Mr. Prince strutted into the store.
"Who was that chap you were talking with?" asked a fellow-clerk.
"Oh, a hayseed who wanted to see the old man. Poor relation, I guess.
I headed him off. Stone is always telling us that time is money, so I saved both of "em for him. He ought to thank me. Wouldn"t be surprised if I got the raise I"ve been asking for."
Mr. Prince did not get the raise, nor the thanks. But he was surprised.
In the workshop of Hallett & Co., Keziah sat sewing busily. The window near her was closed, stuck fast, and through the dingy panes she could see only roofs and chimneys. The other women and girls near her chatted and laughed, but she was silent. She did not feel like talking, certainly not like laughing. The garment she was at work on was a coat, a wedding coat, so the foreman had told her, with a smile; therefore she must be very particular.
She wondered idly whose coat it might be and who its future wearer was to marry. This reminded her of the minister and Grace. They would be happy now, her talk with Nat had a.s.sured her of that, and they, too, would be married one of these days. But she would not attend the wedding. She wondered what John had said when he read her note. He and Grace would be sorry for her, of course; but there was nothing they could do to help. No one could help her, no one. Perhaps by this time the man she had run away from had reached Trumet and her secret was known. How Didama and the rest would spread the tale! How Captain Elkanah and Annabel would sneer and exult! They hated her because she was the minister"s friend. And Nat, poor fellow, what would he do? Well, at least he would understand now.
The narrow stairway leading up to the workshop ended in a little boxed-in room where the finished garments were hung to await the final pressing. From behind the closed door of this room came the sound of voices, apparently in heated argument. One of these voices was that of Larry, the errand boy. Larry was speaking shrilly and with emphasis. The other voice was lower in key and the words were inaudible.
"No, sir, you can"t," declared Larry. "You can"t, I tell you. The boss don"t let n.o.body in there and--Hold on! Hold on!"
The other voice made a short but evidently earnest answer. Larry again expostulated. The workers looked up from their sewing. The door opened and Larry appeared, flushed and excited.
"Where"s Mr. Upham?" he demanded. "Mr. Upham!"
Upham was the foreman of the workroom. At the moment he was downstairs in conversation with the head of the house. A half dozen gave this information.
"What"s the matter? Who is it?" asked several.
"I don"t know who "tis. It"s a man and he"s crazy, I think. I told him he couldn"t come in here, but he just keeps comin". He wants to see somebody named Coffin and there ain"t no Coffins here."
Keziah bent lower over the wedding coat. Her hand shook and she dropped the needle.
"I told him we didn"t keep coffins," declared Larry. "This ain"t no undertaker"s. Where"s Mr. Upham?"
Keziah"s nearest neighbor leaned toward her.
"I guess it"s somebody to see you," she said. "Your name is Coffin, ain"t it?"
"No, no. That is, it can"t be anybody to see me. I don"t want to see anybody. Tell him so, whoever it is. I can"t see anybody. I--NAT!"
He stood in the doorway, beckoning to her.
"Keziah," he said, "come here. I want you. I"ll tell you why in a minute. Come!"
She hesitated. In a measure she was relieved, for she had feared the man at the door might be her husband. But she was greatly agitated and troubled. Everyone in the place was looking at her.
"Nat," she said, trying to speak firmly, "I can"t see you now. I"m very busy. Please go away."
"Come!"
"I can"t come. Go away. Please!"
"Keziah, I"m waitin". And I"m goin" to wait if I stay here all night.
Come!"
She obeyed then. She could not have a scene there, before all those strangers. She stepped past him into the little room. He followed and closed the door.
"Nat," she said, turning to him, "why did you come? How could you be so cruel? I--"
He interrupted her, but not with words. The next moment his arms were about her and she was pressed tight against the breast of his blue jacket.
"Keziah," he whispered, "I"ve come to take you home. Home for good. No, stay where you are and I"ll tell you all about it. Praise be to G.o.d!
we"re off the rocks at last. All that"s left is to tow you into port, and, by the everlastin", that"s what I"m here for!"
When Upham came up the stairs after his long interview with "the boss,"
he found the door at the top closed. When he rattled the latch that door was opened by a stranger.
"Are you Mr. Hallett?" asked Captain Nat briskly.
"No, I"m not. Mr. Hallett is in his office on the first floor. But what--"
"On the main deck, hey? Well, all right; we won"t trouble him. You"ll do just as well; I judge you"re one of the mates of this craft. You tell Mr. Hallett that this lady here has decided not to cruise with him any longer. No fault to find, you understand, but she"s got a better berth.
She"s goin" to ship along with me. Ain"t that so, Keziah?"
Keziah, pale, trembling, scarcely realizing the situation even yet, did not speak. But Captain Nat Hammond seemed to find his answer in her silence. A few minutes later, her arm in his, they descended the gloomy, dusty stairs, and emerged into the sunshine together.
That afternoon Mr. Abner Stone again "washed his hands" of his poor relation--this time, as he indignantly declared, "for good and all."
CHAPTER XXII
IN WHICH KEZIAH"S PARSON PREACHES ONCE MORE
Time has wrought many changes in Trumet. The packet long since ceased to ply between the village and Boston, the stage has been superseded by the locomotive, the old "square-riggers," commanded by Cape Cod men, no longer sail the seas. Along the main road the houses have changed hands.
Didama Rogers peers no more from her parlor window; that parlor is now profaned by the frivolous and irreverent summer boarder. But the old residents love to talk of the days that are gone and if you happen to catch Mr. Isaac Higgins, now postmaster and a dignified member of the board of selectmen, in a reminiscent mood he will very likely tell you of the meeting of the parish committee called by its chairman, Elkanah Daniels, to oust the Rev. John Ellery from the pulpit of the Regular church.
"I"ll never forget," says Mr. Higgins, "that parish committee meetin" if I live a thousand year. I, and two or three other young shavers, was hid in the little room off the vestry--the room where they kept the dishes they used for church suppers--and we heard the whole business. Of course n.o.body knew that Nat was goin" to marry Keziah then, but they did know that he wa"n"t goin" to marry Grace Van Horne, and had given her up to the minister of his own accord. So Daniels"s guns was spiked and he didn"t stand no chance at all. However, you"d never have guessed it to look at him. He marched into that meetin" and up to the platform as stiff and dignified as if he"d swallered a peck of starch. He called the meetin" to order--"twas a full one, for all hands and the cook was there--and then got up to speak.
"He opened fire right off. He raked John Ellery fore and aft. The parson, he said, had disgraced the society and his sacred profession and should be hove overboard immediate. "Twas an open secret, he said.
Everybody knew how he, minister of a Reg"lar church, had been carryin"
on with a Come-Outer girl, meetin" her unbeknownst to anyone, and so on.
As he got warmed up on this subject he got more bitter and, though he didn"t come out open and say slanderous things, his hints was as nigh that as a pig"s snout is to his squeal. Even through the crack of the dish-closet door I could see the bristles risin" on the back of Cap"n Zeb Mayo"s neck.
"At last Cap"n Zeb couldn"t stand it no longer.
""Belay there!" he sings out, jumpin" to his feet. "I want to ask you one question, Elkanah Daniels: Are you tryin" to say somethin" against Grace Van Horne"s character?"
"Well, that was a sort of sticker, in a way, and I cal"late Daniels realized it. He "hum-ha"d" and barked a little and then give in that he couldn"t swear the Van Horne person"s character wa"n"t all right, but--"