could
gather, and from what he's found out since, there ain't money enough
for the boy to stay another six weeks at that school, or anywhere else,
unless the young feller earns it himself. And, leavin' us out of the
count, there isn't a relation this side of the salt pond. There's
probably a million or so over there in Portygee-land," with a derisive
sniff; "those foreigners breed like flies. But THEY don't count."

"But did he want word sent to us about the--"

"Sshh! I'm tellin' you, Olive, I'm tellin' you. He wanted word sent
because he was in hopes that we--you and I, Mother--would take that son
of his in at our house here and give him a home. The cheek of it! After
what he'd done to you and me, blast him! The solid brass nerve of it!"

He stormed up and down the room. His wife did not seem nearly so much
disturbed as he at the thought of the Speranza presumption. She looked
anxious--yes, but she looked eager, too, and her gaze was fixed upon her
husband's face.

"Oh!" she said, softly. "Oh! . . . And--and what did you say, Zelotes?"

"What did I say? What do you suppose I said? I said no, and I said it
good and loud, too."

Olive made no comment. She turned away her head, and the captain,
who now in his turn was watching her, saw a suspicious gleam, as of
moisture, on her cheek. He stopped his pacing and laid a hand on her
shoulder.

"There, there, Mother," he said, gently. "Don't cry. He's comin'."

"Comin'?" She turned pale. "Comin'?" she repeated. "Who?"

"That boy! . . . Sshh! shh!" impatiently. "Now don't go askin' me
questions or tellin' me what I just said I said. I SAID the right thing,
but--Well, hang it all, what else could I DO? I wrote the boy--Albert--a
letter and I wrote the boss of the school another one. I sent a check
along for expenses and--Well, he'll be here 'most any day now, I
shouldn't wonder. And WHAT in the devil are we goin' to do with him?"

His wife did not reply to this outburst. She was trembling with
excitement.

"Is--is his name Albert?" she faltered.

"Um-hm. Seems so."

"Why, that's your middle name! Do you--do you s'pose Janie could have
named him for--for you?"

"I don't know."

"Of course," with some hesitation, "it may be she didn't. If she'd named
him Zelotes--"

"Good heavens, woman! Isn't one name like that enough in the family?
Thank the Lord we're spared two of 'em! But there! he's comin'. And when
he gets here--then what?"

Olive put her arm about