I
don't know how long it'll stay there--the whole of it not very long, I'm
afraid--but it will be earnin' a little interest while it does stay."

"Yes, sure. Well, Martha, it's none of my business, of course, but, as
long as you say you haven't been counterfeiting, I wish you would give
me your receipt for making money. Anybody that can make five thousand in
one lump these hard times is doing well."

Martha shook her head once more. She and the cashier were old friends.
"No receipt to give, Edgar," she said. "I wish there was; I'd be busy
usin' it, I tell you. I just sold somethin' I owned, that's all, and got
a good deal better price than I ever expected to. In fact, I had about
given up hope of ever gettin' a cent. But there, I mustn't talk so much.
You'll deposit that to my account, won't you, Edgar? And, if you SHOULD
see your way clear to pay seven or eight per cent interest instead of
four, or whatever you do pay, don't bother to write and ask me if I'll
take it, because you'll only be wastin' your time.... Eh? Why, good
gracious, Jethro! What are you doin' over here?"

The captain's big frame blocked the doorway of the cashier's office. He
had opened that door without knocking, because it was his habit to
open doors that way. Captain Jethro Hallett's position as keeper of
the Gould's Bluffs light was not an exalted or highly paid one, but his
influence in Wellmouth and its vicinity was considerable, nevertheless.
He was accounted a man of means, he had always been--more especially in
the years before his wife's death and the break in health which followed
it--a person of shrewd business ability and keenness in a trade, and
even now, when some of the townsfolk grinned behind his back and
told stories of his spiritualistic obsessions, they were polite and
deferential to his face. As a matter of fact, it would have been
extremely impolitic to be otherwise than deferential to him. Captain
Jeth was quite aware of his worth and expected deference.

He was as surprised to see his neighbor as she was to see him.

"Why, hello, Martha!" he grunted. "What fetched you here?"

"I asked you first, Cap'n Jeth, but it doesn't make any difference.
My feet brought me as far as the corner and Ras Beebe's grocery cart
brought me the rest of the way. I had planned to come in the train,
but Ras saved me the trouble--AND the fare. He's goin' back in a few
minutes, so I've got to hurry."

"Humph! But what did you come here FOR?"