you the same. But I don't know; don't seem as if I was liable to have
many more merry Christmases in this life. No, merry Christmases ain't
for me. I'm a second fiddle nowadays and I cal'late that's what I'm
foreordinated to be from now on."

The captain didn't understand.

"Second fiddle," he repeated. "What have you got to do with fiddlin',
for goodness' sakes?"

"Nothin', of course. I don't mean a real fiddle. I mean I shan't never
be my own mistress any more. I've been layin' awake thinkin' about it
and shiverin', 'twas so damp and chilly up in my room. There's a loose
shingle right over a knot hole that's abreast a crack in my bedroom
wall, and it lets in the dampness like a sieve. I've asked Kenelm to fix
it MORE times; but no, all he cares to do is look out for himself and
that inmate. If SHE had a loose shingle he'd fix it quick enough. All
I could do this mornin' was lay to bed there and shiver and pull up the
quilt and think and think. It kept comin' over me more and more."

"The quilt, you mean? That's what you wanted it to do, wasn't it?"

"Not the quilt. The thought of the lonesome old age that's comin' to me
when Kenelm's married. I've had him to look after for so long. I've been
my own boss, as they say."

She might have added, "And Kenelm's, too," but Captain Obed added it for
her, in his mind. He laughed.

"That's all right, Hannah," he observed, by way of consolation. "Kenelm
ain't married yet. When he is you can help his wife look out for him.
Either that or get married. Why don't you get married, Hannah?"

"Humph! Don't be silly, Obed Bangs."

"That ain't silliness, that's sense. All you need to do is just h'ist
the signal, 'Consort wanted,' and you'd have one alongside in no time.
There's Caleb Hammond, for instance; he's a widower and--eh! look out!"

Miss Parker had dropped the plate she was just putting down upon the
table. Fortunately it fell only a few inches and did not break.

"What do you mean by that?" she demanded sharply.

"I meant the plate. Little more and you'd have sent it to glory."

"Never you mind the plate. I can look out for my own crockery. 'Twas
cracked anyhow. And I guess you're cracked, too," she added. "Talkin'
about my--my marryin' Caleb Hammond. What put that in your head?"

"I don't know. I just--"

"Well, don't be silly. When I marry Caleb Hammond," she added with
emphasis, "'twill be after THIS."

"So I cal'lated. I didn't think you'd married him afore