evidence along East Wellmouth's main road. What
had been done by the great man and his employees and what would be done
in the near future kept the gossips busy. He was planning a new rose
garden--"the finest from Buzzard's Bay down"; he had torn out the "whole
broadside" of the music-room and was "cal'latin'" to make it twice as
large as formerly; he was to build a large conservatory on the knoll by
the stables. Hannah Parker declared she could not see the need of this.
"There's a tower onto the main buildin' already," she said, "pretty nigh
as high as a lighthouse. I should think a body could see fur enough
from that tower, without riggin' up a conservatory. Well, Mrs. Kendrick
needn't ask ME to go up in it. I went to the top of the conservatory on
Scargo Hill one time and I was so dizzy in the head I thought sure I'd
fall right over the railin'."

The High Cliff boarders--Miss Timpson and Caleb Hammond
especially--spent a great deal of time peering from the living-room
windows and watching what they called the "goin's on" at the Kendrick
estate. Occasionally they caught a glimpse of E. Holliday himself. The
great man was inclined to greatness even in the physical meaning of
the word, for he was tall and stout, and dignified, not to say pompous.
Arrayed in white flannels he issued orders to his hirelings and the
hirelings obeyed him. When one is monarch of the larger portion of all
he surveys it must be gratifying to feel that one looks the part. E.
Holliday looked it and apparently felt it.

Thankful, during this, her most prosperous season, was active from
morning until night. When that night came she was ready for sleep, ready
for more than she could afford to take. Emily was invaluable as manager
and assistant, and Captain Obed Bangs assisted and advised in every way
that he could. The captain had come to be what Mrs. Barnes called the
"sheet anchor" of the High Cliff House. Whenever the advice of a man,
or a man's help was needed, it was to Captain Bangs that she turned. And
Captain Obed was always only too glad to help. Hannah Parker declared he
spent more time at the boarding house than he did at her home.

If Emily Howes noticed how frequently the captain called--and it is
probable that she did--she said nothing about it. John Kendrick must
have noticed it, for occasionally, when he and Captain Obed were alone,
he made an irrelevant remark like the following:

"Captain," he said, on one occasion, "I think