Zoeth leaned forward and stared at her. He seemed to catch the significance of the remark, for he looked frightened, whereas Shadrach was only puzzled.

"You--you know what, Mary-'Gusta?" faltered Zoeth. "You mean--"

"I mean," went on Mary, "that I know where the money came from which has paid my school bills and for my clothes and my traveling things and all the rest. I know whose money has paid all my bills ever since I was seven years old."

Shadrach rose from his chair. He was as frightened as his partner now.

"What are you talkin' about, Mary-'Gusta Lathrop?" he shouted. "You know! You don't know nothin'! You stop sayin' such things! Why don't you stop her, Zoeth Hamilton?"

Zoeth was speechless. Mary went on as if there had been no interruption.

"I know," she said, "that I haven't a penny of my own and never did have and that you two have done it all. I know all about it--at last."

If these two men had been caught stealing they could not have looked more guilty. If, instead of being reminded that their niece had spent their money, they had been accused of misappropriating hers they could not have been more shaken or dumbfounded. Captain Shadrach stood before her, his face a fiery red and his mouth opening and shutting in vain attempts at articulation. Zoeth, his thin fingers extended in appeal, was the first to speak.

"Mary-'Gusta," he stammered, "don't talk so! PLEASE don't!"

Mary smiled. "Oh, yes, I shall, Uncle Zoeth," she said. "I mean to do more than talk from now on, but I must talk a little first. I'm not going to try to tell you what it means to me to learn after all these years that I have been dependent on you for everything I have had, home and luxuries and education and opportunities. I realize now what sacrifices you must have made--"

"We ain't, neither!" roared the Captain, in frantic protest. "We ain't, I tell you. Somebody's been tellin' lies, ain't they, Zoeth? Why--"

"Hush, Uncle Shad! Someone HAS been telling me--er--fibs--I said that at the beginning; but they're not going to tell me any more. I know the truth, every bit of it, about Father's losing his money in stocks and--Uncle Shad, where are you going?"

Captain Shad was halfway to the door. He answered over his shoulder.

"I'm goin' home," he vowed, "and when I get there I'm goin' to choke that dummed tattle-tale of an Isaiah Chase! I'll talk to YOU after I've done it."

Mary ran after him and caught his arm.

"Come back, Uncle Shad!" she ordered. "Come back, sit down, and don't be foolish. I don't want you to talk to me! I am going to talk to you, and I'm not half through yet. Besides, it wasn't Isaiah who told me, it was Judge Baxter."

"Judge Baxter! Why, the everlastin' old--"

"Hush! He couldn't help telling me, I made him do it. Be still, both of you, and I'll tell you all about it."

She did tell them, beginning with her meeting with Mr. Green at the Howe dinner, then of her stop at Ostable and the interview with Baxter.

"So I have found it all out, you see," she said. "I'm not going to try to thank you--I couldn't, if I did try. But I am going to take my turn at the work and the worry. To begin with, of course, you understand that I am through with Boston and school, through forever."

There was an excited and voluble protest, of course, but she paid no heed whatever to commands or entreaties.

"I am through," she declared. "I shall stay here and help you. I am only a girl and I can't do much, perhaps, but I truly believe I can do something. I am a sort of silent partner now; you understand that, don't you?"

Shadrach looked doubtful and anxious.

"If I had my way," he declared, "you'd go straight back to that school and stay there long's we could rake or sc.r.a.pe enough together to keep you there. And I know Zoeth feels the same."

"I sartin do," agreed Zoeth.

Mary laughed softly. "But you haven't your way, you see," she said. "You have had it for ever so long and now I am going to have mine. Your new silent partner is going to begin to boss you."

For the first time since he entered the door of his store that night--or morning--Shadrach smiled. It wasn't a broad smile nor a very gay one, but it was a smile.

"Um--ya-as," he drawled. "I want to know, Mary-'Gusta! I am gettin' some along in years, but my memory ain't failed much. If I could remember any day or hour or minute since Zoeth and me h'isted you into the old buggy to drive you from Ostable here--if I could remember a minute of that time when you HADN'T bossed us, I--well, I'd put it down in the log with a red ink circle around it. No, sir-ee! You've been OUR skipper from the start."

Even Zoeth smiled now and Mary laughed aloud.

"But you haven't objected; you haven't minded being--what shall I call it?--skipped--by me, have you?" she asked.

The Captain grinned. "Mind it!" he exclaimed. "Umph! The only time when we really minded it was these last two years when we ain't had it. We minded missin' it, that's what we minded."

"Well, you won't miss it any more. Now help me put these things back in the safe and we'll go home. Yes, home! Tomorrow morning--this morning, I mean--we'll talk and I'll tell you some of my plans. Oh, yes! I have plans and I am in hopes they may do great things for Hamilton and Company. But no more talk tonight. Remember, the skipper is back on board!"

So to the house they went and to bed, the Captain and Mr. Hamilton under protest.

CHAPTER XX

Neither Mary nor the Captain nor Mr. Hamilton slept much of the few hours until daylight, and Captain Shadrach, who was devoured with curiosity concerning the plans, would have asked particulars before breakfast, but Mary would not listen to questions. It was not until breakfast was over and they were back in the store that she consented to discuss the subject.

The safe was reopened and the books and papers spread out upon the desk.

Mary took up one of the sheets of paper; it was covered with rows of figures in her handwriting.

"Now," she said, "it seems to me that the first thing is to find out exactly where we stand. When I say 'we,'" she added, with a nod of great importance, "I mean 'we,' because, as I told you last night, I am a silent partner in the business now."

"Don't seem to be so terrible much silence," observed Shadrach dryly.

"Hush! Another remark of that kind and I shall set you to sweeping out, Uncle Shad. Now, Uncle Zoeth, according to the books this is what we owe."

She read from the paper in her hand.

"That is the total, Uncle Zoeth, isn't it?" she asked. Zoeth groaned and admitted that he cal'lated it was nigh enough.

"Yes. But this," holding up another sheet of paper, "is what is owed us, and it is almost as much as the other."

It was Shadrach's turn to groan. "'Tis if we could get a-hold of it,"

he muttered. "The heft of the gang on that list ain't got a cent and the bulk of the rest of 'em wouldn't have if they paid what they owed."

Mary nodded determinedly.

"There are some that can pay," she said. "Jeremiah Clifford, for instance. According to the books he owes us over a hundred and ten dollars and part of the account is three years old. Mr. Clifford owns property. He can't be a poor man."

The Captain sniffed. "His wife owns the property," he said. "Every stick's in her name. Jerry Clifford's got enough, but he loves it too well to let go of it. Mean! Why, say! In the old days, when fishin'

schooners used to run from South Harniss here, Jerry he was owner and skipper of a little hooker and Solon Black went one v'yage with him.

There was another fo'mast hand besides Jerry and Solon aboard and Solon swears that all the hearty provision Jerry put on board for a four-day trip was two sticks of smoked herrin'. For two days, so Solon vows, they ate the herrin' and the other two they chewed the sticks. That may be stretchin' it a mite, but anyhow it goes to show that Jerry Clifford don't shed money same as a cat does its hair."