"Now there's no use in all you fellers volunteerin'," Eleazer Crocker asserted. "I'm goin' straight over to Marcia's, as it happens, soon's I've et my dinner, an' I'll take the telegram."
With an air of authority, he held out his hand.
The crowd fell back.
Yet notwithstanding their acquiescence, Zenas Henry, not to be awed into subjection, had the temerity to add:
"Remember, though, Eleazer, you ain't to go off the mainland without leavin' the key to the engine-house where we can get it. We've no hankerin' to be burnt alive while you're philanderin' at The Widder's."
"Hang it on the peg inside Benjamin Todd's fish shanty as you go by," called another voice.
"I'll do that," Eleazer agreed as he pocketed the telegram.
Early afternoon found Marcia alone in the Homestead sitting-room.
A driftwood fire flickered upon the hearth, for although spring was on the way, the large, high-studded rooms were not yet entirely free of winter's chill and dampness.