Chapter XXII

In the meantime as the day wore on and Lemuel Gill failed to make his customary appearance at the Dolphin, Althea continually raised her eyes from the cakes she was frosting to glance down the lane in search of his familiar figure.

“Where’s Lemmy, Asaph?” she at length inquired. “He’s most always here by now. You don’t s’pose he’s sick, do you?”

“He warn’t when I saw him early.”

“But he generally comes long before this.”

Her husband, who was transferring trays of cups and saucers from the pantry to the veranda, did not answer immediately and when he did an unusual note in his voice arrested his wife’s attention.

“Mebbe he’s gettin’ tired of totin’ tea day after day.”

“Are you gettin’ tired of it?”

“No more’n the rest are, I reckon.” He set down the china with a resounding clatter.

“The rest?” repeated Althea vaguely.

“Yes--Rebecca, Eric, Peggy--the whole lot of ’em. Even the Parker girl don’t seem to be so keen on tendin’ up as when she first come, an’ has gone flyin’ off with this young feller who’s just put in his appearance. Nobody acts same’s they did at the outset. Looks to me as if tea was losin’ its charm. Rebecca now, where’s she this mornin’? I ain’t laid eyes on her for an hour or more.”

“She went out to hunt some mint.”

“She don’t ’pear to have found it.”

“Likely she’s doin’ somethin’ else besides. She’ll be back soon. She’s no shirker, ’Becca ain’t.”

“But Peggy--Eric? Even you yourself are different, Althea. The whole crew seems to be in the doldrums. I can’t make it out.”

“It’s easy enough to account for Peggy an’ Eric. She’s waverin’ ’twixt him an’ the lieutenant, an’ not bein’ sure which to take is kinder down in the mouth about it.”

“Lord! Why, I thought Peggy an’ her sailor man were in the seventh heaven.”

“They ain’t.”

With admiration the big fellow looked down at her.

“Wal’, wal’! Who would ’a’ dreamed that!” he murmured. “You beat me, Althea. How come you to know so much about it?” He took a turn or two across the floor, thoughtfully studying the broad plank on which he walked. “So you think Peggy ain’t as contented with young Shattuck as she pretends to be, eh?”

“No. Eric’s the one her heart is really set on.”

“That’s what Lemmy thinks. But as I was sayin’ to him she had Eric hard an’ fast in the first place an’ ’tain’t probable--”

“Girls are like that. They’re skittish as colts, playin’ fast an’ loose with men an’ takin’ up with all manner of silliness. Now an’ then they get trapped doin’ it an’ that’s what’s happened to Miss Peggy.”

“She can’t be very happy about it.”

“She’s miserable. All three of ’em are.”

“But Eric’s got the Parker girl.”

“Asaph Holmes! Well, you’re no more stupid than I was myself, so I’ll have to forgive you. At one time I thought that too, an’ was sorter up a tree about it. But my soul’s at rest now, I’m thankful to say, an’ I can assure you positively that Eric Hollingsworth cares nothin’ for Eleanor Parker an’ never did. It’s lucky for him, too, because she’s promised already to this chap that hove in sight today.”

“Bless my soul! Why, I figgered much as could be that she an’ Eric--”

“Well, they warn’t.”

The man halted.

“Wal’, I’ll throw up my hands,” he sighed. “This love-makin’ business is too much for me. I never saw the beat of the snarl they’re all in. Fur’s I can make out the whole lot of ’em are tangled up with the wrong folks.” Then as Althea made no response he added: “Don’t you most think somebody should take a hand an’ set ’em right?”

The effect of the remark was electrical.

“No!” she cried. “Outside people have no earthly right to be meddlin’ with marriages. I’ve always said so an’ lately I’ve had it proved to me.”

Her earnestness piqued her husband’s curiosity.

“How?” inquired he, scanning her face.

“Oh, I’ve--well, no matter. It’s a long story. I’ve just happened to see my theory demonstrated, that’s all,” answered she with haste. “The less humans go dabblin’ with the Lord’s affairs the better, in my opinion. Nobody thanks ’em for puttin’ in their oar an’ like as not they do more harm than good by meddlin’.”

“You seem awful roused about it,” he smiled, making a clumsy attempt to lighten her depression.

Althea ignored his comment.

“I’ve made a vow that in future I’ll ’tend strictly to my own business an’ leave others to ’tend to theirs,” was her irrelevant response.

“What’s that got to do with Peggy, Eric, an’ the Parker girl?”

“U----m. Nothin’, perhaps. I was just talkin’ on general principles.”

“Wal’, it is a pretty safe rule,” he agreed, strolling to the window and looking out. Then after a moment he called over his shoulder: “You don’t think I’d better go outside an’ see if I can find ’Becca, do you?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Or Lemmy? I might step over there an’ just see what’s detainin’ him.”

“You’ll do nothin’ of the sort. He don’t have to come here every day an’ help around if he don’t want to. Mebbe he’s got things of his own to do. He may be transplantin’ somethin’; he said he was goin’ to some day.”

“But he wouldn’t be transplantin’ in the boilin’ sun.”

Would Althea never learn the rules of gardening?

“I guess he ain’t that particular. He’d do it, most likely, when he got time.”

“You can’t transplant in the daytime.”

She laughed musically.

“Anybody’d think, to hear you talk, transplantin’ was a sorter clandestine thing or else somethin’ disrespectable. Well, grantin’ it can’t be done except under cover, I ain’t goin’ to have you go postin’ over to Lemmy’s to hunt him up. ’Twould look as if you’d come after him.”

“But he may be sick--had a sunstroke or--”

“Humph! I don’t believe so. Lemmy never has anything the matter with him.”

“That’s no sign he never will.”

“Oh, he’s all right. Don’t go flyin’ into a hundred pieces about him. He’ll turn up before long. You’d never have thought of it if I hadn’t put the notion into your head.”

Nevertheless, in spite of Althea’s comfortable prediction, on sped the hours and nothing was seen of either Lemuel Gill or Rebecca Crosby.

“I wish I’d gone lookin’ ’em up when I first suggested it,” fidgeted Asaph. “Don’t you want I should set out now an’ try an’ find ’Becca?”

“Mercy, no.”

“But she always helps with frostin’ the cakes, don’t she?”

“Usually, yes. Still, I’m managin’ to slither ’em over without her.”

“Mebbe somethin’s befallen her. She may have sprained her ankle--”

“Rebecca’s no blunderer. She’s light of foot as a fairy. She’s prob’ly just takin’ the air.”

“Takin’ the air a busy mornin’ like this! Who ever heard of such an idea? Besides, it’s most noon.”

“I told her not to hurry.”

“Wal’, she certainly hasn’t. You could get all the mint in Barnstable county in this time. It’s strikin’ twelve this minute. She’s been gone two mortal hours.”

“I know it.”

“It don’t take two hours to gather a few sprigs of mint.”

“Do stop fumin’, Asaph,” interposed his wife impatiently. “You’re not goin’ out either to hunt up Rebecca or drum up Lemuel Gill, so you may’s well stop talkin’ about it. If they’re dead an hour or so ain’t goin’ to make any difference with ’em; an’ if they’re livin’ they’ll show up in time. I’m perfectly capable of runnin’ the Dolphin without their help. If they don’t want to lend a hand I’m the last one on earth would urge ’em to. Thank goodness, I’ve some pride if you haven’t.”

“But--but,” began Asaph, making a last feeble protest, “’Becca came here for the express purpose of--”

Whatever Rebecca’s purpose was was never stated, for at that instant both the delinquents appeared in the doorway.

Rebecca walked ahead, blushing and wreathed in smiles; Lemuel, triumphant but a trifle shamefaced, ambled after her.

Asaph sped to greet them.

“Wal’, if I ain’t thankful to see you back!” ejaculated he. “I was just comin’ to find you.”

“To find us?” Rebecca asked.

“Yes. What kept you? There warn’t nothin’ the matter? You warn’t hurt, lost or anythin’? We were gettin’ terrible worried.”

“Hush, Asaph!” cautioned Althea beneath her breath.

“’Tain’t late, is it?” Miss Crosby inquired with surprise.

“It’s noontime.”

“Noontime!” echoed the guilty pair.

“Why, I’d no more idea of it than a child unborn!” declared Rebecca.

“Nor I!” asserted Lemuel Gill.

“Did you bring the mint?” Asaph interrogated.

“The mint?” Blankly Rebecca regarded him. “What mint?”

“Althea said you’d gone huntin’ mint for the tea.”

“I forgot all about it,” confessed the lady, obviously much confused.

“Then what in the name of goodness have you been doin’ till now?” asked the puzzled cross-questioner good-humoredly.

“Asaph Holmes, stop botherin’ ’Becca this minute,” cut in his wife. “The mint ain’t of no account. Mebbe she couldn’t find any.”

“She--I--we--didn’t look for none,” piped Lemmy, apparently feeling it time that he came to his inamorata’s rescue.

“Were you huntin’ it too?”

“I warn’t. But I could have if I’d known you wanted any,” apologized the Captain. “The truth is, ’Becca an’ I was--wal’, we was otherwise occupied.” He fumbled sheepishly with a button on his coat and stole a glance out of the corner of his eye at his crony. “We were sorter talkin’ together--sorter plannin’ how we could--could--”

“Rebecca!” Althea burst out, leaping to her feet and rushing to her friend’s side. “You don’t mean that you an’ Lemmy are--”

Nodding, Rebecca laughed nervously.

“I never was so pleased, so delighted over anythin’ in all my life!” Althea continued. “Think of havin’ you just across the field for the rest of your days! ’Twill be like heaven.”

She caught Rebecca’s hands and kissed her.

In the meantime Asaph stood looking uncomprehendingly from one face to another.

“Mebbe when you get through talkin’, kissin’, an’ takin’ on, you’ll tell me what it’s all about,” he said with a hint of peevishness. “Blamed if I can make anythin’ out of it.”

“Why, Lemmy an’ ’Becca are goin’ to get married!” returned his wife in the highest of spirits.

“Married? Who said so?” He sniffed at the absurdity of the announcement.

“Rebecca--just now.”

“I didn’t hear her say anythin’ of the sort.”

“I didn’t,” contradicted the woman, blushing scarlet. “’Twas you said so, Althea.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter who ’twas so long’s it’s true,” retorted Mrs. Holmes jubilantly. “Ain’t you a word to say to ’em, Asaph? You stand there as dumbfounded as if the earth had opened before you.”

“I feel as if it had.”

“You didn’t suspect it?”

“’Course I didn’t.” The bewildered expression on his face furnished incontestable proof of the assertion.

“You wouldn’t, I reckon.” Althea flashed a glance toward Rebecca and they both laughed.

“But you’re glad, ain’t you, pardner?” put in Lemuel anxiously. “You ain’t disapprovin’ of what I’ve done, are you? You mustn’t be, for my marryin’ ain’t goin’ to make a mite of difference with our gardenin’. In fact, with ’Becca to see to the house I figger I’ll have more time for plantin’ than ever. We’ve been sayin’ so just now, ain’t we, ’Becca? ’Becca loves gardens, you know. She’s got all sorts of ideas about fixin’ up the shack. She wants I should clear away the truck litterin’ the yard an’ start a vegetable garden behind the house. An’ she has a notion the _Sally_ would look nice hauled round to the front lawn an’ filled with petunias. Oh, we’re goin’ to make a great place of the cottage before we’re through.”

Lemmy had never looked more absurdly young nor had his ginger hair been more riotously up-ended. Asaph scanned his starry eyes.

“If I warn’t so plumb thunderstruck--” he began.

“It ain’t that you mind, then?” cried the little man eagerly.

“Mind? How could I, Lemmy? I’d have a pretty slim case, seein’ as how I got married myself. Bless your heart! It’s only that I’m bowled completely over an’ every word in the dictionary seems to have got away from me. To think of your gettin’ married--just to think of it! Wal’, you couldn’t ’a’ chosen a wife I’d ’a’ liked better. Had I had the selectin’ she’s the one I’d ’a’ picked for you. But what beats me is why the thought of you an’ her matin’ never come to me before. Althea don’t seem flustered by the news like I do.”

“Flustered by it! Why, since first I spied ’em in the kitchen the thought of their pairin’ off has scarcely been out of my mind.”

“Althea!”

“Well, it hasn’t. What’s more I’ve prayed about it every night.”

“An’ yet you deny bein’ a match-maker,” taunted Rebecca.

Instead of laughing at the jest Althea’s face clouded and she answered gravely:

“Mebbe I’d no business to petition the Lord about it. Still, I was so interested I couldn’t seem to help joggin’ His elbow.”

“I reckon you did no harm,” Lemmy declared, reassuringly patting her arm. “The Almighty meant ’Becca ’an me for one another anyhow, whether you reminded Him of it or not. As for the other couples frequentin’ the Dolphin--there won’t be no call for you to send up prayers about them, for fur’s I can see they’re quite capable of matchin’ themselves up without Divine guidance. As we come along we passed Eleanor Parker an’ her young man settin’ hand an’ hand in the grape arbor as if their destiny was settled. As for Peggy an’ Eric--I gather they, too, are equally well fixed.”

“Are they? Do tell me about it,” Althea demanded.

“P’r’aps I hadn’t oughter tell tales out of school,” drawled Lemuel. “I won’t tell you much. In fact there ain’t much I can tell. Still, ’cordin’ to polite standards, a gentleman don’t kiss a lady under a rose-bush an’ she return it unless--”

“Mercy on us! Were they doin’ that?” gasped Althea. “What do you s’pose has become of the lieutenant?”

“I don’t know nor care,” Rebecca affirmed with amazing callousness.

“He’s gone home--I happen to know that,” Lemmy explained.

“Glory be!” came fervently from Asaph. “He warn’t never the right husband for Peggy, anyhow. It kinder proves, don’t it, that Providence knows what it is about? Still, I can’t help feelin’ that after all ’twas the Dolphin that actually made most of these marriages. But for him ’Becca would likely never have come to Belleport; nor Eleanor Parker, neither. Even Peggy Davidson might never have decided to hook up with Eric hadn’t they toted tea together. So you can never say again, Lemuel Gill, dolphins bring bad luck. Ain’t this one brought you the best fortune that ever come your way?”