Asaph, frightened at the effect of his words, hurriedly departed. Captain Cy paced the room for the next fifteen minutes. Then he opened the kitchen door.
“Bos'n,” he called, “come in and set in my lap a while; don't you want to? I'm—I'm sort of lonesome, little girl.”
The next afternoon, when the schoolmistress, who had been delayed by the inevitable examination papers, stopped at the Cy Whittaker place, she was met by Georgianna; Emily, who stood behind the housekeeper in the doorway, was crying.
“Cap'n Cy has gone away—to Washin'ton,” declared Georgianna. “Though what he's gone there for's more'n I know. He said he'd send his hotel address soon's he got there. He went on the three o'clock train.”
Phoebe was astonished.
“Gone?” she repeated. “So soon! Why, he told me he should certainly be here to hear some news I expected to-day. Didn't he leave any message for me?”
The housekeeper turned red.
“Miss Phoebe,” she said, “he told me to tell you somethin', and it's so dreadful I don't hardly dast to say it. I think his troubles have driven him crazy. He said to tell you that you'd better not come to this house any more.”