ent....
Nevertheless, he was not going to stay. His position was much too
spylike to suit him. But before he could move there were other
developments.

While Miss Berry and her mother had been exchanging hurried questions
and answers the parrot-cage babble from the distant places somewhere at
the end of the long entry beyond the door had been continuous. Now it
suddenly grew louder. Plainly the babblers were approaching along that
entry and babbling as they came.

A moment more and they were in the room, seven of them. In the lead was
the dignified Miss Elvira herself, an impressive figure of gentility in
black silk and a hair breast pin. Close behind her, of course, was the
rotund Mrs. Aurora Chase, and equally close--yes even a little in
advance of Aurora, was a solidly built female with gray hair, a square
chin, and a very distinct mustache. The others were in the rear, but as
they came in one of these, a little woman in a plain gingham dress, who
wore steel spectacles upon a sharp little nose, left the group and took
a stand a little apart, regarding the company with lifted chin and a
general air of determination and uncompromising defiance. Later on
Captain Sears was destined to learn that the little woman was Mrs.
Esther Tidditt, and the lady with the mustache Mrs. Susanna Brackett.
And that the others were respectively Mrs. Hattie Thomas, Miss Desire
Peasley, and Mrs. Constance Cahoon. Each of the seven was, of course,
either a captain's widow or his sister.

Just at the moment the captain, naturally, recognized nobody except Miss
Snowden and Mrs. Chase. Nor did he notice individual peculiarities
except that something, excitement or a sudden jostle or something, had
pushed Aurora's rippling black locks to one side, with the result that
the part which divided the ripples, instead of descending plumb-line
fashion from the crown of the head to a point directly in the center of
the forehead, now had a diagonal twist and ended over the left eye. The
effect was rather astonishing, as if the upper section of the lady's
head had slipped its moorings.

He had scarcely time to notice even this, certainly none in which to
speculate concerning its cause. Miss Snowden, who held a paper in her
hand, stepped forward and began to speak, gesticulating with the paper
as she did so. She paid absolutely no attention to the masculine
visitor. She was trembling with excitement and it is doubtful if she
even saw him.

"Mrs. Berr