er askin' you to go out sailin' with him this very afternoon."

"You didn't hear his sister ask me, did you? There, there, Uncle Shad,
don't worry about me. I'm having a good time; a very much better time
than if I went sailing with the Keiths."

"What's the matter with the Keiths? They're as nice folks as come to
South Harniss."

"Of course they are."

"Well, then! And you're as good as they are, ain't you?"

"I hope so. Uncle Shad, why don't you wear a white flannel suit in hot
weather? Mr. Keith, Sam's father, wore one at the church garden party
the other day."

The Captain stared at her. "Why don't I wear--what?" he stammered.

"A white flannel suit. You're as good as Mr. Keith, aren't you?"

"I guess I am. I don't know why I ain't. But what kind of a question's
that? I'd look like a plain fool tagged out in one of them things:
anyway, I'd feel like one. I don't belong in a white flannel suit. I
ain't no imitation dude."

"And I don't belong in Sam Keith's yacht. At least Mr. Keith and Edna
would feel that I didn't. I don't want to be considered an imitation,
either."

Shadrach shook his head. "You ain't like anybody else," he said. "You're
a funny girl, Mary-'Gusta."

"I suppose I am; but I'm not as funny as I should be if I tried to BE
somebody else. No, Uncle Shad, you'll just have to bear with me as I am,
funniness and all."

A few days after this Keith, senior, came into the store. He was not
arrayed in the white flannels but was wearing a rather shabby but very
comfortable tweed jacket and trousers and a white canvas hat of the kind
which Hamilton and Company sold for fifty cents. His shirt was of the
soft-collared variety and his shoes were what South Harniss called
"sneakers."

John Keith's visits to Cape Cod were neither very frequent nor lengthy.
His wife and family came in June and remained until late September, but
his sojourns were seldom longer than a week at a time and there were
intervals of a month or more between them. In Chicago he was the head
of a large business and that business demanded close attention. When he
left it he left his cares with it and enjoyed himself in his own way.
That way included old clothes, golf, a boat, and just as few tea and
garden parties as his wife would permit.

He was planning a fishing trip and had stopped at the store to buy
some tobacco. The partners had gone home for dinner and Mary-'Gusta
was tending shop. At that moment she was busy with the