Cap'n Abe, Storekeeper

is nobody but your Aunt E

relative on either side of the family who will take in poor li

ayling replied, his lips pursed reflect

unt Eu

. She expects you, h

planned," sighed Loui

abroad Aunt Euphemia ha

re automaton-only unlik

he pulls th

re's-there's only your poor mother

ise with a quick smile that match

seaweed for the Smithsonian Institution. Your grandmother was a Bellows and her folks lived on the Cape, too. Her family has died out and your grandfather was

ed the girl. "Wh

iled whimsically. "Onl

ack to the first nav

rst nav

worthy sailors than those who called the wind-swept hamlets of Cape Cod their home ports. The Silts

there--" Her voice wandered off into silence. Then suddenly, almo

ould your aunt say?"

eeping mustache that contrasted clearly with his pink, always cleanly shaven cheeks and chin. Without impressing the observer with his

ys looking as though she were fresh from her shower. But there was nothing mannish about Lou Grayl

. Although Mrs. Euphemia Conroth was the professor's own sister he could appreciate Lou's attitude in this emergency. While the girl was growing up there had been times when it was considered best-usually because of her studies-for Lou to live with Aunt Euphemia. Indeed, that

ew York and Albany; and she was as exclusive and opinionated a

little ahead of it-she found her aunt, like many of those barnacles clinging to the outer reefs of learning in college towns, was really a fossil. If one desires to meet the ultraconservative in thought and social life let me commend him

hat "children should be seen but not heard!" Later, although she acknowledged the fact that young girls were now taught many things that in Aunt Euphemia's maidenhood were sc

t an evening party. It made Aunt Euphemia gasp. Anatomy was Lou's hobby. She was an excellent and practical taxidermi

tance, the erudite of Boston. She was sweet and wholesome, as has been indica

out which a woman is a mere doll. Her father often reflected that the

the usual boy-and-girl entanglements which fret the lives of many young folk, because of her association with her father in his journeys about the world. Being a perfectly normal, well-balanced girl,

ckon on doing the sensible-perhaps the obvious-thing in almost any emergency. Therefore, after

enough to choose for yourself-your aunt's opinion to t

she asked him with a smi

't inform me where you decide to spend your summer until I am off. I-I

y. "You take it for gra

she cried

ould be tempted myself, realizing

half-uncle may be

the father's rat

d. "Traitor to t

just as many down there with traits of extreme Yankee frugality as elsewhere in New England. But your mother's people, as I knew

l Louise said. Then th

oston preparatory to sailing. At the moment of departure h

s," she said. "Then you will not know where I am going to spend the ti

ation in his glance. "I've every confidence i

se toward Forty-second Street. She could almost wish she were going with him, although seaweed and mollusk gathering was a messy business, and the vessel he sailed in

ey were giving up. Some trunks were to go to the storehouse. He

son, Louise was bent upon a visit to Cape Cod. At least, she would learn what manner of

which daddy-professor praised so highly. It was too early in the season for the "millionaire's special" to be scheduled, in which those wealthy summer folk who have "disc

eech, plentifully sprinkled with colloquialisms of a salt flavor, amused her, and sometimes puzzled her. Some of the men who rode short

sway of the modern Catalogue House! But their speech was blunt and the three topics

What sent you cruisin' in these waters? I

to come over to Littlebridge for some fixin's. My boarders

he same folks you ha

l nice--for city peop

s Barz

know, one o' them big cakes from the ice fact'ry fell on him. . . . I tell Barzillai the city folks are a gods

e other feller!" was the grim rejoinder. "I had tryin' times with my crowd last

early to gain what these good people themselves would call

he latter in all quarters of the globe and found so little variety in their characters. There were good people and bad people everywhere, Louise had found. Greedy, generous, morose, and laughing; faithful and treach

haps, but suggestive and provocative of genre pictures which would remain in her memory long afterward. There were woods and fields, cranberry bogs and sand dunes, between the hamlets; and always throu

beside the station. The stage had been freshened for the season with a thin coat of yellow pai

ht heavy, as ye might say. . . . Belay that, Jerry!" he observed to the nigh horse that was stamping because of the pest of flies. "We'll cast off in a minute and

ne sunshine extracted the scent of balsam until its strength was almost overpowering. Louise, alone

good sailor," she told h

his horses. He told them frankly what he thought of them on several occasions! But "city folks" w

latin' to sto

Abram Silt's," Lo

ake ye that fur-ain't allowed to drive beyond the

Shell Road storekeeper. That surprised Louise a little. She

the interior of the turnout soon began to take on the semblance of a bake-oven. They came

akers on a near-by reef, busy with his fishing. All manner of craft etched their spars and canvas on the horizon, only bluer than the sea itself. Inshor

she murmured afte

lfway down the hill, just beyond the First Church and the post-office, was the rambling, galleried old structure across the face of which, and high under

Louise got out briskly with her bag. The dri

I'll drive ye inter the tavern yar

him brightly. "I can get

want to know! Oh, yes. You can buy your dinner at the tavern. But 'ta

good-looking young fellow, deeply tanned, with a rather humorous twist to his shaven lips, and with steady

ot offensively. He did not

he observed with neither an assumption of familiarity no

m to keep his distance if he chanced to be contemplating

nd Louise felt that she might have been to

to the Shell Road and Mr. Si

oking youth! She had no idea that these longshore fi

Take the first left-hand

the only one beyond t

oung fellow hesitated as though he were inclined to enter too. But when L

ning-room at one side, welcomed the girl. A bustling young woman in checked gingham, w

said briskly.

d, smiling-and when she smile

mething hot. Come right this way an' wash. I'll fix you a tabl

en bustled away. Later she hovered about the table w

you're one o' them movin' picture actresses they sa

nk so?" asked Louis

erse that tells all about you. I'd like to try actin' before the cam'ra myself. But I cal'late I ain't got much 'screen charm,'" the waitress added serio

that I do,"

must just look fetchin' in a picture. I don't belie

ayl

gin gave an envious sigh. "Is it your hone

'" the visitor confessed

t nobody ever remembers down here on the Cape to call anybody by such a long name. Useter be a boy in our school who was named 'Christopher

ion's real, too, ain't it?" pursued this waitress with histrionic ambitions. "Real pretty,

s always necessary to accentuate th

member that," said Gusty. "You goin' to stay d

Bea

ozewell house. Swell bungalow. All

l stay," confessed Louise Grayling;