tempts to speak with the young man on the subject, but the
latter would not discuss it. He was always glad to see the captain and
quite willing to talk of anything but Mrs. Barnes' property and of Emily
Howes. These topics were taboo and Captain Obed soon ceased to mention
them. Also he no longer made daily calls at the ex-barber-shop and,
in spite of himself, could not help showing, when he did call, the
resentment he felt. John noticed this and there was a growing coldness
between the two.

"But," declared the captain, stoutly, when he and Thankful were
together, "I still say 'tain't so. I give in that it looks as if 'twas,
but I tell you there's a nigger in the woodpile somewheres. Some day
he'll be dug out and then there's a heap of tattle-tales and character
naggers in this town that'll find they've took the wrong channel.
They'll be good and seasick, that's what they'll be."

Mr. E. Holliday Kendrick, if he knew that his own popularity had
suffered a shock, did not appear to care. He went on with his plans
for enlarging his estate and, when he left East Wellmouth for New York,
which he did early in October, told those who asked him that he had
left the purchase of the "boarding-house nuisance" in the hands of his
attorney. "I shall have that property," he announced, emphatically. "I
may not get it for some time, but I shall get it. I make it a point to
get what I go after."

Emily, in her letters, those written soon after her arrival in South
Middleboro, said nothing concerning her plan, the "secret" which was to
cheer Mrs. Barnes' loneliness. Thankful could not help wondering what
the secret might be, but in her own letters she asked no questions. And,
one day in mid-October, that secret was divulged.

Thankful, busy in the kitchen with Imogene, preparing dinner, heard the
sound of wheels and horse's hoofs in the yard. Going to the door, she
was surprised to see Captain Obed Bangs climbing from a buggy. The buggy
was her own and the horse to which it was attached was her own George
Washington. Upon the seat of the buggy was a small boy. Thankful merely
glanced at the boy; her interest just then centered upon the fact that
the captain was, or apparently had been, using her horse and buggy
without her knowledge or consent. She certainly had no objection to his
so using it, but it was most unlike him to do so.

"Good mornin', ma'am," he hailed, cheerfully. His eyes were twinkling
and he appeared to be in high g