untruthful to that passal o'
women."

With that, the fisherman slipped his arm within the Doctor's, and walked
forward spiritedly toward his doom--as he mentally termed this social
ordeal. It was indeed his coming-out party, and never a debutante so
secretly tremulous and shy as Captain Icky.

CHAPTER XVII

STRANGERS AT ICHABOD'S ISLAND

The friendly squeeze that Doctor Hudson was giving Ichabod's arm as they
advanced toward the group of women heartened the old man mightily. A few
days since, he would have felt that he was being led as a martyr to be
burned at the stake. But now, in the twinkling of an eye, everything was
changed. It is true that he felt a keen embarrassment over this
introduction to feminine society after his isolation from it for twenty
years. Yet his natural courage dominated this embarrassment, so that he
faced the trial bravely enough.

The Doctor explained to him that a formal introduction to the ladies
would be necessary.

"That is," Hudson continued, "to all except one. You are already
acquainted with the one just now coming out of the shack door with your
vinegar bottle in her hand. It's Miss Sarah Porter that I'm referring
to. She has told me that you have talked with her on more than one
occasion about your domestic troubles and your lonely life. She has told
me, too, that she tried her best to give you advice that would be good
for you."

Ichabod replied defensively.

"Wall, I cal'late I've been a-tryin' to take her advice!"

It was even as Doctor Hudson had said. In spite of the sharp eyes and
wagging tongues of the townsfolk, few had known that the old fisherman
occasionally visited Miss Porter in the hostelry managed by her for many
years, and that there he had listened gratefully to her words of kindly
admonition. As a matter of fact, long before the Lee woman entered into
the fisherman's life, he had felt very kindly toward Miss Porter, and
his attentions had been well received by her. It is very possible that
he might have offered himself to her years ago, had it not been for a
conscientious scruple as to his jilted self being unworthy. So, he saw
her only at rare intervals, and then only when he brought fish to sell,
thus making business his excuse. There had been to him a certain comfort
in the fact that this vivacious woman of sixty had never married. He
even dared to wonder sometimes with a thrill of vanity if her feeling
toward him could have been the cause of