e back in Trumet, is she?"

"Seems to be. _I_ am; you can bet high on that."

"And--er--Gertie, is she contented, too?"

This question touched directly the one uncertainty, the one
uncomfortable doubt in the captain's mind. He looked keenly at the
questioner.

"What makes you ask that?" he demanded.

"Oh, nothing much. She seems changed, that's all. She used to be so full
of spirits, and so bright and lively. Now she is quiet and doesn't talk
much. Looks thinner, too, and as if something was troubling her. Perhaps
it is my imagination. When's John Doane coming down? 'Most time for him
to be spending a Sunday with you, ain't it? Engaged folks don't usually
stay apart more than a week, especially when the one is as near the
other as Boston is to Trumet."

Daniel knocked the ashes from his pipe into the wastebasket.

"Oh, oh, John'll be along pretty soon, I shouldn't wonder," he said
hastily. "He--he's pretty busy these days, I suppose."

"Nice thing his bein' taken into the firm, after Mr. Griffin died,
wasn't it. Well, he's a pretty smart fellow, John is, and he deserves to
get ahead. Did he tell you the particulars about it?"

"No. No, not all of 'em. Is that a customer in the other room?"

Mr. Bangs hurried away to attend to the customer. The captain seized the
opportunity to make a timely exit. He went into the house, remained
a while with his wife, and then returned. Nathaniel had gone on an
order-taking trip and Sam Bartlett, the boy, was in charge. Just as
Daniel entered the store from the side door Gertrude came in at the
front.

"Hello, Daddy," she said. "All alone?"

"Not quite, but I'd just as soon be. Sam, go into the other room; I'll
hail you if I need you. Gertie, come here. I want to have a talk with
you."

Gertrude came. She took her old position, perching upon the arm of her
father's chair, with her own arm about his neck.

"Gertie," began the captain, "what would you think of my makin' Nate
Bangs a partner in this concern?"

Gertrude uttered an exclamation of delight.

"Splendid!" she cried. "Just what I wanted you to do. I thought of it,
but I said nothing because I wanted you to say it first. It will be just
the right thing."

"Ye-es, so it seemed to me. All that's good here in this store is due
to Nathaniel. He's made a real, live business out of a remains that was
about ready for the undertaker. I ought to give him the whole craft,
but--but I hate to."

"You could. You could s