that way! Well, where've you been all
the forenoon?"

The question was addressed to her brother, who entered the house by the
side door at that moment. Kenelm seemed a trifle confused.

"I--I been lookin' for that umbrella, Hannah," he explained. "I knew I
must have left it somewheres 'cause--'cause, you see I--I took it out
with me last night and--and--"

"And come home without it. It wouldn't take a King Solomon to know that.
Did you find it?"

Kenelm's embarrassment appeared to increase.

"Well," he stammered, "I ain't exactly found it--but--"

"But what?"

"I--I'm cal'latin' to find it, Hannah."

"Yes, I know. You're cal'latin' to get to Heaven some time or other,
I s'pose, but if the path is as narrow and crooked as they say 'tis I
should be scared if I was you. You'll find a way to lose it, if there is
one. Oh, dear me!" with a sudden change to a tone almost pleading. "Be
you goin' to smoke again?"

Kenelm's reply was strange for him. He scratched a match and lit his
pipe with calm deliberation.

"I'm cal'latin' to," he said, cheerfully. And his sister, to the
surprise of Mrs. Barnes and Emily, did not utter another word of
protest.

Captain Obed volunteered to accompany them to the hotel and to the
store of Mr. Badger. On the way Thankful mentioned Mr. Parker's amazing
independence in the matter of the pipe.

The captain chuckled. "Yes," he said, "Kenelm smokes when he wants to,
and sometimes when he don't, I guess, just to keep his self-respect.
Smokin' is one p'int where he beat out Hannah. It's quite a yarn, the
way he done it is. Some time I'll tell it to you, maybe."

The hotel--it was kept by Darius Holt, father of Winnie S.--was no more
inviting than Miss Parker's and Captain Bangs' hints had led them to
expect. But Thankful insisted on engaging a room for the night and on
returning there for dinner, supper and breakfast the following day.

"After that, we'll see," she said. "Now let's go and make a call on that
rent collector of mine."

Mr. Badger was surprised to meet the owner of the Barnes house,
surprised and a bit taken aback, so it seemed to Mrs. Barnes and her
cousin. He was very polite, almost obsequiously so, and his explanations
concerning the repairs which he had found it necessary to make and the
painting which he had had done were lengthy if not convincing.

As they left him, smiling and bowing in the doorway of his store,
Thankful shook her head. When they were out of ea