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Do you mean there's somethin' Mr. Ellery wouldn't want told? Don't you dare I WILL see Laviny!" "No, no, no, no! 'Tain't nothin' much. I just know where he goes after he leaves Elkanah's and who he goes to meet. I Lordy! I hadn't ought to said that! I Keziah Coffin, don't you ever tell I told you. I've said more'n I meant to. If it comes out there'd be the biggest row in the church that ever was.
Didama Rogers, who lived all alone, except for the society of three cats, a canary, and a white poodle named "Bunch," in the little house next to Captain Elkanah's establishment, never entirely recovered from the chagrin and disappointment caused by that provoking mist.
Directly opposite Captain Elkanah's front gate, on the other side of the main road, stood the little story-and-a-half house, also the captain's property, which for fourteen years had been tenanted by Mrs. Keziah Coffin and her brother, Solomon Hall, the shoemaker.
His old luck had not deserted him; wherever he dropped anchor, there the cod seemed to gather; and, in the excitement of catching fish and guarding against the dangers of the Banks, the old New York life seemed presently forgotten; and, once more, Elkanah's face wore the old, hopeful calm which belonged there. Art, that had been so long his tyrant mistress, was at last cast off. Was she?
Elkanah chose a new route every year. Thus he touched at many towns, and their inhabitants were led to do a pious deed. In spite of his God-fearing ways, Elkanah's domestic life was not perfectly happy. He had been married ten years, and his union with Hannah had not been blessed with offspring.
She watched him for a few moments and then, with a puzzled shake of the head, returned to her work. She believed that he was troubled about something and was herself troubled in consequence. His absent-mindedness was most acute on Sunday evenings, before prayer meeting, and after he had returned from the afternoon at Captain Elkanah's. "Say, Mr.
Captain Elkanah's dignity deserted him for an instant and his egg spoon jingled to the floor. Annabel's face turned a dull red. Her eyes flashed sparks. "Pa!" she cried, "I I if you don't do something now I'll never " Her father shook his head warningly. "Debby," he said to the maid, "you needn't wait." Debby departed reluctantly.
She was beginning to fear for her parson and, for the time, everything else, her own trouble and the recent interview with Nat, was pushed aside. "What is it?" she persisted. "WHAT would bring on the row in the church? WHO does Mr. Ellery meet? Out with it! What do you mean?" "I mean that the minister meets that Van Horne girl every Sunday afternoon after he leaves Elkanah's. There, now!
"Whew!" puffed Captain Zeb, mopping his forehead. "How be you, Keziah? What? You ain't all alone! Thought you'd have a cabin full of gab machines by this time. Have they been and gone?" "No, they haven't been. I My land, my pie!" She rushed into the kitchen and snatched the pastry from the oven. Her new caller followed her. "So they ain't been, hey?" he said. "That's queer." "Elkanah's here.
Man's foot, too. Cap'n Elkanah's, I guess likely; though the prints don't look hardly big enough for his. Elkanah's convinced that he's a great man and his boots bear him out in it, don't they? Those marks don't look broad enough for his understandin', but I guess he made 'em; nobody else could. Here's the settin' room." She threw open another door.
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