might join us. My party, you understand." 
 
 " I'll see that I don't have anything else to 
 do when that party comes off," said Jack Sever- 
 ance. " I'll be right on hand, sir." 
 
 " Well and good," said the captain. " And af- 
 terward, when she's played me the airs, I'll give 
 you my opinion of her musical talent. Now if 
 there's anything left of this pesky little fish I'd 
 better start in eating it before it's stone cold." 
 
 102
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 ALONG the main street of Felling, Ver. 
 mont, there strode a determined figure. 
 Seeing the strong face and the swinging gait of 
 Miss Marilla Bold there is no doubt that Mrs. 
 Hitchings would at once have claimed her for a 
 kindred soul ; there, however, she would have 
 made a grave mistake. 
 
 " I'm not saying I haven't sympathy for the 
 
 suffrage party," Miss Marilla had stated to the 
 
 new minister's wife when questioned anxiously 
 
 as to her views ; " and I'm not prepared to say 
 
 103
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 I'm an out and out anti ; all I say is they're 
 making too much fuss about it on both sides. 
 You let 'em keep house for a man like Cousin 
 Gid, and attend to all the things that none but 
 the women can attend to, and where they're 
 going to squeeze in the time for politics is more 
 than I can see. Cousin Gid wrote me in his 
 letter yesterday that he's right in a hot-bed of 
 contention over women's rights and wrongs. 
 Well, I guess he can be trusted to keep out of 
 it. He's a real tactful man." 
 
 The new minister's wife had agreed, although 
 the evidences of Captain Gid's tact were not so 
 clear to her as they might have been. She 
 thought of him, in the recesses of her soul, as a 
 hot-tempered, impulsive man who had stamped 
 out of town before the new minister was fairly 
 settled, leaving a large hole in the weekly col- 
 lections which no one else seemed disposed to 
 fill. 
 
 As Miss Marilla strode along she smiled to see 
 approaching her a plump over-dressed woman 
 whose face was slightly flushed. 
 
 " Now for it ! " she told herself. " She's got 
 104
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 me this time. Clear road and no escape for me. 
 She's been looking for just this chance. Trust 
 the Widow Mason ! " 
 
 A moment later they were shaking hands 
 with every evidence of cordiality, although if 
 Captain Gid had been present at the meeting he 
 would have recognized a certain quality in his 
 Cousin Manila's smile which always made him 
 uneasy. 
 
 " And what do you hear from the traveler ? " 
 asked the plump woman when the weather had 
 been thoroughly discussed. 
 
 " Traveler ? Oh, you mean Cousin Gid," said 
 Miss Marilla with an air of sudden enlighten- 
 ment. " I hadn't thought of him as a traveler 
 because he's staying right in one spot, that is 
 to say in one city ; though I'm bound to admit 
 he seems to be going about there more than I 
 ever supposed he would. Get him home here 
 in Felling with a good book and a pair of easy 
 shoes, and I defy anybody to stir him out of an 
 evening unless it's for something connected with 
 the welfare of the town. I've often said to him, 
 * Cousin Gid, why not step around to so-and-so's 
 105
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 this evening ? ' I've felt he was settling down 
 too early in life, but land ! I needn't have 
 worried, by what he writes me and what he 
 doesn't write," she added after a slight but 
 noticeable pause. 
 
 " Has he made friends in the city ? " asked 
 Mrs. Mason anxiously. "I shouldn't suppose 
 he'd know anybody very well yet, short time 
 as he's been gone. But you never can tell 
 about men," and she gave a heavy sigh and 
 waited. 
 
 " Bless you, he doesn't have to go outside 
 the doors of the house where he's boarding to 
 find friends ready to hand," said Miss Marilla 
 briskly. " There's a young man he's taken a 
 great fancy to, and they've been to the theatre 
 together and some other places; and there's 
 a pretty young teacher you know Cousin 
 Gid having been on the school-board so much 
 he's always interested in teachers. This one 
 sits next him at table, and I should judge he's 
 all carried away with her. He says she has 
 the sweetest voice and sunshiniest smile that 
 ever he's heard and seen. Then there are two, 
 106
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 three other women, nearer his own age, but 
 years never make any difference to him, and a 
 couple of older men." 
 
 Miss Marilla paused, adjusted her bag on her 
 arm and made a movement as if she were about 
 to say " Good-bye." She looked at Mrs. Mason 
 with the smile which had been known to confuse 
 her cousin, and the plump widow looked at her. 
 
 " Has he said anything special about the one 
 who runs the house ? " asked Mrs. Mason, al- 
 lowing her eyes to wander beyond Miss Marilla 
 and rest on a picket fence which offered noth- 
 ing of interest to the casual observer. 
 
 Miss Marilla turned and looked at the fence 
 herself. 
 
 " I didn't know but you'd sighted a new kind 
 of bird, you seemed so interested," she said 
 easily. "No, I don't remember that he's 
 written anything special about her, not any- 
 thing very special, that is." 
 
 " Probably she's like the general run of those 
 who keep boarding-houses," said the widow after 
 another pause, during which her eyes and those 
 of Miss Marilla had met and held each other. 
 107
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 "Very likely," and now Miss Marilla was 
 without doubt ready to move on. " Well, any 
 time you feel like it just drop up the hill to see 
 me. You haven't been there for why, you 
 haven't been there since Cousin Gid went away, 
 and you used to be real sociable ; but there, you 
 probably have a lot of things to do, same as I 
 have, and the days slip away before we know 
 it. You come when it seems best; good-bye. 
 I'm on my way to the post-office." 
 
 " There," said Miss Marilla to herself as she 
 started briskly along, " I guess I've fixed her ! 
 I'll wager she'll come panting up the hill to- 
 morrow afternoon rather'n give me a chance to 
 write Cousin Gid what I might. But I never 
 saw anything like her for going right to the 
 root of the matter. I know and she knows, 
 and she knows that I know that the only per- 
 son she need be afraid of undermining her 
 chances is Mrs. Rose Tippett. She's talked 
 with old Asa Dean and Mrs. Gaynes and the 
 minister's wife and she's pieced everything to- 
 gether all neat and ready for use. She got the 
 address out of Eddy Foss's mother first thing 
 108
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 and for all I know she may have written Cousin 
 Gid half a dozen times already. Much good 
 it'll do her. I know the signs, and Cousin Gid 
 is showing 'em plain ! " 
 
 The letter which Miss Marilla posted to her 
 cousin contained no reference to Mrs. Kose Tip- 
 pett until the very end. It held quite a lengthy 
 dissertation, however, on the love affairs of Kuth 
 Temple and Jack Severance. The captain 
 pondered over the sentences, whistling under 
 his breath. 
 
 " The trouble with that pretty girl is she's 
 too sure of him," wrote Miss Marilla. " She 
 thinks she can keep on with her teaching till 
 she's good and ready to stop, meanwhile mak- 
 ing him over by degrees, and then if she hasn't 
 seen somebody else she likes better and she 
 won't she'll marry him. That's the way girls 
 are made. And the only thing for him to do 
 is to get her just a mite jealous. It's all very 
 well for the folks that write books to talk 
 about not brushing off the bloom, and leaving 
 the ' sweet unconscious, half -awakened love ' to 
 find itself ; there's nothing like another girl to 
 109
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 help out. You tell Mr. Severance that with 
 my compliments. And you give rny respects 
 to Mrs. Rose Tippett and tell her that I'm real 
 grateful to her for making things so pleasant 
 for you. Take a woman of her age I judge 
 she's in her early thirties by what you said in 
 your first letter and she can be agreeable to a 
 man twenty years older than she is without ex- 
 citing any remarks. I expect she looks on you 
 as real elderly, same as I should have at her 
 time of life, and takes solid comfort in having 
 a settled old bachelor like you in the house." 
 
 Miss Marilla had read these closing sentences 
 twice over before she sealed her letter. She 
 regarded them at the time as a masterpiece of 
 art and suggestion and when she slipped the 
 letter into the slit at the post-office after her en- 
 counter with the Widow Mason she felt a tingle 
 of pride and satisfaction. " I did that pretty 
 well," she thought, nodding to the post-mistress, 
 "pretty well and I expect to see my words 
 bear fruit. There isn't a man in this world but 
 what thinks he can manage his affairs without 
 any help, and there isn't one out of a thousand 
 110
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 of 'em but what has to be guided and prodded 
 and boosted up to what's designed for him by 
 Providence. I may have to follow up that let- 
 ter by a good deal else, but it'll let a little light 
 in on Cousin Gid, if I'm not mistaken." 
 
 -e 
 
 111
 
 CHAPTER 
 IX 
 
 IT was about two weeks later that, going down 
 to breakfast rather tired after an evening 
 with "King Lear" and a night of confused 
 dreams, Captain Bold received a smile of wel- 
 come from his pretty neighbor. 
 
 "Well, there, I didn't know as I was ever 
 going to see you again," said the captain. " Just 
 as soon shake hands with me ? Thank you. 
 Now this day's beginning right. Isn't examina- 
 tion time 'most over ? " 
 
 " It's quite over for the present," laughed 
 
 Ruth Temple, " and I've gone the rounds of the 
 
 parents for luncheons and dinners, too. This is 
 
 the season of the year when each one wishes to 
 
 112
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 explain to me exactly why her child shouldn't 
 be judged by the result of examinations. It's 
 all very funny. Twice this week I've heard 
 about you, Captain Bold." 
 
 " I want to know," and the captain beamed. 
 " Let's see if I can guess. Been having the 
 toothache lately ? " 
 
 "No," she shook her head gaily. "But I 
 met my cousin on the street yesterday, so one 
 of your guesses is right. He says you've laid 
 the corner stone of his fortune ; gratitude and 
 joy were written all over him." 
 
 " Pshaw ! " but the captain looked as if this 
 were pleasant news. " Have you seen his squir- 
 rel ? I'll wager you never saw anything better 
 calculated to please little folks than that is." 
 
 " I haven't seen it, but two of my pupils 
 have," said Miss Temple ; " and they are per- 
 fectly wild over it. One of them begged Rob- 
 ert to tell her mother she needed to have an- 
 other tooth filled, so she might go again." 
 
 "That's good news," said the captain. "I 
 like your cousin first-rate. He's talked to me 
 sort of confidential seeing what a regular old 
 113
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 countryman I am and he's made me feel at 
 home ; same as Mr. Severance has," and the 
 captain's sidelong glance noted with joy a faint 
 blush. " I'm expecting we'll be real intimate 
 soon. Who was the other person that knew 
 me?" 
 
 " It was two other people," said Miss Temple, 
 as she pressed her napkin into its ring. " Miss 
 Letty Grace and little Peggy Townsend. You 
 seem to be making a good many firm friends in 
 a very short time, Captain Bold. I thank you 
 for the delightful footstool I found under my 
 desk last night," she added as she rose from the 
 table. " Mrs. Tippett told me who made it, and 
 it's exactly the right size and height." 
 
 " 'Twasn't anything to do ; didn't take but a 
 few minutes," asserted the captain, beaming up 
 at her. " I told Mrs. Tippett I wished she'd let 
 me putter round a bit in the attic, see if there's 
 any little job of mending I could find to do, and 
 she'd happened to mention she must get you 
 some kind of a footstool ; the materials were to 
 hand, so I begged the privilege. 'Tisn't worth 
 speaking of." 
 
 114
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 " Oh, yes it is," said Miss Temple, shaking her 
 pretty head. " Don't belittle your work, sir. 
 Perhaps you'll come up some evening and see 
 how it looks." 
 
 " I'd like nothing better," said the captain 
 heartily. " And while I think of it, will you go 
 hear that new opera (I don't dare to pronounce 
 it) with me some evening next week? I'm 
 going to ask Mrs. Tippett and Mr. Severance. 
 You will ? That's first-rate." 
 
 " What in the world do you find to smile at 
 on a morning like this, and at this time in the 
 morning into the bargain ? " demanded Mr. 
 Farnham, as he entered. " That girl's al- 
 ways laughing, to be sure; but she's young, 
 while you must be fully as old as I am." 
 
 " I reckon I'm older," answered the captain 
 placidly. " At any rate I'm old enough to have 
 learned that there's no more need of biting folks' 
 heads off at half-past eight in the morning than 
 at ten o'clock at night. What's brought you 
 out of bed so early, friend ? " 
 
 " Farnham doesn't like to be called a friend 
 before noon," said Mr. Corcoran who entered 
 115
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 the room at the moment. "He feels much 
 more like an enemy." 
 
 " I think I have never asked you to interpret 
 my feelings, Mr. Corcoran," came from between 
 thin, unsmiling lips. 
 
 "It isn't necessary, that's a fact," laughed 
 the broker ; " anybody could read 'em with one 
 eye. Come along, Farnham, cheer up. A 
 rainy morning like this we need every little 
 ray of sunshine we can get. You be a little 
 ray for us, there's a good fellow." 
 
 There was no reply save a scowl on the sallow 
 face, and a quickly suppressed chuckle from the 
 captain, who finished his breakfast in the best 
 of humors, and then walked into the parlor to 
 look out of the window and watch for the post- 
 man. This was one of his morning pleasures 
 when it so happened that Mrs. Hitchings had 
 not forestalled him, as unfortunately she had 
 done more than once. Her method was not 
 that pursued by Captain Bold, whose custom it 
 was to stand in the window, between widely 
 parted curtains, well in view of the passers-by. 
 
 Mrs. Hitchings arranged a loophole through 
 116
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 which she might see but could not be seen, and 
 seated herself at some distance from the win- 
 dow. From this vantage ground, fully dressed 
 for going out, she now greeted the captain. 
 
 " The postman is late," she stated in the deep 
 voice to which he had not yet grown accus- 
 tomed ; when it boomed at him from the dusk 
 of the telephone closet one day he had jumped 
 and cried " Bless my soul ! " which was far 
 from pleasing to Mrs. Hitchings. 
 
 " Yes, ma'am, he seems to be," said the cap- 
 tain, retreating to the farther end of the room 
 and taking up a large red book full of " Types 
 of American Beauty." 
 
 " It is no question of seeming," the deep voice 
 corrected and reproved him,; " it is a question of 
 fact." 
 
 " Yes, ma'am, I presume you're just about 
 right," admitted her victim. 
 
 " I never permit myself to be ' just about 
 right,' " returned Mrs. Hitchings in majestic 
 disapproval. " I wish to be, and am, in small 
 matters as in great ones, exact, sir." 
 
 The captain fled out into the hall. 
 117
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 " I wouldn't live with that woman, not for 
 all you could give me," he muttered, as he hur- 
 ried up-stairs. " I'll bet poor old Hitchings 
 was glad to go to wherever he went. Noth- 
 ing could be worse than being tied for life to a 
 woman that picks on you, manners, language, 
 opinions and all, day in and day out, setting 
 you right every few minutes." 
 
 At the head of the stairs he hesitated, for the 
 sound of Maggie's voice, singing as she plied 
 the carpet-sweeper, came to him from his own 
 room. 
 
 " I declare, I don't know where to go," said 
 the captain disconsolately. " I don't see what 
 possessed me not to have that young Warner 
 give me an appointment this morning. I feel 
 lost without it; and little Peggy having told 
 me she was going on a visit with her mother, 
 there doesn't seem to be any good excuse for 
 my trudging out in the rain to Miss Letty's. I 
 believe I'll go up attic and look around ; see if 
 there isn't something I could mend." 
 
 As he hesitated, he heard the sharp slap of 
 the letter box lid, and turning, saw half a dozen 
 118
 
 CAFN GH> 
 
 letters shoot through the slit and down to the 
 hall floor. He descended the stairs briskly, but 
 Mrs. Hitchings was there before him. 
 
 "One for Mrs. Damon, from her husband," 
 she said. "I will lay it here on the slab, as 
 Mrs. Damon is dressing to go with me to the 
 State House. One for Miss Kawson, who has. 
 already gone. I will leave that here, also. 
 Two for me, one for you, Captain Bold, and 
 one for Mrs. Tippett." 
 
 She looked at the last letter very closely, ex- 
 amining its stamp and address with a keen 
 scrutiny which the captain resented. 
 
 " I think I will " she began slowly, but 
 
 at that moment Mrs. Damon came hurrying 
 down the stairs. 
 
 " I'm so sorry to be late," she panted, " but 
 it's just one of the mornings when everything 
 goes on wrong, and nothing will fasten, and 
 three times I've caught my hair on hooks ! " 
 
 " You do not allow yourself sufficient time," 
 said Mrs. Hitchings, unmoved by this tale of 
 trial, her eyes still on the letter in her hands. 
 
 " Is there any mail for me ? " inquired Mrs. 
 119
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 Damon, and the captain noted with satisfaction 
 that she cast a covertly rebellious look at her 
 martial friend. 
 
 " Feels just about the way I do," he thought, 
 as Mrs. Damon received her letter and stuffed 
 it into her bag, clicking it shut with a snap. 
 
 "I will place the letter for Mrs. Tippett 
 here," and reluctantly Mrs. Hitchings laid it 
 down. " She is very busy this morning, and 
 doubtless would not spare the time to read it, 
 if I were to ring for Amanda to take it to her. 
 Good-morning, Captain Bold ; I trust you will 
 pass a profitable day." 
 
 "Well, now, it's nothing to you, marm, 
 whether I do or don't," muttered the captain 
 as the door closed, shutting out his view of 
 the two intrepid women, setting forth in an 
 easterly storm. " I'm going to ring that bell 
 for Amanda myself. No reason Mrs. Tippett 
 shouldn't have her letter and decide whether 
 she wants to take time to read it or not." 
 
 When Amanda appeared the captain had a 
 sudden thought quite worthy of his name. 
 
 " I'm going up attic," he said. " I'll take it 
 120
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 to her and save you the stairs if you will tell 
 me where she is." 
 
 " She is in the linen room, beside the attic," 
 said Amanda gratefully. "And I give you 
 thanks for taking it. You are a kind man. I 
 will go again to my dishes, that are never 
 ended in this house. The door of the linen 
 room will be open." 
 
 Up three flights of stairs trudged the captain, 
 pausing at the head of the last one to give a 
 loud cough. A slight rustling sound accom- 
 panied by soft humming ceased as he coughed. 
 
 " I have a letter for you," said the captain, 
 advancing to the door of the linen .room which 
 stood wide open as Amanda had prophesied. 
 
 Mrs. Tippett was seated in a low rocking- 
 chair; strewn about her were sheets and 
 towels, while on her lap were pillow-cases 
 which she was measuring to be sure that she 
 matched them in pairs. Her hair was slightly 
 disordered ; there were some little waving ten- 
 drils and soft curls of which Mrs. Hitchings 
 would have sternly disapproved, but the cap- 
 tain regarded them with pleasure. In his eyes 
 121
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 Mrs. Rose Tippett with a faint color in her 
 cheeks, and slightly roughened hair, was a 
 picture to be gazed at with appreciation, and 
 an unwonted feeling of tenderness swept over 
 him. She looked so gentle and so wistful as 
 she took her letter from him with a word of 
 thanks. 
 
 " Made to be taken care of, that's what she 
 is," thought the captain, not for the first or 
 second time. 
 
 " I expect you'd like to read it right off," he 
 said, lingering for a moment, his own letter 
 crumpled in his left hand. " I've had one, too, 
 from my Cousin Marilla up home. It's full of 
 news as a nut is of meat, I know that before I 
 open it. I thought of stepping into the attic 
 and looking around to see if you had anything 
 that needed tinkering. Up home a day like 
 this there are always some little odd jobs to be 
 done, to keep my hands busy and my mind off 
 the smell o' the salt. An east wind drives my 
 thoughts seaward pretty strong, you see. May 
 I take a look around and see jf I can find any- 
 thing that needs a little attention ? The ladies 
 122
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 have all gone off to a suffrage meeting, or some 
 sort of valiant doings, I take it," and the cap- 
 tain smiled at her as one who was on his side. 
 
 " There's a clock I've always been fond of ; 
 it came from Kose Court, my old home," said 
 Mrs. Tippett, letting the pillow-cases slip un- 
 heeded to the floor as she rose. "I wonder do 
 you know about clocks, Captain Bold ? Could 
 you make one go that hadn't gone for years ? 
 Mrs. Hitchings says nothing can be done with 
 it; she says she knows all about clocks, and 
 she has shaken and shaken it, and tried it on 
 different walls. She says it is because it was 
 of Southern make, and not properly adjusted 
 to stand the journey. But but our dear old 
 'Zekiel, on whom my mother always relied for 
 everything, packed it when I came away from 
 home. I'm sure he would have been most care- 
 ful." 
 
 "Has anybody that really knows I mean 
 have you had any expert look it over ? " asked 
 the captain. " You see, Mrs. Hitchings might 
 have neglected some little thing that such a 
 man would know about right off." 
 123
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 "Oh, no," and Mrs. Tippett's eyes were 
 startled. "Mrs. Hitchings would not have 
 liked it if I if I hadn't trusted her judgment. 
 Here is the clock." 
 
 They had entered the attic, and from a shelf 
 Mrs. Tippett lifted down an old square clock, 
 looking at it regretfully, but with loving eyes. 
 
 " Hasn't it a pretty picture at the top ? " 
 she asked. "I always loved that funny little 
 winter scene with a bright sunset at one end 
 and the full moon at the other. See; the 
 weights are wound as tight as they can be; 
 they're up at the very top. Here's the key on 
 its old hook inside where it always hung but 
 it's of no use." 
 
 The captain inserted a cautious finger, poking 
 it up as far as it would go. Suddenly he drew 
 his mouth into a pucker, and glanced at Mrs. 
 Tippett. At the moment she was gazing at a 
 queer old vase, banished, like most of her girl- 
 hood belongings, at Mrs. Hitchings' command. 
 
 "M-m," said the captain, withdrawing his 
 finger. " If I should succeed in getting it in 
 order, could I claim an extra plateful of those 
 124
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 excellent griddle cakes to-morrow morning ? 
 provided, of course, Mrs. Hitchings wasn't on 
 hand to see me get them." 
 
 " You shall have two extra platefuls, beside 
 a heartful of thanks. Oh, I'd be so glad to 
 hear it tick again ! " said Mrs. Kose Tippett 
 softly, as she left the captain and went back to 
 her linen sorting. 
 
 " Eyes looked kind of misty," muttered the 
 little man, as he opened a stout box and began 
 his search for a desired tool. " Not a dimple in 
 her face, like as not there never were any, and her 
 smile's something like tears a good deal of the 
 
 time, but there's a there's a Ah ! here's 
 
 what I was looking for. Now let's see whether 
 it's Hitchings or Bold that wins out this time." 
 
 125
 
 ^ CHAPTER X 
 
 MRS. HITCHINGS, raising her eyes from 
 her soup-plate, sat, her spoon uplifted, 
 gazing at the opposite wall. 
 
 " How when did you have that clock set in 
 order ? " she asked, in her most majestic man- 
 ner, turning to Mrs. Tippett. " Of course you 
 have had new works. It must have been a 
 very expensive performance. Did you think it 
 wise, or necessary ? " 
 
 " Isn't it a corker, though ? " young Sever- 
 ance asked her, while Mrs. Tippett, extra- 
 ordinarily undisturbed, smiled at his words. 
 We've all been waiting to see how long 
 'twould be before you'd notice it, you and 
 126
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 Mrs. Damon. Of course we know you've had 
 a very busy day," and there was the faintest 
 suggestion of surprise in the glance that rested 
 for a second on the hats which, donned before 
 breakfast, still graced the heads of their wear- 
 ers, but in neither case at the angle designed 
 by the milliner. 
 
 " We have had a busy day and a hard one," 
 Mrs. Hitchings presumably addressed young 
 Severance although her gaze was still fixed on 
 the clock. " But its results will be, we feel 
 sure, far-reaching and ennobling. It has been 
 a day with no room for small thoughts or petty 
 matters. May I ask, Mrs. Tippett, who made 
 over your clock ? Do you think you will care 
 for it here in this room ? " 
 
 "Oh, come now, Mrs. Hitchings, we're all 
 delighted with it," said Mr. Corcoran, while the 
 captain thought, " There ! she's begun her 
 work already ! " 
 
 " The guests all seem pleased with it," and 
 Mrs. Tippett's air was quite courageous. " Cap- 
 tain Bold says it is evidently a perfect time- 
 keeper, just as it used to be at home." 
 127
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 "Ah," and Mrs. Hitchings transferred her 
 gaze to the captain, who met it calmly. " May 
 I inquire whether you have made a study of 
 clocks, and how you were able to repair this 
 one, which was certainly in a most deplorable 
 condition ? " 
 
 " "Well now, ma'am, it wasn't so bad as you 
 thought," said the captain mildly, " not nearly 
 so bad, in fact. I've never made any scientific 
 study of clocks, but I've tinkered them and 
 humored them and sat up with 'em as any man 
 does that has a houseful of 'em. I never had 
 to call in extra help to keep them in order. 
 But with this old beauty of Mrs. Tippett's I 
 didn't really have to exercise what powers I've 
 cultivated. All I did was to take my smallest 
 screw driver, unscrew the top, and pull out the 
 nails that old 'Zekiel had put in to keep the 
 weights and so forth in place during their 
 journey." 
 
 Every eye was turned to Mrs. Hitchings now, 
 and her expression was well worth noting. See- 
 ing it the captain felt an uneasy sensation in 
 the region of his spine. 
 
 128
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 " She'll make me pay for this some way," he 
 thought, but his smile did not falter. 
 
 "You must be satisfied with the result of 
 your morning's work," she said in her deepest 
 tone, and turned abruptly to Mrs. Tippett. 
 " Did you get your letter ? " she asked. " The 
 one that came in the first mail ? " 
 
 Captain Bold had wondered about that letter, 
 in spite of telling himself sternly that it was 
 none of his business. When the clock was 
 ticking steadily and he summoned Mrs. Tippett 
 to hear it and give her commands as to where 
 it should be placed, he was much troubled to 
 see the unmistakable signs of tears. Searching 
 his mind for comfort he had asked the privilege 
 of reading her his letter from Cousin Marilla. 
 
 " There are things in it that I'd like to get 
 your opinion on," he had said humbly. " I'm 
 afraid maybe I'm a bit warped in my judgment, 
 from circumstances, and I'd like to lay the 
 matter before an unprejudiced person." 
 
 To his dismay Mrs. Rose Tippett caught her 
 lower lip between her teeth, and it seemed to 
 him a minute before she answered him. 
 129
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 " I I'd be so glad to help you if I can," she 
 said, quite steadily, but not looking at the cap- 
 tain, " but to-day," she was smoothing a pillow- 
 slip which lay over her arm and he saw that 
 her fingers trembled, " to-day I'm afraid I can't. 
 I must go out in a few minutes to attend to 
 some unexpected business, and would to-mor- 
 row do, Captain Bold, or would that be too 
 late ? I am afraid my opinion will be worth 
 very little. I am not at all clever, you know." 
 
 " Your opinion is the one I want," said the 
 captain stubbornly ; " yours will be plenty clever 
 enough for me, and to-morrow will do just as 
 well as to-day better, most likely, for I'll have 
 done some thinking in the meantime, and got 
 my ideas sorted out. Now you just say the 
 word where this timepiece is to be put and I 
 won't trouble you another minute." 
 
 She had looked at him then, so gratefully 
 that the captain felt a curious sensation at the 
 back of his throat. 
 
 " Poor little thing ! " he muttered as he fol- 
 lowed her to the dining-room, and again as he 
 tapped the wall for suitable spots to place his 
 130
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 screws. " Poor little woman ! I'd like to know 
 who or what's making trouble for her! I'd 
 like," and the captain's mouth was twisted as he 
 bored the first hole, " I'd like to see him 
 or her there ! " 
 
 The same desire came to him again as he 
 looked at her, flushing under the keen eyes of 
 her inquisitor, that evening. 
 
 " Drat that Hitchings woman, why can't she 
 let the poor little soul alone ? " he said to him- 
 self, and straightened in his chair. 
 
 " Speaking of clocks and other inventions," 
 he said so loud that Mrs. Hitchings involun- 
 tarily turned to look at him, " we have some- 
 thing up in Felling, Yermont, that would be 
 hard to match. It's a clock that's run for two 
 hundred years without ever missing an hour. 
 Yes, ma'am, that's the truth." 
 
 Mrs. Hitchings fixed him with an unbelieving 
 eye. 
 
 " How was the necessary cleaning attended 
 to ? " she boomed. 
 
 " 'Twas all done between striking times," said 
 the captain, charmed with the success of his 
 131
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 bait. " You see she belonged to old Squire 
 Hargood's grandsire, and the men folks from 
 generation to generation have made it a matter 
 of conscience to keep the old eight-day in order, 
 so her record wouldn't be broken. There's a 
 special kind of feather the Hargoods have 
 always used for oiling her, and they use it to 
 this day ; and they've got a miniature blower 
 that they blow out every speck of dust with. 
 She isn't so much to look at as some, but she's 
 a regular wonder for time." 
 
 " "Why do you call a clock ' she ' ? " asked 
 Mrs. Hitchings. 
 
 The captain had stolen a glance at Mrs. Tip- 
 pett and had seen that, taking advantage of the 
 diversion, she had pushed Jier chair a little 
 away from the table. 
 
 "Why, I don't know as I could give any 
 good reason," he said slowly, and with apparent 
 reluctance. " You see anything that you have to 
 coax and humor and er there, I guess I've put 
 my foot in it ! " and the captain bent his head 
 to meet the oncoming storm with joy, as Mrs. 
 Rose Tippett slipped unhindered from her place. 
 132
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 When Mrs. Hitchings had finished what she 
 had to say and Miss Rawson had added a few 
 stinging words, there was a pause, and Amanda, 
 proffering charlotte russe, was sharply interro- 
 gated. 
 
 " Where is your mistress ? " demanded Mrs. 
 Hitchings. 
 
 " She has a headache and she goes to lie 
 down," said Amanda clearly, " and she said 
 would the company please excuse her." 
 
 " I will go to her room as soon as I have 
 finished my dinner," said Mrs. Hitchings. 
 
 She was firm, but Amanda was firmer. She 
 met the enemy without fear. 
 
 " Maggie is looking out for her," she an- 
 nounced so that all might hear, " and will at- 
 tend to keeping her quiet. Her door is locked." 
 
 In majestic silence Mrs. Hitchings gazed at 
 her. Amanda's shoulders twitched and her eyes 
 snapped as she went her way around the table. 
 
 " A very saucy creature, that Swede," came 
 
 from Mrs. Hitchings, just before Amanda passed 
 
 out of hearing. " I shall speak to Mrs. Tippett 
 
 to-morrow about having her dismissed at once." 
 
 133
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 " I pray heaven that you'll do nothing of the 
 sort," snapped Mr. Faraham ; " that girl makes 
 the coffee, I'm told, and it's the one perfectly 
 satisfactory thing here, to my mind. I trust 
 you won't let a small personal grudge affect the 
 comfort of the whole household." 
 
 Once more a majestic silence enveloped Mrs. 
 Hitchings, and while it endured chairs were 
 hastily shoved back and their occupants with 
 one excuse or another left the room. 
 
 " You aren't strong on evasion, are you ? " 
 and Mr. Farnham looked at the captain as if 
 for the first time he derived some pleasure from 
 the sight. " Your remarks about the feminine 
 gender I couldn't have done better if I'd been 
 bent on making trouble." 
 
 The captain looked the picture of innocence 
 as he surveyed the pleased face of the dyspeptic. 
 
 "I wasn't calculating on making trouble," 
 he said mildly ; " you don't think it'll be serious, 
 do you ? " 
 
 The semblance of a smile broadened the thin, 
 sallow face. 
 
 "Serious," and there came the unwonted 
 134
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 sound of a laugh ; " oh, it won't be so serious 
 but what they'll keep on speaking to you." 
 
 And as Mr. Farnham, still grimly smiling, 
 crossed the hall the captain, turning, found on 
 Mr. Corcoran's face an expression that matched 
 his own feeling ; and as the broker's left eyelid 
 drooped the captain's right eye was momen- 
 tarily veiled. 
 
 " I don't know but I'll take a hack at Shake- 
 speare myself," said Mr. Corcoran, " if you'll 
 let me go along. What's the play to-night ? " 
 
 " < All's Well that Ends Well,' " said the cap- 
 tain, " and I'd be pleased to have your com- 
 pany." 
 
 135
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 IT was indeed fortunate for Captain Gideon 
 Bold that the continued storm of rain and 
 wind made it natural enough to spend part of 
 the next day indoors, while a suffrage meeting 
 of great interest carried Mrs. Hitchings, Mrs. 
 Damon and Miss Eawson out of the house soon 
 after breakfast. 
 
 It was about ten o'clock when the captain 
 descended from the attic where he had been 
 busy for an hour, and seeing that the door of 
 Mrs. Tippett's little sitting-room stood ajar, 
 ventured to knock on it. 
 136
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 " I'm mending, you see ; come right in," said 
 Mrs. Tippet from the low chair in which she 
 sat, her lap full of table-napkins. " I don't un- 
 derstand how these wear out so fast. Just look 
 at that hole," and she held a napkin toward 
 him. " What can make such holes ? " 
 
 " Looks to me as if Mrs. Hitchings might have 
 bitten it out," said the captain after a grave 
 inspection. " Where's the material that was 
 there gone, unless somebody's chewed it up ? 
 Don't keep a dog, do you ? I haven't seen one 
 around anywhere." 
 
 " No, Mrs. Hitchings said I mustn't in a house 
 like this," and Mrs. Tippett looked wistfully 
 past the captain out of the window. " I'd had 
 a dog from my home days, a Gordon setter 
 Jim. He was a darling. I gave him away and 
 I've missed him every day since. Perhaps you 
 think that's foolish." 
 
 " Foolish ? Nothing of the sort," the captain 
 shook the thought from him so vigorously that 
 his chair complained with a loud creak. " No 
 better friends in this world than dogs ! I lost 
 mine six months ago, and I've mourned him 
 
 m
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 sincerely. Haven't been able to make up my 
 mind to replace him, not yet. He had 
 pneumonia and died; that was the way he 
 went, poor old Roy ! "Well, well, I mustn't 
 talk over past troubles. You have plenty on 
 your hands as it is. May I read you the letter 
 I spoke of ? Thank you." 
 
 The captain adjusted his glasses and took the 
 crisp, crackling sheets three of them from 
 their envelope. 
 
 " I don't know where Cousin Marilla gets this 
 paper," he said ruminatively. " It doesn't seem 
 to hold much ink. There are parts of the 
 words I have to guess at, as best I can. I have 
 about as hard a time with them as she has with 
 my abbreviations. Here's the part of the let- 
 ter I want to read you. 
 
 " * I am glad you are having such a pleasant 
 time. I should have answered your last letter 
 sooner if I hadn't been so busy. The Hillside 
 Gleaners have met here within a week; last 
 Friday they came and you know what that 
 means.' I do," interpolated the captain " ah- 
 hum ' what that means, and the minister and 
 138
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 his wife have been here to tea. Their tastes 
 aren't a bit similar, as I've noticed and spoken 
 of before.' That's so," murmured the captain, 
 " she has, more than once. ' It seems to me 
 they ought to have thought of that when they 
 began to court. It makes it dreadfully hard 
 for the folks that entertain them, his not want- 
 ing any sugar, scarcely, and her liking every- 
 thing sweetened way up. Well, at any rate 
 they said they had a good time, and I've got 
 about rested from it now. 'Twas last Tuesday 
 night they came, and while they were here they 
 spoke about you and that business of the drink- 
 ing fountain. 
 
 " * It seems they've all begun to back down, 
 Henry Gaynes at the head of the line. If 
 there should be another Town Meeting called, 
 as some say might be done, I believe they'd 
 vote to accept your plan and put you head of 
 the committee as they've done in times past. 
 I understand they're short of funds, and ' the 
 rest of it doesn't matter," and the captain 
 folded the letter and replaced it in its envelope. 
 " Now what would you advise me to do ? " 
 139
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 "Why, I don't understand," and Mrs. Tip- 
 pett's delicate eyebrows were raised in per- 
 plexity. " Is it a question of your going home, 
 Captain Bold?" 
 
 " Yes, that's it, that's the question," said the 
 captain. " Shall I run back, as if the minute 
 they were willing to do as I said I'd got over 
 being mad, or shall I stop away a while longer 
 and let it sink in on them that there's a prin- 
 ciple involved? I've been away over three 
 weeks." 
 
 " What is the principle, please ? " asked Mrs. 
 Tippett gently. 
 
 "The principle is the principle," the cap- 
 tain's voice faltered ; all at once his bubble of 
 innocent conceit, pricked by the simple ques- 
 tion, collapsed. "There isn't any principle," 
 he said slowly, " excepting that I'm older than 
 most of them and used to having my own way. 
 It's time somebody spoke to me just as you 
 have." 
 
 " Oh, but I didn't know I'm sure there is 
 much more to be said on your side," and Mrs. 
 Tippett smiled at him kindly. " I've heard of 
 140
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 some of the things you have done since you 
 came here, Captain Bold, and I know how 
 you've helped me. I'm sure your home town 
 has had every reason to give you its trust and 
 gratitude. And they wouldn't put the drink- 
 ing fountain in the place you suggested ? How 
 foolish of them ! " 
 
 " Eight out in the middle of the road, where 
 there isn't a sign of shade, they're bound to put 
 it," said the captain. " An awfully hot place 
 for man and beast. And 'tisn't just this time ; 
 I had to fight till I was 'most worn out to keep 
 them from appropriating money to have the 
 old portraits of Felling men that hang in the 
 Town Hall copied in crayons by a man from 
 Connecticut who came around and got a lot of 
 folks to part from their money in exchange for 
 staring likenesses of their grandparents. And 
 I came near having a fit of sickness over the 
 Library appropriation ; they wanted to tie it 
 up so that the trustees couldn't use it for any 
 purpose but heating. I pointed out to them 
 that if the winter proved to be mild, and less 
 coal was needed, there were some other things 
 141
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 the library could have as well as not, but I 
 had to keep pointing it out till I was hoarse as 
 a crow." 
 
 " It seems to me they haven't been without 
 you long enough," said Mrs. Tippett slowly. 
 "I feel quite sure of that. They need more 
 discipline, I think. And yet I can't see how 
 any one with a home can bear to stay in a 
 boarding-house." 
 
 " Nonsense ! Come now ! " Captain Bold 
 had the air of one heartening a wistful little 
 girl. "This is no ordinary boarding-house. 
 Not that I've ever been in one to stay before, 
 but I've heard a lot about them. "Why, that 
 room of mine has all the comforts anybody 
 could want ; it's warm and light and big." 
 
 "And lonely, sometimes," added Mrs. Tip- 
 pett. "You can't help missing your lifelong 
 friends, and your home." 
 
 " I'm having a splendid tune," said the cap- 
 tain stoutly. " Of course I get to thinking 
 once in a while ; anybody does." 
 
 " Yes, anybody does," said Mrs. Tippett softly. 
 
 "But let me tell you something," said the 
 142
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 captain. " It's a thing I never speak of but 
 why, up home sometimes I get to thinking, too, 
 thinking of the sea, and my old boat and but 
 there, it's my home, Felling is, so I put the 
 other thoughts away. I can do it, most al- 
 ways." 
 
 " I shall be very sorry to have you go," said 
 Mrs. Tippett with a little sigh. 
 
 The captain glanced at her graceful head 
 bent over the mending basket. It disturbed 
 him to have something said by Mr. Farnham 
 come into his mind just then. 
 
 " You're a regular gold-mine," the dyspeptic 
 had told him with a sardonic grin. " Between 
 having the best room at a stiff price and doing 
 carpentry and upholstering free of charge, and 
 taking the landlady and her guests to enter- 
 tainments, you're a valuable addition to any 
 household." 
 
 " I needn't have taken the room if I hadn't 
 wanted it," the captain had answered quickly, 
 " and so far all my landlady has been willing 
 to go to is one short operetta. The little tinker- 
 ing I'm allowed to do is a great pleasure." 
 143
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 But even now he hated to remember the 
 sound of Mr. Farnham's laugh. 
 
 "If I should decide to go, no doubt there 
 would be half a dozen desirable parties after 
 the room as soon as my plans were known," he 
 said with eyes on Mrs. Tippett's face. 
 
 She shook her head but her glance met the 
 captain's frankly. 
 
 " No," she said, " I'm afraid not. You see the 
 price of the room is high, but Mrs. Hitchings 
 says I must not let it for any less ; she says it 
 would lower the tone of the house." 
 
 The captain opened and shut his mouth twice, 
 with commendable self-control. He opened it 
 for the third time and his wrath exploded. 
 
 " You'll have to excuse me, Mrs. Tippett, but 
 I can't abide that woman ! What business is it 
 of hers, anyway ? " The captain's face was dull 
 red and he fairly bristled with indignation as 
 he shot out the question. 
 
 Mrs. Tippett looked at him, hesitated for a 
 moment and then turning her face quite away 
 as she bent over the mending basket, she an- 
 swered him. 
 
 144
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 "Mrs. Hitchings has lent me money," she 
 said quietly ; " she offered it freely, to start me 
 in this business. When I first met her I had 
 come here to find some sort of work. Mrs. 
 Hitchings was boarding at the house to which 
 I had been sent. She is a woman of large ex- 
 perience and ample means, and she was not 
 contented in that house ; she doesn't wish the 
 care of a home ; she saw the opportunity for 
 me, and gave it to me." 
 
 "She wouldn't be contented in any house 
 unless 'twas an asylum for the feeble-minded, 
 and she was in full charge," grumbled the cap- 
 tain. "I'll wager she saw the opportunity 
 for herself." 
 
 " Do you mean she found one feeble-minded 
 person ? " and Mrs. Tippett's lips curved into a 
 real smile that delighted her visitor. 
 
 "You know I don't mean anything of the 
 sort," he chuckled. " But you must know you're 
 too easy-going and sweet-tempered and " 
 
 " Excuse me, Mrs. Tippett," came Amanda's 
 voice following a loud rap on the door, " can I 
 have them napkins now ? " 
 145
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 " I'd better be going," said the captain rising 
 hurriedly. "Thank you for your advice. I 
 shan't make any change at present." 
 
 " I was putting it pretty strong," he muttered 
 as he mounted the stairs to his room. " If I'd 
 said one-third as much as that to the Widow 
 Mason I'd have been an engaged man inside of 
 five minutes, and then where would Cousin 
 Marilla have been ? I owe her a home, after 
 all the years she's taken care of me, and she 
 hasn't another place to go, and she wouldn't 
 brook another woman on the place. Not that 
 Mrs. Tippett is like anybody else. She's 
 so " 
 
 The captain stood in the middle of his room, 
 his coat on, hat in hand, while his mind dwelt 
 on the various ways in which Mrs. Rose Tippett 
 charmed the eye and warmed the heart. Sud- 
 denly he caught sight of his own reflection in 
 the mirror. 
 
 " Bah ! " he muttered, turning away. " She 
 
 wouldn't look at me even if I were a marrying 
 
 man. The reason she's kind and sweet to me 
 
 is because I'm such a countryman she dares to, 
 
 146
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 knowing I won't take advantage. "Well, I 
 won't, so there's an end of that. And next 
 good chance I get I'll tell her a bit more about 
 Marilla, how she's dependent on me, and so on, 
 and mention that I'd never think of making 
 any change, on Manila's account. Then when 
 it's all clear to her she'll feel free to accept an 
 invitation from me, now and then, with the 
 young folks, knowing it's a kindness to me. 
 By George, I'd like to know what made her cry 
 yesterday. I emptied my pocket inside out, 
 and never got so much as a look at hers ! " 
 
 Eegardless of the instructions in his Cousin 
 Marilla's Book of Etiquette he jammed his hat 
 down over his forehead and strode down the 
 stairs and out into the cooling dampness of the 
 street. 
 
 147
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 ** TSN'T there something I can do to help out 
 JL this morning ? " asked the captain. " I'm 
 not going to the dentist's to-day, and it isn't 
 much of a morning to walk, with this steady 
 rain coming down. I'd like to be of service 
 indoors if I could. Can't you set me to work ? 
 It seems to me we're having our full share of 
 spring rains." 
 
 He stood in the doorway of Mrs. Tippett's 
 sitting-room. Mrs. Tippett herself was pin- 
 ning on her hat and had an air of haste ; evi- 
 dently he would not be asked to sit down ; he 
 148
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 slipped a couple of letters into his pocket with a 
 twinge of regret. 
 
 " I have to go down to the market on a very 
 disagreeable errand," said Mrs. Tippett, "and 
 I'm sorry, Captain Bold, but I can't think of 
 anything more for you to do. You see you've 
 done so much already. There isn't a tottering 
 chair leg or a spleeny clock left in the house, 
 thanks to you. I only wish I could set the 
 marketman to rights as you have done with 
 the house." 
 
 " Haven't done a thing but what every 
 countryman does in his own home unless he's 
 an incompetent," said the captain. " And for 
 that matter, why can't I attend to the market 
 difficulty? I'm going right along with you. 
 I'd like nothing better than a little set-to with 
 somebody ; it'll take the chill out of the air." 
 
 " But you said it wasn't a good morning to 
 walk," demurred Mrs. Tippett, "and it is a 
 long walk to the market." 
 
 "The longer the better," asserted the cap- 
 tain. " It's one thing to start out to walk be- 
 cause you've nothing else to do, and it's quite 
 149
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 another thing to walk with an object in view, 
 and a good one at that. I'll have my coat down 
 here in a minute, and an umbrella ; you won't 
 need to carry one ; mine is big enough for two." 
 
 As he hurried up-stairs the captain was con- 
 scious that it was not the object in view at the 
 end of the walk which gave him such a brisk 
 and cheerful feeling ; it was the very feminine 
 object in a brown rainy-day suit and a hat with 
 a long plume curling against red-gold hair. 
 
 " Poor little thing," he said to himself as he 
 put on his coat. "Needs somebody to look 
 after her. This is a hard world for a woman 
 left alone. It's the duty of every man to help 
 them out whenever he can that is, in reason." 
 
 His reservation had nothing to do with Mrs. 
 Rose Tippett with whom a few moments later 
 he was avoiding the puddles, and whose brown 
 suit and hat he was gallantly shielding ; it was 
 entirely concerned with Mrs. Dora Mason of 
 Felling, Vermont, from whom he had that 
 morning received one of the two letters con- 
 signed to his pocket. 
 
 The unregenerate marketman who had been 
 150
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 sending tough meat to 385 Walnut Street was 
 speedily brought to book by the captain. 
 
 " You let me attend to him, please. Dealing 
 with an unprincipled man is no work for a 
 lady," he said, and had firmly set aside all the 
 objections Mrs. Tippett could offer. 
 
 " I've had to do it for a year and a half, Cap- 
 tain Bold," she told him. 
 
 " All the more reason you should not have it 
 to do now," and such was the finality of his 
 tone that she said no more. 
 
 "I'm one of Mrs. Tippett's boarders," the 
 captain said bluntly, "and I want to know 
 what you mean by sending her inferior meat 
 and charging her the price for the very best 
 quality ? I'm not only one of her boarders, 
 my man, but I'm a justice of the peace as well. 
 There's a name for what you've been doing. 
 Would you care to hear it and what's liable to 
 happen when a man deserves it, or shall we 
 give you another chance ? " 
 
 The marketman's apologies and explanations 
 were so abject and profuse that at last Mrs. 
 Tippett's boarder stopped them. 
 151
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 "Your customer is for giving you another 
 trial and letting the past go, I see," said the 
 captain, who must certainly have been versed 
 in the language of backs, as Mrs. Rose Tippett's 
 face had been turned away from the market- 
 man and her valiant boarder for some moments. 
 "Now what can you do to-day to make 
 amends ? " 
 
 " There's a beautiful roast here, sir," said the 
 marketman, " but the team's gone, and " 
 
 " "Wrap it up and I'll take it," commanded 
 the captain and a moment later he announced 
 himself ready to depart. 
 
 "You'll have no more trouble with that 
 man," he said as he unfurled his umbrella and 
 adjusted the bundle at a comfortable angle. 
 " There's nothing like a mention of the law to a 
 tradesman who's indulging in a little sharp 
 practice. He has a large family, he tells me, 
 and he's been trying to make money too fast. 
 He'll be all right now. Any more errands on 
 hand ? I'm just in the spirit." 
 
 " No more errands, thank you," said Mrs. 
 Tippett. " I'm ashamed to think I let you fight 
 152
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 this battle for me. I begin to feel as if I were 
 really what Kuth Temple calls herself and me, 
 a ' weak sister.' " 
 
 "Nothing of the sort," said the captain. 
 " Why, up home I'm in the habit of helping out 
 in all such ways whenever there's a chance. I 
 have a letter in my pocket this minute from a 
 woman asking me to attend to something for 
 her that is forty times worse than threatening 
 a marketman with the processes of law. I've 
 a mind to tell you about it ; in fact I had in- 
 tended to read you the letter and ask your ad- 
 vice if I hadn't found you so full of business 
 this morning." 
 
 " Won't you tell me about it ? " asked Mrs. 
 Tippett, as the captain paused and glanced 
 hopefully at her. " Although, as you know, my 
 advice is not rated highly." 
 
 " 'Tis by me," said the captain. " It's like 
 this ; the one who wrote me is a widow with 
 one son, a kind of a wild boy, and she wants me 
 to write him a letter telling him how he's 
 breaking his mother's heart and saying that I 
 know what he needs is a man's guiding hand, 
 153
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 and that as soon as I get home to Pelling 
 and she'd like to know when that will be, she 
 says I will try to keep him in sight and exer- 
 cise a good influence over him." 
 
 The corners of Mrs. Rose Tippett's mouth 
 were twitching. 
 
 "What would you like my advice about, 
 Captain Bold ? " she asked. 
 
 " Well," his face was very red, but he looked 
 straight at her, " as long as you don't know the 
 one who wrote the letter I'd like to ask you if 
 you don't think it would seem a little as if I 
 were were contemplating assuming a position 
 that I'm not ? Do I make myself clear ? " 
 
 " I think if you wrote such a letter as has 
 been suggested to you, and wrote it in good 
 faith," said Mrs. Tippett slowly, " your Cousin 
 Marilla might have reason to feel that her 
 position in your household was very pre- 
 carious." 
 
 " There ! " and the captain's voice was full of 
 
 gratitude. " You've put it just right. Exactly 
 
 right. And I can't have Marilla made uneasy 
 
 after all the years she's taken care of me. 
 
 154
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 'Tisn't fair. Now the question arises, what 
 shall I do about it ? " 
 
 " Oh, that is a point you will have to settle 
 for yourself," said Mrs. Tippett. " No doubt 
 you will think of just the right thing to do. 
 You will of course have to answer the letter." 
 
 " I suppose I shall," said the captain dubi- 
 ously. " I've known her all her married life. 
 She isn't Felling born, but her husband was a 
 good friend of mine. He's been dead six years 
 and she's missed him, I know, though she didn't 
 make him so very comfortable while he lived. 
 The boy's missed him, too." 
 
 There seemed to be nothing for Mrs. Tippett 
 to say, although the captain paused and looked 
 at her. 
 
 " I'll tell you what I might do," he offered 
 the suggestion doubtfully after a moment's 
 silence. " I might write to Cousin Marilla, en- 
 closing the letter and ask her to say to the 
 other one they're old friends ask her to say 
 to her that much as I appreciate the honor and 
 and esteem that's been shown me I don't feel 
 competent to give the boy the guiding hand he 
 155
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 needs. And say to Marilla that as I know 
 women have a more delicate manner of adjust- 
 ing things than men, I'll leave it in her hands 
 to explain my feelings to the other one. Is 
 that clear to you ? " 
 
 " It is exceedingly clear," said Mrs. Tippet. 
 " i)o you think your Cousin Marilla would be 
 willing to undertake that commission for you ? " 
 
 They had reached the steps of the house on 
 Walnut Street, incredible as it seemed to the 
 captain. He stopped deliberately and being 
 under the umbrella Mrs. Tippett also stopped, 
 perforce. 
 
 " I think she'd be more than willing," said 
 the captain. "I think she'd be overjoyed. 
 She's been saying for well, for some time 
 that she thought Mrs. the other one, ought 
 to go to live with her brother, who is an old 
 bachelor and alone in the world. He's offered 
 to take her and the boy again and again. He 
 lives twenty miles from Felling." 
 
 " Then," said Mrs. Rose Tippett with a smile 
 which made the captain oblivious to everything 
 else, " entirely on your Cousin Manila's account, 
 156
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 it seems to me your plan might be a good one. 
 Miss Kawson has opened the door for us, and I 
 think she is wondering why we stand here." 
 
 " Let her wonder," said the captain under his 
 breath, " and I shan't hand over this bundle till 
 she's out of the way, not if I have to wait till 
 she's gone to bed." 
 
 " Have you two been shopping ? " asked Miss 
 Rawson, her eyes on the captain's package. 
 
 " Shopping ? No, ma'am," and her intended 
 victim started up-stairs, the " beautiful roast " 
 still under his arm. " I had a little matter of 
 business to attend to, and by the way, as you 
 might say, I got something that should have 
 been sent here long ago. I thank you very 
 much, Mrs. Tippett, for helping me out as you 
 have, and I hope some day I can do as much 
 for you." 
 
 "Did he have to go out in all this rain 
 to attend to business ? '' asked Miss Rawson 
 sharply. 
 
 " He seemed to think he must," said Mrs. 
 Tippett, " and you know there is very little 
 use in arguing with a man over the weather." 
 157
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 " There's no use arguing with them over any- 
 thing," snapped Miss Rawson, " for the reason 
 that they don't know how to argue. The 
 bottom of your skirt is soaking at the back. 
 Why didn't you lift it ? I notice you had no 
 umbrella to carry." 
 
 158
 
 " T 'D like to know the name of that piece," 
 X said the captain, " and then I'd admire to 
 hear it again if not to-night, some other 
 time." 
 
 "Did it make you think of anything in 
 particular ? " asked Kuth Temple, leaning her 
 elbows on the piano and looking over the music- 
 rack at the captain, sunk in the depths of the 
 sleepy-hollow chair in her little sitting-room. 
 " I'd like to know that first, please." 
 
 " Just as soon tell you as not," said the cap- 
 tain. " It made me think of a common thing, 
 159
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 because that's the only kind of thing I'm used 
 to. I haven't much imagination, I guess." 
 
 He looked at her humbly, bespeaking her 
 leniency, but she only smiled back at him, 
 waiting. 
 
 " Sometimes of a hot summer afternoon I 
 lose myself, out on the south porch," said the 
 captain slowly, " take a kind of a cat-nap ; and 
 while I'm half asleep and half awake I'll hear 
 a * tap, tap, tap tap, tap ' like that on the 
 tin roof over my head. First it's sort of sooth- 
 ing, and then it begins to drum a little, and I 
 hear a mutter of thunder, and all of a sudden I 
 wake up and hear Marilla scurrying over the 
 house shutting windows, and I have to draw 
 in close to the wall. Then it'll boom and pelt 
 for a few minutes and then the clouds roll off 
 to the north ; you understand we're just getting 
 the edge of the shower, not the full heft of it, 
 and then the rain stops after a while, and the 
 sun comes out, and all I hear is a little bit of a 
 ' tap, tap tap,' coming from the leaves of the 
 Dutchman's Pipe where it runs over the porch. 
 That's what your piece made me think about." 
 160
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 " Oh. you are a joy ! " cried Kuth Temple. 
 " You couldn't have heard it better. It's a 
 prelude by Chopin, and it has always been 
 known as 'The Kain on the Koof.' Listen 
 again, please, while I play you another." 
 
 " Tumbling all over itself, hurrying to get 
 through the meadow and run into the river," 
 laughed the captain when she had finished. 
 "Doesn't seem as if that could be meant for 
 anything but a brook." 
 
 " Exactly right," said the girl. " I knew it 
 the very first time I saw you. I said to myself, 
 ' Herds somebody I can play to, who will un- 
 derstand ! ' It makes such a difference to me 
 when people don't ! " 
 
 The captain looked at her through the twi- 
 light of the room. 
 
 " Oho ! " he said to himself. " So that's the 
 way the wind is setting," and aloud, " Seems 
 pretty important to you, I guess." 
 
 " It does," said the girl earnestly. " You see 
 
 music means so much to me, more and more as 
 
 I grow older and hear it and study it. In 
 
 school it's the children who have musical tastes 
 
 161
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 to whom I'm drawn most closely, and with 
 whom I can work best. The lack of musical 
 appreciation not education, of course that's 
 quite different it's like a real barrier. Don't 
 you think when we're very young we like 
 people without discrimination and as we grow 
 older we just have to change our point of view, 
 no matter how hard it is ? " 
 
 " M-m," said the captain. " There's a good 
 deal in that idea a good deal, but I should 
 say it could be carried too far. Now apprecia- 
 tion strikes me as being desirable and pleasant, 
 like Manila's spiced currant ; you get a kind of 
 a different taste with your chicken when you 
 take that spiced currant sauce along with it ; 
 but I've eaten in places right in our town where 
 'twas seven different kinds of cake and these 
 little gape-and-swallow tea-rolls and spiced cur- 
 rant, and I've come away wishing never to 
 taste it again. You want to make pretty sure 
 of your chicken." 
 
 The girl eyed him thoughtfully for a mo- 
 ment, then she laughed. 
 
 "I will consider that point, oh, sage," she 
 162
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 said, nodding at him. "Now listen again. I'll 
 tell you the name of this it's ' Starlight.' " 
 
 The captain listened, frowning, and when she 
 stopped playing, he shook his head. 
 
 " No, sir," he spoke with authority, " not my 
 kind of starlight, that isn't. Excepting, well, 
 I don't know might be one of those nights 
 with scudding clouds and some mist, so you'd 
 see the stars and then lose 'em and "but 'tisn't 
 my idea of a starlit night. How would it be 
 if you should play me ' Annie Laurie ' before I 
 go floundering in way out of my depth ? A 
 straight tune with words gives you something 
 to tie to and know where you are." 
 
 " That's what Mr. Severance says ; " the girl's 
 laugh had a light edge of scorn. 
 
 " Mighty sensible fellow he is," said the cap- 
 tain firmly. " You let your mind dwell on that 
 a little. It's the things we let our minds dwell 
 on that get to seem the most important to us ; 
 trouble generally is we don't let 'em dwell 
 where they ought to. 'Twouldn't do for me 
 to preach, for there are cases right in this house 
 where I know my mind's dwelling all wrong; 
 163
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 it's fixed on what appear to be faults instead 
 
 of Come, let's have ' Annie Laurie ' ; that's 
 
 considerably safer than what I was pretty near 
 saying." 
 
 After "Annie Laurie" came "Old Black 
 Joe" and "Music in the Air." The captain 
 sat, a smile of deep satisfaction on his face, 
 softly beating time with his right hand. At 
 last there came a little pause, and the girl turned 
 to look at a pile of music. 
 
 " Could you give me the Wedding March ? " 
 asked the captain. " I'd kind of like to hear it." 
 
 She forbore to tell him that there were a 
 number of wedding marches, for she knew by 
 instinct the one he meant ; smiling, she sounded 
 the triplet call and a moment later the chords 
 of Mendelssohn's famous march pealed out into 
 the hall. The captain sat up and forgot to 
 beat time, and out on the stairs Jack Severance 
 on his way up to his room stood listening. 
 Once he started to go down and knock, but on 
 second thought he shook his head. It was just 
 then that the door of Miss Rawson's room, 
 which had been ajar, creaked. 
 164
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 Setting his jaw the young man mounted the 
 remaining stairs and tramped by the door 
 through the crack of which he knew a pair of 
 sharp eyes had been peering at him. As he 
 passed the crack widened and Miss Kawson 
 spoke. 
 
 " It's hard to be shut out of Paradise when 
 others are admitted, isn't it ? " she asked sym- 
 pathetically. " Is it raining now ? " 
 
 " I don't know," said Jack Severance, who a 
 few moments before had set his dripping um- 
 brella in the hall stand. " Good-night," and 
 he closed his door. 
 
 Left in possession of the hall, Miss Rawson 
 stood for a moment, her nostrils dilating. Then 
 she descended a few stairs and put her face 
 close to the gas jet which hung from the 
 balustrade. 
 
 "The gas is escaping, I think," she mur- 
 mured, " and as it must be about time I'll turn 
 it out. Don't I smell cigar smoke ? I cer- 
 tainly do. That Far n ham man has left the 
 door of the den open, no doubt, and here it is 
 almost ten o'clock. I shall speak to Mrs. Tip- 
 165
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 pett in the morning. She will have to adopt 
 firm measures. I presume she's in her bed, sound 
 asleep, without a care on her mind. I wonder 
 if those maids are both in their rooms ; prob- 
 ably they're out gallivanting. I'll just take a 
 look, and " 
 
 Softly she crept up the stairs and along the 
 hall to a door which led to the maids' quarters. 
 Softly she turned the knob and opened the door. 
 The sound of voices, low but steady, reached 
 her listening ears. She advanced toward the 
 little room from which the sound came, her 
 eyes in the darkness gleaming like a cat's. 
 
 "Maggie is in Amanda's room," she told 
 herself, "in spite of all Mrs. Hitchings has 
 said about the necessity of their going to bed 
 promptly at nine o'clock to be ready for the 
 next morning. I shall speak of this ; say the 
 
 sound of voices disturbed me. I Why, 
 
 that isn't Maggie's voice ! " 
 
 Quite close to the door she stood now. A 
 streak of light showed under it, and from 
 within she heard the sound of a voice she 
 knew. 
 
 166
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 " I don't know how to thank you, Amanda," 
 came clearly to her ears. " I had forgotten 
 that this was his day to come, and if it hadn't 
 been for your help he would have stayed until 
 some one saw him. Oh, if they had ! probably 
 I should lose all my boarders, Amanda, if they 
 knew about him. It is such a such a dis- 
 grace ! " 
 
 " It is not so," rumbled Amanda's deep voice. 
 " It is not your debts, and you need not to pay 
 except for you are so honest. That is the way 
 with women, the worse they are treated the 
 more softer their hearts get." 
 
 " My heart is not soft ; " the listener thought 
 she caught the sound of tears in the voice and 
 her thin lips straightened. " My heart is turn- 
 ing to stone, Amanda, with care and worry and 
 fear." 
 
 " You stop it," said Amanda. " You stop it 
 right away now, and go to your bed. It is 
 over now for another two weeks." 
 
 Noiselessly the listener crept away, closing 
 the hall door behind her and scurried into her 
 room. From below came the sound of the 
 167
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 captain's voice, bidding his entertainer good- 
 night, and telling her how much he had en- 
 joyed the evening, but Miss Rawson had other 
 matters of greater moment to occupy her mind. 
 She closed her door and stood in the centre of 
 her room. 
 
 " She's deceived me she's deceived us all ! " 
 she breathed. " That husband of hers is alive, 
 and she's letting that poor deluded man from 
 the country think of her as a widow. I see 
 there is some work for me to do in this house 
 and I shall do it." 
 
 168
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 IT seemed to Captain Bold on the morning 
 after his happy time with Ruth Temple and 
 her music as if there were something strange 
 and electrical in the air of the dining-room. 
 The eyes of Miss Rawson, who had been the 
 first one at the breakfast table, gave forth 
 sudden gleams as she turned from one to 
 another of the household. 
 
 Toward the captain himself she adopted a 
 
 protecting, pitying air which made him vaguely 
 
 uncomfortable, and her remarks to him, which 
 
 were more frequent than usual, seemed all to 
 
 169
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 contain some inner, hidden meaning for which 
 he searched in vain. 
 
 " Are you feeling well, captain ? " she asked 
 solicitously as he pushed back his chair. " You 
 haven't eaten much breakfast, I notice, and 
 this is the time of year when one needs nour- 
 ishment, especially ; these warm spring days 
 are so trying, they take the strength ; and then 
 when we're called upon to bear any extra strain, 
 we give way under it." 
 
 " I'm not looking for any extra strain just at 
 present, ma'am," said the captain briskly, but he 
 felt both irritated and perplexed by the ex- 
 pression of her upturned face, and the shake of 
 her head. 
 
 " What's the matter with her ? " he demanded 
 of Mr. Corcoran who joined him in the hall 
 and linked his arm in the captain's, saying: 
 " Whither away this blithe and bonny morn, 
 my hearty?" 
 
 " Matter with her ? I don't know, but she 
 
 looks ready to burst with importance and 
 
 knowledge," said the broker. " She's got hold 
 
 of some back-stair secret, probably, and she's 
 
 170
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 waiting for a good chance to spring it on us. 
 Probably something about Mrs. Tippett." 
 
 " Well, I won't listen to her, no matter where 
 she waylays me," said the captain. 
 
 " Good work," said the broker. " If I were 
 a marrying man I'd take that sweet little woman 
 out of all this business. Hasn't been able to let 
 that small room up-stairs, for Grenadier Hitch- 
 ings won't allow her to lower the price. I've 
 half a mind to turn Benedict, I vow I have." 
 
 The captain digested the statement in silence. 
 As they turned toward the corner Mr. Corcoran 
 eyed him shrewdly. 
 
 " Doesn't just please you," he said. " Maybe 
 you think she wouldn't take me, but she might 
 do worse." 
 
 " Of course she might," agreed the captain 
 hastily. " But you say you aren't a marrying 
 man, and perhaps she isn't a marrying woman 
 now. She's had one husband." 
 
 " So she has, and regarded in the light of a 
 sample, I should think he would have inspired 
 distrust in the lot of us," said Mr. Corcoran. 
 " She'd fight shy of another, probably." 
 171
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 " See here, you talk as if men were all cut by 
 the same pattern," said the captain indignantly. 
 " There are plenty of decent men, same as there 
 are plenty of sweet women in the world," he 
 added. 
 
 "Kight-o," said the broker. "Why didn't 
 you pick one out years ago, or why don't you 
 pick one out now, for that matter ? Here you 
 are hale and hearty, good-tempered so far as I 
 know the very man to assume domestic ties." 
 
 " I have one domestic tie now," said the cap- 
 tain grimly, " my Cousin Marilla, and I had a 
 letter from her yesterday asking me when I in- 
 tended to come home, so she could put away 
 the thick suit I wore down here. I've given 
 away that suit since I came here but I shall 
 have to account to her for it. Manila's home 
 is with me and has been for twenty years. I 
 don't know what she'd do, what she'd have 
 done, if I'd been a marrying man." 
 
 " Why don't you marry her, then ? " asked 
 Mr. Corcoran, with a glance from the corner of 
 his eye which the captain missed. 
 
 " Marry Marilla ? Marry Ma Well, you 
 
 172
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 haven't ever seen her," spluttered the captain. 
 " Why, she she'd broom me out o' the house if 
 
 I suggested such a thing ! Marilla isn't 
 
 Well, I can't describe her to you," he ended 
 weakly. " You'll have to see her some day, 
 then you'll understand what I mean." 
 
 " Why don't you have her down here for a 
 visit, give her a change and take her mind off 
 your winter clothes ? " suggested the broker. 
 u That's just one of my bright little ideas. 
 Think it over. We say good-bye here. Good 
 luck to you. That young dentist of yours must 
 be a wizard gets you there twice in one week ! 
 He'll have you too beautiful if you don't look 
 out." 
 
 The captain, left to himself, walked rather 
 slowly, his hands clasped behind his back, gaz- 
 ing idly in at the shop windows. There was 
 plenty of time to spare before his appointment 
 with Dr. Warner. Peggy Townsend was away 
 for a few days, so there would be no chance of 
 meeting her if he went to Miss Letty's little shop. 
 He did not feel just like going to the Library. 
 
 " No, it's the kind of day to stay outdoors as 
 173
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 much as you can," thought the captain. " I'm 
 almost sorry I'm going to sit in the dentist's 
 chair even for half an hour. Hullo, what does 
 this mean, young lady ? Been sent home from 
 school ? " 
 
 For around the corner came Kuth Temple 
 with pink cheeks, and a general holiday air. 
 
 "There's something the matter with the 
 steam in our schoolroom," she informed him 
 gaily ; " they can't turn it off, so they've sent 
 for the man to fix it, and as he can't get there 
 for two hours, we've been given the whole day 
 think of that ! I feel so rich in time that I 
 haven't yet made up my mind how to spend it. 
 Could you suggest anything, Captain Bold ? " 
 
 " I could if 'twasn't for being promised to that 
 cousin of yours for half an hour pretty soon," 
 vouchsafed the captain. " I'd suggest that we 
 get a luncheon put up at the Exchange, and 
 make tracks for the wharf to catch the eleven 
 o'clock boat up the river. I've been thinking 
 of that trip, but it seemed kind of lonesome to 
 take it alone, and there wasn't anybody to take 
 it with me. Folks are all so busy." 
 174
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 " It's the very thing ! " cried the girl. 
 " Come, I'll make it all right with Kob the idea 
 of expecting anybody to sit in a dentist's chair 
 on a morning like this. I'll attend to him ! " 
 
 " Robert," she said five minutes later, looking 
 at her cousin with mock indignation, " what sort 
 of heart is lurking in your breast that you would 
 keep anybody in town on a day like this, just 
 for a little work that could as well be done in a 
 pouring rain ? I'm astonished at you ! Cap- 
 tain Bold and I are going off at eleven o'clock, 
 up river, and we have no time to lose. He can 
 come to you just as well to-morrow, can't he ? " 
 
 " No, he can't, miss, I'm proud to tell you," 
 said her cousin, fluttering the pages of his ap- 
 pointment book and displaying one on which 
 there were no empty spaces. " I would have 
 you understand that I am on the highroad to 
 fame, fortune and matrimony. My luck has 
 changed. He can't come for three days three 
 whole days, miss ! But I'll gladly let him off 
 this morning." 
 
 " Dear me ! " jeered the girl. " I'd better be 
 having Jean's monogram designed in a hurry. 
 175
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 Shall I have time to work it on one table-cloth, 
 do you think ? " 
 
 " It depends on your skill," said the young 
 man. " And now avaunt ! with your prey, if 
 you please. I must return to my patient. 
 Good-bye, captain. I hope you'll have a fine 
 time, and don't let this impertinent young 
 cousin of mine eat too much. She used to, as a 
 child." 
 
 " We shall take a frugal luncheon," the girl 
 tossed back at him over her shoulder, "but 
 there will be nutcakes now don't you wish you 
 were going ? " 
 
 "With a hollow groan the young man closed 
 the door on his visitors who in another moment 
 were hurrying along the street toward the 
 Woman's Exchange. Just before they reached 
 it they met Mrs. Hitchings, flanked by Mrs. 
 Damon and Miss Rawson, all three carrying 
 bags from the gaping tops of which protruded 
 pamphlets of a sanguinary hue. This formi- 
 dable trio paused, and it was evident that Mrs. 
 Hitchings, transfixed with amazement, was 
 about to address an inquiry to Miss Temple. 
 1T6
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 The captain, however, placed a guiding hand 
 beneath the right elbow of his companion and 
 bore her swiftly past the group. 
 
 " We're perfectly safe in here," said the girl 
 as they fled up the steps and into the sales- 
 room ; " the president of the Exchange is anti- 
 suffrage, and not one of those devoted ladies 
 would set foot over this threshold for a hundred 
 dollars." 
 
 " Good enough," returned the captain. " Now 
 let's see what looks best to us, and get it. How 
 does that little chicken strike you ? Seems to 
 me a likely bird." 
 
 " I should say it was," agreed Miss Temple, 
 " but don't you think sandwiches would be easier 
 to carry and to eat? I wasn't planning for 
 knives and forks, were you ? " 
 
 "Of course not," and the captain looked 
 quite crestfallen for a moment ; then his spirits 
 rose again. "Anyway, we can have some of 
 those little pies," he said firmly. " I speak for 
 those ; they won't need cutting, for there are 
 only a couple of mouthfuls in one of them." 
 
 "We'll have some, certainly," laughed the 
 177
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 girl, and after that there was no checking the 
 captain, who secured the attention of a com- 
 petent young person with a salesbook and 
 pencil and kept her busy selecting dainties 
 until her tray was piled with them. 
 
 "Air from over the water always makes 
 folks hungry," said the captain as they 
 watched the packing of a large pasteboard 
 box. "Looks to me as if we might have a 
 real tasty luncheon, and this is my treat," he 
 added as he saw a small pocketbook in Kuth 
 Temple's hands. " I've been wondering what 
 I could give you that would show my thanks 
 for the treats you've given me, but I couldn't 
 think of a thing. Now when you eat one of 
 those apple turnovers maybe you'll say to your- 
 self, * Not much like " Kain on the Roof " but 
 it's intended all right,' and when you bite into 
 one of those frosted cakes you'll think, 'No 
 " Starlight " about this, but he's done the best 
 he could.' And the sandwiches can stand for 
 * Annie Laurie ' and the other old favorites." 
 
 " Oh, Captain Bold, you're over-thanking me, 
 that's the only trouble," said Kuth Temple. 
 178
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 "There's enough luncheon in that box for 
 three or four people. We can't possibly eat it 
 all. You know the river air isn't salt; we 
 shan't be quite so hungry as if we were on the 
 ocean, I'm afraid." 
 
 "I'm sharp-set already thinking about it," 
 announced the captain. " And who knows but 
 we may meet somebody who hasn't had time 
 or forethought to provide any food." 
 
 "We're not likely to meet any one we know," 
 said the girl doubtfully. 
 
 " Oh, we'll know them before we get 
 through," and the captain smiled down at her 
 as he received the big box from the young sales- 
 woman. " There's nothing like hunger to bring 
 folks together. You'll see." 
 
 She looked at him thoughtfully for a mo- 
 ment, and then laughed. 
 
 " All right," she said. " I'll wait to see." 
 
 She looked at him again when, all pre- 
 liminaries having been accomplished, they sat 
 side by side on the upper deck of the river- 
 steamer, their two chairs drawn close to the 
 railing. The captain was surveying with the 
 179
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 frank delight of a child the stream of passen- 
 gers coming down the gangplank, and he did 
 not see her glance. 
 
 "Mrs. Hitchings calls him 'that common 
 man,'" mused Kuth Temple as she watched 
 him, " but I think she's mistaken. He isn't like 
 anybody else; and that's very different from 
 being ' common.' But I do hope he won't in- 
 vite the first hungry-looking person he sees to 
 share our luncheon." 
 
 The captain was humming to himself. He 
 turned to the girl beside Him with the air of 
 one sure of sympathy. 
 
 " I never get tired of seeing folks I don't 
 know and making up stories about them," he 
 said, with his right thumb pointing backward 
 to the gangway. " See that little woman 
 with the gay bonnet on, talking to the tall 
 man ? I'll wager she never had a bonnet like 
 that before ; you can tell from the way she 
 holds her head. Just married, and not so 
 young as she'd have been fifteen years ago ; but 
 he wants her to look young as she can. Don't 
 you think I've guessed them about right?" 
 180
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 "I believe you have," laughed the girl. 
 " The tall man hasn't had that air of pro- 
 prietorship very long, I'm sure. Do you sup- 
 pose they were old lovers, and their marriage 
 was delayed ? " 
 
 The captain gazed after the retreating couple, 
 his lips pursed. 
 
 " N-no," he said at last. " I think they've 
 both had hard times, maybe, and only got 
 
 round to thinking of Say, look who's 
 
 coming now ! " 
 
 It was Jack Severance, his face upturned, 
 wearing an expression of mixed bewilderment 
 and pleasure. As he caught the eye of Captain 
 Bold he took off his hat and waved it. A mo- 
 ment more and he was seated beside Ruth 
 Temple and explaining his presence. 
 
 " I'm sent up river to see the bungalow that 
 Aldrich has just had built," he said, and in 
 spite of herself the girl's smile answered his. 
 " Jolly luck for me, this is. You don't mean 
 to tell me you have a lunch box ! I didn't have 
 time to get a snack ; barely caught the boat." 
 
 " It's all for the best, young man," and the 
 181
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 captain beamed on him, " for we are pro- 
 visioned beyond our needs. We'll have a nice 
 little family party, that's what we'll have." 
 
 " I came near knocking down our suffragette 
 trio as I was leaping along, thinking I'd lost 
 the boat," said Jack Severance when they were 
 fairly off. " They had a grim appearance, taken 
 in the mass ; I wonder what's happened to 
 them." 
 
 " We shall know to-night," said Ruth Temple 
 demurely, " that is if they're not too much en- 
 gaged in finding out where we've been, for 
 Captain Bold and I met them, too." 
 
 " That for the busy three ! " and Jack Sever- 
 ance snapped his fingers. "Let's forget that 
 the worst is yet to come and revel in the pres- 
 ent. And now might I inquire whether this 
 picnic is impromptu or long-planned ? for if it's 
 the latter you may look to see my lower lip 
 tremble. I'm a trusting soul and I've been 
 thinking I was a treasured friend to you both." 
 
 " You silly ! " laughed Ruth Temple. " What 
 you need is a sandwich right away. I wish 
 Mrs. Tippett were here. She'd just love all this.' 
 182
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 " So she would," said the captain beaming, 
 " so she would." 
 
 He forgot his half-eaten sandwich as he 
 looked up the river, smiling at his thoughts, 
 until his fingers relaxed their hold and there 
 came a little splash in the water. The captain 
 hastily removed his elbow from the rail, and at 
 that moment his Cousin Marilla came into his 
 mind. 
 
 " That is, seems as if she would ; seems as if 
 anybody would," said the captain. " Of course 
 I don't know her so well as either of you." 
 
 " No ? " said Jack Severance. " I'd like 
 another sandwich, please, Miss Temple, and 
 I think the captain needs one, too." 
 
 "Mine's gone, that's a fact," admitted the 
 captain. " I was thinking what a nice party 
 we could make up if I had my old boat, and we 
 could go anywhere we liked, choose our course. 
 Might even go to China if we were so disposed." 
 
 "Why not consider it?" Jack Severance 
 
 folded his arms behind his head and leaned 
 
 back, his eyes half closed. " Mrs. Tippett and 
 
 Miss Temple, with that admirable cousin of 
 
 183
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 yours for chaperon, you and I, bound for 
 China. It seems a perfectly good idea to me. 
 Why not carry it out, captain ? " 
 
 " Oh, I've been a landsman twenty years 
 now," said the captain, but his eyes held the 
 look that never wholly leaves the eyes of a 
 lover and follower of the sea. " Once a year 
 I take a day's voyage with an old friend of 
 mine, and he lets me get my hand on things, 
 but that's all. And as for Marilla, she'll never 
 be persuaded to put foot on board a craft of 
 any sort." 
 
 " That's sad," but a light flickered under the 
 young man's lowered eyelids. " Well, of course 
 there are conditions under which we could dis- 
 pense with the chaperon. If either you or I 
 were " 
 
 " Will you hand Captain Bold the nutcakes ? " 
 said Kuth Temple in a tone so sweetly remote 
 that the flicker died and the eyes of Jack Sever- 
 ance opened wide. " As we came for a river 
 trip why not enjoy it instead of wasting time 
 on dreams which could never by any possibility 
 come true ? " 
 
 184
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 " You are so practical, so sternly practical 
 with me that you come very near being harsh," 
 said Jack Severance plaintively. " And with 
 the captain, too, the provider of this bountiful 
 repast, if I understood correctly. Captain Bold, 
 may I tender you a nutcake ? As for me, I 
 doubt if I can swallow for a few moments." 
 
 185
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE captain had an appointment to meet 
 Peggy Townsend and her mother at Miss 
 Letty's shop, receive Peggy from her parent's 
 hands and take her for a joyous hour in the 
 park while Mrs. Townsend did something in 
 which Peggy had no interest. 
 
 " It is very kind of you to give so much of 
 your time to my small daughter," said Mrs. 
 Townsend graciously. "I don't know what 
 Peggy will do when you go away. She told 
 her grandmother three times during our visit 
 that you were ' the very nicest gentleman she 
 knew.' You seem to know just how to get on 
 186
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 with children, although Peggy tells me you 
 have none of your own." 
 
 "No, ma'am, I've never married," said the 
 captain soberly. " It never seemed to come 
 just right for me to do it, and I've never seen 
 the one that would make me feel I must ride 
 over obstacles and twist circumstances till I got 
 her. And I'm blessed with an excellent house- 
 keeper, my Cousin Marilla. Perhaps Peggy's 
 told you about her ; I've spoken of her a num- 
 ber of times. She's dependent on me for a 
 home, and I owe it to her for all the years she's 
 looked after me." 
 
 "Yes, I understand, of course," said Mrs. 
 Townsend vaguely, her mind already on what 
 she was planning to do. "Peggy, you must 
 not stand looking at those toys another minute, 
 keeping your kind friend waiting. I will re- 
 turn here in about an hour, Captain Bold, and 
 thank you so much." 
 
 " Do you love your Couthin Marilla very, 
 very much ? " asked Peggy, skipping along 
 beside the captain a moment later. 
 
 " Why, I don't know as Marilla and I've ever 
 187
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 thought much about loving," said the captain 
 slowly ; " we like each other first rate ; we 
 think differently about 'most everything, and 
 I'm a real trial to her some ways, and she's a 
 bit trying to me now and then, but we why, 
 yes, Peggy, I guess we love each other the 
 usual amount full." 
 
 Peggy eyed him with an elfin smile on her 
 face. 
 
 " Thome of my couthins I love and thome of 
 them I don't like one bit," she said. " I think 
 Mithes Tippett is pretty, don't you? She 
 came into Mith Letty's while I was there 
 yethterday. If she were your couthin, wouldn't 
 you love her ? " 
 
 The captain's face burned. Peggy looked up 
 at him with great interest, and waited. 
 
 " I presume I should do whatever was natu- 
 ral," said the captain at last. 
 
 "She'd be a lovely couthin," Peggy stated 
 with conviction, " but she'th pretty young to be 
 your couthin, ithn't she ? "Wouldn't she have 
 to be a niece ? " 
 
 " Maybe she would," said the captain, with 
 188
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 an unpleasant little twinge at the thought. 
 " But I'm not so sure about that, either," he 
 added cheerfully ; " some people look a great 
 deal older than they are ; you don't know but 
 I'm one of that kind, missy ; and some look a 
 great deal younger than they are, and Mrs. Tip- 
 pett may be one of that kind, for all you know." 
 
 " Mayle" said Peggy doubtfully, "but she 
 thmiled at me and she looked ever and ever so 
 young to be your couthin, truly. But you're 
 not a bit old," she hastened to add, seeing that 
 her friend had a look of disappointment; "I 
 think you're jutht exactly the right age." 
 
 "That's a comfort," said the captain. "If 
 somebody says that to you when you're half a 
 century old and two years over you'll be as 
 pleased as I am. Here we are at the park en- 
 trance, and here's a friend of mine, true as I 
 live. Going to write up the spring flowers for 
 your paper ? " 
 
 " I haven't looked at them," said Jack Sever- 
 ance who, to the captain's mind, wore a down- 
 cast air. "I took the short cut through the 
 park from a house over on the other side where 
 189
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 I'd been sent to get information and mighty 
 little I was able to get. The chief won't hand 
 me out any compliments for to-day's work, I 
 know that well enough. This is a mean old 
 world to-day, anyhow." 
 
 " M'm," said the captain, " I've noticed you 
 seemed to be feeling that way about it lately. 
 There's been too much going on in the musical 
 world to suit you, I judge. But Miss Temple 
 and that slim young man from Boston seem to 
 have been enjoying it pretty well" 
 
 " I don't see any reason for quarreling with 
 their enjoyment," said Jack Severance, stiffly ; 
 " although how a fellow with a chin like that 
 can get any pleasure out of life is beyond me ! 
 Miss Temple has known him a long time ; he's 
 the brother of a college friend of hers." 
 
 " But that doesn't help his chin any," said 
 the captain. " It is a real drawback in more 
 senses than one, but I reckon Miss Temple has 
 grown used to it. She tells me he's crammed 
 full of music, and I presume she takes his chin 
 for granted, same as we do little failings in 
 those we're fond of, always." 
 190
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 "I don't believe she's fond of him," said 
 Jack Severance hotly ; " she couldn't be ! But 
 they're congenial when it comes to music ; and 
 she's being nice to him as long as he's only here 
 for a fortnight and she likes his sister. What 
 have you seen to make you think she's fond of 
 him ?" 
 
 At this point Peggy, who had been assuming 
 interest in a toad she had discovered in the 
 grass, felt that she had effaced herself long 
 enough, and broke into the conversation. 
 
 " You didn't thpeak to me at all," she said 
 severely to the young man who had looked over 
 her head at the captain when their meeting took 
 place. " Are you croth this beautiful morning ? " 
 
 "Why, hello, Peggy, you must pardon my 
 negligence," said Jack Severance. " I really 
 didn't see you." 
 
 " Look here," and the captain's eyes lighted 
 with mischief, " you take Peggy down to the 
 brook, and I'll sit here on this bench till you 
 come back. My foot has troubled me a little 
 bit the last day or two and that stony path 
 would be kind of hard on it." 
 191
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 " All right, come on, Peggy," said the young 
 man ; he was none too cordial, but Peggy was 
 not exacting with her friends and she seized his 
 hand with right good will, pulling him joyfully 
 toward the goal of her desires. 
 
 " There ! " said the captain. " I guess 
 Marilla would say I managed that fairly well ; 
 and it's the first good chance I've had to carry 
 out her suggestions. Now let's see how they 
 work. That young fellow from Boston's going 
 home to-morrow ; about to-morrow night will 
 be my opportunity ; Friday, that's my lucky 
 day, too." 
 
 The young man from Boston had occupied 
 the small room at 385 Walnut Street for only 
 two weeks and had taken few meals with the 
 other boarders, so that he was not missed by 
 any one, with the presumable exception of Miss 
 Temple. She, however, seemed in the best of 
 spirits the next night at dinner. 
 
 "Would you like to hear some music to- 
 night ? " she asked the captain. " It's a good 
 while since you've been in my sitting-room, and 
 I feel just in the mood for play ing. n 
 192
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 " I'll be delighted," said the captain. " Pity 
 Mr. Severance isn't here, so you could invite 
 him, too ; bat he seems to be away." 
 
 " He's probably off on some assignment that 
 will oblige him to take his dinner in one of 
 those queer Bohemian places he always talks 
 about," said the girl carelessly ; " and anyway 
 he doesn't care for music as you do." 
 
 " Maybe not," said the captain, " but he cares 
 a good deal for your playing." 
 
 "Oh," Kuth Temple moved her head im- 
 patiently, " my playing ! "What sort of things 
 does he like me to play, best of all ? They are 
 not music, really." 
 
 " No," said the captain tolerantly, " I sup- 
 pose they aren't, judged by a high standard, but 
 they're real pleasant to listen to. I wonder 
 where he is to-night. I saw him walking with 
 about as pretty a little girl as I ever laid my 
 eyes on yesterday." 
 
 Kuth Temple turned a look of frank astonish- 
 ment on the captain. 
 
 " Jack Severance walking with a girl ! " she 
 said, and the captain noted with joy that the 
 193
 
 CAP'N GED 
 
 adjective he had put in as a concession to truth 
 had passed unnoticed. " Why, he's always tell- 
 ing me he has nothing to do with girls." 
 
 " He was having something to do with this 
 particular one," and the captain gave a well 
 planned chuckle. "'Twas in the park I saw 
 them. I guess you don't know much about 
 what's been going on for the past two weeks, 
 outside of music, do you ? " 
 
 " No," said the girl thoughtfully. " No, I 
 don't. But I shouldn't have supposed, how- 
 ever " 
 
 She did not finish her sentence although the 
 captain waited with apparent anxiety. That 
 evening two spots of bright red grew in her 
 cheeks as she played. She chose for the most 
 part light, tricksy things which tickled the cap- 
 tain's fancy. At the end of one he laughed out- 
 right. 
 
 "Sounds like little creatures chasing each 
 other," he said delightedly. " Couldn't we have 
 that over again ? " 
 
 " It is called ' Puck ' you remember him in 
 'Midsummer Night's Dream.' This is by 
 194
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 Grieg ; you've liked ever so many of his things, 
 you know." 
 
 The captain nodded. 
 
 " I always remember him and what you told 
 me about him ; it seems wonderful to me that 
 a man living way off there could make up music 
 that tells its stories so plainly to me," he said. 
 " You'd think 'twould be a language I couldn't 
 understand. I had an awful piece of work with 
 a Norwegian sailor once ; seemed to me we'd 
 both go out of our minds before we got to an 
 interpreter. But music's different ; I reckon 
 it's kind of universal." 
 
 " That's just it," said the girl quickly, " for 
 those who have souls to understand it and ears 
 to hear it, it is a universal language, and for 
 the others it's just a jargon, I suppose," she 
 added. 
 
 " Aren't you sorry for them, those others ? " 
 asked the captain. " Just think what they 
 lose ! And with a little help, maybe some of 
 them would learn to understand it. Now 
 there's " 
 
 " You needn't say what you were going to, 
 195
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 Captain Bold," broke in Ruth Temple, and 
 although she laughed the two red spots in her 
 cheeks burned brighter than ever. " They don't 
 need our sorrow, or want it, those others. 
 They'd rather they'd rather spend their time 
 walking with pretty girls. Now you and I will 
 have ' Puck ' again." 
 
 The captain listened, but this time it was 
 with a divided mind. For while Puck's antics 
 delighted him as before, over and over, back 
 and forth in his brain chased thoughts of Jack 
 Severance. 
 
 "Better even than the first time," he said 
 when Puck had given his last airy kick and 
 danced out of hearing, but to himself he was 
 saying, " Marilla was right ! She certainly 
 was right, however she knew. If Jack Sever- 
 ance were to walk in here this minute and I 
 cleared out I believe 'twould be all settled in- 
 side of a half hour. And it's just the mention 
 of another girl that's done it ! Did you ever 
 see a plan work so fast ? "Why, she fired right 
 up, and was livelier at supper than she's been 
 for days. I do feel a bit deceitful, though, 
 196
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 calling Peggy 'a pretty little girl.' But it 
 certainly was the very thing. I well I'll in- 
 vite Marilla down, as Mr. Corcoran suggested. 
 I declare I will." 
 
 197
 
 CHAPTER XYI 
 
 "TTI TELL, sir, I took your advice and sent 
 V V for her," said Captain Bold, who had 
 hurried out of the door after Mr. Corcoran, and 
 now fell in step with him. " Yes, sir, 'twas all 
 transacted while you were out of town. She's 
 coming to-day. I'm on my way to the station 
 to meet her." 
 
 The broker stared at him. "Who in 
 
 What are you talking about ? " he inquired. 
 198
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 " I suppose your mind's so full of the stock 
 market you've forgotten all about her," said 
 the captain. " I'm referring to Cousin Marilla 
 Bold, who keeps house for me up in Felling. 
 'Twas you that suggested my asking her, and 
 she jumped at the chance. Coming to-day, as 
 I said before. Going to have the small room 
 on the third floor." 
 
 " Oho, I remember now," and the little eyes 
 shot a glance at the captain. "She's the 
 obstacle to your matrimonial plans." 
 
 " What put that into your head ? " The cap- 
 tain shouted so that two passers-by stopped and 
 looked toward a policeman stationed across the 
 street. " I've got no matrimonial plans ! " 
 
 " So I understood," and his companion looked 
 down at him with baffling calm. " I judged 
 you couldn't really have any while Cousin 
 Marilla, so to speak, blocked the passage. 
 Good luck to you, captain. I've got to see a 
 man in here." 
 
 "Now what in thunder did he mean by 
 talking about my matrimonial plans ! " fumed 
 the man left on the corner. " As if I hadn't 
 199
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 more'n enough on my shoulders already. If he 
 should say a word to Marilla and she flew off 
 at a tangent as she did that time somebody 
 started talk about the Widow Mason, where 
 would I be ? I reckon I'd better speak a word 
 with him before he sees Marilla. A man that 
 makes up something out of less'n nothing is 
 kind of dangerous. Hello, little girl, I came 
 near not seeing you." 
 
 " I was watching you," said Peggy Town- 
 send, her eyes dancing as she slipped her hand 
 into the captain's. " Your face is jutht as red ! 
 and I thought maybe you were mad, but then 
 I saw how pleathed you looked, and I knew 
 you were almotht laughing." 
 
 " Laughing ! " echoed the captain. " Not at 
 all, my dear. I was far from laughing. I was 
 thinking of a very serious matter. A very 
 serious matter indeed. You give my regards 
 to Miss Letty and tell her I shall be in soon to 
 see her and bring a cousin of mine who's com- 
 ing to-day to make me a visit." 
 
 " I'll tell her," said Peggy as they reached 
 Miss Letty's door, "and I'll tell her how 
 200
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 pleathed you looked when I met you. Good- 
 bye." 
 
 " By George, there must be something wrong 
 with my face," muttered the captain as he 
 trudged on. "I'd better go to one o' these 
 elocution teachers and learn how to express my 
 different emotions. Let's see what Marilla'll 
 say when she sights me. I'll wager there 
 won't anything escape her." 
 
 They were seated in the cab with Miss 
 Marilla's suit-case, from which she had refused 
 to part, bumping between them, before the 
 captain received a full inspection. 
 
 "What you been doing to yourself?" then 
 demanded his cousin. " You're all spruced up. 
 Your hair's cut different ; and that suit's new. 
 Did you forget you had a perfectly good one 
 up home ? If I hadn't supposed you'd be going 
 back when I do, I'd have brought it down. 
 What are you smiling about, Cousin Gid? 
 You look sort o' foolish." 
 
 " I'm not smiling," said the captain stoutly. 
 " I don't know what's the matter with folks 
 this morning. 'Tisn't the first nor the second 
 201
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 time that remarks have been passed on my 
 looks." 
 
 "No wonder," said Miss Marilla. "Are 
 there any widows in that place you're stay- 
 ing? or are all those women widows? As I 
 said to our minister's wife, what with abbrevia- 
 tions and handwriting that's almost impossible 
 to read at its best, the news I've got out of 
 your letters is sparse and muddled. You tell 
 off the names to me before we get to the house." 
 
 " Mrs. Hitchings, she's tall and commanding 
 and into all suffrage works," began the captain, 
 checking off the names on his fingers. " She's 
 a widow. Mrs. Damon, short and heavy built, 
 with a good deal of jewelry and trimming, a 
 teary make-up, large appetite, husband out 
 West; also suffrage. Miss Rawson, thin and 
 peaked, wants to know a little more than is 
 going on, also suffrage. Miss Temple, young 
 and pretty, teaches school ; anti-suffrage. Jack 
 Severance, in love with her and doesn't much 
 care who knows it; her mind's wavering be- 
 cause he isn't up to her standard of musical and 
 otherwise culture, but her heart's set on him, 
 202
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 to my thinking. Mr. Corcoran, a stock broker, 
 and a joker. Sometimes sees jokes where there 
 aren't any. Mr. Farnham, plenty of money 
 and no stomach according to his own state- 
 ments. Oh and Mrs. Rose Tippett, our land- 
 lady." 
 
 " Oh " Miss Manila's exclamation was 
 
 an exact imitation of the captain's. " I'm glad 
 you thought to speak of her, but I suppose you 
 don't see her as often as the others. Meal- 
 times, for instance, I presume she stays in the 
 kitchen and attends to things." 
 
 " No, oh, no," said the captain. " She's 
 generally there at the table. Oh, yes, she's al- 
 ways there for dinners and breakfasts often." 
 
 " Funny you came near forgetting her," said 
 Miss Marilla. " Where's her husband ? " 
 
 " He is dead, I understand," and the captain 
 repeated his statement with more assurance. 
 " Yes, I guess there's no doubt he's dead." 
 
 " Well, I must say ! " Miss Marilla conde- 
 scended to no light tricks of picking imaginary 
 threads or flecking dust from her garments, 
 such as a more merciful woman might have 
 203
 
 CAFN GIB 
 
 employed ; she kept a steady gaze fixed on the 
 captain's reddening face and beneath that gaze 
 he quailed. " Don't you know for certain 
 whether or not Mrs. Rose Tippett is a widow ? " 
 
 " I feel perfectly sure of it ; just as sure as 
 that I'm sitting here with you," said the captain, 
 taking off his hat and wiping his brow. " But 
 given a woman in her position, there'll always 
 be folks to question and surmise and " 
 
 " Where is he buried ? " broke in Miss Ma- 
 rilla coldly. 
 
 "Good land! I don't know where he's 
 buried!" said the captain irritably. "Don't 
 you suppose I've had other things to do beside 
 asking her where her husband's buried ? What 
 would she have thought of me ? " 
 
 " I don't know what she thinks of you now," 
 said Miss Marilla. " But I'm proposing to find 
 out. I've found out pretty near what you think 
 of her, already." 
 
 " You have not ! " cried the captain desper- 
 ately. "I mean I don't think anything of 
 her, not in that way, Marilla ! Consider my 
 age ! Fifty-two." 
 
 204
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 " You don't look it, not fixed up as you are 
 to-day," said Miss Marilla quite unmoved. 
 " And what ' way ' is it that you don't think 
 anything of her ? " 
 
 " I've been here only eight weeks." The cap- 
 tain was half conscious of irrelevance, but his 
 dignity clutched at any straw. " There, this is 
 our street. And here's the house. You let me 
 get out first." 
 
 " Don't you suppose I know the rudiments of 
 behavior ? " said Miss Marilla. " You're acting 
 like a three-year-old, Cousin Gid, and if you 
 think I don't know how glad you are we've 
 got here, you're mightily mistaken. Who's 
 that looking out the third-story window ? " 
 
 205
 
 CHAPTER XYII 
 
 IT was the third day after Miss Manila's ar- 
 rival, and already it seemed to Captain 
 Gideon Bold as if she had always been there. 
 With a skill born of long experience she had 
 put questions and drawn deductions; every 
 member of the household had paid to her toll 
 of answers, willing or reluctant, and now in her 
 best black silk she gazed up and down the table 
 length with the air of one at ease and possessed 
 of all necessary knowledge. 
 
 " I'm going with the ladies to their meeting 
 to-night," she informed her cousin in a clear, 
 carrying tone. " They want I should, and it's 
 206
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 an excellent opportunity ; some of the best 
 known speakers are to take part, and I shall 
 get a good idea of the subject." 
 
 " From one point of view," put in Mr. Farn- 
 ham. 
 
 Miss Marilla leaned slightly forward and 
 bent her gaze on him. 
 
 " One point of view is about all most folks 
 can take in at once, without they're cross- 
 eyed," she answered. 
 
 " Wouldn't you like me to take you to the 
 meeting?" offered the captain, but Miss Ma- 
 rilla shook her head. 
 
 " "We don't want anybody that isn't prepared 
 to go with an open mind," she said, "and I 
 happen to know yours is very far from open, 
 Cousin Gid. I s'pose you have other engage- 
 ments, child," turning to Ruth Temple. 
 
 " Yes," said the girl, " I have. I'm going to 
 the theatre." 
 
 " Good for you," said Miss Marilla. " When 
 you're young you can take your choice of enter- 
 tainments. When you get to my age you snap 
 at the first thing that comes along, unless you're 
 207
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 prepared to sit front o' the fire every night, and 
 mourn your past." 
 
 "I stand prepared to take you to the play 
 any evening you say so," and the captain 
 looked at her reproachfully, and at the same 
 moment Mrs. Hitchings addressed her. 
 
 " I trust it is not in the light of an entertain- 
 ment that you are looking forward to the even- 
 ing," she said austerely. 
 
 " That's the way I'm looking at everything 
 down here," said Miss Manila with an air of 
 reckless gaiety. " Isn't it 'most time to start ?" 
 
 Although not permitted to act as escort Cap- 
 tain Bold awaited his cousin's return, and it 
 fras well after ten o'clock when he and Mrs. 
 Rose Tippett, with whom he had been confer- 
 ring as to the probable whereabouts of the party, 
 heard a latch-key. The captain stepped to the 
 door, followed by Mrs. Tippett. 
 
 " I was afraid something had occurred," he 
 said to Mrs. Hitchings who was removing her 
 latch-key. " You spoke of returning soon after 
 nine." 
 
 To his dismay Mrs. Hitchings passed him 
 208
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 without a glance and proceeded to mount the 
 stairs with an uncompromisingly heavy tread. 
 After her sped Miss Rawson, who had the 
 air of being withdrawn from all spectators. 
 Behind her with arms interlocked came Mrs. 
 Damon and Miss Marilla. They lurched un- 
 steadily over the threshold, and for one horrible 
 moment the captain thought that one or the 
 other if not both of them had indulged in some 
 unwonted stimulant. It appeared that Miss 
 Marilla was the less demoralized of the two. 
 
 " You let us sit down and get our breaths," 
 she said feebly, " and we'll tell you about it, or 
 I will. Here, you take the sofa," she advised 
 her companion, " and lean back. Don't try to 
 talk yet." 
 
 We've been trodden under foot," gasped 
 Mrs. Damon, her large features working and 
 her eyes suffused with a mist which speedily 
 resolved itself into tears. 
 
 " What ! " cried the captain, while Mrs. Tip- 
 pett busied herself with stuffing cushions be- 
 hind the sufferer and Miss Marilla, who had 
 sunk into an armchair, looking quite limp and 
 209
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 forlorn. She rallied, however, and spoke her 
 mind, once for all. 
 
 " I'm not saying where the blame lies, for I 
 don't know," she said ; " but what I do know 
 is that a parcel of women who'll turn them- 
 selves into a mob because one of 'em thinks she 
 smells smoke, and won't listen to reason set 
 forth to 'em from the platform as loud as a 
 man can holler, aren't fit to govern anything 
 or anybody, in my opinion. Did Mrs. Damon 
 or I want to leave our seats ? Indeed we didn't ! 
 but we were pressed out of 'em and carried 
 along down the aisle and out into the corridor, 
 willy-nilly ! Sometimes we were carried back- 
 ward, sometimes we were jammed against each 
 other and again almost torn apart. 
 
 " And what 'most finished this poor woman," 
 Miss Marilla bent a pitying glance on the agi- 
 tated bulk on the sofa, " what 'most finished 
 her was being knocked down by a big ' Don't 
 Push ' sign mounted on a kind of an easel. I 
 kep' my hold on her, well as I could, and I was 
 able to pull her up, but the back breadth of my 
 skirt is in ribbons, where I was clawed and 
 210
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 clutched by those that came behind. And you 
 just cast your eye on my hat, will you ? " she 
 requested Mrs. Tippett. " Does it look to you 
 as if I could ever wear it again ? " 
 
 " It's a shame," said Mrs. Tippett, the soft 
 color rising in her cheeks. " A perfect shame ! 
 and it was such a pretty hat." 
 
 "'Twas suitable for my years," said Miss 
 Marilla, "and the materials were of the best, 
 but as I told Mrs. Hitchings, she's a heavy built 
 woman, and let her plant one of her feet right 
 in the crown of a hat, it isn't ever going to be the 
 same again. She and Miss Rawson were close 
 behind, driving us, when the ' Don't Push' board 
 struck Mrs. Damon, and they passed right over 
 us, as you might say. Talking of it in the drug- 
 store afterward they didn't seem to recall hav- 
 ing any trouble getting out, but we know about 
 it, I guess, don't we ? " 
 
 "I'd never have believed it of Mrs. Hitch- 
 ings," panted the victim on the sofa. "You 
 might have expected it of Miss Eawson, being 
 such a nervous make-up and afraid of fire, but 
 Mrs. Hitchings' voice rose above everybody's 
 211
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 else, just bellowing, ' Make Way ! Make "Way ! ' 
 only of course I can't do it loud for my strength's 
 all gone. If poor Mr. Damon could see me 
 now, I don't know what he'd say. I've always 
 had such a sheltered life." 
 
 " You're a poor one to try any o' this wom- 
 an's rights business," said Miss Marilla firmly. 
 " I hope this'll be the last of it for you. Now 
 I'm going straight to bed. I'm not bruised as 
 much as you, but I'm considerable shaken up. 
 Cousin Gid, you can give me your arm to go 
 up-stairs, if you've a mind." 
 
 " I thought 'twas best to leave that poor scared 
 woman to Mrs. Tippett," said Miss Marilla when 
 the door of her room was attained. " How did 
 you get on to-night ? Don't tell me you let the 
 time go to waste." 
 
 "I don't know what you mean," said the 
 captain, turning a lively scarlet under her gaze. 
 " I was in my room reading till well after nine." 
 
 Miss Marilla surveyed him from under her 
 battered head-gear with a mixture of scorn and 
 amusement. 
 
 "I declare I don't know what the Lord's 
 212
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 thinking of to give men so little sense as the most 
 of 'em have," she said as she turned from him. 
 
 "And just now you appear to think most 
 women are fools," said the captain with some 
 spirit. " Nobody suits you, seems to me." 
 
 By way of response his cousin gave him only 
 an enigmatical smile along with her "good- 
 night " as she closed the door. 
 
 " I wasn't going to tell her I started out to 
 make Mrs. Tippett a little call in her sitting- 
 room and heard a man's voice in there talking 
 loud, and hers half-crying," thought the cap- 
 tain, as he entered his room a moment later. 
 " And if Miss Kawson doesn't stop trying to tell 
 me whatever 'tis she's ferreted out I'll she'll 
 regret it, that's all ! She'd better let me alone." 
 
 213
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 , no, I'm quite sure you are mistaken," 
 said Mrs. Rose Tippett to the visitor who 
 sat rocking and surveying her with a determined 
 but agreeable air. " Captain Bold has been very 
 kind to me ; no one else has been so kind and 
 thoughtful. But I am quite sure it is just his 
 friendliness. And I respect him so highly." 
 
 "You've no need to lose your respect for 
 him because he's waited till late in life to fall 
 in love," said Miss Marilla. " That's what he's 
 done. I was engaged once ; he married another 
 woman, but I know the signs. I knew what 
 was the matter with Cousin Gid from his letters 
 214
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 before I came down here. Writing me about 
 the ' spring in the air.' The spring's in him / 
 that's where 'tis. Any reason why he shouldn't 
 fall in love with you if he likes ? " 
 
 " Yes, I think there is a good reason," said 
 Mrs. Tippett, avoiding Miss Manila's eyes. " I 
 think there is a very good reason." 
 
 " Is your husband living ? " asked Miss Marilla 
 bluntly. 
 
 " Oh, no, he died more than two years ago," 
 said Mrs. Tippett. 
 
 " I can't think of anything else that would 
 be a good and sufficient reason for your not 
 taking Cousin Gid if you like him," said Miss 
 Marilla thoughtfully. " You must be twenty 
 years younger, but that's no objection, to me. 
 You're of sound mind." 
 
 " I hope I am," Mrs. Tippett smiled faintly. 
 " I don't feel quite sure of it, when it comes to 
 money matters. In spite of all Mrs. Hitchings' 
 advice I can't make this house pay. And I 
 have debts. Oh ! I ought not to tell you. I 
 am horrified at myself ! Meat and everything 
 costs so much ! " 
 
 215
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 Miss Manila's shrewd face wore a very kindly 
 look. 
 
 " You ought to tell somebody, child," she 
 said, "and you don't want to tell Gid yet. 
 I can see that. You tell me." 
 
 " Every one pays good board ; I think really 
 they pay too much," said Mrs. Tippett simply ; 
 " of course I get nothing from Mrs. Hitchings' 
 room, because she lent me the money to start 
 here, buy the things I needed for the house, 
 you know ; but every one else pays ; and it's 
 just the awful bills that seem to eat up all the 
 profits ; I go over and over my account books 
 evenings, and it makes me almost distracted. 
 The tradesman's bills, the gas bills, all the little 
 extra things that are so sure to count up into 
 big sums at the end of the month ! I've never 
 been used to handling money. Sometimes 
 sometimes I think I have made a mistake in 
 trying to keep a boarding-house." 
 
 " I shouldn't wonder if you had." Miss Ma- 
 
 rilla looked at her sharply but kindly. " What 
 
 would you get for Mrs. Hitchings' room and 
 
 board a week if you were free to charge for it ? " 
 
 216
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 " Fifteen dollars a week," said Mrs. Tippett ; 
 " it is a large room, and sunny. I got that 
 while she was away last summer." 
 
 " M-m," said Miss Marilla ; " then, allowing 
 for a good high rate of interest, I judge she 
 must have loaned you upwards of ten thousand 
 dollars." 
 
 " Oh, no ! " cried Mrs. Tippett. " How could 
 you think I would borrow such a sum, when I 
 should never, never be sure of paying it back ! 
 But she did lend me a thousand dollars and 
 now it seems like a million, when I think of it 
 and I think of it most of the time, for Mrs. 
 Hitchings is disappointed in me ; I haven't nearly 
 as much ability as she imagined, she says." 
 
 " Haven't you ? " said Miss Marilla. " Well, 
 she has enough to make up. A woman that 
 can get sixty per cent, interest on a thousand 
 dollar loan has what I call business ability 
 that is, unless I should call it something that 
 isn't quite so complimentary." 
 
 " Oh, but I haven't looked at it that way," 
 said Mrs. Tippett. " You see, she didn't oblige 
 me to give her a note, or anything." 
 217
 
 CAFN GLD 
 
 ""Well, I shouldn't think even she'd have 
 had the face to ask for a note when she made 
 sure of getting her money back with twenty 
 per cent, interest by the end of your two years' 
 lease," said Miss Marilla grimly. " At the end 
 of that time I suppose she calculates to leave 
 you high and dry. Isn't that her plan ? " 
 
 " She is going abroad, she says, at the end 
 of this season," admitted Mrs. Tippett. She 
 looked distressed and bewildered. 
 
 "Well, if ever anybody needed a man to 
 look after her it's you," stated Miss Marilla. 
 " Why haven't you asked any of 'em here for 
 advice ? That Corcoran man is a foolish talker 
 with his jokes, but he has good common sense 
 when it comes to business ; and I've no doubt 
 that other one, Farnham, if you could get his 
 mind off his stomach and liver for a few minutes, 
 would be worth something. And letting those 
 two go by, why in the world haven't you 
 talked to Gid ? He'd have liked nothing 
 better than helping you. There isn't a man, 
 woman or child up in Felling that hasn't come 
 to him one time or another. There's a whole 
 218
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 possy of 'em now just waiting for him to get 
 over his mad and go home. He'll have enough 
 matters to settle to keep him busy for a month 
 steady. Why haven't you talked to him ? " 
 
 " I have talked to him about all sorts of 
 things, and he has helped me in many ways," 
 said Mrs. Tippett, looking down at her slender 
 hands. " But Mrs. Hitchings warned me never 
 to trouble my boarders with my own worries ; 
 she said they would leave if I did. She has 
 had a great deal of experience ; she has boarded 
 for fifteen years." 
 
 " Is that all ? " inquired Miss Marilla. " I 
 should have supposed she'd been at it twice 
 as long at least. Well now, see here, do you 
 give me leave to tell my cousin what you've 
 told me ? I promise you it won't make him 
 leave, not till he's good and ready." 
 
 " I'm afraid he won't understand about Mrs. 
 Hitchings," and Mrs. Tippett's eyes were full 
 of trouble. " She was she has been very kind 
 to me, but lately, since Captain Bold came and 
 before that, she has been dissatisfied with me, 
 and sometimes speaks quite quite sharply. I 
 219
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 think most men do not wish to hear that sort 
 of thing, and I'm afraid Captain Bold does not 
 like her." 
 
 " You'd be something more than ' afraid ' if 
 you had my privileges of hearing him speak 
 freely you'd be sure and certain. There "- 
 and Miss Marilla rose with her usual decision 
 of movement, " I mustn't stay here talking 
 with you another minute. I'm wasting my 
 own time and hindering you, no doubt. I'll 
 come in again." 
 
 " I didn't quite get at the cause of her think- 
 ing she couldn't marry Gid if he asked her," 
 she mused as she walked slowly along the 
 street, " but I shall find out, give me a little 
 more time. She didn't say she'd marry him if 
 there wasn't any obstacle, but on the other 
 hand she didn't say she wouldn't. I think it's 
 a kind of a hopeful outlook for Gid if I can 
 put a little sprawl into him and he doesn't 
 bungle too much. I'd give five cents to know 
 what makes him shy off so whenever I start 
 talking about her. Now that time with the 
 Widow Mason, and all the other times he's 
 220
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 been free-spoken with me ; he could hardly 
 get out the words fast enough to tell me he 
 didn't want part or parcel of 'em. I wonder 
 if he " 
 
 In the very middle of the crossing Miss 
 Marilla stopped and stamped her foot. 
 
 " I'll wager that's the root of it ! " she said 
 aloud, and suddenly felt her elbow in a firm 
 grasp and herself under the guidance of a tall 
 policeman. 
 
 " Got some kind of a little seizure, ma'am ? " 
 he said in a calm but sympathetic tone as they 
 reached the curb-stone. " Saw you just in time 
 before that auto got you. How would it be if 
 you stepped into the drug-store and let me call 
 a cab for you ? I wouldn't try walking any 
 farther, seems to me." 
 
 " Let go of me ! " said Miss Marilla, upturn- 
 ing an indignant face to meet his gaze. " Don't 
 you know the difference between a woman 
 stopping a minute when an idea strikes her, 
 and one having a fit ? Let go, I tell you ! " 
 
 " Yery well, ma'am," and the policeman re- 
 garded her with an injured air, as he released 
 221
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 her elbow. " Only you'd better not have your 
 next idea strike you in the middle of the street, 
 unless you want it to be the last one you ever 
 have. That's my advice, and you needn't 
 thank me for it, either." 
 
 It was several days before there came to Miss 
 Marilla what she considered a fitting opportu- 
 nity to tell her cousin about the financial dealings 
 of Mrs. Hitchings. At the time she chose Cap- 
 tain Bold was accompanying her home from a 
 concert at which they had experienced doubtful 
 
 joy- 
 
 " He banged the ivories in great style," the 
 captain said impatiently as they reached the 
 cool air of the street, grateful to their cheeks 
 after the heat of the crowded hall ; " his fingers 
 were all right, I guess, but the heart wasn't 
 there. You wait till you hear Ruth Temple 
 play one o' those very pieces and you'll see the 
 difference." 
 
 "I've been expecting you'd say that," re- 
 marked Miss Marilla indulgently. " She is a 
 pretty player, that child, there's no doubt of it. 
 But see here, Cousin Gid, there's something I 
 222
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 want to tell you, and I never get a fair chance 
 when we're in the house, on account of that 
 Miss Rawson being everywhere at once as you 
 might say. You listen to me now." 
 
 The captain listened obediently, and with 
 every minute his wrath mounted higher. 
 
 " By George ! You let me get at that 
 woman ! " he cried at last. " You let me " 
 
 " S-sh," counseled Miss Marilla, jerking his 
 arm. " I've been stopped by one policeman ; 
 that's enough for our family. If you don't quit 
 blasting out that way like as not we'll both be 
 arrested for disturbing the peace. Say what- 
 ever you want to, but say it low, for pity's sake." 
 
 The captain's voice sank to an inarticulate 
 rumble, but he bore his cousin along so rapidly 
 that at last she protested. 
 
 " You can't say anything to Mrs. Hitchings 
 to-night, Gid," she told him, dragging her feet 
 to retard his progress. " Don't haul me over 
 the ground so ! She's gone away to address a 
 meeting and stay over night. And you listen 
 to me again if you're holding off from Mrs. 
 Tippett on my account let me tell you that 
 223
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 Cousin Edward, out in Iowa, has written be- 
 seeching me to coine back out there where I 
 was born and help him look after the children, 
 and I'm wild to go for a year, anyway. After 
 that we'll see. I could divide my time, if best. 
 There's a good deal of thinking for you to do," 
 she ended in a tone of deep meaning " and 
 you'd better do it. You stop thinking about 
 the two young folks. They're getting on all 
 right. You consider your own case" 
 
 That night the captain had a recurrent dream 
 which closely resembled a nightmare. In it 
 he confronted Mrs. Kose Tippett, absolutely 
 tongue-tied, with his Cousin Marilla at his 
 elbow, saying in a loud whisper: "Now's 
 your chance ! Ask her ! " 
 
 After passing through this experience for 
 the third time the captain woke to find him- 
 self sitting up in bed, in a cold perspiration, 
 and hearing strange sounds. 
 
 " What's that noise, and where does it come 
 
 from ? " he asked, aloud. " It's a drip from 
 
 something, that's what it is. I guess I'd better 
 
 get up and see to it. By thunder, it sounds like 
 
 224
 
 CAPN GID 
 
 a big leak somewhere ! Let me get into my 
 clothes and see what's going on." 
 
 He turned on the light and by its aid 
 achieved a hybrid costume which he deemed 
 sufficient for his explorations. Cautiously 
 opening the door he peered out into the hall, 
 where one light was burning dimly. At that 
 moment a clock in the neighborhood gave out 
 the hour of three. 
 
 " Pretty time to be up," muttered the cap- 
 tain, "but listen to that, will you? The 
 water's pouring down somewhere. I must see 
 to it. It's below here." 
 
 He had gone part way down when there 
 came a crash and a thud. The captain cleared 
 the remaining stairs at a bound, and rushed 
 into the parlor. 
 
 " What in where in " he shouted and 
 
 tore up the stairs again to the door of Mrs. 
 Hitchings' room, from beneath which a little 
 stream of water was oozing out into the hall. 
 He heard Mrs. Tippett's voice as she hurried to 
 the parlor from her room behind it, and from 
 above he was assailed by a volley of questions. 
 225
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 Miss Rawson's voice, raised to a shriek, fol- 
 lowed him over the threshold. 
 
 " Is the house on fire ? " she cried from the 
 stair rail over which she hung in a pale green 
 kimono, her scanty locks done up in what Miss 
 Marilla called " kid caterpillars." " Will some- 
 body tell me at once ? I have valuable papers."
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE captain paid no heed to questions. 
 " Bring pails, buckets, mops, cloths, any- 
 thing that'll hold water," he roared, appearing 
 in the doorway. " This whole place is afloat ! 
 I've turned off the faucet, but there's plenty of 
 trouble here and down-stairs. The women 
 folks'd better keep away. I don't want any 
 petticoats in this room. Where's Mrs. Tip- 
 pett ? " 
 
 Down the stairs, neatly and completely clad 
 in a rubber rain-coat, came Miss Marilla. 
 
 " Put on yours and come, too," she said to 
 227
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 Ruth Temple. "Gid doesn't know what he 
 wants. Men never do." 
 
 Mr. Corcoran, Mr. Farnham and Jack Sever- 
 ance had responded to the captain's call, each 
 with a bath- towel in his hand. 
 
 "Here, you give me those towels," com- 
 manded Miss Marilla. " A minute more won't 
 make any difference, and there's no sense ruin- 
 ing everything the poor little soul has in the 
 house. I'll get some suitable cloths. Mr. 
 Severance, you come down with me." 
 
 Meekly the men surrendered their bath- 
 towels, and obediently Jack Severance followed 
 his leader down-stairs. As they reached the 
 parlor door they heard a sound as of one laugh- 
 ing and crying at the same time. 
 
 " She's got hysterics," whispered Miss Marilla. 
 " Well, no wonder. My stars ! look in there ! " 
 
 The great red sofa bore a mass of sodden 
 plaster ; the largest of the flaming armchairs 
 had received another mass, while from the 
 ceiling depended in various places more plaster, 
 apparently ready to leave its moorings and add 
 to the wreckage below. And just inside the 
 228
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 door in a soft brown wrapper, with her hair 
 braided down her back, and curling around her 
 face, with shining eyes and flushed cheeks, 
 stood Mrs. Rose Tippett, laughing, with every 
 now and then a little catch in her breath that 
 sounded like a sob. 
 
 " It's ruined, isn't it ? " she said turning to 
 Miss Marilla. "Don't you think it is really 
 ruined ? The stains would never coine out of 
 that red, would they ? I'm glad ! " 
 
 Miss Marilla spoke to her in a firm but sooth- 
 ing tone, laying a hand on her arm. 
 
 " You don't know what you're saying, poor 
 child, and no wonder," she said, guiding Mrs. 
 Tippett out of the room and toward the clean- 
 ing closet at the back of the house. " You lift 
 that plaster off the furniture," she called over 
 her shoulder to young Severance. " There's 
 great damage done, but that Hitchings woman 
 will have to pay for all of it. Leaving a faucet 
 running, and the stopper in her bowl ! I never 
 heard of such work. It's a wonder she hasn't 
 flooded the whole house and drowned us all." 
 
 " She went away in a great hurry right after 
 229
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 dinner," said Mrs. Tippett. " I was so tired I 
 went to bed early and slept soundly. It hap- 
 pened that every one was in early last night. 
 Mrs. Hitchings must have neglected to lock her 
 door, or we couldn't have got in without break- 
 ing it down." 
 
 " Gid wouldn't have hesitated to break it 
 down," said Miss Marilla. " Let's put these big 
 tin pans on the parlor floor to catch the rest of 
 the drip, while Mr. Severance starts up with 
 some of these cloths and mops to set the men at 
 work." 
 
 " Help me stem the rushing tide as it surges 
 over the threshold," said Jack Severance, hand- 
 ing Ruth Temple a mop. " That will be a 
 noble work. Think of our dear Mrs. Hitchings 
 not being here to see what she's accomplished in 
 the way of making home happy." 
 
 " You step right into the room with that mop, 
 young man," laughed Miss Marilla who with 
 Mrs. Tippett had reached the second story, car- 
 rying a couple of pails. " We women folks can 
 sop up what little comes out here with these 
 sponges. "What's that floating round in the 
 230
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 middle of the floor ? Hand that to me, Gid, 
 whatever 'tis. It's a solid wad o' handker- 
 chiefs ! "Well, I never ! She was soaking 'em 
 out in her bowl." 
 
 " Oh, I don't think she could have been ! " 
 said Mrs. Tippett. " She told me that was one 
 of the things I must never allow the boarders 
 to do. I've always spoken of it to them." 
 
 " You never spoke to her of it, I'll wager," 
 said Miss Marilla grimly. " She saw to that 
 old schemer ! " 
 
 " You spoke to me," said Miss Eawson, an ac- 
 cusing eye on Mrs. Tippett. " To me when all 
 my washing goes to the Sunlight Laundry, and 
 always has ! It might have been considered 
 an insult, if I'd chosen to take it so." 
 
 " I'm glad you had a few grains o' common 
 sense," said Miss Marilla. " Here, you come 
 down another stair and take one o' these 
 sponges. Unless you're planning to keep mov- 
 ing I should advise you to go back to bed. It's 
 damp here to be standing 'round doing nothing. 
 You can squeeze your sponge into this pail Miss 
 Temple and I are using." 
 231
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 " I never expected to have anything like this 
 to do," said Miss Rawson, divided between 
 rebellion and the desire to see all that went on. 
 
 " Didn't you, now ? " and Miss Marilla wrung 
 out her sponge with great vigor. " What a 
 good thing it is for all of us to get a surprise 
 once in a while. I can't say that I was count- 
 ing on just this sort of early morning work 
 when I accepted Cousin Gid's invitation, but 
 here I am. There, Mrs. Tippett, you stop 
 work and let us finish. Don't you think you'd 
 better go down into the parlor and see if it's 
 stopped dripping? You might need to move 
 something more." 
 
 As Mrs. Tippett went down the stairs, Miss 
 Marilla stepped over the threshold of the room 
 in which the men were working. 
 
 " Can't you be spared a minute, Gid ? " she 
 asked. " Mrs. Tippett's gone down to see 
 about the parlor and she might need help. 
 Well, you men have been real smart in here, 
 I must say. Mr. Farnham, you let me take 
 that cloth a minute and you rest. You're all 
 beat out, you've worked so hard." 
 232
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 "I've never had the reputation of being a 
 shirk, madam, when there was work to be 
 done," said Mr. Farnham. " It is only in re- 
 gard to the social duties that I am counted so 
 remiss." 
 
 " Well, I'm sure you've been real social over 
 this," said Miss Marilla, " and I don't know 
 but it's done you good. You don't look half 
 so yellow as usual, not half. But I'd go back 
 to bed now." 
 
 "Thank you," said Mr. Farnham, "for the 
 compliment and the advice, both of which I 
 am obliged to accept. I begin to feel very 
 chilly. I'll bid you good-morning." 
 
 Miss Marilla looked after him and shook her 
 head. 
 
 " It's awful hard for him to be folksy," she 
 said with regret. "Mr. Severance, you give 
 me that mop and Mr. Corcoran and I will 
 finish up here. You go see if Miss Temple's 
 pail needs emptying. And you ask Miss 
 Rawson if she will come in here a minute 
 and help me. It's safe for her, now." 
 
 " I've always had delicate lungs," said Miss 
 233
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 Rawson, stepping gingerly into the water- 
 soaked room. " What am I to do here ? 
 What a looking place ! " 
 
 " Isn't it ? " and Miss Marilla gazed cheerfully 
 about her. " And to think who it is that's 
 done it ! That's what pleases me. Mr. Cor- 
 coran, will you see if that door'll shut ; just 
 for curiosity, I'd like to know ; water does 
 swell things so. Can you push it way to ? 
 It does go, doesn't it ? Now my advice would 
 be to leave it shut, long as we've dried off the 
 sill; and if you'll open the register wide, we 
 can maybe heat this up a little bit. Miss 
 Rawson, you just help me with this place 
 under the windows where two can work to 
 better advantage than one, and then we'll call 
 it done, unless Mr. Corcoran sees some other 
 spot that needs special attention." 
 
 While Miss Marilla, able commander, worked 
 with one chuckling, one reluctant helper, out in 
 the hall Jack Severance stood smiling down at 
 Ruth Temple. 
 
 " You look about fifteen," he told her, " and 
 very domestic. There's nobody to hear, so I 
 234
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 don't care what I say. You're having almost 
 as good a time with that sponge as you do at 
 a concert. You needn't say you aren't, for I 
 know better. Your eyes are like stars, and I 
 don't care how many other people, poets and 
 commoners, have said it. And your hair is the 
 prettiest thing I ever saw in all my life ! " 
 
 " You mustn't talk that way," said Euth 
 Temple. " My hair must look perfectly dread- 
 ful and you know my hands are too wet and 
 cold to do anything with it." 
 
 "I shall talk exactly that way," said Jack 
 Severance, " and I thank the Lord for your wet 
 hands ; but they aren't cold, are they ? " 
 
 " Cold you just feel," said the girl indig- 
 nantly, thrusting one hand at him. 
 
 His fingers closed over it, and held it fast. 
 
 " My pay was raised to-day," said Jack 
 Severance, stooping till his face was close to 
 hers. "Don't you think we could live hand- 
 somely on thirty-five dollars a week, and you 
 give me a music lesson every evening, so you 
 wouldn't miss your pupils ? " 
 
 "Oh," said Kuth Temple, "I'm tired of 
 235
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 teaching ! At least Jack ! oh, see what 
 
 you've done ! You've tipped the pail over ! 
 And there's all my work gone for nothing ! " 
 
 Her last words had a smothered sound. A 
 moment later Jack Severance seated her, 
 flushed and laughing, on the stairs which led 
 up to the next landing. 
 
 " You watch me wield the floor cloth," he 
 said, " and see what a treasure you're going to 
 have right in your family. What I've done up 
 to the last three minutes has been half-hearted 
 work. Now you'll see something worth while." 
 
 236
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 WHEN Captain Bold entered the parlor 
 for the second time Mrs. Rose Tippett 
 was seated in the smallest chair in the room, 
 looking about her with despair in her eyes. In 
 several spots on the floor lay masses of plaster ; 
 two intermittent drips were gradually filling 
 the pans placed to catch them ; the carpet was 
 soaked and stained for a good third of its area ; 
 the chairs were for the most part wet and 
 streaked and the ceiling sagged forlornly all 
 around the jagged bare spots from which the 
 plaster had fallen. The captain stepped briskly 
 up to Mrs. Tippett. 
 
 237
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 "Now, don't you worry, : ' he said cheerfully. 
 "I'll take this whole matter right off your 
 hands and settle it for you, if you'll let me. 
 It's every bit of it the fault of that Hitchings 
 woman, and I can testify to that in court if 
 need be, but she won't let it come to that. I 
 came home mad as a hornet last night, any- 
 way, on account of what Cousin Marilla'd been 
 telling me about the way that woman has 
 cheated you ever since you took this house. 
 After I've had a few minutes' conversation 
 with her she'll be ready to do about as I say. 
 But why in the world haven't you told me 
 anything of it before ? Don't you count me 
 for a friend ? " 
 
 Mrs. Tippett looked up at him with a faint 
 tinge of color in her cheeks. He stood directly 
 before her, an unheroic figure with more than 
 a suggestion of the grotesque in his appearance, 
 but dependable from the crown of his head to 
 his feet, which at that moment were encased in 
 unbuttoned overshoes. 
 
 " Of course I count you for a friend," said 
 Mrs. Rose Tippett ; " haven't I proved it by 
 238
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 the many ways in which I have accepted help 
 from you ? But there are things about which 
 I couldn't trouble you." 
 
 " I'd like to know why not," said the cap- 
 tain, folding his arms across the frogs of his 
 flowered dressing-gown, the gift of Miss 
 Marilla on his last birthday. " And 'twouldn't 
 have been a trouble ; 'twould have been a 
 pleasure ; don't you know that? " 
 
 His eyes were fastened on hers, which did 
 not drop but, filled with anxiety, looked 
 straight up at him. 
 
 "I'm not accustomed it is a long while 
 since any one has accounted it a pleasure to 
 look after troublesome affairs for me," she said 
 gently. "My father did it as long as he 
 lived; but he has been dead for more than 
 ten years." 
 
 "That's the idea," said the captain; "you 
 just let me take his place. Anything that he 
 did, I'll do." 
 
 "Oh," and then at last her eyes dropped, 
 and she shook her head. "I'm afraid you 
 couldn't." 
 
 239
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 "Could, too," asserted the captain. "See 
 here, I'm no eavesdropper, but I came down 
 intending to make you a little call that evening 
 of the suffrage meeting when Mrs. Damon 
 came so near her end, and the man that was in 
 your sitting-room was talking so loud I couldn't 
 help hearing a good deal before I got out of 
 ear-shot again. I know exactly how to attend 
 to a man like that. You'll pay that debt 
 you've assumed to the folks he represents when 
 the time's up, and not a day before. You 
 don't know any more about business than a 
 kitten ! " and he smiled indulgently down at 
 her. 
 
 " But I shan't be able to pay them when the 
 note is due," said Mrs. Tippett, raising her eyes 
 again as if she found strength in the sight of 
 the captain. "It's all I can do to pay the 
 interest ; he's had to wait for it twice. And 
 he'll have to wait again next month." 
 
 " No he won't," said the captain, " not after 
 I've talked to your other creditors and got things 
 on a fair basis. You're going to make money 
 
 this spring, and then we'll " 
 
 240
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 At this point Miss Marilla first looked and 
 then marched into the room. 
 
 " Well, how are you two getting on ? " she 
 asked with a businesslike air which put the cap- 
 tain into a cold perspiration such as his night- 
 mare had brought out. " I've just given my 
 congratulations to the two young folks over- 
 head ; they're so happy they didn't hear what 
 I said, nor notice when I stepped over their 
 feet on my way to the stairs." 
 
 " I've been telling Mrs. Tippett I'd like to 
 look after her affairs just the way her father al- 
 ways did," said the captain uneasily. " She's 
 in some little money difficulties that I can 
 straighten out for her ; and then, when we get 
 Mrs. Hitchings on a proper paying basis she 
 has plenty to do with Mrs. Tippett will be 
 fixed complete ; she'll have a tidy sum to put 
 away every month as long as she stays here, to 
 pay her interest and so on." 
 
 " Cousin Gid, you do try me to the very limit 
 o' my patience," said Miss Marilla eyeing him 
 with the air of one exasperated beyond endur- 
 ance. " Now I've made up my mind what 
 241
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 do, and you listen to me. I will stay here with 
 Mrs. Tippett till her lease runs out in Septem- 
 ber, and I'll show her how to make money 
 out of this boarding-house and keep it even 
 better than it's kept now. And in September, 
 when her pocket's full, I'll take her out to 
 Iowa with me. The change will do her good 
 and I'd like to have Edward get a look at 
 her. And if she decides to stay out there, as I 
 think she will if Edward has as much common 
 sense and spunk as he used to have, then I'll be 
 free to come back and keep house for you." 
 
 The captain had stared at her, dismayed but 
 speechless, from the moment she began ; now 
 as she paused for breath he gave her a be- 
 seeching glance and moistened his lips, but Miss 
 Marilla bore on before he had made a sound. 
 
 "As for you," she said scornfully, "you can get 
 right back to Felling, and the sooner the better. 
 You can board at the Gaynes's see how you 
 like her cooking play backgammon with old 
 Asa Dean, run with the fire-company, set out the 
 drinking fountain, and play Providence to all the 
 widows and incompetents up there. I'll look 
 242
 
 CAP'N GID 
 
 after Mrs. Tippett, and I shan t offer to be a 
 father to her, either. You with your fathers ! " 
 
 Neither of the cousins looked at Mrs. Hose 
 Tippett for a moment. Then suddenly the cap- 
 tain unfolded his arms and straightened his back. 
 In the rush of unlisted feelings that swept him 
 far beyond embarrassment he recognized a de- 
 sire to make himself as tall as possible. He for- 
 got his scornful relative as completely as if she 
 had been where a few moments before he had 
 wished her, safe in Felling, Vermont. 
 
 " Mrs. Tippett," he said, " will you please 
 look up at me a minute ? I want to take back 
 almost everything I've said. I don't want to 
 have your father's place at all. What I " 
 
 "Look out!" cried Miss Marilla. "That 
 piece of plastering's coming right down on her 
 head ! Oh, you " 
 
 Two arms like steel had shot out from the 
 captain's sides and lifted Mrs. Tippett from her 
 chair just in time ; but for the tired little woman 
 held in safety the steel was turned to something 
 warm and infinitely tender. 
 
 Miss Marilla, unregarded, made her way from 
 243
 
 CAFN GID 
 
 the room. She spoke no word in her pas- 
 sage, but to the captain came once more the 
 voice of his dream : 
 
 " Now's your chance ! Ask her ! " 
 
 And that time he did. 
 
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 APR 6 1987 
 
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