! Well, I--I certainly do congratulate you."

George had his hand on the latch, but turned back.

"Don't--please don't tell any one of it," he said earnestly. "It--it
mustn't be known yet.... You see, though, why I--I feel as if you--as if
we all ought to be very careful of--of appearances--and--and such
things."

"Yes.... Yes, of course. Well, all right, George. Good-by. Call again."

Judah, who had been over at the Fair Harbor doing some general chores
around the place, came in a little later. His lodger called to him.

"Judah," he commanded, "come in here. I want to talk to you." When Mr.
Cahoon obeyed the order, he was told to sit down a moment.

"I want to ask you some questions," said the captain. "What is the
latest news of Egbert Phillips? Where is he nowadays? And what is he
doin'?"

Judah was quite ready to give the information, even eager, but he
hesitated momentarily.

"Sure you want me to talk about him, Cap'n?" he asked. "Last time I said
anything about him--day afore yesterday 'twas--you told me to shut up.
Said you had somethin' more important to think about."

"Did I, Judah? Well, 'twas true then, I guess."

"Um-hm. And you ordered me not to mention his name again till you
h'isted signals, or somethin' like that."

"Yes, seems to me I did. Well, the signals are up. What is he doin'?"

"Doin'? He ain't doin' nothin'--much. He's roomin' up to the Central
House yet, but from what I hear tell he ain't goin' to stay there. He's
cal'latin', so the folks down to the store say, to find some nice home
place where he can board. He don't call it boardin'. Thoph Black says he
said what he wanted was a snug little den where him and his few
remainin' household gods could be together. Thoph said he couldn't make
out what household gods was, and I'm plaguey sure _I_ can't. Sounds
heathenish to me. And I told Thoph, says I, 'That ain't no way to hunt a
boardin' house, goin' round hollerin' for a den. If I was takin' in
boarders and a feller hove alongside and says, "Can I hire one of them
dens of yours?" he'd get somethin' that he wan't lookin' for.' Huh! Den!
Sounds like a circus menagerie, don't it? Not but what I've seen
boardin'-house rooms that was like dens. Why, one time, over in
Liverpool 'twas, me and a feller named----"

"Yes, yes, all right, Judah. I've heard about it. But what else is he
doin'? Where does he go? Is he makin' friends? Is he talkin' much about
his plans? What do folks say about