"Oh, Sarah, Sarah!" mused her brother. "To think _you_ could slip so easy on that sort of soft-soap. Tut, tut! I'm surprised.... Well, good-by. Oh, by the way, how about his majesty's board bill? Paid up to date, is it?" His sister looked even more embarrassed, and, for her, a trifle irritated. "He owes me for three weeks, if you must know," she said, "but he'll pay it, same as he always does." "Look out, look out! Can't be too sure.... There, there, Sarah, don't be cross. I won't torment you." He laughed and Mrs. Macomber, after a moment, laughed too. "You are a tease, Sears," she declared, "and always was. Shall I tell Mr. Phillips you came to see him?" "Eh? No, indeed you shan't. Don't you mention my name to him. He loves me so much that he might cry all night at the thought of not bein' at home when I called. Don't tell him a word. I'll try again." The next forenoon he did try again. Judah had some trucking to do in the western part of the village and the captain rode with him on the seat of the truck wagon as far as the store. From there he intended to walk to his sister's, for walking, even as long a distance as a mile, was no longer an impossibility. As he alighted by the store platform Captain Elkanah Wingate came out of the Bassett emporium. "Mornin', Kendrick," he hailed. Sears did not share Bayport's awe of the prosperous Elkanah. He returned the greeting as casually as if the latter had been an everyday citizen. "Been spendin' your money on Eliphalet's bargains?" he inquired. The great man did not resent the flippancy. He seemed to be in a particularly pleasant humor. "Got a little extra to spend to-day," he declared, with a chuckle. "Picked up twenty dollars this mornin' that I never expected to see again." "So? You're lucky." "That's what I thought. Say, Kendrick, have you had any--hum--business dealings with that man Phillips? No," with another chuckle, "I suppose you haven't. He doesn't love you over and above, I understand. My wife and the rest of the women folks seem to think he's first mate to Saint Peter, but, between ourselves, he's always been a little too much of a walkin' oil barrel to suit me. He borrowed twenty of me a good while ago and I'd about decided to write it down as a dead loss. But an hour or so ago he ran afoul of me and, without my saying a word, paid up like a man, every cent. Had a roll of bills as thick as a skys'l yard, he did. Must have had a lucky voyage, I guess. Eh? Ha, ha!" He moved off, still chuckling. Kendrick walked down the lower road pondering on what he had heard. Egbert, the professed pauper, in possession of money and voluntarily paying his debts. What might that mean? Sarah met him at the door. She seemed distressed.