Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1906-06-04

Dressed? Oh, I'm dressed, or |
course! It's you I'm tryin' to git some
life into"
stead of gittin' up and dressin' all by |
yourself. l never see such a critter.
Where's my socksw
To avoid further perplexing questions
Captain Fri went into the dining room.
The table Was set, really set, with a
clean cloth and dishes that shone.
The knives and forks were arranged
by the plates, not piled in heap for
each man to help himself. The cap
tain gasped.
"Well, / swan to manv he said.
''Has Jerry had fit, or what's struck
him? l amt seen him do anything ike
| this for don't know when"
"Oh, Cap'n Burgess didn't fix the Ia
BILE, if that's what you mean!' said the
new nurse. "Cap'n Baxter seemed to
! be sleepin' or in stupor like, and the
doctor when he come said l might
leave him long enough to run down
stairs for few minutes, so''-
''The doctor? Has the doctor been
here this mornin'?"
"Yes; he come bout an hour ago.
Now, If you wouldn't mind goin' up
and stayin' with Cap'n Baxter for
| few minutes while l finish gettin'
breakfast. I've been up and down so
many times in the last ha'f hour don't
knows I'm sartin whether I'm on my
head or my heels"
The captain went upstairs in dazed
state. AS he passed through what had
been his room he vaguely noticed that
the bureau top was clean and that
most of the rubbish that had ornament
ed it had disappeared.
The sick man lay just as he had left
him, his white face as colorless as
the clean pillowcase against which 1t
rested. Captain Fri remembered that
the 'pillowcases in the spare room had
looked a little yellow the night be-
fore, possibly owing to the fact that
as the roomshad not been occupied for
menths they had not been changed.
/ He reasoned that the improvement was
another one of the reforms instituted
by the lady from Nantucket.
He sat down in the rocker by the
bed and thought, with a shiver, of the
missing coat There were nine chances
out of ten that whoever found it would
recognize it as belonging to the old
s'Co1ne Outer" The contents Of the
pocket would be almost certain to re-
veal the secret If the coat itself did not.
i 1t remained to be seen who the finder
was and what he would do Mean
: while there was no use worrying. Hav-
, ing come to this conclusion, the cap
TAIN with customary philosophy, re-
solved to think of something else
Mrs. Snow entered and announced
that breakfast was ready and that he
must go down at once and eat it while
it was hot. She, having breakfasted
some time before, would stay with the
patient until the meal was over. Cap
tain Fri at first fatty declined to listen
to any such arrangement, but the calm
, Elsistence of the Nantucket visitor pre-
vailed, as usual. The captain realized
: that the capacity for "bossin' things
: that he had discerned in the letter, was
e even more apparenein the lady herself.
L / III,
ever, and this was that Mrs. Snow
: should turn in as soon as breakfast
!, was over. One of the three would take
s the watch in the sickroom while the
d other two washed the dishes.
, Captain Fri found his friends seated
Il at the table End feasting on hot bis
n cults, eggs and clear, appetizing cot
V fee. They greeted him joyously. =
y 'Hey, Eri!' hailed Captain Perez
"Ain't this gay? Look at them eggs
# Billed jest to T. Amt much like Jer
J. rvs ha'f raw kind"
d "Humph! You needn't say nothin'
d Perez" observed Captain Jerry, hi
d mouth full of biscuit "When you wa
II cook you alters billed 'em so hare
,e they'd dent the barn if you'd fired zen
,e at it. How's John, Eri?"
r Captain Fri gave his and the doctor
IT opinion of his friends condition an,
S, then said: "Now, we've got to hav
If some kind of settlement on this maj
D, ryin' question. Last night when I wa
up in the room there it come acros
ID me all of sudden that from what T.
le seen of this Nantucket woman She
I'd be Jest the sort of nurse that job
I'd needed. So 1 skipped out while 20
. fellers was busy with the doctor, foun
s. her at the hotel, explained things
her andsgot her to come down. That
In all there is to that. amt made u
Of arrangement with her, and somethin
ut got to be done. What do you think G
ne her, jedgin' by what you've seem"
i'd Captain Perez gave it as his opinio
that she was 'all right and added
IF Jerry here want SO pigheade
all at once he'd marry her withor
waitin' another minute
" Fri nodded. That's my idee," b
10 said emphatically.
-, But Captain Jerry was as obstinat
- as ever. He simply would not conside
=, immediate marriage In vain his con
radeS reminded him of the originf
compact and the fact that fbe vote wa