"'Hem!" said the captain, clearing his throat. "Who did you say you was, ma'am?"
"I did not say," the visitor answered stiffly enough now. "I asked you a question."
"Likely—likely," agreed Cap'n Amazon. "But you intimated that you was the a'nt of a party by the name of Grayling. I happen to be her uncle myself. Her mother was my ha'f-sister. I don't remember—jest who'd you say you was, ma'am?"
"I am her father's own sister," cried the lady in desperation.
"Oh, yes! I see!" murmured Cap'n Amazon. "Then you must be her A'nt
'Phemie. I've heard Louise speak of you. Tubbesure!"
"I am Mrs. Conroth," said Mrs. Euphemia Conroth haughtily.
"Happy to make your acquaintance," said Cap'n Amazon, bobbing his head and putting forth his big hand. Mrs. Conroth scorned the hand, raised her lorgnette and stared at the old mariner as though he were some curious specimen from the sea that she had never observed before. Cap'n Amazon smiled whimsically and looked down at his stained and toil-worn palm.
"I see you're nigh-sighted, ma'am. Some of us git that way as we grow older. I never have been bothered with short eyesight myself."
"I wish to see my niece at once," Mrs. Conroth said, flushing a little at his suggestion of her advancing years.
"Come right in," he said, lifting the flap in the counter.