Cy Whittaker's Place

the way to the depot she favored Mr. Lumley with sundry hints concerning the reasons for her departure. She "couldn't stand it no longer"; if f

ce, because now she cal'lated she should go West and visi

lady attended sewing circle in the afternoon. Next day a large share of Bayport's conversation dealt with the housekeeper's leaving and her reasons therefor. The reasons di

of town for a woman to do housework was ridiculous on the face of it; there were plenty of Bayport ladies, women of capability and sound in their religious views, who might be hired if they were approached in the right way. Keturah gave, as her opinion, that if the captain

ed to remain, purring thankful contentment. The captain made his own bed, after a fashion, when he was ready to occupy it, but he was conscious that it might be better made. He refused, however, to spend his time in sweeping and dusting, and the dust continued to accumulate on the carpets and furniture. This condition of a

to that gathering place of the wise and talkative. Captain Cy was in the sitting room, a sheet o

heet of paper and putting it into his pocket. "Glad

re I be. Heave

etter of it, for he crossed his legs and smoked on in silence, gazing at th

of askin' me to build a fire for you, was you? Nobody else

necktie of yours 'll keep us warm till fall, I shoul

mson hue, particularly becoming to his complexion. The compl

it's new. Yesterday was my birthday, and Matildy Tripp

ook out, Ase. Widow women are dangerous, they say;

t her, could I? That would be pretty manners. You

ed. Then he sudde

s had this house? Course you do. Yes; well, was there any

s was related on their ma's side to a Richards-Emily Richards, I think 'twas-and Emily married a Thayer. Would that make this Mary a third cousin? Now let's see; Sarah Jane Ginn, she had an aunt who kept a boardin' house in Harni

f sight of land in a minute.

. Pretty and nice and quiet as ever I see. By Godfre

en to me. I might get absent-minded and

er what a nice girl she was and how the boarders liked her. They used to say she done more than all the Howes tribe put together to make the Sea Sight House a good hotel. Young as

that is-well, I'll tell you som

I ain't seen her since. Seems to me I did hear she was marrie

had gone the captain drew his chair nearer the center table, took from his pocket a sheet of notepaper, and proceeded to read what was written on its pages. It was a letter which he had received nearly a month before and had no

CYRUS WH

call it. Me and Seth would like to do something for her, but we have a hard enough job to keep going ourselves. Mary married a man by the name of Henry Thomas, and he turned out to be a miserable good-for-nothing, as I always said he would. She wouldn't listen to me though. He run off and left her seven year ago last April, and I understand was killed or drowned somewheres up in Montana. Mary and [several words scratched out here] got along somehow since, but I don't know how. While we lived in Concord Seth sort of kept an eye on her, but now he can't of course.

s tr

BETH

ry Thomas, care Mrs. Oliver, 1

p ourselves and if you could help him and me with the

ney matters. Betsy's personal appeal did not, therefore, touch his heart to any great extent. He surmised also that for Seth Howes and his wife to ask help for some person other than thems

lder and stricter inhabitants. However, most of the captain's boy friends were permitted to attend; young Cy was not. His father considered dancing a waste of time and, if not wicked, certainly frivolous and nons

most of the boys and girls in the neighboring towns were invited. Cy received an invitation, and, for a wonder, was permitted to attend. The Bayport con

of his lessons in the barn. So, while the rest of his boy friends sought part

and he had worshipped her from afar as she whirled up and down the line in the Virginia Reel. She never lacked partners and see

ce," and there was a demand for more couples. The young lady

d, "I want a partner. Wi

that he couldn't da

u to try this with me. Please do. No, John," she added, turning to the sunburned young fellow who had followed her across th

d these she helped him to correct so easily that none noticed. His success gave him cour

if she would only wait for him, he might like to marry her when he grew up. But he was thirteen and she was seventeen, and the ver

He had made guarded inquiries concerning Mary Thayer, now Mary Thomas, of others besides Asaph, and the answers had been satisfactory so far as they went; those who remembered her had liked her

lly shiftless condition of his domestic surroundings was getting to be unbearable. Dust and dirt did not fit into his mental pic

desk lid of the old-fashioned secretary, resurrected from a pile of papers the note he ha

ly satisfactory. He had known her mother slightly when the latter lived in Orham. He thought an interview might be pleasant, for they could talk over old times if nothing more. Perhaps, on the whole, she might care to risk a trip to Bayport, therefore he inclosed money for her railroad fare. "You understand, of course," so he

ot of the box fastened to the front door. Then he returned home and retired at exactly el

rom the New Hampshire widow. Meanwhile fresh layers of dust spread themselves over the Whittaker furniture, and the gaudy patterns of the carpets bl

led and splashed. The bay was gray and lonely, and the fish weirs along the outer bar were lost in the mist. The flowers in the Atkins urns were draggled and beaten dow

time since his return home. He had kindled a wood fire in the stove, just for the sociability of it, and the crackle and glow

kless raiment and the newest slang. Summer boarding season was almost over now. Bayport would soon be as dull as dish water. And the captain admitted to himself that it WAS dull. He had

NGLE! Jingle! Jingl

-door bell. The FRONT-door bell! Who on earth, or,

ont hall. The bell was still swinging at the end of its coil of wire. The dust shaken

a little girl under a big "grown-up" umbrella. The wet dripped f

e didn't know this one. Obviously she was a stranger. Portuguese children from "up Ha

imed the capta

ring th

," replie

Did, h

ell? Didn't it ought to ring? Is anybod

gasped. "What in the wor

ought to have rung it. When mamma was sick they didn't let peop

ore him. It was a self-poised, matter-of-fact figure for such a little one, and,

he child, "are you Ca

You've guessed it

s pinned inside my dress. If you could ho

t arm's length, holding it with

at am I thinkin' of? You're so

depot, and I tried to come across the fields, bec

ave you walked all th

arter to ride, and auntie said I mu

Come in! Come in out

e parlor and into the sitting room, where the fire crackled invitingly. He could feel that the dress sleeve

know better than to let you stir out this weather, let alone walkin' a mile-and no rubbers! Them shoes ough

ngers were blue. It can be cold in our village, even in early Septembe

a foot in his lap. "Tut! tut! tut! you're wet! Been some time sence I fussed with bu

, s

n't do, so we used to kick a stone wall till they brightened up. There! there she comes. Humph! stockin's soaked, too. Wish I had some dry ones to lend you. Might give you a

coming across. There were vines and they tripp

too much canvas. Now take off your bunnit a

the sleeves and turned the collar up about her neck. Her braided "pigtail" of yellow hair stuck out over the collar and hung

more as if you was under a storm rig. Set down and t

know's I can get at it; t

ou. That's better! Hum! So you come f

ed to live in

ONCORD? Con

come down here. I stopped at his folks' house in Charlestown last night, and this morning we got up early and he bought me a ticket and started me for here. I had a b

a mistake in your bearin's. 'Taint me you want to see, it's some of you

ig chair. Her dark eyes opene

s Whittaker?" she deman

. I'm Cy Whitta

auntie

! Aunti

auntie, but mamma and me lived in

o thick for ME. Your auntie's name's Oliver and you lived in Co

ichards

y-Richar

s,

Thomas! What was

e was Mary. She's dead. Don't you wan

d, damp envelope. Captain Cy took it in a dazed fashion and drew a

PTAIN W

and the baby, she has took rooms with me and done sewing and such. When she passed away I wrote to Seth Howes, a relation of hers out West, and, so far as I know, the only one she had. I told the Howes man that Mary had gone and Emmie was left. Would they take her? I wrote. And Seth's wife wrote they couldn't, being poorer than poverty themselves. I was afraid she would have to go to a Home, but when your letter came I wrote the Howeses again. And Mrs. Howes wrote back that yo

tfully

H OL

etter through. Then h

ELL! I never in my life

looked up from the dep

or my box? I can get dry SOME this way, but mamma always made me chan