He sat down at one end of the deal table where Pearl had spread a snowy napkin. In rapid succession she set before him cold baking-powder biscuit, as white and fluffy as down; a golden square of butter on a flowered plate; a wedge of creamy cheese; and a bowl heaped with flaky brown rings--the delight of the hearty appetite and despair of the dyspeptic. "Them look some diff'rent from Ming's," said the captain dryly. He "tucked away" a hearty meal and drank his third cup of coffee before he rose from the table. Pearl was busy sprinkling the clothes. She rolled each large piece tightly, finishing with a capable thump of her dimpled fist. The slanting rays of the sun touched her hair, revealing golden strands in it. Cap'n Jonah seemed rather uncertain in his mind when he pushed his chair back to the wall after brushing the doughnut crumbs from his blue vest to the table. He stood at the screen door, looking out into the yard and to the vista of white shell road that led seaward. Finally he drew from his pocket a battered silver box, the lid of which he snapped open. But the box was just as empty as he knew it to be. "I say, Pearly," he said hopefully, "didn't I hear you speak of some store 'round here?" "Cap'n Abe's; yes, sir," replied the girl. "Right down the road there." "Does he sell anything besides caliker for dresses and other folderols?" "Why, Cap'n Abe sells most ev'rything," laughed the girl. "From a thimble to a bow anchor, I do believe." "Tobacker?" "Of course. And snuff, Cap'n Hand. I see that's a snuff box in your hand." "Ye-as. I do drift kinder to snuff when I can get it," confessed the captain. "Ye see, for many a v'y'ge I carried passengers, an' a feller can't smoke on duty nor yet chew in the presence of lady passengers. But they tell me kings and cardinals have used snuff; so I reckon it's allowable for an old sea cap'n. I'll step down the road and see what this storekeeper ye speak of carries in my line." He set his glazed hat carefully upon his head, got his cane, and stepped through the kitchen doorway into the evening sunlight. CHAPTER II A BLIND YOUNG MAN Willy Peeble's autocar brought the Petty family home from the Paulmouth depot. Orrin Petty, who was notoriously as close as the skin to an eel, would never have willingly agreed to such an expense. But county fair day was the one day in the year when his wife put her foot down and insisted upon the family making what the son, Tom, called "a splurge." At Harwich Fair they were sure to meet all the Pettys that were worth meeting, as well as many of Mrs. Petty's girlhood friends. Harwich was a long way from Cardhaven, and Cape Cod folk are not given to useless "visiting around." The neighbors well knew Orrin's cheese-paring ways and Sarah's temper, as well as Tom Petty's utter uselessness. But the family had a reputation to keep up with their relatives and friends at a distance.