Mary-'Gusta

tion with Judge Baxter. Adjusting matters by correspondence is a slow process at b

s any hand to write letters; you know that, Zoeth. And when I do write one the feller I send it to is liable to come around and ask me to read it 'cause he can't. Like as not I ca

capacity as administrator, had already been looking into the affairs of his late client and, as he had expected, those affairs wer

come to you with very little property of her own. If she is to have the good education and all the rest that Marcellus wa

ich as the ship's cat is from bein' skipper, but we've put by a little and the store fetches us in a decent livin'. We'll take the young-one and do our best by her. Land

nfident that you and Hamilton were p

fe's first mince pie. You get those guardian papers, whatever they are, made out, and Zoeth and me'll sign 'em. As for the competent part-well," with a chuckle, "that child's pretty competent herself. I have a notion tha

ne thing more I'd like to say. 'Most everybody thinks Marcellus

I suppose

ut. They'll be guessin' how rich the child is instead of markin' of

you and your partner are adopting and supporting h

us was kind and generous enough to us in the old days

hat trick than you were when I saw you last, Captain Shad,"

ifferent from any girl of her age ever I saw. She's pretty as a little picture and sweet and wholesome as a-as a summer sweet apple. She don't pester, and she don't tease, and she don't lie-no, sir, not even when I'd consider layin' the co

she heard the news, although, characteristically, she said very little beyond confiding to her two "uncles" that she was going to be a good girl and not take

ttles it, I cal'late. Now, Mary-'Gusta, you're our litt

ut one of these days, a hundred years from now or such matter, there's liable to be a good-lookin' young feller sparkin'

was a hundred years from now," she

itted. "Make it twelve or fifteen years. Then suppose somebody-er-er-" with a wink at Zoeth-"suppo

s prompt enou

with decision. "Jimmie Bacheldor ha

hen Miss Dobson, the primary teacher, said the girl was too far advanced for the first class and entered her in the second. "Just natural smartness," Captain Shadrach dec

't it," suggested Zoeth, remembering the ball

as if 'twasn't parachut

Isaiah, who was an

aragon, that's what 'twas. Teache

ragon?" aske

But it's what s

ch attended church. It was the first time in a good many years and whether the congregation or Zoeth or the Captain himself was the more astonished at the latter's being there is a question. Mary-'Gusta was not greatly astonished. It was the result of careful planning on h

ubject of that sermon was Jonah and the whale. The Captain, having been on several whaling

t have ended pleasantly and the break have been avoided. But the clergyman was elderly,

three days in a whale's stomach. How'd he breathe in there, eh? Cal'late the whale had ventilators and a skylight in his main deck? How'd the whale live all that time with a man hoppin' 'round inside him? Think I'd live if I-if I swallowed a live mouse or somethin'? No, sir-ee! Either that mouse would die or I would, I bet you! I've seen a whole parcel of things took out of a whale's insides and some of the things had been alive once, too; but they wasn't alive then; they was in chunks and part digested. Jonah wasn't digested, was he? And the whale wasn't dead of dyspepsy neither. That's what I told that minister. 'You try it yourself,' I says to him. 'There's whales enough back of the

asant weather she had been accustomed to take a walk with Shadrach. These walks they both enjoyed hugely, but one bright morning s

an?" he demanded. "Thought

S goes to church and he feels real bad 'cause you don't go. He told me so. He says the church folks thi

he is

, he's so good. Don't you think

in I do. If he do

eel bad if you was afra

e so, but I

s much as you do of him, you know. Uncle Shad, I'm goin' to meetin' w

in pulled

s about, anyway? You don't cal'late I'd take you w

o church is wicked. If you and I went to chu

alkin' with us. I've asked him times enough. Why can'

You don't think goin' to churc

, Mary-'Gusta. Judge Baxter hasn't got you beat when it comes to makin' out a case. Look

frankly; "

us to give up our walk and go to church ev

uld divide up. You and I could go with him one Sunday and to walk the next Sunday.

ed. Zoeth was mightily pleased and Mary-'Gusta was happy because he was. The plan of alternate Sundays was adopted. It was but one instance of the "m

h Marcellus Hall, her stepfather, as the head. Isaiah told her a little concerning the firm: "No bigger on Cape Cod," he declared. She asked why it had not continued in business. Mr. Chase brusquely answered that it hadn't, that's all, and wo

'Gusta, but Isaiah cut

k such question

mustn

f they knew you was pryin' into their affairs. You mustn't

like me any m

now's he wouldn't come to hate you. And

hough other beloved wives of the former generations were commemorated. This seemed odd. As her education progressed she read more and more and from her reading she built up several imaginative romances with Zoeth as the hero, and as the heroines beautiful creatures who had died young, in shipwreck, probably, and whose names were not to be m

lone to read, or play, or study. This afternoon she was rummaging through the old trunks and sea chests in search of a costume for Rose. It was to be a masculine costume, of course, for there wa

viously belonged to Captain Shadrach she found a sort of pocket on the under side of the lid, a pocket closing with a flap and a catch. In this pocket were

glimpse of schooners and the sea. Barrels, a good many barrels, were piled upon the wharves and a

-especially the hats-looked queer and old-fashioned now. Two of the men Mary-'Gusta recognized, or thought she did. They were Captain Shadrach and Mr. Hamilton. Much younger they looked, of course; their hair was not gray and Zoeth wore a beard, while Shadrach had only a mustache. But, in spite of these things a

tograph over. On i

Company. Taken

ellu

J. H

S. F

ch B.

andwritings. Evidently each m

h it in her hand, she descended to the kitchen. Isaiah

ary-'Gusta, "who wa

x beneath it and that box had started to play, Isaiah could not have risen more promptly. He

anded. "What's

lly pale. Mary-'Gu

tered, "I just asked who-who-Wha

and. "WHAT did you

S. Farmer was, that's all.

akes! What do you know about Ed

tend to reassure her. He strode to the door, looked up the lane, an

her and looking her straight in the

me. Honest,

ve told you; else

ld up the photograph. "It's

her hand. He looked at th

n the back," we

ed the phot

piciously. "I see. W

I found it in an old

swan to man! Have you showe

haven't. I just fo

lucky. 'Twas in a tr

cle Shad's

l, what made you ask about-ab

ad. But I didn't know who the Farmer one was. It says 'Firm of Hall and Co

ll I can tell you and you mustn't ask any more questions. Why, if your Uncle Zoeth-yes, or your Uncle Shad

hotograph across, but th

don't. It isn't mine. It belongs to Uncl

it to you?" he repeated.

e I found it. Truly, I will.

ith considerable reluctance,

y-'Gusta, don't you ever touch it again and don't you ever tell e

h, but thereafter when her active imagination constructed a life romance with Mr. Zoeth Hamilton as its hero, that romance contained a villain also, and