"Why, nothin', I guess," he faltered. "Only--only--well, I tell you,
Mrs. Barnes, if--if you was figgerin' on doin' any business with Mr.
Cobb, any money business, I mean, and--and you'd rather go anywheres
else I--I--well, I'm pretty well acquainted round here on the Cape
amongst the bank folks and such and I'd be real glad to--"

Thankful interrupted. She had, after much misgiving and reluctance,
made up her mind to approach her distant relative with the mortgage
proposition, but to discuss that proposition with strangers was, to her
mind, very different. She had mentioned the proposed mortgage to Emily,
but she had told no one else, not even the captain himself. And she did
not mean to tell. The boarding house plan must stand or fall according
to Mr. Cobb's reception of it.

"No, no," she said, hastily. "It ain't anything important--that is, very
important."

"Well, all right. You see--I only meant--excuse me, Mrs. Barnes. I hope
you don't think I meant to be nosey or interferin' in your affairs."

"Of course I don't. You've gone to a lot of trouble on my account as
'tis, and you've been real kind."

The captain hurriedly muttered that he hadn't been kind at all and
watched her as she walked up the short path to Mr. Cobb's front door.
Then, with a solemn shake of the head, he clinched again at the wagon
seat and drove across the road to the hitching-posts before the store.
Thankful opened the door of the "henhouse" and entered.

The interior of the little building was no mare inviting than its