forth. "They was holler enough anyway after
ridin' 'way down from up country into the salt air, and they'd been
treated to a sermon on faith an' works from old Fayther Harlow that
never knows when to cease. 'Twa'n't no time for tactics then,--they
wa'n't a'thinkin' of the church military. Sant, he couldn't do nothin'
with 'em. All he thinks of, when he sees a crowd, is how to march 'em.
'Tis all very well when he don't 'tempt too much. He never did act like
other folks."

"Ain't I just been maintainin' that he ain't like 'em?" urged Mrs. Todd
decidedly. "Strange folks has got to have strange ways, for what I see."

"Somebody observed once that you could pick out the likeness of 'most
every sort of a foreigner when you looked about you in our parish," said
Sister Caplin, her face brightening with sudden illumination. "I didn't
see the bearin' of it then quite so plain. I always did think Mari'
Harris resembled a Chinee."

"Mari' Harris was pretty as a child, I remember," said the pleasant
voice of Mrs. Blackett, who, after receiving the affectionate greetings
of nearly the whole company, came to join us,--to see, as she insisted,
that we were out of mischief.

"Yes, Mari' was one o' them pretty little lambs that make dreadful
homely old sheep," replied Mrs. Todd with energy. "Cap'n Littlepage
never'd look so disconsolate if she was any sort of a proper person
to direct things. She might divert him; yes, she might divert the old
gentleman, an' let him think he had his own way, 'stead o' arguing
everything down to the bare bone. 'Twouldn't hurt her to sit down an'
hear his great stories once in a while."

"The stories are very interesting," I ventured to say.

"Yes, you always catch yourself a-thinkin' what if they all was true,
and he had the right of it," answered Mrs. Todd. "He's a good sight
better company, though dreamy, than such sordid creatur's as Mari'
Harris."

"Live and let live," said dear old Mrs. Blackett gently. "I haven't seen
the captain for a good while, now that I ain't so constant to meetin',"
she added wistfully. "We always have known each other."

"Why, if it is a good pleasant day tomorrow, I'll get William to call
an' invite the capt'in to dinner. William'll be in early so's to pass up
the street without meetin' anybody."

"There, they're callin' out it's time to set the tables," said Mrs.
Caplin, with great excitement.

"Here's Cousin Sarah Jane Blackett! Well, I am pleased, certain!"