Part 25 (2/2)

”So am I. Martha is very much like him. She's a dear, isn't she?”

Galusha nodded. ”She has been very kind to me,” he said. ”Indeed, yes.”

”Oh, she is to every one. She is always just like that. I am very glad you have decided to board with her this winter, Mr. Bangs. I have an idea that she has been--well, troubled about something; just what, of course, I don't know, although I think--but there, I mustn't guess because it is not my business.”

Galusha expressed a wish that he might become better acquainted with Nelson Howard.

”I am sure I should like him,” he said. ”He seems like a very nice young man.”

Lulie nodded radiantly.

”Oh, he is,” she cried. ”Truly he is, Mr. Bangs. Why, every one says--”

Then, becoming aware of her enthusiasm, she blushed and begged pardon.

”You see, I hear so much against him--from father, I mean--that I couldn't help acting silly when you praised him. Do forgive me, won't you, Mr. Bangs?”

He would have forgiven her much more than that.

”I shall make it a point to go over to the South Wellmouth station and call upon him,” he told her. She thanked him.

”I am hoping that you and Martha and Nelson and I may spend an evening together pretty soon,” she said. ”You see, father--but there, that's another secret. I'll tell you in a little while, next week, I hope.”

He learned the secret from Martha. On a day in the following week Miss Phipps informed her lodger that he and she were to have supper at the light keeper's that evening.

”It's a real sort of party,” declared Martha. ”Small but select, as they used to say in books when I was a girl. There will be four of us, you and I and Nelson Howard and Lulie.”

Galusha was surprised.

”Nelson Howard!” he repeated. ”Why, dear me, I thought--I understood that Mr. Howard was persona non grata to Captain Hallett.”

Martha nodded. ”Well, if that means what I suppose it does, he is,” she replied. ”If Cap'n Jeth knew Nelson was goin' to eat supper in his house he'd go without eatin' himself to stop it. But, you see, he doesn't know. Jethro is goin' spiritualizin' to-night. Marietta Hoag and Ophelia Beebe and their crowd of rattleheads have dug up a brand new medium who is visitin' over in Trumet and they've made up a party to go there and hold a seance. When they told Cap'n Jeth, of course nothin' would do but he must go, too. So, WHILE he is gone Nelson is comin' over to supper.

It's deceivin' the old man, in one way, of course, but it isn't doin'

him a bit of harm. And it does give the young folks a pleasant time, and I think they deserve it. Lulie has been as kind and forbearin' with her father as a daughter could be, and Nelson has been more patient than the average young fellow, by a good deal.”

Late that afternoon two automobiles laden with humanity, male and female, drove past the Phipps' gate, and Primmie, from the window, announced that it was ”Marietta and 'Phelia and the rest of 'em. My savin' soul, ain't they talkin' though! Cal'late the sperits 'll have busy times this evenin', don't you, Miss Martha?” A few minutes later she proclaimed that Cap'n Jeth had just climbed aboard and that the autos were coming back.

”See! See, Mr. Bangs!” she cried, pointing. ”There's Cap'n Jeth, settin'

between Marietta and 'Phelia Beebe. There's the three of 'em on the back seat. Cap'n Jeth's the one with the whiskers.”

At six o'clock Martha and her lodger walked over to the Hallett house.

Miss Phipps was dressed in her best gown and looked the personification of trim, comfortable New England femininity. Galusha was garbed in the suit he wore the evening of his arrival, but it had been newly sponged and pressed.

”It looks lots better,” observed Martha, inspecting him as they walked along. ”It wouldn't have, though, if Primmie had finished the job. I was so busy that I let her start on it, but when I saw what a mess she was makin' I had to drop everything else and do it myself.”

Galusha looked puzzled.

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