Debby! Ho! ho!"

Captain Cy chuckled. Then he suddenly became serious.

"Ase," he said, "you remember the time when the Howes folks had this
house? Course you do. Yes; well, was there any of their relations here
with 'em? A--a cousin, or somethin'?"

"No, not as I recollect. Yes, there was, too, come to think. A third
cousin, Mary Thayer her name was. I THINK she was a third cousin of
Betsy Howes, Seth Howes's second wife. Betsy's name was Ginn afore
she married, and the Ginns was related on their ma's side to a
Richards--Emily Richards, I think 'twas--and Emily married a Thayer.
Would that make this Mary a third cousin? Now let's see; Sarah Jane
Ginn, she had an aunt who kept a boardin' house in Harniss. I remember
that, 'count of her sellin' my Uncle Bije a pig. Seems to me 'twas a
pig, but I ain't sure that it mightn't have been a settin' of Plymouth
Rock hens' eggs. Anyhow, Uncle Bije KEPT hens, because I remember one
time--"

"There! there! we'll be out of sight of land in a minute. This Mary
Thayer--old, was she?"

"No, no! Just a young girl, eighteen or twenty or so. Pretty and nice
and quiet as ever I see. By Godfrey, she WAS pretty! I wan't as old as I
be now, and--"

"Ase, don't tell your heart secrets, even to me. I might get
absent-minded and mention 'em to Matildy. And then--whew!"