“I s'pose not. I used to when I was little. Remember the first pair I had. Copper toes on 'em--whew! The copper was blacked over when they come out of the store and that wouldn't do, so we used to kick a stone wall till they brightened up. There! there she comes. Humph! stockin's soaked, too. Wish I had some dry ones to lend you. Might give you a pair of mine, but they'd be too scant fore and aft and too broad in the beam, I cal'late. Humph! and your top-riggin's as wet as your hull. Been on your beam ends, have you?” “I don't know, sir. I fell down in the bushes coming across. There were vines and they tripped me up. And the umbrella was so heavy that--” “Yes, I could see right off you was carryin' too much canvas. Now take off your bunnit and I'll get a coat of mine to wrap you up in.” He went into his bedroom and returned with a heavy “reefer” jacket. Ordering his caller to stand up he slipped her arms into the sleeves and turned the collar up about her neck. Her braided “pigtail” of yellow hair stuck out over the collar and hung down her back in a funny way. The coat sleeves reached almost to her knees and the coat itself enveloped her like a bed quilt. “There!” said Captain Cy approvingly. “Now you look more as if you was under a storm rig. Set down and toast your toes. Where's that letter you said you had?” “It's inside here. I don't know's I can get at it; these sleeves are so long.” “Reef 'em. Turn 'em up. Let me show you. That's better! Hum! So you come from the depot, hey? Live up that way?” “No, sir! I used to live in Concord, but--” “Concord? CONCORD? Concord where?” “Concord, New Hampshire. I came on the cars. Auntie knew a man who was going to Boston, and he said he'd take care of me as far as that and then put me on the train to come down here. I stopped at his folks' house in Charlestown last night, and this morning we got up early and he bought me a ticket and started me for here. I had a box with my things in it, but it was so heavy I couldn't carry it, so I left it up at the depot. The man there said it would be all right and you could send for it when--” “I could SEND for it? _I_ could? What in the world--Say, child, you've made a mistake in your bearin's. 'Taint me you want to see, it's some of your folks, relations, most likely. Tell me who they are; maybe I know 'em.” The girl sat upright in the big chair. Her dark eyes opened wide and her chin quivered. “Ain't you Captain Cyrus Whittaker?” she demanded. “You said you was.” “Yes, yes, I am. I'm Cy Whittaker, but what--” “Well, auntie told me--” “Auntie! Auntie who?” “Auntie Oliver. She isn't really my auntie, but mamma and me lived in her house for ever so long and so--” “Wait! wait! wait! I'm hull down in the fog. This is gettin' too thick for ME. Your auntie's name's Oliver and you lived in Concord, New Hampshire. For--for thunder sakes, what's YOUR name?” “Emily Richards Thomas.” “Em--Emily--Richards--Thomas” “Yes, sir.”