"No."
"Then what I heard was true. You did say at the meeting that you were going to do your best to keep him from getting her."
"Um--hum! What I said amounts to just about that."
"Why?"
Captain Cy was surprised and a little disappointed apparently.
"Why?" he repeated.
"Yes. Why?"
"Well, for reasons I"ve got."
"Do you mind telling me the reasons?"
"I cal"late you don"t want to hear "em. If you don"t understand now, then I can"t make it much plainer, I"m afraid."
The little lady sprang to her feet.
"Oh, you are provoking!" she cried indignantly. "Can"t you see that I want to hear the reasons from you yourself? Cap"n Whittaker, I shook hands with you last night."
"You remember I told you you"d better wait."
"I didn"t want to wait. I believed I knew something of human nature, and I believed I had learned to understand you. I made up my mind to pay no more attention to what people said against you. I thought they were envious and disliked you because you did things in your own way. I wouldn"t believe the stories I heard this afternoon. I wanted to hear you speak in your own defense and you refuse to do it. Don"t you know what people are saying? They say you are trying to keep Emily because--Oh, I"m ashamed to ask it, but you make me: HAS the child got valuable property of her own?"
Captain Cy had been, throughout this scene, standing quietly by the table. Now he took a step forward.
"Miss Dawes," he said sharply, "sit down."
"But I--"
"Sit down, please."
The schoolmistress didn"t mean to obey the order, but for some reason she did. The captain went on speaking.
"It"s pretty plain," he said, "that what you heard at the boardin"
house--for I suppose that"s where you did hear it--was what you might call a Phinneyized story of the doin"s at the meetin". Well, there"s another yarn, and it"s mine; I"m goin" to spin it and I want you to listen."
He went on to spin his yarn. It was practically a repet.i.tion of his reply to Tad Simpson that morning. Its conclusion was also much the same.
"The land ain"t worth fifty dollars," he declared, "but if it was fifty million he shouldn"t have it. Why? Because it belongs to that little girl. And he shan"t have her until he and those back of him have hammered me through the courts till I"m down forty fathom under water.
And when they do get her--and, to be honest, I cal"late they will in the end--I hope to G.o.d I won"t be alive to see it! There! I"ve answered you."
He was walking up and down the room, with the old quarter-deck stride, his hands jammed deep in his pockets and his face working with emotion.
"It"s pretty nigh a single-handed fight for me," he continued, "but I"ve fought single-handed before. The other side"s got almost all the powder and the men. Heman and Tad and that Thomas have got seven eighths of Bayport behind "em, not to mention the "Providence" they"re so sure of.
My crowd is a mighty forlorn hope: Dimick and Ase Tidditt, and Bailey, as much as his wife "ll let him. Oh, yes!" and he smiled whimsically, "there"s another one. A new recruit"s just joined; Georgianna"s enlisted. That"s my army. Sort of rag-jacketed cadets, we are, small potatoes, and few in a hill."
The teacher rose and laid a hand on his arm. He turned toward her. The lamplight shone upon her face, and he saw, to his astonishment, that there were tears in her eyes.
"Cap"n Whittaker," she said, "will you take an other recruit? I should like to enlist, please."
"You? Oh, pshaw! I"m thick-headed to-night. I didn"t see the joke of it at first."
"There isn"t any joke. I want you to know that I admire you for the fight you"re making. Law or no law, to let that dear little girl go away with that dreadful father of hers is a sin and a crime. I came here to tell you so. I did want to hear your story, and you made me ask that question; but I was certain of your answer before you made it. I don"t suppose I can do anything to help, but I"m going to try. So, you see, your army is bigger than you thought it was--though the new soldier isn"t good for much, I"m afraid," she added, with a little smile.
Captain Cy was greatly disturbed.
"Miss Phoebe," he said, "I--I won"t say that it don"t please me to have you talk so, for it does, more"n you can imagine. Sympathy means somethin" to the under dog, and it gives him s.p.u.n.k to keep on kickin".
But you mustn"t take any part in the row; you simply mustn"t. It won"t do."
"Why not? Won"t I be ANY help?"
"Help? You"d be more help than all the rest of us put together. You and me haven"t seen a great deal of each other, and my part in the few talks we have had has been a mean one, but I knew the first time I met you that you had more brains and common sense than any woman in this county--though I was too pig-headed to own it. But that ain"t it. I got you the job of teacher. It"s no credit to me; "twas just bull luck and for the fun of jarrin" Heman. But I did it. And, because I did it, the Atkins crowd--and that means most everybody now--haven"t any love for you. My tryin" for school committee was really just to give you a fair chance in your position. I was licked, so the committee"s two to one against you. Don"t you see that you mustn"t have anything to do with me?
Don"t you SEE it?"
She shook her head.
"I see that common grat.i.tude alone should be reason enough for my trying to help you," she said. "But, beside that, I know you are right, and I SHALL help, no matter what you say. As for the teacher"s position, let them discharge me. I--"
"Don"t talk that way. The youngsters need you, and know it, no matter what their fool fathers and mothers say. And you mustn"t wreck your chances. You"re young--"
She laughed.
"Oh, no! I"m not," she said. "Young! Cap"n Whittaker, you shouldn"t joke about a woman"s age."
"I ain"t jokin". You ARE young." As she stood there before him he was realizing, with a curiously uncomfortable feeling, how much younger she was than he. He glanced up at the mirror, where his own gray hairs were reflected, and repeated his a.s.sertion. "You"re young yet," he said, "and bein" discharged from a place might mean a whole lot to you. I"m glad you take such an interest in Bos"n, and your comin" here on her account--"
He paused. Miss Dawes colored slightly and said:
"Yes."
"Your comin" here on her account was mighty good of you. But you"ve got to keep out of this trouble. And you mustn"t come here again. That"s owner"s orders. Why, I"m expectin" a boardin" party any minute," he added. "I thought when you knocked it was "papa" comin" for his child.
You"d better go."
But she stood still.
"I shan"t go," she declared. "Or, at least, not until you promise to let me try to help you. If they come, so much the better. They"ll learn where my sympathies are."
Captain Cy scratched his head.
"See here, Miss Phoebe," he said. "I ain"t sure that you fully understand that Scripture and everything else is against us. Did Angie turn loose on you the "Whom the Lord has joined" avalanche?"
The schoolmistress burst into a laugh. The captain laughed, too, but his gravity quickly returned. For steps sounded on the walk, there was a whispering outside, and some one knocked on the dining-room door.
The situation was similar to that of the evening when the Board of Strategy called and "John Smith" made his first appearance. But now, oddly enough, Captain Cy seemed much less troubled. He looked at Miss Dawes and there was a dancing twinkle in his eye.