“Desperately lonely, I mean.”
“Yes’m. I judged that was what you meant. Still, folks can be lonesome in New York.”
“Perhaps. But really I don’t see how. With all the whirl and the crowds and the glorious excitement. The feeling that one is at the very heart, the center of everything!”
“Yes. If you belong to the machinery, I s’pose it’s all right. But if you’ve been leanin’ over the rail, lookin’ on, and get pushed in unexpected, maybe you don’t care so much about bein’ nigh the center.”
“Then why stay there? Why not get out?”
“If you’re caught in the wheels, gettin’ out’s somethin’ of a job.”
“But, as I understand it, Captain Warren—I may be misinformed, for, of course, I haven’t been unduly curious concerning your family affairs—as I understand it, you were not obliged to remain among the—among the wheels, as you call them. You could have gotten out quite easily, couldn’t you?”
“I presume likely I could. But, you see, ma’am, I had a feelin’ that I’d ought to stay.”
Mrs. Dunn laughed lightly. “Ah me!” she exclaimed; “you felt it your duty, I suppose. Oh, you New England Puritans!”
She shook her head in playful mockery. Then she added, “But, at all events, it cannot be so very disagreeable—now. I have no doubt it was—well, not comfortable for you at first. Steve and Caroline were quite impossible—really quite furious. Your sudden appearance in the capacity of guardian was too much for them. They were sure you must be a perfect ogre, Captain. I had to use all my eloquence to convince them they would not be devoured alive. But now—what a change! Why, already Caroline accepts you as—well, almost like an old friend, like myself. In the last few days this change in her attitude is quite marked. What have you done? Are you a wizard? Do tell me!”