He interrupted her, but not with words. The next moment his arms were about her and she was pressed tight against the breast of his blue jacket.
“Keziah,” he whispered, “I've come to take you home. Home for good. No, stay where you are and I'll tell you all about it. Praise be to God! we're off the rocks at last. All that's left is to tow you into port, and, by the everlastin', that's what I'm here for!”
When Upham came up the stairs after his long interview with “the boss,” he found the door at the top closed. When he rattled the latch that door was opened by a stranger.
“Are you Mr. Hallett?” asked Captain Nat briskly.
“No, I'm not. Mr. Hallett is in his office on the first floor. But what—”
“On the main deck, hey? Well, all right; we won't trouble him. You'll do just as well; I judge you're one of the mates of this craft. You tell Mr. Hallett that this lady here has decided not to cruise with him any longer. No fault to find, you understand, but she's got a better berth. She's goin' to ship along with me. Ain't that so, Keziah?”
Keziah, pale, trembling, scarcely realizing the situation even yet, did not speak. But Captain Nat Hammond seemed to find his answer in her silence. A few minutes later, her arm in his, they descended the gloomy, dusty stairs, and emerged into the sunshine together.
That afternoon Mr. Abner Stone again “washed his hands” of his poor relation—this time, as he indignantly declared, “for good and all.”