never have written at all if you hadn't urged me, shamed me out of my
laziness."

"I was a presuming young person, I'm afraid," she said. "I wonder
you didn't tell me to mind my own business. I believe you did, but I
wouldn't mind."

June brought the summer weather and the summer boarders to South
Harniss. One of the news sensations which came at the same time was that
the new Fosdick cottage had been sold. The people who had occupied it
the previous season had bought it. Mrs. Fosdick, so rumor said, was not
strong and her doctors had decided that the sea air did not agree with
her.

"Crimustee!" exclaimed Issachar, as he imparted the news to Mr. Keeler,
"if that ain't the worst. Spend your money, and a pile of money, too,
buyin' ground, layin' of it out to build a house on to live in, then
buildin' that house and then, by crimus, sellin' it to somebody else for
THEM to live in. That beats any foolishness ever come MY way."

"And there's some consider'ble come your way at that, ain't they, Is?"
observed Laban, busy with his bookkeeping.

Issachar nodded. "You're right there has," he said complacently.
"I . . . What do you mean by that? Tryin' to be funny again, ain't you?"

Albert heard the news with a distinct feeling of relief. While the
feeling on his part toward Madeline was of the kindliest, and Madeline's
was, he felt sure, the same toward him, nevertheless to meet her
day after day, as people must meet in a village no bigger than South
Harniss, would be awkward for both. And to meet Mrs. Fosdick might be
more awkward still. He smiled as he surmised that the realization by the
lady of that very awkwardness was probably responsible for the discovery
that sea air was not beneficial.

The story-writing and the story evenings continued. Over the fourth
story in the series discussion was warm, for there were marked
differences of opinion among the listeners. One of the experiences
through which Albert had brought his hero was that of working as general
assistant to a sharp, unscrupulous and smooth-tongued rascal who was
proprietor of a circus sideshow and fake museum. He was a kind-hearted
swindler, but one who never let a question of honesty interfere with the
getting of a dollar. In this fourth story, to the town where the hero,
now a man of twenty-five, had established himself in business, came this
cheat of other days, but now he came as a duly ordained clergyman in
answer to the call of the local church. T