und swells were breaking
upon a long narrow reef, and as it caught his eye there came to him the
memory of the pictured wreck he had noticed in Uncle Terry's
sitting-room that morning, and Telly's evident wish to avoid all
questions regarding it. Then it dawned upon him that that subject might
be a tender one with her, and maybe that in some way she felt her
history was a cloud upon her life, or perhaps a humiliation. He turned
to Uncle Terry again:

"How does your--I mean, how does Telly feel about this matter, Mr.
Terry, for I suppose she knows the story?"

"That's suthin' I hate ter talk 'bout, but as ye'r' likely to see more
o' us an' more o' Telly, it's better ye know it all. When she was 'bout
ten we told her the story, and showed her the things we'd kep' locked
up. She didn't seem ter mind it then, but as she's growed older it
sorter shadders her life, as it were. We used ter ketch her lookin' at
the things once in a while, an' cryin'. When I sent 'em to Boston she
took on a good deal, an' ain't been the same sence. We try to keep her
from thinkin' 'bout it all we can, but she's curis in her ways, and I've
thought she was kinder 'shamed, an' mebbe broodin' over it makes it
wuss."

This was a new phase of the trouble to Albert, and one he could not
quite understand. "You do not mean that you fear she would make away
with herself in a fit of melancholy, do you?" he asked.

"I dunno what to think," was the answer, "only I hate to have her out o'
sight much, an' the more lovin' she is the more I worry. I've bin sorry
at times I ever went to Frye, but it's too late ter back out now."

"One thing please promise me," said Albert when they had started for the
house, "do not hint either to her or your wife that you have told me
anything about this matter. I will do all that can be done, and consult
only with you, in private."

CHAPTER XXIV

A WHISPER OF THE OCEAN

The next day was a red-letter one in Albert's history. In the morning he
followed Uncle Terry around the circuit of his lobster traps in the
"Gypsy's" boat, with Telly as a companion, and watched the old man
hauling and rebaiting those elongated coops and taking out his hideous
prizes. The day was a perfect one, the sea just ruffled by a light
breeze, and as her first timidity had now worn away, he found Telly a
most charming companion. She not only loved the ocean that in a way had
been her playmate since childhood, but she had an artist's eye