"She said--she said--Oh, well, she said she had sold something she owned and had got the five thousand for it."
"Humph! I want to know! Sold somethin", eh? What was it she sold?"
"She didn"t say, Cap"n. All she said was that she had sold it and got the five thousand. Oh, yes, she did say that it was a bigger price than she ever expected to get and that there was a time when she never expected to get a cent."
"Humph! I want to know! Funny she should sell anything without comin"
to me first. She generally comes to ask my advice about such things....
Humph!... She didn"t sell the house? No, I"d a-known if she had done that. And what else.... Humph!..."
He pulled at his beard in silence for a moment. The teller, a brisk young man, possessed of a profound love of mischief and a corresponding lack of reverence, entered the office.
"Oh, excuse me," he said. "I thought you was alone, Mr. Thacher." Then, with a wink at his superior over the light keeper"s tousled gray head, he observed, "Well, Cap"n Jeth, what"s this I hear about Marietta Hoag?
They tell me she"s left the Spiritualists and gone over to Holiness chapel. Is it so?"
Jethro came out of his reverie. His deep-set eyes flashed and his big fist pounded the office table. No, it was not so. It was a lie. Who said it? Who was responsible for starting such sacrilegious, outrageous yarns? Marietta Hoag was a woman called and chosen to receive and give out revelations from on high. The Holiness crowd was a crew of good-for-nothin", hollerin" hard-sh.e.l.ls. By the everlastin"--
He blew out of the office and out of the bank, rumbling and spitting fire like a volcano. The teller and the cashier watched him go. Then the former said:
"That"s the way to get rid of him, Mr. Thacher. He"ll set "round and talk you to death if you give him half a chance. When you want him to go, tell him somebody at the other end of the town has been running down the Spiritualists. He"ll be so anxious to get there and heave "em overboard that he"ll forget to stop and finish what he was saying here."
Which may or may not have been true, but the fact remains that the light keeper did not entirely forget what he and the cashier said concerning Martha Phipps" surprising bank deposit. And the next morning, as Martha was walking up the lane from the village, where she had been on a supply-purchasing excursion, she heard heavy footsteps and, turning, saw her neighbor tramping toward her, his ma.s.sive figure rolling, as it always did when in motion, from side to side like a ship in a seaway.
"Why, h.e.l.lo, Jethro!" she exclaimed. Captain Jethro merely nodded. His first remark was a question, and very much to the point.
"Look here, Martha," he demanded. "Have you sold that Development stock of yours?"
Martha stared at him. For a moment she was inclined to believe in the truth of the light keeper"s "spirit revelations."
"Why--why, Jethro!" she gasped. The captain, gazing at her keenly beneath his s.h.a.ggy brows, seemed to find his answer in her face.
"Humph!" he observed. "You have sold it, ain"t you? Well, by the everlastin"!"
"Why--why, Jethro! What are you talkin" about?"
"About that two hundred and fifty shares of Wellmouth Development of yours. You"ve sold it, ain"t you, Martha? And you must have got par for it, too. Did the Trumet Trust Company folks buy it?"
But Miss Phipps was recovering from her surprise. She waited a moment before replying and, when she did reply, her tone was as crisp, if not as domineering, as her interrogator"s.
"See here, Jethro," she said; "you"re takin" a good many things for granted, aren"t you?"
"No, I don"t cal"late I am. I know you"ve sold somethin" and got five thousand dollars for it. I see you deposit the five thousand, myself, and Ed Thacher told me, after I pumped it out of him, that you said you"d sold somethin" you owned and got a good price when you didn"t know as you"d ever get a cent. Now, you ain"t sold your place because I"d know if you had, and it ain"t worth five thousand, anyway. The other stocks and bonds you"ve got ain"t--"
But Martha interrupted.
"Jethro," she said, sharply, "I just said that you were takin" a good many things for granted. You are. One of "em is that you can talk to me as if I was Zach Bloomer or a fo"masthand on your old schooner. I"m neither of those and I don"t care to be talked to in that way. Another is that what I chose to do with my property is your business. It isn"t, it"s mine. I may have sold that stock or any other, or the house or the barn or the cat, as far as that goes, but if I have or haven"t it is my affair. And I think you"d better understand that before we talk any more."
She turned and walked on again. Captain Jethro"s eyes flashed. It had been some time since any one had addressed him in that manner. However, women were women and business was business, and the captain was just then too intent upon the latter to permit the whims of the former to interfere. He swallowed his temper and strode after his neighbor.
"Martha," he said, complainingly, "I don"t see as you"ve got any call to talk to me that way. I"ve been a pretty good friend to you, seems to me, and I was your father"s friend, his chum, as you might say. Seems as if I had--well, a right to be interested in--in what you do."
Martha paused. After all, there was truth in what he said. He had been her father"s close friend, and, no doubt, he meant to be hers. And he was Lulie"s father, and not well, not quite his old self mentally or physically. Perhaps she should make allowances.
"Well, all right, Cap"n Jeth," she said. "It wasn"t what you said so much as it was how you said it. Now will you tell me why you"re so dreadfully anxious to know how I got that five thousand dollars I deposited over to the bank yesterday?"
The light keeper pulled at his beard; the latter was so thick as to make a handful, even for one of his hands. "Well," he said, somewhat apologetically, "you see, Martha, it"s like this: IF you sold them Development shares of yours--and I swan I can"t think of anything else you own that would sell for just that money--IF you sold "em, I say, I"d like to know how you done it. I"ve got four hundred shares of that stock I"d like to sell fust-rate--fust-rate I would."
She had not entirely forgiven him for his intrusion in her affairs and his manner of the moment before. She could not resist giving him a dig.
"Cap"n Jeth," she said, "I don"t see why you need to worry. I"ve heard you say a good many times that you had promises from--well, from the spirits that you were goin" to sell your Development stock and at a profit. All you had to do, you said, was wait. Now, you see, _I_ couldn"t wait."
The captain nodded in satisfaction. "So "TWAS the Development you sold,"
he growled. "I figgered out it couldn"t be nothin" else."
Martha scarcely knew whether to frown or laugh. Some of her pity concerning the old man"s mental state had been, obviously, unnecessary.
He was still sharp enough in business matters.
"Well," she said, with both laugh and frown, "suppose it was, what of it?"
"Why, just this, Martha: If there"s anything goin" on on the inside of the Development Company I want to know it."
"There isn"t anything goin" on so far as I know."
"Then who bought your stock? The Denboro Trust Company folks?"
"No. They don"t know a thing about it."
""Twan"t that blasted Pulcifer?"
"No. I should hope not. Now don"t ask any more, because I sha"n"t tell you. It"s a secret, that"s all, and it"s got to stay that way."
He looked at her. She returned his look and nodded. She meant what she said and he reluctantly recognized the fact.
"Humph! Well, all right, Martha," he growled. "But--but will you do this much for me? Will you ask these folks--whoever "twas bought your two hundred and fifty--if they don"t want my four hundred? If they"re really buyin", I shouldn"t be surprised if they would want it. If they bought it just as a favor to you, and are goin" to hang on and wait--why--why then, maybe they"d do a favor to a friend of yours and your father"s afore you. Maybe they will, you can"t tell. And you can tell "em I"ve had word from--from over yonder that it"s all goin" to turn out right.
You ask "em if they don"t want to buy my stock, will you, Martha?"
Martha took time for reflection. Then she said: "Cap"n Jeth, if I do ask "em that, will you promise not to tell a soul a word about my sellin"
my stock, or about the money, or anything of the kind? Will you promise that?"
The light keeper nodded. "Sartin sure," he said. "I"ll promise you, Martha."
"All right, I"ll ask, but you mustn"t count on anything comin" from it."
The captain"s brows drew together. "What I count on," he said, solemnly, "is a higher promise than yours or mine, Martha Phipps. What we do down here will only be what them up aloft want us to do. Don"t you forget that."
They parted at the Phipps" gate. Captain Jethro walked moodily home.
Lulie met him at the door. She was wearing her hat and coat.
"I"m going up to the village, father," she said. "I have some errands to do. I"ll be back pretty soon."