"I imagine not, I imagine not. You are--you are, I gather, a sort of--oh---- What should I call you, captain; in your official capacity, you know?" He laughed pleasantly. Sears smiled. "Give it up," he replied. "I told Elizabeth--Miss Berry, I mean--when I first took the berth that I scarcely knew what it was." "Ha, ha! Yes, I can imagine. Miss Berry--charming girl, isn't she, captain--intimated to me that your position was somewhat--ah--general. You exercise a sort of supervision over the finances and management, in a way, do you not?" "In a way, yes." "Yes. Of course, my dear sir, you understand that I am not unduly curious. I don't mean to be. This--ah--Fair Harbor was, as you know, very dear to the heart of Mrs. Phillips and, now that she has been taken from me, I feel, of course, a sense of trust, of sacred responsibility. We had understood, she and I, that our dear friend--Judge Knowles--was in supreme charge--nominally, I mean; of course Mrs. Berry was in actual charge--and, therefore, I confess to a natural feeling of--shall I say surprise, on learning that the judge had appointed another person, an understudy, as it were?" "Well, you couldn't be any more surprised than I was when the judge asked me to take the job. And Elizabeth and her mother know that I hesitated considerable before I did take it. Judge Knowles was in his last sickness, he couldn't attend to things himself." Mr. Phillips raised a protesting hand. "Please don't misunderstand me," he said. "Don't, I beg of you, think for a moment that I am objecting to the judge's action, or even criticizing it. It was precisely the thing he should have done, what Mrs. Phillips and I would have wished him to do. And as for his choice of--ah--appointee----" Captain Sears interrupted. "As to that," he said, "you can criticize as much as you please. You can't object any more than I did when me made me the offer." The protesting hand was again raised. "Criticism or objection was the very farthest from my mind, I assure you," Egbert declared. "I was about to say that Judge Knowles showed his usual--ah--acumen when he selected a man as well known and highly esteemed as yourself, sir. The mention of the name of Captain Kendall----" "Kendrick." "Kendrick, of course. I apologize once more. But, if you will permit me to say so, a man as well and favorably known to us all as you are, sir, is certainly the ideal occupant of the--ah--place." "Thanks. You knew of me, then? I don't think you and I have ever met before, have we?" "No; no, I believe I have never before had the pleasure." "Thanks. I was pretty sure I hadn't. I've been away from Bayport a good deal. I wasn't here when you and your wife came back--about five years ago, wasn't it? And, of course, I didn't know you when you used to live here. Let's see; you used to teach singin'-school, didn't you?"