lf, before those Boston delegates, standing behind a white whale,
and a dirty white at that! Gertie, I shall be at the depot to say good
by, but I must be at that lodge room first. I MUST. You understand,
don't you?"

Gertrude said she understood perfectly and her mother hurried to the
kitchen, where she ate lukewarm fried fish and apple pie, while Azuba
washed the dishes and prophesied darkly concerning "dyspepsy." Gertrude
went to her room to put the last few things in her trunks, and Captain
Dan returned to the store, where he found the Bartlett boy pacifying a
gnawing appetite with chocolate creams abstracted from stock.

At a quarter to three the captain was at the railway station, where
he was joined by John Doane, who, his vacation over, was returning
to Boston. After a five-minute wait Serena and Gertrude appeared. The
latter had called at the lodge room for her mother and, during the walk
to the station, had broken the news of her engagement.

Serena was not surprised, of course; she, like everyone else, had
expected it, and she liked John. But she was a good deal agitated and
even the portentous business of the lodge meeting was driven from her
mind. She and Mr. Doane shook hands, but the young man felt very much
like a thief, and a particularly mean sort of thief, as young men are
likely to feel under such circumstances. Farewells were harder to say
than usual, although Gertrude tried her best to seem cheerful, and
the captain swallowed the lump in his throat and smiled and joked in a
ghastly fashion all through the ceremony. Just before the train started,
his daughter led him to one side and whispered:

"Now, Daddy, remember--you are not to worry. And, if you need me at
any time, you will tell me so, and I shall surely come. You'll promise,
won't you? And you will write at least once a week?"

The captain made both promises. They kissed, Serena and Gertrude
exchanged hugs, and John Doane solemnly shook hands once more. Then the
train moved away from the station.

Daniel and Serena walked homeward, Mrs. Dott wiping her eyes with a damp
handkerchief, and her husband very grave and silent. As they passed the
lodge building the lady said:

"I ought to go right back in there again. I ought to, but I just can't,
not now. I--I want to be with you, Daniel, a time like this."

"Goodness knows I want you, Serena; but--but for mercy sakes don't call
it a 'time like this.' Sounds as if we'd just come from the ce