o to
after they left?"

Miss Berry smiled. "They have no idea of leaving," she said. "But they
like to think--or pretend to think--that they could if they wanted to
and that the Fair Harbor would go to rack and ruin if they did. It
comes, you see, of to paying that hundred dollars a year. That, to their
mind--and I imagine Mrs. Phillips had it in her mind too, when she
planned this place--prevents it being a 'home' in the ordinary sense of
the word. But Susanna's threatening to leave amounts to nothing. What I
am so much interested in is to know how you changed her attitude and
Elvira's from war to peace? How did you do it, Cap'n Kendrick?"

The captain's left eyelid drooped. He smiled. "Well," he said, slowly,
"I tell you. I've sailed in all sorts of weather and I've come to the
conclusion that when you're in a rough sea the first thing to do, if you
can, is to smooth it down. If you can't--why, then fight it. The best
treatment I know for a rough sea is to sling a barrel of oil over the
bows. It's surprisin' what a little bit of oil will do to make things
smoother for a vessel. It's always worth tryin', anyway, and that's how
I felt in this case of Elvira and Susanna. When I started to beat up
into their neighborhood I had a barrel of oil slung over both my port
and starboard bows. I give you my word, Miss Elizabeth, I was the
oiliest craft afloat in these waters, I do believe."

His smile broadened. Elizabeth smiled too, but her smile was a bit
uncertain.

"I--I _think_ I understand you, Cap'n Kendrick," she said. "But I'm not
quite sure. How did you---- Would you mind being just a little more
clear? Won't you explain a little more fully?"

"Surely. Easiest thing in the world. Take Sister Snowden. I cast anchor
under her lee--and 'twas like tyin' up to an iceberg at first. Ha,
ha!--and I began by sayin' that I had been waitin' for a chance to speak
with her alone. There were a few things I wanted to explain, I said. I
told her that of course I realized she was not like the average, common
run of females here in the Harbor. I knew that so far as brains and
refinement and--er--beauty were concerned she was far, far ahead, had
all the rest of 'em hull down, so to speak."

"Cap'n Kendrick, you didn't!"

"Eh! Well, maybe I left out the 'beauty,' but otherwise than that I told
her just that thing. The ice began to melt a little and when I went on
to say that I realized how much the success of the Fair Harbor depend