d, without looking at him.

"He never forgot them," she said.

"Course he didn't. Well, you see I didn't forget, either."

It was an unfortunate remark, inasmuch as it drew, in her mind,
a comparison between her handsome, dignified father and his rude,
uncultured brother. The contrast was ever present in her thoughts, and
she did not need to be reminded of it. She made no reply.

"I was thinkin'," continued the captain, conscious of having made a
mistake, "that maybe we might celebrate somehow, in a quiet way."

"No. I am not in the mood for--celebrations."

"Oh, I didn't mean fireworks and the town band. I just thought--"

"Please don't. I remember other birthdays too well." They had been great
occasions, those birthdays of hers, ever since she was a little girl. On
the eighteenth she made her debut in society, and the gown she wore on
that memorable evening was laid away upstairs, a cherished memento, to
be kept as long as she lived. Each year Rodgers Warren took infinite
pains to please and surprise his idolized daughter. She could not bear
to think of another birthday, now that he had been taken from her.

Her guardian pulled his beard. "Well," he observed ruefully, "then my
weak head's put my foot in it again, as the feller said. If I ain't
careful I'll be like poor cracked Philander Baker, who lives with
his sister over at Denboro Centre. The doctor told Philander he was
threatened with softenin' of the brain, and the sister thanked him for
the compliment. You see, Caroline, I wrote on my own hook and asked
Stevie to come home Saturday and stay till Monday. I kind of thought
you'd like to have him here."

"Oh, I should like _that_! But will he come? Has he written you?"

"Hey? Yes, I cal'late he'll be on deck. He's--er--yes, he's written me."

He smiled as he answered. As a matter of fact, the correspondence
between Stephen and himself had been lengthy and voluminous on the part
of the former, and brief and business-like on his own. The boy, on his
return to college, had found "conditions" awaiting him, and the amount
of hard work involved in their clearance was not at all to his taste.
He wrote his guardian before the first week was over, asserting that the
whole business was foolishness and a waste of time. He should come
home at once, he said, and he notified the captain that such was his
intention. Captain Elisha replied with promptness and decision. If he
came home he would be sent back, that was a