"Nothin's likelier than
that he's comin' to sorter thank Zenas Henry."

"Thank us!" Zenas Henry burst out. "Thank us for bringin' up our own
child! What business is it of his? Do we go traipsin' to Belleport to
thank him for bein' good to his children?"

"No, no, Zenas Henry," Captain Phineas replied soothingly. "Of course
he ain't comin' here to thank us. That would be plumb ridiculous.
More probable he's comin' as I said, to make a friendly call since he's
a relative."

But in spite of this reassurance, the ripple of misgiving had not
entirely died away before the well-known touring-car with the New York
financier in its tonneau made its appearance at the foot of the hill.

"He's comin', Zenas Henry!"

"There he is!"

"That's him!" was the excited comment.

But Zenas Henry maintained a grim silence. He had risen to his full
height and now stood braced to meet an ordeal which he dreaded far more
than he would have been willing to admit. His gaunt figure was stiff
with resolution, his jaw set, his lips compressed. It was the same
expression his countenance had worn the night he had gone forth into
the storm to rescue the sinking crew of the _Michleen_ from probable
death; it was the expression his companions dreaded and feared,--the
fighter ready for combat. Yet his antagonist, as he alighted from the
motor-car and crossed the grass in leisurely fashion, appeared to be
anything but a formidable adversary. He came toward Delight, who had
hurried out to meet him, with easy friendliness, his hands extended and
a smile of genuine affection on his face.

"I am glad to see you, my dear," he said, "--and in your own home, too.
I fancy you must have thought me a great while in coming. I was
detained in New York much longer than I expected; otherwise you would
have seen me days ago."

She smiled up into the kindly gray eyes.

"And my, my, my! What a lot of mischief you and Bob have been getting
into in my absence! You sly little puss! You may well blush. The
bare idea of your springing a surprise like that on your new uncle!
Bob has told me all about it," he suddenly became grave, "and I am very
glad for you both. You could not have chosen a finer husband, little
girl. Robert Morton is one man in a thousand. We'll talk more of him
by and by. Just now I wish to meet all your family. You must present
each one, so that I shall not get all these many captains confused."

How simply and naturally he