Within the house Mrs. Britt, too, was busy, and as she moved about the
kitchen, her step was lighter than it had been for years. She had just
finished making a batch of doughnuts, not the lean kind, mostly holes,
but big fat ones, coated with sugar, like thick frost upon the window
pane in winter. She was now making apple pies, the kind where the
juice runs out into the oven, and some of it sticks to the plate.

Mrs. Britt was known throughout the parish as an excellent cook, though
of late years few people were ever allowed the privilege of tasting her
dainties. This was her husband's fault, and not hers. She was
naturally of a sociable disposition, and fond of company. But Captain
Josh's crankiness had antagonised every person in Hillcrest, and it was
Mrs. Britt who suffered the most. But she was loyal to her husband,
and if people would not come to her home, she would not go to theirs.

At one time Captain Josh had been the most agreeable of companions, and
his return from a voyage was always a red-letter day in the parish.
His ringing laugh was heard at the store, and every evening his house
was filled with neighbours, who dropped in to have a smoke, and listen
to the yarns of the old seaman.

But two events coming close together produced a great change in the
captain. One was the absence of his only son, Jimmy, who had gone far
away to the northland, and never wrote home to his parents. The other,
was the loss of his vessel, the _Flying Queen_, a three-masted
schooner, which, loaded with a valuable cargo, lost her bearings, and
went ashore in a heavy fog. Owing to Captain Josh's excellent past
record, the shipping company was most lenient. He was permitted to
retire with a moderate allowance. This amount, together with what he
obtained from his few acres of land, and the fish and the fur he took,