Keziah Coffin

ning-room windows. Outside the lilacs were in bud, the bluebirds were singing, and there was a sniff of real spring in the air.

some things he would not tell her, some that he would not speak of to anyone, the picture in the doorway for instance. True, it was on

rested to think of trifles. Interested and astounded, for, since Come-Outers had been Come-Outers and the split in the society took place, no Regular minister had crossed the threshold of

d when the recital w

Mr. Ellery thoughtfully. "Perhaps it wo

. Yes, I wouldn'

bout some, I suppose

e, y

f my own people ma

-they called him Billy Peter and he always called himself that-was out on the end of the yard, with his foot on the rope underneath, I forget the name of it, when the tarred twine he had for a shoe string caught. Tryin' to get it loose it broke sudden, his shoe pulled off, he lost his balance and fell. He grabbed at th

er run on deck, thinkin' the ship was dismasted. He found the cook and Billy Peter sittin' in the middle of the mess,

es!' says father

bbed his head. 'Ugh!' says he, '

egorra!' says he, 'Billy Peter, you don't exaggerate none, do ye!

that meetin' last night QUEER? At this moment one half of Trumet is talkin' about it and runnin' out

then ten, and no visitor came to the parsonage. Mrs. Coffin affirmed that she did not understand

gate slammed. Keziah

ah and he's got storm signals set, by the

the calm reply;

ou goin' to

nsidered right at the time. Show him

ded cane marking time like a drumbeat. He nodded curtly to Ke

"Is the minister-hum-

he's

I want t

per announce

ast week's milk," she whispered.

not. Show

ut I wouldn't say anything about your seein' Grace home.

he study and the door closed behind him. A rumb

ve and she opened the back door to let in the fresh air. She worked briskly, rolling out the dough, filling the deep dish,

ghtly on the back of the neck. She looked up and about her, but there was no one in sight. Then she pic

e threshold she peered out. The back yard was, apparently, empty, save for a few hens belonging

after you in a minute. Just because you're big enough to quit

and was swung partly back on its hinges. From under the

eat of the stove, reddened still more.

en if you can't smell the sulphur. Anyhow, you can tell a Hammond by the size of hi

d forth from behind the door

ried joyfully. "My, bu

ah heartily. "It's kind

d, was tanned to a deep reddish brown, and the corners of his eyes were marked with dozens of tiny wrinkles. He was

cruisin' from the Horn to Barnegat and back again, and you act as if I'd just dro

rd you'd m

s so's to dodge the gang of neighbors that I knew would be sailin' into our yard, th

n, you crept up the back way and threw cranb

spected them lovingly. "Ain't they fine?" he asked, crunching two or three between his

things. They'll give y

ell you what I'll do, though; I'll swear off on the cranberries if you'll give me a four-inch slice of that pie I saw you

e kitchen chairs. He seated himself

ade to stand rough weather, w

oked at h

'm glad, Na

. Now you come to anchor yourself and let's have a talk. I'v

per took the

" she began.

st as clean and wholesome and good-lookin' as ever. They don't make girls like th

d up he

t a day older? Why, if feelin's count for anything, I'm a

rave imm

rgot about Sol, but I was so glad to be home again and to see dad and Grace and the

No wonder, consideri

f his sufferin's at last. Tell me about it, if you c

the old home, and, finally, of her acceptance of the housekeeper's positio

And Elkanah was goin' to turn you out o

e's in there w

Elka

y're in t

r a few minutes. I'LL tell him what's

hair, but she made

didn't feel that I could afford to keep up a whole house, just for myself. A

di

eb Mayo or somebody may have s

rather gue

es when you really get inside of a pe

nothin' but Elkanah there, and 'twould be crowded at that. So h

llery's young, but he's

chuckled and s

nd. Went to the chapel last night, I understand, and he and dad

ur father ac

ater on it; every time he thinks of the minister he

oes Gra

do, though we both keep quiet. I'll tell you, between ourselves a

do I. I

ened. You ain't settin' your cap to b

ight adopt him, but

nd leane

good deal pleasanter berth than that. Pleasanter for me, anyhow, and I'd do my best to make it pleasant

n't, Nat.

don't

unt on you as the straightest, truest friend I've got; and

ou can, Ke

say another

he open door. The kitchen clo

ast. "All right, but I'm

ustn't

somethin' of a foot myself. You remember you said so a few minutes ago. Hi

Why? Isn't

hock five or six years ago, a little one, and I've been anxious about him ever since. I've got to go to New York off and on for the next month; after that I hope to be home for a spell and I can keep an eye on hi

You mustn't worry. How

ets prettier every minute. Wonder to me some of the young chaps down here

u ever thought of he

zia

lot of Grace, and I don't know a

get me spliced and out of the way? He was at me this mornin' along the s

u had a good voyage? How do you like your owners? How did

ound we slid along like a slush bucket on a greased plank. Owners are all

and forth on the chair, w

sekeeper. "Don't do that! That chai

ith the creed of those that owned it. I-What's that? Somebody's comin'. I'm

. You sit out on the wash bench by the back door t

Keziah went into the dining room and admitted Captain Ze

, Keziah? What? You ain't all alone! Thought you'd have a cab

n't been. I-My

snatched the pastry from the o

en, hey?" he said

e's in there with

ght I riz up and hoorayed till my wife shut the windows. She said the neighbors all thought I was loony, anyhow, and I needn't prove it to 'em. He, he! But Elkanah ain't got any funny bone. He

n Ellery and his visitor came out into the dining room. Captain Elkanah's

cheerfully. "'Mornin', Mr. Ellery. Bee

aptain Mayo," sa

have tried-hum-ha! to show him that respectable people of our society don't associate with Come-Outers, and that for a Regular

what seemed to me good reasons, and, as they did seem to me good at the time, I'm

egan Elkanah. Captai

eat fishhooks! the most of us are tickled to death over what you said to Eben Hammond. We think it's a mighty g

aniels, "I must say I can'

the boom knocked you overboard with your Sunday clothes on. Lordy, how the rest of us did holler! but you never cracked a s

od many of the society feel as I do, shocked and-hum-ha!

hem," remarke

. They're all too busy crowin' over the way Nat Hammond fetched the packet hom

lery, I'm glad you realize that your action was a mistake a

e hauled out of Boston night afore last on the ebb, with a fair wind and sky clear as a bell. But they hadn't much more'n got outside of Minot's 'fore the fog shut down, thicker'n gruel for a sick rich ma

llery, and about sixteen p'ints t'other side of no account-they was the only passengers aboard except Nat Hammond, and they put in their time playin' high low jack in the cabin. The lookout was for'ard tootin' a tin horn and his bellerin' was th

all heard it-all 'cept Zach, w

ead astern and comin' abilin'! I'll take

on the jump. Zach was skipper, but all he done was race around and holler and trip ove

you, Zeb," observed Keziah dril

squall struck, the rotten old topmast went by the board 'Kerrash-o!' 'Course splinters flew like all possessed, and one of 'em, about a foo

wheel hard down and that saved the packet. She come around and put her nose dead in the wind just in time. As 'twas, 'Bije says t

Zach was a whimperin', fidgetin' old woman, Lafayette and Emulous was prayin' in the scuppers-and that ain't an exercise they're used to, neither-

mess aloft, hadn't you?

yanked the prayer meetin' out of the scuppers and set 'em to work. Then Nat suggests gettin' the spare comp

nd so thick you couldn't hardly see the jib boom. Zach he wanted to anchor,

ays 'Bije. He knew who w

sk me, says Nat. 'Guess we'll hit the broadsi

ought to be 'most onto the edge of the flats off here, if their reck'nin'

' again. 'What do you

to,' Nat says. 'You're runnin'

whines Zach. 'Can't you

will fair off to-morrow, but if it shouldn't, we might have to l

rse,' says 'Bije, else we'd be

-the Bayport bar-if not the Trumet one. And if we're off the course and too far out, we'd ought t

t showed they was edgin' in somewheres. Nat he sniffed, for

mell home

o and a half, then a scant two. They was

c. 'I believe we're plumb over to Wellmout

mes in 'Bije. 'And whichever 'tis,

houts Zach. 'Can't nobo

nd I'd know that smell if I met it in Jericho. Ha! there

re it. Sometimes there was twelve foot under her keel and sometimes eight or nine. Once '

in't your vessel you're runnin' into dan

wered; but he

er deepened. Hammond swu

can anchor

e skipper's right. This IS Horsefoot and we're right betwee

hook and dropped the sa

I've smelt home for the last half hour. N

was Trumet, with the town clock strikin' ten. Over the flat place between the hills they could see the light on the oce

ed at Hammond wi

ithout a compass through a night as black as Pharaoh's Egypt, and in a thick fog besides, and land her square on top of

mers Zach, '

Foster. When I undertake to handle a vessel I handle her best I know how, and the fact that I do

that lubber Zach Foster is around town tellin' folks that his schooner had been over the cour

ptain Mayo had finished his story. Elkanah had listened with growing irr

ered. "It'll be all right. 'Course nobody'd want you to keep up chummin' in wi

o the kitchen, whither the housekeeper had preceded him. He found her standi

ood story of Captain Mayo's. This man Hammond m

e fields. She did not wish her e

little while ago and I asked him to wait. I guess Zeb's y

t the Regular parso

nown each other

e's gone. I think

rned from

ou would,