to laugh.

"Why?" he asked.

"Why! John, you ain't married or you wouldn't ask that. I'm a peaceable
body and I like peace in the house. More'n that, I hate to go 'round
feelin' like a sneak thief. That one damn made me miserable for two
days. I never swore to Serena afore and I never will again. She was all
cut up over it and in a way she was right. No, swearin' aboard ship is
one thing--I've had mates that couldn't navigate without it--but ashore
in your own house, to the women folks you care for, it don't go. I can't
talk to Serena about that Chapter--not even if I'm left alone ALL the
time, same as I'm left to-night."

John nodded. He thought that, at last, he had reached the milk in the
cocoanut. Captain Dan, with his love for home and his hatred of lodges
and societies, had refused to be interested in his wife's pet hobby, and
felt himself neglected and forsaken. He had brooded upon it, and this
outburst and the letter he had written were the consequences.

"Oh, well," he said. "I shouldn't worry. The Chapter here is a large one
and Mrs. Dott is interested in it. The interest will wear off when it
gets to be an old story."

"Wear off! With Gertie goin' it harder than her mother ever thought of?"

"Oh, Gertie doesn't mean it."

"She DON'T! She don't! Perhaps you don't think she means it when she
goes to every 'tea' and 'recital' and 'at home' and crazy dido from here
to Beersheba and back. Is THAT goin' to wear off? Chasin' around with
Cousin Percy and that Holway and land knows who?"

"What? Captain Dott, you're making mountains out of mole hills. Gertie
isn't that kind."

"That's what I said. That's what I used to think. It's this Scarford
that's doin' it. It's this Scarford and the society crowd we've got in
with. Annette Black--Barney Phelps's wife--is in society, and so's the
Lake woman and that Canby piano pounder and that Dusante--my Godfreys!
you ought to have seen her, John! She was the brazen thing. Dancin'
around! And all hands sittin' lookin' at her as if she was a Sunday
School. Everybody! Serena and Gertie and that Holway man and all. And
Gertie up and says she might like to dance that way. She! And Cousin
Percy laughin' because she said it."

"Hold on! Wait a minute, Captain. I never saw you so excited. What about
this Cousin Percy of yours? He's living here with you, I know that; but
what sort of a chap is he? And Holway--who is Holway?"

Daniel went on to explain who Holway was. Also