"But I'm not goin'," the captain protested. "I'm not anxious to see her an' John spoonin'. I want to stay right here at home, an' have a quiet smoke all to meself. You an' Flo go along. I'll look after the dishes."
"Indeed you won't stay, Sam'l. You're going, too. You haven't seen
Mrs. Hampton for some time, and it's good for you to be neighbourly.
She won't like it one bit if you don't come. So hurry up with your
smoke, and then get ready."
"Fiddlesticks!" the captain growled as he hunted for his pipe. "I haven't been home fer days, and then when I do git here ye hustle me right away agin."
"And you wouldn't be here now if I hadn't brought you," was the retort. "You're getting more obstinate every day, Sam'l Tobin. I don't know what's coming over you."
"Sense, Martha, jist common sense. I'm seein' things in a new light. Every time I come home ye keep naggin' so much at me that I'm always glad when I git on board the boat agin. I wish to goodness I was thar now. Wonder how Eben's makin' out."
"Most likely he's asleep," Flo laughingly replied. "I'd like to go on board and surprise him. Wouldn't it be fun? May I, mother? You and daddy go to Mrs. Hampton's without me."
"Indeed you'll do no such a thing," her mother sharply replied. "We don't want another drowning accident here like that one at Benton's wharf."
"But I don't want to drown myself, mother. I'm not like that poor unfortunate girl. She was running away from a man who wanted to marry her. Do you think I'd do such a foolish thing as that? Indeed I wouldn't. I wish that Lord Somebody-or-other would come my way. I'm sure I wouldn't drown myself to get clear of him. He wouldn't get rid of me so easily. I wonder what it feels like to have a Lord's son in love with you. I think it would be great."
"Don't talk such nonsense, Flo," Mrs. Tobin chided. "Men are deceivers, and the less you have to do with them the better. Just think of that poor girl who drowned herself. No doubt she found out what that Lord's son was like, and rather than marry him she ended her life. Did you hear whether they found her body, Sam'l?"
The captain gave a guilty start, coughed, and stared at his wife. He was afraid she would ask this question.