CHAPTER V
An hour or so later when Martha Phipps, looking out of her dining roomwindow, saw her boarder enter the front gate, his personal appearancecaused her to utter a startled exclamation. Primmie came running fromthe kitchen.
"What's the matter, Miss Martha?" she demanded. "Eh! My savin' soul!"
Mr. Bangs' head was enveloped in the scarf which his hostess had lenthim when he set forth upon his walk. It--the scarf--was tied underhis chin and the fringed ends flapped in the wind. His round face,surrounded by the yarn folds, looked like that of the small boy in thepictures advertising somebody-or-other's toothache cure.
"My savin' soul!" cried Primmie, again. She was rushing to the door, buther mistress intervened.
"Primmie," she ordered, briskly, "stay where you are!"
She opened the door herself.
"Come right in, Mr. Bangs," she said. "No, don't stop to tell me aboutit, but come right in and sit down."
Galusha looked up at her. His face was speckled with greenish brownspots, giving it the appearance of a mammoth bird's egg. Primmie saw thespots and squealed.
"Lord of Isrul!" she cried, "he's all broke out with it, whatever 'tis!Shall I--shall I 'phone for the doctor, Miss Martha?"
"Be still, Primmie. Come in, Mr. Bangs."
"Why, yes, thank you. I--ah--WAS coming in," began Galusha, mildly."I--"
"You mustn't talk. Sit right down here on the lounge. Primmie, get thatrum bottle. Don't talk, Mr. Bangs."
"But, really, Miss Phipps, I--"
"Don't TALK.... There, drink that."
Galusha obediently drank the rum. Martha tenderly untied the scarf.
"Tell me if it hurts," she said. Her patient looked at her in surprise.
"Why, no, it--ah--it is very nice," he said. "I--ah--quite like thetaste, really."
"Heavens and earth, I don't mean the rum. I hope that won't HURTanybody, to say the least. I mean--Why, there isn't anything the matterwith it!"
"Matter with it? I don't quite--"
"Matter with your head."
Galusha raised a hand in bewildered fashion and felt of his cranium.
"Why--ah--no, there is nothing the matter with my head, so far as Iam aware," he replied. "Does it look as if it were--ah--softening orsomething?"
Miss Martha ignored the pleasantry. "What have you got it tied up for?"she demanded.
"Tied up?" Galusha's smile broadened. "Oh, I see," he observed. "Well, Ilost my hat. It blew off into the--ah--sea. It was rather too cold to beabout bareheaded, so I used the scarf you so kindly lent me."
Martha gazed at him for an instant and then burst into a hearty laugh.
"Mercy on me!" she cried. "WHAT an idiot I am! When I saw you comeinto the yard with your head bandaged--at least I thought it wasbandaged--and your face--But what IS the matter with your face?"
"My face? Why, nothing."
"Nonsense! It's a sight to see. You look the way Erastus Beebe's boy didwhen the cannon-cracker went off too soon. Primmie, hand me that littlelookin'-glass."
Primmie snatched the small mirror from the wall.
"See, Mr. Bangs," she cried, holding the mirror an inch from his nose."Look at yourself. You're all broke out with a crash--rash, I mean.Ain't he, Miss Martha?"
Galusha regarded his reflection in the mirror with astonishment.
"Why, I--I seem to be--ah--polka-dotted," he said. "I never saw anythingso--Dear me, dear me!"
He drew his fingers down his cheek. The speckles promptly becamestreaks. He smiled in relief.
"I see, I see," he said. "It is the lichen."
This explanation was not as satisfying as he evidently meant it to be.Martha looked more puzzled than ever. Primmie looked frightened.
"WHAT did he say 'twas?" she whispered. "'Tain't catchin', is it, MissMartha?"
"It is the lichen from the tombstones," went on Galusha. "Most of themwere covered with it. In order to read the inscriptions I was obliged toscrape it off with my pocketknife, and the particles must have blown inmy face and--ah--adhered. Perhaps--ah--some soap and water might improvemy personal appearance, Miss Phipps. If you will excuse me I think Iwill try the experiment."
He rose briskly from the sofa. Primmie stared at him open-mouthed.
"Ain't there NOTHIN' the matter with you, Mr. Bangs?" she asked. "Is theway your face is tittered up just dirt?"
"Just dirt, that's all. It came from the old tombstones in thecemetery."
Primmie's mouth was open to ask another question, but Miss Phipps closedit.
"Stop, Primmie," she said. Then, turning to Galusha who was on his wayto the stairs, she asked:
"Excuse me, Mr. Bangs, but have you been spendin' this lovely forenoonin the graveyard?"
"Eh? Oh, yes, yes. In the old cemetery over--ah--yonder."
"Humph!... Well, I hope you had a nice time."
"Oh, I did, I did, thank you. I enjoyed myself very much indeed."
"Yes, I should think you must have.... Well, come down right awaybecause dinner's ready when you are."
Galusha hastened up the stairs. His hostess gazed after him and slowlyshook her head.
"Miss Martha, Miss Martha."
Martha turned, to find Primmie excitedly gesticulating. "Didn't I tellyou? Didn't I tell you?" whispered Primmie.
"Didn't you tell me what? Stop wigglin'."
"Yes'm. Didn't I tell you 'undertaker'?"
"WHAT?"
"Undertaker. Him, the Bangs one. Yesterday 'twas remains, to-day it'sgraveyards. My savin' soul, I--"
"Hush, hush! Have you thought to get that dictionary from Lulie yet?"
"Oh, now, ma'am, I snum if I didn't forget it. I'll go right over thisminute."
"No, you won't. I'll go myself after dinner."
That Sunday dinner was a bountiful repast and Galusha ate more than hehad eaten in three meals at his mountain hotel. He was a trifle tiredfrom his morning's stroll and so decided to remain indoors until thefollowing day. After the table was cleared Miss Phipps, leaving Primmieto wash the dishes, went over to the light keeper's house.
"I'll be back soon, Mr. Bangs," she said. "If you get lonesome go outinto the kitchen and Primmie'll talk to you. Goodness gracious!" sheadded, laughing, "that's a dreadful choice I'm leavin' you--lonesomenessor Primmie. Well, I won't leave you to either long."
During the meal he had told them of his chance discovery of the oldchurch and graveyard and of the loss of the brown derby. Primmie plainlyregarded the catastrophe to the hat as a serious matter.
"Well, now, if that ain't too bad!" she exclaimed. "Blowed right out tosea, and 'most brand-new, too. My savin' soul, Miss Martha, folks oughtto be careful what they say, hadn't they?... Eh, hadn't they?"
"Oh, I guess so, Primmie. I don't know what you're talkin' about. Can'tI help you to a little more of the chicken pie, Mr. Bangs? Just a littleBIT more?"
Galusha had scarcely time to decline the third helping of chicken piewhen Primmie plunged again into the conversation.
"Why, I mean folks ought to be careful what they say about--aboutthings. Now you and me hadn't no notion Mr. Bangs was goin' to lose hishat when we was talkin' about it this mornin', had we?"
Miss Phipps was much embarrassed.
"Have a--a--Oh, do have a little potato or cranberry sauce or somethin',Mr. Bangs," she stammered. "A--a spoonful, that's all. Primmie, beSTILL."
"Yes'm. But you know you and me WAS talkin' about that hat when Mr.Bangs started out walkin'. Don't you know we was, Miss Martha?"
This was the final straw. Martha, looking about in desperation, tryingto look anywhere but into her guest's face, caught one transitoryglimpse of that face. There was a twinkle in Galusha's eye.
"I never liked that hat myself," he observed, dryly.
Again their glances met and this time he smiled. Martha gave it up.
"Oh, dear!" she exclaimed, with a laugh. "You know what they say aboutchildren and--other folks, Mr. Bangs. Primmie, if you say another wordwhile we're at this
table I'll--I don't know what I'll do to you. STOP!You've said plenty and plenty more, as father used to say. Truly, Mr.Bangs, it wasn't as bad as it sounds. I honestly DIDN'T think the hatwas becomin', that's all."
"Neither did I, Miss Phipps. I didn't think so when I bought it."
"You didn't? Then for mercy sakes why did you buy it?"
"Well, the man said it was just the hat for me and--ah--I didn't wish toargue, that's all. Besides, I thought perhaps he knew best; selling hatswas his--ah--profession, you see."
"Yes, SELLIN' 'em was. Do you always let folks like that pick out whatthey want to sell you?"
"No-o, not always. Often I do. It saves--ah--conversation, don't youthink?"
He said nothing concerning his meeting with Miss Hallett and the SouthWellmouth station agent, but he did mention encountering Captain Jethroand Mr. Pulcifer. Martha seemed much interested.
"Humph!" she exclaimed. "I wonder what possessed Cap'n Jeth to go overto the cemetery in the mornin'. He almost always goes there Sundayafternoons--his wife's buried there--but he generally goes to church inthe mornin'."
Galusha remembered having heard the light keeper refer to the exchangeof preachers. Miss Phipps nodded.
"Oh, yes," she said, "that explains it, of course. He's down on theWapatomac minister because he preaches against spiritualism. But whatwas Raish Pulcifer doin' in that cemetery? He didn't have anybody'sgrave to go to, and he wouldn't go to it if he had. There's preciouslittle chance of doin' business with a person after he's buried."
"But I think it was business which brought Mr. Pulcifer there," saidGalusha. "He and--ah--Captain Hallett, is it? Yes--ah--thank you. He andthe captain seemed to be having a lengthy argument about--about--well,I'm not exactly certain what it was about. You see, I was examininga--ah--tomb"--here Primmie shivered--"and paid little attention. Itseemed to be something about some--ah--stock they both owned. Mr.Pulcifer wished to sell and Captain Hallett did not care to buy."
Martha's interest increased. "Stock?" she repeated. "What sort of stockwas it, Mr. Bangs?"
"I didn't catch the name. And yet, as I remember, I did catchsome portion of it. Ah--let me see--Could there be such a thing asa--ah--'ornamenting' stock? A Wellmouth ornamenting or decorating stock,you know?"
Miss Phipps leaned forward. "Was it Wellmouth Development Companystock?" she asked.
"Eh? Oh, yes--yes, I'm quite certain that was it. Yes, I think it was,really."
"And Raish wanted Cap'n Jeth to buy some of it?"
"That was what I gathered, Miss Phipps. As I say, I was more interestedat the time in my--ah--pet tomb."
Primmie shivered again. Miss Martha looked very serious. She waspreoccupied during the rest of the dinner and, immediately afterward,went, as has been told, over to the Hallett house, leaving her guest thealternative of loneliness or Primmie.
At first he chose the loneliness. As a matter of fact, his morning'sexercise had fatigued him somewhat and he went up to his room with theintention of taking a nap. But, before lying down, he seated himself inthe rocker by the window and looked out over the prospect of hills andhollows, the little village, the pine groves, the shimmering, tumblingsea, and the blue sky with its swiftly moving white clouds, the latterlike bunches of cotton fluff. The landscape was bare enough, perhaps,but somehow it appealed to him. It seemed characteristically plain andsubstantial and essential, like--well, like the old Cape Cod captains ofbygone days who had spent the dry land portion of their lives there andhad loved to call it home. It was American, as they were, American inthe old-fashioned meaning of the word, bluff, honest, rugged, real.Galusha Bangs had traveled much, he loved the out of the way,the unusual. It surprised him therefore to find how strongly thiscommonplace, 'longshore spot appealed to his imagination. He liked itand wondered why.
Of course the liking might come from the contrast between the rest andfreedom he was now experiencing and the fevered chase led him at themountain hotel where Mrs. Worth Buckley and her lion-hunting sistershad their habitat. Thought of the pestilential Buckley female set himto contrasting her affectations with the kind-hearted and wholeheartedsimplicity of his present hostess, Miss Martha Phipps. It was somethingof a contrast. Mrs. Buckley was rich and sophisticated and--in her ownopinion--cultured to the highest degree. Now Miss Phipps was, in allprobability, not rich and she would not claim wide culture. As to hersophistication--well, Galusha gave little thought to that, in mostworldly matters he himself was unsophisticated. However, he was surethat he liked Miss Phipps and that he loathed Mrs. Buckley. And he likedEast Wellmouth, bareness and bleakness and lonesomeness and all.He rather wished he were going to stay there for a long time--weeksperhaps, months it might be; that is, of course, provided he couldoccupy his present quarters and eat at the Phipps' table. If he could dothat why--why... humph!
Instead of lying down he sat by that window for more than half anhour thinking. He came out of his reverie slowly, gradually becomingconscious of a high-pitched conversation carried on downstairs. He hadleft his chamber door open and fragments of this conversation came upthe staircase. It was Primmie's voice which he heard most frequentlyand whatever words he caught were hers. There was a masculine grumble atintervals but this was not understandable on the second floor.
"Now I know better.... My savin' soul, how you do talk, Zach Bloomer!...And I says to her, says I, 'Miss Martha,' I says.... My Lord ofIsrul!..."
These were some of the "Primmieisms" which came up the staircase.Galusha rose to close his door but before he could accomplish this feathis own name was called.
"Mr. Bangs!" screamed Primmie. "Mr. Bangs, be you layin' down? You ain'tasleep, be you, Mr. Bangs?"
If he had been as sound asleep as Rip Van Winkle that whoop would havearoused him. He hastened to assure the whooper that he was awake andafoot.
"Um-hm," said Primmie, "I'm glad of that. If you'd been layin' down Iwouldn't have woke you up for nothin'. But I want to ask you somethin',Mr. Bangs. Had you just as soon answer me somethin' if I ask it of you,had you, Mr. Bangs?"
"Yes, Primmie."
"Just as soon's not, had you?"
"Yes, quite as soon."
"All right. Then I--I... Let me see now, what was it I was goin' to ask?Zach Bloomer, stop your makin' faces, you put it all out of my head.It's all right, Mr. Bangs, I'll think of it in a minute. Oh, you'recomin' down, be you?"
Galusha was coming down. It seemed to be the advisable thing to do. MissCash was doing her "thinking" at the top of her lungs and the processwas trying to one with uneasy nerves. He entered the sitting room.Primmie was there, of course, and with her was a little, thin man, witha face sunburned to a bright, "boiled-lobster" red, and a bald headwhich looked amazingly white by contrast, a yellowish wisp of mustache,and an expression of intense solemnity, amounting almost to gloom. Hewas dressed in the blue uniform of the lighthouse service and a blue caplay on the table beside him.
"Mr. Bangs," announced Primmie, "this is Mr. Zach Bloomer. Zach,make you acquainted with Mr. Bangs, the one I was tellin' you about.Mr.--Mr.--Oh, my savin' soul, what IS your first name, Mr. Bangs?"
"Galusha, Primmie. How do you do, Mr. Bloomer?"
The little man rose upon a pair of emphatically bowed legs and shookhands. "I'm pretty smart," he observed, in a husky voice. Then he satdown again. Galusha, after waiting a moment, sat down also. Primmieseemed to be wrestling with a mental problem, but characteristically shecould not wrestle in silence.
"What was it I wanted to ask you, Mr. Bangs?" she said. "I snum I can'tthink! Zach, what was it I wanted to ask Mr. Bangs?"
Mr. Bloomer paid not the slightest attention to the question. His sadblue eye was fixed upon vacancy.
"Galushy--Galushy," he said, huskily. "Huh!"
Galusha was, naturally, rather startled.
"Eh? I--ah--beg your pardon," he observed.
"I was thinkin' about names," explained Mr. Bloomer. "Queer things,names are, ain't they? Zacheus and Galushy.... Godfreys!"
He paused a moment
and then added:
"'Zacheus he Did climb a tree His Lord to see.'
Well, if he wan't any taller'n I be he showed good jedgment.... Zacheusand Galushy and Primrose!... Godfreys!"
Primmie was shocked. "Why, Zach Bloomer!" she exclaimed. "The idea ofyour talkin' so about a person's name you never met but just now in yourlifetime."
Zacheus regarded the owner of the name.
"No offense meant and none given, Mr. Bangs," he observed. "Eh? That'sright, ain't it?"
"Certainly, certainly, Mr. Bloomer. I'm not in the least offended."
"Um-hm. Didn't cal'late you would be. Can't help our names, can we? Ifmy folks had asked me aforehand I'd a-been named plain John. As 'tis, myname's like my legs, growed that way and it's too late to change."
Galusha smiled.
"You're a philosopher, I see, Mr. Bloomer," he said.
"He's assistant keeper over to the lighthouse," explained Primmie. Asbefore, Zach paid no heed.
"I don't know as I'd go so far as to call myself that," he said. "WhenI went to school the teacher told us one time about an old critter wholived in a--in a tub, seem's if 'twas. HE was one of them philosophers,wan't he?"
"Yes. Diogenes."
"That's the cuss. Well, I ain't never lived in a tub, but I've spentconsider'ble time ON one; I was aboard a lightship for five or six year.Ever lived aboard a lightship, Mr. Bangs?"
"No."
"Humph!... Don't feel disapp'inted on that account, do you?"
"Why--ah--no, I don't know that I do."
"Ain't no occasion. 'Bout the same as bein' in jail, 'tis--only a jaildon't keep heavin' up and down. First week or so you talk. By the secondweek the talk's all run out of you, like molasses out of a hogshead.Then you set and think."
"I see. And so much thinking tends to bring out--ah--philosophy, Isuppose."
"Huh! Maybe so. So much settin' wears out overalls, I know that."
Primmie interrupted.
"I've got it!" she cried, enthusiastically. "_I_ know now!"
Galusha started nervously. Primmie's explosiveness was disturbing. Itdid not disturb Mr. Bloomer, however.
"Posy here'd be a good hand aboard a lightship," he observed. "Hertalk'd NEVER run out."
Primmie sniffed disgust. "I wish you wouldn't keep callin' me 'Posy'and such names, Zach Bloomer," she snapped. "Yesterday he called me 'OldBouquet,' Mr. Bangs. My name's Primrose and he knows it."
The phlegmatic Zacheus, whose left leg had been crossed above his right,now reversed the crossing.
"A-ll right--er Pansy Blossom," he drawled. "What is it you're trying totell us you know? Heave it overboard."
"Hey?... Oh, I mean I've remembered what 'twas I wanted to ask you, Mr.Bangs. Me and Zach was talkin' about Miss Martha. I said it seemed tome she had somethin' on her mind, was sort of worried and troubled aboutsomethin', and Zach--"
For the first time the assistant light keeper seemed a trifle lesscomposed.
"There, there, Primmie," he began. "I wouldn't--"
"Be still, Zach Bloomer. You know you want to find out just as much as Ido. Well, Zach, he cal'lated maybe 'twas money matters, cal'lated maybeshe was in debt or somethin'."
Mr. Bloomer's discomfiture was so intense as to cause him actually touncross his legs.
"Godfreys, Prim!" he exclaimed. "Give you a shingle and apocket-handkercher and you'll brag to all hands you've got a full-riggedship. I never said Martha was in debt. I did say she acted worried tome and I was afraid it might be account of some money business. She wasover to the light just now askin' for Cap'n Jeth, and he's the one herdad, Cap'n Jim Phipps, used to talk such things with. They went into agood many trades together, them too.... But there, 'tain't any of youraffairs, is it, Mr. Bangs--and 'tain't any of Primmie's and my business,so we'd better shut up. Don't say nothin' to Martha about it, Mr. Bangs,if you'd just as soon. But course you wouldn't anyhow."
This was a tremendously long speech for Mr. Bloomer. He sighed at itsend, as if from exhaustion; then he crossed his legs again. Galushahastened to assure him that he would keep silent. Primmie, however, hadmore to say.
"Why, Zach Bloomer," she declared, "you know that wan't only part ofwhat you and me was sayin'. That wan't what I wanted to ask Mr. Bangs.YOU said if 'twas money matters or business Miss Martha went to seeCap'n Jeth about you cal'lated the cap'n would be cruisin' up to Bostonto see a medium pretty soon."
"The old man's Speritu'list," exclaimed Zach. "Always goes to one ofthem Speritu'list mediums for sailin' orders."
"Now you let me tell it, Zach. Well, then _I_ said I wondered if youwan't a kind of medium, Mr. Bangs. And Zach, he--"
Galusha interrupted this time.
"_I_--a medium!" he gasped. "Well, really, I--ah--oh, dear! Dear me!"
"AIN'T you a kind of medium, Mr. Bangs?"
"Certainly not."
"Well, I thought undertakin' was your trade till Miss Martha put herfoot down on the notion and shut me right up. You AIN'T an undertaker,be you?"
"An undertaker?... Dear me, Primmie, you--ah--well, you surprise me.Just why did you think me an undertaker, may I ask?"
"Why, you see, 'cause--'cause--well, you was talkin' yesterday aboutinterestin' remains and--and all this forenoon you was over in thecemetery and said you had such a good time there and... and I couldn'tsee why anybody, unless he was an undertaker, or--or a medium maybe,would call bein' around with dead folks havin' a good time... Quit yourlaughin', Zach Bloomer; you didn't know what Mr. Bangs' trade was anymore'n I did."
Mr. Bloomer cleared his throat. "Mr. Bangs," he observed sadly, "didn'tI tell you she'd make a ship out of a shingle? If you'd puffed smoke,and whistled once in a while, she'd have cal'lated you must be atugboat."
Galusha smiled.
"I am an archaeologist," he said. "I think I told you that, Primmie."
Primmie looked blank. "Yes," she admitted, "you did, but--"
Zacheus finished the sentence.
"But you didn't tell TOO much when you told it," he said. "What kind ofan ark did you say?"
And then Galusha explained. The fact that any one in creation shouldnot know what an archaeologist was seemed unbelievable, but a fact itevidently was. So he explained and the explanation, under questioning,became lengthy. Primmie's exclamations, "My savin' soul" and "My Lord ofIsrul" became more and more frequent. Mr. Bloomer interjected a remarkhere and there. At length a sound outside caused him to look out of thewindow.
"Here comes the old man and Martha," he said. "Cal'late I'd better begettin' back aboard. Can't leave Lulie to tend light all the time.Much obliged to you, Mr. Bangs. You've cruised around more'n I give youcredit for. Um-hm. Any time you want to know about a lightship or--orlobsterin' or anything, I'd be pleased to tell you. Good-day, sir. Solong--er--Sweet William. See you later."
The "Sweet William" was addressed to Primmie, of course. The bow-leggedlittle man, rolling from side to side like the lightship of which hetalked so much, walked out of the room. A moment later Martha Phipps andCaptain Jethro Hallett entered it.
Both Miss Phipps and the light keeper seemed preoccupied. The former'sround, wholesome face was clouded over and the captain was tugging athis thick beard and drawing his bushy eyebrows together in a frown. Hewas a burly, broad-shouldered man, with a thin-lipped mouth, and a sharpgray eye. He looked like one hard to drive and equally hard to turn, thesort from which fanatics are made.
Primmie scuttled away to the dining room. Galusha rose.
"Good-afternoon, Captain Hallett," he said.
Jethro regarded him from beneath the heavy brows.
"You know Mr. Bangs, Cap'n Jeth," said Martha. "You met this mornin',didn't you?"
The light keeper nodded.
"We run afoul of each other over to the graveyard," he grunted. "Well,Martha, I don't know what more there is to say about--about that thing.I've told you all I know, I cal'late."
"But I want to talk a little more about it, Cap'n Jeth. If Mr. Bangswill
excuse us we'll go out into the dinin' room. Primmie's up in herroom by this time. You will excuse us, won't you, Mr. Bangs? There was alittle business matter the cap'n and I were talkin' about."
Galusha hastened to say that he himself had been on the point of goingto his own room--really he was.
Miss Martha asked if he was sure.
"You needn't go on our account," she protested. "We can talk in thedinin' room just as well as not, can't we Cap'n Jeth?"
The captain bowed his head. "We ain't cal'latin' to talk very longanyhow," he said, solemnly. "This is the Lord's day, Mr. Bangs."
Galusha hastily admitted that he was aware of the fact. He hurried intothe hall and up the stairs. As he reached the upper landing he heard theponderous boom of the light keeper's voice saying, "Martha, I tell youagain there's no use frettin' yourself. We've to wait on the Lord. Thenthat wait will be provided for; it's been so revealed to me."
Miss Phipps sighed heavily. "Maybe so, Jethro," she said, "but what willsome of us live on while we're waitin'? THAT hasn't been revealed toyou, has it?"
For the rest of that afternoon Galusha sat by his bedroom window,thinking. His thoughts were along the line of those interrupted byPrimmie's summons. When, at supper time, he again descended the stairs,his mind was made up. He was going to make a suggestion, a suggestionwhich seemed to him somewhat delicate. In one sense of the term it wasa business proposition, in another--well, he was not precisely certainthat it might not be considered presuming and perhaps intrusive. GalushaCabot Bangs was not a presuming person and he was troubled.
After the supper dishes were washed and Primmie sent to bed--"sent"is the exact word, for Miss Cash, having had a taste of Egypt andthe Orient, was eagerly hoping for more--Miss Phipps and Galusha weretogether in the sitting room. Doctor Powers had paid a brief visit. Hefound his patient so much improved that he announced him well enough totravel if he wished.
"If it is really necessary for you to go to-morrow, Mr. Bangs," he said,"I think you're strong enough to risk it."
"Thank you, Doctor," said Galusha. Then he added, with his little smile,"I couldn't go before to-morrow. You see, I--ah--haven't any hat."
In the sitting room, after supper, Galusha was idly turning the pagesof Camp, Battlefield and Hospital, a worn book of Civil War sketches,printed immediately after that war, which he had found upon the shelf ofthe closet in his room, along with another volume labeled Friendship'sGarland, a Nosegay of Verse. Of the two, although a peace-lovingindividual, he preferred the camp and battlefield to the Nosegay; thelatter's fragrance was a trifle too sweet.
Suddenly Martha, who had been sitting quiet in the rocker, spoke.
"Mr. Bangs," she said, "I saw Lulie Hallett when I was over at the lightthis afternoon. We had a good talk together before Cap'n Jethro cameback. She told me about your bein' so kind to her and Nelson over by theold church this mornin'. She was real grateful to you and she says sheshall thank you herself when she sees you. She asked me to do it for hernow."
Galusha was confused. "Oh, it was nothing, really," he hastened toexplain. "I--ah--Well, I intruded upon them somewhat suddenly. I see shetold you of that."
Miss Phipps was smiling to herself. She looked a little guilty.
"Well," she admitted, "Lulie did say that you kind of--er--flew overthe bank. She said no one was ever quite so surprised as she was at thatminute."
Mr. Bangs thoughtfully shook his head.
"Except myself, perhaps," he observed.
Martha's smile became a laugh. "Probably that's so," she admitted. "But,Mr. Bangs, Lulie is awfully anxious that you shouldn't think there wasanything wrong about her meetin' Nelson Howard in that way. There isn't.She's a splendid girl and he's a fine young man. I think the world ofLulie and I like Nelson, too."
She paused a moment and then went on.
"It's Cap'n Jethro that makes all the trouble," she said. "There's noreason in the world--that is, no sensible reason--why Lulie and Nelsonshouldn't be engaged to be married. Of course he isn't doin' very wellin a business way just now, but that's partly from choice on Lulie'saccount. Nelse was a telegraph operator up in Brockton before the war.When the war came he went right into the Navy and started in at theRadio School studyin' to be a wireless operator. Then he was taken downwith the 'flu' and had to give up study. Soon as he got well he wentinto the transport service. Lulie, you see, was teachin' school atOstable, but her father's health isn't what it used to be and then,besides, I think she was a little worried about his spiritualism. Jethroisn't crazy about it, exactly, but he isn't on an even keel on thatsubject, there's no doubt about that. So Lulie gave up teachin' and camehere to live with him. When Nelson was mustered out he took the stationagent's job at South Wellmouth so as to be near her. I think he doesn'tfeel right to have her here alone with her father."
"But--ah--she isn't alone, is she? I gathered that Mr.--ah--Bloomer--"
"Zach Bloomer? Yes, he's there, but Zach isn't lively company,especially for a girl like Lulie. If Jethro was taken--well, with a fitor somethin', Zach would probably sit down and cross those bow legs ofhis and moralize for an hour or so before he got ready to help pick theold man up. Nelson knows that and so he refused two real good offershe had and took the position at the South Wellmouth depot. But he'sstudyin' at his wireless all the time and some day--but I'm afraid thatday will be a long way off. Cap'n Jeth is as set as the side of a stonewharf and you'd have to take him to pieces to move him. That was anotherof father's sayin's," she added, "that about the stone wharf."
"Why, why is the--ah--why is Captain Hallet so opposed to young Howard?"asked Galusha.
"Spiritualism. Foolishness, that's all. Before his wife died he was assensible and shrewd a man as you'd care to see. He and father were oldchums and father used to ask his advice about investments and all suchthings. They went into lots of deals together and generally made 'empay, though Jethro usually made the most because he took more chances.He must be worth twenty or thirty thousand dollars, Cap'n Jeth Hallettis."
She spoke as if these were enormous sums. Galusha, to whom allsums--sums of money, that is--were more or less alike, nodded gravely.
"His wife's death broke Jethro dreadfully," continued Martha. "Forsix months or so he hardly spoke to anybody except Lulie. Then someSpiritualist or other--I think it was Ophelia Beebe or some rattleheadlike her--got him to go to see a medium who was boardin' here at theRestabit Inn. He got--or thinks he got--a communication direct fromJulia--his wife. After that he kept goin' to the Spiritualist campmeetin's and to Boston and to mediums from Dan to Beersheba, so tospeak. A while ago one medium creature--and I wish she had been struckdumb before she could say it--told him that he must beware of a dark manwho was tryin' to work evil upon his daughter. As luck would have it,Nelson Howard was home on leave and callin' on Lulie when her father gotback from seein' that very medium. You can imagine what happened. AndJethro has been growin' more rabid on the subject ever since."
She stopped. Her guest said nothing. He was thinking that if he were tomake the suggestion--the proposition which he had determined upon beforehe came down to supper, he must make it soon. And he did not know how tobegin.
Martha went on talking. She apparently did not notice his silence. Itwas more as if she were thinking aloud.
"If it wasn't for Lulie's bein' here," she said, slowly, "I don't knowwhat I should do sometimes, I get so lonesome. When father lived it wasall so different. He was bright and cheerful and he and I were just asif we were the same age, as you might say. He never was cross and hedidn't fret and if he worried he didn't let me know it. He just lovedthis place. It was near the salt water, and he loved that, and he hadhis garden and his hens and he was interested in town affairs and all.We didn't have much money, but we had enough, seemed so. Before he diedhe told me he hoped he'd left me well enough off to get along. 'The onlything that troubles me, Martha,' he said, 'is that some of the thingsI've put money into shouldn't turn out as I hoped. I've tried to becareful, but you can't always
tell. If you want advice,' he said, 'go toJethro Hallett. Jeth's a shrewd business man.' Ah, well, he didn't knowthat the spirits were goin' to run Cap'n Jeth. About the last words hesaid to me, father, I mean, was, 'Martha, hang on to the old place ifyou can. I hate to think of your sellin' it.' Of course I told him Inever should sell it."
"Well--ah--well--" Galusha felt that he ought to say something, "youdon't intend selling it, do you, Miss Phipps?"
Martha did not answer immediately. And when she did speak it was not areply.
"You must think we're a queer lot down here by the Bluffs, Mr. Bangs,"she said. "Primmie--you've seen what she is--and Zach Bloomer and Cap'nJethro with his 'spirit revelations.' As I say, if it wasn't for LulieI don't know what I should do. Get to be cracked myself, I presumelikely.... But there," she added, brightening, "do let's change thesubject, for mercy sakes! Mr. Bangs, what do you suppose I did whenI was over at the light this afternoon? Besides talkin' with Lulie, Imean."
"Why--why, I don't know, I'm sure."
"I don't believe you could guess, either. I looked up 'archaeologist' inthe dictionary."
Mr. Bangs blinked surprise behind the spectacles.
"In the--in the dictionary?" he repeated. "Oh--ah--dear me! Really!"
"Yes. I'm afraid you'll think I am awfully ignorant, but to save my soulI couldn't think what an archaeologist did, what sort of a businessit was, I mean. Of course, I knew I OUGHT to know, and that I did knowonce, but it seemed to be perfectly certain that I didn't know THEN.So I looked it up. It fits in with what you told Primmie and me abouttravelin'--that camel driver creature and all--and yet--and yet, youknow, I was surprised."
"Surprised? Really? Yes, of course, but--but why?"
"Well, because somehow you don't look like that kind of man. I mean thekind of man who travels in all sorts of wild places and does dangerousthings, you know, and--"
Galusha's desire to protest overcame his politeness. He broke inhurriedly.
"Oh, but I'm not, you know," he cried. "I'm not really. Dear me, no!"
"But you said you had been to--to Africa, was it?--three or four times."
"Oh, but those were my Abyssinian trips. Abyssinia isn't wild, ordangerous, any more than Egypt."
"Oh, isn't it?"
"No, not in the least, really. Oh, dear me, no!"
"Not with darky camel drivers stealin' your--er--underclothes andgoodness knows what? It sounds a little wild to ME."
"Oh, but it isn't, I assure you. And Egypt--ah--Egypt is a wonderfulcountry. On my most recent trip I.... May I tell you?"
He began to tell her without waiting for permission. For the next hourMartha Phipps journeyed afar, under an African sun, over desert sands,beside a river she had read of in her geography when a girl, underpalm trees, amid pyramids and temples and the buried cities of a buriedpeople. And before her skipped, figuratively speaking, the diminutivefigure of Galusha Bangs, guiding, pointing, declaiming, describing, theincarnation of enthusiastic energy, as different as anything could befrom the mild, dreamy little person who had sat opposite her at thesupper table so short a time before.
The wooden clock on the mantel--it had wooden works and Martha wound iteach night before she went to bed--banged its gong ten times. Mr. Bangsdescended from Egypt as if he had fallen from a palm tree, alightingupon reality and Cape Cod with startled suddenness.
"Oh, dear me!" he cried. "What was that? Goodness me, it CAN'T beten o'clock, can it? Oh, I must have talked you almost to death, MissPhipps. I must have bored you to distraction, I must really. Oh, I'm SOsorry!"
Miss Martha also seemed to be coming out of a dream, or trance. Shestirred in her chair.
"You haven't bored me, Mr. Bangs," she said,
"Oh, but I must have, really. I should know better. You see.... Well,it's quite extraordinary my talking to you in this way, isn't it? Idon't do it often--ah--except to other members of my profession. Why,up there in the mountains--at the place where I spent the past monthor two, I scarcely talked of--ah--my work at all. And I was constantlybeing asked to do so. There was a dreadful--ah--that is, there was awoman who.... But I promise you I won't go on in this way again, MissPhipps, really I won't."
Martha drew a long breath and shook her head.
"I hope you won't promise any such thing," she declared. "I feel as ifI had been readin' the most interestin' storybook that ever was.... My,my!" she added, with a sigh. "What a curious thing life is, isn't it?There's nothin' new in that thought, of course, but it comes to us allevery little while, I suppose. Just think of the difference there hasbeen in our two lives, for instance. Here are you, Mr. Bangs, you'vebeen everywhere, pretty nearly, and yet you're--well, you're not so verybig or strong-lookin'. The average person would say I was the one bestfitted to trot around the world, and all my life--or nearly all--I'vebeen keepin' house in this little corner of East Wellmouth. That'scurious, isn't it? Of course I can't see myself doin' the things youdo--ridin' a camel, for instance."
"Oh, but it is quite easy, quite," Galusha hastened to assure her. "Youcould do it very well, I'm sure, Miss Phipps."
"Maybe so, but I'm afraid I'm a little bit doubtful. I should want mycamel on wheels, with a railin' around his hump. But YOU must feel lostenough down in this tame place, Mr. Bangs. The wildest thing around hereis a woodchuck."
She laughed. Galusha smiled, but he answered promptly.
"I like it here, Miss Phipps," he said, earnestly. "I do, really. Ilike it very much indeed. In fact--in fact--Miss Phipps, would you mindanswering a question or two?... Oh, they're not personal questions,personal to you, I mean. Really they are not. May I ask them?"
She was puzzled and looked so.
"Why, of course," she said.
"Well... well, they're foolish questions, I suppose, for I think I knowthe answers already. But, you see, I want my conscience to be quiteclear before making a decision.... That is, the decision is alreadymade, but you see... oh, no, you don't see, of course, do you?"
"Why not ask your questions, Mr. Bangs?" she suggested.
"Yes--ah--thank you; yes, I will. The first one is about--ah--rest. Thisis a good spot for one to--ah--rest in, isn't it?"
She laughed. "Are you jokin', Mr. Bangs?" she asked. "Rest! I should saythe average person would find it easier to rest here than to do anythingelse. But you are jokin', of course?"
"No; no, indeed, I am quite serious. Second, the air about hereis--ah--good and--and fresh?"
"GOOD! Well, considerin' that most of it is blown over three or fourthousand miles of salt water before it gets here it ought to be fairlygood, I should say. As to its bein' fresh--well, if you were here whena February no'theaster was blowin' I'm afraid you might find it a littleTOO fresh."
"That is satisfactory, that is very satisfactory indeed. Now what wasthe third thing the doctor said I must have? Oh, yes, people. And I knowthere are people here because I have met them. And very nice people,indeed.... Oh, this is VERY satisfactory, Miss Phipps. Now my conscienceis quite clear concerning my promise to the doctor and I can go on to myproposal to you."
"Your--your WHAT?"
"My proposal--the--ah--proposition I want to make you, Miss Phipps. AndI DO hope you will consider it favorably. You see, I like East WellmouthVERY much. My doctor told me I must go where I could find fresh air,rest, and people. They are all here in East Wellmouth. And he said Imust have exercise, and behold my daily walks to that most interestingold cemetery of yours. Now, you have been VERY kind to me already, MissPhipps; could you be still more kind? Would you--ah--could you let mecontinue our present arrangement indefinitely--for a few months, letus say? Might I be permitted to board here with you until--well, untilspring, perhaps?"
Martha Phipps leaned back in her chair. She regarded him keenly.
"Mr. Bangs," she said, slowly, "has some one been tellin' you thatI needed money and are you makin' me this offer out of--well, out ofcharity?"
Galusha jumped violently. He turned quite pale.
"Oh, dear, dear, de
ar!" he cried, in a great agitation. "Oh, dearme, dear me! No, INDEED, Miss Phipps! I am VERY sorry you should somisunderstand me. I--I--Of course I know nothing of your money affairs,nor should I presume to--to--Oh, I--I--Oh, dear!"
His distress was so keen that she was obliged to recognize it.
"All right, all right, Mr. Bangs," she said. "It wasn't charity, Ican see that. But what was it? Do I understand you to say that youlike--actually like this lonesome place well enough to want to stay hereall WINTER?"
"Yes--ah--yes. And it doesn't seem lonesome to me."
"Doesn't it? Well, wait a little while.... And you really mean you wantto keep on boardin' here--with me, with us?"
"Yes, if--if you will be so very kind as to permit me to do so. If youwill be so good."
"Good! To what? My soul and body!"
"No--ah--good to mine," said Galusha.
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