第49章

I'm as nigh a neighbor as you be, ain't I?""He don't ask you because the buggy won't hold but two, and you know it.I should think you'd be glad to have me save the expense of my fare.Winnie S.would charge me fifty cents to take me to the depot, and the fare on the excursion train is--""Now what kind of talk's that! I ain't complainin' 'cause you save the expense.And I don't care if you go along with all the old men from here to Joppa.What I'm sayin' is that I'm goin' to that Fair tomorrow.I can go alone in the cars, I guess.There won't nobody kidnap me, as I know of.""But, Kenelm, I don't like to have you over there all by yourself.

It'll be so lonesome for you.If you'll only wait maybe I'll go again, myself.Maybe we could both go together on Saturday.""I don't want to go Saturday; I want to go tomorrow.Tomorrow's the big day, when they have the best horse-racin'.Why, Darius Holt is cal'latin' to make money tomorrow.He's got ten dollars bet on Exie B.in the second race and--""Kenelm Parker! Is THAT what you want to go to that Cattle Show for? To bet on horse trots! To gamble!""Aw, dry up.How'd I gamble? You don't let me have money enough to put in the collection box Sundays, let alone gamblin'.I have to shove my fist clear way down to the bottom of the plate whenever they pass it for fear Heman Daniels'll see that I'm only lettin' go of a nickel.Aw, Hannah, have some sense, won't you! I'd just as soon go to that Fair alone as not.I won't be lonesome.Lots of folks I know are goin'; men and women, too.""Women? What women?"

"Oh, I don't know.How should I know?"

"Well--well, I suppose likely they are.Imogene said she was goin'

and--"

"Imogene! You mean that hired inmate over to Thankful Barnes'?

Humph! So she told you she was goin', hey? Well, most likely she told a fib.I wouldn't trust her not to; sassy, impudent thing! Idon't believe she's goin' at all.Is she, Cap'n Bangs?"The captain, who had remained silent during this family jar, could not resist the temptation.

"Oh yes, Imogene's goin'," he answered, cheerfully."She's countin' on havin' the time of her life over there.But she isn't the only one.Why, about all the females in East Wellmouth'll be there.I heard Abbie Larkin arrangin' for her passage with Winnie S.yesterday afternoon.Win said, 'Judas priest!' He didn't know where he was goin' to put her, but he cal'lated he'd have to find stowage room somewhere.Oh, Kenelm won't be lonesome, Hannah.Ishouldn't worry about that."

Kenelm looked as if he wished the speaker might choke.Hannah straightened in her chair.

"Hum!" she mused."Hum!" and was silent for a moment.Then she asked:

"Is Mrs.Thankful goin', too? I suppose likely she is."The captain's cheerfulness vanished.

"No," he said, shortly, "she isn't.She wanted to, but she doesn't feel she can leave the boardin'-house with nobody to look after it."Miss Parker seemed pleased, for some reason or other.

"I don't wonder," she said, heartily."She shouldn't be left all alone herself, either.If that ungrateful, selfish Orphan's Home minx is selfish enough to go and leave her, all the more reason my brother shouldn't.Whatever else us Parkers may be, we ain't selfish.We think about others.Kenelm, dear, you must stay at work and help Mrs.Barnes around the house tomorrow.You and I'll go to the Fair on Saturday.I don't mind; I'd just as soon go twice as not."Kenelm sprang to his feet.He was so angry that he stuttered.

"You--you--YOU don't care!" he shouted."'Cause you're goin'

TWICE! That's a divil of a don't care, that is!""Kenelm! My own brother! Cursin' and swearin'!""I ain't, and--and I don't care if I be! What's the matter with you, Hannah Parker? One minute you're sailin' into me tellin' me to heave up my job and not demean myself doin' odd jobs in a boardin'-house barn.And the next minute you're tellin' me I ought to stay to home and--and help out that very boardin'-house.Iwon't! By--by thunder-mighty, I won't! I'm goin' to that Cattle Show tomorrow if it takes my last cent."Hannah smiled."How many last cents have you got, Kenelm?" she asked."You was doin' your best to borrer a quarter of me this mornin'.""I've got more'n you have.I--I--everything there is here--yes, and every cent there is here--belongs to me by rights.You ain't got nothin' of your own."Miss Parker turned upon him."To think," she wailed, brokenly, "to think that my own brother--all the brother I've got--can stand afore me and heave my--my poverty in my face.I may be dependent on him.I am, I suppose.But Oh, the disgrace of it! the--Oh! Oh!

Oh!"

Captain Obed hurried upstairs to his room.Long after he had shut the door he heard the sounds of Hannah's sobs and Kenelm's pleadings that he "never meant nothin'." Then came silence and, at last, the sounds of footsteps on the stairs.They halted in the upper hall.

"I don't know, Kenelm," said Hannah, sadly."I'll try to forgive you.I presume likely I must.But when I think of how I've been a mother to you--""Now, Hannah, there you go again.How could you be my mother when you ain't but four year older'n I be? You just give me a few dollars and let me go to that Cattle Show and--""No, Kenelm, that I can't do.You are goin' to leave Mrs.Barnes'

place; I want you to do that, for the sake of your self-respect.

But you must stay there and help her tomorrow.It's your duty.""Darn my duty! I'll LEAVE tomorrow, that's what I'll do.""Oh dear! There you go again.Profane language and bettin' on horses! WHAT'LL come next? My own brother a gambler and a prodigate! Has it come to this?"The footsteps and voices died away.Captain Obed blew out the light and got into bed.The last words he heard that night were uttered by the "prodigate" himself on his way to his sleeping quarters.And they were spoken as a soliloquy.