第29章

He liked the child when he first met her, but he had been a little fearful that, as a neighbor, she might trouble him by running in and out of the shop, interfering with his privacy and his work or making a small nuisance of herself when he was waiting on customers.But she did none of these things, in fact she did not come into the shop at all and, after the first week had passed, he began to wonder why.Late that afternoon, seeing her sitting on the bench by the bluff edge, her doll in her arms, he came out of the door of his little kitchen at the back of the shop and called her.

"Good evenin'," he hailed."Takin' in the view, was you?"She bobbed her head."Yes, sir," she called in reply; "Petunia and I were looking at it.""Sho! Well, what do you and-er--What's-her-name think of it?"Barbara pondered."We think it's very nice," she announced, after a moment."Don't you like it, Mr.Winslow?""Eh? Oh, yes, I like it, I guess.I ain't really had time to look at it to-day; been too busy."The child nodded, sympathetically."That's too bad," she said.

Jed had, for him, a curious impulse, and acted upon it.

"Maybe I might come and look at it now, if I was asked," he suggested."Plenty of room on that bench, is there?""Oh, yes, sir, there's lots.I don't take much room and Petunia almost always sits on my lap.Please come."So Jed came and, sitting down upon the bench, looked off at the inlet and the beach and the ocean beyond.It was the scene most familiar to him, one he had seen, under varying weather conditions, through many summers and winters.This very thought was in his mind as he looked at it now.

After a time he became aware that his companion was speaking.

"Eh?" he ejaculated, coming out of his reverie."Did you say somethin'?""Yes, sir, three times.I guess you were thinking, weren't you?""Um-m--yes, I shouldn't be surprised.It's one of my bad habits, thinkin' is."She looked hard to see if he was smiling, but he was not, and she accepted the statement as a serious one.

"Is thinking a bad habit?" she asked."I didn't know it was.""Cal'late it must be.If it wasn't, more folks would do it.Tell me, now," he added, changing the subject to avoid further cross-questioning, "do you and your ma like it here?"The answer was enthusiastic."Oh, yes!" she exclaimed, "we like it ever and ever so much.Mamma says it's--" Barbara hesitated, and then, after what was evidently a severe mental struggle, finished with, "she said once it was like paradise after category.""After--which?"

The young lady frowned."It doesn't seem to me," she observed, slowly, "as if 'category' was what she said.Does 'category' sound right to you, Mr.Winslow?"Jed looked doubtful."I shouldn't want to say that it did, right offhand like this," he drawled.

"No-o.I don't believe it was 'category.' But I'm almost sure it was something about a cat, something a cat eats--or does--or something.Mew--mouse--milk--" she was wrinkling her forehead and repeating the words to herself when Mr.Winslow had an inspiration.

"'Twan't purgatory, was it?" he suggested.

Miss Barbara's head bobbed enthusiastically."Purr-gatory, that was it," she declared."And it was something a cat does--purr, you know; I knew it was.Mamma said living here was paradise after purr-gatory."Jed rubbed his chin.

"I cal'late your ma didn't care much for the board at Luretta Smalley's," he observed.He couldn't help thinking the remark an odd one to make to a child.

"Oh, I don't think she meant Mrs.Smalley's," explained Barbara.

"She liked Mrs.Smalley's pretty well, well as any one can like boarding, you know," this last plainly another quotation."I think she meant she liked living here so much better than she did living in Middleford, where we used to be.""Hum," was the only comment Jed made.He was surprised, nevertheless.Judged by what Captain Sam had told him, the Armstrong home at Middleford should have been a pleasant one.

Barbara rattled on.

"I guess that was it," she observed."She was sort of talking to herself when she said it.She was writing a letter--to Uncle Charlie, I think it was--and I and Petunia asked her if she liked it here and she sort of looked at me without looking, same as you do sometimes, Mr.Winslow, when you're thinking of something else, and then she said that about the catty--no, the purr-gatory.And when I asked her what purr-gatory meant she said, 'Never mind,'

and....Oh, I forgot!" in consternation; "she told me I mustn't tell anybody she said it, either.Oh, dear me!"Jed hastened to reassure her."Never mind," he declared, "I'll forget you ever did say it.I'll start in forgettin' now.In five minutes or so I'll have forgot two words of it already.By to-morrow mornin' I wouldn't remember it for money.""Truly?"

"Truly bluely, lay me down and cut me in twoly.But what's this you're sayin' about your ma lookin' at things without seein' 'em, same as I do? She don't do that, does she?"The young lady nodded."Yes," she said; "course not as bad--I mean not as often as you do, but sometimes, 'specially since--" She hastily clapped her hand over her mouth."Oh!" she exclaimed.

"What's the matter? Toothache?"

"No.Only I almost told another somethin' I mustn't.""Sho! Well, I'm glad you put on the cover just in time.""So am I.What else was I talking about? Oh, yes, Mamma's thinking so hard, same as you do, Mr.Winslow.You know," she added, earnestly, "she acts quite a lot like you sometimes."Jed looked at her in horror."Good Lord!" he exclaimed.Then, in his solemnest drawl, he added, "You tell her to take somethin' for it afore it's too late."As he rose from the bench he observed: "Haven't seen you over to the shop since you moved in.I've been turnin' out another school of swordfish and whales, too.Why don't you run in and look 'em over?"She clapped her hands."Oh, may I?" she cried."I've wanted to ever and ever so much, but Mamma said not to because it might annoy you.Wouldn't it annoy you, TRULY?""Not a bit."