She--"
"So she has been comin" here ever since. And the gossip has been goin"
on, I s"pose. Well, by the big dipper, it"ll stop now! I"ll see to that."
The Board of Strategy and the housekeeper were amazed.
"Gossip!" repeated Bailey. "Well, I guess there ain"t nothin" said against her now--not in THIS town, there ain"t! Why, all hands can"t praise her enough for her smartness in findin" out about that Thomas. If it wan"t for her, he"d be botherin" you yet, Cy. You know it. What are you talkin" about?"
Captain Cy pa.s.sed his hand over his forehead.
"Bos"n," he said slowly, "you run and help Georgianna in the kitchen a spell. She"s got her dinner to look out for, I guess likely.
Georgianna," to the housekeeper, who looked anything but eager, "you better see to your dinner right off, and take Emmie with you."
Miss Taylor reluctantly departed, leading Bos"n by the hand. The child was loath to leave her uncle, but he told her he wouldn"t give a cent for his first dinner at home if she didn"t help in preparing it. So she went out happy.
"Now, then," demanded the captain, "what"s this about Phoebe and Thomas?
I want to know. Stop! Don"t ask another question. Answer me first."
So the Board of Strategy, by turns and in concert, told of the drive to Trumet and the call on Debby Beasley. Asaph would have narrated the story of the upset sulky, but Bailey shut him up in short order.
"Never mind that foolishness," he snapped. "You see, Cy, Debby had just been out to Arizona visitin" old Beasley"s niece. And she"d fell in with a woman out there whose husband had run off and left her. And Debby, she read the advertis.e.m.e.nt about him in the Arizona paper, and it said he had the spring halt in his off hind leg, or somethin" similar. Now, Thomas, he had that, too, and there was other things that reminded Phoebe of him. So she don"t say nothin" to n.o.body, but she writes to this woman askin" for more partic"lars and a photograph of the missin"
one. The partic"lars come, but the photograph didn"t; the wife didn"t have none, I b"lieve. But there was enough to send Phoebe hotfoot to Mr.
Peabody. And Peabody he writes to his lawyer friend in b.u.t.te, Montana.
And the b.u.t.te man he--"
"Well, the long and short of it is," cut in Tidditt, "that it looked safe and sartin that Thomas HAD married the Arizona woman while his real wife, Bos"n"s ma, was livin", and had run off and left her same as he did Mary. And the funny part of it is--"
"The funny part of it is," declared Bangs, drowning his friend"s voice by raising his own, "that somebody out there, some scalawag friend of this Thomas, must have got wind of what was up, and sent word to him.
"Cause, when they went to hunt for him in Boston, he"d gone, skipped, cut stick. And they ain"t seen him since. He was afraid of bein" took up for bigamist, you see--for bein" a bigamy, I mean. Well, you know what I"m tryin" to say. Anyhow, if it hadn"t been for me and Phoebe--"
"YOU and Phoebe!" snorted Asaph. "You had a whole lot to do with it, didn"t you? You and Aunt Debby "ll do to go together. I understand she"s cruisin" round makin" proclamations that SHE was responsible for the whole thing. No, sir-ree! it"s Phoebe Dawes that the credit belongs to, and this town ain"t done nothin" but praise her since it come out. You never see such a quick come-about in your life--unless "twas Heman"s.
But you knew all this afore, Whit. Peabody must have told you."
Captain Cy had listened to his friends" story with a face expressive of the most blank astonishment. As he learned of the trip to Trumet and its results, his eyes and mouth opened, and he repeatedly rubbed his forehead and muttered exclamations. Now, at the mention of his lawyer"s name, he seemed to awaken.
"Hold on!" he interrupted, waving his hand. "Hold on! By the big dipper!
this is--is--Where IS Peabody? I want to see him."
"Here I am, captain," said the attorney. He had been out to the barn to superintend the stabling of the span, but for the past five minutes had been standing, unnoticed by his client, on the threshold of the dining room.
"See here," demanded Captain Cy, "see here, Peabody; is this yarn true?
IS it, now? this about--about Phoebe and all?"
"Certainly it"s true. I supposed you knew it. You didn"t seem surprised when I told you the case was settled."
"Surprised? Why, no! I thought Heman had--Never mind that. Land of love!
SHE did it. She!"
He sat weakly down. The lawyer looked anxious.
"Mr. Tidditt," he whispered, "I think perhaps he had better be left alone for the present. He"s just up from a sick bed, and this has been a trying forenoon. Come in again this afternoon. I shall try to persuade him to take a nap."
The Board of Strategy, its curiosity unsatisfied, departed reluctantly.
When Mr. Peabody returned to the sitting room he found that naps were far, indeed, from the captain"s thoughts. The latter was pacing the sitting-room floor.
"Where is she?" he demanded. "She was standin" on the steps with Heman.
Have you seen her since?"
His friend was troubled.
"Why, yes, I"ve seen her," he said. "I have been talking with her. She has gone away."
"Gone AWAY! Where? What do you mean? She ain"t--ain"t left Bayport?"
"No, no. What in the world should she leave Bayport for? She has gone to her boarding house, I guess; at all events, she was headed in that direction."
"Why didn"t she shake hands with me? What made her go off and not say a word? Oh, well, I guess likely I know the why!" He sighed despondently.
"I told her never to come here again."
"You did? What in the world--"
"Well, for what I thought was good reasons; all on her account they was.
And yet she did come back, and kept comin", even after Ase blabbed the whole thing. However, I s"pose that was just to help Georgianna. Oh, hum! I AM an old fool."
The lawyer inspected him seriously.
"Well, captain," he said slowly, "if it is any comfort for you to know that your reason isn"t the correct one for Miss Dawes"s going away, I can a.s.sure you on that point. I think she went because she was greatly disappointed, and didn"t wish to see you just now."
"Disappointed? What do you mean?"
"Humph! I didn"t mean to tell you yet, but I judge that I"d better. No one knows it here but Miss Dawes and I, and probably no one but us three need ever know it. You see, the fact is that the Arizona woman, Desire Higgins, isn"t Mrs. Thomas at all. He isn"t her missing husband."
"What?"
"Yes, it"s so. Really, it was too much of a coincidence to be possible, and yet it certainly did seem that it would prove true. This Higgins woman was, apparently, so anxious to find her missing man that she was ready to recognize almost any description; and the slight lameness and the fact of his having been in Montana helped along. If we could have gotten a photograph sooner, the question would have been settled. Only last week, while I was in Boston, I got word from the detective agency that a photo had been received. I went to see it immediately. There was some resemblance, but not enough. Henry Thomas was never Mr. Higgins."
"But--but--they say Thomas has skipped out."
"Yes, he has. That"s the queer part of it. At the place where he boarded we learned that he got a letter from Arizona--trust the average landlady to look at postmarks--that he seemed greatly agitated all that day, and left that night. No one has seen him since. Why he went is a puzzle.
Where, we don"t care. So long as he keeps out of our way, that"s enough."
Captain Cy did not care, either. He surmised that Mr. Atkins might probably explain the disappearance. And yet, oddly enough, this explanation was not the true one. The Honorable Heman solemnly a.s.sured the captain that he had not communicated with Emily"s father. He intended to do so, as a part of the compact agreed upon at the hotel, but the man had fled. And the mystery is still unsolved. The supposition is that there really was a wife somewhere in the West. Who or where she was no Bayporter knows. Henry Thomas has never come back to explain.
"I told Miss Dawes of the photograph and what it proved," went on Peabody. "She was dreadfully disappointed. She could hardly speak when she left me. I urged her to come in and see you, but she wouldn"t.
Evidently she had set her heart on helping you and the child. It is too bad, because, practically speaking, we owe everything to her. There is little doubt that the inquiry set on foot by her scared the Thomas fellow into flight. And she has worked night and day to aid us. She is a very clever woman, Captain Whittaker, and a good one. You can"t thank her enough. Here! what are you about?"
Captain Cy strode past him into the dining room. The hat rack hung on the wall by the side door. He s.n.a.t.c.hed his cap from the peg, and was struggling into his overcoat.
"Where are you going?" demanded the lawyer. "You mustn"t attempt to walk now. You need rest."