"Now, Ira!" admonished Prudence.
But Ida May only laughed.
"Nobody half as nice as Captain Latham," she said with honesty.
"Well, I cal'late he would be hard to beat, even here on the Cape," agreed the inquisitive old man.
He took a pinch of snuff and prepared to enjoy it. Suddenly remembering his wife's nervousness, he shouted in a high key:
"Looker—out—Prue! A-choon!"
"Good—Well, ye did warn me that time, Ira, for a fact. But if I had a cake in the oven 'stead of biscuit, I guess 'twould have fell flat with that shock. I do wish you could take snuff quiet. Look an' see, will you, Ida May, if those biscuits are burning?"
The girl opened the oven door to view briefly the two pans of biscuit.
"They are not even brown yet, Aunt Prue. But soon."
"The creamed fish is done. I hope you like salt fish, Ida May?"