Hesnatchedhishatfromthetableandstrodetothedoor。
Turning，helookedather。
“Allright，“hesaidchokingly。“Allright。Good-by。“
Hisstepssoundedontheoilclothofthekitchen。Thenthebackdoorslammed。Hewasgone。
Keziahstarted，asiftheslamofthedoorhadbeenanelectricshock。Duringtheinterviewshehadbeenpaleandgravebutoutwardlycalm。Nowshesankwearilydowninthechairfromwhichshehadrisenandherheaddroppedforwarduponherarmsonthetable。ThelettershehadbeenreadingbeforeCaptainNat’sarrivalfellfromherwaisttothefloorandlaythere，itsbadlyspelledandblottedlinesshowingblackandfatefulagainstthewhitepaper。Andshecried，tearsofutterlonelinessanddespair。
Thecloudsthickenedastheafternoonpassed。Thesettingsunwashiddenbehindthem；overthehorizonofoceanandbaythefogbankswererollingintumbled，crumpledmasses。Theshadowsinthelonelysittingroomdeepened。Therecameaknockatthedining-
roomdoor。
Keziahsprangfromherchair，smoothedherhair，hastilywipedhereyes，pickedupthedroppedletterandwenttoadmitthevisitor，whoeverheorshemightbe。Shewasgladoftheshadows，theypreventedherfacefrombeingseentooplainly。
“Goodafternoon，“shesaid，openingthedoor。“Oh！it’syou，isit？“
“Yes，“admittedAbishaiPepper，standingonthestonestep，andshiftinguneasilyfromonefoottotheother。“Yes，Keziah，it’s——
it’sme，thankyou。“
“Don’tmentionit。Well，isLavinywithyou？“
“No——o，sheain’t。She——shedidn’tcome。“
“Hum！Didsheknowyouwascomin’？“
“No——o，Idon’tcal’lateshedid。“
“Isee。Well，whatdoyouwant？“
Mrs。Coffin’swelcomewasnottoocordial。ShehadlaughedmanytimesoverAbishai’sproposalofmarriage，butshehadneverquiteforgivenhimformakingherridiculousonthatoccasion。
Incidentally，shedidnotfeellikelaughing。
“Whatdoyouwant？“sherepeated。
Kyanwasplainlynervous。
“IonlywantedtoseeMr。Ellery，“heannounced。“It’sallright，Keziah。Youneedn’tbeafraid。“
“Afraid！WhatonearthshouldIbeafraidof？“
“Why——why，Ididn’tknowbutyoumightbeafraidIwasgoin’to——totalkaboutwhatwetalkedaboutwhenI——Italkedtoyouthatdayupat——“
“There！that’lldo。Itain’tmethatwouldhavereasontobeafraidifTHATwaswhatyoucomefor。Whatdoyouwant？Don’tstandtheredancin’ajig。“
“IonlywantedtoseeMr。Ellery。“
“He’sout。Goodday。“
“ButIwon’tkeephimbutaminute。“
“He’sout，Itellyou。Doyouwanttoleaveamessage？“
“No——o。No，Iguessnot。“
“Wasitimportant？“
“Oh！Idon’tknow。Kindof，maybe。Iwantedtoaskhisadviceaboutsomethin’。It’sasecret。Onlyhimandmeknowaboutit。
Good-by。“
“ShallItellhimyou’llcallagain？Oraskhimtocomeuptoyourhouse？“
Mr。Pepper，whohadstartedtogo，nowhurriedbacktothesteps。
“No，no，“heprotested，inalarm。“Don’tyoutellhimthat。I
wouldn’thavehimcometherefornomoney。Why，Laviny，she——“
“Oh，Lavinyisn’tinthesecret，then？“Keziahsmiledinspiteofherself。
“Notexactly。Thatis，notmuch。Don’tyoutellherIcomehere，willyou？I’llfindMr。Ellery。Iknowwhereheis。“
“Iwouldn’tgototheDanielses’，ifIwasyou。Elkanahmightnotliketohaveyouchasin’afterhisvisitors。“
“Oh，theministerain’tattheDanielses’，notaslate’sthis，heain’t。Iknowwhereheis。“
“Youdo？“Thehousekeeperlookedathimkeenly。
“Yes，sir，Ido。IknowwherehegoesSundayafternoons——andwhyhegoes，too。Mr。Elleryandme’sgoodfriends。Weunderstandeachother。“
“Lookhere，KyanPepper！Whatareyoutalkin’about？“
“Nothin’，nothin’。Goodday。“
“Stop！Standstill！Comeinthehousehere。Iwantyouto。“
“No，no，Keziah。Really，I’dloveto，butIcan’tstop。“
“Comein，Itellyou。“
Reluctantly，butlackingthestrengthofmindtorefuse，Mr。Pepperenteredthediningroom。ThenMrs。Coffinturneduponhim。
“Whatdoyoumean，“shedemanded，“bythrowin’outhintsthattheministerandyouareinsomesortofsecret？Howdareyougoroundtellin’peoplesuchyarnsasthat？“
“Theyain’tyarns。AndInevertoldnobodyafore，anyhow。Igottomovealong。I’ll——“
“Staywhereyouare。IguessI’llrunrightupandaskyoursisteraboutthis。Perhapsshemight——“
“Ss-sh！ss-sh！don’ttalkthatway，Keziah。Don’t！Lavinydon’tknowwhatImean。Don’tgoaskin’HERthings。“
“Butyousaid——“
“IjustsaidIknewwhereMr。EllerygoeseverySundayafternoon。
Hedon’tknowanybodyknows，butIdo。That’sallthereistoit。
Ishan’ttell。So——“
“Tell？Doyoumeanthere’ssomethin’Mr。Ellerywouldn’twanttold？Don’tyoudare——IWILLseeLaviny！“
“No，no，no，no！’Tain’tnothin’much。IjustknowwherehegoesafterheleavesElkanah’sandwhohegoestomeet。I——Lordy！I
hadn’toughttosaidthat！I——KeziahCoffin，don’tyouevertellItoldyou。I’vesaidmore’nImeantto。Ifitcomesoutthere’dbethebiggestrowinthechurchthateverwas。AndI’dberesponsible！Iwould！I’dhavetogoonthewitnessstandandthenLaviny’dfindouthowI——Oh，oh，oh！whatSHALLIdo？“
Thepoorfrightenedcreature’s“jig“had，bythistime，becomeadistractedfandango。Butthehousekeeperhadnomercyonhim。Shewasbeginningtofearforherparsonand，forthetime，everythingelse，herowntroubleandtherecentinterviewwithNat，waspushedaside。
“Whatisit？“shepersisted。“WHATwouldbringontherowinthechurch？WHOdoesMr。Ellerymeet？Outwithit！Whatdoyoumean？“
“ImeanthattheministermeetsthatVanHornegirleverySundayafternoonafterheleavesElkanah’s。There，now！It’sout，andI
don’tgiveadarniftheyhangmeforit。“
Keziahturnedwhite。SheseizedMr。PepperbythelapelofhisSundaycoatandshookhim。
“GraceVanHorne！“shecried。“Mr。EllerymeetsGraceVanHorneonSundayafternoons？Where？“
“DowninthempinesbackofPeters’spastur’，ontheaidgeofthebankoverthebeach。He’smetherthereeverySundayforthelastsixweeks——longer，forwhatIknow。I’vewatched’em。“
“YouHAVE？YOUhave！You’vedaredtospyon——Ithinkyou’relyin’tome。Idon’tbelieveit。“
“Iain’tlyin’！It’sso。I’llbetyouanythingthey’retherenow，walkin’upanddownandtalkin’。WhatwouldIwanttoliefor？
YoucomewithmethisminuteandI’llshow’emtoyou。“
Inthedesiretoprovehisveracityhewasonhiswaytothedoor。
ButKeziahsteppedinfrontofhim。
“’BishPepper，“shesaidslowlyandfiercely，shakingaforefingerinhisface，“yougostraighthomeandstaythere。Don’tyoubreatheawordtoalivin’soulofwhatyousayyou’veseen。Don’tyoueventhinkit，or——ordreamit。IfyoudoI’ll——I’llmarchstraighttoLavinyandtellherthatyouaskedmetomarryyou。I
will，assureasyou’reshakin’infrontofmethisminute。Nowyousweartometokeepstill。Swear！“
“How——HOW’llIswear？“beggedKyan。“Whatdoyousaywhenyouswear？I’llsayit，Keziah！I’llsayanything！I’ll——“
“Allright。Thenmindyouremember。Nowclearoutquick。Iwanttothink。IMUSTthink。GO！Getoutofmysight！“
Kyanwent，gladtoescape，butfrightenedtothesoulofhim。
Keziahwatchedhimuntilheturnedfromthemainroadintothelighthouselane。Then，certainthathereallywasgoingstraighthome，shere-enteredtheparsonageandsatdowninthenearestchair。Fortenminutesshesatthere，strivingtograspthesituation。Thensheroseand，puttingonherbonnetandshawl，lockedthedining-roomdoor，andwentoutthroughthekitchen。Onthestepshelookedcautiouslybacktoseeifanyoftheneighborswereattheirwindows。ButthiswasSunday，theonedaywhenTrumetpeoplesatintheirfrontparlors。Thecoastwasclear。
Shehurriedthroughthebackyard，anddownthepathleadingacrossthefields。Shewasgoingtothepinegrovebytheshore，goingtofindoutforherselfifKyan’sastonishingstorywastrue。
Forifitwastrue，iftheRev。JohnEllerywasmeetingclandestinelytheadopteddaughterofEbenHammond，itmeant——whatmightitnotmean，inTrumet？IfhehadfalleninlovewithaCome-Outer，withGraceVanHorneofallpeople，ifheshoulddarethinkofmarryingher，itwouldmeantheutterwreckofhiscareerasaRegularclergyman。Hisownsocietywouldturnhimoutinstantly。Allsortsofthingswouldbesaid，liesandscandalwouldbeinventedandbelieved。HischaracterwouldberiddledbytheTrumetgossipsandthepaperswouldpublishtheresultbroadcast。
AndGrace！IfshelovedaRegularminister，whatwouldhappentoher？CaptainEbenwouldturnherfromhisdoor，thatwascertain。
Althoughheidolizedthegirl，Keziahknewthathewouldnevercountenancesuchamarriage。AndifNatstoodbyGrace，ashewouldbealmostsuretodo，thebreachbetweenfatherandsonwouldwidenbeyondhealing。Ifitweremerelyamatterofpersonalselection，Mrs。CoffinwouldratherhaveseenherparsonmarryGracethananyoneelseonearth。Asitwas，suchamatchmustnotbe。Itmeantruinforboth。Shemustpreventtheaffairgoingfurther。Shemustbreakofftheintimacy。Shemustsavethosetwoyoungpeoplefrommakingamistakewhichwould——Shewrungherhandsasshethoughtofit。Ofherownsorrowandtroubleshecharacteristicallythoughtnothingnow。SacrificeofselfwasapartofKeziah’snature。
Thepineswereadeep-greenblotchagainstthecloudyskyandthegloomywatersofthebay。Sheskirtedtheoutlyingclumpsofbayberryandbeachplumbushesandenteredthegrove。Thepineneedlesmadeasoftcarpetwhichdeadenedherfootfalls，andtheshadowsbeneaththeboughswerethickandblack。Shetiptoedonuntilshereachedtheclearingbythebrinkofthebluff。Noonewasinsight。Shedrewabreathofrelief。Kyanmightbemistaken，afterall。
Thensheheardlowvoices。Asshecrouchedattheedgeofthegrove，twofigurespassedslowlyacrosstheclearing，alongthebush-borderedpathandintotheshrubberybeyond。JohnEllerywaswalkingwithGraceVanHorne。Hewasholdingherhandinhisandtheyweretalkingveryearnestly。
Keziahdidnotfollow。Whatwouldhavebeentheuse？Thiswasnotthetimetospeak。SheKNEWnowandsheknew，also，thattheresponsibilitywashers。Shemustgohomeatonce，gohometobealoneandtothink。Shetiptoedbackthroughthegroveandacrossthefields。
Yet，ifshehadwaited，shemighthaveseensomethingelsewhichwouldhavebeen，atleast，interesting。Shehadscarcelyreachedtheouteredgeofthegrovewhenanotherfigurepassedstealthilyalongthatnarrowpathbythebluffedge。Afemalefiguretreadingverycarefully，risingtopeeroverthebushesattheministerandGrace。ThefigureofMissAnnabelDaniels，the“belle“ofTrumet。
AndAnnabel’sfacewasnotpleasanttolookupon。
CHAPTERXI
INWHICHCAPTAINEBENRECEIVESACALLER
Attheedgeofthebluff，justwherethepinesandthebayberrybusheswerethickest，wherethenarrow，crookedlittlefootpathdippedovertheriseanddowntothepasturelandandthesaltmeadow，JohnElleryandGracehadhaltedintheirwalk。Itwasfulltideandtheminiaturebreakersplashedamidtheseaweedonthebeach。Themistwasdriftinginoverthebayandthegullswerecallingsleepilyfromtheirperchalongthebreakwater。A
nighthawkswoopedandcircledabovethetall“feathergrass“bythemarginofthecreek。Theminister’sfacewaspale，butsetanddetermined，andhewasspeakingrapidly。
“Ican’thelpit，“hesaid。“Ican’thelpit。Ihavemadeupmymindandnothingcanchangeit，nothingbutyou。Itrestswithyou。Ifyousayyes，thennothingelsematters。Willyousayit？“