"Humph!" Miss Zerviah sniffed. "Well, I suppose you ought to know, seeing he's been living under your roof for all these years. It's a wonder to me he didn't set up to one of you Tibbett girls long ago."
Two red spots flamed in Miss Phosie's cheeks, and she pressed her hands together till the knuckles showed the strained clasp. She swallowed hard. No apt retort would come to her lips. She felt Zerviah's inquisitive eye upon her. Presently a fitting response suggested itself to her. "Mr. Williams stands in the place of the brother we lost," she said, holding her head high. "Father always says so, and I'm sure no brother could be more thoughtful than him, and no son neither."
Miss Zerviah's hand was on the latch and she slipped out the door as some one passed the window. "Well, good-bye," she said hastily. She felt that she would rather not meet Luther Williams in Miss Phosie's presence, just then.
He greeted her with a lifting of the cap and a "Good evening, Miss Zerviah," as he entered the kitchen where Miss Phosie stood with the light of triumph in her eye. "Been having a set-to with Zerviah?" he said pleasantly, knowing that the two seldom met without a tilt of words. "What was the cause of the battle this time?"
"She's been spying on Ora," replied Miss Phosie, glad to be able to speak truthfully. "I declare, Mr. Williams, she'd like to run this whole island. I believe she'd try to worm a secret out of a log. Do you think, Mr. Williams, we'd ought to separate Ora from Manny? She might go to her mother's folks for awhile. Manny mayn't exactly be up-and-coming, but he hasn't bad habits. He's awful good company, full of fun, and everybody likes him. It doesn't seem quite right to stand between two that love each other, does it? Supposing she was your daughter what would you do about it?"
Mr. Williams' face twitched as he sat down on the lounge, but he made no answer at once.
"You know," Miss Phosie went on. "You stand in the place of a brother to us, as you always say, and Phenie don't like to discuss this with me. She's never one to worry overmuch, and tells me I mustn't cross my bridges till I come to 'em, but it seems to me we've just about set foot on this one. Do you think I'm too anxious, Mr. Williams? How would you feel if it was your daughter?"
"That's a pretty hard question to answer, Phosie," said Mr. Williams after a silence. "Maybe it might be a good thing to send her away for awhile until you get your bearings. Maybe it would be a good test. She's very young, and such young things aren't always constant. It might be a good thing for Manny, too. You could tell Ora that when Manny can provide a home for her it will be time enough for them to be thinking of matrimony. She may meet some one in Bangor that she'd like better, a richer man, maybe. She's not seventeen yet, is she?"
"She will be in a couple of weeks. I'm thinking, Mr. Williams, that it would be pretty bad if she should happen to take a fancy to a worse man than Manny. You can't never tell how some of these city men'll turn out, and we know all there is to know about Manny. If she should do worse I'd feel that we'd separated two loving hearts and been punished for doing it. It hain't money that brings happiness, you know, Mr. Williams, and she's been brought up among fishermen. She's used to the ways here."
"A fisherman's wife has a hard time sometimes."