"I was going to be so wonderfully independent! I was going to come to the Cape, and find a place to live, and then some day saunter over to your cottage bareheaded, and surprise you."
"And all you accomplished was the surprise, eh?"
"That's it, and it's entirely your fault. I was driving about with Captain Holt to see the lay of the land, when suddenly the rocks and the water, and this cottage perched on them like a gull's nest, did something to me. I don't know what. I think it gave me a brain-storm. When he told me you lived here, what could I do but rush in to congratulate you?"
Miss Barry's lips twitched again. "I ain't any gull, I will maintain that, but—it is sightly, ain't it?"
"Wonderful. Nothing less than wonderful. But in a storm, Miss Barry?"
"Yes, the windows are all spray then, and the waves try to swallow me up, and I can't hear myself think, but—"
"Yes,"—Mrs. Porter nodded as the other hesitated,—"I understand that 'but.'"
"How'd you leave my brother?"
"Very tired."
"That so? Wouldn't you think he'd come up here and rock in the cradle o' the deep awhile? You write him about that hammock out there."