im sence the first day he come, when I
see him take his little sister's bigger cake unbeknownst to the little
one, an' put his'n what was not so big in its place."

There were no family secrets or shortcomings which would not come to
light when the captain was on the high-road to such disclosures; for a
wise and discreet reticence was not his distinguishing characteristic,
as we know.

"I hope he'll do well, an' turn out a credit to ye, Gov'nor an' Mr.
Livingstone," he continued, as though washing his hands of the boy,
though all the while the trouble dwelt upon his weather-beaten old
face; "but _I_ bet on Jim, an' I wish it was him had the chance ye
speak of. Mebbe it is, now; an' if it was, it'd be 'most a set-off agin
the other not havin' it. I set a lot on Jim!"

And the old man looked inquiringly at uncle Rutherford, who was not,
however, _quite_ so indiscreet as his interlocutor, and kept his own
counsel so far as this.

So it was settled, then. Theodore was to be removed from the school he
was attending at present, and sent to the boarding-school, where he
would be under far closer restraint than he could be in the city, or
even at home with his grandparents; and there could be no question that
the old man felt that a great responsibility was taken from his
shoulders.

"I wish it was time to go home. I mean, I wish Miss Yorke was cured up
so's we could go home," he said. "I reckon I've seen about all there is
to see in this town; an' it's my opinions I might 'bout as well be
thinkin' of the seines an' poles, an' lobster-pots, an' so on. Course
they wants lookin' arter 'cordin' to custom this time o' year; an'
Jabez he's took so to carpenterin' an' what he calls cabiny-makin',
he's goin' to let 'em slip, Jabez is; an' come time for settin' 'em
they ain't goin' to be ready, an' I reckon I oughter to be there; but
the doctor, he says four weeks more for Miss Yorke, an' he'll let her
go cured. She's pretty first-rate now, an' she don't walk no more with
a cane, on'y comin' up an' down the stairs. I never did see such folks
to have long ladders of stairs as York folks is; when I fust come, I
used to think I wouldn't never get to the top of 'em; an' even the poor
folks here has to go a-pilin' theirselves up atop of stairs as high as
a mast, one lot atop of another. Ye get up near the sky there; not that
folks is so good an' heavenly; no, no; there's on'y a few of 'em that
way;" with an approving nod at father and