en crowded with
activities. Twice the girl and Captain Shadrach had journeyed to Boston,
where in company with Mrs. Wyeth, whose services had been volunteered
in a crisp but kindly note, they visited shops and selected and
purchased--that is, the feminine members of the party selected and the
Captain paid for--a suit and waists and hats and other things which it
appeared were necessary for the wardrobe of a young lady at finishing
school. Shadrach would have bought lavishly, but Mrs. Wyeth's common
sense guided the selections and Mary-'Gusta was very particular as to
price. Shadrach, at the beginning, made a few suggestions concerning
colors and styles, but the suggestions were disregarded. The Captain's
taste in colors was not limited; he fancied almost any hue, provided
it was bright enough. His ward would have looked like an animated crazy
quilt if he had had his way.

He grumbled a little as they journeyed back to South Harniss.

"She may be all right, that Wyeth woman," he said, "but she's too
everlastin' sober-sided to suit me. Take that hat you and she bought;
why, 'twas as plain, and hadn't no more fuss and feathers than a
minister's wife's bonnet. You ain't an old maid; no, nor a Boston
first-family widow, neither. Now, the hat I liked--the yellow and blue
one--had some get-up-and-git. If you wore that out on Tremont Street
folks would turn around and look at you."

Mary-'Gusta laughed and squeezed his hand. "You silly Uncle Shad," she
said, "don't you know that is exactly what I don't want them to do?"

Shadrach turned his gaze in her direction. She was at the end of the
car seat next to the window and against the light of the setting sun her
face and head were silhouetted in dainty profile. The Captain sighed.

"Well," he said, philosophically, "I don't know's we need to argue. I
cal'late they'll look some as 'tis."

Her parting instructions to her uncles were many and diversified. Zoeth
must be sure and change to his heavy flannels on the first of October.
He must not forget rubbers when the ground was damp, and an umbrella
when it rained. If he caught cold there was the medicine Doctor Harley
had prescribed. He must not sit up after ten o'clock; he must not try
to read the paper without first hunting for his spectacles. These were a
few of his orders. Shadrach's list was even longer. It included going
to church every other Sunday: keeping his Sunday shoes blacked: not
forgetting to change his collar e