“'Not so busy it'll wreck my nerves keepin' up with my dates,' says I. 'Why?'
“'Can you spare a half-hour or so to come 'round to my office at—well, say two tomorrow afternoon? I've got a little business of my own and I'd like to have you there. Will you come?'
“'Sartin,' I told him.
“'Of course, if you're afraid of the moral leprosy—'
“'I ain't.'
“'Then I'll look for you,' says he, and off he went. I ain't seen him since. He come down along of Winnie S. and I had one of Chris Badger's teams. Now WHAT do you cal'late it all means?”
“I don't know. I don't know. But I can't think Emily—Hush! she's comin'.”
Emily entered the room and Captain Obed began philosophically concerning the storm, which he declared was “liable to be a hooter.”
He went away soon after. At the door, when he and Mrs. Barnes were alone, he whispered, “Ain't changed your mind, have you, Thankful? About—about what I said to you that day?”
“Obed, please! You said you wouldn't.”