The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-07-11
WHITTAkEKS
 PLACE
By JOSEPH c. LINCOLN
Copyright. nOOs. by D. Appleton 6 Co.

SOpSHShes A90SD by ID. Appleton 6 Go.
 So Cy took her arm. and they danced Money Musk together. He made but a few mistakes, and these she helped him to correct so easily that none noticed His success gave him courage and he essayed other dances. In 1aee, he had a very good time at the party after all.
 On the way home he thought a great deal about the prettyyoung lady, whose name he discovered was Emily Rich ards. He decided that if she would enly wait for him he might like to marry her when he grew up. But he
 was thirteen, and she was seventeen. and the very next year she married John Thayer, the sailor in the blue suit And two years after that young Cy ran away to be a sailor himself In spite of his age and his lifetime 1 of battering about the world, Captain Cy had a sentimental streak In his makeup. His rejuvenation of the old home proved that. Betsy's letter in- terested him. He had made guarded inquiries concerning Mary Thayer, now Mary Thomas, Of others besides Asaph, and the answers had been sat l 1sfactory so far as they went. Those who remembered her had liked her very much. The captain had even begun letter to Mrs. Thomas, but laid it aside unfinished, having sincei Bai1ey's unfortunate experience with the widow Beasley prejudice against experiments
 He meditated and smoked for an-i other hour. Then. his mind being made up, he pulled down the desk lid of the old fashioned secretary, resur-i rected from 8 pile of papers the notel he had begun to Mrs. Thomas, dipped 8 sputtering pen into the ink bottle and proceeded to write
 His letter was short one and rather noncommittaL As Mrs. Thomas no doubt knew, be had come back to live in his fathers house at Bayport. He might possibly need some one to keep house for him He understod that she, Mary Thayer that was, was a good housakeeper and that she was open tO an engagement if everything was mutua1ly satisfactory. He had known her mother slightly when the latter Hvede1n Orham He thought an inter view might be pleasant, for they could talk over old times if nothing more. Perhaps on the whole, she might care to risk a trip to Bayport; therefore he 1ncIosed money for her railroad fare. ssYou understand, of course" so he wrote in conclusion, ssehat nothing may. come of our meeting at all So please. doustsay aswoRd to anybody when you strike town. You've lived here your self, and you know that three words hove overheard in Bayport will dredge up gab enough to sink dictionary So just keep mum till the business is settled one wRy or the other''
 A weekRpassed, and he heard noth- ing; thenSathree more days and still no wordxfrom the New Hampshire widow. Meanwhile fresh layers of dust~spread themselves over the Whit taker furniture, ana the gaudy pat terms of t1ae carpets bfushed diuzly be meath a grimy fog.
 The eleventh day began sEith a pour ing rain that changed later on to a dismal drizzle- The silver leaf tree in the front yard dripped, and the over flowing gutters gurg1ed and sp1ashed The bay was gray and lonely. and the fish weirs along the outer bar were lost in the mist. The flowers in the Atkins urns were draggled and beaten down. Only the iron dogs glistened undaunted as the wet ran off their newly painted backs. The air was heavy, and the salty flavor of the flats might almost be tasted in 1t.
 Captain Cy was in the sitting room, as usual. His spirits were as gray as the weather. He was actually lone some for the first time since his return home. He had kindled wood fire in the stove just for the sociabf11ty of it, and the erack1e and glow behind the isinglass panes only served to remind him of other days and other fires. The sitting room had not been lonesome then
 He heard the depot wagon rattle by and, peering from the window, saw that except for MT. Lumley it was empty. Not even a summer boarder had come to brighten our ways and 1 lawns with reckless raiment and the newest slang. Summer boarding sea son was almost over HOW. Bayport would soon be as dull as diShwater. 1 And the captain admitted to himself I that 1t was dull. He had half a mind to take a flying trip to Boston, make the round of the wharfs and see if any of the old shipowners and ship captains whom he had once known were still alive and in harness.
 Jingle! Jingle! JingleI Jingle! Jinglei ling. Jing! Jing!'
 Captain Cy bounced in his chair. l That was the front door bell. Who on earth, or rather, who in Bayport, would come to the front door7
 He hurried through the grim gran deur of the best parlor and entered the little dark front hall. The bell was still swinging at the end of its coil of wire The dust shaken from it still hung in the air. The captain unbolted and un- locked the big front door.
 A girl was standing on the steps be- tween the lines of box hedge-a little girl under a big "grownup" umbrella. The wet dripped from the umbrella top and from the hem of the little girls dress.
 Captain Cy stared hard at his visitor. He knew Eaost of the children in Bay r1c1.t hI1f he didn't knoVZ ti1iS one. Ob-