Part 35 (1/2)

”Evidently an eccentric, your--er--man,” he observed.

”He has his ways, like the majority of us, I guess,” declared the captain, crisply. ”Underneath he is as square and big-hearted as they make. And he's a good friend of mine.”

”Oh, yes; yes, I'm sure of it. Captain Kendall----”

”Kendrick, not Kendall.”

Mr. Phillips begged pardon for the mistake. It was inexcusable, he admitted. He had heard the captain's name mentioned so frequently since his arrival in Bayport, especially by Mrs. Berry and her daughter, ”so favorably, even enthusiastically mentioned,” that he certainly should have remembered it. ”I am not quite myself, I fear,” he added. ”My recent bereavement and the added shock of the death of my dear old friend the judge have had their effect. My nerves are--well, you understand, I am sure.”

He made a lengthy call. He talked a great deal, and his conversation was always interesting. He spoke much of his dear wife, of life abroad, of Genoa and Leghorn, ports which the captain had visited, and of the changes in Bayport since his last sojourn in the village. But he said almost nothing concerning his plans for the future, and of the Fair Harbor very little. In fact, Sears had the feeling that he was waiting for him to talk concerning that inst.i.tution. This the captain would not do and, at last, Mr. Phillips himself touched lightly upon the fringes of the subject.

”Do you find your duties in connection with the--ah--retreat next door arduous, Captain Kendrick?” he inquired.

”Eh?... Oh, no, I don't know as I'd call 'em that, exactly.”

”I imagine not, I imagine not. You are--you are, I gather, a sort of--oh---- What should I call you, captain; in your official capacity, you know?”

He laughed pleasantly. Sears smiled.

”Give it up,” he replied. ”I told Elizabeth--Miss Berry, I mean--when I first took the berth that I scarcely knew what it was.”

”Ha, ha! Yes, I can imagine. Miss Berry--charming girl, isn't she, captain--intimated to me that your position was somewhat--ah--general.

You exercise a sort of supervision over the finances and management, in a way, do you not?”

”In a way, yes.”

”Yes. Of course, my dear sir, you understand that I am not unduly curious. I don't mean to be. This--ah--Fair Harbor was, as you know, very dear to the heart of Mrs. Phillips and, now that she has been taken from me, I feel, of course, a sense of trust, of sacred responsibility.

We had understood, she and I, that our dear friend--Judge Knowles--was in supreme charge--nominally, I mean; of course Mrs. Berry was in actual charge--and, therefore, I confess to a natural feeling of--shall I say surprise, on learning that the judge had appointed another person, an understudy, as it were?”

”Well, you couldn't be any more surprised than I was when the judge asked me to take the job. And Elizabeth and her mother know that I hesitated considerable before I did take it. Judge Knowles was in his last sickness, he couldn't attend to things himself.”

Mr. Phillips raised a protesting hand. ”Please don't misunderstand me,”

he said. ”Don't, I beg of you, think for a moment that I am objecting to the judge's action, or even criticizing it. It was precisely the thing he should have done, what Mrs. Phillips and I would have wished him to do. And as for his choice of--ah--appointee----”

Captain Sears interrupted. ”As to that,” he said, ”you can criticize as much as you please. You can't object any more than I did when me made me the offer.”

The protesting hand was again raised. ”Criticism or objection was the very farthest from my mind, I a.s.sure you,” Egbert declared. ”I was about to say that Judge Knowles showed his usual--ah--ac.u.men when he selected a man as well known and highly esteemed as yourself, sir. The mention of the name of Captain Kendall----”

”Kendrick.”

”Kendrick, of course. I apologize once more. But, if you will permit me to say so, a man as well and favorably known to us all as you are, sir, is certainly the ideal occupant of the--ah--place.”

”Thanks. You knew of me, then? I don't think you and I have ever met before, have we?”

”No; no, I believe I have never before had the pleasure.”

”Thanks. I was pretty sure I hadn't. I've been away from Bayport a good deal. I wasn't here when you and your wife came back--about five years ago, wasn't it? And, of course, I didn't know you when you used to live here. Let's see; you used to teach singin'-school, didn't you?”

This question was asked in the most casual fas.h.i.+on. Mr. Phillips did not answer at once. He coughed, changed his position, and then smiled graciously.

”Yes,” he said. ”Yes, I--I did something of the sort, for a time. Music has always been a--one might call it a--ah--hobby of mine. But, regarding your duties as--well, whatever those duties are, Captain Kendrick: You say they are not arduous. And your--ah--compensation?