ut of the common, but not too
expensive. I judge what she wants is somethin' that looks like money
but ain't really wuth more than ten cents a mile. I've been thinkin'
I'd send her a bale or so of those bonds; they'd fill the bill in those
respects, wouldn't they?"

Sylvester laughed. "They certainly would, Captain," he replied. "No,
we haven't unearthed any more of that sort. And, as for this mystery of
ours, I'll give you the answer--if it's worth giving at all, in a very
short time. Meanwhile, you go home and forget it."

"Well, I'll try. But I guess it sticks out on my face, like a four days'
toothache. But I _won't_ worry about that. You know best whether to tell
me now or not, and--well, I'm carryin' about all the worry my tonnage'll
stand, as 'tis."

He drew a long breath. Sylvester regarded him sympathetically.

"You mustn't take your nephew's and niece's treatment too much to
heart," he said.

"Oh, I don't. That is, I pretend I don't. And I do try not to. But I
keep thinkin', thinkin', and wonderin' if 'twould have been better if I
hadn't gone there to live at all. Hi hum! a man of my age hadn't ought
to mind what a twenty-year-old girl says, or does; 'specially when
her kind, advisin' friends have shown her how she's been deceived and
hypocrit-ted. By the way, speakin' of hypocrites, I suppose there's just
as much 'Dunnin'' as ever goin' on up there?"

"Yes. A little more, if anything, I'm afraid. Your niece and Mrs. Dunn
and her precious son are together now so constantly that people are
expecting--well, you know what they expect."

"I can guess. I hope they'll be disapp'inted."

"So do I, but I must confess I'm fearful. Malcolm himself isn't so wise,
but his mother is--"

"A whole Book of Proverbs, hey? I know. She's an able old frigate. I
did think I had her guns spiked, but she turned 'em on me unexpected. I
thought I had her and her boy in a clove hitch. I knew somethin' that I
was sartin sure they wouldn't want Caroline to know, and she and Malcolm
knew I knew it. Her tellin' Caroline of it, _her_ story of it, when I
wasn't there to contradict, was as smart a piece of maneuverin' as ever
was. It took the wind out of my sails, because, though I'm just as right
as I ever was, Caroline wouldn't listen to me, nor believe me, now."

"She'll learn by experience."

"Yup. But learnin' by experience is a good deal like shippin' green
afore the mast; it'll make an able seaman of you, if it don't kill