"You dislike to disturb them? Is that the trouble?" asked Mrs. Wright.
"I dislike to get my head took off," returned Captain James. "Mrs. Fabian'll have the law on me if I don't knock the nest down and clean up, and Kathleen'll read me the riot act if I do."
The speaker pushed his hat to one side and scratched his head.
Eliza regarded him unsmiling.
"Do you always take care of their cottage?" she asked.
"Ever since they've had one," he answered. "Used to take Kathleen and Edgar out to my pound when they wa'n't knee high to a grasshopper."
"And now she has graduated from college. Think of it," said Mrs. Wright.
"Wa'n't I invited?" asked Captain James proudly. "I guess I was. All engraved up pretty, and Kathleen's card inside. When they fledged Edgar and shoved him out o' the nest he didn't remember me; but little sober-sides there, she wa'n't goin' to forget an old friend. Edgar's boots nor his hat don't exactly fit him, late years," went on Captain James good-humoredly, "but Kathleen always was a brick and she ain't got over it. I guess I'll let the swallers alone till she's had her say anyway."
"Going to be over there this afternoon, Captain James?" asked Mrs. Wright.