r grounds, and once she had waved a greeting. She was a nice girl,
he was sure of it. If she thought at all of the cripple next door he
would like her to think of him in a kindly way, as a decent sort of
hulk, so to speak. It was provoking to feel that she would next hear of
him as a dissipated ruffian, friend and defender of another ruffian who
howled ribald songs in the presence--or at least in the hearing--of
ladies.

He questioned Judah concerning the Fair Harbor, its founder and the
dwellers within its gates. Judah told him what he knew of the story,
which was very little more than the captain already knew, his knowledge
gained from his sister's letters. Captain Sylvanus Seymour had had but
one child, his daughter Lobelia. At his death she, of course, inherited
all his property. According to Bayport gossip, as reported by Mr.
Cahoon, the old man had died worth anywhere from one half a million to
three or five millions. "Richer'n dock mud, I cal'late he was," declared
Judah. "Made a lot of money out of his Boston shippin' business and a
lot more out of stocks and city real estate and one thing or 'nother."
For years after Captain Sylvanus died Lobelia lived alone in the big
house. Then she had married. Judah could tell little about the man she
married.

"He was a music teacher that come to town here one winter, that's about
all I can swear to," said Judah. "Down here for his health, so he said,
and taught singin' school while he was gittin' healthy. His last name
was Phillips, which is all right, but he had the craziest fust name ever
_I_ heard. Egbert 'twas. Hoppin', creepin' Henry! Did you ever _hear_
such a name? _Egbert!_ Jumpin' prophets! Boys round town, they tell me,
used to call him 'Eg' behind his back. Some of 'em, them that didn't
like him, called him 'Soft biled.' Haw, haw! See what they meant, don't
you, Cap'n Sears? Egbert, you know, that's 'Eg' for short, and then
'Soft biled' meanin' a soft biled egg.... Hey? Yes, I cal'lated you'd
see it, you're pretty sharp at a joke, Cap'n, but there _has_ been them
I've told that to that never.... Hey? Aye, aye, sir, I was just goin' to
tell the rest of it."

According to Judah's report, which was a second or third hand report of
course, Egbert Phillips had not been too popular among the males in
Bayport. But with the females--ah, there it was different.

"He was one of them kind, they tell me," said Judah. "One of them
smooth, slick, buttery kind of fellers