"Where are you?" he demanded.

"Here, by the window, Uncle Shad."

She was sitting in the rocker by the window. He could not see her face, but as he bent and kissed her cheek he found it wet.

"Mercy on us! You've been cryin'!" he declared.

"Oh--Oh, no, I haven't! I--"

"Rubbish! Yes, you have, too. Settin' alone up here in the dark and cryin'! Mary-'Gusta Lathrop, come here!"

She had risen from the rocking-chair, but he seized her in his arms, sat down in the chair himself, and lifted her to his knee just as he used to do when she was the little Mary-'Gusta.

"Now there, dearie," he said. "You'll tell your Uncle Shad. What is it?"

"Oh, nothing, Uncle Shad, dear. I was--I'm feeling just a little silly this afternoon, I guess. You mustn't ask me."

"All right, I won't ask--I'll tell. That young feller from out West, the feller with the uncommon name--Brown--Jones--Oh, no, Smith, that was it--he came cruisin' around here and--"

"Uncle Shad, how did you know?"

"A little bird told me. A long-legged bird without much hair on top--a bald-headed eagle, I cal'late he must be. Hops round our kitchen daytimes and roosts in the attic nights."

"Isaiah! Of course he would tell."

"Of course he would--BEIN' Isaiah. Well, this Smith critter, he came and--and--well, I guess you'll have to tell me the rest."

"There isn't much to tell. He came and--and then he went away again."

"Went away--where?"

"Out to Carson City, I suppose."

"Ain't he comin' back any more?"

"No."

"Why? Don't you want him to come, Mary-'Gusta?"

"Oh, Uncle Shad, please don't. I don't feel as if I could answer. Don't ask me."

"There, there, dearie; don't you answer nothin'. You set still here and be my baby. I ain't had a chance to baby you for a long spell and it seems good."

Silence. Suddenly the Captain felt the head which nestled against his shoulder stir.

"Uncle Shadrach," said Mary-'Gusta, "what do you do when you want to forget?"

"Eh? Want to forget? Oh, I don't know! Cal'late I turn to and sail in and work a little harder, maybe. Why?"

"Oh, nothing. . . But I am much obliged for the suggestion. Now I am going to work. I shall begin tomorrow morning. I wish it was tomorrow right now."

"Don't. Jumpin' fire! Don't wish time away; some of us ain't got too much to spare. But ain't you BEEN workin', for mercy sakes? I should say you had."

Another interval of silence. Then Mary said:

"Uncle Shad, a good while ago, when you asked me about--about him, I promised you I would tell when there was anything to tell. I am going to keep my promise. He came today and asked me--asked me to marry him--not now, of course, but by and by."

Shadrach was not greatly surprised. Nevertheless it was a moment before he spoke. Mary felt his arms tighten about her and she realized a little of the struggle he was making. Yet his tone was brave and cheerful.

"Yes," he said. "Well, I--I kind of cal'lated that would come some day or other. It's all right, Mary-'Gusta. Zoeth and me have talked it over and all we want is to see you happy. If you said yes to him, Zoeth and I'll say 'G.o.d bless you' to both of you."

She reached for his hand and lifted it to her lips. "I know you would,"

she said. "All your lives you have been thinking of others and not of yourselves. But I didn't say yes, Uncle Shad. I am not going to be married now or by and by. I don't want to be. I am the silent partner of Hamilton and Company. I am a business woman and I am going to work--REALLY work--from now on. No, you mustn't ask me any more questions. We'll try to forget it all. Kiss me, Uncle Shad, dear.

That's it. Now you go down to supper. I shall stay here; I am not hungry tonight."

CHAPTER XXVI

Captain Shad did ask more questions, of course. He asked no more that evening--he judged it wisest not to do so; but the next day, seizing an opportunity when he and his niece were alone, he endeavored to learn a little more concerning her reasons for dismissing Crawford. The Captain liked young Smith, he had believed Mary liked him very much, and, although he could not help feeling a guilty sense of relief because the danger that he and Zoeth might have to share her affections with someone else was, for the time at least, out of the way, he was puzzled and troubled by the abruptness of the dismissal. There was something, he felt sure, which he did not understand.

"Of course, Mary-'Gusta," he said, "I ain't askin' anything--that is, I don't mean to put my oar in about what you told me last night, but--well, you see, Zoeth and me was beginnin' to feel that 'twas pretty nigh a settled thing between you and that young man."

Mary was sitting at the desk--she and her uncle were at the store together--and she looked up from the ledger over which she had been bending and shook her head reproachfully. She looked tired and worn, so it seemed to Captain Shadrach, as if she had not slept well the night before, or perhaps for several nights.

"Uncle Shad," she said, "what did I tell you?"

"Eh? Why, you told me--You know what you told me, Mary-'Gusta. What do you ask that for?"

"Because I think you have forgotten the most important part of it. I told you we were going to forget it all. And we are. We are not going to speak of it again."

"But, Mary-'Gusta, why--"

"No, Uncle Shad."

"But do just tell me this much; if you don't I shan't rest in peace: you didn't send him away on account of Zoeth and me? It wan't just because you thought we needed you?"

"No, Uncle Shad."

"Then--"

"That's all. It's over with; it's done with forever. If you really care about me, Uncle Shad--and sometimes, you know, I almost suspect that you really do--you will never, NEVER say another word about it. Now come here and tell me about this account of Heman Rodger's. Isn't it time we tried to get a payment from him?"

The Captain, although still uneasy and far from satisfied, asked no more questions of his niece. It was evident that nothing was to be gained in that way. He did, however, question Isaiah to learn if the latter had noticed anything unusual in Crawford's manner or if Crawford had said anything concerning his reason for coming on at that time, but Isaiah had noticed nothing.

"Umph!" grunted Shadrach, rather impatiently, for the mystery in the affair irritated him. "Of course, you didn't notice. YOU wouldn't notice if your head came off."