ld be said to ring,
with reports of the event of the week before. Doctor Thayer had been
sphinx-like, and Little Simon had been imaginative and voluble; and it
would have been difficult to say which had teased the popular curiosity
the more. Aleck found a tale ready for his ears about the launch and
its three passengers, with many conflicting details. Some said that a
great singer had been wrecked off Ram's Head, others that it was the
captain and mate of the _Jeanne D'Arc_, others that it was a daughter
of old Parson Thayer's sweetheart and two sailors that came ashore.
Little or nothing was known about the island castaway. Aleck followed
the only clue he could find, thinking to get at least some inkling of
the truth.

CHAPTER XIII

ALECK SEES A GHOST

Little Simon drove leisurely up the long, rugged hill over which Agatha
and James had so recently traveled, and drew rein in the shade at a
distance of a long city block from his destination. He pointed with
his whip while he addressed Aleck, his sole passenger.

"Yonder's the old red house, Mister. The parson, he hated to have his
trees gnawed, and Major here's a great horse for gnawing the bark offer
trees. So I never go no nearer the house than this."

"All right, Simon; you wait for me here."

Aleck walked slowly along the country road, enjoying the fragrant
fields, the quiet beauty of the place. It was still early in the day,
for he had lost no time in following the clues gathered from the
village as to the survivors of the _Jeanne D'Arc_. The air was fresh
and clean, with a tang of the distant salt marshes.

A long row of hemlocks and Norway spruce bordered the road, and, with
the aid of a stone wall, shut off from the highway a prosperous-looking
vegetable garden. Farther along, a flower garden glowed in the
fantastic coloring which gardens acquire when planted for the love of
flowers rather than for definite artistic effects. Farther still, two
lilac bushes stood sentinel on either side of a gateway; and behind, a
deep green lawn lay under the light, dappled shade of tall trees. It
was a lawn that spoke of many years of care; and in the middle of its
velvet green, under the branches of two sheltering elms, stood the old
red house. It looked comfortable and secure, in its homely simplicity;
something to depend on in the otherwise mutable scenes of life. Aleck
felt an instantaneous liking for it, and was glad that his errand, sad
as it