DISCOVERIES
Louise, knowing Aunt Euphemia so well, was immediately aware that the
haughty lady had something more than ordinarily unpleasant to
communicate. It was nothing about Uncle Amazon and the Shell Road
store; some other wind of mischance had ruffled her soul.
But the girl ignored Aunt Euphemia's signals for several minutes; until
she made herself, indeed, more familiar with the manner and personal
attributes of these new acquaintances. There was a Miss Perriton of
about her own age whom she liked at first sight. Two or three men of
the party were clean-cut and attractive fellows. Despite the fact that
their cottage had been so recently opened for the season, the Perritons
had already assembled a considerable house party.
"Louise, I wish to talk to you," at last said Mrs. Conroth grimly.
"True," sighed her niece. "And how extremely exact you always are in
your use of the language, auntie. You never wish to talk _with_ me.
_You_ will do all the talking as usual, I fear."
"You are inclined to be saucy," bruskly rejoined Aunt Euphemia. "As
your father is away I feel more deeply my responsibility in this
matter. You are a wayward girl--you always have been."
"You don't expect me to agree with you on that point, do you, auntie?"
Louise asked sweetly.
Mrs. Conroth ignored the retort, continuing: "I am not amazed, after
seeing your surroundings at the Silt place, that you should become
familiar with these common longshore characters. But this that I have
just learned--only this forenoon in fact--astonishes me beyond measure;
it does, indeed!"
"Let me be astonished, too, auntie. I love a surprise," drawled her
niece.
"Where were you yesterday?" demanded Aunt Euphemia sharply.
Louise at once thought she knew what was coming. She smiled as she
replied: "Out fishing."
"And with whom, may I ask?"
"With Betty Gallup, Uncle Abram's housekeeper."
"But the man?"
"Oh! Mr. Tapp, you mean? A very pleasant young man, auntie."
"That is what I was told, Louise," her aunt said mournfully. "With
young Tapp. And you have been seen with him frequently. It is being
remarked by the whole colony. Of course, you can mean nothing by this
intimacy. It arises from your thoughtlessness, I presume. You must
understand that he is not--er----Well, the Tapps are not of our set,
Louise."
"My goodness, no!" laughed the girl cheerfully. "The Tapps are real
Cape Codders, I believe."
Aunt Euphemia raised her eyebrows and her lorgnette together. "I do
not understand you, I fear. What the Tapps are by blood, I do not
know. But they are not in society at all--not at all!"
"Not in society?" repeated Louise, puzzled indeed.
"Scarcely. Of course, as Mrs. Perriton says, the way the cottagers are
situated here at The Beaches, the Tapps _must_ be treated with a
certain friendliness. That quite impossible 'I. Tapp,' as he
advertises himself, owns all the Point and might easily make it very
disagreeable for the rest of the colony if he so chose."
She stopped because of the expression on her niece's countenance.
"What _do_ you mean?" Louise asked. "Who--who are these Tapps?"
"My dear child! Didn't you know? Was I blaming you for a fault of
which you were not intentionally guilty? See how wrong you are to go
unwarned and unaccompanied to strange places and into strange company.
I thought you were merely having a mild flirtation with that young man
in the full light of understanding."
Louise controlled her voice and her countenance with an effort. "Tell
me, Aunt Euphemia," she repeated, "just who Lawford Tapp is?"
"His father is a manufacturer of cheap candies. He is advertised far
and wide as 'I. Tapp, the Salt Water Taffy King.' Fancy! I presume
you are quite right; they probably were nothing more than clam diggers
originally. The wife and daughters are extremely raw; no other word
expresses it. And that house! Have you seen it close to? There was
never anything quite so awful built outside an architect's nightmare."
"They own Tapp Point? _That_ is Lawford's home? Those girls are his
sisters?" Louise murmured almost breathlessly.
"Whom _did_ you take that young man to be, Louise?"
"A fisherman's son," confessed her niece, in a very small voice. And
at that Aunt Euphemia all but fainted.
But Louise would say nothing more--just then. On the approach of some
of her friends, Mrs. Conroth was forced to put a cap upon her vexation,
and bid her niece good-day as sweetly as though she had never dreamed
of boxing her ears.
Louise climbed the nearest stairs to the summit of the bluff. She felt
she could not meet Lawford at this time, and he was between her and the
moving picture actors.
Within the past few hours several things that had seemed stable in
Louise Grayling's life had been shaken.
She had accepted in the very first of her acquaintanceship with Lawford
Tapp the supposition that his social position was quite inferior to her
own. She was too broadly democratic to hold that as an insurmountable
barrier between them.
Her disapproval of the young man grew out of her belief in his identity
as a mere "hired man" of the wealthy owner of the villa on the Point.
She had considered that a man who was so intelligent and well educated
and at the same time so unambitious was lacking in those attributes of
character necessary to make him a success in life.
His love for the open--for the sea and shore and all that pertained to
them--coincided exactly with Louise's own aspirations. She considered
it all right that her father and herself spent much of their time as
Lawford spent his. Only, daddy-prof often added to the sum-total of
human knowledge by his investigations, and sometimes added to their
financial investments through his work as well.
Until now she had considered Lawford Tapp's tendencies toward living
such an irresponsible existence as all wrong--for him. The rather
exciting information she had just gained changed her mental attitude
toward the young man entirely.
Louise gave no consideration whatsoever to Aunt Euphemia's snobbish
stand in the matter of Lawford's social position. Professor Grayling
had laughingly said that Euphemia chose to ignore the family's small
beginnings in America. True, the English Graylings possessed a crest
and a pedigree as long as the moral law. But in America the family had
begun by being small tradespeople and farmers.
Of course, Louise considered, Aunt Euphemia would be very unpleasant
and bothersome about this matter. Louise had hoped to escape all that
for the summer by fleeing to Cap'n Abe's store at Cardhaven.
However (and the girl's lips set firmly) she was determined to take her
own gait--to stand upon her own opinion--to refuse to be swerved from
her chosen course by any consideration. Lawford Tapp was in a
financial situation to spend his time in the improvement of his body
and mind without regard to money considerations. Louise foresaw that
they were going to have a delightful time together along the shore
here, until daddy-prof came home in the fall. And then----
She saw no such cloud upon the horizon as Lawford saw. Louise
acknowledged the existence of nothing--not even Aunt Euphemia's
opposition--which could abate the happiness she believed within her
grasp.
She admitted that her interest in Lawford had risen far above the mark
of mere friendly feeling. When she had seen him sinking the day
before, and in peril of his life, she knew beyond peradventure that his
well-being and safety meant more to her than anything else in the world.
Now she was only anxious to have him learn that she instead of Betty
had leaped into the sea after him. She would avoid him no more. Only
she did not wish to meet him there on the beach before all those
idlers. Louise feared that if she did so, she would betray her
happiness. She thrilled with it--she was obsessed with the thought
that there was nothing, after all, to separate Lawford and herself!
Yet the day passed without his coming to the store on the Shell Road.
Louise still felt some disturbance of mind regarding Cap'n Amazon. She
kept away from him as much as possible, for she feared that she might
be tempted to blurt out just what she thought of his ridiculous stories.
She did not like to hear Betty Gallup utter her diatribes against the
master mariner; although in secret she was inclined to accept as true
many of the "able seaman's" strictures upon Cap'n Amazon's character.
It was really hard when she was in his presence to think of him as an
audacious prevaricator--and perhaps worse. He was so kindly in his
manner and speech to her. His brisk consideration for her comfort at
all times--his wistful glances for Jerry, the ancient canary, and the
tenderness he showed the bird--even his desire to placate Diddimus, the
tortoise-shell cat--all these things withstood the growing ill-opinion
being fostered in Louise Grayling's mind. Who and what was this
mysterious person calling himself Cap'n Amazon Silt?
She had, too, a desire to know just how many of those weird stories he
told were filched from Cap'n Abe's accumulation of nautical literature.
When Cap'n Amazon had gained access to the chest of books Louise could
not imagine; but the fact remained that he had at least two of the
stories pat.
Louise had promised to spend the evening at the Perritons, and did so;
but she returned to Cap'n Abe's store early and did not invite her
escort in, although he was a youth eager to taste the novelty of being
intimate with "one of these old Cape Codders," as he expressed it.
"No," she told young Malcolm Standish firmly. "Uncle Amazon is not to
be made a peepshow of by the idle rich of The Beaches. Besides, from
your own name, you should be a descendant of Miles Standish, and blood
relation to these Cape Codders yourself. And Uncle Amazon and Uncle
Abram are fine old gentlemen." She said it boldly, whether she could
believe it about Cap'n Amazon or not. "I will not play showman."
"Oh, say! Ford Tapp comes here. I saw his car standing outside the
other evening."
"Mr. Tapp," Louise explained calmly, "comes in the right spirit. He is
a friend of the--ahem--family. He is well known to Cap'n Abe who owns
the store and has made himself acquainted with Cap'n Amazon over the
counter."
"And how has he made himself so solid with you, Miss Grayling?"
Standish asked impudently.
"By his gentlemanly behavior, and because he knows a deal more about
boat-sailing and the shores than I know," she retorted demurely.
"Leave it to me!" exclaimed Malcolm Standish. "I am going to learn
navigation and fishology at once."
"But--don't you think you may be too late?" she asked him, running up
the steps. "Good-night, Mr. Standish!"
Upon going indoors she did not find Cap'n Amazon. The lamp was burning
in the living-room, but he was not there and the store was dark.
Louise mounted the stairs, rather glad of his absence; but when she
came to the top of the flight she saw the lamplight streaming through
the open door of her uncle's bedroom. Diddimus, with waving tail, was
just advancing into the "cabin," as Cap'n Amazon called the chamber he
occupied.
Knowing that he particularly objected to having any of his possessions
disturbed, and fearing that Diddimus might do some mischief there,
Louise followed the tortoise-shell, calling to him:
"Come out of there! Come out instantly, Diddimus! What do you mean by
venturing in where we are all forbidden to enter? Don't you know,
Diddimus, that only fools dare venture where angels fear to tread?
Scat!"
Something on the washstand caught Louise's glance. In the bottom of
the washbowl was the stain of a dark brown liquid. Beside it stood a
bottle the label of which she could read from the doorway.
She caught her breath, standing for half a minute as though entranced.
Diddimus, hearing a distant footstep, and evidently suspecting it,
whisked past Louise out of the room.
There were other articles on the washstand that claimed the girl's
notice; but it was to the bottle labeled "Walnut Stain" that her gaze
returned. She crept away to her own room, lit her lamp, and did not
even see Cap'n Amazon Silt again that night.