“What is it?” she asked. “What is the matter? Is anybody sick? Is your father—”
“No, he's all right. That is, he's as well as he has been lately, though that isn't sayin' much.”
“Is Grace—”
“No, she's all right, too, I guess. Been sort of quiet and sorrowful for the last few weeks—or I've seemed to notice that she has—but I cal'late it's nothin' serious. I wouldn't wonder if the same thing that's troublin' her is what ails me.”
“But what is it? Why don't you tell me?”
“I'm goin' to tell you, Keziah. That's what I come here for. I—”
“Sit down, can't you? Don't stand up there like a lighthouse, shuttin' out the whole broadside of the room. You are the BIGGEST thing!”
Captain Hammond selected the most substantial chair in the apartment and sat down upon it. He looked at his friend and shook his head.
“No use, Keziah,” he said. “If I was as deep down in the blues as the bottom of the Whale Deep, a look at that face of yours would pull me to the top again. You're a good woman!”
“Thanks! When I have spare time on my hands I'll practice tryin' to believe that. But what is the trouble, Nat? Out with it.”