"Why?" he repeated. "Why, to down me, of course. I was gettin" too everlastin" prominent in politics to suit him. I"d got you in as teacher, and I had "Lonzo Snow as good as licked for school committee.
Goodness knows what I might have run for next, "cordin" to Heman"s reasonin", and I simply had to be smashed. It worked all right. I"m so unhealthy now in the sight of most folks in this town, that I cal"late they go home and sulphur-smoke their clothes after they meet me, so"s not to catch my wickedness."
But the teacher shook her head.
"That doesn"t seem reason enough to me," she declared. "Just see what Mr. Atkins has done. He never openly advocated anything in town meeting before; you said so yourself. Even when he must have realized that you had the votes for committeeman he kept still. He might have taken many of them from you by simply coming out and declaring for Mr. Snow; but he didn"t. And then, all at once, he takes this astonishing stand. Captain Whittaker, Mr. Tidditt says that, the night of Emily"s birthday party, you and he told who she was, by accident, and that Mr. Atkins seemed very much surprised and upset. Is that so?"
Captain Cy laughed.
"His lemonade was upset; that"s all I noticed special. Oh! yes, and he lost his hat off, goin" home. But what of it? What are you drivin" at?"
"I was wondering if--if it could be that, for some reason, Mr. Atkins had a spite against Emily or her people. Or if he had any reason to fear her."
"Fear? Fear Bos"n? Oh, my, that"s funny! You"ve been readin" novels, I"m "fraid, teacher, "though I didn"t suspect it of you."
He laughed heartily. Miss Dawes smiled, too, but she still persisted.
"Well," she said, "I don"t know. Perhaps it is because I"m a woman, and politics don"t mean as much to me as to you men, but to me political reasons don"t seem strong enough to account for such actions as those of Mr. Atkins. Emily"s mother was a Thayer, wasn"t she? and the Thayers once lived in Orham. I wish we could find out more about them while they lived there."
Asaph Tidditt pulled his beard thoughtfully.
"Well," he observed, "maybe we can, if we want to, though I don"t think what we find out "ll amount to nothin". I was kind of cal"latin" to go to Orham next week on a little visit. Seth Wingate over there--Barzilla Wingate"s cousin, Whit--is a sort of relation of mine, and we visit back and forth every nine or ten year or so. The ten year"s most up, and he"s been pesterin" me to come over. Seth"s been Orham town clerk about as long as I"ve been the Bayport one, and he"s lived there all his life.
What he don"t know about Orham folks ain"t wuth knowin". If you say so, I"ll pump him about the Thayers and the Richards. "Twon"t do no harm, and the old fool likes to talk, anyhow. I don"t know"s I ought to speak that way about my relations," he added doubtfully, "but Seth IS sort of stubborn and unlikely at odd times. We don"t always agree as to which is the best town to live in, you understand."
So it was settled that Mr. Wingate should be subjected to the "pumping"
process when Asaph visited him. He departed for this visit the following week, and remained away for ten days. Meanwhile several things happened in Bayport.
One of these things was the farewell of the Honorable Heman Atkins.
Congress was to open at Washington, and the Honorable heeded the call of duty. Alicia and the housekeeper went with him, and the big house was closed for the winter. At the gate between the stone urns, and backed by the iron dogs, the great man bade a group of admiring const.i.tuents good-by. He thanked them for their trust in him, and promised that it should not be betrayed.
"I leave you, my fellow townsmen, er--ladies and friends," he said, "with regret, tempered by pride--a not inexcusable pride, I believe. In the trying experience which my self-respect and sympathy has so recently forced upon me, you have stood firm and cheered me on. The task I have undertaken, the task of restoring to a worthy man his own, shall be carried on to the bitterest extremity. I have put my hand to the plow, and it shall not be withdrawn. And, furthermore, I go to my work at Washington determined to secure for my native town the appropriation which it so sorely needs. I shall secure it if I can, even though--" and the sarcasm was hugely enjoyed by his listeners--"I am, as I seem likely to be, deprived of the help of the "committee," self-appointed at our recent town meeting. If I fail--and I do not conceal the fact that I may fail--I am certain you will not blame me. Now I should like to shake each one of you by the hand."
The hands were shaken, and the train bore the Atkins delegation away.
And, on the day following, Mr. Thomas, the prodigal father, also left town. A position in Boston had been offered him, he said, and he felt that he must accept it. He would come back some of these days, with the warrant from the court, and get his little girl.
"Position offered him! Um--ya-as!" quoth Dimick the cynical, in conversation with Captain Cy. "Inspector of sidewalks, I shouldn"t wonder. Well, please don"t ask me if I think Heman sent him to Boston so"s to have him out of the way, and "cause he"d feel consider"ble safer than if he was loose down here. Don"t ask me that, for, with my strict scruples against the truth I might say, No. As it is, I say nothin"--and wink my port eye."
The ten-day visit ended, Mr. Tidditt returned to Bayport. On the afternoon of his return he and Bailey called at the Whittaker place, and there they were joined by Miss Dawes, who had been summoned to the conclave by a note intrusted to Bos"n.
"Now, Ase," ordered Captain Cy, as the quartet gathered in the sitting room, "here we are, hangin" on your words, as the feller said. Don"t keep us strung up too long. What did you find out?"
The town clerk cleared his throat. When he spoke, there was a trace of disappointment in his tone. To have been able to electrify his audience with the news of some startling discovery would have been pure joy for Asaph.
"Well," he began, "I don"t know"s I found out anything much. Yet I did find out somethin", too; but it don"t really amount to nothin". I hoped "twould be somethin" more"n "twas, but when nothin" come of it except the little somethin" it begun with, I--"
"For the land sakes!" snapped Bailey Bangs, who was a trifle envious of his friend"s position in the center of the stage, "stop them "nothin"s"
and "somethin"s," won"t you? You keep whirlin" "em round and over and over till my head"s FULL of "nothin"," and--"
"That"s what it"s full of most of the time," interrupted Asaph tartly.
Captain Cy hastened to act as peacemaker.
"Never mind, Bailey," he said; "you let Ase alone. Tell us what you did find out, Ase, and cut out the trimmin"s."
"Well," continued Mr. Tidditt, with a glare at Bangs, "I asked Seth about the Thayers and the Richards folks the very fust night I struck Orham. He remembered "em, of course; he can remember Adam, if you let him tell it. He told me a whole mess about old man Thayer and old man Richards and their granddads and grandmarms, and what houses they lived in, and how many hens they kept, and what their dog"s name was, and how they come to name him that, and enough more to fill a hogshead. "Twas ten o"clock afore he got out of Genesis, and down so fur as John and Emily. He remembered their bein" married, and their baby--Mary Thayer, Bos"n"s ma--bein" born.
"Folks used to call John Thayer a smart young feller, so Seth said. They used to cal"late that he"d rise high in the seafarin" and ship-ownin"
line. Maybe he would, only he died somewheres in Californy "long in "54 or thereabouts. "Twas the time of the gold craziness out there, and he left his ship and went gold huntin". And the next thing they knew he was dead and buried."
"When was that?" inquired the schoolmistress.
"In "54, I tell you. So Seth says."
"What ship was he on?" asked Bailey.
"Wan"t on any ship. Why don"t you listen, instead of settin" there moonin"? He was gold diggin", I tell you."
"He"d BEEN on a ship, hadn"t he? What was the name of her?"
"I didn"t ask. What diff"rence does that make?"
"Wasn"t Mr. Atkins at sea in those days?" put in the teacher. The captain answered her.
"Yes, he was," he said. "That is, I think he was. He was away from here when I skipped out, and he didn"t get back till "61 or thereabouts."
"Well, anyhow," went on Asaph, "that"s all I could find out. Seth and me went rummagin" through town records from way back to glory, him ga.s.sin"
away and stringin" along about this old settler and that, till I "most wished he"d choke himself with the dust he was raisin". We found John"s grandad"s will, and Emily"s dad"s will, and John"s own will, and that"s all. John left everything he had and all he might become possessed of to his wife and baby and their heirs forever. He died poorer"n poverty.
What"s the use of a will when you ain"t got nothin" to leave?"
"Why!" exclaimed Captain Cy. "The answer to that"s easy. John was goin"
to sea, and, more"n likely, intended to have a shy at the diggin"s afore he got back. So, if he did make any money, he wanted his wife and baby to have it."
"Well, what they got wan"t wuth havin". Emily had to scrimp along and do dressmakin" till she died. She done fairly well at that, though, and saved somethin" and pa.s.sed it over to Mary. And Mary married Henry Thomas, after she went with the Howes tribe to Concord, and he got rid of it for her in double quick time--all but the Orham land."
"So that was all you could find out, hey, Ase?" asked the captain.
"Well, it"s at least as much as I expected. You see, teacher, these story-book notions don"t work out when it comes to real life."
Miss Dawes was plainly disappointed.
"I wish we knew more," she said. "Who was on this ship with Mr. Thayer?
And who sent the news of his death home?"
"Oh, I can tell you that," said Asaph. ""Twas some one-hoss doctor out there, gold minin" himself, he was. John died of a quick fever. Got cold and went off in no time. Seth remembered that much, though he couldn"t remember the doctor"s name. He said, if I wanted to learn more about the Thayers, I might go see--Humph, well, never mind that. "Twas just foolishness, anyhow."
But Phoebe persisted.
"To see whom?" she asked. "Some one you knew? A friend of yours?"
Asaph turned red.
"Friend of mine!" he snarled. "No, SIR! she ain"t no friend of mine, I"m thankful to say. More a friend of Bailey"s, here, if she"s anybody"s.