“Ah—er—yes, it is,” replied her guest helplessly. He was unaccustomed to feminine effusiveness.
“I—ah—really I find that Captain Shannon interests me. Would you tell me something more about him?” asked Mr. Murphy.
“I suppose it is some years since you knew him?” interrogated Miss Katherine, and, as her guest made a rather unintelligible reply, she continued:
“I have gathered very little from others concerning Captain Shannon, but I have deduced a great deal. I don’t think there is any class of people so interesting as sailors, and especially captains. They are daring, picturesque, romantic, don’t you think?”—Mr. Murphy scratched his head as if he would make an inlet for these new ideas.—“Paul Jones, Long Tom and even Captain Kidd were such captivating characters.”—Mr. Murphy changed off to the other hand.—“On this account I was disposed to admire Captain Shannon, and when I noticed the books he had read and loved I admired him much more. I have always told my brother that a man is charming in proportion to his love of tales of daring and chivalry and romance.”
Here the tide of Miss Katherine’s eloquence was interrupted by an eager gesture from her listener.
“If Captain Shannon set such store by those books, I believe I’ll have a try at them,” he said.
Miss Katherine’s face glowed. Here was a man! She went to the shelves and read over the names. Seeing Mr. Murphy’s lips moving as if he were committing them to memory she offered to make a list for him. This was too great a kindness! How much he would value it!
All this and more that followed on the same lines raised Mr. Murphy to a great height in Miss Katherine’s estimation. Through strict vigilance he succeeded in maintaining this exalted position.
Though other matters might temporarily thrust aside her central subject of interest, Miss Katherine invariably returned to it. The morning after Mr. Murphy’s second visit she set to work in earnest to obtain a clew to the hiding place of Captain Shannon’s treasure. Where was she to begin? She was well informed on the subject of secret drawers and closets and she knew that one was apt to stumble upon them unawares. An inadvertent touch upon a panel, the slightest pressure on some bit of carving might expose the most cleverly concealed hiding place.
For this reason Miss Katherine experienced more or less uneasiness when Mrs. White was not directly under her eye. She found excuses to follow her about constantly, until that honest woman, being of ordinary penetration, concluded that she was not thought strictly trustworthy. As she was a very sensible being she decided that it was not unreasonable for Miss Boulby, an entire stranger, to keep an eye on her. She had heard of such substantials as butter, meat and flour disappearing through the back door, through the agency of the domestic, so she offered to get a testimonial from the minister. Miss Katherine saw her mistake at once and lied glibly but not well. She explained that since coming to that house she had been strangely timid and didn’t like to be alone, and if Mrs. White had noticed her following her about it was for that reason and no other. To give weight to her assertion, she threw in a ghost or two that she had suspected the house of harboring. Miss Katherine would not have congratulated herself upon the success of her explanation had she known that Mrs. White was saying to herself that perhaps all that was true and perhaps it wasn’t, but it would be wise for her to keep an eye on Miss Boulby.