pecial Providences that's been helpin' along this last voyage of
mine. My second mate was a Hyannis man, name of Cahoon. One day, on
that pesky island, when we was eatin' dinner together, he says to me,
'Cap'n,' he says, 'you're from Trumet, ain't you?' I owned up. 'Know
anybody named Coffin there?' says he. I owned up to that, too. 'Well,'
he says, 'I met her husband last trip I was in the Glory of the Wave.'
I stared at him. 'Met his ghost, you mean,' I says. 'He's been dead
for years, and a good thing, too. Fell overboard and, not bein' used to
water, it killed him.'

"But he wouldn't have it so. 'I used to know Anse Coffin in New
Bedford,' he says. 'Knew him well's I know you. And when we was in port
at Havre I dropped in at a gin mill down by the water front and he come
up and touched me on the arm. I thought same as you, that he was dead,
but he wa'n't. He was three sheets in the wind and a reg'lar dock rat to
look at, but 'twas him sure enough. We had a long talk. He said he was
comin' back to Trumet some day. Had a wife there, he said. I told him,
sarcastic, that she'd be glad to see him. He laughed and said maybe not,
but that she knew he was alive and sent him money when he was hard up.
Wanted me to promise not to tell any Cape folks that I'd seen him, and I
ain't till now.'

"Well, you can imagine how I felt when Cahoon spun me that yarn. First
I wouldn't b'lieve it and then I did. It explained things, just as you
say, John. I could see now why Keziah gave me my walkin' papers. I could
see how she'd been sacrificin' her life for that scum."

"Yes. She wouldn't divorce him. She said she had taken him for better or
worse, and must stand by him. I tried to show her she was wrong, but it
was no use. She did say she would never live with him again."

"I should say not. LIVE with him! By the everlastin'! if he ever comes
within reach of my hands then--there's times when good honest murder is
justifiable and righteous, and it'll be done. It'll be done, you hear
me!"

He looked as if he meant it. Ellery asked another question.

"Did you tell her--Aunt Keziah--when you met her at the Narrows?" he
asked.

"No. But I shall tell her when I see her again. She shan't spoil her
life--a woman like that! by the Lord! WHAT a woman!--for any such crazy
notion. I swore it when I heard the story and I've sworn it every day
since. That's what settled my mind about Grace. Keziah Coffin belongs
to me. She always has belonged