VIII

THE ANNIVERSARY


About this time Blossy developed a tendency to draw Brother Abraham
aside at every opportunity, convenient or inconvenient, in order to put
such questions as these to him:

"Did you say it is fully thirty-five years since you and Captain Darby
were on the beach together? Do you think he has grown much older? Had he
lost his hair then? Did he care for the opposite sex? Was he very
brave--or would you say more brave than stubborn and contrary? Isn't it
a blessing that I never married him?"

Fearful of the ridicule of the sisters, Blossy was always careful to
conduct these inquiries in whispers, or at least in undertones with a
great observance of secrecy, sometimes stopping Abe on the stairs,
sometimes beckoning him to her side when she was busy about her
household tasks on the pretense of requiring his assistance. On one
occasion she even went so far as to inveigle him into holding a skein of
wool about his clumsy hands, while she wound the violet worsted into a
ball, and delicately inquired if he believed Samuel spoke the truth when
he had protested that he had never paid court to any other woman.

Alas, Blossy's frequent tete-a-tetes with the amused but sometimes
impatient Abraham started an exceedingly foolish suspicion. When, asked
the sisters of one another, did Abe ever help any one, save Blossy,