ever, as Mr. Simpson reassuringly said: "The job's in as good hands
as can be, so what's the use of OUR worryin'?"

Bailey Bangs certainly was not troubled on that score; but the town
clerk's proposal that Captain Cy be provided with a suitable wife did
worry him. Bailey was so very much married himself and had such decided,
though unspoken, views concerning matrimony that such a proposal seemed
to him lunacy, pure and simple. He had liked and admired his friend
"Whit" in the old days, when the latter led them into all sorts of
boyish scrapes; now he regarded him with a liking that was close
to worship. The captain was so jolly and outspoken; so brave and
independent--witness his crossing of the great Atkins in the matter of
the downstairs teacher. That was a reckless piece of folly which would,
doubtless, be rewarded after its kind, but Bailey, though he professed
to condemn it, secretly wished he had the pluck to dare such things. As
it was, he didn't dare contradict Keturah.

With the exception of one voyage as cabin boy to New Orleans, a voyage
which convinced him that he was not meant for a seaman, Mr. Bangs had
never been farther from his native village than Boston. Captain Cy had
been almost everywhere and seen almost everything. He could spin yarns
that beat the serial stories in the patent inside of the Bayport Breeze
all hollow. Bailey had figured that, when the "fixin' over" was ended,
the Cy Whittaker place would be for him a delightful haven of refuge,
where he could put his boots on the furniture, smoke until dizzy without
being pounced upon, be entertained and thrilled with tales of adventure
afloat and ashore, and even express his own opinion, when he had any,
with the voice and lung power of a free-born American citizen.

And now Asaph Tidditt, who should know better, even though he was a
bachelor, wanted to bring a wife into this paradise; not a paid domestic
who could be silenced, or discharged, if she became a nuisance, but a
WIFE! Bailey guessed not; not if he could prevent it.

So he lay awake nights thinking of possible housekeepers for Captain Cy,
and carefully rejecting all those possessing dangerous attractions of
any kind. Each morning, after breakfast, he ran over the list with the
captain, taking care that Asaph was not present. Captain Cy, who was
very busy with the finishing touches at the new old house, wearied on
the third morning.

"There, there, Bailey!" he said. "Don't bother me n