ne afternoon
she did not return at her usual hour. Captain Cy was waiting at the gate
when Asaph Tidditt happened along. Bailey, too, was with him.

"Waitin' for Bos'n, was you?" asked the town clerk. "Well, you'll have
to wait quite a spell, I cal'late. She's been kept after school."

"Yes; and she's got to write fifty lines of copy," added Bailey.

Captain Cy was highly indignant.

"Get out!" he cried. "She ain't neither."

"Yes, she has, too. One of the Salters young ones told me. I knew you'd
be mad, though I s'pose folks that didn't know her's well's we do would
say she's no different from other children."

This was close to heresy, according to the captain's opinion.

"She ain't!" he cried. "I'd like to know why not! If she ain't twice as
smart as the run of young ones 'round here then--Humph! And she's
kept after school! Well, now; I won't have it! There's enough time for
studyin' without wearin' out her brains after hours. Oh, I guess you're
mistaken."

"No, we ain't. I tell you, Whit, if I was you I'd make a fuss about
this. She's a smart child, Bos'n is; I never see a smarter. And she
ain't any too strong."

"That's so, she ain't." The idea that Emily's health was "delicate" had
become a fixed fact in the minds of the captain and the "Board." It made
a good excuse for the systematic process of "spoiling" the girl, which
the indulgent three were doing their best to carry on.

"I wouldn't let her be kept, Cy," urged Bailey. "Why don't you go right
off and see Phoebe and settle this thing? You've got a right to talk to
her. She wouldn't be teacher if it wasn't for you."

Asaph added his arguments to those of Mr. Bangs. Captain Cy, carried
away by his firm belief that Bos'n was a paragon of all that was
brilliant and good, finally yielded.

"All right!" he exclaimed. "Come on! That poor little thing shan't be
put upon by nobody."

The trio marched majestically down the hill. As they neared the
schoolhouse Bailey's courage began to fail. Miss Dawes was a boarder
at his house, and he feared consequences should Keturah learn of his
interference.

"I--I guess you don't need me," he stammered. "The three of us 'll scare
that teacher woman most to death. And she's so little and meek, you
know. If I should lose my temper and rare up I might say somethin' that
would hurt her feelin's. I'll set on the fence and wait for you and Ase,
Whit."

Mr. Tidditt's scornful comments concerning "white feathers" and