ht to be givin' orders 'bout what's none of my affairs. What
time is it gittin' to be?"

Captain Jerry announced that it was bedtime, and that he was going to
turn in. Perez, still looking worried and anxious, said that he also was
going to bed. Captain Eri thought that he would sit up for a while.

Another hour and still another went by, and the Captain sat there in his
rocker. His two friends were sound asleep. Mrs. Snow called twice from
the head of the stairs to know if Elsie had come back, and where on
earth she could be. Captain Eri's answers were cheery and to the effect
that the young lady had an errand up town, and would be home pretty
soon, he guessed. Nevertheless, it might have been noticed that he
glanced at the clock every few minutes, and grew more and more fidgety.

It was after eleven when Elsie came in. She hurriedly and with some
confusion apologized for being so late, and thanked the Captain for
sitting up for her. She made no offer to explain her long absence
and, as she went upstairs, Captain Eri noticed that her face was, if
anything, paler than when she went out, and her eyes looked as if
she had been crying. He wanted to ask her some questions, but didn't,
because she evidently did not wish to talk. He pondered over the matter
while undressing, and for a long time after that lay awake thinking.
That the girl was in trouble of some sort was plain, but he could not
understand why she said nothing about it, or what its cause might be.
She had been her bright, happy self all day and a part of the evening.
Then she had suddenly changed. The Captain wondered what was in that
letter.

CHAPTER XII

A LITTLE POLITICS

Elsie, when she came down to breakfast next morning, was quieter than
usual, and to the joking questions of Captain Jerry and Captain Perez,
who were curious concerning her "errand" of the previous evening, and
who pretended to believe that she had gone to a dance or "time" with
some "feller" unknown, she gave evasive, but good-humored replies.
Captain Eri was on his usual fishing trip, and after breakfast was over
Perez departed to the Barry place, and Jerry to his beloved schoolhouse.
The sacrifice, whose impending matrimonial doom had not been mentioned
for some time by the trio interested, was gradually becoming his own
garrulous self, and his principal topic of conversation recently had
been the coming marriage of the "upstairs teacher"--that is, the lady
who presided over