第21章

It was nearly noon when Jed, entering the front shop in answer to the bell, found there the couple the sight of which caused his heart to sink.Here they were, the house hunters--there was no doubt of it in his mind.The man was short and broad and protuberant and pompous.The woman possessed all the last three qualities, besides being tall.He shone with prosperity and sunburn, she reeked of riches and talcum.They were just the sort of people who would insist upon hiring a house that was not in the market; its not being in the market would, in their eyes, make it all the more desirable.

Jed had seen them before, knew they were staying at the hotel and that their names were Powless.He remembered now, with a thrill of alarm, that Mr.Bearse had recently spoken of them as liking Orham very much and considering getting a place of their own.And of course Captain Sam, hearing this, had told them of the Winslow place, had sent them to him."Oh, Lord! Oh, Lord!" thought Jed, although what he said was: "Good mornin'."He might as well have said nothing.Mrs.Powless, looming large between the piles of mills and vanes, like a battleship in a narrow channel, was loftily inspecting the stock through her lorgnette.

Her husband, his walking stick under his arm and his hands in his pockets, was not even making the pretense of being interested; he was staring through the seaward window toward the yard and the old house.

"These are really quite extraordinary," the lady announced, after a moment."George, you really should see these extraordinary things."George was, evidently, not interested.He continued to look out of the window.

"What are they?" he asked, without turning.

"Oh, I don't know.All sorts of queer dolls and boats--and creatures, made of wood.Like those outside, you know--er--teetotums, windmills.Do come and look at them."Mr.Powless did not comply.He said "Umph" and that was all.

"George," repeated Mrs.Powless, "do you hear me? Come and look at them."And George came.One might have inferred that, when his wife spoke like that, he usually came.He treated a wooden porpoise to a thoroughly wooden stare and repeated his remark of "Umph!""Aren't they extraordinary!" exclaimed his wife."Does this man make them himself, I wonder?"She seemed to be addressing her husband, so Jed did not answer.

"Do you?" demanded Mr.Powless.

"Yes," replied Jed.

Mrs.Powless said "Fancy!" Mr.Powless strolled back to the window.

"This view is all right, Mollie," he observed."Better even than it is from the street.Come and see."Mrs.Powless went and saw.Jed stood still and stared miserably.

"Rather attractive, on the whole, don't you think, dear?" inquired the gentleman."Must be very decent in the yard there."The lady did not reply, but she opened the door and went out, around the corner of the shop and into the back yard.Her husband trotted after her.The owner of the property, gazing pathetically through the window, saw them wandering about the premises, looking off at the view, up into the trees, and finally trying the door of the old house and peeping in between the slats of the closed blinds.Then they came strolling back to the shop.Jed, drawing a long breath, prepared to face the ordeal.

Mrs.Powless entered the shop.Mr.Powless remained by the door.

He spoke first.

"You own all this?" he asked, indicating the surrounding country with a wave of his cane.Jed nodded.

"That house, too?" waving the point of the cane toward the Winslow cottage.

"Yes."

"How old is it?"

Jed stammered that he guessed likely it was about a hundred years old or such matter.

"Umph! Furniture old, too?"

"Yes, I cal'late most of it is."

"Nobody living in it?"

"No-o."

"Got the key to it?"

Here was the question direct.If he answered in the affirmative the next utterance of the Powless man would be a command to be shown the interior of the house.Jed was certain of it, he could see it in the man's eye.What was infinitely more important, he could see it in the lady's eye.He hesitated.

"Got the key to it?" repeated Mr.Powless.

Jed swallowed.

"No-o," he faltered, "I--I guess not."

"You GUESS not.Don't you know whether you've got it or not?""No.I mean yes.I know I ain't."

"Where is it; lost?"

The key was usually lost, that is to say, Jed was accustomed to hunt for fifteen minutes before finding it, so, his conscience backing his inclination, he replied that he cal'lated it must be.

"Umph!" grunted Powless."How do you get into the house without a key?"Jed rubbed his chin, swallowed hard, and drawled that he didn't very often.

"You do sometimes, don't you?"

The best answer that the harassed windmill maker could summon was that he didn't know.The red-faced gentleman stared at him in indignant amazement.

"You don't KNOW?" he repeated."Which don't you know, whether you go into the house at all, or how you get in without a key?""Yes,--er--er--that's it."

Mr.Powless breathed deeply."Well, I'll be damned!" he declared, with conviction.

His wife did not contradict his assertion, but she made one of her own.

"George," she commanded majestically, "can't you see the man has been drinking.Probably he doesn't own the place at all.Don't waste another moment on him.We will come back later, when the real owner is in.Come!"George came and they both went.Mr.Winslow wiped his perspiring forehead on a piece of wrapping paper and sat down upon a box to recover.Recovery, however, was by no means rapid or complete.

They had gone, but they were coming back again; and what should he say to them then? Very likely Captain Sam, who had sent them in the first place, would return with them.And Captain Sam knew that the key was not really lost.Jed's satisfaction in the fact that he had escaped tenantless so far was nullified by the fear that his freedom was but temporary.