"'Dere Enoch,'" he read. "'I'd like to know what you blowed up an' went off the way you did for. Abner Crowell." "P.S. Mrs. Crowell sends her respecks, and Miss Melissa Macy her regards, if you want 'em. A.C." "P.S. Number two. All you need, Enoch Burgess, is about ten inches more on your ears. A.C.'" "'Miss Melissa Macy,'" repeated Captain Enoch. "He would have said Mrs. Peters, if she was married." The captain leaped to his feet and rushed on deck. A boat was just leaving the steamer's side, the mate sitting placidly under an awning. "Hey, wait," roared the captain wildly. "I'm goin' to git our clearance papers," he shouted, as the astonished mate ordered the boat back. "I ain't goin' to hang around here waitin' for a lazy planter to git a cargo of coffee aboard. I don't care if there ain't any more coffee in the world; folks can drink tea. I'm goin' home as quick as steam can take me." Lights were beginning to shine in the homes of Mapleville when the captain came to the end of his long journey. A shining path stretched temptingly from Melissa's windows to the gate and the captain followed it eagerly. Back of the crimson geraniums and the canary's cage he could see Melissa sitting at a low table. The yellow cat occupied the big rocker. It was all so pleasant and home-like a lump rose in the captain's throat. He decided to steal quietly in and surprise Melissa. But at the door he stopped as suddenly as if he had been shot. A deep bass voice was uttering words that sounded strangely familiar. "'Dear and esteemed lady,'" he heard. Cautiously he tip-toed across the hall. A phonograph was on the table in front of Melissa. As he bent forward the proposal "to a dignified and refined lady" came to an end. Tenderly Melissa put both arms about the shining horn of the phonograph and kissed it! The sight was too much for the captain. With one bound, he cleared the threshold and entered the cosy sitting room. "M'lissy Macy," he declared boldly, "I ain't goin' to have you wastin' kisses on an old phonograph when I'm right here. Where'd you find that record, M'lissy?" he asked at last. Melissa blushed delightfully. "Mis' Crowell heard you and told me you was practisin' how to propose and, after you went away, I went and got every single one of them records," confessed Melissa. "I've played 'em over and over, even the 'darn it!' one. I know that proposal by heart." "So do I," responded Captain Enoch grimly, as he salvaged another kiss. "I've be'n a reg'lar old putty-head," he admitted with unsparing honesty, "but if you'll promise to teach me, I'd like to learn a whole lot more by heart." "I'll do my best," promised Melissa mischievously. BY TELEPHONE E.M. CHASE Time--Very recently. Place--A flat in Back Bay. "Bessie Lane, where in the world did you drop from?" "The station just now and I'm famished." "I haven't a thing for lunch but you take off your wraps while I attend to things."