第48章

"Why, I've got a little bus'ness I want to talk with you 'bout, Sol," said the Captain. "Elsie, you set down here, and make yourself comf'table, and Sol and me 'll go inside for a minute."As he led the way into the little private office at the back of the building, and seemed to take it for granted that Mr. Bangs would follow, the latter gentleman couldn't well refuse. The private office was usually reserved for interviews with widows whose homestead mortgages were to be foreclosed, guileless individuals who had indorsed notes for friends, or others whose business was unpleasant and likely to be accompanied with weeping or profanity.

Mr. Bangs didn't object to foreclosing a mortgage, but he disliked to have a prospective customer hear the dialogue that preceded the operation.

On this occasion the door of the sanctum was left ajar so that Elsie, although she did not try to listen, could not very well help hearing what was said.

She heard the Captain commenting on the late cranberry crop, the exceptionally pleasant weather of the past month, and other irrelevant subjects. Then the perfumes of the campaign cigars floated out through the doorway.

"Let's see," said Captain Eri, "when's town meetin' day?""First Tuesday in December," replied Mr. Bangs.

"Why, so 'tis, so 'tis. Gittin' pretty nigh, ain't it? What are you goin' to git off the school-committee for?""Me? Get off the committee? Who told you that?""Why, I don't know. You are, ain't you? Seems to me I heard Seth Wingate was goin' to run and he's from your district, so I thought, of course--""Is Seth going to try for the committee?""Seth's a good man," was the equivocal answer.

"A good man! He ain't any better man than I am. What's he know about schools, or how to run 'em?""Well, he's pretty popular. Folks like him. See here, Sol; what's this 'bout your turnin' Betsy Godfrey off her place?""Who said I turned her off? I've been carrying that mortgage for so long it's gray-headed. I can't be Santa Claus for the whole town. Business is business, and I've got to look out for myself.""Ye-es, I s'pose that's so. Still, folks talk, and Seth's got lots of friends.""Eri, I ain't denying that you could do a heap to hurt me if you wanted to, but I don't know why you should. I've always been square with you, far's I know. What have you got against me?""Oh, nuthin', nuthin'! Didn't I hear you was tryin' to get that Harniss teacher to come down here and take Carrie Nixon's place when she got married?""Well, I thought of her. She's all night, isn't she?""Yes, I s'pose she is. 'Twould be better if she lived in Orham, maybe, and folks couldn't say you went out of town for a teacher when you could have had one right from home. Then, she's some relation of your cousin, ain't she? 'Course, that's all right, but--well, you can't pay attention to everything that's said.""Could have got one right from home! Who'd we get? Dave Eldredge's girl, I suppose. I heard she was after it."The conversation that followed was in a lower tone, and Elsie heard but little of it. She heard enough, however, to infer that Captain Eri was still the disinterested friend, and that Solomon was very anxious to retain that friendship. After a while the striking of matches indicated that fresh cigars were being lighted, and then the pair rose from their chairs, and entered the outer office. Mr.

Bangs was very gracious, exceedingly so.

"Miss Preston," he said, "Cap'n Hedge tells me that it--er--might be possible for us--er--for the town to secure--er--to--in short, for us to have you for our teacher in the upstairs room. It ain't necessary for me to say that--er--a teacher from Radcliffe don't come our way very often, and that we--that is, the town of Orham, would--er--feel itself lucky if you'd be willing to come.""Of course, I told him, Elsie," said Captain Eri, "that you wouldn't think of comin' for forty-five dollars a month or anything like that. Of course, 'tisn't as though you really needed the place.""I understand, I understand," said the pompous committeeman. "Ithink that can be arranged. I really think--er--Miss Preston, that there ain't any reason why you can't consider it settled. Ahem!"Elsie thanked him, trying her best not to smile, and they were bowed out by the great man, who, however, called the Captain to one side, and whispered eagerly to him for a moment or two. The word "Seth" was mentioned at least once.

"Why, Captain Eri!" exclaimed Elsie, as they drove away.

The Captain grinned. "Didn't know I was such a heeler, did you?"he said. "Well, I tell you. If you're fishin' for eels there ain't no use usin' a mack'rel jig. Sol, he's a little mite eely, and you've got to use the kind of bait that 'll fetch that sort of critter.""But I shouldn't think he would care whether he was on the school-committee or not. It isn't such an exalted position."Captain Eri's answer was in the form of a parable. "Old Laban Simpkins that lived 'round here one time," he said, "was a mighty hard ticket. Drank rum by the hogshead, pounded his wife till she left him, and was a tough nut gin'rally. Well, one evenin' Labe was comin' home pretty how-come-you-so, and he fell into Jonadab Wixon's well. Wonder he wa'n't killed, but he wa'n't, and they fished him out in a little while. He said that was the deepest well he ever saw; said he begun to think it reached clear through to the hereafter, and when he struck the water he was s'prised to find it wa'n't hot. He j'ined the church the next week, and somebody asked him if he thought religion would keep him from fallin' into any more wells. He said no; said he was lookin' out for somethin' further on.

"Well, that's the way 'tis with Sol. School-committee's all right, but this section of the Cape nominates a State representative next year.