“You won't? Why not?”
“Because—well, because I—I can't. There, there, Obed! Please don't ask me again. Please don't!”
Captain Obed did not ask. He did not speak again for what, to Mrs. Barnes, seemed a long, long time. At length she could bear it no longer.
“PLEASE, Obed,” she begged.
The captain slowly shook his head. Then he laughed a short, mirthless laugh.
“What an old fool I am!” he muttered. “What an old fool!”
“Obed, don't talk so! Don't! Do you want to make this—everything—harder for me?”
He straightened and squared his shoulders.
“Thank you, Thankful,” he said, earnestly. “Thank you for sayin' that. That's the way to talk to me. I know I'm an old fool, but I won't be any more, if I can help it. Make it harder for you? I guess not!”
“Obed, I'm so sorry.”