ld not? But it's foolish of
you to say or think that that is all you bring him. HE will tell you
that--I needn't. And now I must lock up. I expected Susan back
tonight, but she has not come."

"Oh, yes, here I am, Mrs. Doctor, dear," said Susan, entering
unexpectedly from the kitchen, "and puffing like a hen drawing rails at
that! It's quite a walk from the Glen down here."

"I'm glad to see you back, Susan. How is your sister?"

"She is able to sit up, but of course she cannot walk yet. However,
she is very well able to get on without me now, for her daughter has
come home for her vacation. And I am thankful to be back, Mrs. Doctor,
dear. Matilda's leg was broken and no mistake, but her tongue was not.
She would talk the legs off an iron pot, that she would, Mrs. Doctor,
dear, though I grieve to say it of my own sister. She was always a
great talker and yet she was the first of our family to get married.
She really did not care much about marrying James Clow, but she could
not bear to disoblige him. Not but what James is a good man--the only
fault I have to find with him is that he always starts in to say grace
with such an unearthly groan, Mrs. Doctor, dear. It always frightens
my appetite clear away. And speaking of getting married, Mrs. Doctor,
dear, is it true that Cornelia Bryant is going to be married to
Marshall Elliott?"

"Yes, quite true, Susan."

"Well, Mrs. Doctor, dear, it does NOT seem to me fair. Here is me, who
never said a word against the men, and I cannot get married nohow. And
there is Cornelia Bryant, who is never done abusing them, and all she
has to do is to reach out her hand and pick one up, as it were. It is
a very strange world, Mrs. Doctor, dear."

"There's another world, you know, Susan."

"Yes," said Susan with a heavy sigh, "but, Mrs. Doctor, dear, there is
neither marrying nor giving in marriage there."

CHAPTER 39

CAPTAIN JIM CROSSES THE BAR

One day in late September Owen Ford's book came at last. Captain Jim
had gone faithfully to the Glen post office every day for a month,
expecting it. This day he had not gone, and Leslie brought his copy
home with hers and Anne's.

"We'll take it down to him this evening," said Anne, excited as a
schoolgirl.

The long walk to the Point on that clear, beguiling evening along the
red harbor road was very pleasant. Then the sun dropped down behind
the western hills into some valley that must have been full of los