as you I was thinkin' of.
Wouldn't want to leave the old man, hey?"

"To leave YOU! Oh, Uncle Cyrus!"

She was staring at him now and her chin was trembling.

"Uncle," she demanded, "you ain't going to send me away? Haven't I been
a good girl?"

The captain's lips shut tight. He waited a moment before replying.
"'Deed you've been a good girl!" he said brusquely. "I never saw a
better one. No, I ain't goin' to SEND you away. Don't you worry about
that."

"But Alicia Atkins said one time you told somebody you was going to send
me out West, after a while. I didn't believe it, then, she's so mean,
but she said you said--"

"SAID!" Captain Cy groaned. "The Lord knows what I ain't said! I've been
a fool, dearie, and it's a judgment on me, I guess."

"But ain't you goin' to keep me? I--I--"

She sobbed. The captain stroked her hair.

"Keep you?" he muttered. "Yes, by the big dipper! I'm goin' to keep you,
if I can--if I can."

"Hello!" said a voice. The pair looked up. The man who had arrived on
the previous night stood in the sitting-room doorway. How long he had
been standing there the captain did not know. What he did know was that
Mr. John Smith by daylight was not more prepossessing than the same
individual viewed by the aid of a lamp.

Emily saw the stranger and slid from Captain Cy's knees. The captain
rose.

"Bos'n," he said, "this is Mr.--er--Smith, who's goin' to make us a
little visit. I want you to shake hands with him."

The girl dutifully approached Mr. Smith and extended her hand. He took
it and held it in his own.

"Is this the--" he began.

Captain Cy bowed assent.

"Yes," he said, his eyes fixed on the visitor's face. "Yes. Don't forget
what you said last night."

Smith shook his head.

"No," he replied. "I ain't the kind that forgets, unless it pays pretty
well. There's some things I've remembered for quite a few years."

He looked the child over from head to foot and his brows drew together
in an ugly frown.

"So this is her, hey?" he muttered musingly. "Humph! Well, I don't know
as I'd have guessed it. Favors the other side of the house more--the
respectable side, I should say. Still, there's a little brand of the
lost sheep, hey? Enough to prove property, huh? Mark of the beast, I
s'pose the psalm-singin' relations would call it. D--n em! I--"

"Steady!" broke in the captain. Mr. Smith started, seemed to remember
where he was, and his manner changed.

"Come and see me, honey