looked upward at the high rambling house,
its dormers and gables, its white clapboards and green window blinds.
The sunlight streamed over it, but beneath the vine-hung lattice and
under the locust tree were coolness and shadow. The wing of the big
house, projecting out to the corner of the drive, shut off the view to
or from the road. Somehow, the whole yard, with its peace and quiet and
sunshine and shadow, and above all, its retirement, made a great appeal.
It seemed so homelike, so shut away, so comforting, like a sheltered
little backwater where a storm-beaten craft might lie snug.

Mr. Cahoon made anxious inquiry.

"What do you think of it, Cap'n?" he asked.

His visitor did not reply. Instead he said, "Judah, I'd like to see your
quarters inside, may I?"

"Sartin sure you may. Right this way. Look out for the rocks in the
channel," indicating the brick floor beneath the lattice. "Two or three
of them bricks stick up more'n they ought to. Twice since I've been here
the stem of one of my boots has fetched up on them bricks and I've all
but pitch-poled. Take your time, Cap'n Sears, take your time. Here, lean
on my shoulder, I'll pilot you."

The captain smiled. "Much obliged, Judah," he said, "but I shan't need
your shoulder. There aren't any stairs to climb, are there? Stair
climbin' is too much for me yet awhile. Perhaps it will always be. I
don't know."

The tone in which he uttered the last sentence caused his companion to
turn his head and regard him with concern.

"Sho, sho, sho!" he exclaimed, hastily. "What kind of talk's that,
Cap'n! I'll live to see you shin up and hang your hat on the main truck
yet.... There, here's the galley. Like it, do you?"

The "galley" was, of course, the kitchen. It was huge and low and very
old-fashioned. Also it was, just now, spotlessly clean. From it opened
the woodshed, and toward the front, the dining room.

"I don't eat in here much," observed Judah, referring to the dining
room. "Generally mess in the galley. Comes more natural to me. The
settin' room, and back parlor and front parlor are out for'ard yonder.
Come on, Cap'n Sears."

The captain shook his head. "Never mind them just now," he said. "I want
to see the bedrooms, those you use, Judah. That is, unless they're up
aloft."

"No, no. Right on the lower deck, both of 'em. Course there _is_ plenty
more up aloft, but, as I told you, I never bother 'em. Here's my berth,"
opening a door from the sitting ro