"Gone! Elvira? Dead, you mean?"
"Hey? No, no! The aunt"s dead, but Elviry ain"t. She"s gone over to Ostable to stay till after the funeral. She"s about the only relation to the remains there is left, so Esther tells me. There was a reg"lar young typhoon over to the Harbor when the news struck. "Twas too late for the up train so they had to hire a horse and team and then somebody had to be got to pilot it, "cause Elviry wouldn"t no more undertake to drive a horse than I would to eat one. And the trouble was that the livery stable boy--that Josiah Ellis--was off drivin" somebody else somewheres."
"Yes, I saw him."
"Hey? You did? Where? Who was he drivin"?"
"Never mind that. Heave ahead with your yarn."
"Well, the next thing they done was to come cruisin" over here to see if _I_ wouldn"t take the job. Hoppin", creepin", jumpin" Henry! I shut down on _that_ notion almost afore they got their hatches open to tell me about it. Suppose likely I"d set in a buggy alongside of Elviry Snowden and listen to her clack from here to Ostable? Not by a two-gallon jugful! Creepin"! She"d have another corpse on her hands time we got there. So I said I was sick."
"Sick! Ha, ha! You"re a healthy lookin" sick man, Judah."
"Um-hm. Mine must be one of them kind of diseases that don"t show on the outside. But I was sick then, all right--at the very notion. And, Cap"n Sears, who do you cal"late finally did invite himself to drive that Snowden woman to Ostable? You"ll never guess in _this_ world."
"Well, I don"t intend to wait until the next world to find out; so you"ll have to tell me, Judah. Who was it?"
"Old Henfruit."
"_Who?_"
"Old Henfruit, that"s what I call him. That Eg thing"
"What? Phillips?"
"Yus. That"s the feller."
"But why should he do it?"
"Oh, just to show off how polite and obligin" he is, I presume likely.
Elviry she was snifflin" around and swabbin" her deadlights with her handkercher and heavin" overboard lamentations about her poor dear Aunt So-and-so layin" all alone over there and she couldn"t get to her--as if "twould make any difference to a dead person whether she got to "em or not, and anyhow I"d _want_ to be dead afore Elviry Snowden got to me--and---- Oh, yes, well, pretty soon here comes Eg, beaver hat and mustache and all, purrin" and wantin" to know what was the matter. And, of course all hands of "em started to tell him, "specially that Aurora Chase, who is so everlastin" deaf she hadn"t heard the yarn more"n half straight and wan"t sure yet whether "twas a funeral or a fire. And so----"
"There, there, Judah! Get back on the course. So Egbert drove Elvira over to Ostable, did he?"
"Sartin sure. When Elviry saw him she kind of flew at him same as a chicken flies to the old hen. And he kind of spread out his wings, as you might say, and comforted her and, next thing you know, he"d offered to be pilot and she and him had started on the trip. So that"s the news.... Esther said "twas good as a town hall to see Cordelia Berry when them two went away together. You see, Cordelia is so dreadful gone on that Eg man that she can"t bear to see another female within hailin"
distance of him. Been just the same if "twas old Northern Lights Chase he"d gone with. Haw, haw!"
The Fair Harbor was still buzzing with the news of Miss Snowden"s bereavement when Kendrick visited there next day. The funeral was to take place the day after that and Mrs. Brackett was going and so was Aurora. As Miss Peasley and some of the others would have liked to go, but could not afford the railway fare, there was some jealousy manifest and a few ill-natured remarks made in the captain"s hearing. Elvira, it seemed, had sent for her trunk, as she was to remain in Ostable for a week or two at least.
The captain and Elizabeth had their customary conference in the office concerning the Harbor"s bills and finances. Kendrick"s greeting was a trifle embarra.s.sed--recollection of the interview at Orham was fresh in his mind. Elizabeth colored slightly when they met, but she did not mention that interview and, although pleasant and kind, kept the conversation strictly confined to business matters.
That afternoon Sears encountered Egbert for the first time in a week or so. The captain was on his way to the barn at the rear of the Harbor grounds. He was about to turn the bend in the path, the bend which he had rounded on the day of his first excursion in those grounds, and which had afforded him the vision of Miss Snowden and Mrs. Chase framed in the ivy-draped window of The Eyrie. As he pa.s.sed the clump of lilacs, now bare and scrawny, he came suddenly upon Phillips. The latter was standing there, deep in conversation with Mrs. Berry. Theirs should, it would seem, have been a pleasant conversation, but neither looked happy; in fact, Cordelia looked as if she had been crying.
Sears raised his cap and Egbert lifted the tall hat with the flourish all his own. Cordelia did not bow nor even nod. Kendrick, as he walked on toward the barn, was inclined to believe he could guess the cause of Mrs. Berry"s distress and her companion"s annoyance; he believed that City of Boston 4-1/2s might be the subject of their talk. If so, then perhaps those bonds had come into the gentleman"s possession in a manner not strictly within the law. Or, at all events, the lady might not know what had become of them and be requesting their return. He certainly hoped that such was the case. It was the one thing he yearned to find out before making the next strategic advance in his and Egbert"s private war.
But a note from Bradley which he received next day helped him not at all. It was a distinct disappointment. Bradley had, at his request, made some inquiries at the Bayport bank. The lawyer was a director in that inst.i.tution and he could obtain information without arousing undue curiosity or answering troublesome questions. The two one thousand dollar bonds had been removed from the vaults by Cordelia Berry herself.
She had come alone, and on two occasions, taking one bond at each visit.
She did not state why she wanted them and the bank authorities had not considered it their business to ask.
So that avenue of hope was closed. Egbert had not taken the bonds, and how they came into his possession was still as great a puzzle as ever.
And the time--the time was growing so short. On Wednesday Kent had promised to send his brother-in-law eight hundred dollars. It was Sat.u.r.day when Bradley"s letter came. Each evening George stopped at the Minot place to ask what progress had been made. The young man"s nervousness was contagious; the captain"s own nerves became affected.
"George," he ordered, at last, "don"t ask me another question. I promised you once, and now I promise you again, that by Wednesday night you shall have enough cash in hand to satisfy your sister and her husband. Don"t you come nigh me until then."
On Monday, the situation remaining unchanged, Sears determined upon a desperate move. He would see Egbert alone and have a talk with him. He had, after careful consideration, decided what his share in that talk was to be. It must be two-thirds "bluff." He knew very little, but he intended to pretend to much greater knowledge. He might trap his adversary into a damaging admission. He might gain something and he could lose almost nothing. The attack was risky, a sort of forlorn hope--but he would take the risk.
That afternoon he drove down to the Macomber house. There he was confronted with another disappointment. Egbert was not there. Sarah said he had been away almost all day and would not be back until late in the evening.
"He"s been away consider"ble the last two or three days," she said. "No, I"m sure I don"t know where he"s gone. He told Joel somethin" about bein" out of town on business. Joel sort of gathered "twas in Trumet where the business was, but he never told either of us really. He wasn"t here for dinner yesterday or supper either, and not for supper the day before that."
"Humph! Will he be here to-morrow, think?"
"I don"t know, but I should think likely he would, in the forenoon, anyhow. He"s almost always here in the forenoon; he doesn"t get up very early, hardly ever."
"Oh, he doesn"t. How about his breakfast?"
Mrs. Macomber looked a bit guilty.
"Well," she admitted, "I usually keep his breakfast hot for him, and--and he has it in his room."
"You take it in to him, I suppose?"
"We-ll, he"s always been used to breakfastin" that way, he says. It"s the way they do over abroad, accordin" to his tell."
"Oh, Sarah, Sarah!" mused her brother. "To think _you_ could slip so easy on that sort of soft-soap. Tut, tut! I"m surprised.... Well, good-by. Oh, by the way, how about his majesty"s board bill? Paid up to date, is it?"
His sister looked even more embarra.s.sed, and, for her, a trifle irritated.
"He owes me for three weeks, if you must know," she said, "but he"ll pay it, same as he always does."
"Look out, look out! Can"t be too sure.... There, there, Sarah, don"t be cross. I won"t torment you."
He laughed and Mrs. Macomber, after a moment, laughed too.
"You are a tease, Sears," she declared, "and always was. Shall I tell Mr. Phillips you came to see him?"
"Eh? No, indeed you shan"t. Don"t you mention my name to him. He loves me so much that he might cry all night at the thought of not bein" at home when I called. Don"t tell him a word. I"ll try again."
The next forenoon he did try again. Judah had some trucking to do in the western part of the village and the captain rode with him on the seat of the truck wagon as far as the store. From there he intended to walk to his sister"s, for walking, even as long a distance as a mile, was no longer an impossibility. As he alighted by the store platform Captain Elkanah Wingate came out of the Ba.s.sett emporium.
"Mornin", Kendrick," he hailed.
Sears did not share Bayport"s awe of the prosperous Elkanah. He returned the greeting as casually as if the latter had been an everyday citizen.
"Been spendin" your money on Eliphalet"s bargains?" he inquired.
The great man did not resent the flippancy. He seemed to be in a particularly pleasant humor.