l about how things was with me and find out about him
and then--why, if everything was shipshape, I might, p'raps, think
about--"

"Jest so, ma'am, jest so," broke in her companion. "That's about the
way we felt. You see, there's prob'ly a long story on both sides, and if
you'll excuse me I'll go down to the shanty and see if I can't git Jerry
up here. It'll be a job, I'm 'fraid, but--"

"No, you shan't either. I'll tell you what we'll do. It's awful late
now and I must be gittin' up to the tavern. S'pose, if 'tain't too much
trouble, you walk up there with me and I'll stay there to-night and
to-morrer I'll come down here, and we'll all have a common-sense talk.
P'raps by that time your friend 'll have the darky woman some off his
mind, too."

Needless to say Captain Eri agreed to this plan with alacrity. The
widow carefully tied on a black, old-fashioned bonnet, picked up a fat,
wooden-handled umbrella and the extension case, and said that she was
ready.

They walked up the road together, the Captain carrying the extension
case. They talked, but not of matrimonial prospects. Mrs. Snow knew
almost as much about the sea and the goings and comings thereon as did
her escort, and the conversation was salty in the extreme. It
developed that the Nantucket lady had a distant relative who was in the
life-saving service at Cuttyhunk station, and as the Captain knew every
station man for twenty miles up and down the coast, wrecks and maritime
disasters of all kinds were discussed in detail.

At the Traveler's Rest Mrs. Snow was introduced by the unblushing Eri as
a cousin from Provincetown, and, after some controversy concerning the
price of board and lodging, she was shown up to her room. Captain Eri
walked home, absorbed in meditation. Whatever his thoughts were they
were not disagreeable, for he smiled and shook his head more than once,
as if with satisfaction. As he passed John Baxter's house he noticed
that the light in the upper window was still burning.

Captain Perez was half asleep when Eri opened the door of the shanty.
Captain Jerry, however, was very much awake and demanded to be told
things right away. His friend briefly explained the situation.

"I don't care if she stays here till doomsday," emphatically declared
the disgruntled one, "I shan't marry her. What's she like, anyhow?"

He was surprised at the enthusiasm of Captain Eri's answer.

"She's a mighty good woman; that's what I think she is, and she'd