waiting to be addressed, spoke with an air of genial
familiarity.

"I don't usually go a-firin' for trout this late o' night, but the truth
is that between the hell-fired skeeters and the gals havin' beaux there
wasn't much for me to enjoy at home. My name's Goodwin," he added by way
of introduction. "They call me Squire all around these parts. I'm the
justice o' the peace. So be you're after a warrant?"

The last word affected Garnet very unpleasantly, and he shook his head
with such grim emphasis that the Squire perceived he had been mistaken
as to the stranger's purpose.

"No?" he remarked. "Well, then, maybe it's fair for me to make another
guess." A twinkle shone now in his clear eyes. "Judging from the face
that the moon just lighted up there in the bow of your snapper, I don't
believe I'd be far wrong in judging ye two to be worldly folks that
think a squire's good as a parson. What mout you're name be, stranger?"

At this blunt demand, Garnet again showed traces of embarrassment, but
these endured only for an instant. He realized that in this place so
remote from the ordinary lanes of travel there could be little danger in
divulging his identity. So he spoke with brisk confidence.

"My name, sir, is Gifford Garnet, I am a physician. The young lady lying
in the launch yonder is my patient. We were so unfortunate as to be
wrecked while on a yacht cruising in the waters to the south of here. We
are now on our way northward, bound for one of the larger towns, where
we shall be able to get transportation home. The young lady is suffering
from an injured ankle, and, too, she has been for some time unconscious
from a blow on the head received while we were escaping from the yacht.
It is only within the last hour that she has seemed to be again quite
normal. We were obliged to lay to in the lower section of the Sound for
several hours, waiting for the weather to moderate. Otherwise we would
not have been obliged to put in here and beg you for food and lodging.
If you can take care of us over night I shall be only too glad to pay
you for your hospitality."

"Pay me for my hospitality!" the Squire exclaimed indignantly. "That's
something in my locality that's never been for sale, and can't be
bought. You-all must be from the North. I've heard folks from the
outside say that folks up there pay for everything, even for a place to
hang their hats in public houses. Folks that pay for everything they get
lose all love fo