第67章 IN WHICH TRUMET TALKS OF CAPTAIN NAT(2)

Yup.Laviny's a pretty good navigator,fur's keepin'an eye to wind'ard is concerned.She was awful down on Phineas--that's his name--'cause he married a Philadelphy woman,but he's a widower man now,so I s'pose she feels better toward him.She's talkin'of goin'up to Sandwich pretty soon.She IS?Alone?

So she says.

To leave you here?Why!well,I'm surprised.Godfreys mighty!so be I.But she says she b'lieves she needs a change and there's church conference up there,you know,and she figgers that she ain't been to conference she don't know when.Is'pose you'll go,won't you,Mr.Ellery?

Probably.

Um--hm.I kind of wisht I was goin'myself.'Twill be kind of lonesome round home without her.Considering that that variety of lonesomeness had been Abishai's dream of paradise for years,Ellery thought his change of heart a good joke and told Keziah of it when he returned to the parsonage.

The housekeeper was greatly surprised.

Well!well!well!she exclaimed.Miracles'll never cease.Idon't wonder so much at Laviny wantin'to go to conference,but her darin'to go and leave Kyan at home is past belief.Why,every time she's had a cold her one fear was that she'd die and leave 'Bish behind to be kidnaped by some woman.Kyan himself was sick once,and the story was that his sister set side of the bed night and day and read him over and over again that chapter in the Bible that says there's no marryin'or givin'in marriage in heaven.Dr.

Parker told me that he didn't believe 'Bish got ha'f the comfort out of that passage that she did.And now she's goin'to Sandwich and leave him.I can't think it's true.But it was true,and Lavinia got herself elected a delegate and went,in company with Captain Elkanah,Mrs.Mayo,and others,to the conference.She was a faithful attendant at the meetings and seemed to be having a very good time.She introduced the minister to one Caleb Pratt,a resident of Sandwich,whom she said she had known ever since she was a girl.

Mr.Pratt's a cousin to Thankful Payne over to home,volunteered Lavinia.You know Thankful,Mr.Ellery.Ellery did know Mrs.Payne and said so.Mr.Pratt,who was dressed in a new suit of black which appeared to hurt him,imparted the information that he'd heard tell consider'ble of Mr.Ellery.

I enjoyed your sermon to-night fust--rate,he added solemnly.

Fust--rate,sir--yes.

Did you,indeed?I'm glad.

Yes,sir.You used words in that sermon that I never heard afore in my life.'Twas grand.Lavinia confided to her pastor that Mr.Pratt made the best shoes in Ostable County.He could fit ANY kind of feet,she declared,and the minister ought to try him sometime.She added that he had money in the bank.

The Reverend John rode home in the stage beside Miss Annabel,not from choice,but because the young lady's father insisted upon it.

Miss Daniels gushed and enthused as she always did.As they drove by the Corners the minister,who had been replying absently to Annabel's questions,suddenly stopped short in the middle of a sentence.His companion,leaning forward to look out of the window,saw Grace Van Horne entering the store.For an instant Annabel's face wore a very unpleasant expression.Then she smiled and said,in her sweetest manner:

Why,there's the tavern girl!I haven't seen her for sometime.

How old she looks!I suppose her uncle's death has aged her.

Well,she'll be married soon,just as soon as Cap'n Nat gets back.

They perfectly worship each other,those two.They say she writes him the longest letters.Hannah Poundberry told me.Hannah's a queer creature and common,but devoted to the Hammonds,Mr.Ellery.

However,you're not interested in Come-Outers,are you?Ha,ha!Ellery made some sort of an answer,but he could not have told what it was.The sight of Grace had brought back all that he was trying so hard to forget.Why couldn't one forget,when it was so painful--and so useless--to remember?

Spring once more;then summer.And now people were again speaking of Captain Nat Hammond.His ship was overdue,long overdue.Even in those days,when there were no cables and the telegraph was still something of a novelty,word of his arrival should have reached Trumet months before this.But it had not come,and did not.Before the summer was over,the wise heads of the retired skippers were shaking dubiously.Something had happened to the Sea Mist,something serious.