"There was a good many of 'em."—Mrs. Marx' voice broke the pause which had come upon the talk.
"Quite a village," her companion assented.
"Why ain't they here now?"
"Dead and gone?" suggested Tom, half laughing.
"Of course! I mean, why ain't the village here, and the people? The people are somewhere—the children and grandchildren of those that lived here; what's become of 'em?"
"That's true," said Tom; "they are somewhere. I believe they are to be found scattered along the coast of the mainland."
"Got tired o' livin' between sea and sky with no ground to speak of.
Well, I should think they would!"
"Miss Lothrop says, on the contrary, that they never get tired of it, the people who live here; and that nothing but necessity forced the former inhabitants to abandon Appledore."
"What sort of necessity?"
"Too exposed, in the time of the war."