dy else saw as a thing to laugh at, he'd sit and stare out at
the water. "Do be _cheerful_," his wife would say. He'd laugh at that.

But one day he burst out and said things. It was a Sunday afternoon and
the Cadaras were all going to the cemetery. Every Sunday afternoon they
went and took flowers to the stone that said, "Lost at Sea." Agnes would
call, "Come, Tony! We dress now for the cemetery," in a way that made
the Doane children feel that they had nothing at all to do. They filed
out at the gate dressed in the best the Summer folk had left them and it
seemed as if there were a fair, or a circus, and all the Doanes had to
stay at home.

This afternoon he didn't know they were going until he saw Myrtie at the
window. He wondered what she could be looking at as if she wanted it so
much. When he saw, he had to laugh.

"Why, Myrt," said he, "_you_ can go to the cemetery if you want to.
There are lots of Doanes there. Go on and pay them a visit.

"I'm sure they'd be real glad to see you," he went on, as she stood
there doubtfully. "I doubt if anybody has visited them for a long time.
You could visit your great-grandfather, Ebenezer Doane. Whales were so
afraid of that man that they'd send word around from sea to sea that he
was coming. And Lucy Doane is there--Ebenezer's wife. Lucy Doane was a
woman who took what she wanted. Maybe the whales were afraid of
Ebenezer--but Lucy wasn't. There was a dispute between her and her
brother about a quilt of their mother's, and in the dead of night she
went into his house and took it off him while he slept. Spunk up! Be
like the _old_ Doanes! _Go_ to the cemetery and wander around from grave
to grave while the Cadaras are standin' by their one stone! My
father--he'd be glad to see you. Why, if he was alive now--if Captain
Silas Doane was here, he'd let the Cadaras know whether they could walk
on the sidewalk or whether they were to go in the street!"

Myrtie was interested, but after a moment she turned away. "You only go
for near relatives," she sighed.

He stood staring at the place where she had been. He laughed; stopped
the laugh; stood there staring. "You only go for _near_ relatives."
Slowly he turned and walked out of the house. The government goat, left
home alone, came up to him as if she thought she'd take a walk too.

"Go to hell!" said Joe Doane, and his voice showed that inside he was
crying.

Head down, he walked along the beach as far as the breakwater. He